Painting and Shows and Pot Lucks

Sometimes I think one week in my life is packed with a month's worth of activities. First off the inside of my house has been painted, a great mint-sage green. It was a major undertaking with everything pulled out of the cupboards and moved into great heaps in the center of the room. I actually can't take any of the credit for the lovely mint-sage, my neighbor and friend, Lee, did all the work. Lee established him handy man services several years ago along with his art and writing career. It is nice for both of us as he can just be on call whenever as he lives across the street!

The show, The Voice of Angola 1945, is in the last two weeks of production. The show has taken over my life. It is a radio show within a radio show. I am excited because I wrote the production this year. This is where I should say, I'll never do that again! I am fortunate to have a wonderful board who works tirelessly on this production. We will be performing at the Fabiana Theatre at Trine University on February 20 and 21. Tickets are on sale now. As a result of all of that work, a blog has been established of which I am the keeper. Please bookmark it and check it out:
voiceofangola.blogspot.com.

This week was girl's pot luck as well. On Monday evening the house was full of women, a few new ones I had never met came too! I love those Monday nights. The food is wonderful, the conversation is quite colorful.

Between all of that, there is school and the arts at school, Black History Week at Trine and, did I mention my day with Jonah? Today the two of us audition the Jazz Band and do a radio show. Sometimes I think that Matthew and Jonah have no idea how interesting their young lives are...they just think the things we all do are normal.

So, there is an update..until tomorrow.

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor is a teacher, a writer, a storyteller and an actress. She lives in Angola, Indiana where she can be found meandering around looking for a great story or just writing late into the night by the light of her red frayed lamp. She also is the co-author of the new blog, voiceofangola.blogspot.com.

Just a reminder...

I guess I am a blog connoisseur as I have another new blog for stories from my hometown. Check it out and bookmark it! voiceofangola.blogspot.com

Thanks.

Lou Ann

The Dawn of February

Still in winter woolen pajamas, I grabbed my camera for the sunrise for this first day of February. The rising sun was much more beautiful than I caught at this moment...hope it was beautiful where you are and that you watched it.

My street was so quiet, not a light on or anyone out walking or photographing. Winter is so quiet, so soothing. It makes me think of a wonderful poem by Wendell Berry. I keep this poem in my stack of notes on my writing desk. The last of the poem goes like this:

How to be a Poet

Accept what comes from silence
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

Wendell Berry

Lou Ann

Bird Feeding in January

I have become best friends with my local Rural King. I stomp in twice a week in my over sized pink chore boots just to buy bird food. And during this winter, one kind just won't do.

I have found the brand new small feeder bags for wild canaries. I love them! They are easy to hang and their little beaks get right into those mesh holes. When I come home in the evening the birds are hanging all over the little bags.

I have suet and peanuts and all of that good stuff for the woodpeckers. They (and the blue jays, I might add) drape themselves over the suet holders just for a good dinner.

Sunflowers are in another container for my cardinals, and the regular feeder gets plain, ole' bird food.

I am gone all day so I do not know exactly who is here...the yard is open to all who visit and I am trying to keep a log, but it is difficult!

I know that I am providing my neighbors, Larry and Cherie, a great deal of enjoyment. OK, fair trade off, they plow me out...I feed our birds.

I know that the colors of the birds at my feeder....scarlet, tangerine, woodsmoke, azure are dazzling colors to the eye in the depth of winter. So, I will continue to carry my coffers to Rural King for bird food...and a free bag of popcorn!

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor is a teacher, a writer, a storyteller and an actress. She lives in Angola, Indiana where she can be found meandering around looking for a great story or just writing late into the night by the light of her red frayed lamp. She also is the co-author of the new blog, voiceofangola.blogspot.com.

Chinese New Year

Saturday evening was my first Chinese New Year's party. The idea started a couple of months ago when my University student, Mengting, talked about sharing the customs of Chinese New Year with us! So, it was decided that we do our best and celebrate Chinese New Year...the American way!

Mengting came over early to put on her apron and cook up a storm. I went out to do errands and when I returned she had pots and pans filled with potatoes and carrots and peppers cooking away. We also had pulled pork, fresh fruit, cake, brownies...the table was full.

We taped pictures of the red ox on all the windows and mirrors, decorated with red (including our own clothes!) and bought sparklers ready for midnight.

T'he house was full of neighbors and friends and international students from Trine.

We ate and talked and laughed and told stories and went out with sparklers into the freezing cold air as we celebrated!

It was a wonderful evening. No one was in a hurry to go home so we just visited til way after midnight.

Happy New Year, Mengting! Thank you for being part of our lives!

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor is a teacher, a writer, a storyteller and an actress. She lives in Angola, Indiana where she can be found meandering around looking for a great story or just writing late into the night by the light of her red frayed lamp. She also is the co-author of the new blog, voiceofangola.blogspot.com.

Friday afternoon and Fancy Nancy

My little grandsons are really into dinosaur books...and all non-fiction: penguins, bats, bees, the Arctic, and really just about anything that lives or breathes! BUT, the one exception to their reading rule is Fancy Nancy written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.

We have all the Fancy Nancy books and even have the doll. The books and the doll enjoy a prominent seat in the dining room here at White Picket Gardens. So, yesterday afternoon, we had a little dress up and posing while eating chocolate graham crackers.

We also have been sending Fancy Nancy to Portland, Oregon to little Holly. I think by Thanksgiving, I can get them all to pose for a picture.

Sundaes, anyone?

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor is a teacher, a writer, a storyteller and an actress. She lives in Angola, Indiana where she can be found meandering around looking for a great story or just writing late into the night by the light of her red frayed lamp. She also is the co-author of the new blog, voiceofangola.blogspot.com.

The Page Turners

My book club, The Page Turners, just celebrated our 7th year as a book club. There are just two original members, myself and Barb Simper. We celebrated this milestone at Pokagon State Park. We set up shop in the beautiful Potawatami Inn scooting chairs and sofas around an old scratched wooden coffee table.

Everyone brought snacks and ribbon covered cakes to celebrate this milestone. (I just brought a gift for Barb as nice surprise!)

It was one of the nicest book clubs we have ever had. We followed our protocal that I set years ago. An hour on the book, a half hour of new books we have read and then general eating and chatting...things girls do best!

Our book this month was The Shack and did, indeed, send froth a great discussion. We rated it 4 pages out of 5. There were a few in the club who were really moved by the book, others just enjoyed it as a good read. I felt, for myself, it was not needed in my life at this point. Just that realization alone was affirmation of the good life I find myself leading.

I would love to hear other reports on the book as well.

We left the Inn with thoughts and notes and hand-wrapped cakes into the starry night and cars to take us home.

Congratulations Page Turners!

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor is a teacher, a writer, a storyteller and an actress. She lives in Angola, Indiana where she can be found meandering around looking for a great story or just writing late into the night by the light of her red frayed lamp. She also is the co-author of the new blog, voiceofangola.blogspot.com.

Inauguaral Post

See the January 24 issue of the Herald Republican, Angola, Indiana!!

The Winter of the Blue Snow

It has been the coldest on record here in Angola, Indiana. The wind chill was recorded at 44 below zero, although in town it was just 38 degrees below zero.

Everything has been closed from schools to libraries to shops. It has been cozy and certainly has given us all something to talk about!

Watching the news during this cold snap, the weather man was illustrating how boiling water tossed out into the yard would turn into snow. I was fascinated with this experiment and knowing that this cold may not come another time in my life time, I decided to try it out. I spent yesterday afternoon perfecting the tossing of boiling water. It was stunning. I told Abe (Portland, Oregon) about the experiment. He said to send a photo...but I thought...hmmmm...the snow won't show up. So, I decided to boil blue water instead.

So, early this morning (before any thought of warm up should happen) I summoned over my neighbor, Lee, to take a photo while I tossed lovely blue water out into the yard. Behold here is the photo. Isn't it lovely in my winter yard...blue snow!!

On the other side, my downstairs pipes froze up, but all is well now with no bursting of pipes and running water.

All in a winter's day.

Lou Ann

Staying Warm on Twelfth Night

Dear Folks,

One of the best ways to keep warm this winter is to host a party! Last week end I hosted my annual Twelfth Night party and, even though travel was at a minimal, the house was full of family and friends.

We filled the kitchen with pot luck food carried over from house to house along with my cavatini!
We talked and laughed and then cut the coconut cake where a token had been baked. He or she who receives the token is king or queen for the night. My son, Aaron, was the lucky winner and happyily wore the Burger King crown atop of his DNR uniform. We played games, listened to the wind blow and turned off the Christmas lights at midnight, thus ending another season.

By Saturday morning my lovely tree was set out by the bird feeders to spend the rest of the winter. What party is next? Why they 250th birhday party for Robert Burns, of course!

Lou Ann

Happy New Year

Philip and I left Ocracoke on New Year's Eve morning. It seemed as if I had just unpacked, but everything went back into the suitcase including the sand dollar found under the rainbow and a perfect Scotch bonnet seashell. We filled the car with all our paraphenalia including a lunch of leftover ham sandwiches and pulled out onto the sandy drive.

We made one last visit to the seashore. It was spectacular with not a soul in sight. I gave one last long sigh, I won't be seeing this lovely warm weather or the sea for quite a while. We took pictures of our shadows and head towards the ferry.

It was a great drive to Williamsburg with literally no traffic as we headed towards First Night. I love spending New Year's Eve in Williamsburg, it is so historic and beautiful. Once arriving we bought our buttons, circled all the our events on the program and then went from venue to venue. We enjoyed gospel music, a
German drinking band and so many more. Of course, our favorite was Molasses Creek. They were the headliner for the first night so it was great fun to attend their show. We sat in the middle of the front row. The performance was stellar. They also played at the stadium for the midnight countdown. I do not know how they played with the cold, but they maintained their professionalism as the audience shivered. We all counted down to midnight, watched a gorgeous array of fireworks and then back to our hotel rooms. We collectively gathered food and drink and met in Kitty and Gary's room. (See last blog!) We told stories and enjoyed the party until 3:00, then called it a night, or a morning.

The next day Philip and I drove across the Appalachian Mountains using old highway 250. It was curvy and at times I actually held my breath as we continued our journey to Indiana. We stopped to hike one of the trails leftover from the Civil War reading the markers as we made our way on foot up into the hills. I took this photo from atop the mountain!!

We stopped for dinner at a local mama/papa restaurant in the mountains. By Friday we returned to interstate and found ourselves in the midwest.

All is well at the House at the White Picket Gardens, no frozen pipes or water lines, no flooded basement. We unpacked clothes and memories and toasted the New Year with a glass of wine.

Happy New Year to all,
Lou Ann

Recording on the Sea...

Gary Mitchel finishing up my Carl Sandburg CD!!

The day started out like all others...go to breakfast with friends (Gary and Kitty Mitchell), finish up a recording at a local island studio (Gary and Kitty Mitchell), dropping off the finished CD at, well, you guessed it the house of Gary and Kitty Mitchell.


Gary has a small studio in his cottage by the sea. The windows are large and plentiful and so open to the sea it seems as if we are actually riding the waves. I love going to Gary and Kitty's house as it is eclectic with, well, everything. Gary is a musician and song writer and a founding member of Molasses Creek, a local folk band here. Kitty is the island art teacher and an artist herself. Their cottage looks like it belongs to artists!


While Gary works at making my Carl Sandburg recording a delightful and beautiful piece of recorded art, I look around. I am not really nosy, just curious. The cottage is full of art, photographs, pottery, books to be read, books already read, boxes of tea, coffee, thumbnail sketches, old and new programs for Molasses Creek, dishes, a box of bows and ribbons.


I want to settle right into this warm cozy house on this rainy day to read my book or just dream away the afternoon.


All too soon, Gary is making the final CD for me to take back to Philip's to listen to, approve and then get the sales coming in. This CD should be available in a month or so along with two others! This will be a good year for work! I have taken this great picture of Gary so that you will have a glimpse of him and his work on this island of Ocracoke. So, if you are thinking of recording a CD, give Gary a call.

Lou Ann

Christmas on an Island

Christmas day dawned cool with the wind whistling through the pines. We put on the early morning fire, lit the candles, and settled down to hot coffee and homemade bread before traveling fifty yards to Amy and David's house for gifts. Lachlan, being only four, was the shining star of the day. Christmas definitely is for children. The adults mostly ate our way through the day...ham and sweet potato pie, broccoli salad, apple salad, pies, cookies, and a case of red wine.

After dinner, we snacked again and played games late into the evening. Philip and I walked home to our sweet, quiet cottage. The electric candles were lit in all the windows, and the Christmas tree fragrant and lovely in the corner. We decided to watch "It's a wonderful Life," as Philip had never seen the movie. I couldn't believe it. I do not know how many times I have seen it, but always it is wonderful. It is indeed a wonderful life.

Love to all and Merry Christmas