Posts tagged as:

Storytelling

I Want To Be A Coffee Bean

March 17, 2010

At the Texas Storytelling Festival this last weekend, many fine tales were told. One in particular was told by my friend Elida Bonet, a marvelous storyteller who grew up in Panama, at the Sacred Tales concert. She said the story had come to her in one of those forwarded “inspirational e-mails” she gets [...]

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It’s A Storytelling Festival

March 10, 2010

It’s happening this weekend: The 25th Annual Texas Storytelling Festival! And, it’s right here in Denton, Texas from March 11-14, 2010.
It hardly seems possible that it was twenty-five years ago, when a friend of mine had a dream. Finley Stewart, about whom I have posted before, wanted to bring together storytellers and [...]

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Wistful Thinking

March 5, 2010

Two garments live side by side in my closet. Hanging together … as they did many years ago. Neither is particularly attractive or stylish; both have seen better days. Their fabric is “pilled,” as so often happens with knits that have been washed many times, although I have washed neither of them [...]

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The Playhouse

February 23, 2010

[I've been working on a project that I'm finding difficult, but I have to finish it. I MUST! You see, I heard my mother's voice telling me, as she often did, "You are just like your father." She didn't necessarily mean that in a good way. Every time I think those [...]

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Titillation Part Two

January 21, 2010

At my age, I’ve decided that life is too short to read books I don’t enjoy. A book has to titillate me in the first chapter, or I’ll close it and walk away. Now, I defined “titillate” in Part One, so stop tittering about it. I simply mean that a book has [...]

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Titillation: Part One

January 20, 2010

Hey, stop it! “Titillate” is a perfectly fine verb meaning “to excite another, especially in a superficial, pleasurable manner.” Though it can be used in an erotic sense, that isn’t the intent of the word. But, if you want to see a group of adults collapse into a paroxysm of nervous giggling [...]

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Life Would Be A Dinglederry, If I Only Had A Brain

January 13, 2010

My life resembles the soundtrack from the Wizard of Oz. Like the Scarecrow, I go around singing “If I Only Had A Brain.” But, wait! I do have a brain … in fact, I keep it in the living room so that everyone will see it. Unfortunately, it’s just a brain [...]

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Lover’s Embrace

January 3, 2010

Sometimes I hear my Grandfather’s voice whispering stories inside my head. Yesterday, my husband and I took a walk and found two trees that had grown together. As we marveled at those trees, hugging like a pair of old lovers, Papaw’s slow East Texas drawl came through loud and clear. Pardon the [...]

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Dona Nobis Pacem. Doing Our Part.

November 5, 2009

Rabbit was hopping along one day, when he stumbled over Hummingbird, who was lying flat on his back in the middle of the path. He had his feet sticking straight up in the air.
“Are you sick?” asked Rabbit.
“Nope,” said Hummingbird.
“Are you hurt?” Rabbit inquired.
“Nope,” said Hummingbird.
“What’s going on?” cried Rabbit. “Why are you [...]

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Is Ghost Radar Real, Or Am I A Half-Bubble Off Plumb?

October 29, 2009

I told y’all that I was going to have some fun with that Ghost Radar application on my iPhone, didn’t I? Yes, I surely did. Anybody who reads here regularly already knows that I’m about half-bubble off of plumb, so I’m gonna tell you this story about my Ghost Radar.
This week I have [...]

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A Year Of Optimism

October 23, 2009

I almost missed the anniversary! It was a year ago (October 17th, 2008) when I first decided to post only the good on Fridays. I can’t believe it has been that long, and I’m flabbergasted that I stuck with it. I am NOT a “goody two shoes” and optimism does NOT come [...]

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Roomful of Rocking Chairs

October 20, 2009

In the twenty-some-odd years that I have been telling stories, I can count on one two hands the number of times that I have had “stage fright.” I have to admit that at this very moment I finally understand a phrase my Papaw always used: “I’m as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a [...]

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Intermission

October 15, 2009

Get a load of that look on my face. Do you think that would make a youngster afraid to squirm while sitting in one of my audiences? Darn tootin’!
Oh, I don’t make that face all the time. I was probably being dramatic or something. Most of the time I’m sticking my [...]

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Segues

October 13, 2009

Those of us who use search engines on computers are familiar with segues. It means: “to make a transition from one thing to another smoothly and without interruption.”
It happens to me every day. I start searching for something, for instance “warning signs of swine flu,” and when I find that I [...]

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I Love Fairweather

October 12, 2009

No, that wasn’t a typo. I like good weather, sure. But, I love Fairweather Lewis! She’s a blogger that my friend Jamie (another blogger I love) told me about. All month long, in honor of Halloween, Fairweather Lewis has been featuring ghost stories! Don’t you like ghost stories? Fairweather [...]

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Frazzled

September 30, 2009

They say that “a camera adds ten pounds.” I’m assuming from that phrase that they mean that a picture makes you look ten pounds heavier. If “a camera” adds ten pounds, then I need to lose fifty pounds pretty quickly! Later this month five movie cameras will be pointing my direction at [...]

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Reality Bites

September 24, 2009

Today I get the dubious joy of having my fingerprints taken. Supposedly this will prove to schools, where I perform by telling stories for little urchins, that I am not a criminal pervert. Personally, all I think a criminal background check proves is that a person has never been caught. I’d blog [...]

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Love at The State Fair of Texas

August 3, 2009

It was the State Fair of Texas in 1970, long before Big Tex learned to speak Spanish. My sophomore choir was attending the fair to perform on stage that evening along with choirs from all over the state.
I was excited because our performance would be followed by a concert featuring Burt Bacharach, whose song [...]

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Chicken’s Good Enough For Me

June 23, 2009

Everyone conceded that my Mamaw, Estelle Cumbie, was the best cook in Wood County. That’s how she caught my Papaw, Guy. Well, maybe she caught him because she was darned good looking, but her cooking helped. Hers wasn’t fancy gourmet cooking; it was just down-home Southern style, flavored with a [...]

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My Heavy Foot Leaves A Big Carbon Footprint

June 2, 2009

Furious! That’s what I was. I had been “stood up” for a date by the boy with whom I was “going steady.” Now, what’s the point of “going steady” if you aren’t going to go anywhere? I hopped into my little Toyota and drove like a bat out of you-know-where into [...]

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