The Rainbow

Last night we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm. It began brewing in the Sound late in the afternoon and by dusk the sky was rolling with dark clouds. The thunder was strong and shook this small island as we watched from the front porch. When it was over, we were treated to a fabulous double rainbow. This is a view from my sandy lane in front of Philip's house.

Getting Started on Ocracoke

So, after many travels to Oregon, Florida, ending my school year, and so on, I have made my journey back to the Island to spend the summer with Philip. I arrived late on Friday night and jumped right into this life as if I had never left.

Internet is always a little iffy for me here, but I found a great place. It is early morning and I am sitting on the library steps. Birds sing. Winds blow. Folks walk and bike by for their early morning excersize.

The week has already been eventful with performing at the Opry, ghost walk, unpacking, settling in, company, hanging my towel in the outside shower. Last night a PBS crew who is here with Donald Davis filming went with me on my ghost walk. It was very interesting. Who knows what will happen with that???

I will try to keep daily notes for you, and, of course, my column continues!!

Lou Ann

Line Dancing in the Street

Every Tuesday night is line dancing in my small town. There are four of us girls who never, ever miss this dance class. We start the evening at the little Pizza Forum in Angola, our local mama-papa pizzeria, and chat and gossip and laugh away an hour.

We quickly pay our bill and move on to line dancing at the VFW in town. Our instructor, Sally, is a line dancing guru. She knows them all, encourages us and has even moved us to the intermediate class!

Unfortunately the VFW is being remodeled this spring, so alas, no class!

That does not stop us, now that we are intermediates! We have the music, our notes and CD player. So, last night we danced in the street, OK it was the driveway, but it was great fun. Neighbors walked by and put heads out windows to give a bit of a cheer or just watched out of curiosity!

We danced until dark, and all went their separate ways!

Mother's Day Bouquet

Just as I was finishing my Sunday Passage there was a knock at the door. When I went to the back door there was Aaron in his turkey hunting clothes carrying a fresh bouquet of lilacs from the farm and a card he had bought and signed himself! It was a wonderful day to start Mother's Day.

I planted the lilac trees the first year we lived on the farm. They burnt down at the fire, but came rebounding back even stronger!

Happy Mother's Day!

Lou Ann

Opening Night and the Flu

I do not get sick very often, but oh, when I do. I came home from rehearsal on Wednesday unable to swallow or even hold my eyes open with a fever. I bundled up in my woolen blankets and went to bed.

So, somehow I got through school and the rehearsals yesterday and back home in bed late in the evening.

Day 3: Still have it and today will be our shows. Two this morning and a sold out dessert crowd for tonight. The kids have worked so hard, it is a wonderful show. There was something about this show that I thought we just couldn't put it together, but we did! It is a revitalized show from 2000 when I ran the Emily Dickinson Players, such memories it brings back to me.

So, with a bag full of medication, I am off to direct, encourage, and share these young actors and actresses with the rural town of Hamilton. Break a leg (just don't get the flu!)

Lou Ann

May Day and Spring at White Picket Gardens!

May Day arrived in great splendor in Northern Indiana, and oh, we have been waiting a long time for it! Jonah and I spent all afternoon making May Day baskets for all of the neighbors.

We filled the entire dining room with art supplies including glue and paste and scissors and pipe cleaners and everything necessary to make this old fashioned baskets. Once finished we filled them with candy! When Matthew came home from school we tiptoed up to the neighbors porches, rang the bell and ran. Actually we tried hiding in the bushes to watch their faces when they received the lovely gift. Several neighbors called with a thank you and told me stories of how they did this when they were little. Isn't it nice to keep tradition alive!

The trees in my yard and in full bloom...Bradford pear, crab apple, lilacs and it is spectacular this year, probably due to all the rain we have had.

So, I am off to working in the garden taking time out for my last Mother/Daughter banquet of the season tonight.

Lou Ann

First Grade to the Planetarium

The warm spring has turned into a misted land of soft moss green. It was the perfect day for taking children on a field trip.

Now this just wasn't any field trip...but a well-planned and thought out field trip. My first graders (I introduce the humanities to all ages at school) spent the winter writing in their moon journals. We made them at school, decorated them with stars and stickers and I sent them home with a note about this being a family project. Each night before bed, they were to go outside with a parent and draw, sketch, paint or write about the moon. We studied the phases of the moon, the planets and constellations.

Meanwhile we did a family history study using recipes. We collected these from grandparents, even great-grandparents and turned them into books to sell to earn money for the planetarium. Thus this field trip was born.

We went to Prairie Heights for our field trip, sat in the beautiful planetarium and let the stories of mythology and moon cycles carry us away for an hour. The kids were delighted, and it was evident in their occasional sigh or 'wow.'

We stopped for ice cream on the way home, and that was just as exciting for them.

It is always good when a plan comes together.

Lou Ann