Today we went to 
"King Tut's Corn Maze" in Sunderland. The weather was perfect -- a clear blue sky. Yesterday was hot and humid, but sometime in the early hours of the morning a cold front moved through bringing drier air. We spent about 45 minutes walking through the maze using a map to find the 20 stations of a matching game which had pictures of Egyptian artifacts which you had to match to pictures of modern equivalents on a piece of paper. When we came out Alisa and Daniel took a hay ride while Charlie helped to set up a hot-air balloon and got a free ride out of the deal.
Tonight, Charlie and I are writing journal entries together. At the moment, however, Charlie is looking for a pencil with a point on it. I never much liked writing either, when I had to write by hand. I thought I would write about my new role at skating lessons.
For the couple of years of taking children to skating lessons, I played no other role than helping them get their skates on and watching. Last spring, I got a request from one of the coordinators if I would be willing to make the announcements during the lessons. This involves only two announcements, one after twenty-five minutes when I say, "Lesson time is over -- practice time begins" and after 40 minutes when I say, "This session is now over -- please clear the ice!" I make the announcements using a microphone which is part of the Skating Club's "box", which plugs in to the Mullin's Center's PA system and includes a tape and CD player, which are used to play music for skaters practicing their skating programs. I have become increasingly familiar with the box because as of the fall, I have been volunteered to run it during Charlie's lessons on Friday.
When everything goes right, I bring the box down, plug it in, and put on a CD of session music. Students come up to the booth to check in or pay "guesting fees" and, usually a bit later in the session, to ask me to play their program. Some skaters have two programs: a short program and a long program. I stop the session music, make an announcement, like "Elizabeth Vole on Program!", check to make sure the skater is ready, and then start the music. It helps to be familiar with the individual tapes or CDs -- some are recorded with low levels and need to be turned up or the skater will miss their cue at the beginning. Once the program is over, it is critical to remember to rewind the tape.
It's not difficult, but it can get busy, especially toward the end of the session when all of the skaters want to get their program in before they leave. It's nice to have something to do and to feel like I'm contributing to the club. Charlie enjoys it too, because I'll let him make announcements and run the box. I rather think he enjoys the appearance of being in control more than actually having to attend to all of the details, but it's fun to see him sitting in the booth, at his ease.