Friday, February 11, 2005

Belgium-bound

I'm ready to go. Bags are packed and by the door. There's the giant silver duffel, full of clothes, presents for friends, a few puppets, and some of my CDs. Next to the duffel is my messenger bag, with more presents, trip food, a couple of books, passport, my purse, important papers, brochures, and some pages from the NY Times crossword puzzle calendar. Also ear plugs, an eye mask and melatonin. The third bag is the home-away-from-home for my puppets. I'm also carrying some extra clothes, more presents, a harmonica (you never know), and the apples that didn't fit in the messenger bag.

When I thought I was done packing, I wandered back through my office. My eye was caught be another puppet. How could I leave her at home? I ended up putting three more in. I'll try to restrain myself when I go through security--the puppets just want to speak right up. Hope they don't eat my trip food.

I'll be in Belgium for a couple of weeks, telling stories (mostly in English, with a few gigs in French), hanging out with old friends, playing, eating chocolate, haunting bookstores for collections of folktales in French. The space taken up in my bags by presents now will be filled with books and chocolate on the way home.

That's it for now. More later. A la prochaine!

2 comments:

Tim said...

Did the puppets behave themselves going through security? I can imagine you getting a pass, but one or more of the puppets being pulled aside for wanding.

PriscillaHowe said...

Fortunately, Trixie was in the cargo hold--otherwise she might have started some sort of international incident. Mavis the monkey and Prince, formerly known as Frog, were busy playing dice (the game Diane Ferlatte taught me).