I woke up very, very early today and drove across the state to present a program at the annual conference of the NYSAEYC. I was on the road before 5:00 am and made very good time to the Turning Stone Casino and Convention Center in Verona NY, just east of Syracuse. My topic was "Using Wool with Pre-School Children". It went very well. As I was driving along, fear grew in me as I imagined one of my program participants sticking themselves with a needle felting needle. Visions of artereal splatter hitting the walls and ceiling of the meeting room flashed before my mind's eye. Nothing of the sort happened. This is the display I had:
This organization is devoted to infants, toddlers and pre-school children. Consequently, the people who attend are generally nice to the extreme. Another advantage I had was that my program was toward the end of the three-day conference. Most of the other offerings were topics on the order of brain research, agency management and other technical areas. People were ready to do something entirely different, let me tell you. This is what I covered: Making a pom pom with wool fleece, wet felting over a styrofoam ball and needlefelting. About 35 people attended the session. Presenters were required to hand out session evaluation forms at the end of the workshops. That made me break a sweat!. Anyhoo... It was a good experience but I'm glad it is over.
The casino itself is quite pretty. This sculpture of the tree of life is by the phenominal glass artist Dale Chilhuly. I admit that I went through the gaming floor, but in the end I didn't pump so much as a penny into the one-armed bandits. I liked it better when you put in a coin, pulled the handle and watched the rollers spin. Now you have to put money o a debit-type card. Takes the charm out of it for me. I was so nervous about my presentation that I forgot to eat! That has never, never happened to me. So... when I was done, I realized I was ravenous, so I treated myself to the casino buffet. For 20 bucks I ended up having something comparable to a school lunch. Really disappointing. I was rewarded with a prize-winning people-watching opportunity. I noticed a couple of the casino's pastry chefs assembling a wedding cake. But it was not a wedding cake! It was a cake to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a fun-loving couple.
These folks were dressed up in wedding party clothes and were having a blast. It was a hoot watching people all dandied up going through the buffet line. I love watching people. One of the good things about being a middle-aged woman is that you are unnoticed about 98% of the time so you can observe the goings on of others without them noticing.
You're so clever. And you were on time! Brava!
Posted by: Mags | May 01, 2010 at 11:53 PM
Glad it was a success!
Posted by: Becky | May 02, 2010 at 03:58 PM