Free Range Friday or There's No Place Like Home

At the end of The Wizard of Oz, the play the kid's from Abbie's school put on last night - along with many Mom's and Dad's and many volunteers from the community - Abbie gave a speech of recognition and thanks, ending it with what so many of us feel about living here, (as well, of course as being a famous line in the story) 'There's no place like Home.' No, there is not.

Helena and Dad Mikey - Realizing that this is the last production I'd see Helena in was a bit of a misty moment. I've been watching her star and play in these yearly productions for a long time - it hit me when, this year, she's got the role of Auntie Em. That's a 'big kid' role!

Joe and Kelli - keeping a special eye out for a certain granddaughter and niece respectively.

Beautiful sets! This one, I heard, was painted by Sarah (yoga Sarah), but I know there were many helping hands in so many of them. Lots of work to put these on!

Why then oh why can't I?

Oh no! A tornado is coming!

This should have been video. The music and dancing were very tornado evoking

Oh my! Glinda the Good welcomes Dorothy

Munchkins!

Every year's production has one little kid who catches my eye, a rising star I know I'll be seeing more of in years to come. This guy on the left, I think his name is Henry, or he's a grandson of Henry? was the one this year. While ALL of the kids are awesome, he was just so out there that laughter was unavoidable. 

Welcoming Dorothy to Munchkinland

Her ruby red slippers (I said this last night and I'll say it here: there is always a Fellini-esqe quality to these productions...many of the kids don't speak English as their first language and didn't grow up with some of the common sayings that come from English speaking Americans - such as 'We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto - but they carry them off with the customary aplomb of any seasoned actor - we've got the best kids!).

The scarecrow was another who could end up on a bigger stage one day

I'm not sure how much humor Abbie intentionally builds into some of these shows but there is a lot of laughter...the apple trees were hilarious

Creeeeeaaaak

The wonderful Cowardly lion.

And at that moment, my camera battery died. I put it under more difficult rigor than ever before (lots of flash bang) and forgot I'd never used it this way...and forgot the back up battery. Whoops.

There were many more noteworthy photo ops but others have them, not I. All I can say is that if you are on Culebra during play time, you should definitely try to make it. The whole community turns out; it's a social event along with raising money for the school, and a lot more fun than five bucks is usually allowed to buy.

Speaking of five bucks. We went to Dinghy Dock for lunch yesterday, the last huzzah of the Lusty Mallards for this go-round before they departed for stage north and west. A lunch, some beverages...I always recommend the place because it's good food and drinks at reasonable prices, plus I happen to love  the people who own it and those who work there . But apparently, if you buy non-alcoholic drinks (that's what I get for doing that), it can get a wee bit expensive. Sorry, boys, next time we'll order real drinks instead!

And now that you're done counting the beers - it was a long lunch - please move along with your respective Fridays, there's no food to see here today except food for the soul.

Have a free for all Friday. Do something funny.