There were feathers everywhere. It was the third Monday of the month and I was Zooming my Storytelling for All Ages program. I had chosen to share “Feathers,” a Jewish folk tale. There was once a woman who liked to talk, and she didn’t always pay strict attention to what was true. Her unkind words […]
Unspoken – April 24 Read More »
I first noticed the hollyhock in the middle of my front flower bed when it was a small plant. I hadn’t intended to have a hollyhock plant there, but I decided to let it grow. It continued to grow and reach upward until it was over ten feet tall. I was amazed. Masked individuals paused
The Hollyhock – April 23 Read More »
I began volunteering as a storyteller in my oldest son’s kindergarten classroom and continued this tradition for each of my children. Twenty years later, my youngest son was in first grade. Because I told stories in his classroom, I was invited to come listen to a storyteller that had been hired for an assembly. At
Storytelling – April 22 Read More »
My oldest sister made me a doll when I was a little girl. It was made out of cloth with moveable arms and legs. The doll had an embroidered face and hair made from a special kind of yarn called straw yarn. That doll exists only in my memory. “You didn’t take care of it,”
Her name was Dorie. Her plan was to make a king-size cathedral window quilt. She collected many different blue fabrics and cut them into tiny squares. She used bleached muslin and made the foundation blocks. Each block was handsewn and then joined to the next one. Her quilt was about a fourth of the way
My art class was more than a class—it was a social club. We gathered together once a week to paint or draw. We each worked on our current project and our friends made suggestions or critiqued our art if we asked for help. We shared frustrations, successes, food, and family stories. Then Covid-19 reared its
Painting – April 19 Read More »
Faith or Fear. It’s whatever I talk myself into. I know the source of my faith and who I should have faith in. My Heavenly Father and Jesus know who I am. They know my thoughts and the desires of my heart. When I exercise my faith in them, I feel their power in my
There was a fire in the forest. All the animals were running, leaping, or flying to escape the flames. One small bird flew to the other side of the river and sat on a branch looking back at the flames. He asked the other animals, “Aren’t you going to do something. It’s our home.” No
One Small Bird – April 17 Read More »
We were all shook up. It was January of 1980. I had felt the earth go round and round under my feet. My school age children had experienced “duck and cover”. Except it wasn’t a drill. It was for real. My husband had been on the 6th floor of his office building when it swayed
Nerfquake – April 16 Read More »
“But I don’t want to weed the daisies.” That was the prompt in my creative writing class. I wrote about Mary Alice, a little girl who would rather make a dandelion crown and dance in the garden than weed the daisies. I was pleased with what I wrote. The next week Mary Alice appeared in
Maryalise – April 15 Read More »
