Rory makes The Bee (Reed neighborhood paper)

Puddletown Montessori Preschool children visited residents of the Odd Fellows Retirement Home on Hallowe’en and gave them handmade cards. The preschool is located in the basement of the Holgate Center, a continuing care facility across the street from Grout Elementary School. (Photo by Merry MacKinnon)


Reed neighborhood’s Montessori school brings young and old together for Hallowe’en



By MERRY MacKINNON

for THE BEE






The 45 children enrolled at Puddletown Montessori Preschool by S.E. Holgate and 32nd Avenue in the Reed neighborhood had a very non-traditional Hallowe’en this year. No costumes. No candy. But, for the preschoolers attending school that day, it was a gratifying Hallowe’en, nonetheless – and one that touched the hearts of many older adults living next door.



At noon on Hallowe’en, Puddletown Preschool teachers and school co-founder Andrea Ludlow assembled the children and ushered them out the classroom door for a short walk to the adjacent Odd Fellows Retirement Home. There, the train of children entered the facility and marched down the stairs to the dining room where elderly residents were having lunch.



Then, softly singing “Autumn leaves are falling”, the children wound their way through the room, stopping at tables to give seniors their gifts of handmade Hallowe’en cards. As the little ones approached, the seniors would lean toward them, and smile reassuringly.

“It's good for them. And it’s good for us,” said one elderly woman, waving to the four-, five- and six-year olds as they passed.



One man brightened at the sight of the preschoolers and declared, to no one in particular, “I wish I were that age again.”



That wasn't the preschoolers’ first visit to the retirement home. As reported in the August BEE, a part of the school’s intergenerational program has teachers periodically gather the children for trips to visit the retired residents next door or upstairs. The school is located in the basement of the original Odd Fellows building, now called the Holgate Center, a continuing care retirement facility.



“Bringing younger and older people together is so beneficial for both,” explained Ludlow. “The elders are like surrogate grandparents. They like to tell stories, and the children love to listen.”

what a weekend

what a weekend...so packed with adventures. First of all, Grandmere Jackson got me tickets to see a puppet play for Christmas, and mom got the tickets for yesterday, since it was the last day of "Pinocchio". We got the book from the library so I would know the story. The last 2 weeks I could not wait for the show. I barely slept Saturday night, and was so excited all day I kept saying "my head will pop off".

More on that in a minute. It all started when dad put up a strand of lights and my Santa in my room. exciting. A neighbor won a Rudolph with glowing nose at his Temple on Saturday, and his kids are too old, so he gave it to me. It is so cool, my new best buddy. Then we drove into Washington to a farm and got some FRESH goat milk and 3 dozen nice fat eggs...mmmm...

Saturday was good. Then Sunday came. We had a leisurely morning, then got up and saw Gretchan's boss' house they are still working on, ran some errands so dad could work on my teacher's bike. We then had a quick lunch, then went downtown to the theater so we could walk a bit before the show. It has been crystal clear here, but windy and Wisconsin cold (well, like windchill of 20ish). So, we hit a big store downtown to warm up. And what do you think we heard? The ringing of sleigh bells and jolly "HoHoHo"s. That's right, we ran in to Santa coming down the escalator. So, I got to tell him what I wanted for Christmas, and GOT MY FIRST CANDY CANE!!! We all split it. Then we walked back to the show.

IT was SOOOOOOO great. I had a big smile on my face the whole time. I couldn't take my eyes off the stage. It was a mix of puppetry and live acting. IT was cool. After the show we got to touch the puppets and meet the actors and learn about puppetry. Then I decided we needed to go out to eat. I choose Sivalya (Jose's place) and LO AND BEHOLD I heard the familiar dulcet tones of Jose, back after 4 months in Thailand and helping his momma get better from a bad Kidney infection.

wow. thanks for reading. go see a puppet show!!

Day two

Well we had a great sleep in today...7:00! wow. I have been sleeping great, and in case you are wondering I am still not sleeping by myself, I just muscle into mom and dad's king-sized wonder about midnight and we are all warm and toasty.

We had our last farm food pick up today, then mom and I went to the Thanksgiving addition of the Farmer's Market. Nice. Dad did a massage today (his slow time has started), and that's about it.

Don't forget to check out the sweet Youtube.com videos. Check for us under "pugalugs", daddy's posting name.

First Day Off!

Well, I started my vacation for Thanksgiving today...ahhhh...I love Portland Public Schools (my preschool follows their schedule). So, today daddy went to work. I had breakfast with mom and dad and then Dad shot out and rode to work. After he left, Mom and I had some adventures. We took a walk to Mt. Tabor in the rain, there was noone there. We saw lots of mushrooms and I did lots of running downhills. We then came back and had lunch. Mom always has some projects going for me. We played "Don't spill the beans", I did some cutting projects, I had to pick up some beans under the couch, and we found a DEAD mosquitto there, so I refused to go by the couch. Then I decided I would never again go to Grandmere's or Grandma Bonnie's because of the mosquittos. Nice. What a day.

The pictures are from last month's Halloween decorations, and today's last projects of putting lots of tatoos on....love rock and tatoos....

YOUTUBE.COM

Yo, for those of you that forgot...were lazy...whatever...we'd like to REMIND you to check out youtube.com and search under "pugalugs" our screen name. Some funny stuff of Rory and daddy.

Halloweeeeeeeeeen 2007

Here's the fam for Halloween this year. Gret, dressed in Rory's moose/bear costume was great. Dad was Frankenstein, Rory was a ghoul with bloody fingers.

Rory's candy trades were as follows. Candy for:
-a book
-a can of Tropical Fruit
-tatoos
-glow in the dark stickers
-kisses from mom and dad

His candy was taken care of in an appropriate manner, I assure you.

back online

Hey folks, sorry for the delay. We are finally back onboard the blog world. Rory says he's by the computer and he has his rope out on the floor, 2 pugs around, he got a library book about Pinocchio, and is looking forward to seeing Mark, Kalli, and the boys for Turkey Day in 4 days.

Today we went to a Cirle sing a long with Dave Orleans, the Earthsinger. It was a fundraiser for music classes for poor children. Rory requested "I've been working on the railroad" and "This land is your land". But we pretty much sang all the kid's classics.

Yesterday, we went to a Circus Party some parents put on for their kids' November birthdays. It was unreal. About 100 people, we had HulaHoops, cupcakes, juggling, unicycles, a clown, magic, trickery, and lots of laughing and chasing.