TURTLE Tuesday

T is for Tuesday and Turtle...

After a year's hiatus from Tuesday mornings - and being on holiday break from Zoo classes with some extra time on my hands - I realized that there was a one-time opportunity to come together for the "First Tuesday of 2012."

Before I knew it, I had called and rented the Little Red Store (not to be confused with the Little READ Book Store, which is not far from there and another great place I highly recommend going!).

Nancy and I have done a handful of Saturdays outside the Little Red Store during Tosa Farmers Market, but never INSIDE before!

Because the plans were very last minute, I asked Cassandra to schedule a meetup on the Milwaukee Happy Mama Meetup calendar (a group that faithfully had Tuesday mornings on their calendar throughout the Cranky Al days, thanks ladies!). Because many mamas signed up so quickly (and because the name of the place does have "little" in it) we decided to keep it intimate for the trial run in a brand new space. And it was GREAT!!!

A warm, sunny morning and we had the whole place to ourselves! Nancy brought her guitar and playlist, and Sarah brought the coffee and the sweet treats.

And since T is for Tuesday and T is also for Turtles (I have an abundance of inspiration from teaching Turtle Class to 2 year olds at the Zoo this past December and have been looking for an opportunity to use my turtle puppet and to tell a feltboard story about where turtles go in winter, "Turtle, Where are you???"), we decided to celebrate TURTLES!

I find that talking about turtles is also a great opportunity to practice opposites...

IN/OUT

UP/DOWN ("When the weather changes, Turtle must swim down, down, down to the bottom of the pond and dig into the mud to sleep for the winter... Turtle, where are you????")

FAST/SLOW

We slowly and leisurely enjoyed our turtle time together. We sang some songs, read some books, did the Hokey Pokey, drank some coffee and chatted. And then everyone went on their way....

It was a wonderful Tuesday morning! One that reminded me so much of ones from long ago. A bit dramatic to say I know since it's only been a year since we've met on a Tuesday, but I am pretty nostalgic about all the wonderful friends both old and new that I've met on Tuesday mornings.

Stay tuned for more details coming soon about future meetings of First Tuesdays at Ten at the Little Red Store!