Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here soon.

Little Smokie

Rocky

Here we are beginning a new week. The weather has been lousy this weekend and I have had a quiet time with Lexie and Smokie, my sister's dearly loved pup. Smokie is now twelve years old. The years fly by. I remember when she was a sweet little puppy who loved to bite Rocky's neck, his ears, the backs of his legs when she had those sharp baby teeth. He was such a gentle fellow he never even growled at her. He is gone now, she is the older one and my Lexie is the younger. They get along beautifully. I think Lexie loves Smokie. Recently when I put down a full water bowl for them, Lexie began drinking but when Smokie tried to drink also, Lexie stepped back and let her have all she wanted. Animals have their own way of communicating and showing their affection and respect for each other.

Lexie in the sunshine

I spent this weekend sleeping mostly as I am enduring a spell of nerve pain. I had wanted to attend an outdoor ceremony for some of my fellow writers and friends who wrote and published picture books for children. The publisher and illustrator came to Young Harris, GA to the library where she placed a beautiful mural on the outside wall. Each book by the local authors is represented on that mural.

Visit  www.muraltrail.com  to learn more.  Doreyl Cain is the illustrator of these large murals and her company installs them in places where they can be seen twenty-four hours a day. We have one in Hayesville, NC. You can see it on the website. 

My most recent memoir class has ended. 

We had a great group of students, and I think they are motivated to continue to write their unique stories. I plan to hold another series of classes in the spring of 2022. I teach online and find that works really well for me. I have had to experiment and learn new ways to reach my students, but they seem to enjoy the experience and that makes me happy.

Next Friday evening at 7:00 PM, I will host Writers' Night Out on Zoom. 

Our guest will be Ed Southern who will talk about and read from his new book, Fight Songs. Ed is the Executive Director of the NC Writers' Network and author of several books. You can read my interview with Ed on the Netwest Writers blog.  https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2021/10/glenda-beall-interviews-ed-southern.html

The book is about how sports affect people in the south and how the pandemic affected fans during 2020 when we had lockdowns and other restrictions. I am not a sports fan but this book has humor and also hard facts and even ugly facts about our beloved southland. 

I continue to have work to do with my job as NCWN-West program coordinator. I like to be busy with work I enjoy. I also plan to submit more of my poems and stories for publication. That is not fun.

As we look forward to the holidays, I wonder how our country will deal with the pandemic still going on. I was told that we had 14 cases of COVID last week and that means we have a healthy county. I guess I won't consider us to be healed until I hear that we have no cases of this virus among us.

I have had all my shots, my booster, and my flu shot so my vaccinations are up to date. Still, you will not find me out in a crowd. I will try to buy locally, but I am already ordering by mail. It isn't the gift but the giver that matters to me. I am as thrilled by a sweet card as I am by a present. 

I hope you, my friends, have a safe and healthy holiday season. Leave me a message or send me an email. I love to hear from you.

Tis the Season

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL MY READERS, MY FRIENDS NEAR AND FAR.

As we approach Christmas Day, a very special time each year to reflect on our good fortune, our losses, our happy times and our sad ones, we appreciate the reason for the season.

I think of this holiday as a time to renew hope in the world, to believe that we will survive as human beings because we are basically the product of our past, our forefathers and mothers who often struggled to provide the best way of life for themselves and for their world.

We have goodness in us even when we do bad things. When I hear the voices that speak out of fear, I try to turn them off. I believe that we still have strong people who won't give up and give in to the worst of human nature. 

I have seen the best in people recently, when out of kindness and caring, they left their comfort zone to give me aid when I most needed it. I know that people do this all the time, around the world, for no pay or recognition. While we hear the bad news day after day, we also hear of good deeds, good people who just want to help their fellow human being. I wish we heard more of the good than the bad, but sadly, bad news is good business for media today.

The worst part of this time of year is the begging that goes on, asking us  to give to those less fortunate, to give to political parties, to foundations and groups that help others, and the guilt we feel when we can only do so much. I get more requests for donations this time of year than any other time. 

I have a giving budget. Throughout the year, I give to the organizations I feel most passionate about, where I feel the most is needed. At Christmas, I don't receive a bonus or extra money to put into my bank account. December is not a month when I have windfalls that I don't need. As a senior adult with a fairly fixed income and too many bills to pay, I have very little cash to give to others. 

I do what I can all year long, and still keep funds to support myself. I don't want to become one of the people who needs charity. But it is a fact that those who have the least, give the most. Those who have the most and use the most resources, give the least to others. 

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When I see this art work out each Christmas as part of my sister's holiday decorations, I spend time just enjoying it, looking at the detail and seeing the work of love it really is.

My photo is not good, but you can appreciate the artistry of this folk art by my artist sister, Gay Moring. It is a gorgeous piece of work, in three pieces, on wood and the brush strokes are perfectly done. 

I hope you have joy and happiness and peace in your hearts and in your homes this special holiday season. I hope the new year brings you good health, love and less stress in your life. I hope you laugh every day. 

Try to find the humor in the worst of times, and you will come through better and with less pain. Even a trip to the ER can have moments of humor. That's a bit of wisdom from someone who knows.

Read this post on Senior Women for a glimpse of a Christmas that went awry.

http://www.seniorwomen.com/news/index.php/goosed-those-years-when-fate-takes-a-hand

How will you spend your holidays this year?

DECEMBER 5 - 11

Have you visited the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC ?

This is one of my very favorite places on earth. I began taking classes there in 1995 and I've studied with many, many writers, authors and poets, over these fifteen years. Some of them are Julia Kate Howard, Darnell Arnoult, Steven Harvey, Vickie Hunt, Maureen Ryan Griffin, Ruth Zeufus, and , of course, Nancy Simpson, resident writer at JCCFS and editor of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Some other teachers I've had the opportunity to study with at JCCFS are past poet laureate of North Carolina, Kathryn Stripling Byer and poet, R.T. Smith. Google these names if you don't already know them.

Dr. Gene Hirsch, founder of the writing program at JCCFS is one of the instructors. His poetry classes are extremely interesting. Look for him at http://www.folkschool.org/ under instructors.

For those new students who register for classes within the next couple of months, click here to see how you can save $100 on tuition.

I will be teaching Writing Your Holiday Memories December 5 - 11, using as a text the anthology Christmas Presence edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. We will go back in time to those special days and times you will never forget, the stories you heard from your parents about Christmas and special holidays around Christmas time.

December is an excellent time to come to the Folk School when the Keith House is decorated in old fashioned style and music is everywhere.

In our writing classes we often form friendships that last long after we leave the writing studio. I hope you will come and be a part of this writing class.

Get into the spirit before the holiday begins.

CHRISTMAS PRESENCE MAKES GREAT GIFT

CHRISTMAS PRESENCE, a beautiful book of holiday stories, poems and essays written by 45 women writers, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, will be one of the gifts I give this year.

Many of the writers are my friends and members of NCWN and Netwest, but more than that, I've enjoyed everything I've read in this book.

Some of the titles of work: Grandpa and the Snow Snakes, Memories of Wartime Christmases, Jewish Christmas, Miss Bessie Mae and the Christmas Biker,

And the Animals Knelt, A Logging Camp Christmas, and so many more.

The Christmas Socks touched me deeply. It is a war time story by Sonja Contois.

I haven't read the entire book because I want to savor it and read a little every day throughout the holidays.

Local bookstores in western NC are carrying the book and it can be ordered from Catawba Publishing.