ABOWS at the John C. Campbell Folk School

Monday evening was the last event for my "Southern Appalachian Book Tour" celebrating the release of A BIRD ON WATER STREET at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. I teach "Beginning Drawing" and "Creating Children's Picture Books" there about twice a year, so it was nice to add a presentation there and include all my Murphy friends. Although my dear friend Paula Pucket wasn't local at all - she drove an hour and a half to come see me do my thing. I couldn't hug her tightly enough!
     We got there early to set up, which gave us some free time to just wander the campus - something I rarely have time to do. Stan took some great photos:


Inside, we had an odd obstacle to overcome... a kitten had somehow gotten itself stuck in one of the floorboard returns. I heard it's tiny mewing the moment I walked into the hall. Just about the entire staff set to trying to free the wee fuzzy. At this writing, I'm not sure if they were able to, but I'll let you know as soon as I do!
     We set up the sales table, which looked rather nice in my opinion:

     Then we went to dinner in the dining hall. John C. dining is communal style - big tables, great food.
     Back in the main hall I had a nice crowd to share my presentation:


     Wonderfully, we were once again joined by Lisa Jacobi, playing "A Muddy Road to Ducktown" on her fiddle with her main bassist, Denny Mixon, accompanying.

And this time, her daughter, Seu joined along in her first public appearance playing bass!
     The four of us went out for celebratory drinks on the porch of the Chophouse in downtown Murphy, North Carolina afterwards - how nice! All said, it was a lovely ending to what has been one heck of a kick-off for A BIRD ON WATER STREET! I have officially sent it off into the world - now it's time to see how it does!