A Storyteller's Mecca

It is late, and I am still at school finishing up for my short week. I love the quiet hours of school when everyone is gone, and I can work quietly. My day was long starting with 7:00 spell bowl and ending with after school arts, but now I sip tea and watch the sun set on the corn field out my window.

After I close down my room with lights and pumpkins all off and umplugged, I will journey down to Ellen's as we get ready to leave for Tennessee early in the morning for the National Storytelling Festival.

It is a mecca, a journey, a quest, a place to renew stories and soul and friendships.

I missed last year, and I so I am anxious to smell the mountain air...walk the old streets of Jonesboro...move from tent to tent listening to the best of the best storytellers...and renew friendships.

So, until next Monday, let the stories be told!!

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana. When she is home at the White Picket Gardens you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories

Welcome October!

October Haiku

laboring cricket
tucked behind kitchen cupboard
Autumn's lullaby

drifting russet leaves
canopy on shadows
tears of Autumn's dusk

traveling spinners
swirl towards their destiny
solitude once more

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana. When she is home at the White Picket Gardens you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories.

Lap tops and things in the back seat...

With an ailing laptop I tried to get this blog out until it absolutely refused to give me one more piece of writing....but really I just can't complain. My laptop was 8 years old, and had given me more service than I had ever expected. That old laptop has traveled with me everywhere I have journeyed to...and more!!

When I delivered it to Staples and purchased my new one....it was like leaving a member of my family in the hospital or something like that. Of course, I retrieved it along with the new one as I left a week later after all my files had been transferred.Yes, I so love my old laptop..I mean, when we were kids we used to lock ourselves in the car when my parents tried to sell it...but I must confess. I brought the new one in and was immediately hooked on it.

The old one? Still in the back seat of my car...OK, I'll get it tomorrow.So, we are back in business.

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana. When she is home at the White Picket Gardens you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories.

Saying Good Bye

I know most of you who read this also read the Sunday Passage...so I won't go into details of the entire week end...However, if you did not subscribe, let me know and I will send a copy to you.

Philip left this morning. We said good bye in the yard under the twinkle lights of the trellis before dawn. The rain was falling soft and gentle and the only sounds were that of the early morning crickets.

It was dark and quiet in the house when I went back in...I wiped off the rain from my eyes..or maybe they were tears.


Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana. When she is home at the White Picket Gardens you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories.

Mackinac Island

It was a lovely week end...sigh.

Philip and I left Angola Thursday evening after school and headed toward the upper peninsula. It was a step back in time for me as we visited places I haven't been to in years.

We traveled up to White Fish Point to view Lake Superior at it's finest. It was the perfect day as it was cool and rainy and the wind was whipping off of White Fish Bay. Of course, once there we had to visit the Shipwreck museum which held much of the same equipment that was used on the Outer Banks.

Mackinac Island. (Pronounced Mackinaw), a French mistake. I visited every year as a child, but now I was with Philip, and I loved it.

We toured and hiked and climbed and viewed everything possible including the carriage ride.

We found a great pub with Irish music for evenings. The skies were clear and the air clear by the time we reached the Island so it was just great for us. It was fun for Philip to be The Tourist.

We drove home Sunday through the mist.

Lovely.

Lou Ann

The Fringe Festival

The days just fly by...I think I have time to do a blog..or have done a blog..and then new events just pop up.

I spent the week end in Indy with Ellen. It was a great time visiting...having dinner with friends and attending the Indy Fringe Festival.

I loved every moment of it. The theatre pieces were short, one hour in duration. Many were definitely on the edge or should I say on the fringe.

That is such a great word..the fringe..on the fringe..on the edge. A good place to be.

Do-Si-Do with your partner...

This week my friend, Mackenzie (she is 11), and I took our first Western Square Dance class.

We looked forward to it for days. Mackenzie is always up for adventure (remember she is 11), and my grown up married friends just go home from work and go to bed early. (Being a single gal in northern Indiana is sometimes a stretch!)

The dance was held in a local elementary school in the cafeteria. The tables were pushed aside and snacks were set up in the corner. That immediately caught Mackenzie's eye as she filled a cup with M&M's. I decided to pass, I mean I was there for the workout!

Everyone was friendly. They all belong to the Magic Squares, a Western Square dancing club. They had nametags and were very oficial. The caller used a small microphone and played small 45's on a turntable. I was amazed at that. Most of the songs he sung along with.

We danced for two hours never lacking a partner as those Magic Square folks wanted us to learn!! We caught on pretty fast. Mackenzie is young and smart. I have to excuse to catch on fast, except I know the old hoe down!!

During a break I asked Mackenzie what she thought. "Well," she said, "for one thing, I thought we would be outside under a tent."

"That would be fun," I said. "Anything else?"

"Yea, they are all older than us!"

I looked around, she wasn't quite correct in that...how old does she think I am. But not wanting to burst her bubble, I simply agreed.

As for next week? If we show up agian, we have to bring $50. Of course, there are those M&M's.......


Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana. When she is home at the White Picket Gardens you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories.