My, what a couple of weeks it has been! I have so much that I want to share, but for once, I’m going to let the Ma/Mary in me win… I’m going to save my explosion of topics to distribute bit by bit, like Laura and the girls prolonging their stories in the Youth’s Companions during the Long Winter.
So, for my first installation, I’d like to talk about Laurapalooza 2012. This is probably as far into Laura-dom and away from weather/climate as this blog will ever go, but I think I’d be remiss not to give my perspective on this awesome event! My trip to Laurapalooza was the beginning of a 12-day excursion away from home, so I loaded the car with enough to sustain me for weeks to attend a conference for only one-and-a-half days! My friend Cindy, a high school English teacher in Sioux Falls, joined me for her first immersion in the world of Laura. (I hope we didn’t scare her!)
At the first Laurapalooza in 2010, I didn’t know a single other attendee. I expected to feel out of place, a scientist among teachers and librarians and historians. Boy, was I ever wrong! I found kindred spirits there, a group of fascinating people who had woven Laura into their lives in some way, either as a common thread or as a dominating fabric. My little weather presentation, which I thought would be more interesting to me than anyone else, ended up garnering rave reviews and inspiring me to take a little side project and create a dissertation out of it. I made friends over late night beers and hallway conversations, folks who became Facebook friends and even house guests.
Due to the wedding of my dear friend Erin, my time at Laurapalooza was limited to only the first day and a half. I knew I had to pack in as much as possible during that short time! I’ll reveal more about my presentation in a later post, including stuff I didn’t have time to cover at Laurapalooza (teaser alert!), but my topics included heat, drought, the Brewster school cold snap, and the tornado from These Happy Golden Years… some of my favorite topics from the books (besides the Long Winter, of course!). I had the pleasure of tying another presentation to Jim Hicks, and despite stumbling over what ended up being a VERY old slide that snuck into my talk (GRRRR!), found out that we had done research that once again came to the same conclusions about weather-related events!
On Thursday evening, the Bonnet Heads overwhelmed the locals at the Wine Cafe and OWNED karaoke night! We crushed the classic prairie ballads, such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone”, “Like a Virgin”, “Alone”, “Enter Sandman”, “Strut”, “I Love Rock and Roll”, “One Way or Another”, and “You and I”. (I’m sure there are more, too… because by the end of the night, we pretty much sang along to everyone’s songs!) Our performances earned us wild applause, a few raised eyebrows for our costumed sisters (Melanie and Kelly), and a round of drinks from the local softball team.
I’m sure glad we closed the place down, because by the time Cindy and I got back to the dorm and finished our post-ballad chatter, thunderstorms were moving into Mankato! With the drought I’ve been experiencing (more on that in later posts, too!), storms have become a rare treat for me! I tried my hardest to stay awake to watch the lightning, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough to hear the foreign sound of rain pattering on the window.
Of course, the best way to turn around from a night of karaoke fueled by adult beverages (WWLD?) is to lead a group of children in weather activities bright and early the next morning at Camp Laura! With Cindy’s assistance, we talked about our favorite weather events in the Laura books, built weather vanes and tested them, and identified cloud types. I left the campers with a few more weather activities to try at home and Owlie Skywarn books for some modern coloring!
My short stay at Laurapalooza 2012 was an absolute blast! My favorite parts, other than the stuff I’ve already described :), include tasting Long Winter bread with our churned butter, conversing with the authors at the evening reception, listening to great talks about what Laura read and about Dr. Tann and about the Brewster school, and seeing all the lovely and familiar faces while meeting a few new ones! I can’t believe we have to wait three whole years for the next Laurapalooza, but I’m already looking forward to it!