Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

September 12, 2006

Today’s announcements

I have two birthday boys today, first there is our poet Robert White from Australia: poeticrob@hotmail.com  and we also celebrate the birthday of David Scott Brown, the American Husband of our wonderful red headed German beauty Saskia: saskiaofthewoods@yahoo.de

Please join me in welcoming Harmonie Joy Fisher into the world she is the daughter of our writer Pauline Fisher here on Storytime Tapestry. Little Harmonie is a real strong baby girl who has already been sick but she has pulled through. She has definitely inherited her mothers strong genes!  Here is her mom’s note:

We welcomed Harmonie Joy Fisher to the world on 31 August at 8.47am. Weighing in at 3.7kgs she is 50cm long and (unashamedly) gorgeous.

The doctors performed the Caesar a little earlier than expected as bub was putting pressure on one of the nerves in my right leg. This was causing pain and swelling at first, but then my leg started going from under me without warning.

The poor little girl has already been sick with a stomach bug (passed on from an inconsiderate family member), but otherwise she's doing well.

Pauline Fisher

Now onto the good stuff!

Today’s Queue Stories

~**~**~

 ValueSpeak

A Weekly Column

By Joseph Walker

valuespeak@msn.com

KEEP A-GOIN'

            Jacob gently laid the last stone on the shallow grave he had dug for Elizabeth, his beloved wife.  Overwhelmed by exhaustion and grief, he wanted to lie down beside her and sleep.

            "Papa?”

            The voice of his 8-year-old son, Benjamin, brought him back to the reality of life on the trail with a pioneer wagon train.

            "Yes, Ben?"

            "I made this."  The boy handed his father a flat piece of wood.  Using a blackened stick from the campfire, he had scrawled a single word on it: "Mama."  A wave of emotion washed over Jacob as he remembered how Elizabeth had patiently taught Ben to read and write.

            "That's a fine marker, Son," Jacob said at last.  "Your Mama'd be proud to have it."

            The boy smiled bravely through moist, reddened eyes, and together father and son planted the marker on the grave as a final tribute to the woman they both loved.

            "Excuse me, Jacob."

            Both Jacob and Benjamin turned to see the wagon master standing nearby, his hat in his hand.  For the first time, Jacob noticed the activity behind him, where his fellow travelers were finishing breakfast and packing their covered wagons in preparation for another day on the trail.

            "I know this is a hard time," the wagon master said softly.  "But we need to be goin'."

            "No!" Benjamin cried.  "We can't!  Tell 'im, Pa!  We can't just go and leave Mama here!"

            The wagon master looked at the boy, then at Jacob, who slowly knelt to speak to his son.

            "Ben," he said, "we've got to move on."

            "But Papa, Mama . . . "

            "Nobody loved your mama more than me," Jacob said.  "But she wanted us to make a good life for ourselves.  We can't do that here.  We've got to move on."

            The boy stared with tear-filled eyes at his mother's grave.  Somehow, deep inside, he knew his father was right.  They would have to move on.  But not now.  Not today.  "Can't we wait a few days?" he asked.  "We can catch up to the others later."

            Jacob shook his head.  "I'm sorry, Son," he said, "but in a few days the company will be so far ahead we'll never catch up.  And without them we can't survive."

            The boy's chin quivered.  He looked at his father and then at the wagon master, who squatted so he could face him eye-to-eye.  "Ben," he asked, "do you remember a few days back when we were goin' through that rough stretch on the trail?"

            The boy nodded.

            "Some said we should turn back," the older man said.  "Others said we should stop a while, like maybe the trail would change in a day or two.  But do you remember what we did?"

            "We just . . . kept a-goin'," the boy said.

            "That's right," the wagon master said.  "And we made it, didn't we?  It was tough, but we just kept pluggin' along, and we got through it."  He paused, then he added: "Just like I figure you and your Pa'll make it through this rough stretch of road you're on -- if you just keep a-goin'."

            And that's what they did: they kept a-goin'.  They moved on.  And they survived.

            The same is true for us today when we encounter rough stretches along the road of life.  No matter how much we may want to quit or turn back or give in to the pressures, most of the time the best thing we can do is just keep a-goin'.  We may have to slow our pace from time to time, and, occasionally, we may even have to change directions.  But as long as we just keep pluggin' along, eventually we'll get through it.

            And we'll survive.

Poetry Section

~**~**~

 Who’s Peeking

Tim Kevin

When you thought no one was looking,
A prayer I heard you fervently whispering, Beside my bed thinking I was
sound asleep
I loved your presence an never let out a peep
-
When you thought no one was looking,
I watched you hang my first drawing
On the fridge and I grabbed my brush
To paint you another one in a rush
-
When you thought no one was looking
I seen you take home a lost dog that just sat
One day I seen you feed a stray mangy cat,.. .
I learned it was good to be kind to animals..... An always treat God's
creatures as individuals
-
When you thought no one was looking,
I saw you secretly in the kitchen working
Baking my favorite cake as a little surprise I learned
doing little things in life was wise
-
When you thought no one was looking,
For a sick friend, a meal i seen you cooking And learned we all have to
care for each other. Cuz in this world we will all need one another
-
When you thought no one was looking,
I seen you help people who had nothing
I saw you give of your money an time
And I learned that charity was sublime
-
When you thought no one was looking,
I seen you appraise and want everything
In ths life that you could possibly give to me And would scrimp an
sacrifice to make it be
-
When you thought no one was looking
I seen how life's responsibilities were wearing, When I seen a quiet
tear falling from your eye
I learned life can hurt, and that it's all right to cry -
When you thought no one was looking,
Life's lessons were absorbed as i was watching
I learned, to be a good and productive person An to strangers I met not
to have any aversions -
When i knew you weren't looking
I waited to say, "Mom, thanks for the loving, And all the time and care
you expended on me" That I saw when you thought I wasn't looking."
-
by ..... the Irish Warlock  7-24-06

irishwarlock@webtv.net

~**~**~

  "Coping" 
Tim Kevin

Lost in solitude, seeking my daily dreams
-
Isn't nearly as lonely as it sometimes seems
-
For the road there is well worn an quite familiar
-
Especially if in getting there I'm never particular
=
=
And there I see many of my old friends
-
Who too, have reached their wit's ends
-
Having trouble just finding their way
-
Through life's exhausting daily fray
=
=
But I find refuge. lost in a lovely thought
-
In dreams that with wishes may be bought
-
An hoping to see a dream some day be fulfilled
-
Thru concious effort in fields we may have tilled =
=
Whether it be out dancing with a dream lover
-
Or in a love filled embrace, passion as a cover
-
Or leaving footprints in sand on a moonlit beach -
None of our wild dreams are ever out of reach
-
by ....... the IrishWarlock 7-21-06

irishwarlock@webtv.net

~**~**~

 " Rebirth "

Tim Kevin

- She'd respond to your every wish yelled aloud Hurried to fulfill the
ones you expressed silently
Your shortcomings she constantly disavowed Placated screams of your
inner demons openly
-
Nursed you back to your senses after defeat... Only to be rejected, left
alone to silently weep
Alone wondering if this would be the final deciet Despondent, thinking
of the sea's deep sleep
-
Is it possible to resume a love that's been lost Relite the fire, feel
your damaged hearts touch
Can love be found that's been recklessly tossed To return seeking this
love you desire so much
-
Ask to forgive, to forget, to allow you this detour To think now only of
this love an it's earlier past
When it was always all encompassing and pure An we both thought it would
surely forever last
-
Let our loving kisses dispel those terrible years. An have our hearts
singing to be young again
An bring forth this flood of happiness an tears. To wash away the years
of hurt and the pain
-
To restore love's concept of one an let it reign And somehow let us make
it through our fears Allow solitude an time for us to quietly regain Our
passionate love affair that'll have no peers
-
by the IrishWarlock ... c 7-23-06

irishwarlock@webtv.net 

~**~**~

" Choices "
Tim Kevin

We all have our lives to lead
with enough troubles to bear,
-
It's not for any others to intercede
unless to share those we bare
-
Only with a friend or a lover,
The only ones that truely care
-
Dealing with faults daily life uncovers
In living is really how we pay our fare
-
As we travel on through this existence
Looking for a lovey lady to make a pair
-
We'll give up freedom with little resistance
For a special lady, a lovely one most fair
-
by ...... The IrishWarlock .... 3-31-04 

irishwarlock@webtv.net

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