The Kinder garden is thriving, despite the dry spell we've had lately. We've been eating fresh lettuce for a few weeks now, but it's starting to get awfully warm out--it'll go to seed before you have an opportunity to read this, and that will be it for fresh lettuce until cooler weather is upon us again. In the meantime, there are lots of other salad greens, like beet greens and spinach. Everything else is doing well too, except one plant. My Artemisia, which was doing fine earlier in the spring, has dropped dead for no apparent reason!

By now you've probably all heard the results of the National elections. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those who voted for doing so, regardless of who you voted for, and also Jere, Nancy, and George, for being willing to serve the region. I'd hoped the ability to vote online and the increased amount of information available to the voters would improve the turnout, but less than 10% of those eligible to vote did so, across the country. The turnout for the international elections was even lower, at 4% for the AML voters who were eligible.

It's almost Annual Gathering time! I've been counting down the days since shortly after the World Gathering ended last August, and it's finally almost here. I hope to see many Region 2 folks in Birmingham, AL, at the beginning of July. I will be arriving Tuesday and departing early Monday morning. We have several members from our region nominated for Publications Recognition Program awards, so wish them luck at the awards ceremony at the AG!

Gatherings, for many Mensans, are the highlight of their memberships. If you haven't been to one yet, I hope you'll give it a try sometime. We have regional gatherings coming up around our region in September, October, December, and March, already scheduled. The dust is still settling from M-Counter Intelligence, hosted by Metropolitan Washington Mensa and Maryland Mensa over Memorial Day weekend, and I hope they'll decide to do it again next year. I had a great time at the RG, and it was a great opportunity to catch up with some members I first met at MWM's election party last fall.

Speaking of catching up, I've had an idea on the back burner for a while now, and now that the election is over, I've finally implemented it. I've started a supplement to the Kinder Garden newsletter column: the Kinder Garden 'blog. You can visit it and read additional information and happenings around the region and around Mensa there. I will be updating it semi-regularly, and there should be a few entries up by the time most of you receive this column. I intend for it to provide an additional avenue of communication for those of you who are interested in more information, but not to be a substitute for my columns.

Leah Kinder
RVC2

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"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."  --Margaret Atwood