DiGennaro Family

Well, I stayed in TX for Christmas–ate a good Christmas dinner with some family of a friend from church. I plan to go to MO for New Years, however, which should be fun.

Well, I was planning to go to Florida with Aram for Christmas, but it appears that my ride is going about the time that Aram heads back. So I may be staying here in TX. Campus has emptied, which gives me alot more time to do other useful things…. Just what, I am not yet sure!

not sure how to work this thing yet, but i think it’s a great idea. thanks, tobias. and thank you, simeon, for the emails about The Gambia.

this is just to say that now i am officially done with this semester. i didn’t do too great on the main class, but i passed, and i learned alot, so i guess that is what is important. i’m excited about next semester……it should be hectic, and different, but i get to study community health, (that is what the health department does, and health education and stuff), which of course is what i like best.

now i am going to clean my house so kim can have a nice graduation party on friday, and go to a whole bunch of church things, and hopefully organize my room. then robert and i will take off for Oklahoma with his family, and from there to New Mexico to Rich Uncle’s cabin. I love him more and more all the time (robert, not the Rich Uncle, although he is nice enough, and in poor health, which is always the most important part about being a Rich Uncle).

i love you all, and miss you.

jess

Thursday evening we has another showing. Turned out that we tied for first place in the competition. But before we found that out, we arranged to allow people to get another chance to see it. Several faculty came.

After it was over, we caught the birds and started tearing down. We got the entry room dissassembled and put the doors back on the lounge and shut them.

Friday we pretty much took it all apart. Ended up with a big pile of stuff in the middle of the floor. Cardboard, pallets, lots of bamboo branches, pieces of pallets, large logs, wooden crates, branches etc.

Saturday we loaded it all on two trucks and filled Bubbles’s minivan and took it all over to Bubbles’s sister’s house and piled it in the field. We worked on Bubbles’s sister’s house until 7 and then went out and lit the fire. We lit it in several places, and in about a minute the flames were 20 or 30 feet high. The bamboo branches and leaves burned very well. It is amazing that we didn’t light the lounge on fire, what with the candles and all. We lit two shirts on fire, but not the lounge (Bubbles and Igloo both walked into candles, burning holes in shirts they had borrowed from Slope)

After the fire had burned down a while and more people had showed up, we roasted marshmellows and stood around and talked. Some people sang Christmas hymns from time to time. I tried to resist the urge to jump over the fire.

I think the evening was a success.

The green blob is my brass candlestick from the Grandparent’s white elephant—it looked “Era” 

Looking from Igloo’s position to Karen’s. Slope is to the left, large tree and then lounge door 20 degrees to the right 

Looking from the entry room (in the hall part) through what was double doors into the lounge. Piano is out of sight to the right of the bamboo bookshelf. This is after it is over, so there is no light straight ahead where Slope was. Paper-mache tree on the left edge, hiding the raisable end of the draw bridge. Heavy tree close to center 

Shrug made a bamboo bird cage. Hung near Slope. Can be seen in the picture of Slope–in fact, can barely see one of the finches on the side away from Slope. This finch was gone the whole time. After it was all over we were looking around and I spotted it. Went back and checked the pictures and it was there the whole time! 

I was playing the piano for a little at the end 

Igloo beyond the raised draw bridge. Spork did a good job of capturing the feel, using a tripod, and maybe long exposure times