A few weeks ago one of the women in our writing group suggested we form a team and enter the Spelling Bee & Dee, which is a fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers and Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Because we refer to our writing group as CHERCH (the initials of our names), we competed as the CHERCH Ladies. We wore old-lady dresses and shoes from Goodwill. Lawsie me, I had forgotten how hot polyester can be.
The B&D is more like a game show than a spelling bee. For instance, we had to spell words from a story, identify dog breeds and spell their names (Rachel’s German came in very handy here), and spell words derived from people’s names (e.g., “chauvinism”). A particularly fun game was identifying homophones from their definitions. Each team works together, so no one’s on the spot.
Our first half was fantastic. I think we had a perfect score up until the point when we had to spell “bougainvillea.” We were rockin’ the house. We did the superiority dance. But then the games got harder and the scoring got steeper and well, we choked on the last set of words. The upside is, I don’t think I’ll ever misspell “rhinoceros” again.
It was a lot of fun, our cheering section ROCKED (we won a prize for best cheering section), we know what we gotta do for costumes next year, and next time we’ll have a better strategery for the final rounds. Look out, Rowing Association, here we come!
The question remains, why did we misspell “rhinoceros”? Hmmm, could it be, I wonder, was it…SATAN?
Filed under: charlottesville, contests, fun
Thank you, Cherch Ladies it was a fun and successful evening for all — Thanks to generous folks like like you all.
I wish I’d know about this–what a hoot that must have been!
Next time I’ll spread the news a little better. This time I was nervous. It was a fun time, though.
[...] 28, 2007 · No Comments Here’s some news that snuck up on me — The Spelling Bee & Dee has metamorphosed (heh, how’s that for a big word?) into Wordplay, “Charlottesville’s own [...]
[...] to join us, unfortunately.) Teams are forming now, but I have to warn you: the CHERCH ladies have no plans to choke in the second half this year, and our cheering team kicks raucous butt. There will be [...]