• My custom earphone kit came today; I had a problem with it and it didn’t come out quite the way I expected. They don’t take returns, but I e-mailed and let them know what happened and they’re going to replace it! I’ll reserve my review for then.
• I finally heard back from the farm about my Cat’s Meow piece. Turns out they are interested after all! I think all three of mine already have homes, but when I get them I will send pictures and they can order more of their own if they like.
• Yesterday I signed up for this tour of the Grand Canyon for next month when we’re in Las Vegas. It was about $220 for two people. I realized I never got a confirmation e-mail, so I went back to the site…and it now says $190 for two people. I signed up last night! I eventually did get the confirmation e-mail and it has the $220 price, so I am going to call them tomorrow and ask about it. There are plenty of other tour operators, if they won’t give me the lower price I might ask for a refund - then again, there’s a $25 cancellation fee, and that’s the difference anyway. We’ll see what happens when I call.

This week I sent several of these photos off to the Cat’s Meow Village people for my very own custom piece by their My World project. I already have a collection of several Cat’s Meow pieces, but I really wanted to create my own for the Enchanted Forest. I started the Enchanted Forest Preservation Society back around 2003, before Clark’s Elioak Farm came into the picture, even before anyone had contacted the landowners (Kimco Realty) to discuss reopening or preserving the park. Originally many EFPS members wanted to reopen the park, but everything was in terrible condition and more than 60% of the old park is now a shopping center. I appreciate that the farm has taken the lead in transporting, preserving, and restoring the EF pieces - it would never have happened without their involvement - but I wish more people were aware of EFPS and our early efforts to contact Kimco.

Anyway, I really love Cat’s Meow, and I knew that making a custom piece for the Enchanted Forest would be approaching magical for me. I ended up purchasing three of them, because one was $69 but three were $33 each - a difference of only $30 and you get two more. I had tried to get the farm onboard with the project so they could order several for their gift shop, but they didn’t seem interested. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with the other two - I know a couple of people who either deserve them as gifts or would want them, so we’ll see what happens. Either way, they were only $15 each so it’s not a huge loss…I would have paid $69 for just one if that was all I could get. (Good grief, I would have paid $69 for one little wooden piece?!)

I elected not to approve the artwork beforehand, mainly because I didn’t want to spend the extra $15 - but also, I’ve been planning this for a long time, and I didn’t want even more delays! The pictures I sent weren’t quite to My World’s specifications, but I got several good shots that show the colors and details, and when I e-mailed them a while back they said multiple good shots could compensate for the lack of a single ideal shot. I also don’t really feel the need to approve the artwork because I trust the Cat’s Meow people. Their business has been around for a long time and they know what they’re doing. I gave the best pictures I could find - I even signed up for a membership at NorVApics.com to see if they had any good ones, which they did - and that’s all I can do…it’s up to Cat’s Meow to do the rest. It takes about four to six weeks for the pieces to be made and shipped to me…I’m so excited!

I’m home today because I injured my back this weekend somehow. Anyway, as a followup to my earlier post, I went ahead and wrote to the Baltimore Sun.
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My mom (sunnydale47) sent me a link to a Baltimore Sun article called Defunct park’s admirers seek a storybook ending. The article included this:

The storybook park sat decaying for years, until Martha Clark of Ellicott City resolved to change that.

Clark’s quest began in August 2004 [...]

I made a post about the Enchanted Forest in 2002, and I started the Enchanted Forest Preservation Society in 2003. It was originally on Yahoo Groups, and in April 2004 it got its own website. I was even interviewed by the Baltimore Sun in November 2003. And yet they’ve forgotten all about us, and attributed everything to Martha Clark.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything the Clarks have done. But they were not acting alone, and I wish there could have been acknowledgment of that fact. The only comment was:

Clark was aware that interested groups had tried to reopen The Enchanted Forest and she believed a lack of parking space would prevent the storybook park from ever reopening.

This might refer to EFPS, but it more likely refers to Friends of Enchanted Forest, an earlier, ill-fated group that never really got anywhere. I posted in the EFPS forum about how we were left out - I wonder if anyone else feels the way I do, or if it’s just because this feels like “my baby” even though I’m no longer as involved as I used to be.

I did a bit of spring cleaning this morning - mostly I washed out the kayak from the winter. I think it probably needs a bit more spraying done, but I couldn’t dump water from the interior very well alone so I am going to make sure the first place I paddle is somewhere with a hose and somebody to help me. I wanted to go to the work party and paddle at Jack’s this morning, but after yesterday (the Enchanted Forest Weekend, more on that later) I was too tired to get up early enough to go out to Jack’s.

I also need to clean up a bit inside, but I will probably do that tonight.