Summer Reading 2019

I have been preparing for Summer Reading 2019. The Collaborative Summer Library Programming this year is a Universe of Stories. So, I came up with the theme of Many Moons Ago for the title of my program this year.

I’ll be telling folk tales, fairy tales and original stories using puppetry and storytelling. I’ve been constructing stick puppets to use for one of my stories about the Sun and the Wind. It is an Aseop Fable and a lot of fun to tell. I’ll be getting audience members to help me out with the puppets and creating dialogue. Oh, how interesting it can be when you allow an audience member to talk. You never know what someone is going to say when you give them the opportunity.  I’m excited to get the stories I have prepared on stage and to get the audience involved!

Little Foot is Coming!!

My husband and I are going to be Grandparents!! Our oldest daughter, Genette, (ok…and her husband, Abe) will be having a baby this Fall. I am so very excited!!

My family has had a long season of hard challenges and the happy news of a new little one coming is helping us all to have a feeling of renewal. Bryon (our son) and Carmen (our youngest) are both thrilled about this baby, too. They are going to be an amazing Aunt and Uncle.

Genette and Abe have nick-named the baby Little Foot. Cute, huh? If you remember the Dinosaur movie from long ago, you know that there is a possibility of a dinosaur theme in the nursery.  They haven’t decided officially, though. Since their house is a fixer upper, there are renovations to be done before the baby arrives. The projects are happening slowly because they are doing the renovating themselves, but they are underway.

This November will be a very busy and happy month for us. Bryon and Amber will be getting married so Steven and I will have a new “bonus kid,” and Genette and Abe will become parents in the same month . The family grows.  What a lovely holiday season this will be for us. With all that has happened and is happening still, it is nice to look forward to some sweet events to make life richer.

And as always we’ll have a new story to tell!!

A Sore Throat

I have a sore throat right now. My husband has been ill all week and I am afraid I have caught a bit of what he had. It is very inconvenient to get ill, but I am especially inconvenienced this time because I am out of town. I don’t like feeling this way when I am away from home. However, since I am, I will make the best of it and get some additional sleep.  I usually stay up until 11:00pm, but I’ll be going to bed about 9:30pm tonight. I’ve been drinking tea all day, trying to shake this off, but it is still hanging on.  Certainly, it is a virus and I’ll have to let it run its course.  

Isn’t that hard to do sometimes, letting something run its course?

It has interrupted my plans and expectations for today. Oh well, sleep is time when your body is healing and right now I am able to go get some extra sleep. It will give me time to dream and who knows, there might just be a good story in those dreams.

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!!

You may not know the name Maurice Sendak, but to those who love children’s literature, it is a name that makes you smile. Mr. Sendak wrote one of my all time favorite books, Where the Wild Things Are. I just love that story. “Let the wild rumpus begin!!” What a line. The book was a little scary to me, yet it was also empowering. Max is punished by being sent to his room but he does not let the four walls of his room contain him. Instead, he ventures into a land of wild monsters who make him their king.

When I was young, I often checked this book out from the school library and spent hours staring at the beautiful drawings. I imagined that I was in the land of monsters and they had made me their queen. I didn’t own a copy of my own until I became an adult, however I always felt ownership of the one in the library.

June 10th is Maurice Sendak’s birthday. On that day I will remove my copy of Where the Wild Things Are from its shelf and spend some time reading the words, staring at the illustrations, and wandering around in the land of monsters. If you are nearby you might just feel the ground shake. Don’t worry, it’s just the monsters and me in the midst of a wild rumpus. Join me if you like — don’t let the four walls contain you… Let the wild rumpus begin!!!

This Blog is Late

This blog is late. I mean like really late! So late, in fact, I thought why bother. But then I thought why not just write about being late. So I am blogging about this blog being late.

It began with the internet. I was out of town last week, and the internet wouldn’t connect. So, whatever I wrote would not be able to be posted. Then my mind was blank. I sat down several times to write but nothing came, the words didn’t flow, they got mixed up, they didn’t say what I wanted them to say.

I have several half-finished blogs that will probably never see the light of day. If they do, they will not be the same as what is currently written. I will have to change them around, reword them, shake them up, do it differently.

At one point, I had a feeling of almost panic. AHHHH, I’m late!!! Then it occurred to me: I’m just late. It’s no big deal. There are times when being late is a big deal. Take, for instance, flying. If you are late for the plane, it leaves without you. Or voting. If you are delayed by a day, then you can’t vote. Then there are times when you cannot control being late, as in giving birth. My last two babies were late; my son by ten days and my youngest by, wait for it…21 days (and then we had to make her come)!

Then there is the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, who is always running late.

That’s all for now; my husband just asked me if I’d like to go for a walk in about 10 minutes. I must get ready, so I’ll be on time.