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EESTI ELU reedel, 22. mail 2020 — Friday, May 22, 2020
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Rooneem Worldwide Reunion During this strange spring of 2020 as we are learning new words, ie. COVID-virus, self-isolation, social distanc ing, etc., it is comforting and pleasant to think back to more normal times when it was actually safe and fun for people to gather together in large groups. And so it was last summer in August 2019, when members of the Rooneem clan were able to travel from different parts of the world to all meet at the Rooneem country home in Collingwood, Ontario. They stayed for a week in order to celebrate Aino Rooneem’s 90th birthday (although a bit belat ed), and to spend time with each other so cousins could get to know other cousins and to generally keep otherwise distant family ties connected and strong. The ravages of WW II had caused many Estonians to flee to all corners of the world, where each settled as best they could. Many years later, the de scendants of these original refu gees would voluntarily re-settle, for business or other reasons, again to many different parts of the world. And so it was with the Rooneem family also. Hugo Rooneem had arrived in Canada with his two young sons, Raivo
and Vaido. Over time, these sons married, had children, and these children had children of their own. When their stepmother Aino, (now “Granny”), reached the honourable age of 90, they decided it was time to have another Family Reunion and also celebrate her birthday, Hugo having passed away some years ago. And so they came from the far sides of the world, a family of five from Australia, three from Estonia, and closer to home, eight from Alberta, four from Ottawa, and four from Toronto. Also, Aino’s friends came from Florida, Toronto, Stayner, and Colling wood to help celebrate. Pastimes at the Rooneem cottage included the traditional Estonian sauna for the older braver ones, volleyball played late into dusk hours for all, and rolling big beach balls around on the lawn for the younger ones under seven. A few had at tended the Laulupidu in Estonia in July, and some English speakers were sufficiently inter ested in their roots to consider learning the difficult Estonian language. All in all, the many generations enjoyed spending time together and were even considering possibly another Reunion five years from now. elm
Rooneem family members from Australia, Estonia, Alberta, Ottawa, and Toronto in Collingwood, Ontario. Photo: Jeff White
Kid’s Corner: Games for children at home Vincent Teetsov The sun’s been coming out more reliably with every pass ing week. Flowers are bloom ing. For those who are at home with kids, the warmer and longer days present a challenge. We could all use some new fun games to keep us occupied inside, or outside if you have a garden or yard. These activities will entertain and sustain kids creatively, physically, mentally, and socially. 1) Extreme Hopscotch / “Keks” This game is ideal if you have space in your driveway or sidewalk without too much foot
traffic. You might just see your neighbours hopping around on their daily walk if you make an extra challenging hopscotch course. Just like ordinary hopscotch, you’ll need some colourful chalk to draw out squares for where you need to move for ward. Numbers are written out to tell you what order to hop in. Single squares mean you have to hop on one foot, while two squares next to each other mean you need to put one foot inside each square. You can arrange these in whatever order you like. But where this game be comes exciting is when you
throw in some different moves. For example, use a piece of chalk to draw a spiral shape and the number “3” for the third part of the hopscotch course, which will also mean that the player has to spin around three times on one foot before hop ping forward. You can write “5 jumping jacks” to make the player do five jumping jacks in place before continuing. Then there’s the backwards arrow, which means you have to hop backwards with the correct moves. A “2” with a backwards arrow means you have to hop two spaces backwards. Hope fully you won’t land on a spin ning spiral. For the most daring players out there, you can add in assort ed bits and pieces like tennis balls or toys, to bounce or carry as you hop from one space to the next. This can be done instead of tossing a stone in one of the squares and skipping over that square.
Photo: D. Sharon Pruitt
Draw a chalk outline of the object you’ll be picking up so your household of players knows where to pick up and put down the object. It’s not easy to stay on one foot while crouch ing down, so a special prize can be reserved for whoever suc cessfully gets to the end of the course and then hops back to the beginning.
2) Telephone – the drawing version: There’s no doubt you’re already familiar with the party game of Telephone, but this is a variation of that game with drawing instead of just words. Don’t worry if you’re not very good at drawing, this will make it even more funny to play! Gather everyone that lives in your home in one place and sit in a circle. The first player thinks of a random phrase (for example, “the raccoon is sleep ing on top of the sauna”) and draws it on a piece of paper. They have 30 seconds to think of their phrase and draw it. Then, the first player has to secretly show their drawing to the next player on their left. This second player has to look at the drawing and describe it to the player on their left. They should whisper in their ear so that no one else knows. This third player has 30 seconds to draw what they just had whispered to them. Then this player must show their drawing to the player on their left, who in turn has 30 seconds to describe what they see in the drawing. A burglar who fell asleep on someone’s roof? A superhero flying above a city? This is then compared with the first drawing to show how close to or far from the original phrase everyone was. You can extend this game to include as
many people who live in your house, with the same draw- describe-draw-describe format. 3) Toilet Roll Puppets I hope no one has too many rolls of toilet paper lying around at home, but before you throw those cardboard tubes into the recycling bin, put some aside for an impromptu craft project. Used cardboard toilet roll tubes are stable and easy to customize, making them a good candidate for creating charac ters. You can cut them into dif ferent shapes, like a character with spiky hair. You can glue on a cone-shaped hat to the card board body. You can carefully use scissors to cut eye, nose, and mouth openings out (draw these with pencil first and ask an adult to cut them out for you). When you have a nice shape all ready to go, use some acrylic paint, markers, or crayons to add colour and expressions to the characters. If you’re feeling adventurous, make some cos tumes and props for the charac ters, like some pipe cleaner arms, a walking stick, or a small Estonian vöö (belt) with patterns going around the waist of the character. Put them out for show, use them for a small living room performance – the choice is yours!
