Wampanoag Indian Invades Westmore! (December 4)

Ellie's teacher, Debbie Draper (also a former assistant camp director to me!), was the recipient of a special honor. Because of her extracurricular summer training activities, she was chosen to have one of Plymouth, Massachusetts' Wampanoag Indians visit with the school.

I went to one of the sessions and saw some totally cool stuff! The picture at the start of this entry is a hairpin that a husband carved out of bone for his wife. (I love that the storks' necks form a heart.) He had all sorts of pelts for the kids to look at and touch. I also thought the tomahawk was amazing! He talked about how they had two homes: one for summer and one for winter (I couldn't believe that even these Indians had a "summer home.") and how they would have to re-bark the winter home every year. Sometimes they had 20 people living in the same one room home. It made me appreciate that at least my house had separate rooms for the six people and two dogs that live here. I don't know that I could handle being in the same room with everyone for six months out of the year. Maybe that's why they spent so much time in the garden--so they could disappear between the corn rows and have some peace and quiet!

Music Express (December 2)

In October, Ellie joined a singing group called "Music Express." They perform three times a year: December, May, and August. So this was a whirlwind week with all three performances. Here she is in her outfit. Unfortunately, none of us were able to attend this first performance at the Cove Point senior center.

Twilight, um, Sucks (yes, pun intended)

After that long wait, Mags and I (and a good portion of our ward/ neighborhood) went to our local theater (the Scera) to see Twilight. Needless to say, we thought it was horrible. There were just a few good scenes in the whole movie and none of them really involved the main characters. What a disappointment! (And since I'm typing this a significant period of time after we saw it, I'm happy to say that at least the sequel will have a different director.) What a bummer.

The Hills are Alive, with the Sound of Mormon Nuns!

Wow! The show opens with a lone nun singing in Latin and then the auditorium is filled with the most amazing sound as the nuns come down the aisles. And it's really hard to recognize them when you can't see their hair! After we found Maggie (the petite one with glasses), we were blown away by the vocal talents of Maria (Chelsie Shumway, one of my former YCLs and former Homecoming date of Ian) and the Mother Superior. Those two young women could have carried the show by themselves. I'm hoping to get a copy of the DVD and will try to post their duet. Maggie was probably on stage three times and up in the balcony another time, but the nuns were unbelievable. We are so proud of her participation and enthusiasm for sharing her talent. Way to go, Mags!

Word to your Reverend Mother!

Ellie and the State Fair

Ellie spent the day talking about her state for the 5th Grade State Fair: Indiana! She talked about their state song, bird, high and low temperatures, famous people, and other statistics about the state where I was born.

I told her the story of Dr. Bomba and how he saved my life as well as took care of the basketball team of IU. (I also tried to explain that he sat next to Bobby Knight at the games, but that meant nothing to her, although it interested her teacher.)

Here is a picture of her. We didn't have an IU jersey, so we just grabbed what we could.

November 18 GPS Hunt

We sure looked hard for this one, only to walk away empty handed. All we found was this nest.

Maybe next time!

Time to Play Catch-Up!

You may have noticed that I have disappeared for a month. My apologies. It got pretty nutsy around here and now I'm going to spend the next few days getting things caught up. (I guess I really had no idea that being called into young women would take up so much time.) We're hoping that everyone's activities will settle down by next week and life will get a little closer to normal.