Fifth Night

We completed our letters and spent time reading to each other. Penny tells us that she read her letter to her mother at her bedside. Tonight we work on chapel elements. Although this technique has always worked in other writing group sessions, I found it a little harder and more artificial to work with. But being the troopers that we are we manage to make it work. The three elements we chose were the organ, the tin chandelier, and the altar statue of San Pedro. Then we each contributed an object-a tin of Anacin, a business card, chapstick, hearing aid batteries, and a pen.

We laughed a great deal during this activity-most of us got a little carried away with the contrived nature of this activity although we pushed ahead and each completed something. Each time we took a turn reading there was high hilarity as the incorporation of these simple items became more obvious and predictable. Fran Weissenberg took care of the incorporation of items in one fell swoop by placing them all on a shelf in her grandmother's store. Although, the reader may find the stories very similar each has an interesting twist.

Descriptions:

Carol writes about a walk at sunrise that leads a woman to discover the Chapel and the old organist who plays there....

Sandra tells the story of a woman who is down on her luck but is given the opportunity to become the organist at the chapel..

Penny describes an old man's dream to create a beautiful chandelier out of tin for the chapel.

Fran describes her grandmother's store and her best friend Mrs. Fennelli and their relationship to San Pedro.

Unfortunately Bill was out of town during this assignment so he missed the opportunity to do something creative with Anacin and hearing aid batteries.

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