Creepy Crawlies at the libraries

Summer reading season has begun! Since last Friday, I've done my new program "Creepy Crawlies' for libraries four times, with many more scheduled for the next two months. I find that when I do the same show for most of the summer, I learn more about the stories and make interesting shifts to my pacing, delivery and the patter in between stories or songs. I always have extra stories or songs in my pocket, so I can change it up if I get bored or if the crowd is younger or older than the norm.

One of the songs I've been doing in this show is "The old lady who swallowed a fly," with my swallowing puppet, Kay. I made her in 1993. Isn't she lovely? I'm partial to the blue eyeglasses. She has a clear plastic bottle stomach, so you can see what she swallows. Part of the hilarity of the song comes at the end. Kay's not really dead, despite the last words of the song. She just has horrible indigestion. Fortunately, she has an opening at the back of her neck, so I can reach in and pull out what she has eaten. Unfortunately, she's incredibly ticklish. Great drama.

Notice the fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow and horse (I skipped the goat in this version), as well as her cow lunchbox. I think the song went over fairly well at Beef Empire Days last week in Garden City, KS. There was a nice article in the Garden City Telegram about the show.