Tonight's post is a photo blog of yesterday's journey to two libraries for storytelling, and a few things in between. It's not a complete picture of the day by any means; I'll have more to post. But this is a sampler of my day:

First stop was West Union, West Virginia, county seat of Doddridge County. The town sits high on a a hill and the lovely courthouse is on the highest point in town. The brickwork is stunning.

We were sad that we could not get back to West Union this evening for--I kid you not--the Outhouse Parade. What is an outhouse parade? I have no idea but I most certainly want to see one. Tomorrow they will have a bed race down Main Street, all part of West Union Fest; three people can push the bed and one can ride. I love this town!

Raccoon came out to play, even though he was still grouchy from being up all night in my corn patch. The tried and true story of Mud that I tell with him continues to work with audiences. And I continue to thank Don Leonard, the Florida storyteller from whom I learned the story. Over the years of telling it has become a good bit different from Don's version, but I owe this successful story to him.

The crowd of 60+ parents and children had a very good time making fingerpuppets. More photos of that later too.

At the Center Point Library, we had storytelling and then made wooden spoon puppets. This puppet is especially delightful. About twice as many children showed up as expected, so we had twice as much fun.

I have wanted to take my husband to Berdyne's Store for years; finally yesterday we were in the right place at the right time. We drove a little out of our way to Harrisville to visit this unique shop. Above is a photo of just a tiny bit of the amazing variety of items for sale at Berdyne's. I will do a complete post on the store this weekend. It's one of my all-time favorite places to visit.

At a rest area on the interstate, we met this gentleman from North Carolina and his "new" car. Isn't it gorgeous? The car, a 1953 Chevrolet station wagon, was in immaculate condition. He'd just bought the car in Ohio and was driving it home to North Carolina.

Then another truck pulled in, this one hauling a 1963 Willy's Army jeep. Larry loves these things, always wants to look at them wherever he sees them. Imagine his delight when the owner offered to let him sit in it! This jeep is in pretty good condition, even had the axe mounted under the drivers side, a shovel on the other side, the original gas can, roll bar, frame for the roof canopy, and a spare tire. The owner had bought it over the Internet from someone in Ohio and he was one happy man.

I didn't think we'd ever leave the rest area, but Larry finally (reluctantly) got out of the Jeep and we headed home after a full and completely interesting day.

Always there is more to storytelling than meets the eye--or ear.