Monday, June 1, 2009

 Thursday, June 4, 2009

   Finally, after a dead spot of 38 days without a gig, I finally got to go back to work today with three shows.

And then, this evening, I was at the River Valley Market Ice Cream Social in Northampton MA. It was another of our very successful parking lot parties. There was a big pavilion with tables and chairs underneath, live music, a yo-yo show, hula hoops, bubbles, me, and, of course, ice cream!

   Bart's Homemade Ice Cream was there serving up their locally favorite frozen dessert ("one scoop or two?) plus the co-op's own very popular home made fudge sauce, fresh strawberries, and all the other fixings.

   A pile of hula hoops got a LOT of use by people of all ages. The children, of course, used them the most, but the teens and adults got involved, too. Several people were actually quite good, including the girl in the blue denim skirt in the center of the top left photo.

   One more thing today: faithful readers may recall an entry last week at the end of May titled "Lilacs & Guitar" in which I mentioned parenthetically that a photo would magically appear the next day of the results of all the work I did to put our new lilac bush in the ground where we actually want it. Well, it's been most of a week, but I finally got that picture up. (Thanks Nancy! You're awesome!) The photo is there at that entry, too, but to save you the trouble of clicking around to see it, here it is in all it's glory.

   Now all I have to do is paint the wall so it doesn't look so hodge podge. (Which it is.)



 Friday, Jun 5, 2009

   Through the wonders of our new local plant sharing network, ChlorophyllPV, I was delighted to receive 5 baby tulip tree shoots today. These things are so little that I think they're still called "seedlings". They're sure not big enough to be called "saplings", I can tell you that!
   Tulip trees are definitely on my Top Ten Favorite Trees list. [There's a topic for a new web page!] They are one of the very few trees whose leaves don't have a central point or lobe. They flower gorgeously, and leave behind a rather unique seed pod structure. And their leaves turn yellow in the fall.
  Our  backyard used to be surrounded by trees, and I want that back. So I planted these five seedlings evenly spaced along the top of the hill on the road side. There used to be a row of hemlock trees there when I moved in over 20 years ago. And 10-20 years from now, these five tulip trees will effectively block the view of our backyard from the road. YAY!



 Saturday, June 6, 2009

   For my best buddy Don's birthday today, I brought his wife a present from my wife. I thought it was kinda funny in a weird sort of way. I mean, we also did manual labor and deliveries that required a truck. And I also dug up a few bushes from their borders. What's not to like about that?  
   When I learned that my lovely wife was going to be away this weekend, I made arrangements to go up to Vermont and visit Don on his birthday. We hung out together all day from when I got there early afternoon until I left around 9:00pm.
   On the way, I stopped at a tag sale near their house and bought some great cd's for his birthday. I just picked out 6 or 7 cd's that I thought were excellent. My idea was to let him pick out the ones he liked. But when I got to his house, he liked them all! In fact, he liked them so much that he pretty much made me drive him to the tag sale immediately so he could buy some more! He picked out at least another dozen! (It was a good tag sale!) 
   I learned today that I LOVE dark purple lupine. Barbara has them growing in the wild garden in front of her house. They are just soooo gorgeous. And since it's on a steep hill, they really stand out and you can tell how tall they really are!
   While I was outside poking around the garden, she got me to dig up some little baby bushes she didn't want out of her borders. (I don't know what they're called, but it will magically just suddenly appear here one day as soon as I find out.) The bushes I dug up were just little babies of the big bush she has right next to their front door. I'm going to plant these little babies in between the tulip trees I planted yesterday. Give it a few years or so and it's going to look pretty good; And give it a decade or so and it's going to look awesome!     



 Monday, June 8, 2009

 
   Our usual monthly meeting of the Hats Off Performers Guild today was a little special because --- for a little while, at least --- we were all there! There's 7 of us, and we all have very unusual schedules. In fact, trying to find a date we're all available every month got to be so much of a hassle, we decided just to meet the first Monday of the month and whoever could make it could make it. 

   Let me tell you a little about each of these seven great guys from today's "check-ins": Chris Yerlig aka "Hoopoe" is a world traveller who's been to Morrocco and Spain in the past month and will be performing for a month in Virginia Beach this summer followed by 3 weeks in England! Rob Rivest has ten(10) --- count them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 --- ten shows this week! Tim Van Egmond just returned from a tour of central East Coast states and is going to be rafting the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon with his 16-year-old grandson! Rob Peck of Zestworks is looking into how to add "auctioneer" to his resume and specifically wants to help out in this capacity with non-profit group fundraisers! John Porcino is working on a local residency and then will be gearing up to meet his daughter in Australia! And Henry Lappen aka Henry the Juggler had his son help him dye his hair red and --- even more amazingly --- is talking with his sweetie about getting married!
   What a terrific (and zany) group!

 

  
   The Chestnut Hill Community School's "Reading Incentive Party" in Belchertown MA was held in the school library this afternoon. There were about 60-70 4th-6th graders who had read a mighty lot of books celebrating with a little party. There were several puzzle sheets that the kids were all working on while they ate pizza and pretzels when I got there. Finished sheets were inserted into a big box for the prize drawing at the end of the event. 

  

   Afterwards, driving west on Rte 9 out of Belchertown, I stopped at the Holland Glen pull-off on the north side of the road at the sharp curve in the road where it crosses Hop Brook. (You can actually pull right into this little tree sheltered parking area in the woods, so your car is completely off the road.)
   Then I put on backpack, water carrier, and sneakers and hiked the 25 minutes or so on the white blazed Metacomet-Monadnock trail to the big 20' tall Hop Brook waterfall! On the way in, there's at least a dozen smaller falls, too, ranging in size from 2 or 3 feet up to several 5-10 foot drops.

 

   "Northampton Garden Tour"  

   Starting this morning around 11:00 and until 3:00 pm, my lovely wife and I went on the Friends of the Forbes Library's 16th Annual Northampton Garden Tour. It was wonderful!
 
 
 

       

   It's always wonderful when a past client books me again. It just feels so good inside to have the opportunity to entertain again for all these kind and cheerful people. How frequently they book me varies widely: A very select group of clients book me multiple times every year; several more than that book me once every year --- usually for the same event; even more book me every few years; some every several years or even once per decade (yes, I've been performing that long!); and every once in a while someone comes out of the woodwork who booked me once 15 or 20 years ago and wants to book me again! And every single time this happens, no matter how long it's been, I'm just absolutely thrilled that they like my work enough to want more!
   Last year, Kelly Bedard booked me  for her son's 6th birthday. This year, she booked me for 3 hours at the Memorial Elementary School's "Fun Day" in East Hampton CT. What a BLAST!
When I got there, a few folks were busy with set up.  Steve and crew from Funtastic Inflatables  were setting up a bounce house (that's the one; above left), inflatable obstacle course (above right), and a rock climbing wall... all of which were very popular throughout the event. Inside, others were setting up food tables, matchcar race tracks, and other younger children activity areas. I set up my table outside and by the time I'd gotten my stilts on, the first families were arriving.
   For the first hour, I greeted all the new arrivals and mingled with the crowds interacting with pretty much everyone, all the while letting everyone know that I was doing a show at 1:00. When that hour rolled around, quite a crowd gathered at the south end of the school's front lawn. After a mighty lot of laughter during the 35-minute show, some of the kids moved on to other things, but a group of about 20 or 30 children were very eager to play games with me. So for the rest of the second hour I taught them some active running games that have become playground classics already in my home region; games like Fishy Fish, Lemonade, and Everybody's It. Next, I pulled out my Big Red Ribbon suitcase and set up the Ribbon Dancer Factory at one end of my table, and for the final hour of the event I churned out dozens and dozens of free ribbon dancers for all the children who wanted one. What an absolutely FUN event! Pretty much everybody there had a terrific time, and virtually everyone went home happy.
   Thanks Kelly!

 

    And speaking of repeat clients: Kara Upperton has booked me several times since the early 90's. I've done birthday parties for two of her children, I've performed her country club, and as of today I've entertained at the Bay Path College Pre-School picnic two years in a row!
    (Unfortunately, this may be the last time for that particular event because the college is closing the pre-school. They were going to shut it down last year, but someone managed to get it back in the budget for one more year. But anyways....)  

 
    My lovely wife has been wanting to see the Virginia Lee Burton exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst MA since she first heard about it. So that smart wife of mine checked out the free pass to the ECMofPBA from the Forbes Library in Northampton and we got to go for free! It was wonderful. Not only did she write and illustrate 7 books that are all still in print today, but she illustrated a whole bunch of books by other authors, and was the founder and guiding star of the Folly Cove Designers group that made block printed textiles that were quite popular... and won awards, too! I loved this exhibit.

   Afterwards, we went across the street to Atkins Market so Nancy could get a little perk-me-up snack. 

   Dr. G: Well, gosh... [pause] Kind of a lot has happened since then!"  



 Saturday, June 20, 2009

   "2 Birthdays"   

   Today, I did two birthday parties. 

   First, Caterina Krusas's 5th birthday party in Worcester MA.  I did her 4th birthday last year, so it was GREAT to be back. Last year, we got rained in partway through the party. This year, it felt like it was going to rain, but it didn't. Instead, it was just so hot and muggy that most of the kids were having trouble even laughing. So this year, I guess we got "stifled" in. Inside, it was nice and cool, and the rest of the party went without a hitch. Even Caterina's older brother and his friends were having a good time! 

   Then I drove to Buckland MA for Griffin Kearney's 6th birthday party. This was one of those lots-of-adults-but-only-a-few-children kid's birthday parties. There were over 30 adults there and less than 10 kids! But do you know what? Everyone was having a good time: the kids, the adults... even the half dozen dogs that were there.
   This was also one of those not-everybody's-here-yet parties, so I ended up waiting about half an hour after I got there before starting the show. This doesn't really bother me, as long as I don't have another gig afterwards. It just means I get to entertain longer and they get more than they paid for so everybody's happy. 
   While we were waiting for the rest of the kids to arrive, those that were there had a total blast with Silly String. There were what seemed like a couple dozen cans of Silly String on hand, and in that half hour nearly all of them got used! What FUN!



 Sunday, June 21, 2009

   "Sesame on the Mount Woodstock"  

   We went to church today, primarily because it was Children's Sunday at the 1st Congregational Church of Hadley where my cousin-in-law is the preacher. Children's Sunday there is always a delight, but this particular Children's Sunday was most unusual.
   They usually do church a bit different on Children's Sunday. There's always a religious skit by the children that's full of modern references and pop culture. This year's skit was based on the Sermon on the Mount but with a Sesame Street theme running throughout the entire service and the adults dressed in casual "Woodstock" style because the religious theme was Peace!

   I doubt if I will ever attend another church service in my entire life where the organist is wearing a long dangling cloth headband and plays "Rubber Ducky" for the introit; where most of the choir and many in the congregation are wearing tie dye t-shirts and other hippy clothes; where The Count is in the pulpit periodically announcing how many of certain religious things are happening; where pictures of Jesus, a dove, a peace sign, and a pair of tanks are displayed while the church choir sings"One of These Things is Not Like the Others"; and where two grumpy old farts in the balcony disparagingly comment on the service rather loudly all the way through! 



 Tuesday, June 23, 2009
 

   "Lots of Good Stuff All in One Day!"  

 
   All sorts of good things came together today:
   1) Today is my lovely wife's last day home before a 5-day trip to the West Coast, so after she accomplished a bunch of stuff on her to-do list, I was delighted that we were able to spent the rest of the morning together. I love my wife! (She's THE BEST!) And I love spending time with her!

   3) Mid-afternoon, I got a call from a teacher in Tucson Arizona who was interested in having me fly out there and do a full-day staff training at his school! He found my website and called me to find out more.

   4) I hadn't gotten back to what I was doing before that call for more than two minute when the phone rang again. This time with a call from Oregon! It was my old Northampton Food Coop friend Doug Black calling from his West Coast home saying he's coming back to our little bit of paradise on earth at the end of August for a family visit of some sort and wanted to make sure I put it in my datebook so we can hang out together while he's here. I don't get to see Doug often, but I'm glad he's stayed in touch and stops by when he comes east a couple/three times each decade. Cool! 

   5)  And shortly after that, I got a call from a little closer to home: it was a man from the town recreation department in Simsbury CT --- which is just west of Hartford and only about an hour from here. The good news is that he booked me to come do one of my special two-hour Cooperative Play Staff Development Trainings with his summer camp staff. The even better news is that it's this Friday! I can really use the work... and he was delighted that I was available on such short notice, too!

   6) My lovely wife told me that my sweet cousin Emilypin is sending me a check for part of the money she still owes me from quite a few years ago when she rented a room in our house! It couldn't come at a better time!

   You can't see the back row of raspberries very well in the photo below because it's down over the top of the hill a little bit, but it's still there. These babies are really starting to take! Yum. Red raspberries twice a year!

   8) Nancy also told me that she got a picture of one of the pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks that's suddenly started coming to our bird feeders. You can't really tell how gorgeous this bird is from her photo, so this is someone else's picture of the male of the species (at right):

 
 
 
 Wednesday, June 24, 2009

   "Early is for the Birds"  

   Got up at 5:55 this morning and drove my lovely wife to the airport, came home, went back to bed, and didn't wake up until after 1:00pm! I am not a morning person.  
  

 
   Tom Tyburski from the Simsbury CT Park & Rec Dept called me earlier this week (See 6/23/9 #5 above) and booked me to come in today and lead one of my 2-hour Cooperative Play Staff Development Trainings with his summer camp staff. On the workshop evaluation sheet at the end, where they were supposed to write the name of the group, one of the councillors wrote "Camp Stuff-Ta-Do". It made me laugh out loud so you get it as the title of this entry.

  
 
   
 Saturday, June 27, 2009
 

   "QuitLinks Carnival Day III"  

   For the third year in a row, I entertained at the Reach Community Health Foundation's annual QuitLinks Carnival Day at Western Gateway Heritage State Park in North Adams MA. They are very low key about it, but the stated purpose of this small town fair is to help people quit smoking. By "very low key" I mean that they had some information available about it. There was no actual programing that encouraged people to quit, no speeches, no presentations, no preachy anything. So mostly, it was just a really FUN little family fair.

 Sunday, June 28, 2009

   "Ballston Spa NY"  

   Today, I drove a little over 2 hours and performed in the state of my birth: New York. Even though the MA/NY state line is only an hour from my home and Albany is only about an hour and a half away (the same distance as Boston where I perform regularly), I rarely work in the Empire State and have done less than a dozen appearances there in my entire career. Note to self: This is something that should be addressed... and soon!

   Thanks to a referal from my friend and fellow Hats Off Performers Guild member, Henry Lappen a.k.a. Henry the Juggler, I did two shows this afternoon at the Ballston Spa FUN Day at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds in Ballston Spa NY, a small town just south of Saratoga Springs. And what a FUN day it was!

   As I walked in the gates, who should I see up ahead of me in his spiralling costume, but Henry announcing to the crowds at large that his show would begin in only 5 minutes! So we chatted for a few minutes before it was time for him to start.

   In between shows, instead of taking a break, I kept my stilts on and did an hour+ of "walk-around" for free just because I love my job! My love is their gain. While I was walking around, several adults spontaneously told me that they really enjoyed my show.

   Afterwards, when I went to thank our host --- Meg Stevens from the Ballston Spa mayor's office --- she, too, told me that everyone had enjoyed my presence and that she would be calling me again for next year. That was really good to hear. Yay!

   "She's Back!"  

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