Timpanagos, Here I Come!

Time is getting short now. I'll be in Utah this time next week, basking in the glow after completing my first workshop for the Timpanagos Storytelling Conference, meeting and greeting storytelling friends and enjoying great stories in the beautiful American West.

I have been looking forward to this for months. Actually for years, because I have wanted to attend Timpanagos since it began. This past year I got up my gumption and submitted a couple workshop proposals, and Lordy be, they were accepted! So I will be talking about finding and telling ghost stories and teaching people how to blog. Talk about two diverse topics. That must be my Gemini twins coming out to play (although I'm on the cusp with Cancer so if I like the way things are going for Cancer better, then I'll claim the crab).

Before leaving I have other storytelling to do: today I was at the University of Charleston, talking about stories and Appalachian culture. Monday I will be at a local elementary school to tell stories from world cultures and do a workshop with parents on telling stories with their children. The fascinating thing about storytelling is the wide range of stories and the many methods of presenting them.

And then for two glorious days I will be getting my mind in line for Utah. Excited? You know it!


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Baby's Breath: Simple Beauty

 A friend posted a photo of an old meat grinder used to hold a spray of baby's breath. Inspiration! While at the store the other day I saw a bucket of these tiny white flowers and decided to take some home.

I used some of them in an old silverplate pitcher and put it on the table that used to be my mother's bedside table when I was a girl. Now it is my end table. 

I added a little calla lily candleholder, the white alabaster bookends, a stick I picked up in Lake Erie 2 years ago, and a bronze statuette I bought at a library silent auction about 20 years ago.

While I was at it, I added a couple photos and some fruit to the other small table.

Then I cleaned up the meat grinders and hooked them to the kitchen windowsill.

 I got the little birdhouse the other day at goodwill, and the lucite stems at a yard sale several years back.

 There's a springtime look to it, isn't there? Spring is slowly making its way here, even though we still have snow on the ground and freezing temperatures at night.

At the other end of the big window, I used a little crock I just found at Goodwill to hold a few wood spoons, and added a little cat carved from coal. The cat isn't perfect, has a few chips but that doesn't bother me. I'm not perfect either.

It was nice to make some simple changes; somehow it brightens up the house. A simple bunch of tiny flowers can do a lot for a little.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Book Review: Lone Mountain

I seldom discuss my political views on this blog, but mountaintop removal is something that needs many voices raised in opposition, and I join mine with all those who oppose the destruction of our beautiful mountains for the short-term benefit of easy coal removal. Now I have come across a way to put my money where my mouth is: a fundraising project to publish a children's picture book in the topic.

Imagine that it is early morning. Sunlight streams across the mountains and settles into the hollows and valleys. Then you hear a distant rumbling, and the ground shakes.

Bulldozers are coming.

Lone Mountain is the story of one of those mountains. Simply told so that all ages can understand what happens and why, Lone Mountain takes us from the idyllic former life of the mountain and into the world of mountaintop removal. It is a story of destruction and loss, and yet one of hope and recovery.

Saro Lynch-Thomason recently produced Blair Pathways, a multimedia project about coal mining and its impact on these hills we call home, with a focus on the struggle over preservation of Blair Mountain, a site important historically to the labor and union movement. Artists such as Elizabeth LaPrelle, Elaine Purkey, Bare Bones and others are featured on the CD produced by the project and a 45-minute multimedia show tells the story of the history of the mine wars.

Now she has tackled a new project: a children's picture book that tells the story of one mountain facing the destruction of mountaintop removal. Beautifully illustrated pages include informational sidebars to define unfamiliar terms and offer activity suggestions. A section at the end of the book provides more educational information about the Appalachian mountains and the impact of mountaintop removal. A vital book for teachers, parents, homeschoolers, and those interested in learning the basics of the mountaintop removal issues.

This sobering yet hopeful book addresses an important topic without hyperbole or hysteria. Mountaintop removal is devastating to the environment and to the creatures that depend on the mountains for survival; Lynch-Thomason takes us along on a visit to one lone mountain so that we see for ourselves just what happens when people finally say enough, and take action to protect their homes and heritage.

A successful indiegogo campaign in the fall raised initial funds, and now a spring fundraiser is underway to provide the funds needed to publish. Various levels of contribution are available, and contributors can receive copies of the book on publication by selecting the appropriate donation level.

My book is on order. I hope yours will be too.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.