Good week

This has been a good week. I'll work backwards to tell you what I've been doing. Today is an office and errand day, along with some story research.

Yesterday I was at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center in Iola, KS, doing storytelling workshops with kids. Leslie and Jay Cady of Laughing Matters were also there, teaching juggling and mime. It's always fun to work/play with the Cadys. Because we've all been performers for many years in the same area, our paths cross fairly often. Here they are packing up at the end:

We split the small group by age (6-8, 9-11), and did workshops for about an hour with each. In mine, we played story games, tailored to the age of the kids. Then we came back together for a snack and more playing together. Everybody, including the performers, seemed to have a good time.

On Wednesday I was also in Iola, giving a writing workshop for three nice--and chatty--kids. The Iola Register had an article on the workshop, with plenty of quotes from the participants. There might have been higher enrollment for both days in Iola if the new swimming pool hadn't just opened on Memorial day--Iola had two years with no pool.

On Tuesday I stayed home and caught up on office work. There's always office work to be done. Oh, I also caught up on NY Times crossword puzzles...

Monday was a busy day. First I carried two loads of puppets and puppet-making materials to the car in a wicked rainstorm. Everything not in the plastic box got a bit damp. By the time I got to the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, the sky was a clear blue. In the morning, I gave a puppet-making workshop. Normally I teach how to use puppets, not how to make them, but it worked well. Twenty-two kids made two different kinds of puppets, used an improvised stage (book cart covered with a cloth) and tried out some of my puppets.

Then I drove up Highway 75 to Holton, where I gave a performance at the library. I've been to the Beck-Bookman Library (great name!) several times and it has always been a fabulous crowd of enthusiastic listeners. I even got them to do the Twinkle, Twinkle/ABC/Baa Baa Black Sheep round before the show began.

I drove the 50 or so miles home for a nap, then got in the car and drove back to Topeka to give a workshop for adults on how to use puppets. It was scheduled as an hour-long workshop but could easily have been two. Wonderful group!

So that's my work week. I do love summer!