Volunteer work for December

December was a fun month for volunteering !

First volunteer outing was with the Indpls International Film Festival group. We held an early screening (a week before the theatre release) of True Grit. This is a remake by the Coen Brothers. Apparently it more closely follows the book than the original, and had quite a few funny moments. Even better, Nathan (my oldest nephew) is an extra in a couple of scenes near the end.

Second volunteer outing was with the Carmel First United Methodist Church / Angel Tree. Basically, there is a parent in prison who requests through the prison chaplain or the church, that their child / children be given a gift on their behalf. I had the pleasure of going with 3 other church members - a couple named John and Jackie, and another gal named Sue. We had 8 stops on our route, with one being particularly rewarding. There was a darling little boy - maybe 4 years old. When the gifts had been given to his mom to be put under the tree, he threw his arms around John and gave him a big hug. Totally made Christmas beautiful and special. Hope everyone out there had an incredible moment like that during this special season.

Pokagon State Park

This is the view looking down from the top of the tobogan run at Pokagon State Park. The run is iced ... mildly bumpy ... but fun ! As you crest the 2nd hill, look to the left - there's an electronic sign that gives your speed. We reached 37 mph with 3 adults on one of the larger toboggans.

Carters Toy Museum

Check out this nostalgic walk back through childhood. Carter's Toy Museum in Zionsville offers
case after case of toys that we all played with growing up. So much fun to see these items again. They are primarily in glass "no touch" cases. However, there IS a small carousel and a very small area with a couple of bumper cars for kids. At $5 per adult, it is worth the money. And the ice cream shop next door is both a fun / retro soda fountain and serves up great ice cream treats !

http://www.carterstoymuseum.com/

Heartland Film Festival

Volunteer work for October was at the Heartland Film Festival. As a movie lover - especially of small budget film - it was exciting to be given tickets to see festival films in exchange for volunteering. I worked the Hospitality Suite.

The suite offers help for anything and everything the filmmakers and / or actors need, as well as a place to relax. That included running people to a med check on a Sunday night (and no, there are not a lot of immediate care facilities open on a Sunday night), arranging for transportation, helping with hotels when flights were cancelled, etc.

Corbin Bernsen, the gentleman who is head of CastleRock Entertainment, Quinton Aaron (who starred as Michael Orr in "The Blind Side") and others were there.

The stars of the festival for me, however, were the filmmakers who have been so dedicated to the process and their projects. One man spoke of the fact that he and his wife have spent so much money they've not been able to afford to have a family. They asked people to support film as an art and a method of storytelling. I never really thought about film as THE storytelling mechanism of this generation and those to follow, but it is true that the format of film has replaced reading or oral story / passing of history and legends.

Overall, a good experience.
www.trulymovingpictures.org/heartland-film-festival

France

Spent 9 beautiful October days in France. Road a bullet train (Paris to Dijon), went to the Palace of Versailles (opulent) and walked the beaches of Normandy (D-Day landing beaches). The bullet train runs over 200 miles an hour. I'm sure we did not go that fast, but it was quick, quiet and so smooth. We ended up sitting in what I think was first class due to ticket issues as a result of the transportation strike... lovely. They brought around juices, menus to order lunch were proferred, the seats were larger.... very nice experience.

The French people were so much more pleasant than my first experience there. A lovely surprise. These are experiences I would love for everyone to be able to have.

Benjamin Harrison Home

http://www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org/

We visited the Benjamin Harrison Home this month. Tour cost is $8 / adult, $7 if you are a Triple A member. Tour is approximately an hour and 45 minutes.

Interesting factoids:

1. Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison are the only grandson / grandfather Presidential combo

2. William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia 30 days into his time as President. He wanted to prove he was not too old to be Pres, so he did not wear a coat to his inaugaration (on a cold, rainy day) and gave a 2 hour speech. This really does bring up the question - did he actually have good enough judgement to be President? Perhaps the country was given a break? Ironically, Benjamin Harrison also died of pneumonia.

3. Benjamin Harrison is the guy who had electricity put into The White House. However - he was nervous about it, so he had the servants actually flip the switches to turn lights on and off. Nice.

4. He was a progressive person. Went straight from chamberpots to indoor plumbing (skipping the outhouse option) in the house here in Indianapolis.

5. Benjamin's first wife (Caroline???) was a very good painter and started the tradition of designing the Presidential china pattern. Hers / the Harrison's china had a pattern of ears of corn around the outer rim. Not for Indiana though - the ears of corn represent the economy of the time (agrarian).

Check it out !

September Volunteer Work:

Indianapolis International Film Festival.

Needs work. Small. Lots of "gritty" films.

August

Hey Everybody,
So August was pretty lame. Okay, what I really mean, is that I was pretty lame in August. Did not get any volunteer work done. Ridiculous. Not one day or even a part of a day doing any kind of volunteer work. I am not proud of myself for that.

And only did two new - and minor - things this month

1. Paul and I saw the International Space Station fly over. I know - that is some super passive activity. In fact, it really does not qualify as doing something new, but it was new to me / to us. And truth be told, it was kinda cool to know that we were watching it fly by. It came from the west and was headed east / northeast. It had flashing white light(s) - but no red ones, which is really the only way I think you can tell it apart from an airplane at night - which is the way we were viewing it.

2. I learned how to preserve the harvest. My wonderful Mom (Jan) came over and patiently and lovingly taught me how to make / can pickles. We made Bread & Butter pickles. What I've eaten so far were quite good, so if anyone wants the recipe, let me know. Heck - if anyone wants to learn how to can pickles, let me know and I will try to come teach you.

Much more fun and interesting things coming up in September and October.

Peace out.