Red ROSA Reveling

Here's a few more pics from the ROSA's ceremony last night.  Paul Zacharias played the pre-show music and you can see a couple of the bouquets I made from prairie grasses and the last of Davey's sunflowers and gladiolas behind him.  Red was the theme, so I included this shot of some plums outside the aquaplex in Drumheller.  They are actually right under the "world's largest dinosaur", so I like to think they're the pits he spit out of a very large blackberry or something.

The other photo is Lindsey and I near the old wagon outside the Mercantile.  I'm working hard to balance as Lindsey just wisely leaned in.  She looked beautiful as a new bride and grad should.  Me, well, I'm still surprised with how big I seem to have gotten in the last year, but I'll try and live with it.

--It was a special day of memories and significance.  As I mentioned in my last post, I'm still struck with the stories that were told about the lives behind the awards and scholarships.  It's so important.

Pat Murphy, Angela, Janine, Max, and whoever else did an incredible job for the meal.  It was our first time, and it was delicious.  We soaked up the remains of our Mediteranean watermelon salad with our fresh olive bread and the super soft goat cheese sent me soaring.  Yum!  I didn't want to overstuff myself, so I took a plate home to experience the other half of my tenderloin again for lunch today!  Brilliant.  An incredible meal, and all for gathering some wild weeds in the fields and bunching them together!

A Time of Passing

Today was the awards ceremony at Rosebud.  David was the MC.   A time of recognition and a time of passage for the grads.

With each scholarship there was a story given by the presenter, usually in memory of some talented family member who had died.  I cried eight times.

I got to laugh some too, and enjoy some slideshows and fun music.  David did a good job as MC and made me laugh.  That's fun; when I don't know what's coming.

My dried flower bouquets actually looked quite nice.  (Although I'm sorry to whoever has to clean up all the little seeds.)  Once Heather put in the red roses, they looked stunning even.   Our little ensemble singing "Butterfly" was a nice offering.  Now I'm glad Bill made us have so many rehearsals.

I was a bit flustered for my "presentation" as I didn't know what I was supposed to say until I got up there and read the sheet, so I kinda hammed up my moment in the spotlight and kept stepping into the diva in a way that was hard to step out of.  It was silly, but overall the afternoon really felt important.  I'm so sad to see all the grads leave.  I hope the new students will be inspired to live full lives here so they, too, can have a testament when they leave.

Guys like Travis... and Aaron.  They're such an important part of the fabric here.  --What will we do without their leadership?  John finally graduated and I hope to see more of his writing come out in plays -- soon.

Well, that'll have to be all for today.  More profundity tomorrow, I hope.  Both the tomatoes and the boys are blanketed in bed, ready for the frost.