Happily Ever After...

Click here please for this week's column, I changed the link!!

Dear Friends,

I hope you enjoy this column, I had a great time writing it. And, is it true that we can live happily ever after?

I would love to know your opinions!!

Have fun reading.

Lou Ann

A belated tribute to Robert Burns!

One of the requirements for my English classes was to prepare a piece of poetry to read at the Robert Burns celebration.

The students made and put posters up all over the campus, chose their poetry and did their rehearsal.

I invited my friend and artist, Mark Gropp, to bring his pipes and share his music with the students as well. Mark had a flat tire on the way to our Burns Supper (held at my house before the show), and I had visions of him changing the tire in the snow in his kilt! Luckily someone else changed the tire for him.

The evening was fun. The students were very professional. One of the students emceed the show and each in turn shared their poetry on the stage.

Their choices ran from Burns to Pasternak to Dickens to Noyes. I loved every piece.

Mark played tunes between the pieces ending with Amazing Grace.

It was a great evening and one I won't forget. Thank you students for spending a nice snowy evening bringing poetry alive!





I took this photo of the Trine campus a few hours before the show.
 

A Roundtable of Women

These flowers were from my friend Malinda who was at the roundtable.

The snow falls, but in a small town such as mine, friends still cometo potlucks. My old house is known for them as friends and family know my doors are open, tea waits in a pot, and a warm bed is always available.

The first Monday night of every month I host a potluck for women only. I have been hosting this event for several years and there is a wonderful core group of women who show up each month. These are women that I usually only see on potluck night. We share each other's stories no matter what they are.

This month I decided I needed a conversation with them to prepare for the IndyFringe Diva Fest in March.

I called it our Roundtable, even though my table is rectangle. The food was delicious as always, and most was vegetarian.

I opened bottles of wine and begin. "So," I said, "let's start at the beginning, when did you first learn about sex?" Laughter prevailed around the table and the stories flew as quickly as the pouring of the wine. The answers were fun...behind a tree, at girlscout camp... We moved through the cycles of a woman's life during those dark evening hours. It took a long time to get to now. Now existed at my table of single women, divorced, and married.

Where are we now? And what is happily ever after? Answers were varied, as you can imagine....finding the right guy...the right woman...friendship...until finally the women at my roundtable decided that happily ever after depends upon ourselves.

A really big topic for a cold winter's night in my small town.

The candles burned low as the women gathered up empty dishes to carry home. Cars were scraped of the new snow as the evening ended.

I had to return to the studio in the late night hours to reflect, make some notes and finish up the wine!

I love a really good night!

Winter art out my window...

 

The view from my front window on this snowy February morning.

 

Monday morning and the snow falls. My world is a salt shaker or a slow sifting mound of confectionary sugar today. This is what the northern folks wait for, well some of us anyway. These cold snowy mornings where the world is quiet and we just wait.

 

 

If it were days of old we would hibernate with the harvest stashed away, the wood cut, the candles made. For me these days are mixed with Tasha Tudor, Donald Hall, and poems from Norbert Krapf. Norbert was our Indiana poet laureate. He has a new book "Songs in Sepia and Black and White." This is a collaboration with photographs by Richard Fields. I have an autographed copy of his book and well as his words of encouragement to keep writing. This book is available through Indiana University Press.

 

 

Here is a sample of his work, enjoy.

 

 

A Blank Piece of Paper

 

 

Between dark hills

somewhere in this land

a boy sits at a table

next to a dim light.

 

He stares at a blank piece of paper,

holding a pen

filled with enough ink

to tell a good story.

 

What the boy can't yet

tell is where he began

and where he will end....

 

Norbert Krapf

 

 



 

 

I have also paired this with a musical selection from Albinoni. Don't worry I chose a short piece. Take a moment from your busy day to let art, music, and poetry fill your soul.

 

 

Groundhog Day and Hoosier Herb!

Dear Friends,

Here we are celebrating Groundhog Day amidst the beauty of winter in the Midwest.

This week's column is a fun read on the origins of Groundhog Day, my travels to a friendly yurt and how to celebrate this day.

I also have a video from my adventure with Hoosier Herb! He is my own personal groundhog, so enjoy today's blog.

As always, thanks for reading and watching!

Lou Ann


Click right here for the link to this week's column!

 

I know the video doesn't look like much, but remember we are waiting for Hoosier Herb to appear.

Hoosier Herb

Don't go away, I am just waiting for Hoosier Herb to see if winter will be six more weeks or spring will come early. It is still a little dark and snowy here, but soon I will put on the boots and go on out to check. Don't worry, I will take my video camera! Can't wait to see what will happen! Thanks for being patient!

Our Town

 

 

 

Taking a walk down town, one will find our circle of commerce. It really is a small town and the circle includes our courthouse, newspaper office, small clothing shops, a pizza parlor (family owned), a couple of coffee shops (family owned), and two movie theaters (also family owned).

 

A couple of nights ago I took a walk down (with a little help from my umbrella) and attended "Life of Pi." I really did love the movie even though I wasn't sure I wanted to see it. My book club read the book a couple of years ago, and I love the book. However, the movie was just wonderful, so well done and the story came off strong. Good luck at the Oscars!

 

Both of these theaters were built in 1932. If you look carefully you can see a little of the Brokaw behind the Strand. These are, of course, my movie theaters of choice. At the Strand, Dana takes tickets, sells popcorn and then shows the movie. He is at the door when you leave as well. I took a video of Dana last summer. Here is a review of that video!

 

 

It is so important for all of us to support our local businesses, our mama/papa businesses.

 

As always, my camera was tucked inside and under the umbrella.

 

Enjoy, thanks for reading. I would love to hear about your town!

 

Lou Ann