One More Time...from the Top!

We were able to go to the VA Clinic and serve sandwiches again.  The 4Hers made tuna and chicken salad sandwiches, with apples.  We had a big group of 4Hers, so I spent most of my time outside with the two younger ones who were full of energy.  The men really like that combination because they told me several times throughout the morning as they were leaving.  In fact, they often had more sandwiches in hand as they left the building.  We were happy to please these Veterans with such a simple offering.

Then we had a little bite of lunch ourselves before heading over to practice the poem skit one more time.  Well, actually the 4Hers practiced SEVERAL more times.  We had never practiced in front of microphones before, encouraging voice projection instead.  However, the State contest will be in a larger room and microphones will be provided.

My first thought was that they would try to walk up to the microphone to speak or lean in from a distance.  After all, who can resist a microphone?!  I have seen even the shyest of individuals love the mike! Sure enough that is exactly what happened as soon as they set their eyes on them!  However, we spoke to them about the importance of staying within the original bounds of their character and they adjusted quickly.

Our next task of the day was to remind them that they only had two minutes to set up the background and props.  We have not done this since our district contest.  We also needed to work on the fact that we would be on a raised stage (We have always had a flat surface until now.), so all props would need to be lifted onto the stage.

With the stage design and the 4Hers setting up alone, we had to go through the process many times.  However, they eventually got it done within the right amount of time.  We worked on a few issues with lines and placement on stage for individuals before we were done for the day.  We even had time for some vocal exercises...with Peter Piper picking peppers the group had the opportunity to enunciation their syllables...and with feeling!  This was our last opportunity to perform so we wanted to work out any last minute issues now.

I think the day went well.  I even had the opportunity to finally come home to work on the quilt again.  I am glad I had the help of little hands as we sewed the binding around the edges.  We now have a bound quilt with a couple of hours of hand quilting left.  We only have nine days to complete it so no snags (literally!) allowed.