Nina's Grandchildren: Chautauqua

When we took Guinness on his morning constitutional, we saw a small worm the size of a single strand of yarn. Kevin stopped to look, touch. When he caught up with me, he said he had moved it off the sidewalk into the dirt around the bushes, and spread some dirt on top of him to make him comfortable.

We arrived at Chautauqua Institution with time to plan our day. We walked to Bestor Plaza where Kevin exclaimed, "I remember this!" and ran to the central fountain.

I bought the daily paper to learn all the activities of the day and discovered there is a Sunday School program for kids at the Children's School! We walked to the rec. building to find out about swim times today. There are no open swims on Sunday, which means Kevin will have to swim in the lake. He was tired from our walk (there is a LOT of walking on this campus!) and wanted to ride a shuttle.

I was used in God's plan today! A woman and young boy were already waiting at the shuttle stop. She began telling me her woes: she injured her ankle, she sings in the Chautauqua Choir and was already late for Sunday morning rehearsal, her babysitter didn't show up, and she had no one to care for her child until SS began at 10:15. You can see where this is going. Kevin and I were headed for the Children's School to play on the playground until SS began. So little Joe played with Kevin for half an hour. The mother was ecstatic and said I was an answer to prayer.

Remember -- Kevin had a bit of fame last year when playing on this spider web thing! http://ninasgrandchildren.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-week-and-famous-boy.html

Soon more kids arrived and other parents including daddies with strong arms to really make this plaything rock!

Morning Worship at Chautauqua is spine-chilling!

Tony Compolo is the Chaplain for the week and speaker this morning. I have never heard Tony before, but he sat on Karin's lap when he was at Furman 20 years ago! She and her boyfriend were sitting on the front row, and Tony plopped himself on her. He is a great speaker, but, as Grant warned me, he is a flaming liberal! ha! However, he may be the only evangelical Chaplain of the summer, so that is significant. He would flinch at being called an "evangelical" as that term, he says, now has negative connotations. He uses "red letter Christian" meaning he follows the teachings of Christ which are printed in red letters in some Bibles.

The craft Kevin's class made was David's harp! His first had a flaw in the cardboard, so he made a second.

Dogs are welcome at Chautauqua. Kevin stopped to pet a little toy poodle puppy and received some kisses. He said, "That dog's tongue felt like worms all over my face!"

While eating our lunch, Kevin found a centipede.

He created a home for him. If you enlarge this photo, you can see him on the right on the two stones.

Enjoying his strawberry shortcake!

I bought one of Tony's books and stood in line to have it autographed. Kevin walked ahead to see who this person is I was in line to see. He came back to me wondering why I wanted to wait in line when "He's just an old man!"

An excellent brass band played this afternoon.

The centipede came with us in his paper cup. An usher came over to say only water was allowed in the Amphitheater. I told her it was a centipede. She laughed.

Swimming in the lake! The leg in the air on the far right is Kevin.