I've been toying with the idea of a different sort of marketing tactic for Nature Dome for a while now, and Ifinally have an avenue to make it happen.

My next door neighbor happens to be an extraordinarily talented face and body painter--check out some of her work on her website: http://www.bestfaceandbodyart.com/

In addition to doing her own thing at events (including, recently, the Super Bowl and the Florida State Fair), she often books other entertainers--caricature artists, clowns, balloon artists, etc.--to work parties with her.

Which brings me back to my idea--Game Guy . . . Ideally, I would work kids' birthday parties or other kid-centric events by seting up gaming tables with lots of different easy-to-learn, fun games. Featured among them, of course, would be Nature Dome. As I've said, if I can get kids playing the game, they fall in love with it. What better way to get the word out than through 15 or 20 kids a time at birthday parties?

So, today was the debut of the Game Guy at my neighbor's son's birthday party. Unfortunately, a cold front rolled through last night, so there was a strong and very cold wind blowing through the pavilions where I was supposed to set up my games. That meant that I got to play a few dice games (the only things that wouldn't fly away), but not much more. A sputtering sort of debut. But it may lead to bigger and better things.

And I got to dress up as a cowboy to fit the pony party theme (hence the cowboy clothes shopping that led to my discovery of Lost Treasure in my last blog entry) . . . and I may just have discovered a new look for myself in the process.

Fortunately, the pony rides, playground and an admirably enthusiastic balloon-twisting clown saved the day for the newly-minted six-year-old guest of honor . . .