Northfield Retirement Community

Pictures removed 11-25-12

In January of 2010, Sue Otterness from the Northfield Retirement Community contacted me to request a storytelling event.
We decided to perform A County Road Picnic, which is one of my old books that I will be re-writing and re-illustrating to publish with Beaver's Pond Press in 2011.

The retirement community is an impressive campus with a theater, gift shop, and chapel, among other amenities.

Chaplin Diane allowed us to perform in the chapel, which is why you see me without my cap on in the pictures from the show.

The audience was particularly alert to the humor in the show from the beginning.

They especially enjoyed the part in the story where the Watkins' man drives into the farmyard to tell the family that their cows are in the neighbor's corn field.











In this photo you can see a piece of the table on which Nancy has set up the books for browsing and for sale.

This was a particularly lively group and after the show many stayed to talk, ask questions, and share their stories.





Since I have a lot of relatives from the Northfield area, it's not surprising that several of the audience members wanted to know which Fredrickson was my Grandfather.

Delores Roberts enthusiastically introduced herself to us because she is a really good friend of my cousin, Janet Olinger.
Delores told me the story of how she volunteered to be a nurse immediately after the attack on Pearl harbor. We talked briefly that day, but I got her phone number and asked to call her. I wanted to hear her story in more detail.
About a month later I called and she generously shared her stories of the war with me.
Meeting and talking with people like Delores is a fascinating benefit of visiting Retirement Communities.