Keynote Highlights

I have been getting the raspberries for neglecting this site for months. I apologize and hope to make it up to those of you who read it hoping for info.
I am coming off a high after being a keynote speaker in Canton for the AEYC Conference October 3rd. Not only did they "treat" me to a great B&B, but the committee members were helpful and welcoming. They had some key members that completely took over setting up my "vendor's" area and manning it when I was doing the keynote and the workshop that followed. I truly appreciated all their many kindnesses to me.
Joe French communicated with me through the years that this was scheduled and in introducing me, he related a story about a woman in Canton who purchased a puppet from me years ago. She took "Violet" (Amelia) with her wherever she went and kept an active photo album. She died a day after Christmas and her family allowed Violet to go with her through her next journey!!

I remembered her and have seen her album. I knew that I was going to be going to Anaheim for NAEYC the next month and for the first time I had Amelia's picture taken at the cockpit on the plane, with Mickey Mouse in Disney and on the roller coaster there, too. I have thought of her often and am in awe of what so many who have taken my workshops have accomplished and done with puppets!
Another story: Years ago when I was a keynote speaker in Canton a teacher came up to me afterward and related how she got her character puppet, Patches. She had taken one of my workshops a year before and when I demonstrated the ease of making puppets out of stuffed animals simply by removing the stuffing, she thought of a stuffed cat, missing an eye, that she had. She made a patch, bought a cat "taxi" for .80 @ Goodwill and made that puppet her character puppet. "Now," she proudly said, "I am ready for more puppets!"
I told that story on Saturday and later she came up and reintroduced herself to me. Another friend had been in my workshop and realized who it was and told her. Another happy reunion !


I am going to work on daily updates and ways to work with puppets simply and creatively, I promise.