Saturday, September 11, 2010

Weekend Happenings

Today we took a trip to the George Washington Carver National Monument located in Diamond, MO. We gave a ride to Vanessa from the church. It was her announcement in the church bulletin which first called my attention to "Prairie Day" at the site. I was surprised by the number of cars which were parked on the grounds. I drove all the way to the place, but going back, Vanessa drove about 50 miles.

Diamond is about ten miles to the southeast of Joplin. There is a museum on the grounds. Several large tents (40' by 80' I would guess) were set up on the grounds. One tent was dedicated to music. I think I spent more time there than at any other tent. There were several string bands at the event. I did not move around a lot due to the pain I am experiencing when I stand. I took two pills while there which helped a lot, but it also made me sleepy. That is why Vanessa drove from Joplin to Vinita today.

Vanessa is an actress who does one-woman shows. She also works as our church secretary. We saw her portray Rosa Parks in one show, and Lena Baker in another. She lives in the area where Nick lives. She enjoyed the presentations by actors portraying historical figures today.

Instead of eating on the grounds, we went in to Joplin and ate at the Red Lobster there.

The previous night at Poetry Group, Mary gave me two tickets for the Tulsa Symphony. I ended up giving the tickets to Nick and Jennifer. Luke and Ayla spent the evening with us.

There were six of us at Poetry Group. We read poems by Billy Collins, who is now one of my favorite poets. Next month our focus will be on Gerard Manley Hopkins. Collins is a contemporary poet and was formerly Poet Laureate of the U.S.

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