July 11, 2020 Edition: Sunnyside Arms Over Easy Blog (Part I)
- The Sunnyside Arms Gazette
- Jul 11, 2020
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 11, 2020
The Sunnyside Arms Gazette's Over Easy column is taken over today by our head-in-the-clouds, mystery loving, BETSYTalks-giving, quirky and sluethy, on-the-fly event planning, resident specialist of knowing about all things creative, the one and only Betsy Ross!
Hello Everyone!
I have to tell you the story of what has happened here at Sunnyside Arms over the July 4th Holiday weekend! It turned my world here upside down for a bit, but now I am ready to work! The event was a smash hit and a homerun! I think you’ll enjoy reading all about it--both the before and after. Let's get started!
PART I: PRE-EVENT
In The Garden Where It Happened
Harold accidentally set off one of the smaller fireworks in the wrong direction during our rehearsal and while neither of us was hurt, my iPad and one formerly lovely lemon tree went “boom!” in the process. I used to sit under the lemon tree (hence, why my iPad was there), but now I am sitting under the orange tree in the garden where it happened on Agnes’s laptop (circa 2011) rewriting as much of my pre-event post from memory as I can. I know the holiday was last week but because of the “all-hands-on-deck” nature of the holiday event and the post-event clean-up, this was my first opportunity to re-write this post.
Hamilton Taught Me To Sing My Story
Hamilton Offical Trailer (You Tube)
Not to worry though! Having just watched Hamilton the musical on Disney+ on July 3rd, I had learned from the super-taliente [Get it? Talented + Caliente/Hot!] Alexander Hamilton himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda, that a great way to tell your story is by singing about it. Before the accident with the fireworks, I had already enlisted the help of Mr. Hawker, our resident musician, to put my blog post to music! Go ME!
Of course, as those of you in the Sunnyside Arms Cheer Choir already know, I am quite tone deaf. So there’s that, but, I had SO. MUCH. FUN. Not sure Mr. Hawker did though. There was a lot of Bomb Pop eating and sticky popsicle stick tapping going on between sets.
Part of the problem, according to Mr. Hawker, was that my blog post lyrics didn’t fit into any one song format very well. We tried opera, pop, country, jazz, rap, hip hop and interpretive instrumental formats before Mr. Hawker finally suggested we just go with an improvisational jazz beat. It’s not pretty, but it works! He’s good, but he’s no Charlie Parker! Thank goodness my BETSYTalk notes were already in the Cloud! Can you imagine?! Actually, you don’t have to imagine it, because it’s very real. Anyway, here is my pre-event blog post as best as I can recollect.
My Best Recollection Of The July 4th Pre-event Happenings
Boom! Flash! Sparkle!
It’s finally here!
The moment we have ALL been waiting for! The weekend of the Sunnyside Arms Super-Sized, Red, White, and Blue, Flag-Flying, Patriotic Explosion of July 4th Greatness AND Independence Day Extravaganza with Stars! …If Agnes asks, I did shorten the title.
My Name Is Betsy Ross, Hun
Being that my name is Betsy Ross it's only natural that I know and celebrate all things American flag and Independence Day-related! I mean, my namesake did sew the American flag, after all. It also doesn’t hurt that our Nation and I share a birthday! What?! Yes! So, I have been planning this wonderful celebration for the last 363 days! (As I do EVERY year!) It’s going to be GREAT! AWESOME! (Hehehe a little Hamilton humor!)
My Battle Plans For A Foolproof Historical Event
Every successful event comes down to theme, decorations, activities, and food. This Independence Day, our theme is “Stars & Flags.” I chose it because it allows for a lot of creative interpretation. We need that this year when my resources are limited. All that I have to work with comes from any and everything patriotic I could come up with and get my hands on before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of decorations, we had a lot of patriotic-themed decor stashed in the attic, so I just set to repurposing that along with adding some additional star-studded and flag-a-licious
touches to make it fresh. I have come up with some great activities for our residents. These are sure to be a hit with this crowd because they all love to dress up, eat, throw things at the wall, and watch things loud enough for them to hear.
See for yourself what is planned:
I have planned an exciting game of Toss the Stars on the Flag, where folks can toss blue raspberry Jell-O stars onto jelly and whipped cream-based flags which I have asked Genevieve DeVoo to have up on the walls of the rec room and ready to go by lunchtime. We’ve had a few “sliders” in rehearsal, so we’ll have some fans trained on the walls at the event, but if some of the flags and stars end up on the floor, it’s OK. Some collateral damage is expected.
There will be a Watermelon Eating Contest, too! We’ll be using the watermelon grown in our very own COVID-19 garden! In keeping with our theme, all of the watermelon will be shaped like stars. I was inspired by this video that shows how you can use molds to get fruit to grow into specific shapes. The winner will get a $50 giftcard to use at my MOST FAVORITE store, Michaels! They have everything a crafter like me could want. I better win! NOTE: All participants are required to keep their watermelon seeds so we can dry them and plant them for next year’s contest.
Participate in or just watch our Founding Mothers & Fathers Fashion Show! I have personally prepared dozens of costume options (as well as ordered more from Amazon.com and Party City) so everyone can be who they want to be. Having multiples of any one historical figure won’t be a problem. There are dresses, corsets, tricorns, tights, knickers, funny-looking shoes and so much more! Wigs, powder, ribbons, and other hair-related accessories have been provided by our very talented on-site stylist, Tiffani, who made sure to have it all ready to go for us before she and Joe left for their honeymoon a few weeks ago. Remember to wear a face mask!
We’ll cap off the July 4th holiday festivities at Sunnyside Arms with an astonishing display of fireworks that I might have bought from the seedy Florida Underbelly! (I’ll never say!) The Patriotic Explosion of July 4th Greatness Fireworks Extravaganza will be a memorable experience that can be viewed from anywhere on the property, inside or out. And there may or may not even be a display that looks like the American flag in the air! I don’t know how they do it, but it is top notch.
American Flag Fireworks display (YouTube)
My Special Sauce For Super Successful Events
Since starting my BETSYTalk series, I like to sprinkle some educational elements into all my shindigs as well. Trivia quizzes and bingo games are the best! I like to use the templates found at Jotform.com and Myfreebingocards.com. There are lots of options and opportunities for using trivia or bingo to make your events super successful. This year, I’ll be focusing on interesting and perhaps little known facts about our county’s EPIC and messy breakup with Great Britain in the form of trivia. I won’t lie, knowing that Hamilton the musical was going to be on Disney+ soon and that it covers this very thing, may have influenced me a teeny-tiny bit. I borrowed the Hamilton soundtrack from Tiffani before she and Joe left for their honeymoon a few weeks ago and have been listening to it non-stop. “But just you wait, just you wait…” Anyhoo, keep calm and carry on. Am I right?
NOTE: I already gave my BESTYTalk on these topics…because honestly I just couldn’t wait to share all the things! I used the Talk as a secret study guide opportunity for the trivia quiz! Sneaky, right?! Certainly some participants will have the upper hand, as will you, because I’m gonna pass the Talk-ing points on to you! Here you go!
The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, 1776. The signing began on July 1, 1776 and was completed on August 2, 1776. Congress adopted the declaration on July 4th so it's celebrated each year on that day!
There is more than one copy of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, there were thought to be hundreds of copies, however, only 26 copies are known to exist today.
News of the Declaration of Independence hit New York City and it started a riot! Only July 9, 1776, badass George Washington read the document out loud, which got some people fired up (in a good way)! The excited rioters tore down a statue of King George III, melted it, and turned it into musket balls for the American army.
Eight of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in the U.K.
The Declaration of Independence once took a long vacation from Washington D.C. During World War II, the document was housed at Fort Knox for safe keeping from Dec. 1941 until 1944.
It took Miranda a year to write the first and second songs for the musical, “Alexander Hamilton” and “My Shot,” respectively.
Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote King George’s song, “You’ll Be Back,” on his honeymoon.
Hamilton has a lot of dialogue with 144 words per minute and a total word count of 20,520!
In the beginning, Lin-Manuel Miranda considered playing Aaron Burr, but then went for it with Alexander Hamilton in the end.
The show’s title, Hamilton, is shared by a 1917 Broadway play (made into a motion picture in 1931) written by a high-society woman named Mary Hamlin and actor George Arliss. That version told the story of Alexander Hamilton as he helped create the financial structure of America.
And Food
Ms. Daphne’s delicious cookout menu of BBQ chicken, ribs, spicy salmon, and hot dogs, with sides of corn on the cob, asparagus, low-salt potatoes and ambrosia salad followed by a surprise star-shaped dessert will be served between noon-2 p.m. and again between 4-6 p.m. We’ll text everyone with the pick-up and delivery details the morning of the event.
Yes, We’re In Florida And Taking Pandemic Precautions
Keeping up with all things COVID-19, all revelers will be required to wear a face mask (except while eating) and both indoor and outdoor activities will be set up with safety in mind. In keeping with our trivia theme, I have arranged for half of the party go-ers to be wearing Americana -inspired masks, while the other half will wear British-inspired masks! All of the tables will be covered in cute flag tablecloths that I made and feature Americana-inspired centerpieces and star-influenced floral arrangements put together by our Ladies Auxiliary. Everything has been disinfected for all of our safety, by Nurse Susan, so don’t worry! Nurse Susan will also be on hand if anything medical arises. She’ll be the one in the Peggy Schyler costume. (I tried explaining that Peggy wasn’t a nurse, but she’d have none of it. She took some BUZZFEED quiz and was convinced that Peggy was her spirit animal, so I let her go with it.)
We’ll Be Back
Well gang, that's it for now! Study up! I’ll be back with some post party talk as soon as I can figure out how to get the star-shaped blue raspberry Jell-O stains off of the rec room walls.
DA DA DAT DAT DA YA DA!
-Betsy Ross
Comments