The Talent Scout Watched And Learned

The talent scout sat in the back watching and listening to the children and adults that had gathered to hear Grandma Lu tell a story. She noticed that the furniture was mismatched and old, but very clean. There were some paintings on the wall and some children's drawings.  The wallpaper was old and worn. Some of the children were playing "dress up" in fun outfits. She noticed, however, that they were watching Grandma Lu going through the books until she found the one she was looking for. The one about alpacas. They all had smiles on their faces.

When Grandma Lu sat down the children and the grownups got quiet and waited for her to start to tell a story. But she didn't. She said, "Guess what? We are going to have some fun today. We are going to play like we are alpacas. Here is a picture of some alpacas and the man who takes care of them. He is called a herder. These alpacas live far far away in a country called Peru. It is in South America. We live in North America so if we looked on a big globe or round map you would see that it would take a long long time to get there. We would have to take an airplane to go that far. It is over three thousand miles. But even though we took an airplane it would still take almost a whole day."

"Does anyone see mountains or very high hills in the picture? These alpacas live in a mountain range called the Andes.

 Did you know that they can hum? How many of you can hum?"
Not very many raised their hands. Grandma Lu chuckled and said, "Okay here are some clean combs and some waxed paper. Cover your combs with the waxed paper, put it in your mouth and go 'hummm.' Does it sound funny? Does it tickle your mouth?"
Marlee and Orion laughed and said, "That was silly," Grandma Lu."
Grandma Lu chuckled and said, "But it was fun, wasn't it? Learning is so much fun. I always think we should learn something new every day."

The talent scout and Grandma Lu both heard a strange humming  sound coming from the far corner. Grandma Lu laughed and said, "Okay okay. You can quit humming now." (It was her husband.)
 Grownups like to have fun with the stories too, don't they?

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This is a video that I got from YouTube that has a young 6 month old alpaca humming. Anderson Family Farms told me that every time they try to catch their
alpacas humming they quit because they think it is time to eat. They are such fun.