Rings & Things

Ring on her fingers,

And bells on her toes --

She shall have music

Wherever she goes.

That was the story of yesterday's church bazaar. The weather was mild (for December), and we saw more people than in 2009. However, everyone's watching each penny, so we only sold about $100 of rings (and earrings). Hope sold 3 OOAK toe shoes. As a student, I encouraged several ladies who expressed interest in adult classes to check out the studio. They live near St. Bernard's church, so they aren't far from the Heritage School.

About 1 PM, we started our Christmas performance, the "non-Nutcracker," as Hope titled it. We had a much larger audience than last year -- Sabrina had her peeps bring in extra chairs so people could watch ... fewer family members (except for the girls' families) and more public. We opened with a classical piece "In the Flower Garden," followed by a demo with the littles from St. Bernard's with "Miss Hope." We had dressed the girls' hair behind our table -- I got to do their "big girl" red lipstick. (Just call me "Miss Kate," costumer & stage manager.) While Hope changed clothes, I got them calmed down and backstage ... Oh, they have so much to learn!! I know I must have been just as shy and awkward when I began, but hopefully by 4th grade I was better ... Then our junior high girls did a duet on demi-pointe, followed by the "Can-Can" by the company. Yep, we had ladies from all ages on that stage ... which may (hopefully) bring in a few new students and (maybe) a dancer for the company.

A final word on NaNoWriMo -- I handwrote about 20,000 words on my fantasy novel. Joy commented that the heroine was too introverted and not active ... I need to go back (I have about 30-50 pages.) and re-examine the pieces. I know the basic idea, but I'm not fond of the execution. Perhaps that's why most heroines are 30-ish at most ... by age 50 we get more introspective since we've been around the block a few times. Adolescents are easier since they have more possibilities ... Still, if I can locate the original chapters, where she confronts a monster in the Wal-Mart parking lot (it follows her home), I can salvage more pages than I have now.

In SHS, we're studying the Holocaust through Elie Weisel's experiences (and his Nobel speech). The kids are turning very anti-Nazi ... and still can't understand why people didn't "jump" the guards or fight back. The reading class will check out MAUS -- yes, graphic novels will make an appearance in the 10th grade. I suspect some folks won't enjoy how dense the writing can be ... these aren't the usual superhero comics.