Hey there! It’s Granny Bunny aka Mary May. I’m sharing some of the magic I make for the children in my life. In this letter I’ll give you the inside scoop on our super dangerous Snake Hunt, and share a generational donut tradition which I suspect is not unique to our family. As Alice Cooper so elegantly proclaimed, “school’s out for the summer,” so I’m giving you a peek at how we celebrated the end of our in-school/online year of learning during the pandemic. Our Bird Day was a feathery adventure in art. And we wrap up this month’s fun with some Virtual Reality (VR) excitement thanks to the wonders of the Oculus Quest 2. I hope by sharing my fun, you’ll share some of yours, and we can inspire each other to create some special memories for those little people we love so dearly. As always, hold on to your wand, cuz here comes some magic spells. — Granny Bunny

Our Snake Day party was quite the event. We started with some after-school nourishment and then started right in on our baking project. The girls wanted to make snake cookies so I had sugar cookie dough for sculpting and lots of decorating and frosting options queued up. If you hadn’t heard, our efforts were cursed by a jealous, evil witch. It was horrendous.

Above you can see the snake cookies the witch made to further humiliate me. The whole ordeal was quite the story which you can read in the June edition of the Slender Stalk love letter. Just click HERE.

After the baking fiasco, we moved on to the “Fear the Snake” game. One person hides the snakes in the yard while the other dons their snake hunting shirt and selects her snake snatching tongs. The timer is set. Everyone is nervous. The contestant must capture at least six deadly snakes without dying in order to win a prize. We hug and kiss good-bye just in case the worst should happen.

Above is Lilly demonstrating some of her tong techniques. Sometimes the hardest snakes to find are hiding in plain sight. The scariest is reaching into the plants and bushes where you might get bit and need to have someone suck out the venom. That happened at our last snake party and I almost died.

Our champions both prevailed despite some daunting hiding spots. We applaud their courage, speed, and tong techniques. Once again, our yard is safe for field mice.

Each winner won a bag of delicious gummie snakes. The unfortunate Witch incident caused a lot of excitement and put us behind on our party schedule. We ran out of time to learn Paampu Atta. It is a mesmerizing snake dance from India. Snakes are considered protectors of health and prosperity. Usually girls perform this dance with a snake skin-like costume. We also missed watching our snake video called “Snakes Can Be Cute Too” (YouTube). I’m sure we’ll have another Snake Party so we’ll save the missed fun for next time. With any luck, I’ll be able to teach the girls to speak Slytherin parseltongue by then.

”Parseltongue is the magical language of snakes, snake-like creatures, and certain magical human beings. It has features of Bantu and Uralic languages. Everything is voiceless.” - Parseltongue Wiki

One of Keith’s and my fondest memories of childhood was when grandparents would come for breakfast with a box full of donuts. When I was a little girl, every night I would kneel next to my bed and say my prayers which always ended with “and please let Grandpa bring jelly-filled sugar donuts on Sunday. Amen.” Keith and I carry on the tradition now. (Fun Fact: Keith uses a donut for his avatar).

You may notice Keith’s camera at the table. The two walls of windows in Mollie’s kitchen are graced with highly active bird feeders and the most impressive variety of birds we’ve ever seen outside an aviary. Keith is like a jumping jack popping up to snap one bird after another.

”Never underestimate the power of a donut.” - Granny & Paw

(Above left) Kallie locks herself away in her bedroom to study for final exams for her online classes. My job as cheerleader was to give her pep talks and inspirational text messages. So she could keep working uninterrupted, I made the take-out food runs and deliver them to her window. Just look at that photo! Does she remind you of Juliet or Rapunzel?

(Above right) Presley celebrated her commencement from primary school after the graduation ceremony (grandparents were allowed to attend online). It is so bittersweet to say good-bye to beloved teachers and the last throes of childhood. Next stop, middle school. She’s invincible!

(Above left) Roland killed the semester - a star performer in every class! We gave him a “thank you” for making the family look good. It takes a lot of perseverance and discipline to make it through grueling online classes - but he hunkered and he conquered. Roland Rocks!

(Above right) Lilly leaves school and heads to our house as a newly minted fourth-grader. She’s tie-dyed and ready to make a fantastic summer. She shared her list of fun goals and we’ll be doing our part to make them come true. We can’t wait!

”You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!” - Dr. Seuss

Every party at Granny and Paw’s house includes refreshments, and this time, the girls got to shop for their own. Presley picked a blueberry muffin and dragon fruit. Lilly picked kiwifruit and a chocolate treat from the bakery. She also asked for non-alcoholic sparkling apple champagne which she calls “kid wine.”

Then it was time to transform some art supplies into an imaginary bird (nest optional). Presley takes her art very seriously and reimagined the art assignment to be a bird’s ancestor — the dinosaur. Lilly was excited by the colors of the feathers and clay, so she decided to create an imaginary striped species.

Here’s a peek at Presley’s almost finished “Barney” head waiting for the paint on his clay hat to finish drying. And Lilly was so delighted with the way she was able to use all the colors of feathers and clay with enough left over to make a wiggly worm for its beak and a tiny baby bird as well.

And now both creations are safe at home in a place of honor where the prehistoric ancestor and its fanciful descendant share a nest. We ran out of time to paint the bird houses. I often plan too many activities. Maybe next time.

“Birds are the last of the dinosaurs. Tiny velociraptors with wings. Devouring defenseless wiggly things and, and nuts, and fish, and, and other birds. They get the early worms. And have you ever watched a chicken eat? They may look innocent, but birds are, well, they're vicious. ” - Neil Gaiman

Earlier this week, my oldest daughter and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a honeymoon trip, while Keith and I played in an alternate universe with the grandkids. I apologize in advance for gushing over the Oculus Quest 2, but it’s truly a game changer from the VR (virtual reality) rigs from a few years back. It’s better in every way: stand-alone, comfortable, intuitive, immersive, fantastical, exciting, delightful. Kallie (above center) is the owner and family VR tutor.

The kids each have their favorite places to visit. Mine so far is the Potion Room in the Waltz of the Wizard game. I don’t remember the name of Keith’s favorite but it involves a railroad yard where he spray-paints graffiti on the box cars (a walk down memory lane, I think). If you ever get the chance to try a VR rig, DO IT. If you ever get to buy your own, you can expect untold hours of adventuring. The implications of VR simultaneously thrill me and scare me. One of the grandkids said, “I just want to stay in VR. The real world seems so boring.” I will definitely keep this in mind when I move to the Old Folks Home.

“When virtual reality gets cheaper than dating, society is doomed.” - Scott Adams