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~ The Online Journal
of
Looney Larry and Looney Lester Lobsters (1997) ~

residing at the Joseph Lee Elementary School in Boston, Massachusetts



February 3 - 7, 1997 - - Ocean Springs, MS

Pecan Park Elementary School, Ocean Springs, MS
Kim Everett's class and Judy Thurman
[Looney Larry 03 - 2,167 miles traveled]


Mon, 3 Feb 1997 21:16:46 -0600 (CST)

Looney arrived safe and sound to Pecan Park Elementary in Ocean Springs, Mississippi (on your map, take a left at New Orleans headed east toward Mobile; Ocean Springs is on the eastern shore of Biloxi Bay). Looney will spend tomorrow visiting Mrs. Lokitz's and Mr. Catchings' fourth grade classes. They are just completing a unit on penguins and Looney will get to meet Peter and Paula Penguin.

On Wednesday, Looney will attend a concert with Mrs. Beaugez's and Ms.Asger's fourth graders. On Thursday, Looney will go on a special field trip with Mrs. Everett's fourth grade enrichment students. The trip around our hamlet was planned just for Looney.

On Friday, Looney will be the grand marshall of the Pecan Park Mardi Gras parade. After the parade, he will attend a King cake party, yummy (for the cake--we don't have our eyes on Looney!).

Mrs. Everett has custody of Looney during the evening hours so he won't get lonely. From the pictures, it looks as though Looney has had quite a time already and probably wouldn't mind a little rest . . . but . . . as they (who is they, anyway?) say . . . no rest for the weary!

Laissez les bontemps rouler (let the good times roll!) and happy Mardi Gras
Forgot to tell you that Looney will get a few lessons in southern French!
Judy Thurman for Kim Everett

Thursday, 13 Feb 1997 12:20:39 -0600 CST

Dear New Friends,

We really enjoyed Looney's visit and hated for him to leave. We think he had a good time. It took him a day or two to thaw out and to get into the swing of things down here. We wish we could play in snow, too, like Looney did in Minnesota. Our teacher said that Fremont is near Sacramento and has similar weather to our weather. He shouldn't have trouble adjusting.

We just came back to school today. We have been out for Mardi Gras holidays. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the time leading up to Lent. Some people believe that you can play and party from January 1 up to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Then you have to behave until Easter.

The biggest parades and parties are held on Friday through Tuesday before Lent. The parties are in the form of big dances or just small gatherings with a King cake. The students have written a little essay for you on Mardi Gras.

You HAVE to have a parade. Divide into krewes (groups) and parade around the school. People in the parades always throw stuff like beads, doubloons, plastic toys (even moonpies!). People watchin the parade jump up and down and yell "Throw me something, mister!" At our school parade, all the students wear costumes (homemade is best) and masks. We have King cake parties afterwards. Krewes have names like the Krewe of Everett or the Krewe of Duby. Mrs. Thurman belongs to Krewe of Les Masquees.

Most parades have floats and so do we. We make our floats out of shoe boxes and usually have a contest. Winners get beads or a small king cake or just a purple ribbon!

King cakes are just braided bread or coffee cakes forming a cirle. The cake is iced with [alternating bands of] purple, yellow, and green. A tiny plastic baby is baked inside the cake. The person who gets the piece of cake with the baby has to bring a king cake to the next party or next day.

Looney was the grand marshall for the Krewe of Allman, a kindergarten class. He had fourth grade escorts. One of the escorts carried Looney on his throne of Spanish moss. The other one carried a sign that said that Looney was visiting from Joseph Lee Elementary in Boston, MA. Looney was a very good grand marshall. We hope he comes back for Mardi Gras next year.

Laissez les bontemps rouler! means let the good times roll!

About our town: Ocean Springs was settled in 1699 by French explorers. It is located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico between Mobile, AL and New Orleans, Louisiana. Even though New Orleans is known for Mardi Gras, the first modern (early 1800's) parades were held in Mobile and Pensacola, Florida. Now, the whole coasts celebrates from Pensacola to New Orleans, and up the Mississippi River to Natchez, Mississippi.

Your fourth grade friends in Ocean Springs, Mississippi

We are sending copies of pictures from Looney's field trip and from the Mardi Gras parade. The students wanted to e-mail the descriptions . . . so . . . you get descriptions now and the pictures next week. We don't have a scanner.

1. Hi, I'm Wesley. But you can call me Wes. In these pictures Looney is on a swing that's in front of an old house. I don't think anybody lives there. We took this picture from the beach. See that big tree that the swing is hanging on? That's a "Spanish Oak" tree. We are sending you some Spanish moss that grows on the Spanish Oak. You'll have to look pretty hard to see Looney.

2. Dear Kids,
In this picture of Looney, the picture is with a camellia and me, Erin. Looney has a camellia in her hair and has her bed of moss. We went into somebody's yard to take this picture. You would find lots of these in Mississippi. Some of them are huge and red and some of them are small. Looney really like it. She was hot. from Mississippi. (Erin)

3. I am in the back of the picture with the taz shirt. We have a really big beach. A lot of people go to the beach. The other people are the rest of the class. Our teacher is on the left in the back of the picture. We all like the beach and it is near the water. The beach is long and wide. The water is behind us in the picture, also. We all like the beach because you can play a lot of things in the water. You can play volleyball and you can play chase. (Jon)

4. Dear Kids,
In the picture you are seeing Looney at the Little Children's Park. The very first boy is Rechard then Allen, Jordan, and Abby. (Abby and Jordan)

5. Our 4th grade Pecan Park enrichment class went to Broome's [local grocery store] and met a cute little dog when Looney was with us. The people in our class are Mrs. Everett, Jon Paul, Jordan, Abby, Matthew, Karl, Kyle, Megan K., Samantha, Wesley, Courtney, Ashley (me), Richard, Allen, Megan B., Logan B., John, Erin, Robert, Logan C., and Amy. Those are the people in our enrichment class. The dog's name is Cowboy. The other lady is Mrs. Furr. She teaches swimming.

6. We got to eat boiled crawfish at Broome's and boy it tasted very, very good. We are also right beside the 5th grade school! From left to right, Robert, Amy, Wesley, Logan, Matt (Allen)

7. Looney was the Grand Marshall in our school kindergarten Mardi Gras parade. He walked thru the school with his escorts Kyle (that's me) and Erin.

8. Hi, I am Richard. I'm in Mrs. Allman's room having a Mardi Gras party. Mardi Gras is where people drive on the road and throw necklaces and beads. We also eat King cake. King Cake is a round cake that green, purple, and gold icing.

9. Hi! We are at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. Meghan (in the Guess), Courtney (in the blue), and Erin (in the pink). In the picture we are standing before a wooden carving of a man swimming. Walter Anderson was a famous artist. (Meghan and Courtney)

10. Looney the Lobster is meeting his cousin Conie the Crawfish. Mr. Broome is the owner of the store. The store is Broome's Grocery Store in Ocean Springs, MS. Here you see Mr. Broome and Mrs. Everett holding Looney the Lobster and Conie the Crawfish. Mr. Broome is successful for his crawfish. Mr. Broome's son also helps him run Broome's grocery store. In this picture, you see the building where they clean, sort, and boil the crawfish. It made Looney nervous. (Amy and Megan)

11. This is Looney at the boat dock. This is where shrimpers are. Our class enjoys shrimp. Here are most of our names Kyle, John, Richard, Wesley, Logan, Matthew, Robert, Allen, Jon Paul, Abby, Ashley, Amy, Samantha, Megan, Courtney, and Mrs. Everett. (Matthew)

12. Looney is at the beach with the Pecan Park class. Looney can see Deer Island in the background. (Logan B.)

13. Hi, I'm John. I'm at an old train stop is the Chamber of Commerce. Here is a picture.

14. Looney with the class in front of the Ocean Springs Record, our local paper. It comes out once a week. (Robert)

15. We are on the bus at the Chamber of commerce. The Chamber of Commerce is located in the historic old L&N Depot which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Mrs. Aultman is holding Looney the Lobster. Mrs. Aultman is the most important person besides the mayor. Mrs. Aultman works at the Chamber of Commerce. (Samantha)

16. Looney is riding an Ocean Springs school bus to the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce is a landmark of Ocean Springs. It serves people in a lot of ways. (Logan C.)

17. This is a Mississippi license plate. It is not as pretty as your license plate.

Thursday, 13 Feb 1997 05:49:21 -0600 (CST)

Looney had a wonderful time in Ocean Springs and really got into the Mardi Gras "thing." He stayed through Fat Tuesday so he (she?) could witness big Mardi Gras--even had pictures made in formal attire just before one of the balls!

He left yesterday by express mail to arrive in Fremont on Friday. We got back to school today. Mardi Gras holidays were Monday through Wednesday for us and the Florida panhandle. The larger cities--Mobile and New Orleans--get a full week, the Thursday before through the Wednesday after. So many familes flee the coast for MG that the schools decided to add the Wednesday after as a travel day.

The fourth grade enrichment class only get to go to the computer lab--where our Internet hookup is--on Thursdays. Last Thursday, they were away from school as they showed Looney the sights. Today they should be able to write to your students about Looney and what he got to see and do. He even met a country cousin, Carrie Craw[y]fish!

The children also have a box of goodies Looney had to leave behind. They are going to send the goodies on to your students for safe keeping.

Again, thank you for letting us be a part of this FANTASTIC project!

Judy



February 10 - 14, 1997 - Leola, PA

Leola Elementary School, Leola, PA
Mr. Jones' 5th graders
[Looney Lester 03 - 708 miles traveled]


Friday, 7 February 1997 14:50:38

Looney is having a blast, here at Leola Elementary School. On his first full day of classes, Looney helped the Librarian check-out some books using the computer. He went to art class and drew some pictures. He spent some time in our computer lab as we worked on our state reports.

The best part of his day, however, was riding a unicycle during lunch recess! He really is very good at it. He was even on a giraffe, which is an extra-tall unicycle!

Enclosed is a digital picture of our class along with a brief digital movie that we recorded. We have the software, QuickCam, which takes pictures in a PICT format that can be opened through a number of applications, such as Clarisworks, The Writing Center, Hyperstudio, and more! Please let us know as soon as possible if you are able to open our class picture and short video. We just received the equipment recently and are trying it out for the first time!

Friends in Leola,

Sincerely, Mr. Jones' 5th grade class

We got your picture and were able to see all of you in it. We were not able to translate the digital movie though.

Tuesday, 11 February 1997 10:16:16

Looney spent an exciting day with us yesterday! He visited the learning support class and the gym class. He really likes to exercise in order to stay in shape as he travels from town to town. He also cheered on our class as we began our achievement testing in math.

He is really having a good time reading all the brochures that students have brought in about Lancaster County, which is a major tourist area in Pennsylvania. He is planning to send the brochures to his home school in a few days (as soon as he is done reading them!)

Tuesday, 18 February 1997 16:05:00

On Tuesday Looney went to chorus for the first time. He loved singing songs like "Wade in the Water" and "Channel Surfin'" with the students! He met our two classroom newts and wanted to join them in our aquarium but decided against the idea. (Too cold this time of year!)

Looney had a great time visiting Lancaster County this weekend! He hopped on an Amish buggy and walked beside a covered bridge. He can't wait for the pictures to be developed! He also went for a ride to York, PA to do some shopping!

He had a great time at Leola Elementary School and is now on his way to Stone Mountain, GA.



February 17 - 21, 1997 - - Fremont, California

Forest Park Elementary - Fremont, CA - Mrs. Burn's 1st graders
[Looney Larry 04 - 4,122 miles traveled]


Saturday, 15 Feb 1997 11:42:42 -0800

Looney arrived safely at our school office at about 3:00 P.M. on Valentine's Day! The whole office staff has been expecting his arrival and all watched as we opened his little box and he came out!

He was able to pose with two of the first grade teachers who were dressed for "Twin Day" at our school. We will be sending this picture to you.

He is glad to be in California! The weather is beautiful today! The sun is out and it's short sleeve weather!

We don't have school until Wednesday due to the President's Day and teacher inservice day. Looney will be spending the weekend with Mrs. Burns and her family and hanging out with teachers from Forest Park School on Tuesday when they have an Inservice Day.

We are in the middle of Chinese New Year and Looney has already received a lucky red envelope with a crisp new one dollar bill for good luck. We have a lion dancer costume just his size for him to try on too.

We will be hitting the store for some Looney sized sun glasses and t-shirt to wear in the beautiful California sun.

Stay tuned for more!!!

Sunday,16 Feb 1997 18:51:05 -0800

Hello everyone!

Today I was lucky enough to go to San Francisco! I was so excited to see what the Pacific Ocean looked like. (It looks a lot like the Atlantic!) I can't believe I have traveled across the entire United States!

My journey today started with a trip to the Farmer's Market by the pier where I had my picture taken with a couple of locals wearing lettuce for hats in front of the organically grown fruit booth. I was told this was a typical California "thing"!

Then I took a ferry ride to Sausalito, a little tourist coastal town with a lot of cute shops. On the boat I saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Hey! It's really orange! I saw Alcatraz Island where they filmed the movie "The Rock." I got my picture taken by both of these and also by the famous clock tower on San Francisco Pier.

When we arrived in Sausalito, I saw a street vendor with a large white cockatoo. I sat on Mrs. Burns' daughter's shoulder while she held the cockatoo and he gave me a kiss! I got my picture taken with him too. I almost had to use my claw to "kiss" him back because I want to tell you that a cockatoo doesn't have lips! Ouch!!

When we got back to the "City" as the locals call it I went down to the wharf and saw a lot of crabs but no lobsters! I bought a postcard to send to my friends back home. Watch the mail guys!! We also bought some famous sourdough French bread.

Well, got to go for now...tomorrow is President's Day and no school. I guess I'll eat some cherry pie and build a log cabin out of Lincoln Logs or something.

We may get to go visit the mission in Fremont. For all you fourth graders do you know which mission that is? I'll tell you next time! See you all later.

Love, Looney!!!

Wednesday, 19 Feb 1997 17:04:13 -0700

Subject: My adventure continues . . . . .

Dear Friends,

I am having a great time! Today I finally got to meet the kids in Room 208! Wow, first graders sure are short compared to all the fourth and fifth graders I have spent time with! The students were so glad to meet me!! I got the be the Star Attraction!

Each student made a page of a book especially for me! I get to take it home! First they quizzed me about all my favorites like what I like to eat, my favorite movie, (Little Mermaid of course!).

We went outside and had our picture taken. Mrs. Burns' is sending it through e-mail. We hope it works. (We received the pictures. They are great!!!)

We had a lesson on tangrams. Did you know tangrams came from China and the word tangram means Tan's Pictures? We all did a lobster in honor of me! I got my picture taken while I was trying to put mine together!

We made hundred's day flags and glasses for our parade tomorrow! I can't wait! I have one too! Most of the students put me on their flags. I sat on three different students desks. It was fun! I also got to try on a Lion dancer costume that was just my size! Well, that's all for now. I need plenty of sleep because it's HUNDREDS DAY tomorrow!!

Love, Looney ;)

Note: Marjorie,

I am sending two digital photos, one of my class in front of the school and one of some students holding Looney in front of the Chinese New year's bulletin board. (He's wearing the costume!)

Note: Muriel - We got the pictures. Great!!!

Saturday, 22 Feb 1997 10:03:44 -0800

Dear Friends,

Thursday was the 100th day of school at Forest Park School! We had a great time! The first graders made 100 glasses, flags,tally headbands and Fruit Loop necklaces with 100 Fruit Loops. I got my own flag and tally headband! We had a parade which I got to lead! Then we had an assembly where we met the "Count" and watched as Mrs. Burns and the Count counted 100 pennies that magically turned into 100 dollars then into a real 100 dollar bill! I got my own souvenier 100 dollar bill to take home! It was a fun day full of lots of pictures too! My album will be really full.

On Friday we got to school bright and early in time to get in cars and head for the BART train! That stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit. It's kind of like a subway only above the ground for the most part. We rode BART along with the other 160 first graders at Forest Park School to Oakland. We walked to a theatre and saw a performance of the Chinese Acrobats all the way from China! They were amazing! One guy jumped through a hoop of knives and fire, another balanced on ten chairs! Then all of them climbed on one bike and rode around. Mrs. Burns' will be emailing this picture to you!

We then walked to the Oakland Museum where we saw a funny car covered entirely in buttons. They are sending you a picture of this too but don't think all cars from California look like this!! Ha! Ha!

Well, then we ate lunch, climbed aboard BART and went back to school. I said my goodbyes to all the first graders at Forest Park and then went home to pack my suitcase because I'm off to Redondo Beach! Wow and it is supposed to be HOT there. I can hardly wait to "bask like a lobster" at the beach. Well, I better get on my way . . I sure had fun in Fremont! All the boys and girls treated me really special.

Bye for now. I will be traveling for a few days! Love,

Looney

Monday, 24 Feb 1997 15:49:58 -0700

Dear Classmates,

Here are two more pictures from my trip to Fremont. The first is one of the Chinese Acrobats on a bike. Can you believe all of those people on one bike? Wow! The next is a picture of me and my new friends eating lunch in the park. They were kind enough to pack my favorite lunch, Snails! Ohh yummers!

I will be sending my stuff as soon as the kids in room 208 finish my book.

Love, Looney



February 24 - 28, 1997 - Stone Mountain, GA

Hambrick Elementary School - Stone Mountain, GA
Mrs. Brohammer's class
[Looney Lester 04 - 1,325 miles traveled]


We have collected some pamphlets along with an itinerary and a map of our trip in Georgia later this month while Looney Lester is here. We thought your class might be interested in following along to see where Lester is going and what he is doing.

I am attaching a file of student notes to your class. We will get your packet in the mail later this week.

Olivia Brohammer

Dear Ms. Duby's class,

We are sending you a schedule, map, pamphlets. They will contain what, when, and where we will be. (Andrew)

Dear Ms. Duby's class,

We are sending you a schedule of our over-night trip. We are visiting Callaway Gardens, and the Butterfly House. We are also sending pamphlets on places you can visit in Georgia. Here are some places on some of the pamphlets we're sending: Six Flags, Fern Bank, Sightseeing Tours, and other things like that. We hope you enjoy the pamphlets. (Ledisi)

Dear Ms.Duby's class,

We are sending you a schedule of our trip all around Georgia. We are also sending you some pamphlets about tourist sights in our state. They will include Six Flags, Stone Mountain Park, Fernbank, and a few others. On our trip, we will visit Callaway Gardens, and we are also visiting a Butterfly House. We hope you enjoy the pamphlets. (Kaylia A. Diah)

Friday, 21 February 1997 14:02:51 -0500

Dear Class,

I'm finally here. I hope we have a good time. It's been great here the last couple of minutes. They have read my pamphlet. The weather outside is very warm, so I won't need my sweater today. I was unwrapped by Warren, Kaylia, Ashley, Ledisi, Chris, Andrew, and Mrs. Brohammer. Everyone is very excited, and I'm going to meet Abby, another lobster who is visiting from Connecticut.

I will get the kids to write more later. It's Friday at 2:00 P.M. and they're leaving in a few minutes. I'll spend the weekend at Mrs. Brohammer's house.

Love, Looney Lester

Tuesday, 25 February 1997 10:36:32 -0800

On Monday, Looney Lester spent the day at Hambrick in the Discovery classroom. Looney was able to be with the groups as they met for Discovery. Looney helped fourth grade look up definitions for their visit to the butterfly house at Callaway Gardens. They learned about Class Insecta, complete metamorphosis, lepidopterists, probocis, spiracles, host plants, and diurnal. While they are at the butterfly house, Looney will help them with butterfly poems.

Today (Tuesday, February 25) Looney has ridden in Mrs. Brohammer's car to Snapfinger Elementary where she meets with fourth grade Discovery students on Tuesdays and Thursdays. First, Looney is studying for the trip with Krystina, Michael, and Clay. Everyone is excited to meet Looney. Krystina has fallen in love with Looney, and she is tutoring him most of the time. We have been researching about Alexander Graham Bell so that we will know what we are looking at when we visit the telephone museum on Friday.



March 3 - 7, 1997 - Redondo Beach, CA

Madison Elementary School - Redondo Beach, CA
Hilary Cahn's 4th and 5th graders in Room 12
[Looney Larry 05 - 4,448 miles traveled]


NEWS FLASH - Redondo Beach, California - NEWS FLASH


Wednesday, 12 Feb 1997 12:03:46 -0800

Subject: Update on JJ the whale

SAN DIEGO - The orphaned baby Gray whale, J.J., found near death off Venice Beach, has gained 900 pounds and 20 inches in her one month at Sea World. As evidence of her progress, officials said that baby J.J. sucks more than two gallons of formula - a rich mixture of heavy cream, fish and powdered milk - in less than two minutes! Imagine that!

We'll keep you posted on any other news we hear of our famous whale!

Some other news that you might find interesting....a VERY rare fossil was just found in San Pedro, a neighboring town. Scientists believe that the fossil of baleen, a fingernail-like material that baleen whales have in their mouths instead of teeth to strain their food out of the water, is about 14 million years old. They say that this is the rarest fossil ever to be found...there are only six other samples of baleen in the whole world!!! WOW!! The fossilized baleen is so heavy, it took more than a dozen people to carry it to Cabrillo Marine Museum. They do plan to put it on display so we probably will get to go see it! Fun.

We hope you can use this information. We thought it was cool!

Ms. Cahn's 4/5 grade class at Madison Elementary School.

Wednesday, 19 March 1997 14:32:22 -0800

The attached document is a photo of our class. We scanned it on our new scanner that a parent donated! We are so excited!

We feel that it is best if there is a face to go with all the e-mails. We already got to see lots of pictures of you! Now we get to show ourselves to you! Enjoy!

Ms. Cahn's Class



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