Long Overdue Post

SO much has been happening with my family life and storytelling work that blogging has had to take a back seat. Oh and I love to post pictures on my blog, but my camera broke. It takes some of the fun out of blogging. Sheesh!

So here is an update on the last few weeks:

My mother-in-law has breast cancer that has spread to her spine and brain. She has just recently finished 14 radiation treatments for the brain cancer. Side effects have been very minimal and we are very relieved about that. She also has a type of cancer that responds well to hormone treatment, which she started last week. Tomorrow afternoon, I start driving driving alone to Florida where I will pick her up and bring her back to Plano to stay with us. She will recieve excellent medical care here, plus we can enjoy each others company. She hopes to sell her home in Florida (it is on the market) and relocate near us, hopefully in the same neighborhood. We all very much look forward to enjoying the holidays together again and seeing each other on a regular basis, just like we did when we lived in Panama City, Florida a few years ago.

Regarding my storytelling work, all I can say is WOW! There has been a lot going on.

I attended several storytelling concerts as a listener, including the Lone Star Storytelling Festival, and had a blast. The national level storytellers have been Antonio Roche, Barbara Freeman, Charlie Chin, Elizabeth Ellis, Lyn Ford, the Storycrafters, and Barbara McBride-Smith. I have heard several wonderful local tellers like Tim Couch (his spooky tales are SCARY), Gene & Peggy Helmick-Richardson of Dallas, Jyoti & Meena Subramanian at the Dallas Crow Museum, Greg Rodgers from OK, Lucinda Wise from Austin, Gary Whitaker, Genie Hammell...the list goes on. I love getting the opportunity to sit back and be a listener, to marvel at the vast variety of ways in which to tell a tale. This is a very creative profession to be sure.

I have been doing a LOT of storytelling myself. I have participated in a spooky story concert at the Dallas Bath House, and provided three concerts for the Dallas Museum of Art. The themes were Egyptian Mummy's, Elephants - met the author of Babar, Laurent De Burnhoff and Kings & Queens. In addition, I have designed a new workshop for storytellers and writers that I am very excited about. It incorporates visual imagery!

Speaking of visual imagery - If I can only get my blasted camera to work I can start sharing pictures again. I'm off to see about that right now.

Ciao