Tea Party

Onward to the next leg of this journey! Alice has arrived with polka dot sneakers, a clown suit and a red bathing cap! We pulled in to Fort Desoto County Park, which is at the southernmost point of Tampa Bay where it flows into the Gulf. I cannot believe a more beautiful spot. We went to the beach today. The water shimmered, and the sand was the softest ever. Our camping spot for three nights is right on the water with an arc of palm trees around it. There are resident raccoons who snarl complaints to each other, but apparently have no beef with us. They were having a stand-off up in one of the palm trees right over our tent, but quieted down after dark. 10 o’clock curfew! The moon is still a crescent smile, and stars blazed filling the sky right down to the horizon.

We have had much dickering about how and when to do a puppet show. The ranger who got a gander of our puppet trailer as we pulled in and read the side that says, “a traveling puppet show,” greeted me with “you can’t do a puppet show here: nothing commercial.” Well, this isn’t exactly a commercial venture we are up to, and I imagine we will figure something out. Alice happened to pack about 100 tea bags, so we are considering having a tea party with a little free entertainment…bring your own cup and chair!

It keeps happening that I think I have figured something out, and then the next time it’s a custom job. This past Saturday, there was an “open market” in downtown St. Petersburg. I emailed an organizer about taking part and gave him a link to my web page. He called me back, and said to come on down. It was really a terrific scene, and I did three shows with lots of interactions with young and old. So I emailed another open market in Madeira Beach and heard nothing from them. Meanwhile for the parks, I thought I had figured out to do a very low key PR campaign with a poster on my easel and a few signs on the bathrooms, and not ask permission, but this time…..Tea Party!