IMPORTANT update: recent changes at Beulahland

If it seems like you haven't heard much from Beulahland in the last handful of months, it's because, well, you haven't.

In December 2018, Jenver & NORM! made the difficult but necessary decision to relocate Jenver's 91-year-old mother, Marilyn, to Beulahland. Marilyn's memory issues and dementia had become too much of a liability for her to stay in assisted living, and Jenver couldn't bring herself to put her mother in a "memory unit" of a nursing home quite yet. So, instead, Jenver & NORM! became her primary caretakers.

As if there wasn't enough going on during the holidays, they packed up Marilyn's small apartment and somehow, by some unfathomable Christmas miracle, wedged all of it into the house. And, you guessed it, everything changed.

Suddenly, the distant dream of renovating the guest wing into a small apartment became a much higher priority. As a necessary part of those plans, heating needed to be extended out to that side of the house, which in turn, inspired Jenver & NORM! to bite the bullet and switch to geothermal (which is no small endeavor!). A wall was knocked out to make space for a fully-accessible bathroom. NORM! unburied a boatload of old ceramic tile he had been saving, and he & Jenver carefully arranged a perfectly beulahful design.

And of course, there was so much scraping, painting, hauling stuff out of closets, moving furniture around, navigating contractor's schedules, taking a torch to the old wood-burning furnace, lugging out the old oil tank with it, water-locking the basement, getting a new water pump, fixing the new water pump, sprinkled with a couple of health scares & ambulance rides for Marilyn. 

Despite all the massive upheaval, in the grand scheme of things, Beulahland needed this significant upgrade. As Jenver puts it, "Beulahland is going from the 19th century to the 21st century!" At the same time, Marilyn truly is benefiting from the stability of being with family, and Jenver keeps her plenty active, don't you worry.

All in all, it's been super tough, but it's worth it. That being said, at least for this year, it doesn't make sense to try to hold The Hours at Beulahland. Things just need to settle back down. However, we also couldn't bring ourselves to not do anything at all! So, Amelia is working on finding an interim location to hold 68. More details below.

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68: Date/Time TBD

The concept:

Art factory workers will be selected and invited to create 68 creativity widgets that will be included in 68 art parcels. These 68 widgets may be produced remotely and mailed to Amelia or they may be made (hopefully) at the factory location, which is still to be determined.

In theory, these same art factory workers will be invited to clock in at the factory to manufacture the art parcels in an assembly line. These art parcels will then be distributed among the workers to be given to folks who have never been to an Hours Festival before. Essentially, the art parcels will act as enticing invitations to The 10th Hours Festival in 2020.

Again, there is no confirmed location yet and no confirmed date. Amelia is still trying to work her magic. Thanks for being patient.