A day off from work - waking to the sound of a very early bird chorus, getting its songs out before the beginning of the slow-steady rain now nourishing our woods and gardens. I think of the hummingbirds who've relied on my stand of bee-balm, and are now discovering the scarlet runner bean vines climbing the faerie wickets I've built in the yard at home, and in the library garden. What do hummers with Very Hungry High Speed Babies do in the rain? Soon, down by the bridge I like to walk to in the evenings, the patch of jewel weed will burst into brilliant orange and yellow blooms, and the hummers will zoom in to feed there, too.
I've been something of a hummingbird this past week, attending the National Puppetry Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, July 14-19. All the puppeteers there - hundreds of hummers zooming and feeding on the extraordinary mastery of world-class teachers and performers - all of us have come away nourished with seeds of light. We've come away reeling with huge doses of exposure to genius, and our cups of inspiration are running over.
Personally, I've now got a new little pair of puppets, a duck and a frog, each made of terrycloth and intended to charm little children in the bathtub. With me, however, they'll become professionals on the puppet stage. Or perhaps it's the other way around: with them, I will deepen and lighten as an artist, a puppeteer. I'm practicing quack-talk and glug-speak, hoping for insight into a show I'm developing for a performance this weekend. I'm also on my way over to Foy's in Fairborn, the local masks-and-tricks-and-gizmos store where I'm sure I'll be able to find the silly sound effects I need.
After taking several hours of classes in Toy Theater during the festival, and then considering what can be done at an even tinier level - matchbox theater - I'm eager to develop a set of short shows, all of which can be stored in small matchboxes which can be housed in a large matchbox. I don't know why! The universe's hand is in this. All I know is, I'm going to buy some matchboxes while I'm out, and start experimenting with teeny tiny theatricals. I keep thinking I can pull out little shows during down-times at the library reference desk. I may also pick up an extra "brain," much needed some days for serving certain intrepid library patrons.
It's so soul affirming to be present in a gathering of people like myself - other multitalented folks who've gravitated or been called to puppetry. It's a sort of artistic/spiritual mating or conjugating event, with everyone cross-pollinating. By 2011, the year of the next Festival, many puppeteers will have sprouted new expressions, resulting from the fertilizing influence of the mastery they witnessed at this Festival. Oh, I'm all for this kind of mating! But I'm deeply grateful to be done, and to have my home and garden in which to be slow, steady, and quiet. There's a time and a place for everything.
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Comments: 28
Jerri
My husband and I work with bunraku-like puppets. It takes 3 puppeteers to work each puppet. I have pictures in one of my Gather photo albums.
I so wish more people would give EFT a try, but we are each on a different path and I must trust that when they are tired of suffering they will remember something they heard about EFT and check it out. I remember someone saying she had 2 years worth of EFT Insights newsletters saved on her computer but had never opened them. I hope she has now. I loved your comments because they shared how you would use each article and for what stresses in your life. You are such great support to me, thanks for that as well.
Wishing you a happy, happy day~!
"Ah, if I could fly, darting star-to-star at night,
I'd feed my young with rivers of song."
and
Why-ever not? Sounds like great theater to me!
When I was on the road all those years, my car battery never died. I had the same battery for 11 years. Since I've been back here restabilizing, though, I've had at least 2 batteries die on me. Uh.....