Welcome to the Halloween season in Indiana!

Time for the Halloween season fun to begin! - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Here is the link for last week's column. Just click the above and enjoy. More columns to come as I got a bit behind. Thank you for your patience! Lou Ann

We all need to do a little purple for Mary

We all need to do a little purple for Mary - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Dear Friends,

Here is the link to this week's column. As usual, enjoy and thank you for reading.
Mary is a very special woman here in Northern Indiana. I am happy to promote our Fifty Shades of Purple campaign here. I know you all do the same in your own community.

I do like the purple in my hair...looks great with the red!

Lou Ann

A waltzing poet...

Dear Friends,

Being back and a bit stable for a while has left life in a whirlwind. Settling down means so much work to catch up on! (Would you believe some of my summer mail is still in a basket?)

However, events and life continue and I always want to be in the middle of it. So, without giving you a day by day account here is one evening that was especially wonderful.

Michael Czarnecki is a traveling poet and he waltzed right into my life last week.  Here is this week's column about Michael and one of my Out and About film clips with Michael as well.

Enjoy. Thanks for being patient with me as stories swirl around me!

Lou Ann

http://www.kpcnews.com/columnists/lou_ann_homan-saylor/kpcnews/article_5896474f-dd67-55a2-ab60-ac6ff0597818.html

Just click the above link for the story, you will love it!

Michael Czarnecki

Packages from Mom always contain mystery items...

Packages from Mom always contain mystery items - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Dear Folks,

Here is the link to this week's column. Please click on the above site for the story.

I thought you might enjoy one of the photos mentioned in the article as well.

If anyone has any of Ron Embleton's pictures, please let me know!

As always, thanks for reading!!

Home

The past few months I have lived out of my suitcase. I started in May with a trip to St. Pete to visit my son, Arizona to visit my other son, and then a trip to Colorado for my niece's wedding.

I spent most of the summer on Ocracoke, of course, where I could put things away in drawers and small cubby holes.

I then spent a couple of weeks at the Fringe Festival in Indianapolis before I actually could unpack the suitcase.

Wherever home is for each of us, we need to find that place where we have our own special teacup, grandma's quilt and our books.

Home can change, but the name doesn't.

Virginia took this photo while biking a couple of weeks ago. This scene is just a bike away for me. Enjoy.

And the IndyFringe continues....

When I was eleven years old my life consisted of biking around my neighborhood, writing plays for my brothers and sisters, and performing those plays under my mother’s clothesline.  I was chubby with crooked front teeth and a pixie hair cut. Life was grand in every way.

Until one day…

The girls in my class at school were given pink invitations to take home to our mothers. We were so excited to be inviting our mothers to a tea party! I wore my best dress, anklets, and patent leather shoes. I loved the tea party with mints and cookies. But then we watched a film that changed our lives, “What is happening to my body?”

I slunk down into my chair as I watched all the changes about to occur and no way to stop it, something like a train wreck.

Growing up in my era we were groomed for the happily ever after which meant marring the man of our dreams and having children. This happily ever after was re-enforced by the rules of the Baptist church where we attended: 1. Always sit six inches apart from boys. 2. Do not swim with boys or their little spermettes will find you in the water. 3. Never smoke, drink, touch or have --- (we weren’t allowed to say the word) with boys.

This original piece, The Baptist Girl’s Guide to Sex, Love, and Happiness, explores these growing up issues in a humorous way while weaving back and forth between my women’s potluck group conversations and my own once-upon-a-time fairy tale.

This past year I have personally set out finding the happily ever after. Do folks still believe in it? What about me? What about you?

Writing of the script fell upon hard times as my pieces began to unravel onto the cutting room floor. Some stories were brought back to life. Others were swept out the back door along with the day’s footprints.

As with all storytelling performances, I needed an audience to bring the show alive!  I was able to share the story at Diva Fest in Indianapolis in the early spring. It was a great beginning for me and led to lots of discussions. With much more work, I was able to perform the show on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina to visitors and locals alike. I have since shared it with other Indiana audiences at house concerts.

 At the beginning of this adventure I felt my story would be enjoyed most of all by middle aged women. I was wrong. My audiences have been diverse, with men and women of all ages. The youngest was 15. She came up to me immediately after the show with tears in her eyes, “I really appreciate my mom after your story,” she said to me. “My mom is so honest with me.”

The oldest member of the audience so far was an 85 year old woman who sat in the back because she thought she might have to leave! She stayed and enjoyed the entire show. And all you men out there, the largest laughs have come from you, so don’t be shy!

Carolyn Powers wrote on Facebook, “Had a sneak preview of Lou Ann Homan's Indy Fringe show last night at our home. What a fantastic storyteller! Her story brought laughter, wonder, tears and joy. If you can drive to Indy to the fringe, be there. You will not be disappointed!”

It is with deep appreciation that I thank IndyFringe and Storytelling Arts of Indiana. These two organizations have created this venue for me to tell my story. Now it is your turn. Come on out, and then tell your own ‘growing up story’ with friends and family. Those of you attending, please make your presence known so that I may thank you for coming as well.

See you at the IndyFringe 2013!

Sea hatching turtles...

This is a photo from N.E.S.T.

Most of you know I spend my summers on Ocracoke Island. In the past I have often volunteered with the park rangers spotting nests early in the morning.

Other years I volunteer at the lighthouse or the radio station or O.P.S.

I usually leave too early to watch the sea turtles hatch except for last year. I was able to film it on you-tube. 

This year I missed it completely, but here is a lovely photo from the Network for Endangered Turtles.

If you are on Ocracoke don't miss the opportunity to see this amazing adventure. The turtles have just started hatching so you will have plenty of time.

If you have missed it like I have, you can go to my video from last year!

Enjoy!

Lou Ann