2/23/2007

Going West


Tomorrow morning Jim and I hop on Jet Blue at Dulles and head to Oakland. Spending time with our grandchildren is icing on this storytelling trip.

March1 I am telling stories at Heaton Elementary School in Fresno. Will be fun to share my stories with these West Coast kids and see what stories they like and if they react any differently than the kids in our area.

March 3 and 4- I am telling a new program of original stories as part of the Rogue Festival. http://secondhandrose.blogspot.com

We will be home March 5.
This gives me a couple of days to switch gears before my Irish Program March 8.
I am really looking forward to this program It is a blend of Irish folktales and family history.
Jim and I went to Ireland for several weeks last summer; our first trip.
As we slowly descended toward land on our approach to Shannon Airport I thought of Catherine Lonergan, a 12 year old girl, who left Ireland in 1835 on a ship with her parents and brothers to make their lives in a new land. We reached Ireland from Washington, DC in 7 hours. It took those Lonergans nearly a month.
While we were there I listened to all the women I encountered in all their ages and wondered what had been the sound of her.
Catherine was my three great grandmother. She had been dead 48 years when I was born - and I never heard anyone speak of her.

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