Presentation hour

Today was the final meeting of the pilot social history program which I first reported in my blog "A Contraction in Time." By now, the middle school children and their "big kid" friends had been meeting over a period of several months, listening to each others' stories of growing up. During the last two weeks, each team of middle schoolers had made a final project, in a medium of their own choosing, to keep the older folks' memories alive. Today was the day to unveil the projects and present them to the seniors.

I was along again, chauffeuring Mimi Hastings.

It was smiles all around in the school library, where as a backdrop photos of earlier meetings floated on and off a big screen. The digital photos taken by the art teacher had been manipulated to look like the deckle edged snapshots of yesteryear.  After breakfasting with their group and their older friend, the teams of children took the spotlight.

The lead-off group had made video skits of three stories "Cliff" had told them, featuring the day he had been caught sneaking ripe peaches from a neighbor's tree. They also chanted a rap they had written in his honor. I was too slow on the shutter to catch any of this presentation.

This shadow box documents a childhood on a Midwest farm.
The lips in the lower right and the "BLEEP" recall the time when Martha's
mother heard her say a bad word -- and washed her mouth out the
old fashioned way.

And here's Martha herself, happy in the love
of her new young friends. The children had free
choice of medium for thier projects.

This deep shadow box is distinguished not only by fine
 craftsmanship but by the poems the children wrote as captions.

And here is Tigg (on the left), being photographed from all angles
as she explores her shadow box, along with its young
creators and a teacher.  

Jolly Mr. Kingsbury made such an impression that the
collage of his life is captioned in his own words; his photo beams
from the center. Ask me how that Hershey's bar saved his life.

And finally we come to Mimi. Her young friends depicted
 six of the quiltmaker's childhood memories in a quilt of their
own making. They set the memory pieces among colors and
design elements that recall the native American art she had
shown them. Ask her -- or me -- about the dizzy ladybug,
the buried turtle, the clipper ship, the band-aid-covered wood
tick, the ground-breaking bikini, or the "arsenic apple."

The morning ended with kudos from the principal and promises to keep the new friendships going.

This Ole House

What a difference a few weeks can make, when filled with determined renovation. This spring has witnessed a parade of renovations at our home.  Here is our Luxury Hi-tech Storm/screen door, in maroon to match the shutters. See how the screen rolls up, pulling the upper storm window behind it. The hydraulic doorman actually holds the door open as far as one wants, and closes it gently at a whisper-light touch. We oriented the new door to face out of prevailing winds, which should make winter usage, well, a breeze.

And from the outside. (Ignore the reflection.)

Other improvements include:

• The new front pathway
• An antique  lantern adapted by Roy to be the front door light
• Massive transplantation of hostas and lilies to make way for a greater variety of perennials and shrubs, all flowering -- we're nuts about blooms.
• Garage door opener -- we still get a charge out of opening that heavy wooden door with a touch (with the caveat that we have to remember yet another passcode).
• New garden stairway. Roy is the hero of all this advancement.