Bears, Moose, Bunnies, and Beavers
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Veterans’ Day – quiet and gray. The heart of the big tree outside still held on to a fluttering of yellow leaves with a red or two poking through.
Come one o’clock in the afternoon, OLeif was off to practice some violin with Goofy Nickels (who had plans on singing at the church barn dance that night). However, on his way over, Goofy called to cancel the rehearsal, seeing as there was no sound system at their disposal. So OLeif spent the next several hours with the youth, who had set up a prayer meeting for the afternoon.
Collette spent her cold afternoon using various media forms: listening to John Piper, typing, and watching The Merchant of Venice.
Meanwhile, Rose was disappointed to find out that she would be in Egypt during the weekend the St. Louis Symphony was hosting a viewing of two Charlie Chaplin films on the big screen at Powell Hall, accompanied by his live score performed by the symphony.
“And there’s popcorn too,” Rose said sadly. “They’d better do it next year too.”
Back at the house, Carrie was preparing to dye her hair again, apparently. The end of the day would likely, once again, reveal an all-new Carrie-Bri.
As it turned out, only OLeif, Rose, and Molly attended the prayer meeting. So OLeif brought them back to the apartment afterwards so that they could all catch a bite to eat. This was after OLeif canoodled Molly into drying the dishes while he washed. Collette would have been embarrassed if it had been someone besides Molly, who didn’t seem to mind such things.
After getting chicken and roast beef at two separate places for dinner, Molly was dropped off back home and shortly later, OLeif, Collette, and Rose met up with her and her dad again at the barn dance. Molly, who was more enthusiastic than the rest of their grouping, bounced up and down around the circles, with Rose as her partner, who was slightly less enthused. Joe came later. And Augustus also arrived with his family and watched the entertainment while OLeif spent half the time drawing pictures of bears and moose with the Barney boys.
The evening then turned to the Chocolate Cafe, where Eve once worked, to hear Flint River again. The place was humming that night, with the fire going, and lo and behold, Diana arrived shortly after they did, also with Mr. and Mrs. English, Annamaria, and Adam.
“Hey, congratulations!” Diana said bubbly-like, who was more than happy to be home for a weekend visit with her family. “Oh, let me see – Sorry, I promise I won’t embarrass you too much.” She laughed.
And there was a gift bag from the English family which contained The Velveteen Rabbit and a very soft plush bunny. A little sleeping buddy for the baby when it arrived. There were congratulations from the other Englishs there. And while everyone chatted over root beers, cards, mochas, and violins, Diana was able to share bits and pieces of how life was going with those gathered in the back of the cafe.
The evening was wrapped up shortly later when Diana was called away by Alfonso and Velvet, who had just got out of church at 9:30.
Back home, OLeif was up till 12:30 in the morning, working on a CD cover for Flint River, which included a red beaver in the middle.