Homespun Entertainment

When we lived in the city Mrs. Curley and I used go dancing to Big Band music once a week. Oldest daughter could go out and get an ice cream up the street with friends. While we didn't go to movies very often, they were readily available, as was Frankie's Fun Park, the bowling alley, etc. etc. And while we didn't have a satellite dish or cable TV, we still could get some 5-6 stations in - although even these we didn't watch much. We had a minor (single A) league baseball team (very affordable even for a family) in town also.

Now in the country, I have to fiddle with the TV for a long time just to get one station to give recognizable images. We have no dancing, bowling, baseball, ice cream shops, etc. So we are learning more and more to entertain ourselves.

Occasionally Mrs. Curley and I do roll back the rug and put a record on the turntable and do some dancing. At times I will select a long book and read it out loud to the family for 1/2 hour every night.

However, the most fun is when we do some impromtu skits or songs for each other. This homespun entertainment involves everyone, creates laughs, teamwork, and joy. One time we split up into three teams and had about an hour for each team to come up with a skit, which we then performed for each other. Today we just took turns singing songs alone, in groups, or all together. We did some of this when we lived in Columbia, but now we do much more of it - to the benefit of all of us. I think in many ways we owe much thanks to our oldest daughter and our dear friends the Nyikos family for showing us how much fun and uplifting this can be. Especially the music brings joy.

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!