April "After school fun" 2013

Here are some of the fun activities children got to enjoy recently during our weekly "after school hour" on Mondays.  We finally had nice enough weather on this particular day to let the kids have some out door fun. Everyone enjoys blowing bubbles!  Even adults!  Assistant Joyce even demonstrated the old fashion game of hot scotch for the kids and probably slept quite well later that evening! Ms. Marcia let the kids use playdoh to create figures from a story she read to them. From the looks of the book's cover it was a story about a caterpillar! We are all hoping for many more warm days ahead for more outdoor fun.

Libri Foundation Donations - 2013

 Every three years the Libri Foundation gives small libraries the opportunity to acquire new books for children.  All a library has to do is obtain matching funds up to $300.00.  The local Friends of the Library group that is part of this library have again helped. As library director I had a specific list of books from which I could choose up to $200.00 worth of books.  Those books have arrived and our pictured here,.

Mini Easter Egg Hunt

 Decided to have a mini Easter egg hunt in the library on our Monday "After school hour" the Monday following Easter Sunday.  Since it was still a vacation school day, we didn't have the usual large number of students in attendance making it easier to have the hunt indoors what with the much cooler April we have been having this year.  Any kind of "hunt" seems to be a popular activity and these children were no exception.  Ms. Marcia and I are hoping for warmer weather to become more of a constant reality so we can have the Monday after school kids enjoy more outdoor games. 

Pelicans Return - April 2013

April 2013 and here come the pelicans again. Just in time for the town's annual Pelican Fest which is still scheduled for this coming weekend of April 14th.  Unfortunately, with no fish in the lake yet this year, they may not stick around long for the weekend events if they decide to find a more palatable place to feed. These two were swimming right up to my shoreline yesterday but when I stepped outside to take this picture they turned and fled back across the lake where there were several more gathered -  probably searching hopelessly for something to eat.  Wish they could help clean up the dead fish still remaining along everyone's private "beaches" from the big fish kill of last fall.

As for this weekend events - there is a pancake breakfast/lunch scheduled to help raise funds for the new playground equipment, a pelican pedal event for kids and the ever increasing popular "Pelican Plunge" into the waters at Crescent Beach.

Elephant Window Display

The library has been "invaded" by elephants galore for the month of April!!  This particular collection is owned by Carla Lawrence of Wall Lake. There are enough elephants that our library display designer made use of two top shelves above some of our magazines to help showcase the items.

I have been remiss lately in keeping up with some of our library displays. We have had displays of items related to a child's firemen items and a colorful collection of Blenko glassware. It never ceases to amaze me at all the different collections people do have and are willing to share with the library.

Murder Mystery Dinner Production- 2013

Lake View's first ever such dinner theater production was held in March of 2013 in the old high school gymnasium.  This location brought back many memories to many of us who were not only in the "cast" but for many in attendance at the meal as the stage in this gym was the site of many play and musical productions before the new additions were added to the school.

The title of the mystery was" Murder on the Black Hawk Casino" and was directed by Paul W. of Murder 4 Fun. Cast characters represented a mob boss and his wife from Chicago who were hoping to convince local residents to approve a floating casino on Black Hawk Lake. Characters in favor of this were the president of the chamber of commerce, a wealthy real estate saleman along with his spoiled daughter. The town mayor was somewhat undecided along with his teenage son.  Those characters against the casino were an avid environmentalist and one of the town's weatlthy widows. The "play" allowed for a lot of local jibes that brought laughter from not only the audience but even from some of us in the cast as we tried to "stay in character" while on stage. 

Since the performance was held on two nights, the murdered victim and murderer were different causing some of the characters to have to change some speaking lines to accomodate this change.

Hats off to the great crew who decorated the room and another round of applause is due the two "mom and pop" type restaurants that were the sole means of caterers for the delicious meal that was provided. 

I am hoping Lake View will be able and willing to do this again in the near future (several months in the future at least) despite the fatigue that can be seen on some of those who did the most in putting all the fine details together to make it the success it was!

The FAME 2013 Show Choir in Orlando

I had the absolute joy of getting to watch live the FAME 2013 annual show choir competitions from Orlando, Florida, this past week.  The event was held in the Hard Rock Cafe's special Live Auditorium.The main reason I wanted to attend was because the grandson of one of my dear friends was one of the band members of this group.  The group pictured here are from Omaha's Westside High School.  They did an absolute awesome job and took 2nd place which qualified them to go on to the national championships in Chicago should they decide to make that trip. Wish I could share the dvd of their performances on this site but any reader of this blog will just have to try and see it on the FAME show choir website.