Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

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

Dec 16, 2006

Today’s announcements

Happy Birthday Maryann Featherston, from your friends at Storytime Tapestry: maryann63701@msn.com

Leeuna Foster is happy to announce that she has now become a columnist for her local newspaper.  A sample of her work is listed below.

Sad News:  Bob and Karen Johnston have lost their a precious member of the family: cards can be sent to: b-kjohnston@comcast.net   A special thanks to our writer Kathy Baker, who is also the editor for Bob’s Starfish e-zine to help out.  You an reach Kathy at: lnStrLady@aol.com

I just thought I'd let you know................ karen's mom passed away Wednesday evening.  We're making arrangements, so I'll be away from "Starfish" for a few days.  Kathy Baker is stepping up to handle things.  I'll be eternally grateful for her and her invaluable help. 

Bob Johnston

Starfish / Sand Dollar

www.ripplemaker.com

Now onto the good stuff!

Today’s Queue Stories

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 This column was printed in last week's edition of The Beacon:

One 'Flu' Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Leeuna Foster

Remember the old comedy routine, where the patient tells the doctor, "It hurts when I do this," and the doctor whacks him upside the head with a rubber chicken and says, "Well, don't do that ?”

Well, it hurts when I cook. Especially when I cook a huge holiday dinner for the family. Nobody has ever said to me, "don't do that," so I keep doing it and I have the scars to prove it.

I can never make it through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays without getting several third degree burns and even some fourth degree ones, if there is such a thing. It seems like I just washed off the *mustard poultice from last year's wounds, and now it's time to do it again.

This year there's another threat to our safety. We could all die from eating the turkey! Now that's scary, I don't care who said it. All this talk about bird flu almost makes me go vegan. However, Christmas dinner just wouldn't be the same without the turkey. Somehow you just don't get that happy holiday feeling when you carve baked tofu.

I think it may be a conspiracy. I believe the birds made it all up in an attempt to escape the holiday hatchet. It started with Chicken Little, screaming that the sky was falling. The rumor spread, as rumors do and by the time it got to the turkey pen, it had changed to "The flu is coming." Then, Old Tom was seen, strutting around the barnyard, spreading the news about some strange avian illness called bird flu.

Or is this simply another ploy by the food police?

Remember during the eighties, when a group of hogs started the pandemic about Swine Flu? How many hams do you think were prepared that year? And did you notice at the beginning of Spring, when we were planning our weekend cook outs and back yard barbecues, how the cows claimed to have gone mad? huh? remember that? It's bound to be a conspiracy, I tell ya. Now even the spinach and the lettuce have jumped aboard the Ptomaine Train.

The only reason I prepare a big meal during the holidays is because hubby likes leftovers; he likes them better than the actual meal. When we eat at someone else's house, the leftovers get left with the host and he gets left with a bologna sandwich.

And while we're on the subject of dinner at someone else's house, why is it that, around the holidays, relatives seem to spring up from everywhere like Kudzu? What starts out to be a sit down dinner for the family, turns out to be a grab-a-plate-and-find-a-corner hoedown, starring forty two cousins and their in laws.

I'm not complaining though. I love large family gatherings. This is about the only time we get to see some of our relatives. I usually begin cooking around October 31st and don't stop until January. It's such a magical season.

This year I am being extremely cautious. I've stocked the pantry with extra mustard for all the anticipated burns and blisters, and even though it may be just another rumor, I'm not taking any chances; first thing tomorrow, I'm taking my turkeys to get their flu shots...

(c)Leeuna Foster, 2006

newbizacct@yahoo.com

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The Morning Glory People

Leeuna Foster

I call them Morning Glory People, and I don't mean that in a good way. Actually, they're more like poison ivy in a blackberry thicket. I can't stand these people, all chirruping around like chipmunks at a nut farm.

Though, in all fairness to them, I'm really just envious...

These dawn breakers wake up so early they make the roosters in the neighborhood look like Lunesta freaks. They hop out of bed and into the shower and then into their clothes, all in one swift motion. And they do it all without yawning even once, nor stubbing a single toe on the closet door. Neither do they fall face-first over their husband's hunting boots lying in the hallway. In ten minutes tops they have the beds made, Martha Stewart style, and they have a huge breakfast on the table that makes Denny's look like a hot dog stand. Five minutes later they're dancing out the door like Dorothy on her way to see the Wizard.

Me? The clock alarms for thirty minutes, the sun rises higher in the sky, the garbage man cometh, and the dog has given up and peed in the corner by the time I finally roll over and open one eye. I drag myself out of bed looking like the female version of Kramer. On my good mornings I might have on one slipper, and my robe may accidentally be right side out. Trying not to stretch anything except my endurance, I walk into the wall and bang my elbows on the door frame on the way to the kitchen. After my morning trip over the ottoman, I get up off the floor and rub my flattened nose back into a point, then I'm ready for my first cup of coffee.

I always make the coffee at night because pouring a cup is about all I can manage in the mornings. Sometimes it's so strong it will leap out of the pot and into my cup all by itself. I've thought about applying for a patent on my coffee. It could be mixed into chicken feed and sold to the chicken farmers. After about a week of eating this special food, the hens would become so nervous they would lay scrambled eggs. Hey, it'd be a great time saver. Well...I thought it was a good idea... After a few cups of the stuff, I can thread a sewing machine while it's running, so why wouldn't it work for the hens?

When I was out in the work force, I always got out of bed one hour earlier than was necessary just so I would have some extra time to stumble around, and not talk to anyone or have a single thought. If you really want to get my Victoria Secrets in a knot, just ask me a question early in the morning.

We have a rule in my house. Unless you are dying or the house is on fire, do not speak to me until I have had my coffee. I am incapable of speech or thought for at least thirty minutes, two cups of bitter coffee and a cigarette. (Yep. I still smoke! It's my house, my coffee cup full of ashes and my bathrobe covered with burn holes... Besides, without this wheeze, no one would recognize my voice on the phone.)

My best friend is a morning glory. I think if I went to her house at five o'clock in the morning, (which ain't never gonna happen) she would have already had her shower, her face would be made up and every hair would be in place. The beds would be made and she would have done twenty-seven loads of laundry, dusted, vacuumed, washed the windows and rearranged the garbage and be sitting on the back porch watching the sunrise while sipping her coffee.

Hubby once toyed with the idea of buying a small farm, complete with cows, pigs and chickens.

"Wouldn't it be great being a farmer's wife?" he asked. "I can just picture us milking the cows, slopping the hogs and gathering fresh eggs early in the morning."

"How early?" I squealed.

"Way before sunrise" he answered, a twinkle in his eye.

After he broke open an ammonia capsule, waved it under my nose and brought me to, he told me he was just kidding.

What a relief! I don't milk anything except the jar of Coffee Mate that early.

(c)Leeuna Foster, 2006

newbizacct@yahoo.com

~**~**~

 All from Insights from a Blind Man: Chris Hansen

Chris Hansen
E-mail Address(es):
chrishansen54@sbcglobal.net

Mount Sinai Found?

By Chris Hansen

Is it possible?  Has Mount Sinai been found?  New compelling evidence strongly indicates that it has!  The traditional site is in Egypt at a monastery called St. Catherine’s Monastery.  However, none of the things that the Bible indicates ought to be there, are in fact there at all.  So, where is this site?
 
We must journey to the middle of the desert in Saudi Arabia.  There is a site  which has two Arabic names: Jubal Allah, which means mountain of God, and Jubal Musa which means mountain of Moses.  So far so good. 
 
Now, is there any evidence on any particular mountain?  Yes!  There is a group of mountains for as far as the eye can see that are made of reddish-brown granite.  However, one particular mountain is burned black on the very top!  Why is this significant?  Consider Exodus 19:18 which says, “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire.  The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace the whole mountain trembled violently,” (NIV) St. Catherine’s monastery shows none of what would be expected, but this mountain does!  The top of the mountain is burned black with a very sharp boundary between the blackened rocks and the normal colored ones.  In fact, there are three types of rock there.  There are igneous rocks, formed by volcanic eruption.  There are sedimentary rocks, formed by sediment and water.  And, best of all, there are metamorphic rocks!  These rocks are formed by rocks which have undergone intense heat and pressure!  This is exactly what should be expected if God had indeed descended in fire!
 
Well, if that’s all we had, that would be interesting, but not compelling.  Is there more?  Yes indeed!  Consider Exodus 19:23 NIV “Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.”  There is evidence that this was done!  Around the base of this mountain there are a number of boundary stones set at equal distances to form a boundary or limit!
 
There is more evidence!  Consider Exodus 17:6 NIV: “Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.”  Yes, there is an enormous bolder about 4 stories tall!  This boulder has a huge crack down the center.  And, yes, the area around this boulder shows massive water erosion!  And, this area has no rivers or lakes nearby, and this area gets at best a half inch of rain per year!  So, where did all this water come from?  God knows!
 
There is more evidence!  (Exodus 20:24-25 NIV)  “Make an altar of earth for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle.  … If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.”  Yes, there is evidence of an altar with ashes buried beneath it, and, yes, the altar is made of uncut stones!
 
More Evidence!  (Exodus 24:4 NIV): “He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.”  Yes, the altar does in fact have twelve stone pillars, not nine or six!
 
Here is one final piece of evidence.  Consider this intriguing passage in Exodus 32:4 NIV: “He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.  Then they said, “These are your gods, ‘o Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”,” This passage sounds like a contradiction.  One calf?  “These are your gods?”  One calf suggests only one false god.  However, evidence on the altar shows engravings of a number of Egyptian gods!  So, once again, what appears to be a contradiction in the Bible is vindicated by evidence!
 
To find out more go to http://www.baseinstitute.org this website will have more information, including a DVD which shows actual video of the site!

© by Chris Hansen

Author of Grandfather's Journal

Revelation Revisited and Secret of the Psalms

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Poetry Corner

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Shadows

Sandra Hoynacki

They came to visit in a potpourri of shapes and sizes

Peculiar, how they appeared at times in disguises

Never could I envisage why they were with me

They became my intimates at times silently walking

Beside me filling my inner sanctum without talking

But standing with others so that I might see

Darkness beckoned to them no more than did the sun

I never saw their vacuous faces but saw them run

On many occasions in the glare of the street light

Appearing ductile this mattered not to me as to how

They twisted their hideous frames to oft times allow

The visit on the ceiling in my room at twilight

Pondering if a heavenly spirit had lent them as a blend

Of myself, on my journey toward today or tomorrow’s end

Having always my silent comrades untouchable

‘And forever inseparable’

‘ombre’

November 28^th 2006

Sandra L Hoynacki

sandylh@cox.net

Carol,the bottom word 'ombre' is a French word for Shadows..... I put French words at the bottom of my poems and that is sort of my signature on poetrypoem for me... If you wish to take it off you may do so.. I just copied and pasted this for you and it is on there.... It means 'Shadows' or 'Shadow'....

Readers Feedback

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