Dunwoody's Giving Spirit.

This week, as we rev up for the 2010 Butterfly Festival at Dunwoody Nature Center, each day has brought a cadre of volunteers to the park. Monday through Wednesday, the Dunwoody Chapter of the National Charity League had mom and daughter teams creating a festive Butterfly Boutique out of an ordinary classroom, hanging signs, pouring wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of mulch onto the large creekside field, and prepping craft materials.

They were joined today by Danny Kanso and his Dunwoody High School cohorts, who are volunteering just because . . . they like to volunteer. 

Meanwhile, Reverend McLaughlin of North Atlanta Church of Christ drove several practice runs with one of their brand new buses. The church members generously offered to provide shuttle services to the satellite parking at their facility during the Festival.

Hands On Atlanta sent dozens of volunteers to help with preparations as well. Tables and chairs moved out into the park, signs point the way to various events, and shortly the giant butterfly tent arrives from Florida, courtesy of Greathouse Butterfly Farm.

Dunwoody Nature Center's energetic Board of Directors, volunteers all, have been busy with the Monarchs and Margaritas fundraiser at the home of Carole and Jim McWilliams. 2010 Event Chair Mary Millar has been a calm and experienced center to the maelstrom of plans and preparations.

Tomorrow, more than 200 volunteers will staff concessions, discovery and craft stations, traffic patrol,  entertainment, admissions, and more.

The Butterfly Festival is a microcosm of similar events in Dunwoody (think Lemonade Days, the Arts Festival, the Fall Festival, Soapbox Derby, lots and lots of charity fun runs, and others). In every case, volunteers  drive the engine and make things happen.

What's particularly humbling is how so many people say "yes" to giving their time and talent for the benefit of others.

I love living in Dunwoody.

Knitting dork.

At last.

I found a chat thread on Ravelry that sings to my knitterly soul. Knitting dorks are EVERYWHERE.

A few of my favorites from knitters all over the world:

You know you're a knitting dork when . . .

• …you knit at the hardware store while waiting for the nice man to mix 5 different colors of paint for DD’s bedroom mural.
• I have two projects in my bag when I go to court, and the bailiff chastises me for forgetting, again, that I have pointy sticks in my purse. (I’m a lawyer, and while I remember all my stuff for my client, I frequently forget that I have knitting in my purse. The regular bailiff usually just asks what I’m making now and if I will ever knit him something.)
• …you knit on your sock while you’re in the returns line at Costco. And there’s only one person in line in front of you.
• …when you refer to “snow days” as “knitting days”!!
• You know you’re a knitting dork when you take the train from Zurich to Düsseldorf, even though it would be way faster (and cheaper) to fly. But knitting is not permitted on airplanes and the train ride gave me 5 hours knitting time each way.
• This is going to sound terrible, but when I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, it very quickly occurred to me that one silver lining was that I had a lot of knitting time to look forward to during my treatments. I bought a bunch of gorgeous yarn and some beautiful patterns and got all set up. I got a pair of socks done after my surgery, but I healed up really quickly and had to go back to work, so no more knitting all day. When I finally started radiation, I was thrilled! All that waiting time…in the waiting room, then in the changing room…a knitters dream. Unfortunately, that particular cancer center is super efficient and I really had almost no time to knit! I even complained about it a couple of times and the techs would tease me about it, but if they were running behind they’d always ask if I could wait and let them take others first, knowing that I’d be more than happy to get a few rows in on my minimalist cardigan!
• When you and your husband are discussing what coud happen if there was a severe economic depression and the first words out of your mouth are, “Well, I think I’ll be okay on yarn.”
• When your daughter and her friends are talking about all the things their moms always say. The other kids say things like, “Don’t run with that; you’ll put your eye out,” and “If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?” Your daughter thinks for a minute and says, “Mine always says, ‘wait until I finish this row!’”

I'm a knitting dork, ready and willing to broadcast my dorky-ness anywhere and any time. At church, people remark that I must own a particular sofa in the main lobby because I'm frequently knitting before and between Sunday School and one of the worship services (it's turned into a chat place for friends and passersby). I knit in theaters ("how can you see what you're doing?"), in waiting rooms ("I wish I had something to do, too!"), on planes ("what's that? crochet?"), in carpool ("Mom, can we go now?"), Concerts in the Park at Dunwoody Nature Center (bliss), and throughout the parent portion of various Scout meetings (stopping only for the Pledge of Allegiance and Scout Oath).

Some people hint that I have a lot of time to waste. Amazing. Knitters understand that ten and fifteen minutes grabbed here and there are simply punctuations to a very busy day. If I had a lot of time for knitting, I'd do it AT HOME.

Dunwoody's wonderful Lemonade Days is this weekend. I promised the teen and tween and their friends that I'd take them this afternoon. Guess what I'll be doing while they do the rides and junk food and craft booths etc.?