12 nerdy facts about the Ed & May Hancock family reunion 2011

 1. First generation: Ed and May had twelve children, all of whom are deceased and therefore could not attend the reunion in any sort of a corporeal way.

2. Second generation: Ten of Ed and May Hancock’s twelve children had children. Of those ten, five of them, or 50%, had children who attended the reunion:

Loren had two children present: Phil and Frances, which is 66.6666…% of his children

Pearl had two children present: Bruce and Myrna, which is 50% of her children

Celia had three children present: Darrel, Rita and Lori, which is 33.333….% of her children

Lillis had one child present: Mary, which is 20% of her children

Earl had one child present: Gordon, which is 16.666….% of his children

3. Third generation: Of the children of the children of Ed and May listed above, the following had children who attended the reunion:

Phil and Sally’s daughter Erin

Bruce and Sara’s children Carlie, Eli, Ben, Ammon, Andrew and Jessica

Myrna and Bruce’s children Kelline, David, Nancy and Patrick

Rita and David’s children Dallin, Shelyse, and Joseph

Mary and Don’s children Debby and Denise (and representation from David’s children)

Gordon and Louise’s children Bobby, Brian and DiDi

4. Third generation: While none of Royal’s children were present, three of his grandchildren were, representing the families of Pamela (Lynette and Bonnie) and Brent (Blaine).

5. Fourth generation: There were many of these, and I won’t attempt to list them all. I will forget someone for sure, and don’t know the names of all of them.

6. Money:

In account before the reunion:             $1200.00

Reunion fees (17 families):                 $ 170.00

Auction income:                                  $ 261.25         

7. I have not received all of the receipts for reunion expenses, but clearly we did not spend all of the money, so there will be a healthy sum in the account that can be used for the 2015 reunion.

8. The 2013 reunion in Canada is being planned by the family of Royal Hancock. Details will be forthcoming.

9. The 2015 reunion in the US will be spearheaded by the family of Loren Hancock.

10. So many people helped to make this reunion a success, but I personally wish to thank Bruce and Sara, Gordon and Louise, Eli and Sadie, Don and Mary and Debby. These people are AWESOME!!

11. The food was superb! I do not think we can thank Sara, Sadie and Louise enough for their planning, cooking and general magnificence in the kitchen. Bruce, Eli and Gordon—you know how to pick ‘em! Thanks for bringing these ladies into our family!

12. The setting was great. I heard so many positive comments from reunion attendees. They loved the pool and the pool room, the comfort of the clubhouse. It was really great! Thanks Bruce and Sara for hosting!

Author, Author!

Loved the Young Readers workshop on Thursday and Friday!

So nice to hear authors/illustrators talk about their work...

Gennady Spirin, who spoke in Russian, with his son interpreting. His son is also an illustrator. I loved that I occasionally understood things they said to each other in Russian, thanks to my Russian-speaking children! Simple things like ne znAyu and nyet. But still, fun to understand a word of Russian here and there.

David Wiesner, who helped me to understand the wordless picture book--those have always challenged me. I rely heavily on words, and often miss the point of the wordless books. He helped me to appreciate what the artist is trying to do in telling a story through illustration alone.

Robert Burleigh, whose books I have read without really realizing it. Many are nonfiction, and I guess I pay less attention to the writer, since I am focusing on the person or topic the book is about. I should probably change that, and start being more aware of who is doing the telling. Bob Burleigh leads a double life as a painter of fine art under another name.

Susan Meddaugh, whose book "Cinderella's Rat" is one of my all-time favorite picture books. Susan is an animal lover and has a lot of pets, and said that when she was writing this book, the rats completely took over and told her the story. When I had a chance to talk to her, I told her that I have been wishing for years that she would write something similar--and she gave me a very intense look and said, "That is a very good idea!"

 Rebecca Stead is the winner of the 2010 Newbery for "When you reach me." And I liked that book; it was a fascinating read. That book was Rebecca's second novel; her first was "First Light" which I loved! Too bad so many people at the conference had only read the prize-winning book. So I made a point to talk with her about her first book, which had been painfully difficult for her. It is set in Greenland, a place she had never been. And she felt bad because of mistakes in it because of what she didn't know that she didn't know. As a Canadian, and therefore familiar with the far north, who has spent time in Iceland...I thought that she did a great job.

Last of all, Mary Downing Hahn, whose books I have been reading for a couple of decades. I was most familiar with her as a writer of historical fiction or just small-town everyday-life fiction, books like "Stepping on the Cracks" (which was also an award winner--the Scott O'Dell) who also writes ghost stories and is going strong as a writer at age 74. My friend Janet told me that when Mary was speaking, she reminded her of me! The person Mary made me think of was Josie--in junior high they both had a math disability, didn't pay attention in class, were underachievers, and both get obsessed, reading the same books over and over if they like them. If Josie grows up to be even remotely like Mary Downing Hahn, I will be very satisfied.

Scrabble

David and I decided to play a quick game of Scrabble on Monday afternoon. We play using the rules that my parents used, so each player gets nine letters instead of seven, since in our family the object of the game is to build the coolest words, not to win. So, on my first turn I drew the letters A-E-E-I-O-O-U-Y and a blank. Not the most awesome way to begin the game! Needless to say, David could build a longer word, so he got to go first. The first word I played was "YEAR" and on each subsequent turn, I kept drawing way too many vowels. So I was a bit worried about the X and Z and especially the Q, which can be a bit problematic, since you need the right building place AND a U to make a word. I kept asking David, "Did you get the Q?" (Because our family rules also allow you to ask questions like that, since the object of the game is to build cool words, and so if the other person has the Q, obviously you need to know so you can make sure there is an appropriate building spot...)

Josie was sitting across the room from us in front of the computer shooting the gems or something, and she must have heard me ask David about the Q several times. We got to the end of the game, and David drew a couple of letters, leaving only two in the sock. (We put the letters in a sock. Also my parents' rules.) I said again, "So, did you get the Q?" He said, "Nope." I said, "Well, that means that I will get it...good thing I saved the U-I-T." Then, after my turn, I drew my last two letters...and guess what? No Q!

I said, "What! Neither of these is the Q! Oh no! Do you think after all these years (our copy of the game is about 30 years old) we have lost the Q?" David started searching in the box, and looking around on the floor for that pesky Q, but it was nowhere. 

Then, from across the room, Josie said, "Umm...I think it is in my wallet."

David and I looked at each other, and I am guessing that I looked as puzzled and amazed as he did. "In your wallet? Why is the Q in your wallet?" 

"Well," she said, "it isn't the only letter in my wallet. I think I put three in there. Why? Is there only one Q?"

What was she thinking? How many times did she hear me say "THE Q"--not "A Q"? And seriously, how could you not know that there is only ONE Q in Scrabble?--Well, clearly she is not a Scrabble Afficianado! (Breaking my poor mother's heart--her favorite game!)

And why would you really want to have three Scrabble letters in your wallet? Apparently that is the cool thing to do. Who knew? And so much better to have thirty year old Scrabble pieces made of wood, instead of the newer, more cheaply made Scrabble letters!

Well, we all had a good laugh, and even if I had been able to put "Quit", I would have had to have the Q on a triple letter and the word on a double word score to beat David, who was ahead by 60 points anyway! And that wasn't going to happen that late in the game!