Giddy-Up!

The photo is me at the Wetumka library last Thursday (6/7/07) performing "Oklahoma Land Rush, 1889" - spurring on my imaginary race horse.

Can the weekend already be over? Lisa and I spent much of it just getting ready to hit the road again. Filled some CD orders, made a bank deposit, changed my guitar strings, printed out maps, made hotel reservations, did laundry, went shopping for food we can eat in the car, etc. etc. Bright and early tomorrow morning, it's giddy-up and go once again.

This week it's Watonga and McAlester, two old favorites we've visited many many times over the years, plus six libraries in the Chickasaw Regional Library System.

One really cool thing going on around here is Evalyn's butterflies. She received a butterfly kit for her birthday and we sent off for live caterpillars in little jars. Last week they all hung themselves upside down and formed chrysalises. We actually looked in at the right moment and were able to watch it happen. They transformed much more quickly than I would have thought! It was very cool.

Today, four of the chrysalises opened and the butterflies emerged, with curly damp wings. This happened very quickly - we didn't actually get to see one emerge, but we were checking in often enough to know that it must happen in a matter of just a couple of minutes at most. Hopefully this will inspire a song for next summer's bugs theme!

One final bit of good news - for all of you who have been asking whether Lisa is still doing her podcast....

Yes, and we put together a new episode today! It still needs tweaking and converting and posting, but that should all happen tomorrow night. She plans on trying to put out a new edition every two weeks over the summer. So, stay tuned for loads more great children's music coming your way!

Miami, Afton, Ada, Wetumka

These past two days have been great! Evalyn is really enjoying her performances of "Oklahoma Annie." Here's what she had to say about performing: "I love it, love it, love it!" And her song has been one of the most mentioned as a favorite after the show, by kids and adults.

We all enjoyed visiting a couple of favorite places: the Miami library (see the photo) and the Ada library. We've been to each more times than we can count, and it was great to see all the familiar faces once again! Evalyn particularly loves the children's corner at Miami, which is painted with a scene of McGreagor's garden from the Peter Rabbit books. She gave all the little characters names and put them in a her own story in which she floated down a flooded stream on the back of a giant ladybug.

We also got to visit two new places: Afton and Wetumka. Lisa made the observation today that here in our seventeenth summer of traveling the state, we were still finding ourselves on a highway or two we'd never driven down before. Pretty cool! Both of these were small libraries where I performed among the shelves to small groups of kids and parents without the sound system. Both shows went really well; both groups were full of sharp kids and great participators. Evalyn seemed to have a lot of fun running around with a couple of boys who were hanging out at the library in Wetumka before the show.

In anticipation of the seventh and last Harry Potter book that's coming out later this summer, we've been passing the hours in the car reading to Evalyn. We're on book five right now, The Order of the Phoenix. We've been very impressed with how well she follows the stories. It's great to see her mind at work, asking questions and speculating about what's to come.

Speaking of what's to come: We get a break from the road tomorrow, but next week it's nine shows over five days, then two more four-day weeks in a row. I think the toughest part about this week for Evalyn was not having her regular play time with toys or friends. But overall she's been very happy, so hopefully this will continue to be fun for her!

See you at the library!