A FINE FRIDAY FIND!

Growing up in a small town in KY, I learned the importance of access to a public library. Tall steps took me up to the large front door of the Carnegie Public Library,. Upon entry, a left turn would take me to the Nancy Drew books! 

How grateful I am to Andrew Carnegie, a generous philanthropist, for funding more than 2500 libraries and 7600 church organs......a man who provided both books and church organs all over the world.

These days, I'm in a new "book" place, under construction but not closing doors to books for patrons.

A book I found there today was a perfect "Friday Find" for me. It took me to a "time-gone-by" of the National Storytelling Festival. The anthology of short tales, many from the Appalachian area,  (Appalachia) not only speak to my heart but aid my need for shorter tales/manuscripts in my appreciation for the art of storytelling. Tales I have personally heard through the years by the individual tellers themselves.  

Donald Davis. Elizabeth Ellis. Bill Harley. Doc McConnell. Jay O'Callahan. Kathryn Windham. Jane Yolen.

A step-back that reignites my enthusiasm for the written word, even when reading is not quite as easy as it once was.

"In everything I give thanks."  (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

LINGERING AT LAKE JUNALUSKA!

My daughter's well-planned day just for the two of us. 

A time of lingering by the lake where I went to a Methodist Camp in 1963.

"Be still and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10)

So many memories teenage memories. Ann Ryder Randolph from Princeton, Ky. Donald Davis, who worked in the bookstore at the camp and later became a nationally known storyteller. He's still telling stories and comes to Memphis every other year. MS Carolyn Meacham, later to marry hubby's dear friend Hal, & I were in the group picture under the cross but I never met her until years later after we were both married and discovered our shared adventure.

A time of quiet beauty: Giving glory to God and grace for me physically and spiritually....

Lingering in the labyrinth & Meditating in the Memorial Chapel. 

Praying in the chapel when 3 young men came in and went to the front and began quietly playing their guitars.

Recording my prayers for family, Wednesdays folks &, special needs to be prayed for by others in the in LJ prayer ministry.

An AMEN Time to a "Wonderful Wednesday."

CHOOSE: STORYTELLING!

Storytelling. An oral tradition that binds families together with shared memories.

Donald Davis is the master of such a tradition. He leaves his audiences "limp from laughter and with a lump in their throats" reports the New York Times.

Our kids and now our grands have grown up with his tales. Caleb (11) was privy to hearing him in person last year in Texas. This past weekend Owen (10) attended a storytelling festival at Balmoral Presbyterian in Memphis. 

A few years ago, hubby and I shared his Grand Canyon CD with family on our Westward Ho trip. We laughed "all the way to the bottom of the canyon" with him.

Davis says, " Storytelling is not what I do for a living---it is how I do all that I do while I am living."

I first met Donald Davis at the Methodist camp at Lake Junaluska, NC as a 17 year old. He worked in the bookstore and I was a camper. As a librarian, many years later, I heard him at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN.

As a Methodist minister, Davis understands the importance of passing on stories, both Biblical and personal to the next generation. (Joel 1:3 & Psalm 78:4) We should all do the same.

That's why hubby and I both choose storytelling and the importance of passing on that oral tradition.