Time for a breath

Not much of a breath, but a little one. It has been a great summer so far, and today I had my 51st performance since June 1. Crazy! I'm going to try very hard not to schedule myself so tightly again. Need I say that I'm a little tired? Wired, too, which is why I'm writing this instead of sitting on my porch swing enjoying the summer evening. Today I had three performances, in Marysville, Clifton and Wamego, KS. I was gone from home for almost 11 hours, and drove more than 300 miles.

Never mind, it was a very fun day. Each library performance is slightly different, though the stories may be the same. Lately my dragon puppet Belle has been very kissy, giving me a smooch on the cheek when I'm least expecting it. In Marysville, one little boy demanded that she kiss me again. Shocking! She also ordered pizza on her "tail-a-phone" at all three performances. In Clifton, the kids had heard The ghost with the one black eye on my CD at the library, so they were happy to hear it again.

I hadn't quite realized what a large fan base I have in Wamego. This was the first time I'd told at the library, but I'd been to West Elementary three times, so kids knew me. They made very specific requests: "Where's the monkey puppet?" "Would you tell that story in another language?" (that was The ghost, which I did in Bulgarian for them, as they'd heard it in French at school) and "Tell The great sharp scissors!" Instead of complying with this last request, I told Rapunzel, which of course has it's own dramatic moment involving scissors.

I get the day off tomorrow. Well, not exactly. I have to do a bunch of office work, take the cat to the vet, and get ready to go to the National Storytelling Conference in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, but that's all in town. Tonight I'll sleep well.