We spend our summers in northern Maine where there is a whole new assortment of venues from the rest of our year.  Our first show after arriving in Aroostook County was at Easton Field Days, an old homes days type of event a couple of small towns away from the small town of Mapleton where we live for six weeks.  Easton, Maine is a town of 1287 people at the most recent count.  Upon arriving at the high school on Saturday afternoon, I would guess that most of the town participated.  There were bouncy houses, limbo contests, lots of food (including home made ice cream made by a local Amish family) and more.  Later there would be fireworks, a dance and so much more.  some of the local churches brought me in, and I did a show at 2:00 pm.

i did the show alone because our daughter, Rose, is in Boston for two weeks with Youth With a Mission, and my wife, Sue, was at a baby shower for a young lady who used to work at the summer camp we direct while we're up north.  I planned a full hour- and actually went a little over - so there was a lot of setting up to do by myself.  But the show was in the high school gym / auditorium, which meant plenty of room for any juggling routines I planned to do.  I was blessed that the entire camp staff came out to see the show, and the gym was fairly full when the 2:00 start time came around.

I opened with my numbers juggling routine to the W's song " the Devil is Bad".  It felt great to not hold back, but have all the room I needed for the routine.  I continued with a variety of routines, including some that I don't do regularly, and the audience seemed to enjoy it all.  I shared a couple of entries from my book, " a Piece of Bosco" as well.  Before closing the show with machete and sickle juggling, I did my routine about Ecclesiastes, and Solomons realization that everything is meaningless unless, first and foremost, we fear (honor) God and obey his commands; reminding them, of course, that, on this side of the cross there is abundant grace when we fall short.

One of the things I love about spending our summers here is experiencing small town Americana through events like this.  I left looking forward to more such opportunities that we'll have during these six weeks.