Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy

A hippie lady. She’s no Cleopatra. She needs help. She needs h-e-l-p with a capital H! She’s too fat. Especially in that hip area…oh wow. She needs to cut the calories drastically and move around more. The hula hoop is not enough. It’s going to take some doing. The way she’s built, she’s going to need more than isolated exercise, and she needs to work out everything. The basement or an apartment or something.  She’s having fun. She’s cleaning the house for something. Maybe they’re cleaning up so they can go somewhere and it won’t be dirty when they get back. Maybe her son is coming home. He’s coming home from the military, you can see the photo of him in uniform. Her son will put her on a diet. She’s going to be serious about it. I don’t know anything about that. She goes on a diet. She’s gonna vacuum.  They just handed it to her. She needs a lot of things. She needs a silly little man. A little fat man, cause she got caught hula hooping. She’s having a great time with the vacuum cleaner. She’s having a wonderful time.  She’s gonna have a good time in life.

Nice girl, a little fat.  Mama Tilda doesn’t feel to well about that.  She likes to eat sugar pops and lollipops.  She bought circus clothes at the carnival.  She’s jumping a hoop.  The thing in her hand sounds good!  She’s cleaning the house for something.  She’s having fun with that.  Maybe her son is coming home.  Her son will put her on a diet.  She’ll be serious about it.  Mother is very old and all of the children have left the house except me, they come home at least one day a week.  She’ll have something light, like cereal and milk, apples - lollipops and sugar pops are good and it will be hard for her.  She will succeed, but it is hard to tell how long, because it is physical everywhere.  It will probably take a month or so.  A time clock goes tick-tock, tick-tock.  Come on, come on, come on.  Buh-buh-buh-buh.  Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.  No more, here, here, here.  I’m goin to see, see, see.  Come with me, me, me.  He wants to go, guy.  Mama Tilda will go to the doctor to take it off.  Having a ball, having a ball!

"she's no Cleopatra!"

Music is the best medicine

By: Anne, Maxine, Margaret, Ernestino, Joetta, Ellen, Gretchen, Mable, Stella, Alice

After watching this video:

......Alice and I had the idea to play music for the residents at Emeritus and see their reactions, and their reactions were wonderful.

Mythos- Surrender (instrumental)

It’s a romantic sound, makes you feel very mellow, quiet,. I don’t feel too relaxed, but I feel a little more relaxed than I was.  Okay. I don’t think I ever feel that way (serene or peaceful).  It didn’t change anything. I don’t feel like it’s very familiar to me. I wasn’t concentrating very hard, I was thinking of where it’d lead me to. I don’t know anything about music. It sounded good.

The Drifters- This Magic Moment
I can see where you have to get accustomed to it. Romance, a loved one. Brings them closer. Thinking of the ones you love being close to you, being gone.

The Beach Boys- heroes and villains

Whatever it is, I enjoy.
(What do you think about enjoying music that was written over 50 years ago?)
 I think it’s great. I think it says a lot. It’s something that has been remembered over the years, long than a person.

The Beach Boys- California Girls

It makes you think of past days. How much fun and different things were. It makes you get it on. 

Blood on His Sword

Alfie

Her name is A-L-F-I-E [the storyteller spells it out.] The best thing that comes into your place, there’s not enough stuff in here, no clothes. She don’t look that familiar to me. My opinion of Alfie isn’t the same as everyone else. No hair on the top, no all the things on the [face]. I would put some hair on her. Some type of either one would do [dark or light]. Yellow, I suppose, that color that is yellow. [Blond?] Yes.

Alfie’s are an individual thing. The second that someone comes to somebody’s head, they take it apart. They are very con-trap-tible about it.

Closed eyes, because she is thinking about what we are going to say about her. We’ll say whatever we want.

Alfie is a quiet, social, honest person. She is very smart. She comes from the United States, that means she’s everything. She works somewhere. She works at a place called ALFING.

Everything is changing, taking a lot of changes. Now we are growing up as long, long, long kids. The families are happy, because they are small ones. A thing for this [touches cheeks], a thing for this [touches chin]. We would love to be back to the things we did all our lives. It’s a miracle that people could pick it up and come out, almost impossible.

Alfie has a nice quiet life, and now she’s looking for a soul mate to finish her life with, someone similar to herself - if not, there’s chaos. She’s got to be quiet, trusting, social, go out and have a good time, live the good life. She will have an exciting life if she meets her soul mate.

“It must be me” [One storyteller says].

Her looks are not like stone looks. You have to find her age. Not any time soon.

How did all these people come from stone? [One storyteller points to each of the other storytellers.] How do I fit into their shoes? Don’t you have any answers?

Alfie has to do some studying before joining an organization like that, even if it is school. Something educational to her, that’s why it has to be worked out.

Her name is Alsie. Alsie.

All these people saying “Come on, we are going to do this. It is fantastical!”

What came back is we all, all, all the kids, had something to do that is very important to them. To me, being older than them, this is the best place in my head. There’s so many more people in the sky.

Alfie will join a hunting organization. She will explore, maybe for her soul mate. She wants to find her parents, because they went to stone. There are five stones here, and I don’t know where they came from [Again, he points to the storytellers]. They all live in stone in these pictures.

"We’ve got one parent here, an old one. Aren’t you something?” [one storyteller says to another, and they all laugh.]

He fits in pretty well if he is from around here. Any of them have to have a lot of training for where he has a desire to be working in. I think I would take a chance on him and hire him. The unsung thing of anything. Get me more, up, up, up to many places. You can do it one way or the other way, if it is the right time. If you can’t do it, then you say bye, bye, bye. We are doing it to the ones who are special, and if they come back, you will say, “These are the worst things we have seen in our life.”

This hat is better for us; it saves more money. Just started out wearing a western, changing her make-up, going naïve, going native, and she must be very cautious. A lot of souls out there have their own agenda. Some are worse than others.

The stone looks too much like somebody I know. It is the face of a woman.

She is fantasizing about finding her knight in shining armor, as young girls do. In her free time, she is chasing her knight in shining armor.

How does the story end? I couldn’t feel it. I was just watching, watching, watching, getting lumpy, lumpy, lumpy, getting bigger, bigger, bigger. The children need this. So many things we have to do in this world. Some people need more water, water, water.

I could kind of part-ic-ture this way. [One storyteller agrees with the other storyteller’s version of the story's conclusion.]

[Alice and Stella both type the words of the storytellers, because sometimes they talk over each other, and that's why there are two versions of the story. Either Stella or I usually combine the stories, grouping like comments, but I forgot to post Stella's portion this week. So here is version two. Enjoy!]

Alfie

Alice, Stella, Ellen, Evelyn, Evonne, Jean, Nona, Kathryn, Henry, Joyce

Bald Alfie:
I like it’s features. I didn’t hear its eyes. I don’t know much about Alfie, he doesn’t look that familiar to me. My opinion of Alfie might not be of everyone else’s, but we have to have an image of some kind. I would put some hair on her. Either color hair would do. Yellow. Blonde, with a little length to it. It’s just an individual thing. When somebody comes up to a head they take it apart. Closed eyes. Her eyes are closed because she’s thinking. (what is she thinking?) She’s thinking what we’re gonna say about it. Blonde hair, pretty face. She’s a quiet person, but social and honest. Very smart. She outdoes some of these idiots here. I’m trying to figure out where Alfie came from. She comes from the United States. That means she’s everything. She works somewhere. She works at a place called ALFING. She’s quite social, mixes with other people. She does whatever they’re doing. Everything is changing. The families are happy. There’s nothing at this point that says we’re just children, but we’re not. Everything that’s in the US is a miracle. It’s almost impossible. A nice, quiet life. Now she’s looking for her soul mate to finish her life with. She’s looking for someone similar to herself, if she’s lucky. If she’s not, there’s chaos. He has to be quiet, trusting, very social. Henry “it must be me. “He has to like to go out and have a good time and have a good life. She’s gonna have an exciting life. When we go out searching, you don’t always find them that way. (Do you think she is going to find her soul mate?) Her looks are not like stone looks. She has to find someone her age. She’s not going to find her soul mate anytime soon.

Hunter Alfie:
I think she’s going to meet a group of people. I don’t think she’s going to wander in somewhere; she’s going to have to do some studying before joining an organization like that. (What kind of organization do you think she is going to join?) Something that would be educational to her. Alsie. A hunting organization. She’s equipped. She goes to various places in the US, Alaska for instance, or north Dakota, south Dakota, and explore, and look for her soulmate. And wow him with her outfit! She’s going to get a lot of attention.

Cowboy Alfie:
How did all of us come out of stone? She wants to find her parents, they went to stone. There’s five stones here, and I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know why they all lived in a stone. (Henry says to Nona)We’ve got one parent here, she’s an old one. He fits in pretty well. I think basically any of them have a lot of training to go into something like that. He has a desire to be considered someone that can do it. I would take a chance to hire him. Give me more, give me more, give me more. That’s a cowgirl! He’s very naïve. Starting out, wearing the hat, changing the whole make up, that’s naïve. She has to be very cautious when she’s meeting new people in new surroundings, because she’s so naïve. A lot of souls out there, and they all have their own agenda- so she has to be very cautious.

Knight Alfie:
Doesn’t look too much like somebody I know. She’s a secret one. That’s not Alfie, that’s somebody new. It’s a woman. She might be fantasizing. Fantasizing about finding her knight in shining armour, as girls usually do. I remember this from way way back. (What does she do in her free time?) Chasing, chasing her knight in shining armor.

Which Alfie do you like best?
They’re all interesting in one way or another. Kids would get a kick out of it. Kids fantasize too. I like the Knight Alfie the best, there’s more of a romantic connation there. It ends very happily. Let’s hope she finds her knight in shining armor, but most often they don’t. I would say he’d certainly have to go that way.

Today was good. Really got the imagination going. It takes me back to when I fantasized about my knight in shining armor.

Young Girl

By Patricia, Stella, Stella, Jean, Earnest, Alice

This is adorable, wonderful fun. They were laughing about it, the other kids.

Her name is Jack, that was my name when my mother died. I had a horse named Jack 100 years ago. I was in the process of going down the road, but I forgot the real name because it had been so long.

Jack is dressed in casual sportswear. Little girls do that, too. Sometimes they lose shoes, my kids, and then I have to send them out after it.

Jack loves to be here. He was trying to get on the train, but the man said, “Nope, nope, nope.” She [Jack] had an accident, the skateboard went, “Boom, boom, boom.” I went to one doctor that was excellent. The man came out and said, “That was interesting.”

Broken bones are normal. He didn’t get badly done. Terribly, terribly people were crumbing. I was talking to him about it, and he said, “Come on. Come on. Come on.” You can’t do that to everybody.

Anything can be an uneven thing. I’m going to change Jack to Star, one of the best-looking parade horses. The horse fell in the wet grass because it made a sharp turn, and the legs came from out from under it. We were supposed to go around one side and back, but the horse in front of her fell. It’s a very short story. I’m sorry.

Right now I’m trying to walk around and find my stuff from three months ago. Someone stole my telephone and television.

Yes, mine was stolen, too. People never get punished for it. Our first thing was to go buy a lock, but they don’t do that now. Anybody can take what they want. I say my prayers every night, and they are going to burn in Hell forever.

Have you ever been to Mardi Gras? A guy came up and said, “Let me see it.” Then he took it and walked off. Three years later I got this thing in the mail, and they said, “When you graduated from school, how old were you?” Be sure you don’t give out your information.

Getting hurt was worth it for Jack. I don’t have any broken bones. Something is really wrong. Not something bad, that’s not what it is like at all. Going, “Puh-dump, puh-dump, puh-dump” could kill you. Someone tried to kill you.

My mother and my father have the same thumb. There are so many people that think they have more things, to get other things, to get in things, get a whole bunch of things downstairs. You have to be able to think about what you are doing.

Jack is going to be the happiest person in the world, because he is not in a wheelchair any more. I can do it. I could have done it when I was a kid.

“What is she doing?” - Jack got this to speak out. That is what she does now.

This circle [the storyteller points to the wheel of the wheelchair] is the only one that can charge you five toes. They put Jack in here to be out of trouble. It worked. But then he got in trouble again. He is too small to lie, steal, and cheat. Jack is not a trouble maker, he is fine, good, and very smart. When he was a little kid, we’ve all done little tiny stupid things.

Every morning I put my hand out and he says, “I love you.” There are so many places that are happening now. People that we thought about that were terrible, terrible people, we took them in, and now they are good.

Jack is good, because of [the way she is dressed - the storyteller demonstrated by touching her clothes]. She is smart. I know it. She is fun. Jack likes to make things for other people. She doesn’t like to sew or knit. She didn’t cook for other people. She made something small enough to fit in her hand [the storyteller gestures, hands together with palms facing up, as if presenting a gift to someone].