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

 



Rain

I wake in the night to the rain. It is loud, steady and with a few rumbles of thunder.

My curtains are thin and I pull them back to see the beads of water on my doors leading out to the balcony. These raindrop are illuminated with my Christmas lights which still drape over the balcony. I really should take them down, but my neighbor says they are cheery in these dark days of Winter.

These are the days that keep poets and writers inside libraries and studios. These are the days to finish books or clean out the spice cupboard...but then again we must pull away to do our daily tasks to make the world a better place.

With that in mind, I will bike off to school (yes, I will bike to school) and give my writing students a bit of knowledge, and a great deal of passion as we study Burns, build blogs, and look inside ourselves. "Excuse me, class, please turn off all cell phones and chat with your neighbor."

My Haiku for a rainy day

brocaded raindrops

erases winter's facade

leaving stark, bare mud

Happy Birthday "Phantom of the Opera," Jane Austin (Pride and Prejudice), Poe and Burns from a small town in Indiana

Happy 25th Anniversary "The Phantom of the Opera"

Dear Friends,

 

The day started with fog and ice which quickly turned to gray skies of continuous rain.

 

It is also Monday morning and the studio calls to me for attention. I organize, file, get ready for new projects while listening to the "Phantom of the Opera"  and the rain beating out my window. I do not know how many years I have loved the show. During the end of my marriage we took the train to Toronto for the weekend to see the show. It was our last chance for survival. I thought we would make it as we had the best time, but it just didn't work. I remember those last moments with my heart in my throat wanting the marriage to work, wanting it to end. There are things women know.

 

Now years later I listen to the music. I saw the show many more times after that, but alone. It is the 25th birthday of this great masterpiece by Andrew Lloyd Webber. How can we thank him for the brilliance of his work?

 

 

                                            Happy 200th Birthday "Pride and Prejudice"


What young girl did not read Jane Austen? Even grown ups want to wear the dresses, and live a life we can only read about. So, Happy Birthday "Pride and Prejudice." Thank you Jane Austen for giving us grown up fairy tales.

The rain continues to fall and I come across a scrapbook my dad kept of my letters home, report cards and various other mementos. How I miss him on this day. He taught me to love art, music, Broadway, literature....I would like to call him and tell him about all the anniversaries. We would talk literature. He would call me Holly Go-Lightly and I would hang up the phone laughing.

And I can't stop there for it is also the birthdays of Mozart and Poe and Burns. Happy Birthday to all of you as well.

So it seems the images of my life...the endings, the beginnings have come to me through music and art and literature.

Here is a glimpse into my studio, at least one of the shelves! Also a link to this week's column toasting Poe and the Bard!

Thank you for coming into my world for a rainy Monday. Maybe you have memories or stories such as mine. Please share.

Lou Ann

Click here for the birthday celebrations for Poe and Burns
 



What is your passion?

This week found me stashed away in my studio (when I wasn't teaching) working on new shows and reviewing old shows.

What is it that causes us to find the passion and hold on to it? I read, write, study and lunch passes and I forget as I read poetry by Burns, rehearse my "Gathering Coal for the Lord" show and put two new shows onto the back burner ready to begin simmering.

I ask my kids at school about their passions. The answers are varied as they have never been asked that question. I want them to think. I get answers...jobs, making money, golf. But then I get a few others that are deeper that causes them to go inside themselves where the world is a little scary.

"My passion?" I look at them. "It's easy. Life."

Castle Howard in Winter

Castle Howard

 

I found this photo early this morning. It is a spectacular view of Castle Howard. This was one of our favorite visits when Philip and I were in England. My mom and Dick took us there for the day to let us hike, roam around, and enjoy the beauty. We had tea and lunch there as well. Of course, Philip was thrilled and thought he should be Lord. Does that make me the Lady?

 

It sounds a bit like a John Denver song.

 

Alas we are back doing what we do in Ocracoke and in Indiana, but what a nice surprise to see this photo with all the snow! 

Making a blue snow cloud...

It is cold here in northern Indiana. The thermometer is still hovering between 4 and 6 degrees, so I decided to do an experiment outside with my grandson Matthew. (He is 11)

Actually I have tried this before with much the same rate of success.

First you boil up a pot of water. (I use my spaghetti sauce pot, not the spaghetti pot.) I added food coloring so that you could actually see the cloud. Blue was my choice.

With Matthew as my photographer we went outside to make a cloud of blue snow. Matthew was freezing, but he did a great job on the photo shoot. This video was actually our third try, and I can't say we did much in the way to improve science, but we had fun.

You could try this yourself at home if your temperatures dip below zero!

Please notice the giant coat I am wearing in the video, this is my "twice a winter when nothing else will keep me warm coat." Just saying. By the way, it appears to have a very loud volume. Either the wind was tossing my voice towards the camera or I was shouting in order to keep warm!

Enjoy.

A winter's morning in the Midwest...

My street

 

My house at White Picket Gardens

 

Art Out My Window

 

 

Dear Friends,

Winter has arrived in the Midwest. Wind, blowing snow and below zero temperatures blanketed my town this week.

We wait for this weather, even though everyone complains. In fact, most are joyous that cold weather has arrived. It is good for the fruit growers, the gardeners, the children (two hour delay at school), and for artists.

I was up before dawn sweeping off porches, letting the world wake up slowly. Most folks wanted to cozy down under those quilts with their sweeties, or babies, or household pets. Coffee does call us to the kitchen, however, sleepy eyed and shivering in old bathrobes.

I took these photos early this morning as the sun was coming up.

Enjoy. Winter is laced with beauty, don't miss it!

Lou Ann

Lincoln

Dear Friends,

Indeed we walked down to the circle to see the film "Lincoln". It was a cold walk even using my scarf as a muffler.

With all three movies in town, there was a nice crowd. Tickets for my theaters are reasonable, just $5.00 a ticket. Popcorn is a bargain as well and a must.

Both theaters, the Brokaw and the Strand, were built in 1932. Walking inside them is like walking into history. They are small theaters, and you always know the folks inside!

The seats are faded red velvet and do not swivel or bend much. They do not serve wine, nor had 3-D capabilities, or even your tickets. The truth is, I very seldom see movies anywhere else. Supporting our small towns and communities is very important to me.

"Lincoln" was stunning...the cast, the cinematography, the script. I began to cry at the beginning and was crying so hard at the end, that I had to just sit in my seat for a while.

Lincoln's words are haunting me still on this Inauguration Day and Dr. Martin Luther King Day. They are words we should live by in our personal lives, our communities, and our nation.

"Malice towards none,

Charity towards all."

 

Lou Ann

A funeral takes a look into my own past.

This week's column...a good read for a winter's day. (Click here)

Today is a cold winter's day here in the Midwest. We call each other to see what we can do today...movies? In my small town our two theaters (each built in 1932) are showing Lincoln, Les Mis, and Life of Pi. All three are academy award nominees and films I want to see. Today, I think it will be Lincoln. We, my friends and I, will wear our warmest clothes and walk down to the circle to spend the afternoon.

Days and nights like this bring out all the quilts for the beds. All the beds in my house are covered with quilts from my great-grandmother Chloe.

The one in the photo is one of my favorites. I love this quilt along with the others. (There is another one of her quilts on the chair by the curtains.)

So, let's tie together this week's column and the photo.

As always, thanks for reading.

Lou Ann

Chloe's Quilt