Busy Sunday

Cold frosty morning on the hill.

Cold day! Frost on the ground and ice on the puddles and buckets. It's past time to be ready for this, but somehow we're not. Our first killing frost is usally around October 10th, so we've gained a week this year.

Larry split firewood today. The building is almost chockful and he still has many logs to cut and split. This is a good thing because with the fireplace we use a lot of wood, and my sense is that may be a cold winter so extra wood will be nice to have.

I sorted out my summer clothes and ended up with two large bags for Goodwill. The summer things are packed away and the winter clothes are hanging in the closet. I remember when everything I owned fit into the closet, but now I seem to need several wardrobes: going-to-work office clothes, storytelling clothes, going-to-town clothes and working-around home clothes. Shoes are the same way. And coats. When did life get so complicated? Oh yeah, I remember: when I started working full-time and then added storytelling to the menu.

I've been working in my office for the past two days, trying to recover it from summer's mad rush. It's not a one-weekend, project, I think. I am trying to get all my West Virginia history books and ballad books into this room, which means other storytelling books need to go to the big shelf in the living room. The WV books are the ones I reference most often, except for my two volumes of Storytellers Sourcebook. Those two books are essential to a storyteller's collection. Some tellers are lucky enough to live near a library that owns these books and can go there to use them. I don't have that luxury so I bought my own copies when I first got into storytelling and I am very glad I did. Back then, the set cost me almost $400. Today, the books can be found online at used booksellers' sites for about $20 each! That should upset me I suppose, but it does not because I've had acces to me copies for almost 10 years now. I can't imagine trying to be a storyteller and not have them.

I discovered as I cleaned and sorted that I have duplicates of several West Virginia county histories. So I'll need to find a way to sell them. I snatch them up whenever I see them for sale (most often at my library's used book sale) because I can't remember which ones I already have. If you know anyone interested in the histories of McDowell, Pendleton, Tucker, or Nicholas counties, or a copy of The Allegheny Frontier by Otis K. Rice, send them my way.

Tuesday and Wednesday I will be telling stories for the WV Storytelling Festival at Jackson's Mill near Weston, WV. The festival has become a schools-event only; there are no public performances this year, only hundreds of elementary and middle school students coming by bus to the Mill to hear stories. We're limited to what we can tell: no magic, ghosts, giants, or scary stories. That presents a challenge, but there are many good stories that can be told that do not contain thise elements, so I am sorting through my tales to find ones that will suit the criteria and be of interest to the age groups we'll be telling to.

When I return from the festival, I'll be preparing for next Saturday's Author Extravaganza at the Bridgeport, WV library--about 10 West Virginia authors will be on hand to discuss their work and sell their books and CDs. I am hoping against hope than my CDs arrive from ESP, the company doing the printing and packaging, in time for this event. The same day (October 24th) I will also be tellign ghost stories in the evening at Tygart Lake State Park in Grafton as part of their Halloween fundraiser. That will be a full day, and I think a very fun and interesting one.

Two wooden clothespins are sealed in ice in this ashtray on the porch. Can you see them?

I am glad for the heat from our stove on this chilly day, and glad for a husband who keeps it going so I can stay focused on my to-do list. Now, back to it.