Campaigning...

Campaigning for City Council has been very interesting. I love meeting my neighbors and talking about our town. It is fun to hear their ideas and what they think should change and what they love about Angola.

Today my opponent, Dave Martin, and I had a conversation while we were both on the campaign trail. He gave me a hug and wishes me luck. He has held this office for 20 years. His signs say, Experience Wins. My signs simply say, "Your town is my town."

Whatever the outcome I hope folks vote, even though it is such a small election this year. If you live in Angola, District D, I would love to have your vote! 

Until tomorrow...

Lou Ann

First frost brings a flurry of activity...

First frost brings a flurry of activity - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Here is the link to this week's column. As always, enjoy, and thank you for reading.

Just click on the above headline.

I took this photo in the garden yesterday.

Perhaps it is the end of the roses and the

morning glories, but how lovely they have been.

Notice the sweet drops of morning dew.

My GPS always gets me home!

My GPS always gets me home! - KPCNews: Kpcnews

 

Here is the link to this week's column. Enjoy and, as always, thank you for reading!

 

Dustin Woods at Sunset.

 

Crown Hill Cemetery...

This weekend the storytellers of Indiana will gather under a huge tent at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. No, there is not a burial or a wake, but an evening of ghost stories that will cause you to look over your shoulder.

The event begins at 7:30 at Crown Hill. Tickets are available at the door. This is a great way to kick off this ghostly season. Please be sure to come up and say hello after the show!

This event is sponsored by Storytelling Arts of Indiana.

Until then...

My favorite literary day...

Edgar Allan Poe's grave in Baltimore.

It is a known fact to everyone that reads my blog that poetry is very important to me. My studio shelves are full of poetry books from the greats and the not-so-greats.

I pay attention to births and deaths of poets and where these dates fall in the timeline of the world. Having said that, today is one of my favorite literary days.

On this day in 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore. His death is still shrouded in mystery. Why was he in Baltimore? Whose clothes was he wearing?

I have traveled to Baltimore and to Richmond in search of answers, but have found none.

At the same time on this date in 1849, James Whitcomb Riley was born on what was known as the edge of the prairie. He became one of Indiana's favorite poets leaving us with Little Orphant Annie, and The Raggedy Man, to name a few.

Coincidental? Hmmm....think about it!

Brookside...

Today is an exceptional day for me as I will be telling my story, Sandstones and Scholars, at St. Francis University. I told my commissioned piece last year in November, but this time it is for the faculty and staff. 

I am so excited they wanted the show "in person" as this was also done as a PBS special. Isn't it wonderful that storytelling is so alive and well?

So, another quick rehearsal and I am off to do what I do best...tell stories.

This photo was taken by my grandson, Matthew, last year after the original show.

With the tip of a hat, it’s a LaGrange adventure...

With the tip of a hat, it’s a LaGrange adventure - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Here is the link to this week's column and my adventures into the

world of millinery. Just click on the KPC link and there you are.

As always, thank you for reading!

I took these photos on the morning I visited!

A milliner's dream table.

Jacqui from Chicago.

...and more hats!

October's Bright Blue Skies

This sunflower graced my garden last year.

There is something so spectacular in turning the calendar to October especially here in northern Indiana. Everything smells crisper...the colors brighter...and most folks appear to be in a state of pleasantness. When I was a teacher in the public schools one of my colleagues always read this to his class on the first day of October. Each one in turn had to memorize it. It may be the only poem that the students knew by heart. 

Today my two grandsons were over for breakfast before walking off to school. As is my habit, we had breakfast by candlelight and then the poem recitation. This was, of course, today's poem for them and for you. Happy October.

“October’s Bright Blue Weather”

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

n loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson

In case you missed the Sunday night Singing on the Square at Six!

Photo by Justin Young

I think there are some nights that leave a person speechless, and this was one of them.

On Sunday evening there were over 85 folks gathered on the square for our sing. There was a brand new baby and several elderly folks in wheelchairs with all ages in between.

With chairs curved around the monument we sang for an hour with interludes by WOW (a women's barbershop quartet), and my piper buddy, Mark Gropp. Kent Bowen kept time on his drum and Lynn Syler helped lead the way with her expert directing skills.

We took this photo at the end and sang a couple more songs. (See the video at the end of this post.)

It was an extraordinary event. When we sang "I'll Fly Away" two flocks of geese actually crossed overhead in V-formation heading South. What more could we ask for?

Thanks to everyone for participating and until next time?

Lou Ann

https://www.facebook.com/TrineUniversityHAC/videos/vb.234562900041149/520401924790577/?type=2&theater

We’ll be Singing on the Square at Six on Sunday...

We’ll be Singing on the Square at Six on Sunday - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Here is the link to this week's column. Please pass it on, and we will

be singing on the square at six on Sunday. I am so excited 

for this opportunity!!

Tell all your friends and neighbors!

The photo was taken by Bill Eyster.

The calendar says Autumn, but my garden says Summer.

Will there really be a "Morning"?

Is there such a thing as "Day"?

Could I see it from the mountains

If I were as tall as they?

Has it feet like Water lilies?

Has it feathers like a Bird?

Is it brought from famous countries

Of which I have never heard?

Oh some Scholar! Oh some Sailor!

Oh some Wise Men from the skies!

Please to tell a little Pilgrim

Where the place called "Morning" lies! 

Emily Dickinson

Morning glories on my back fence.

Angola Cruise a farewell to summer...

Angola Cruise a farewell to summer - KPCNews: Kpcnews

Here is the link to this week's column. Just click on the KPC site. As always, enjoy. The proceeds of the auction will go toward new Christmas decorations and lights for our public square including Miss Columbia! 

"You light up my life..."

Today Jonah turns 11. It is a magical age only to be matched with 22, 33 and so forth. I call them the golden years of our lives

I was "there in the room" when he was born. It was probably the first and only time I was speechless. It was a spectacular moment when I absolutely couldn't believe the miracle of life. 

I have been lucky enough to spend all these years with Jonah as we live in the same town. Matthew also lives here. It is sad for me that the two granddaughters live in Phoenix though I try to see them often.

But today is Jonah's birthday, and a happy day for all of us. I am indeed blessed. And yes, he does light up my life.