AMY RIGBY, SCHOOL LIBRARIES and BUNNY SLIPPERS

the bitter cold has arrived! you can pull in your breath, warm it inside your lungs, blow out the air and voila: steam!!! all the way to school this morning, as i was holding io’s little hand in mine, we were sucking in air, staring in each other’s eyes, and blowing out….”see?! did you see it, mommy?” and, instantly, sucking in more air….

i think the highlight of the morning was when lily realized, just as we were about to cross the green wooden bridge towards the school, that my feet were not bound in shoes. they were sporting my bunny slippers. (my ancient, fuzzy bunny slippers given to me by robin macy from our domestic science days!)

lily: uh, mom, you’re wearing your slippers!

me (still sucking air in and out to make steam): well, i ran out of time to get dressed.

lily: …and your housecoat….

which was true. i was walking the kids to school in my silk lucille ball pajamas with a sunflower soaked bright yellow fluffy robe…and my bunny slippers. the only thing that was cold, however, was my face and toes. i never realized this, but my robe is toasty! i don’t know why i wear coats when it is cold. i should just be wearing my robe around town!

so, as you can imagine, i had parents laughing and commenting on my attire (“need more coffee?” or “forget something this morning?”) i just smiled and nodded and walked into the school and figured this was a good lesson for my kids on the importance of having a good sense of humor AND not worrying what others think about you.

last week was a very, very good week. i flew to ft. worth and performed in libraries all over the city. thursday i performed at three libraries, including one where i got to try my hand at the limited russian i know, and one where i utilized the limited spanish i know….then, on friday, i performed at the central library downtown (simply beautiful!!) and then at a super elementary school for about 400 children in their auditorium…WONDERFUL! GLORIOUS! let me just say, we rocked the casbah! watching 400 kids do “radiation man” and “hey, there, neighbor” is hilarious!!! and i stayed to hug every single child afterwards….oh, they are all so funny and sweet and excited and some kids are cool…they just want a high five…and some kids JUMP on you, so eager to be held and loved. i try to give every single kid an opening compliment, “hey handsome!” or “hey, there, beautiful!” the level of energy is so high! it doesn’t tire me out at all, it makes me want to fly a kite…and there are the children in wheelchairs, who i go TO, and i sit WITH, and sing quietly for…

and the teachers…and the librarians!!! gosh, the most STUPENDOUS people you could ever want to meet. so interesting and interested in the kids….they are so grateful to have music/story time, and all the librarians were delivering me from one venue to the next, each with their own life story to share…i feel like i have 8 new best friends. they were all very concerned about what i wanted to EAT. ha ha!
so i had gumbo and quesidillas and i was driven to a neat old barn transformed into a BBQ restaurant….where our waiter eavesdropped on our conversation…until he couldn’t resist and asked me and my two librarian friends, “excuse me, but are y’all talking about cataloging?” and the librarians pricked up their ears and our young friend disclosed that he wants to get his Masters in Library Sciences and all hell broke loose! business cards were flying across the tables, promises of full scholarship, you name it! i guess there aren’t many men in the library sciences, so they were very excited! he was a smart, gentle guy, and YOUNG! he was about 26. that means he could be a librarian for a good 60 more years!!!

i love librarians!

then saturday, i played here in austin at the TEAYC (texas educational association of youth conference) where i was the KEYNOTE speaker!!! whoo whee! about 250 teachers from around the state of texas, me and my guitar, and a lot of enthusiasm about creativity in the classroom!

i love teachers, too!

ok, i will have to write another entry JUST about AMY RIGBY, my hero. i got to sing with her on saturday night…and, oh! boy. really. an entire blog entry to itself. (complete with more descriptions of food.)

until then, keep your slippers clean and your robe ready!!!!