To celebrate Advent I am going to post a series photos of Williamsburg Christmas Wreaths until Christmas.
I took these photos in 2005 - the year our family gathered in Williamsburg to celebrate Jim's and my 50th wedding anniversary.
Williamsburg Wreath - 2005
Photo: e.schoettler
Today the annual Christmas Tree sale opened outside our church. The pungent perfume of the piles of fresh cut spruce and fir triggered many memories.
My friend Jennie called to share her delight at listening to an old audio tape of Charles Kuralt reading from his book, On the Road.
Born and bred in North Carolina Charles Kuralt was the kind of consummate storyteller I grew up around. After he graduated from the University of North Carolina - ( Chapel Hill, will do for those who know and love it ) Kuralt returned to Charlotte to begin his career as a journalist. He found stories at every turn and he carried his ability to capture ordinary people into his career in NYC - - - it resulted in his famous and well-loved "On the Road" television program.
Hearing his voice brings me back to earlier days in Charlotte and reminds me of my debt to and appreciation for Kuralt's ability to translate the ordinary into "story".
Going with my grandmother to Morrisson Farms to pick out the turkey from those clucking in the
farm yard. Once it was tagged she would return in several days to pick it up - plucked and ready
for her roasting pan.
Favorite dishes: sweet potato casserole, dressing - hot on Thanksgiving and cold next day,
jellied cranberry - for years I thought you could only eat that at Thanksgiving, now I serve it
year round and ambrosia - with coconut.
Jim and I will celebrate our 56th wedding anniversary December 30 - so this is our 58th Thanksgiving together. We often talk about the first - when a Hopkins Nursing School classmate and I cooked a dinner for Jim and his room-mate. He married me later dispite the biscuits that day which could have doubled as hockey pucks. Since then I serve delicious biscuits --- from a tube.
Another turkey memory. A few years ago I invited a gaggle of folks got Thanksgiving Dinner.
Bought the Turkey - frozen - the day before - - -a twenty four pound turkey does not thaw in a
minute. My daughter Karen and I sat up all night running warm water over the "bird" - inside and
out - so that I could cook it Thanksgiving morning. It worked but I don't recommend it.
This year I will not be cooking the Turkey. My cousins are bringing the dinner - ready for the table - and it is a wonderful blessing.
We have many blessings to celebrate today - but Jim's health is not one of them.
His cancer has returned. Back on Chemo which we hope will soon take hold and suppress things. At the moment he feels lousy. Please remember him in your prayers.
We flew to San Antonio with a group of service men and women returning from duty in Iraq.
At the airport we watched as two young children holding balloons ran into their mother's arms to welcome her home.
So we stumbled upon one aspect of the history of today -
We also revisited our own history.
Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX was Jim's first assignment when he was drafted into the Air Force in 1958. Maybe some will recall there was a "doctor draft" in those days so Jim knew that as soon as he completed his internship he would be called up - commissioned a Captain. He was assigned to this very building which was the School of Medicine for his training as a Flight Surgeon.
Bringing our history up-to-date:
Our son was 2 and half when we moved to Texas.
Because Jim was an Officer we had a blue decal on the front and rear bumpers of our green Ford Station Wagon. When we drove through the front gates the guard spotted that decal, staightened to attention and snapped a salute. Jimmy loved that. Standing on the front seat of the car next to me he would stand straighter and snap a salute back to the guard. Then he'd laugh!
This afternoon Jimmy was driving. When we entered the gate the guard came forward , " ID please." When Jimmy handed his ID to the guard he eyed it, then straightened to attention and snapped a salute.
"Have a nice afternoon, Colonel."
We all laughed.
After our visit to Randolph AFB we drove around to the other side of town to visit Brooks Air Force Base - now decomissioned and called Brooks City-Base
In 1959 the School of Medicine moved from Randolph AFB to Brooks AFB into these new buildings. Once he had completed his training as a Flight Surgeon Jim as assigned to the faculty at the new School of Aerospace Medicine. This was the early days of the new space effort and they were conducting research and experiments to determine how the human
body would acclimate to space, pressures, isolation and many other aspects of space flight. Jim was assigned to teach a course in Aerospace Medicine and he tells us today that he essentially made it up as he went along.
Space talk was in the air. And a friend and I got caught up in it. We had been in a writers group in Baltimore and we decided to interview the wives of the astronaut candidates to find out how they were coping - especially with their husbands being sequestered in the isolation chambers for long periods of time. My friend's mother was a novelist and her NY agent agreed to handle our manuscript. We had just submitted it to him when Commander Alan Shepard was lobbed into space and the whole scene changed - - - making our women's story yesterday's news. But it was a great experience and we agreed we learned a lot from the doing.
A history surprise:
Jim was transferred to his Psychiatry Residency at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC in July1961...and we lost track of the fine points of what happened at the School of Aerospace Medicine.
So we were surprised when one of the current staff mentioned the connection with President John F Kennedy.
We walked around the Bedwell Building, (named for General Bedwell, the Commander when Jim was there) to see this plague.
President Kennedy came to Brooks on November 21, 1963 to dedicate the Bedwell Building and then flew to Dallas. It was his last public speech before he was killed in Dallas.
A note on the phrase: " We threw our cap over the wall":
From Wikipedia:
Frank O'Connor's early years are recounted in An Only Child, a memoir published in 1961 which has the immediacy of a precocious diary. U.S. President John F. Kennedy remarked anecdotally from An Only Child at the conclusion of his speech at the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center in San Antonio on November 21, 1963: "Frank O'Connor, the Irish writer, tells in one of his books how, as a boy, he and his friends would make their way across the countryside, and when they came to an orchard wall that seemed too high and too doubtful to try and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall--and then they had no choice but to follow them. This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space and we have no choice but to follow it."[7]
So many threads weave our stories connecting us to history.
Balance is everything, isn't it
Whether in a piece of art work
or in life
I am trying to remember that
My days would run much smoother if I could.
Somehow I can achieve balance much better in a collage than I can in my life
In the collage I can manage and control even the smallest bits
In life ---
Everything is beyond my control.
It is about how well I can "go with the flow"
or play the hand I am dealt.
Storytelling is so great - gives you an opportunity to relive an adventure and even if it was harrowing -
you can see your self in it with better perspective.
Recently when I was one of the storytellers for an event with Better Said Than Done, I told An Adventure in Kenya. It is still so vivid in my memory that it does not see 26 years since the 1985 United Nations in Nairobi - it could have been yesterday.
Really appreciate BSTD Director Jessica Piscitelli - for inviting me as one of the tellers and for this video to share.
So comfortable to be back in a group of feminists, male and female who care about this issue. I felt very at home and realized how much I had missed these groups.
My time on the staff of the League of Women Voters was tiring, challenging, exciting and very satisfying. Working on the Equal Rights Amendment made me feel so connected to history - to the connection with the Suffragists.
Carolyn Cook, the Founder of United4Equality, is a woman of passion and determination, on the issue of ERA and reminds me of so many women I knew during the 70s and 80s - who worked for ERA across the country. She is like those women who put their hearts into the Campaign.
I never thought I would have a chance to tell my ERA story to a group of activists continuing the effort to pass the ERA - - - what a wonderful opportunity for my Diamond Jubilee.
Tonight in Rockville, MD I will be telling Pushing Boundaries, my story of morphing from a 1950s housewife into an ERA activist at a Fundraiser for United 4 Equality.
Carolyn Cook, the founder of United 4 Equality will talk about the campaign to ratify the Amendment by 2015. Carolyn is a woman who is determined and passionate in her efforts to bring equal rights for women into the US Constitution.
Being able to work in support of ERA is another touchstone
for my Diamond Jubilee Year.
I am very happy to share my story in support of a new ERA Campaign because I believe it is a way to gather stories from other Second Wave veterans as well as a way to ignite young women to want to see them selves protected in the US Constitution.
The George West Storytelling Festival in G.W., Texas was mighty fun! Just being in Texas was wonderful and I have a lot to say about it - but thought I would start my series of blog posts with a story.
The Ghost Story concert on Saturday night was the last event of the Festival. It was held in the Performing Arts Center which is a classic movie house that has been lovingly restored.
Ghost stories are a popular event at any festival and this was no exception. With lights down the Dobie Theater was a great place for the scary stories and the full-house audience loved them. Megan Hicks led off with an original and v e r y scary story followed by Mark Babino who told a chilling version of the "white dress" story. Consuelo Samarippa told a wonderful darker version of the witch of Cordoba than I have ever heard. Jay Stailey lightened the mood with Boo Baby and you could feel the audience appreciate it. I followed with one of my favorite ghost stories, The Cussing Cover, an Appalachian story and DeCee Cornish brought down the house as he closed the show with his telling of a scary story that turned into a joke.
San Antonio storyteller Larry Thompson set this line-up and his choice to move from scary stories to laughing worked really well.
Here is a recent version of The Cussing Cover which was recorded at Channel 16 and aired on Stories in Time.
Had a fun time telling stories with the group, Better Said Than Done. Jessica Piscitelli, storyteller and CEO, does a great job of organizing these events. And the line up was marvelous - terrific stories from Geraldine Buckley, Vijai Nathan, Meredith Maslich, Derek Hills, Adam Ruben, Jessica, Jennifer Liu and David Hallissey -and me - - all veterans of Speakeasydc.speakeasydc.org
I told a story from my adventure at the UN Conference on Women, Nairobi, Kenya in 1985.
Loved working with the memories -
Forcing a longer story into 12 minutes -
its gets leaner and crisper.
Have to use gestures and expression
as well as words and voice to send the action home.
Work at seeing the pictures
and giving them in
shorthand.
Jim took these pictures -
so that I can see myself
telling the story.
Telling Finding Gus last evening at Tales in the Village in Chevy Chase, MD. Bringing my grandfather Gus back through his story makes me happy. I only wish my mother could have heard it. I like to think she would have liked hearing the story and knowing he was no longer "forgotten".
To me this is the real gift from genealogy and family storytelling.
In my collages I often work to balance disperate elements: just as in life.
My day began with a blessing.
Two weeks ago I lost my wedding band.
We have looked everywhere in this house - through clothing and pockets, purses, briefcases, as well as under rugs and furniture in every room. We vacuumed and sifted through the debris in the bag. Thought we were leaving no stone unturned.
I called on St. Anthony and St. Jude to lend a hand with the search; to help me find my ring. I tried to remain calm while I came to accepting that, after 55 years, I had lost it.
Jim said, "we'll get you another one." "No. I don't want a replacement." Meaning - I want that one.
This morning when I sat down to neaten up my purse I reached into the zipper change section of my purse for coins to count. When I opened my hand - my gold wedding ring gleamed in my palm along with the dimes and nickels.
Jim came running when he heard me scream. "Its my ring!" The tears I had been holding back for two weeks poured down my cheeks.
Yes, I had looked in the purse. Emptied it and checked it. Consider this - I never put my rings into that section of the purse if I am not wearing them.
If we were sitting together over a cup of coffee this is what I would be thinking and talking about.
My apologies. I just don't have any room in my wee brain for anything else than the following.
1. Enjoyed interviewing Maryland storyteller-poet Anne Sheldon today for Stories in Focus. Wide ranging conversation took off on its own. Now that's when its really fun. Her interview will air tomorrow evening at 10PM and Wednesday at 7PM - Channel 16, Montgomery County. I will post it here in a few weeks.
2. Working on Finding Gus for a performance this Wednesday evening. Tinkering with it a bit - and loving remembering my visit to Clemson U. last Spring - where he is remembered on a brick in the terrace in the Clemson Stadium. Still brings tears to my eyes.
3. Making progress on producing The New Front Porch internet radio program. Slowed by a steep learning curve! But enjoying the process of cutting and snipping audio tapes ---- into a new conversation! Collaging words.
4. Writing a new story for the "Better Said Than Done" program in Virginia next Sunday. Tweak! Tweak! Tweak!
Remembering Nairobi, a step back in time, and an adventure. All into 12 minutes! Now that is the trick.
&
tomorrow Jim and I are going to Baltimore - to Johns Hopkins Hospital for some deep conversations with folks who have big brains.
That's enough for one wee brain to hold.
Leonardo's bones and a parrot. It's in process. Don't know where that's going.
Anymore than we usually know where a day is going, right?
Every day I start out with a list - some items so priority one that they actually get done - - others are bounced around and even bumped by things that come up.
Its not a great system - but its the one I worked out years ago and I am used to it.
The best thing about it is - once something is on the list - - it will be done.
The first "organizer" book I ever noticed was a blue fabric covered, smallish 3 ring binder that a student in one of my 1970s art history classes at American University had devised. She was also pursuing her Masters in Fine Art and was preparing for her Comprehensive exams. She explained how she had sectioned it for topics she thought would be covered on the exams - and added new information as she studied. Low cost. Easy to use. I still have the faded blue fabric covered note books I bought at the American University Bookstore 37 years ago - to make a system like hers for myself.
Later in the 70s I discovered "Day Timers". That's a more expensive system which sends you a set of 12 smallish calender- books, one for each month. I chose two pages for each day style. It arrived in a black or brown plastic box - a house to keep the books in. Your life for the year. I used those until 2000. Convenient record books - when you are really using them. "Day Timers" saw me through the ERA Campaign, and several other heavy-duty administrative jobs.
Once I started full time storytelling - I switched to a cheaper system. Now I use quad-ruled composition books from Staples - as a brain - along with a cheap, small monthly calendar that fits in my purse.
I write everything in my brain- appointments, telephone numbers, conversations, ideas, plans, LISTS. I use one brain a month. Not a very organized system I admit - and its cumbersome - because I store them in large cardboard file boxes.
Lately I am keeping calendars on my iPod and iPad too. And, I use an Apple app, Notes, to keep my lists.
But you know someting? Organization is hard. Try as I do, something always slips through. Often leaving me with egg on my face.
Nice Fall day here.
Blue sky, breeze rattling the colorful leaves on the trees
and sending them raining down on the ground.
Sets me to thinking about Halloween
How about you?
Every day has a bit of gold.
Good conversations and ideas.
Possibilities
Things to look forward to - -
Even while I am missing
a bit of gold
My gold wedding band
Lost
Not Found.
Recently storyteller Suzi Whaples came to town and we had a chance for a lovely conversation on Stories in Focus.
This week Suzi is in Joneborough TN as Storyteller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center. Can't you imagine how folks are loving a matinee show every day with her stories? HERE for more information about Suzi.
Hello, darlings.
Have I got a treat for you this morning.
Many people already know that this past Thursday Megan arrived at the National Storytelling Festival as a "New Voice", did herself proud on those stages for two days, and drove back to Virginia last night - a Star in the storytelling "fer ma ment". In February I invited storyteller Megan Hicks as a featured teller for Tales in the Village and as a guest on my TV show, Stories in Focus.
So - as a "Brava" to Megan here's a re-play of our conversation and she tells you a story.
For those who know her and have followed her career Megan's success in Jonesborough was no surprise. She is a seasoned professional - as those who have listened to her know. She has performed at festivals, in schools, and libraries across the country - and outside the borders for that matter. In the storytelling business however appearing on the Jonesborough stage sprinkles "fairy dust" and opens new doors for tellers who are so annointed. So, watch out world here she comes.
For those who don't know her - watch for her at a Festival near you - - and don't miss hearing her stories. Megan Hicks is a real storyteller. Her stories have humor, heart and meaning. For instance if you are in Texas -- Megan is a featured teller at the George West Storytelling Festival - where else - in George West, TX - the first week-end in November.
My grandmother had a radio very much like this one in her living room. When I was a child we gathered around for the evening news and then for the magic of laughter and stories that followed.
With THE NEW FRONT PORCH radio show on my horizon I am thinking a lot about things I liked to listen to on the radio before television came on the scene and captured the family audiences. Programs like Arthur Godfrey and his easy down home patter, Lux Radio Theater, Let's Pretend stories, Burns and Allen, and Fibber McGee and Molly. All those people I could listen to and imagine.
I still listen to the Big Broadcast Show of old-time radio programs whenever I have a chance - in fact I am listening to it from their internet website as I write this.
On a more modern note: Yesterday I drove to the country listening to the Splendid Table. Lynne Kasper is a warm and vivacious host who talks about a wide world of food. In particular I was entralled by her interview with the author of Salted, a Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral - - as he extolled the importance of salt I was thinking of the old story "Like Meat Loves Salt." The program I listened to in the car is on the website along with a recording of Terry Thiese author of "Reading Between the Wines" who rhapsodizing about the mystical possibilities of having the right wine for the right moment.
We all carry many references to old Folktales in our heads without really knowing how they got there. Shakespeare may have been inspired by Like Meat Loves Salt when he wrote King Lear. And this tale is well known in Appalachian culture. HERE Dave Tabler writes about those connections. Surprised? Or did you already know?
Wondering - wondering - - about The New Front Porch.
Frisky Dancing Homage to Henri Matisse e.schoettler
You know something darlings - I have decided that now that I have celebrated my Diamond Jubilee - I can say more of what I think - as long as its real, true and doesn't hurt anybody. Just the ramblings of an aging Southern woman sitting on her Front Porch, right?
Reading a new book about "branding" and honestly, it just confuses me. Seven syllable corporate words that disguise meaning - and leave me "in the dark."
The author did bring in the revered Joseph Campbell and his well known advice - "follow your bliss." I get that. I got it the first time I read it in the 1970s. Follow you bliss = follow your heart, do what you love - - even when its not THE thing of the moment.
Now that's hard - nobody ever said it wasn't - because somewhere there is a pay-off, whether its money or just approval, for being the flavor of the month. It takes true grit to stay on your own path.
In today's world - with the mega highway of information - how can an artist keep up with the shiftings and maintain a true "voice" or vision --- even more than that - how do they continue to make new work - to keep their work fresh?
It is a problem - not something we talk about - but all of us who love stories and go to listen often know that twinge of disappointment when we hear the same stories as "last time." Sometimes its a good feeling. Comforting. Like when we were kids and Mom or Dad read us the same story every night - - - but other times its a bit of a stinging let down.
Hey, I do it myself - tell the same story again and again - if it fits - because its easier, because I know it will do the job and that I can do a good job with it. Because I have not had time to write something new or to preview it, or to practice it. My bad.
Why am I thinking about this? Because I heard an excellent interview with Jeanne Robertson, the North Carolina Humorist and Speaker who has become a Phenom - through You Tube. And now is covering the country - leaving them laughing and happy and often times touched. Listen to what she has to say here - about her business - but more than that --- treat yourself to watching her videos on You Tube - good, clean fun from a very funny lady who leaves you wanting more.
Recently aired on Stories in Time, Channel 16, Kensington MD. Today home-made cakes often start with a box. In my grandmother's day making a cake was a kitchen pageant.
Storytellers and story lovers are gathering in Jonesorough TN today
to ccelebrate storytelling for this week-end of the National Storytelling Festival.
This is the first time in eight years that Jim and I are not among the happy throngs - and its kind of like missing a family reunion. I am missing being there - but it just could not work for us this year, drat!
I can imagine that excitement is building. The hulking big tents are empty tonight - but they are ready for tomorrow morning when the crowds drift in to fill the seats and the magic starts!
Rough and smooth
just like sailing on the seas of life.
1. Gus is back. Telling "Finding Gus" today was very satisfying - especially to a warm and welcoming audience who embraced Gus.
2. Appreciated the sunny blue skies today - gives me a jolt of positive energy.
3. Having a really good time working on The New Front Porch radio show - toying with possibilities.
A new creative and challenging project is SWEET .....
Can't help myself. I love my iPhone. Keep it near-by or in my pocket. Like being wired. Not surprising. The telephone has always been irresistible to me.
Mama gave me a dime as a safety measure so I could always call home. Long distance kept me in touch with my far away family. We even ran up a bill keeping in touch with our son when he was living in Europe. The miracle of communication. God Bless Alexander Graham Bell for his invention. Its a great connector.
But I have to admit the iPhone has limitations.
When I was reading through my contact list on my iPhone the other day - I realized - that half a dozen, maybe more - of numbers on the phone can't be dialed on any phone. They require a celestial connection....
I am really excited about this new project. Working out plans. Setting up the information-highway to get the word out. Hope you will "like" my new FaceBook Page, The New Front Porch - that is where I will post info about scheduling and what's happening on the radio show.
Guess what. All this takes takes time so - -one of the reasons you have not heard anything from me for a while.
The New Front Porch will be on A World of Storytelling - an internet radio station - started by Don 'Buck P' Creacy, a Kentucky storyteller and now radio "wizard". You can listen to it on the computer, on your car radio (with a connector you can buy at Walmart and other places), on your iPhone and iPad if you down load the APP. Anybody that has read this blog knows how fascinated I am by technology so they will not be surprised that I wanted to do something with this.
No denying I have a learning curve - so far as some of the technical issues are concerned - but, you know something - those challenges just make this project more attractive to me.
My plan is to have programs on the air in November - - you will be the first to know.
National Storytelling Festival - next week-end.
For the past eight years Jim and I have started the month of October with a wonderful story-filled week-end in Jonesborough, TN for the National Storytelling Festival. It just won't work for us this year - and its hard to give up the storytelling pilgrimmage. I will be thinking about all the happy storytellers and story-listeners crowding the tents to listen - - particularly a few friends who will be telling at the Festival for the first time - Geraldine Buckley and Adam Booth on the Exchange Place Stage - and wonderful Megan Hicks who is a featured NEW VOICE. If you are there - take my advice - don't miss them.
"My SELF is often a collage". Movie with audio story and textile illustration.
This is a simple movie, true. Its a beginner's effort. But its something I have wanted to play with for longer than I care to tell you. Made up my mind several months ago that I would start using some of my audio files combined with my art work to put small clips together. And - - I would begin NOW.
When my daughter Robin was here recently I asked her to "show" me how to get started. Because I learn faster when I see it - I figured having Robin show me would really jump stat this process. It has.
Several years ago I realized that all the video and audio files I have are an amazing stash of materials to work with - - very much like collaging with textiles and papers. I am surprised that this is not "rocket" science - its mostly cutting and pasting and knowing which are the right buttons to push. Listen, I can do that!
Do love this MacBook which opens doors to so many new technologies.
We are enjoying the quiet of the country.
We drove up this afternoon in frustrating stop and go heavy traffic
Feeling tight and rattled
So once settled in and fed the quiet is welcome
Calming.
These Iris bloomed in our yard here last Spring.
Remembering their beauty and grace
Thanks to the camera
I can enjoy them again.
Grateful for my camera - for helping me hold the moments.
Like grace notes.
