A great time was had by all. We shared stories, and stumped the audience with
old fashioned implements, including a device for capping bullets shared by Mark
Adams, and a yarn winder shared by Jim Bull. Andrew, the Anderson House Mouse
provided everyone with mouse noses, and those of us who are young at heart (or a
little silly) promptly unwrapped them and put them on. Andrew (Mary Davis) also
shared a copy of the story of the Anderson House Mouse with each attendee. Mrs.
Anderson (Leona McManman) told the story of Andrew, with the mouse pantomiming
everything she said, and showing every object she mentioned – the furnishings of
a pioneer house. Most were baffled by the curling iron stuck in the kerosene
lamp. This was great fun and another approach to sharing our heritage with
children. At the end Jim Bull contributed his yarn winder to their traveling
exhibit, which periodically goes to the local schools, sponsored by Fort Dalles
and the Anderson House Museum. Because Andrew was very good at discovering
things, and learning secrets, we used that as our main theme for a pondering and
sharing session (OK, it was supposed to be a writing exercise but really
wasn’t). We talked about who kept the family secrets, and came to realize that
it was often the curious/snoopy child in the family, not always the oldest
ancestor. Everyone left with new insights into working with and asking
questions of siblings and cousins. It was also very obvious that secrets are
hard to share. My thanks to all of you who participated (and wore your
noses).
Program summary by Sandy Bisset