The Lehigh Valley Storytelling Festival 2008 is almost finished. This is the fifth festival and our fourth anniversary. (Our first festival was in 2004. Count on your fingers - '04, '05, '06, '07, '08 = 5) This year, the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild decided to do a week long festival - with the annual Girls Night Out/Women's Weekend leading off. Fran Yardley was the featured teller and she is an oasis of delightful calm in a tumultuous world. I missed her performance because I was performing as part of the Tellers-in-the-Schools at NCC.

Anyway, yesterday I spent the day with Odds Bodkin as he presented a workshop to teachers and librarians. WHOA!!!!! Talk about a talented teller/musician/educator/performer! He had us all mesmerized. His musical accompaniment is so apt.

His performance last night was soooooooo great! SO GREAT! It was a total immersion - sound effects - made by his very own voice - music - facial expressions - dramatic pauses, wind weather - you name it. WOW!!

Richard Marsh, a teller from Ireland, opened for Odds. Marsh's style is so different. He is a traditional teller. He simply tells the story in a mild and interesting manner but he concentrated on Irish mythology - all those Gaelic names and family connections. SO, two totally different storytelling styles for a complete storytelling experience. Yeah! And you missed it! Too bad.

Today, Hub and I bought new dishes. There is something so satisfying about putting a new set of matching dishes in the cupboard. The part about disposing of the old less satisfactory dishes is always a problem because I hate to throw anything out. I will move them to the attic and wait until the American Family Services lady calls. Maybe some young person just starting out - or someone looking for few spare pieces of that pattern - or an artist who specializes in recycling things - will snatch those old dishes up. One can hope.

Enough. I am finishing The Alchemyst by Michael Scott. I'll let you know what I think of it when I finish.

Tomorrow at Godfrey Daniels, from 11 am to around 1 pm, the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Festival offers a Sacred Stories event and invites participants to share stories that speak to the spirit. It's Free! Drop by.