Young in the summer

On Tuesday I got a chance to preview the Fendig Children's Summer Theater production of Mary Poppins. Several of the cast members were guests at the Rotary Luncheon held at Embers and they performed three of the musical numbers that will be in the play, complete with the choreography. From the preview, it looks like the play will be delightful and entertaining. If you have not bought your tickets yet, you really should because I have heard that the auditorium will be filled to capacity on at least one night. Below Mary Poppins sings about how she is practically perfect in ever way to the two children.
 The director of the play is Pat Collins, who was one of the founders of the organization forty years ago. I remember the first production I saw was The Hobbit, their third production in 1978. The first year one of my children was in a production was 1984, Annie. The production of Annie was far more polished than that of The Hobbit--the early years saw a lot of change in terms of making everything look much more professional.

The choreographer for this year's play will miss the production. He is off to Orlando, Florida to join a group on a cruise ship for a three-week gig providing entertainment.

After leaving Embers I stopped by the rain garden in Potawatomie Park. It looked mostly dead, but I could see that the swamp milkweed and the blue flag had survived. Some of the other plants may yet recover.

 This morning (Wednesday) the city was removing sandbags. The RCHS football team was providing most of the muscle power. They loaded the sandbags into the loader, which then dumped them into a dump truck.

 Below a different group of football players were removing sandbags from the electrical unit by the water treatment plant next to Iroquois Park.

 As I wandered around a bit further I found some young people, these busy playing in dirt in the hall of the Core Building of SJC. I asked what they were doing and was told it was a State Police summer camp and they were learning how to sift dirt for evidence.

In past years there was an e-mail to employees at SJC telling what groups were on campus. This year I have not seen any such communication so I only occasionally stumble on what is going on at SJC.