We had a hot, but gorgeous day for our nature walk. We had women from as far away as Chelsea and Worcester, a dog, and a curious 6 year old along with this group of women. The 6 year old just absorbed all the facts that I was talking about all along the way.

As we strolled across the beautifully green fields filled with grass and pink and white clover, we could hear many birds calling and a red tail hawk’s screeching. These are wonderful fields for flying kites and in the winter for sledding.

After crossing the sun drenched fields, we entered the white pine forest. The forest floor had many patches of partridgeberries and wild blueberries. We discovered many types of ferns along the horse trail like New York and hay scented ferns. We saw some horseshoe tracks, etc. We examined the different lichens and mosses that grew on the trees and ground. We figured out what woodpeckers made different holes in the trees and why.

When we reached the brook, we discovered many black winged damsel flies with purple and blue bodies. They were beautiful! We watched the water striders skate across the top of the water’s surface.

After passing the little waterfall, we traveled through the deep, dark hemlock forest. What a wonderfully cool environment and such a relief after the sunny fields. We arrived at the edge of the pond. We all sat down for snacks and a rest on a very long log until we heard a loud BANG! Then we went over to the edge of the pond to explore the flowers like baby blue forget-me-nots. We continued to identify more flowers and some shagbark hickory trees.

We all had a very enjoyable walk along with fantastic companions to explore with.

We hope to see some of you next time.

We gathered to watch as the skydivers jumped out of the airplane at the Pepperell Airport to raise money for breast cancer research. Some folks jumped in tandem, some single, and some joined others to make formations like the pink ribbon. There were a few of our WMW members who jumped on that beautiful day.

The Jackie Williamson Sisters of Hope Foundation was there too, to raise funds for their foundation which supports New England lesbians who have an acute or terminal illness.

Some WMW members came for a short time while others spent most of the day at the airport.

All the monies gathered that day went to great causes, and a wonderful time was had by all.

What better way to give thanks than to share a wonderful dinner with our sisters.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Thanksgiving Celebration - next year we should call it an "extravaganza" because of the HUGE amount of delicious food!

It was so nice to see everyone and catch up with the women we haven't seen in quite a while. What a wonderful environment - to all be together and share food, stories,
and hugs.

Thanks to the "Thanksgiving Committee" and to Sheila D who coordinated the food.

If you missed this year's event, please join us next year!

Peace & Love for the Holiday Season
SheQ

Setting up	Setting up	Enjoying
Enjoying	Clean up

The womyn….the performers….the beautiful blue skies…the smell of a cook out...the shade of the tall pine trees…the slight breeze to cool the heat of the day. Then the hot HOT HOT womyn and music… It set the stage for an entertaining and fabulous day. The perfect August Sunday afternoon was an energy-filled fun time…

Women from all over the northeast attended this huge celebration of unity. New and old friends realized a wonderful common thread throughout the day.

The music was enticing and for the women who did not know the performers. They gained a whole new appreciation for women's music. The music ranged from the zippy energy jazz style of Zoe: the intriguing political ‘undercurrents’ of Linq’s songs: Julie’s country personal inspired tunes: Andrea’s youthful soul searching lyrics : the ethereal folk style ballads of Wendy and Kathy : Mary’s sultry deep voice conveying her emotional songs: Deb’s drumming creating that heartbeat matching beat as you get in sync with her beats : the She-tles audience rousing Beatle tunes and ending the fest with the “Let It Be” rendition with all of the performers on stage. The very funny Amy Tee tied the whole event together even though we threw her for a loop by throwing a few kids into the mix, thereby limiting Amy to be a little more ‘controlled’ than usual. Most of the performers had their CDs available for dedicated signings, so you could take a piece of the music fest home with you. You could talk and take pictures with the performers. We send out our deep gratitude to these wonderful performers for such an amazing job.

In memoriam, we honored our own Barbara McLain along with Woody from the Moving Violations. We honored Carol from OLE, Newburyport potluck’s Marianne, Candy from OVA4D, Trish from North Shore Rainbow Connection, Martha and Tammy from the MetroWest Lesbian group, Ellen from LAFFAN, and our own Sheila Q. for all their hard work and time that they have invested into their organizations. This is especially true when the going was so tough. They may have felt that there was no appreciation, but we know better and wanted to show them that we do appreciate all the effort they have put in over so many years. We also wanted to foster a sense of unity among the various lesbian organizations.

Our thanks goes out to the vendors: Patti of the Silver Unicorn with her stunning sterling silver and Swarovski crystals (www.silverunicornonline.com) and Karen with her delicious and jewel toned jellies and jams.

We want to show our support to the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) and the Jackie Williamson Sisters of Hope Foundation (www.jwilliamsonsistersofhope.com).

We would like to thank everyone who donated their valuable time to make this Music Fest & BBQ such a great event especially the core Music Fest committee: Sheila Q., Doreen M., Stephanie A., Deb B., & Anne C.

Our appreciation goes out to all the numerous volunteers who worked so hard to make all of this happen. Without your efforts, this Music Fest would not be possible. We truly appreciate the time you have invested for this event.

Those of you willing to help with the next Music Fest, please go to our website and sign up under volunteers or get in touch with any of the board of directors especially Sarah, Phyllis, and Leni. We will be glad to answer any questions that you may have.

If you missed the Music Fest & BBQ, then you will just have to watch for the next fest announcement on our website!