photo from shutterstock.com

Norwegian ruler Olaf Tryggvason is remembered for his bloodlust and his ability to leap from oar to oar as his men rowed. He’s one of a legion of colorful Viking warriors who blazed a murderous trail, yet left a surprisingly orderly, prosperous, and sophisticated wake.  Small wonder that stories of the Norsemen continue to fascinate.

To schedule a presentation for your group, contact Ann.

…we LOVED your presentation!!!  Thank you so much again, we look forward to your next presentation here at the Penrose Community Library! — Marsha Benedict

Songs of the Humpback Whale, released in 1970, sold more copies than any human album ever had.  The reverberations kicked off a mighty whale-saving fan club that stifled the whaling industry and kindled a tsunami-force environmental movement that’s still growing.  The more we learn about whales, the more they awe and intrigue us.  This cetacean celebration investigates the whale phenom through a mix of recent findings, pop culture, sea lore, and stunning photos.  To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.

    Big  Doings  in  the  Deep:

The Seafloor’s Incredible Clues to Earth’s Inner Workings

  Photo from Pinterest

When Magellan dropped his fathom line and found no bottom to chart, he pronounced the Pacific Ocean “unfathomable.”  Explorers have learned a lot since then, much of it in the last 30 years—and much of it jaw-dropping.  Undersea mountains are movers and shakers, and the mind-boggling goings-on around them took the scientific community by storm.  Now that submersibles make oceans more fathomable, those mountains have opened a portal to the workings of the earth and much more.  This presentation is richly illustrated and suffused with wonder.  To schedule a presentation for your group, contact Ann.

It was stunning!  The photos and information were fascinating, and we all learned a lot.  –Amy Moulton, Director, West Custer County Library

Romancing the Sea:

Sea Horses, Octopuses, Sea Turtles, and the Heroes Fighting to Save Them

photo from countysquire.co.uk

Seaside or high seas, the ocean is the place to go for romance.  From breathtakingly beautiful sea creatures to stirring phenomena, to the intriguing mores of seahorses, slugs, turtles, and octopuses; this presentation explores and celebrates Neptune’s most enchanting sea life.

   To schedule a presentation for your group, contact Ann.

Your presentations are loved!    Sally Farrell, Active Adults Coordinator, Colorado Springs Senior Center

Sirens of the Sea:

Why We Adore Albatrosses, Otters, Mermaids and More

Otters, seals and manatees are serious charmers.  Loving and lovable as they tend to be, their courtships are more frightening than inspiring.  Yet whether their faces are crazy cute or not so much; their intellect, stellar or slow; their powers of seduction are forces to be reckoned with.

I want to congratulate you on having done your research—you have presented some sound facts about sea otters!  Well done!   Gena Bentall, Program Coordinator, Sea Otter Savvy

To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.

    Creepiest Sea Creatures:

Slime Shooters, Gut Spillers, Un-Deaders, and Professional Urine Sniffers

Things are different in the deep.  Eyes are optional.  Slime is good.  Beauty equals toxicity.  An array of bizarre creatures kick this picture show off with unholy adaptations to make even scales crawl.  Familiars such as sea stars, lobsters, and sea jellies seem okay except for their habits worthy of horror show stardom.  Moray eels and stingrays lurk off shore with more ghastly and electrifying revelations. Cast your vote for most disturbing.

To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.

Hair Raisers from the Deep:

Ghost Ships, Kraken, Sharks, and Worse

picture by Richard Acid Rayne

Stories of Kraken, the sea monsters of old, haunted early sailors.  We call those terrors squid now, but they’re still monstrous, voracious, and armed with the stuff of nightmares.  News from a growing wave of shark-huggers lightens things up.  It seems jaws aren’t so bad.  That tendency to sever an occasional leg is nothing personal, but if you prefer to keep your limbs a few tips are available.

Not scared?  Something far more insidious sucks the life from all that enter its lair, leaving untold destruction in its wake.  Make it stoooop!

To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.

A baby dolphin studied a man smoking outside her aquarium window then swam to her mother for a nip of milk. Returning to the window, she mimicked the cigarette smoke by releasing a tendril of milk.  Given the size of dolphins’ brains, many people wonder what more might be in store behind those grins.

This slide show presentation explores fascinating findings and intriguing clues to the goings-on inside dolphin skulls.  Stories of water wizardry, blowhole bantam leagues, hair-raising rescues, and startling sex scenes (discrete) entertain and inform listeners.

To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.

I came walking out of Ann Williams’ presentation on dolphins trying to figure out why I liked it so much. Yes, it’s meticulously researched, and yes, I learned a lot I never knew about these amazing aquatic animals; but mostly I just felt happy…happy she gave the talk, happy I attended it, sure, but mostly just happy that such wonderful creatures share the earth with us. I’m not usually one to gush, but if I could blow a dolphin water ring and then punctuate it with an exclamation point, I would. I’ll take my chances that they’d know what it meant…!! 

                     –Gwynne Stanker, author, Native American novel THE SUNWALKERS

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To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.

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Kid Curry’s Last Ride

Historical Reenactment Program

A dramatic retelling by the posse-man’s great granddaughter. Includes a spirited “appearance” by Curry’s soiled dove girlfriend.

Kid Curry’s Last Ride tells the story of an outlaw and gunman–a cohort of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the worst of the Wild Bunch.  He ate lawmen for breakfast, but his spree was ended by a backcountry, Colorado rancher who joined the posse to reclaim a stolen horse.

That rancher was the great grandfather of the speaker Ann Williams, who included the story in her family biography, No Market for ‘Em.

The history involved in the program touches on many issues relevant in this time.  To give the production pizzazz, the speaker “channels” Curry’s soiled dove girlfriend who gives a firsthand account of a part of the outlaw’s life.

“Thank you for your wonderful presentation last night—it was informative, dramatic, and in many ways, thought provoking.

Your words, as conveyed through your performance, really brought history to life–you gave the human beings who made that history flesh, blood, feelings, emotions, dreams, and desires—you made them like us.  It is obvious you have a talent for the many facets of historical dramatization…”

Warren Nolan
(Pueblo Archeological & Historical Society)

To schedule a performance for your group, contact Ann.