Friday, August 7

We were up by 7 a.m. this morning, so I could get a treadmill session and resistance exercises in before Mother and I went down to the college at 9:30 to watch the five to eight-year-old kids perform a puppet show, using the puppets and props that they'd made.

Before the kids performed, the workshop leader entertained us all with a couple of shadow puppet skits. The figures for the skit (flat characters that are jointed so that the arms and legs move) are held against a translucent screen on which is mounted a bright light so the figures show through the screen as shadows. The figures are mounted on long metal rods so the puppeteer can hold them close to the screen in front of the light without his hands being visible.

One clever skit centered on a spaceship that hovers over a farmhouse. The puppeteer made flying saucer noises as the ship sucked a carrot up inside it. Then a duck (quack) is sucked up, followed by a cow (moo). The spaceship finds it difficult to suck the cow up, so first the front end goes up (moo), then the rear end (moo), then the whole cow (moo-o-o).

The farmer comes out of the house and is also sucked into the spaceship. Finally, the farmer's wife, carrying a vacuum cleaner, comes out of the house. The spaceship approaches her. "I don't think so," she says, and aims her vacuum cleaner at it. The spaceship is sucked onto the vacuum cleaner hose, and the farmer's wife shakes it. Out drops the carrot. Out drops the duck (quack). Out drops the cow (moo). Out drops the farmer (mumble-grumble). The farmer's wife then flings the spaceship out into space. "Humph!" she says. The end.

Following the shadow puppet skits, the kids performed a very short version of Peter Pan with their puppets. It was just so cute. The middle school age kids did a great job with their puppets this afternoon, too. These kids wrote their own skit about a hero girl at school (Supersonica) and her evil twin, a vampire principal, and teachers who assign too much homework. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the plot of the skit. I was more interested in how the kids operated their puppets, which they did very well.

We were back home by 2 p.m. and didn't accomplish a lot for the afternoon, though I did begin researching information about digital cameras. As much as I hate it, it's time to upgrade to a better unit. I think I have found what I want, which is the same brand as the one I have, and which is compatible with the lenses and flash unit on my current camera. Rather than buying online, though, I will probably deal with a camera store in the Capital City that I've done business with over the years. The price at the store and online are appreciably the same, but I think the store offers a six months same as cash deal so that I could pay for the camera in installments instead of outright. Even though I'll buy only the camera body, it's still expensive.

Supper tonight was leftover beef hash with fried eggs and toast. I rarely eat egg yolks anymore, but beef hash just cries out for them. After that, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I (you guessed it) watched TV.