Overalls are an Attitude: Day 5 at CASA

This morning, work at the garden was bittersweet.  It felt good knowing that we had accomplished something great the night before, and it felt good knowing our work after this morning would NOT involved getting dirty and bitten and burned, but we were sad to leave Lee and Karen, and maybe it's just me, but I've grown attached to the garden, too.

All we had to do this morning was take down everything we had put up the night before.  And that only took maybe an hour and a half.  We asked Lee to adopt us, and he said sure.  We also asked where he had gotten his overalls, because we had developed a fondness for them. He told us, "You know, for me, overalls are an attitude.   When I'm wearing them, whatever needs to get done, it'll get done."  I thought that was funny, but also a good description of this week in general.  We had a lot of unexpected things come our way, and not all of them were much fun, but we got done what had to get done. 

I think we should all "wear our overalls" a little more often.  Volunteering is hard work, and often thankless (we were fortunate to get such wonderful thanks from all of the Huntsville community), but if we want to make a difference or see a change, we have to do it anyway.   Whatever it takes.

Again, we got to leave early, but not until we finally got a chance to actually harvest something besides weeds.  Karen had us collect some peas and Swiss chard to deliver to senior next week.  I'm glad we got to do that so we could see our work directly help someone.

The rest of the day was our day off!  We spent it at the Space and Rocket Center.  Huntsville was the location where they based the rocket research and building after World War II.  It's actually a really interesting story.  Werner von Braun was a German scientist who was conducting research in Germany during the war, but when it became clear Germany was losing, he had to decide to either watch his work be destroyed in war, or ask the Allies for help.  He surrendered to the Americans, knowing they would take his research to its fully potential, and they transferred his entire team and research to Huntsville, AL.  It was there that they built the rockets that launched Apollo 11 and other missions to space.  Having an afternoon off was exactly what we needed.  The space center is a museum, but there are lots of rides and activities that made it seem like a theme park, too.

After that, we found a local restaurant that was clearly one of those places you go with your family every week for "the usual."  They had delicious Southern cooking-hush puppies, BBQ, Cajun, fried okra, and slaw.  The women who worked there took great care of us, and we were very appreciative of their hospitality.

Tomorrow is our full day off.  We're going to go take up those offers of a free meal and Botanical Gardens, as well as hike the State Park. I'm excited to get some more cultural experience in Huntsville!

Ciao for now.