Arts Expo in Hayesville

The Arts Expo in Hayesville last Saturday was a fun-filled day with many artists and crafts people and a goodly number of Netwest writers on hand.
Shirley Uphouse read from her book, My Dogs, My Friends, and Paul Donovan read his poetry from Ramblins of an Idiot. Carole  Thompson helped man the booth and shared her story from Clothes Lines, the anthology based on a theme of clothing.

Jo Carolyn Beebe, one of the authors in this book, read a short piece. On our table were books by Nancy Sales Cash, Ritual River and Patterns of the Heart, and the anthology Christmas Presence, an anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, that came out last year.

Karen Holmes, our Netwest editor and publisher of the Netwest News, was a huge help to me in taking down the booth after the long day. Karen is also published in Clothes Lines and participated in reading and signing books.

We were happy to have Sonny Boyer from Blairsville, GA join us at our table. Sonny, like many writers, has published an excellent historical novel, but is finding that marketing his book is difficult.

I was delighted when my students Ash, Nadine and Ginny came to hear me read. They had their books in hand and I was most happy to sign them.
Ash, whose essay was published in our local newspaper for Veterans Day, was persuaded to come up and read his story. I learned later that someone came to our table and asked how to get in touch with Ash to ask him to speak to their group.

This was the first Arts Expo held here in Hayesville, but I hope it will be an annual event. We found it to be an excellent opportunity to reach a new audience of listeners, readers, and possible writers. We hope to be invited again.

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" Can I take it off now?"
Rocky did not like his Christmas sweater last year, perhaps because he is definitely not a Georgia Bulldog.


The rain let up today. I'm grateful it stopped. A good-sized group attended our Christmas Poems and Stories at the Moss Library in Hayesville tonight. Three women writers, Shirley Uphouse, Glenda Barrett and Brenda Kay Ledford read delightful stories. I enjoyed every one of them. Shirley's story was about a Christmas wish from a young girl who wanted a horse of her own, much the way I was when I was a kid. Glenda Barrett wrote a touching story about Mamaw, her wonderful grandmother. But Brenda Kay had us laughing out loud with her hilarious story of the 90 year old woman and the biker. Brenda Kay has a wonderful true mountain dialect that enhances her storytelling and her reading. Our only open mic reader was Richard Argo who read his always interesting and quirky Christmas Letter.

It hasn't seemed much like Christmas at our house this year, but when I drive down to the center of our little town, it reminds me of a Christmas Card. The courthouse square is decorated and all the shops have white lights, and I get that warm feeling inside I associate with the holy days.

I spent some time in the local bookstore today and wished I had the time to select a book, go back to the Dessertery with a cup of coffee and read while the sound of carols filled the shop. But hurry, hurry, I must because I don't yet have my gifts wrapped. I've done no baking, nor made the cornbread dressing I'll take to my sister's for Christmas dinner.

Tonight we are watching a Christmas concert by the Three Tenors. I love their voices, but some tunes they just shouldn't sing. It is comical to hear them belting out "Jingle Bells." That song wasn't meant to be sung by opera singers. Their rendition of Amazing Grace and Silent Night, however, rivals that of heavenly angels' singing.