Fun Fall Stuff

One might say that Beth can go a little overboard on her enthusiasm for fall. But it makes her feel great just to be in the midst of a beautiful fall day, so I can't get in the way of that. Here follows an account of our weekend:

War/Dance
Friday we went over the the movie theater to experience the Heartland Film Festival for the first time. This is a week long festival promoting independent and big-time productions that are in-line with Truly Moving Pictures' missions statement. Which is something along the lines of promoting films that are positive and inspiring for change.

The movie that we saw was called War/Dance, which is the story of Patonga primary school, a school within a refugee camp in war-torn northern Uganda, qualifying for and competing in Uganda's national music and dance competition for primary schools. This is a big deal in Uganda, with their sense of music and dance as a part of their ancestry being so strong. All of the kids that attend Patonga are refugees, many having lost one or both of their parents and members of their family to the war. The story told of the obstacles that each one of these kids had to overcome to just make it to Kampala (Uganda's capitol where the competition was held), and it focused on three of the kids in particular.

It is so moving to watch the joy that is on the kids faces when they are singing and dancing, as they will often mention, makes them forget about what is going on around them. The personal stories of the three kids are incredibly heartbreaking, and I can say with confidence that there was not a dry eye in the house. Beth claims that I cried more than she did... I definitely lost it during one scene. It is so easy for us to connect with those kids, as we were in their country, getting to know kids just like them only months ago. Anyway, the movie is going national soon, so I will be sure to remind everyone to see it.

Pumpkin Patch
Saturday we went to Spencer Farms to pick a pumpkin. Spencer farms is where Nicki Spencer's family lives (she went to Uganda with us as well).


We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch, picked out our little guy and went back. Then we dug an orange mum to put on the porch. We also bought a few little gourds, some indian corn, and some cider.




This girl loves her pumpkin:


In the evening we went home and made burgers and apple cider. And by "made apple cider" I mean we added a bunch of stuff to pre-purchased cider and put it in the crock pot for an hour, but oh what a difference those additions made.

Oh yeah, on Saturday morning we went for a walk in the park. We were taking this paved path through the small wooded area when we heard this crazy yelling around the curve. We couldn't see anyone. We kept walking and heard it again, a bit closer. It sounded like a man screaming a gibberish language at the top of his lungs. We kept walking and heard it a third time, and saw a red shirt through the trees coming towards us. I steered Beth right around and we started walking quickly back the way we came. The voice continued but got further away. It ruined our walk. And we were left wondering who it was and what was going on for the rest of the day.