3BT: Happy New Years, Starting out, Spreading the word

1. Happy New Year! Wishing everyone health and happiness and many blessings in 2011.


2. This time 55 years ago Jim and I were boarding a train for Baltimore at Union Station (DC) to start our new life together.

We were married in NC on December 30th and spent a brief honeymoon in Washington, DC on our way from NC to Baltimore to be there when the Hopkins Medical School classes reconvened January 2.

All honeymoons have stories. Ours is no exception.

I will leave room in case I decide to share a few.


3. Tired today. Have spent lots of time all day sending messages asking folks to spread the word about the Webinar Robin and I have scheduled for January 9.
Strategies tailored to storytellers and storytelling producers to help them expand their "reach" and fill seats at storytelling events.
The clock it ticking. This is a last chance - no more workshops scheduled after January 9.
If you are interested - register now!

New Years Eve: Reflections and Resolutions

(Jim took this picture of Ellouise beside the steam train in Cumberland, MD - September 2010 - on the way to the Applachian Festival in Frostburg, MD to tell stories with Katie and Otto Ross, Joanne Dadisman, and Susie Whaples.)

As dependable as death and taxes every year it comes to this point - New Year's Eve. Here you stand looking back at the waning year and peering forward hopefully into the face of the new.

Last year I resolved lots of things - that have not been scratched off the list or made into being a "habit."

This year I am going to be kinder to myself. No long lists but some ideas.
FOCUS - being the main one.
Try to have all things relate to each other.

So, I am declaring 2011 my Diamond Jubilee Year - as I will turn 75 in July.
I am embracing and celebrating those years - which after all have been a gift to me.

Themes of memories, stories, genealogy and cleaning out - that's my focus. I plan/hope to braid those themes all year. You will hear more about it.



Jim and Ellouise
on the grounds of Dublin Castle
Dublin Ireland.

Celebrating our Irish roots.

In 2011 we are focusing on picking up our Genealogy research so we can tie up threads and complete files for the next family historians to continue. It all fits. I came to storytelling through Genealogy and Jim was the one who started us on the search for our roots.










Time to review:


We had some wonderful times:

• Jim has done well on Chemo and his latest scans were "good". Thank you God.

• All is well in the family.

And we have had some tough times - in losing some good friends this year. The world has not seemed as bright without them.

• Storytelling is going well - from Cap Fringe to Haunts - some out-of-town; some at home.

• Learned how to rip , edit and post videos to my blog.
  
• Improving as TV interviewer

And then:

• Have not cleaned the basement
• Did not exercise or walk daily
• don't mention dieting.

For 2011:

Still sifting ideas:

• First among them is that I will select a few things and focus.
• Moderate the time I spend on computer.
  
• Spend more time with friends
  

• back to the basement

• Work on Genealogy - to complete at least nine generations and find some stories

• Work on new story-work - and I have two new projects to launch soon.
  
• Keep the two TV shows - learn and write new stories
• Continue to produce Kensington Storytelling.
  
• Start new storytelling venue at Friendship.

That looks like quite enough!

Happy New Year.

VIDEO: The Wedding Dress

Wedding Dress from Ellouise Schoettler on Vimeo.

(if the video doesn't play - click on the Title, Wedding Dress - - UNDER the video)

Seems appropriate to replay this video on our 55th wedding anniversary.

Being married in a borrowed dress did not have any apparent impact on our life together -

55th Wedding Anniversary

December 30, 1955
Assumption Catholic Church
Charlotte, North Carolina





December 30, 2005
About Time Exhibition
Gallery 10, Washington, DC
(an abacus Jim and I made using images from our 50 years together.)


Like many, I make my art, collages or stories, from bits and pieces of my personal journey.

I will turn 75 in July - we were 19 and 24 on our wedding day.
Look at that math.
Jim and I have been together more than half our lives.
Our 55 years together is the heart of my life and story.

Were we doing it over - Jim and I probably would not want to get married between Christmas and New Years - its not great timing. But at the time it was perfect timing. Jim was a third year medical student at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He had a semester break then. Time to ride the train to Charlotte, get married, and bring a wife back to an apartment they had picked out.

We moved into that apartment on North Washington Street, in the shadow of the hospital with two suitcases. It will take several dumpsters and a truck to move us out of our house - where we have lived for forty one years. Along with the accumulated
stuff we have collected a rich treasure trove of memories.

A long marriage is a sweet blessing. You share each others lives, histories and memories. We often complete each other's sentences - or will say first what the other was thinking.
That connection is hard-won.
Swords as well as roses litter the road.

I am grateful we never let go of each other.

Dried Roses

beautiful roses lose their luster
stiffen and dry
leaves curling

just as the old year
fades

Necco Wafers

Necco wafers are practically extinct
can't find them anywhere
except The Cracker Barrel
where they charge $1.29 a roll.

They are still my favorite candy
remind me of the Saturday "kiddie show"
at the Plaza Theater

Munching on their sweetness
after a recent highway stop at a VA Cracker Barrel
I lamented to Jim
"I can't find these anymore."

An educated man is really good to have around
He asked
"Don't they have a website."
By George they do
www.necco.com

Now I can have Necco wafers anytime I want them
except
buying in bulk would definitely be dangerous for my hips and waist.

Hmmmmm.

Re-gifting - A Story

A Vintage Gift

Gave this to Jimmy for Christmas.

I filled Jimmy's Biology Box, circa 1970 -
with his letters from 1984, and 1985 - the first couple of years he and Monica lived in Germany.

They were married in January 1984
so many of the letters detail their settling in - both in Germany and together

Remember hand-written letters?

There are also letters from Monica
talking about her days, classes and
job search.


As well as plans Jimmy made for our trip over to visit them.
Its all the "stuff of life" - the things you forget.


No better way to hear the story of your life than from YOURSELF!




Now - what if I had thrown those letters away?

A Quiet Day

Sometimes a quiet day is a gift!

Jim and I just enjoyed being at home - puttering on our stuff - separately - and together.

Waiting for snow. A heavy fall predicted - and indeed did happen - elsewhere. We had just a dusting.

Walking into 5:30 PM Mass at our 100 year old stone church with the snow misting around us and coating everything was like being in a Christmas Card.

Later in the evening we visited with Robin and her family in California via Skype. Seeing all of them completed our Christmas - blessings on the technology that makes these long distance connections possible.

Juliana and Alison pulling the "cracker" Christmas Eve -
I think its safe to say our one-note whistle concert will be a new family story - to repeat for years to come.

Christmas Day

Happy Birthday, Mama.









Louise Keasler Diggle
12/25/1915 - 8/30/2008


I made this fabric piece and named it, Louise Keasler Diggle.

A sweet quiet day today.
The sky is gray - making us think maybe the snow predictions are on target.
At the moment that would be just fine with me.

Mother Nature is calling the shots.

I am perfectly happy to vacay right here at home for a few days - - -
just put the "to do" lists aside
and follow my heart.

Today after I signed up for Ancestry.com I started entering all the data we have - and the process reminded me how much fun this is. Love the way the search process has changed! Twenty years ago researching Genealogy was like scratching in the sand with a stick. Not so these days. The computer puts the data at your fingertips.

The first exciting find - the ship record and date of my great-grandmother's Gold Star Mother's voyage to France to visit her son's grave after WWI .

Felt like a wonderful holiday gift - a new story.

Christmas Eve - part 2

Lovely afternoon and evening with our East Coast family.

Fun:
Jimmy produced a "box-o-fun" which he had filled with stuff from Michaels to make tree ornaments - and we did.

Our family has been doing this - in many forms - since our kids were very young. Jimmy reminded us that he first made ornaments with Jim when he was 6 years old. Jim and I still have a few of those original paper ice cream cones that have graced many trees. We talked about other "craft event" - with high marks to the year East and West coast family was here and we gathered in the kitchen and went wild making shrinky-dink ornaments.

Later, when we gathered around the Christmas tree, Juliana brought out a box of English "poppers" a friend sent to her from London. They looked so beautiful in the box, - it seemed a shame to open them especially since the "pop" meant tearing them apart. These were the "musical" kind - inside each popper was a one-note whistle and a paper crown. Once we were all "crowned" we attempted to follow the number charts and created hilarious renditions of the old Christmas Carols. (don't worry - we will not be going public.)

Movie buffs - may remember the scene in Bridget Jones Diary where she and her father play "poppers' on a sad Christmas night or the scene in the book - not the movie - Prisoner of Askaban - where they play "poppers" at Hogwarts when Harry stays there for Christmas.

Let the games begin - there will be more FUN. Juliana and Alison gave each of us games - and invited us to a GAME NIGHT! They gave Jim and me an intriguing game - Banana gram - a sort of portable scrabble - with a bag of great letter tiles - and it has a yellow banana-shaped carrying case!

Jim and I did a bit of re-gifting this year. Special cook books, a treasure for Karen - a traditional design large wool and silk woven scarf from Provence complete with the story of finding it and a surprise personal history gift for Jimmy.

We boxed a collection of letters he and Monica wrote during their first year of marriage when they were living in Germany in his old Biology Box - which I had saved. Jimmy read bits from several letters - bringing back details of those days they had forgotten. Letters are so GREAT!
these are hand-written as well as chatty with daily tid-bits.

Oh, did I mention good food - prepared by Karen and Monica?

And - a very sweet Mass where the priest quoted Kermit the Frog , "Love is a gift."

Continuing the theme of this year - FUN:
The family surprised Jim and me with gifts that promise more fun.
Robin et al sent a year's subscription to Netflix
Karen gave us a device so we can stream the movies through the TV
and
Jimmy et al rounded out the Entertainment theme with "first dates" -
gift cards to several restaurants, an ice cream parlor and a movie theater.

Actually Jim and I had already agreed on a FUN gift for ourselves.
We are giving each other a gift of history - that we can share -
a year's subscription to Ancestry.com - to fill in some more blanks in our family history.

Fun along with Finding and Making memories - the stuff of stories.

Christmas Eve

Its a cold blue sky but
the sun is shining

Our son and his wife are hosting the family gathering
A few more chores before we go
Wrap some packages, stir up the salad.
I am bringing Mama's Macaroni Salad

Christmas is a joyous holiday
Yet its always melancholy for me
A hold-over from childhood
now coupled with other losses

Our job though
is to put on our happiest faces
and rush forth spreading cheer.

Thinking of the best of times
helps
that's where I direct my thoughts
so
that
this
year
will be
a
Merry Christmas.

NEW VIDEO - My Christmas Story

The Door Story from Ellouise Schoettler on Vimeo.

A 13 year old girl yearns for a room of her own and when she finally gets it - one thing leads to another and she finds herself living in a fish bowl. My favorite family Christmas story.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas - and many stories to go with it.

A Surprise Meeting

When I pulled into a parking place in Kensington, MD this afternoon
I was surprised to see this guy right in front of my car. He froze.
And that freezing gave me a chance to reach for my camera and snap his picture.

When I drove in he had just lifted a "found" treat - someone's tossed away sandwich to his mouth. When he saw me he looked a bit "guilty" but did not drop his prize. I had just snapped this picture when he scurried away carrying his feast with him.

It was a delightful moment.

New Video - Aunt Rosie

Bob"s Aunt Rosie from Ellouise Schoettler on Vimeo.

I told this story recently on Stories in Time, Montgomery Municipal Cable, Channel 16 in Kensington, MD.

NEW Video - Conversation with Laura J. Bobrow

Laura J. Bobrow from Ellouise Schoettler on Vimeo.


Recent conversation with Virginia storyteller Laura J. Bobrow. Enjoy!

Finding a Story

Williamsburg Wreath



Working on a new story.

Here is one way you find a new story.

When I was sitting in Mass a few weeks ago -
mind wandering
drifting
escaping the lifeless sermon.

Images suddenly surfaced.
A place, people, things that happened
They came out of the past -
Seemingly from nowhere
Un-bidden.


The images keep bubbling up -
Taking me back to Baltimore, MD in 1954





I was a young (18) student nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital
Away from home for the first time
Out in the wide world

Rather than writing essays for English Lit
We were fingering the bones of a skeleton
Studying our withered cadaver -
Reeking of his perserving formaldehyde.

Our subjects - the human body and how it works
And then - - how it breaks down
and dies - -
or not.

Back-rubs and bedpans
Shots and pills
Enemas and IVs

Autopsies
and case studies.
The stuff of HOUSE.

Along with falling in love.

Things I have not thought about
For more than 50 years
Anecedotes
and what Sean Buvala calls
floaters
tucked into the
nooks and crannies of my memory.

Have you explored like this
Wandered a time period
Sifted it?

Its where the stories come from.

Eventually.

Brushes Phone AP

Have you tried the iPhone BRUSHES AP?
I love it.
Drew this Apple - on my iPhone touch screen.

Its fun.
It is relatively easy to learn.
Your finger becomes the brush.
All for $4.99 at the Ap Store.
A bargain.

Seasons Greetings

Seasons Greetings
Williamsburg Wreath



Cold and very cold
Stayed home.

Remembering

Remembering

Gretchen Marie Schoettler
November 10, 1961
December 13, 1964

Signs of the Holidays

Aren't the natural materials just wonderful in these wreaths?
Simple shapes
Pods, cones, grasses and fruits on a bed of green.

I remember reading somewhere that Colonial Williamsburg replaces the wreaths all during the holiday season so that the displays are always fresh.

Smell the fresh cut trees on the Christmas Tree lots. I love that perfume. For the past few years we have gone to using an artificial tree. Save the trees and all of that. And, to tell the truth, save the money. I did not even price trees this year -

Having an artificial tree is convenient. Jim just went into the basement and carried up the box. No shopping or tieing a tree to the top of a car. Free - well, pre-paid. This one is five years old so its coming close to Free if you amortize the cost.

Not at all like the young man in Munich, Germany - riding away from a Christmas Tree stall with a tree wrapped in a netting bag tied to the back of his bicycle.

Not like the year I went out to the woods with Buck Hall, one of Mama's cousins, to cut down the tree for his mother. To me it seemed that we wandered for a looooog time until he settled on one that looked tall enough and right for his mother's living room. Then "wham" it fell and I followed behind as he dragged it home. It was "just right" - touched the ceiling, as I recall. I loved helping to hang the ornaments. The room filled with a lovely smell of pine.

Not like the year in Brooklyn when Jim and I bought our first Christmas tree - an over-ambitious tree - that when the boughs straightened out - filled the living room. We hardly had space to walk around it.
Jimmy was a year old. He loved it. And, it was lovely!

Christmas trees are lovely!
The ornaments - saved from year to year -
are an album -
memories -
a joy to savor.