it's so challenging to know where to begin....well if you don't know about squam art workshop (saw) then please go and discover. it is held at the rockywold-deephaven camp-rdc in holderness, new hampshire.

i found this dreamy retreat last year when soulemama was blogging about speaking there. i was so fortunate to go and i know it sounds ridiculous but i really had a life changing experience. thank you elizabeth for your vision, persistence and the amazing teachers that you invited.

it was so lovely to see my dear, dear friends that i met last year. i've been so looking forward to seeing them and oh we had so much fun and laughed so hard...so good.

many new wonderful friendships have begun on this trip too.

my favorite shepherd was there too. if you don't have a favorite shepherd...you will soon...i just love susan gibbs from juniper moon farms can't wait to take our family there for a trip. my daughter has decided that she really wants to be a farmer, i asked her "don't you want to be a shepherd" and she said "no i want to have all the farm animals". there you have it...why limit yourself!

the weather was also wonderful. we had the perfect combination of sunshine and rain the temperature was just right! the weather has clearly been very warm in new hampshire this spring because the water temperature was beautiful. many of us took a lovely swim. the water was so clear and very deep, so nice.

this was the view from my bed. one morning we decided to sleep in just to enjoy the sound of the rain on the water...so soothing, what a perfect choice we made!

as if the location, classes, teachers and attendees were not enough...every night we had entertainment.

one night we heard a little from all who came to teach and from jenny doh.

the amazing jonatha brooke played two nights for us...so amazing...what a treat!

we were so fortunate one night she shared 2 brand new-unrecorded songs with us...looking forward to hearing those again real soon we hope...they were both so powerful.

the multi-talented lizzy house spent an hour learning an unbelievable gaelic duet with jonatha and went up and sang for us. her grace and talent were as always inspiring.

we also heard a great story from jenn lee who will be teaching a storytelling class at squam in september, she has participated on the mainstage of the moth if you have never listened to the moth podcast, you should. there are some really great true stories on there.

almost done here...

we also heard from jess and casey who are ravlery! they told about how it all began. they are a classic comedy duo with a really great story.

last one for now i promise...this is how it is though...all of this and more...

stephanie pearl-mcphee the yarn harlot also held court one night. it was amazing to watch almost everyone in the playhouse knitting and watching a "comedy" act...can't say that i've seen that before.

much more to come soon...

~sweet dreams and moonbeams

great story about children in haiti and los angeles on npr this morning...

npr also reported on the the knitting graffiti

another great find thanks to npr.

doing my thing this morning i heard this story about singer-songwriter Joanna Chapman-Smith love her sound. very similar to norah jones.

enjoy.

most everyday i have npr on all day in the kitchen. it makes me stop and listen or become overwhelmed with emotion and either joy, fire, inspiration, so many emotions. i just have a hard time understanding how everyone is not listening to this everyday!!!

i feel like i need to tell people about it, they must not know if they are not listening, how could they be depriving themselves of such inspiration and knowledge.

so everyday that i am listening i hear at least one story on npr and think "wow i would love to share that, that would be great to post on a blog".

so i just went to the npr site to find a few stories from today to link to and i found this picture of fred astaire and ginger rogers. i have to tell you every since i can remember i have had a huge crush on fred astaire. not much to look at you think. well i don't know, i just did and still do. ginger rogers was great too.

so i went to npr and came across this nice story about irving berlin and the song "cheek to cheek" that he wrote for "top hat". it just made me smile and brought me back to all those late nights watching fred and ginger on pbs. just makes me feel all warm and happy inside. hope it works for you too. here is a link to cheek to cheek.

i of course listen to morning edition and all things considered in the morning and afternoon respectively, but there are so many jems in between.

diane rheem she always has the most current topics and incredible guests and she does not let people get away with alot of what you would hear on some other talk shows, she is the queen.

fresh air with terry gross i don't hear fresh air much any more because it is on at bed/reading time. she has great guests and asks the questions that you would ask.

this american life how can you not love ira glass. i am sorry but he is brilliant. someone shared a link the other day with ira glass talking about creativity vs reality. this is perfect.

wait wait...don't tell me is always required listening. it makes me laugh out loud every time.

this will be the last one for now.

the splendid table we found this on late one night when we were painting the kitchen over the summer. so many wonderful little things to learn on this show.

so many of these shows if not all are available on for podcast. hope that you will try some out. warning...you may fall in love.

enjoy!