Halloween 2022

Sheila enjoys Halloween. I saw this afternoon that she had donned her witch's hat and gathered assorted props for her to use as she distributed Halloween treats. Also we were hoping to FaceTime with Clem, Ruthie, and Suzie at some point as they prepared to "Trick or Treat" in California. I knew I needed to do my best to come up with some sort of last minute costume. I couldn't find any of the old silly hats from my teaching days -- did I give those away? -- so I managed to find a silly tie and my Whopper Hat from my victory in the Big Fibbers Contest almost a decade ago. Not much of a costume but it was something. 

Sheila snuck a picture of me as I texted Brannon .

Soon the ghosts, ghouls, and gangsters began dropping by. Sheila was ready.

Sheila was ready.

Then the FaceTime call came. So we got to visit with our three grandkids and Brannon while we hosted the monster visitors. Here are a few screen captures.

Clem wanted a story right away. 

She asked for the "Raccoon" story (Joega) Im told her that was too long. 

I tried a really quick and lame version of "The Hairy Toe" but she wanted more. 

I tried "Jabberwocky" the "Dark Dark Night. 

Ruthie decided she could do "Dark Dark Night" and began it but never quite finished it.

Susie reaches for the phone.

And we took a couple of selfies before we closed up for the night.

Then, I thought, I oughta go take a picture of the City Clock with spooky clouds and that orange light! Sheila said she'd ride with me and at almost ten o'clock in the evening we drove to the clocktower. Shoot. No orange light this time. And I couldn't get a real god angle, had a hard time shielding the iPhone from the bright lights while keeping the clock and the moon in a frame, and the limitations of focussing in low light with a cell phone... oh well. 

I took this picture from our back porch before we left the house...

...and this one from our yard.

But the best I could do on clocktower hill was to block the streetlights with the brick wall along second street. But the moon is low from this angle and I could not get it in good focus.

From the lawn at the other side of the clock ... same problems.

PTSW: Silliness from Facebook

 What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?!

Frustrating Halloween

First there's the arthritis acting up, in my shoulder especially. Poor pitiful me. %$&^%$

Then I'm just aggravatingly late getting ready to head up to Arrowhead. I really need to get some end of month chores done. &^%*&%

Then I get to the car and my Honda Pilot is dead! I evidently left a map light on and ran the battery down. *^%&^%

Then I open the hood and see that Honda has made jumping the ^%$*&%^ thing a chore.

I hook up the cables to my truck and the burglar alarm goes off. $&^$%

Plus the Pilot still won't crank. ^%$^&%$

Finally convince the computer on the vehicle that I'm not a car thief.

It still won't crank. &^%$&^%$

But this picture arrives from California via text.

Clem is an "Army man from Toy Story" and Ruthie, I'm guessing, a kitty.

Maybe we'll get to FaceTime with costumed grandkids before the day is out.

I'll figure out the car eventually.

Happy Halloween!

SOS

This is the current logo of the group. 
This blog is a personal blog and the logo is presented here only for
illustration purposes and to provide an internet link.

I have been a board member of The Southern Order of Storytellers (SOS) for several years and a member for a quite a bit longer. 

Like many non-profits SOS has had our ups and downs. But I am proud of the efforts made in the last few years by our board to strengthen Georgia's storytelling network. We have:

• sought to clarify and re-emphasize our mission
• held a weekend board in-person retreat aimed at seeking a clear vision of what we want and need to do to fulfill our mission in perpetuity
• re-written our bylaws
• restructured and formalized our grant procedures
• funded several outstanding grants for storytelling in the state
• organized numerous online programs
• instituted regular online board meetings and in the process made it possible to better serve the entire state and region.
• begun plans for a statewide storytelling festival and workshop

One result of our retreat was an agreement that we as an organization need to consider a "rebranding" to better communicate who and what SOS is, and to be sure we are easily accessible to our desired core of storytellers and story listeners.

Today I have received from our president, Gwendolyn Napier, the following letter. I'd like to share it with my friends who are storytellers and/or story listeners and encourage you to give some thought to whether SOS is an organization that deserves your participation and support. If so I'd love to have you join us and give some crowdsourcing input to our rebranding efforts!  I hope many of my storytelling friends, especially, will join SOS.  There may be some of my friends who are not interested in joining SOS, but who have a branding idea. [I know that opens me up to the numerous fellow smart alecks among my friends! :-) ] I won't include the president's e-mail here since this is a personal blog. So non-members can relay suggestions through me. Click this link to visit the SOS website for more information or to join. Membership dues are $25 per year (free to students) and a storyteller listing is an addition $20 per year for every one.

From the SOS president and board:

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Attention, all Members!  It's time for a face-lift, and the Board needs your input on how we might update the face SOS presents to the world, especially the digital world.

Two primary concerns have triggered this undertaking.

First, our current name obscures the fact that we are basically the Georgia storytellers association.  Although we have very active members from other states -- a case that is true of many state-based storytelling organizations -- our roots and most of our members, events, and support groups are located in the state of Georgia.
 
Yet, when people search the web for the "Georgia Storytelling Association," or some variation of that name, they are unlikely to discover SOS or realize that it is, functionally, the group they are seeking. In today's web-based world, this is a big problem.
 
Second, we have received feedback from several sources that the term "Order" can be both confusing and off-putting.  Some associate the term with exclusive or honorary, and sometimes even secretive, organizations.  Only after they speak with a member and learn the origin and mission of the organization are they apt to pursue the possibility of joining SOS.
 
In order to address these concerns, the Board is proposing to retain our current name as the organization's legal name, but to revise how we "name" ourselves on the web and in day-to-day activities.  This is the equivalent of a "d/b/a" or "doing business as" name, a device used by many for-profit businesses and other organizations.
 
The only suggestion we have received to date is "Sharing Our Stories -- The Georgia Storytelling Network."
 
This has the advantage of allowing us to continue to use the familiar acronym, "SOS,' while clearly identifying our geographic base and collegial, open-to-all structure.  But this may not be ideal, and there are doubtless many other possibilities that we have not yet discovered.
 
The Board is eager to receive your feedback and suggestions, as well as any questions and concerns you may have. 

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Chip & Dale

 Lil (and Jordan) may murder me. She just sent this via message and, being me, I'm gonna show the world. <grin>

Chip & Dale are loose in Decatur for Halloween. Y'all watch out in the big city!

...and they have transportation!

Gleaning Facebook: Lillian On Her Grandmother

My Daughter Lillian posted this about my Mother today, so I wanted to preserve it here.

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I'm just thinking about my Grandmother Ruth Baird Shaw this morning and what a blessing she was to me and how her memory blesses me still. I love you, Grandmother. Next February 2023 would be her 100th birthday! She lived to be 98 (and a half). Both my grandmothers were amazing women, but I'm really lucky that I had Ruth Shaw around well into my adulthood and that we lived nearby for so much of my life. I got to still feel like a special grandkid with her, even in my 30s

But she made everyone feel special. - Lillian Shaw

Gleaning Facebook: Lillian & Mother

From Lillian Shaw's Facebook...

 

I'm just thinking about my Grandmother Ruth Baird Shaw this morning and what a blessing she was to me and how her memory blesses me still. I love you, Grandmother. Next February 2023 would be her 100th birthday! She lived to be 98 (and a half). Both my grandmothers were amazing women, but I'm really lucky that I had Ruth Shaw around well into my adulthood and that we lived nearby for so much of my life. I got to still feel like a special grandkid with her, even in my 30s But she made everyone feel special.

Songbird Couldn't Wait - A year later

 When we knew our new grandchild might be named after my wonderful late mother-in-love, Mavis Snell Matthews, we were touched and thrilled. A mavis is the European song throstle or song thrush (Turdus musicus). It sort of an old-fashioned name but has never fallen completely out of use. So a year ago, when I wrote about her birth, and before her name had been officially announced I used the nickname "Songbird" in my post. (See the bottom half of this post.)

Happy birthday little Songbird!

What a joy Susannah Mavis Carlin has already been for us. We were with her for about a month recently. First Sheila and I flew to California to spend a couple of weeks with Susannah and her sisters Clementine and Ruth, her her parents. We found a ten-month old who was already a biped, toddling all over the house constantly. Then we flew back to Georgia bringing Susannah and her mother and sister with us for another two weeks of visiting. We watched as she honed her skills. What a bright and good natured little sister. 

Here is a hodgepodge of random photos:

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 It's been a year since that harrowing day that brought us such a blessing. This is what I wrote on October 25-26, 2021...

Songbird Couldn't Wait

Welcome to our hearts little impatient Songbird. 

I woke up at about four this morning and noticed there was a message from our son-in-law marked 2:17. That woke me up good. Sure enough it was this picture with this message attached:

"Born in Sue's car on the way to the hospital."

We have another beautiful little granddaughter. She was born about 10:45 Pacific time yesterday, October 25, 2021.

I had spoken with Brannon just last night while Clemmie and Ruth joyfully ran around the kitchen and teased me via Facetime. Clemmie even demanded I tell "Ghost With One Black Eye" again, and then demanded that I make her "brave" in the story. 

Princess Clementine is ready for Halloween.

Peanut butter faced Ruth

She had a great time virtually stealing my nose. 

I've got to re-write "Ghost With One Black Eye" to make Clemmie "brave" in her encounter with the ghost.

And while we talked Brannon was dealing with contractions. She thought it might be "false labor"; turned out it wasn't. 

It is hard being a long-distance parent and grandparent. We've had an anxious day as Brannon tried to get some much needed rest between feeding and tending a newborn and putting up with the usual distractions of a hospital stay; she understandably had no time to call Mom and Dad. So we wondered and worried about this new little piece of our heart and her mother 2000 miles away.

Finally this evening another Facetime call and we had a nice long talk with Brannon while she held her new little bundle. There are more details: They almost made it, not to the intended hospital but to a nearer one, as John drove Sue's car and Sue (a wonderful nurse/midwife and dear friend of the Carlins) tended to Brannon in the back seat. But the baby would not wait. John pulled the car off the freeway near the Emerald Drive exit, and our little bright-eyed songbird arrived right there. 

A Facetime screen capture of our little songbird this afternoon.

We think we know what her name will be, but the decision isn't quite final. When I heard what the middle name is likely to be I teared up. You will have to wait a few more hours to learn it. Since her "due-date" had been set at October 31 I had proposed "Morticia". And all day today I have been calling her "Camry" though, in truth, I do not know what make of car Sue drives. Knowing her likely middle name I am nicknaming her "Songbird" for now.