I had a great time at the Church of Christ camp for upper elementary kids held at Oklahoma Christian College in Edmond, OK. There were about 250 kids and helpers and they had just arrived and had supper. The staff wanted something comforting for them on their first night since this was the first time to camp for many.
I was not able to do the program last year because I was traveling but there were a few kids from the year before that remembered me. There were also some of the staff that said how much they missed the strings last year and were happy that I was there. We were in Hardamen Audatorium and It worked out very well.
I came home to a hot house. My air went out on Friday night. Saturday was 107 here so I spent a lot of time at a friends’ home or driving. Sunday I was out most of the time and today it is only about 90 out. Not too bad. They are coming tomorrow morning…they promiced.
Dave
After I left the libraries I drove to Oklahoma City to pick up the final version of the new video, Exciting Christian String Figures. They were making one change to a word I used and putting in a table of contents. They had it finished and I have two copies, one to send to the factory and one to put in the safety deposit box.
Friday at the office Lynna and I looked at it and checked each of the menu items to make sure they were right. She has been working on the cover and now we are ready to send it on to the factory to get copies made. I think I will start with 500 copies and see how they go. If I have too many I have to carry them over to the next year and there are some tax issues.
Friday evening at our weekly meal at my house, my 8 adopted family watched it for a primier showing. They gave it high ratings. What could they do after I just fed them ribs, escalloped corn and pinto beans with ham. We do have a good time on Fridays. Let me know if you are in town and we will see about an invitation. There are usually a couple of other people besides the core of 8 so one more is nothing.
Dave
I had a program at for the Mcloud Public Library on Thursday morning at 11. The program was across the street in the American Legion Hall again. This one had a “swamp cooler” for those of you that know and the fan was very noisy. I had to really “project”.
There was a young man about in 8th grade. He remembered me from 5 years ago and said “I have been making string figures ever since. I can do about 50 now.” It is amazing how some people really catch on to these things. We had a good group after the day care got there.
I then drove to Tecumseh for an afternoon program. I have been there a couple of times and remember some big crowds. There must have been a Bible School or something because the group was small for their usual numbers. We had a good time and everyone seemed happy with the program.
Dave
Today I was at these two small town libraries. Blanchard is the typical main street town. The library is old so we went down to the other end of main street where the flag was to the American Legion Hall for our program.
At each group I get a couple of people who came just to see me. They taught when I was at their school and now they want their grandchildren to experience the string stuff and things like that. It is very rewarding to see them and hear why they are there.
Newcastle had a nice new library with a large hall. Mirrors at each end of the room so the group just kept going on and on. There was a boy with only one hand and he was keeping up with the others and improvising with the other arm. I brought him up and we did a two person figure. He sure seems bright. I’ll bet he is a live wire at home or in the classroom.
Stopped by the office on my way home tonight to pick up a few more videos. The libraries have my materials but some families want their things right now or want them to keep around instead of checking it out for 2 weeks. That’s fine with me.
Dave
Tuesday afternoon and evening I was giving programs at Moore. We had 316 in the afternoon. Don’t tell the fire marshall that we were 16 over. Again there were groups from day care and the “Y”. They did not have a mike for the program and it was hard to hear in the back. Part of that was the two or three babies. Why don’t parents take them out when they are noisy?
Again I went to a friends home and had a nap and then he and I went out to eat. It was nice to have some quiet time for visiting just one on one. Back for the evening program. Again, it was not as large and only families. What a good thing to see parents and children working together and laughing. I love what I do.
Dave
On the 23rd I had a morning program at Purcell library. Lots of kids from day care and some families made a nice mix to work with. We had a good time and learned lots of things.
Dave
On June 22nd I did two programs at Norman Public Library for their Summer Reading Club, 2:00 and 7:00. We had 292 in the afternoon and about half that amount in the evening. I had a good time visiting with my long term acquaintence, librarian Basha Hartley. Another friend, John Hinkle came over to see me and brought me an Origomi book. He thinks I might like to branch out.
I went to a friends’ home and took a quick nap between performances.
Dave
June 8, 2009. The Wetumka public library is a very small affair but has much going on for the kids. We had a lively group there also in the afternoon program. At the end of the summer they will have a drawing and 4 boys and 4 girls will be winning $25 gift certificates from Wal-Mart. What a deal.
There are many Native Americans around there and we had lots of fun working on some of those figures.
Dave
Summer reading club in Holdenville, Oklahoma tries to catch the kids who are not traveling to relatives, going to church camp and otherwise not available for this summer divirsion. I think there was at least one church camp going on and the numbers were small in the group but they were active participants as were the mothers and grandmothers that brought the kids. We had a good time learning some things and everybody left with something more to do this summer.
Dave
In order to get a cheap flight I had to leave on Tuesday from Akron-Canton airport at 5:45. That ment getting up at 3:30. My flight went from Akron to Atlanta and then back to Oklahoma City. They had an overbooking situation so I chose to be bumped for one flight and got a free ticket.
Sitting around a full day in an airport is work so I was glad to get some pay for the day. $400 for the day was not bad, but I was glad to get home.
Dave