Jerusalem and the Wilderness



The Tree of Life and the Iron (silver) Rod 

Today when we played Lego we tried to reproduce the pastoral scene of the Book of Mormon story we have been reading in the mornings, all of us choosing a different segement to illustrate.

Mary scrambled in out and of Lego boxes to get enough pieces for our sets to be perfectly designed.

Xavier decided to begin with the Tree of Life from Lehi's dream.

He was able to find some owls to sit on the regular trees, some arachne for life on the green and I like Xavier's design for the tree of life (on the right) -- ultra modern.

Dancing by the Fire

I tried to hook Naomi into playing with us.

She had far more joy earlier in the morning, dancing with bells on her arms and ankles and singing "Nobody likes me ... think I'll go eat worms".

She caught onto the irony in the song which made me laugh.
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Naomi did not want to do all of that  Lego work to have her own display, but she was willing to be a helper to anyone who wanted to repesent a scene.

I was  hoping she might enjoy creating a female perspective but that is a pretty hard sell in the Book of Mormon 

I thought there might be some room for creativity with Ishmael's daughters.



Tired dancers relaxing with beverages

Above, I have a couple of them doing the hoochie choochie around a fire.

I was also thrilled to find some cups so that another set of  dancers who were tired could rest on some chairs with a few beverages.

Mary is the one who created the carrot haired figure with a black lace top. 

I was planning on building lace and sequined skirts, but if the Lego company has already done the design, why should I try to improve on their very excellent work.

It is hard to know what to do with women who like to have brooms in their hands.

I thought these two could stand by the fire, at the very least swaying and taping their brooms in rhythm to the music.

Keeping time with their brooms

The white hair of one of them made me feel in solidarity with her, and I was going to make her the mother, sweeping in a yurt (yet to be designed).

But I take my cue from Naomi.  Right now it is about all I can do to take apart wigs, heads, bodies and legs to get exactly the right personalities for the twelve women who are coming into our story this way.

I say, better to have them out by the fire tapping their brooms than for me to have to make a yurt for them to sweep.

(to be continued ...)

Arta