Psssst! The Spot -----> Around The Corner...: Once upon a time, very very recently, there lived...

Ten happy Brownie maidens

in a kingdom not far away

Over the last two years of empty ne

sting, I lost sight of the fun that comes with being a Girl Scout volunteer. Got a call early June from a former fellow troop leader, explaining that our area’s local Girl
Scout council needed volunteers for summer day camp and that possibly
girls were going to be turned down if the Council couldn't meet its required adult-to-child ratio. I signed up and soon after was helping out with a 10-me

mber Brownie unit of 6- and 7-year-olds that called themselves The Maidens in keeping with the camp theme: Medieval Manor. Girls Scouts instinctively are hard-working and smart, and they keep you on your toes. The trick is to remain standing as you lead. Thankfully, I could make good use of my old bag of strategies from seven years as a troop leader. In the end, the girls amused me and taught me a few things.

Here are choice moments from the week:

Vignette No. 1, straight from my journal...
Had a good day with Girl Scouts, but man am I wiped out. The camp theme generated a flurry of activities, crafts, songs, swaps, flag ceremonies and dances. The enthusiasm was dizzying. I'm out of practice. I was so wiped out I had to take a nap when I got home. Forgot how much I missed being around industrious girls of all ages. Some of the older scouts are from the middle school where I sometimes teach, so the first part of the day I heard a lot of "Hi Mrs. Johnson!?!?'' ricocheting from the big gym. It's funny how surprised students can be to see that teachers have a life outside of the school building. :-)

Vignette No. 2 , again, straight from the journal…

OK, today was hot hot, and I am so grateful for indoor camp activities and air-conditioned school gymnasiums. True confession: Today I discovered how out of it I am as to what the little kids are into. The one good thing about my former life as a reporter was having the Youth Beat. It kept me fresh and on top of things. So, there I was all day with 10 young Brownies smarter than me. We are one of several units, Girls K through 4. Thursday is the day units will present plays tied to the medieval theme. I had arrived late the first day and missed the production's details. Today, my Unit co-leader filled me in, telling me that the girls had opted to make their presentation a musical based on Love Story. So I thought, “Wow! That's such a modern and complicated and mature story for 7-year-olds... don't know how they will tie that all together with a medieval twist, but they seem smart and confident. More power to them.” Turns out today a small portion of the time was spent rehearsing, and that's when I found out that the Love Story musical is based on a five-minute video that is (as cool you probably already knows) a modern takeoff on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet by someone named Taylor Swift. I felt so stupid. My co-leader and I had a good laugh over it. The girls are none the wiser. These little girls are sooooooooo adorable. I forgot how fabulous this age can be. They can't wait to dress up in their pretty dresses for the ball scene.

Vignette No. 3, straight from my journal…
Man, I had to skip camp today for a “self-mandatory’’ teacher training session. Today, the Brownies/maidens created the indoor version of “campfire’’ s’mores and cooked hot dogs. What lousy timing I have!

Vignette No. 4, from you know where…
I am so proud of my little maidens. They knew all the words and dance steps and

gestures and wowed the audience of peers and grownups. In the end most wanted to be fair maidens because no one wanted to be Romeo or Juliet. The ring scene was too much to take. As one of the little princesses exclaimed, “I have to marry him? No way!’’ One of the two PAs played Juliet, and the other PA’s little brother, a very brave soul, showed up to do the Romeo honors. The youngest Brownie persisted -- she didn’t want to be a princess or maiden. She had preferred being a tree in the garden where the proposal would take place. She arrived this morning with fresh cut branches from her Grandma’s oak to adorn her 3-feet frame at show time. Another had preferred strumming her guitar and pretending as a traveling musician to serenade the couple in the big proposal scene. The rest lined up as maidens and formed an impressive chorus line.
Improvisation aside, I predict they will all live happily ever after.

The End

The obvious moral of the story is that you, too, can get this corny feeling you used to get as a little girl playing princess. So, if you have spare volunteer hours, please consider giving them to our little Girl Scout sisters? If we all donate time, no girl will be denied. To learn more about volunteering in the Dallas area, visit Girl Scouts of North East Texas at http://www.gsnetx.org/

Welcome

Thanks for stopping by.

The Spot Around the Corner is written to be amusing, helpful and informative, as all of us set out to live more smartly in our changing world. (Yeah, it's got a little of my attitude, too.)

Here's what is coming on The Corner:

Three off-the-beaten-path non-profs in the Dallas area to consider and why they get my endorsement?

The Louisiana African American Heritage Trail is an extraordinary treat for the curious traveler and road tripper. Mythical rivers (Cane, Red, Calcasieu and the Mighty One) and their scenic backroads. Museums, plantations, old neighborhoods, plenty of history and folklore and engaging natives. Come along with me as I pass along a pictorial, as well as tips and features and hidden treats from my trip exploring half the trail. From lengendary Nachitoches, north, to New Orleans in the east, to my homeland, the Cajun and Bayou country of Calcasieu Parish.

Shame on you, David Letterman? Let them make cakes and eat them too.

Visit again.

The Wetlands..."A migratory Home-Sweet-Home?''

I remember the Pelican

The brown pelican is revered as Louisiana’s state bird. After a more than brief stay on the endangered species list, it was making its way back in the millennium. Not only as an endearing icon for a land known as Sportsman's Paradise and nicknamed the Bayou State, but also as one of the most precious and unique birds in wildlife.

I don't want to see any more images of them black-slicked, beaks and feathers tarred from a drenching in an offshore oil spill that no longer sounds like an accidental occurrence. I want to remember the National Geographic/Audubon-like pictures from my girlhood and the later stories of a triumphant comeback. The animated imprint on the state flag still gives me goose bumps.

http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Birds/Archives/2000/How-Rachel-Carson-Helped-Save-The-Brown-Pelican.aspx

The bird’s comeback is symbolic of the resiliency of Louisianans. After the tears following the devastation of Katrina and Rita fall 2005, I cheered the recovery efforts spring 2009, during my first Post-Katrina visit to New Orleans. Thanks to the tenacious efforts of the natives and relentless aid of diehards from around the country and the world, the Louisiana spirit was thriving again. My home state for all its warts showed the world what it was made of.

This year, the New Orleans Saints fans proved that a football team is much more than an NFL franchise and its great players. The team is a community, too, dependent much on the spirit of the people that supported it. While the Saints historically had been maligned by many NFL pundits and naysayers for its no doubt long-suffering losing legacy, the fans statewide never stopped believing. That spirit prevailed last football season and gave the region another reason to believe in comeback.

Here we are late spring with two letters, BP, fast becoming a stinging part of the lexicon much like the label “Katrina.” Less than three months after the Super bowl and Mardi Gras 2010 revelry, this happens, again pushing the limit of my fair home state and its mighty people.

Sad for the loss of human life in the initial explosion. Can’t stand that the prognosticating points to bleakness, that we are looking at years of a slimy Northern Gulf of Mexico coast. Heartsick over the idea that a culture of fishing income three or four generations old will cease to be for families that know no other livelihood, and that small towns along the way that thrived on showing off its colorful lifestyle to visitors from near and far may turn into a pass-through on the state map.

And that once again, the pelican, along with other indigenous fish and migratory birds, animals and plants are under threat of extinction. This time the unthinkable threat of permanent extinction?

If this is offshore drilling, the price is tons of barrels too much.

http://www.facebook.com/dawnsaveswildlife?v=wall http://www.facebook.com/dawnsaveswildlife?v=wall

Oh, oh October!!

In this economy, pleasure trips require saving the extra quarters and planning ahead. If the Boston area is on your getaway to-do list fall 2009, check out Clink Restaurant (below), a unique nouvelle eatery in Boston's Historic Liberty Hotel. The Liberty used to be Boston's infamous Charles Street Jail. Lunch literally behind bars at Clink. Work off the calories with a nice walk through the high profile Beason Hill neighborhood and browse shops. Weather most October days will be accomodating. (Read the archived Beantown blog item on this site for more fall pleasures in the Boston area.)

Psssst! The Spot -----> Around The Corner...

Once upon a time, very very recently, there lived...

1 comment:

Jean Nash Johnson