STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

May 19, 2005

Now on to the good stuff..........

Animal awareness series endorsed by Shiloh and Hank our mascots; all stories must receive their approval.

Cat Tales

Jodi

The cat is out of the bag
The bag is being destroyed
It's time for kitty to be free
Her pain at being contained
Finally became too much for me

After decades of scratching
And climbing the walls
Screeching and yeowling
And spitting up balls
I??™ve set her free
To tell her tales
Of what happened before the bag

I had to put her in there
She knew too much you see
It was dangerous to have her loose
She could have been the death of me

She asked for what she needed
She couldn??™t stand it when they yelled
She didn??™t know why they were mad
Or why anyone would have a kitty
If they didn??™t even want one

She couldn??™t begin to control herself
That??™s not what kitties do
She expected to be petted
And appreciated too
For all the cat gifts that she brought
But cat gifts wouldn??™t do
It seems they wanted something else
And someone else too

Then the baby came to stay
They seemed to like him better
Maybe because he wasn??™t a cat
At least he was nothing like her
Things got worse as time went by
One baby after another
Little kitty had to go
She really had no mother

She couldn??™t survive in a world
Where no one cared
That she was there

She needed stroking and loving
And time for a cat game or two
Like chasing a butterfly
And jumping for joy

To know that somebody cared for her
And someone to watch her shine
She would die in a world
Without those things
So I put her away to hide
???Til the world became a safer place
A place where a kitty could thrive

Kitty all alone in a world
Which no one can deny
No one knows that world exists
It??™s hidden from the eye
Her world is just a place in time
Neither here nor there
Behind the veil
She can??™t tell the tale
Of why she slipped through time

Sweet kitty, frozen in time
Please tell your tale to me
Share with me the secrets
Of the life you left behind
I know it isn??™t easy
To live outside of time

If you tell your tale,
I can heal those deep dark secrets
I denied
And live in the joy and kindness
That pussycats and little girls
Are really meant to know

A kitty has instincts and kitties are proud
Their bodies move with grace
They can smell a rat
Disguised as a cat
Before they see his face

Kitties don??™t have to be careful
They know what they know
Is true
You can??™t confuse a cat for long
They get bored
Turn their back on you

A little girl really needs her cat
To help her understand
How to live in a world
That makes no sense
Where nothing is soft and warm

Where the humans don??™t seem
To know her at all
Or what she needs to know
To live the life she was born to
To learn and stretch and grow

The kitty is a part of her
The part that purrs and naps
That knows she's safe in her own skin
And knows that contentment
Comes from within

So kitty, please come back to me
Come in the light of day
Show me all the things about Being
I had to put away
In order to survive back then

I know you know the way
To live life in the moment
And leave the past behind
To live full of the Presence
That comes from deep inside

This higher deeper part of me
Doesn't have to try
To be one other than I am
Or to make anyone understand

I know that my own nature
Is as simple as it??™s true
And my life will only be my own
By honoring the cat within

1995 Jodi Flesberg Lilly

Jodi Flesberg Lilly

lightinmotion @yahoo.com

Jodi Flesberg Lilly is a writer and intuitive astrologer living in San Ramon, CA.  She founded and leads the Creative Writers Network at www.Ryze.com (an online business networking site), as well as offering intuitive astrology readings, leading workshops, and teaching classes in spiritual and personal awareness.  To subscribe to her monthly Light In Motion, intuitive astrology newsletter please send an email to info@lightinmotion.net and write ???subscribe??? in the subject line.

lightinmotion@yahoo.com

Today's Queue Stories
~**~**~**~ 

  ~**~**~

COME WALK WITH ME

Violet Apted

I watched the man sitting at the bedside of his dying wife. The love between them was

Obvious to everyone. As her life slowly ebbed away he kissed her.  I will never forget these words he said as he held her hand.  M tears matched his as he spoke.

" Take my hand, come walk with me.  Follow my footsteps in the sands of time.  Just for a moment let you drift into space and time. Become as one with the universe. Let yourself feel the smoothness of the water, as it gently laps at your feet.  It feels as soft as satin as refreshing and cool as the raindrops in a summer shower.

Come walk with me my darling we will find a haven of love.  We will lie upon the sand together - shedding our clothes- so that you can feel the warmth of the sunshine radiating all over your body, it's fingers caressing every part of you and the summer breezes adding their sensuous touch until you become inseparable one from the other.

Drift into the eyes of a Lion, see and feel it's strength.  Taste the power and sense the pride in the heart of that Lion, see the world as he sees it.  Now, move on and float into the soul of a young child, see and feel the world as they see and feel it.

Now go! Feel the anger in a bad man's heart Find out what makes an angry man. What makes someone take the life of another? Does the feeling shock you? Could you ever be so intense?

No! Do not let go of my hand, we have so much more to see.  It is time to become as one with the trees.  Feel your body absorbed by the leaves.  Drink in it's moisture from the morning dew.  How tall we stand, we are a monument for mankind - But do not let us dally here.  The axe-man cometh all too soon.  Such pain we could not endure.

Close your eyes!  Become as one with the butterfly, feel the freedom. Feel how light you have become.  Smell the blossoms all around you, fly from one to the other, drink in their beauty.

Now my darling, it is time to really fly.  It is time for you to reach for the sky.  Time for your soul to soar with the powerful wings of an Eagle.  Be brave my darling, for this time you must fly without me.  Your soul will fly, to even greater things-but you will not be alone.,

You will take with you a million parts of all the beautiful and good things on earth.  You will take with you all the love in my heart, all the light in my life.  We had  'but a moment' together, at least that is what it seems.  Now close your eyes and sleep my love.  There is no more pain for you to bear. It will be 'just a moment' for you, until  you wake to find me there beside you for all eternity."

The man kissed away the one teardrop as it rolled slowly down his wife's cheek. "Goodbye my love" , he whispered as a gentle sigh escaped her lips and she was gone..

I closed the door silently and wiped away my tears. I knew I would never forget that moment for as long as I lived. 

 ?© Copyright 2004   Violet Apted

Violet Apted
violet77 @optusnet.com.au

Work: Freelance writer and Tutor U3A
Creative writing

I am Originally from Sussex and Kent UK. Emigrated to Australia 27yrs ago and
now live in Queensland .

I can write in any genre and have many stories and poems published in
Magazines. I self published a book of my own poetry book, Titled `A POSY OF
VIOLETS and a book of poetry for my pupils.

I have completed my first novel a Murder abduction story and now writing my
second. I think my favourite writing would have to be children's stories.
(Pen name Violet Apted) http://www.powerup.com.au/~strummer/violet /Htmls/
MainFrame1.htm

THE RED APPLES

Violet Apted

???For goodness sake Tommy, pick up those marbles, they are all over the floor. I could break my leg one of these days??? Mum was smiling as she spoke, so I knew she wasn??™t really cross.

??? OK Mum.??? I jumped into my bed as I answered. ???I will do it in the morning. I have to practice for the marbles championship next week and I am really tired now.??? Mum Laughed,

??? Oh no you don??™t young man,??? She pulled back my bedclothes. ??? You still have to take a shower and clean your teeth before you go to bed.???

???Oh Mum!??? I protested. This was a nightly ritual Mum and I had made a game of it. She used to pick me up and carry me to the bathroom, but now I am nine years old I am too heavy for her. She just hugged me and we walked to the bathroom laughing. She flicked back the strand of her long red hair that had fallen across her forehead. She looked so pretty when she laughed, which wasn??™t often since my Father had left six months ago.

 Mum ruffled my red hair affectionately before closing the bathroom door, ???Now shower,??? she said smiling.  I glanced at my reflection in the long mirror and pulled a face at myself, before I reluctantly turned on the water and had my shower.  Soon I was tucked up in my bed and Mother kissed me goodnight.

A scream shattered the darkness of the night. Penetrating my slumbering brain. I open my eyes and saw a man entering my bedroom. I was paralysed with fear. The man approached my bed and suddenly let out a yell. His arms were waving about as if he was trying to grasp the air around him. There was a loud crash as he hit the floor.

The ???spell??™ was broken and, jumping out of my bed I ran past him towards my Mother??™s bedroom.

??? Mummy, Mummy,??? I was shouting at the top of my voice. ??? Mummy! There??™s a man in my?????¦ I stopped shouting at the sight of my Mother lying on her bed covered in blood. One arm had fallen over the edge of the bed and the bright red blood was forming a pool on the floor as it dripped non-stop.

Was that me screaming? My heart was pounding as I ran out into the street. House lights were switched on and people were all around me. Our neighbour, old Joe was shaking me.

???Tommy, What on earth is wrong???? He asked.  I could not stop screaming hysterically.

???Murder, Murder??? and pointing to my house.  Old Joe lifted me up and carried me into his house.

Things were a bit of a blur after that for a while except, for the bowl of apples on Joe??™s table, beside the settee I was laying on waiting for him to call the police. They were so red, bright shiny red, reminding me of my Mother??™s blood. I screamed again and Old Joe came running in to comfort me. 

It was some time later when a policewoman came to talk to me. She asked me a lot of questions. I told her about the man in my bedroom and she said they had found him on the floor. He had been wearing a balaclava; the fall had broken his leg. Apparently he had slipped on some marbles.

I never saw my Mother again!  Old Joe looked after me until my Grandparents came for me. It was Joe that told me the intruder was my own Father.  He had placed a ladder up to a back window to gain entry to the house. My Father had murdered my Mother!  It has been hard to live with this knowledge, but the one thing I have found impossible to clear from my mind, has been the sight of all the blood and to this day I shudder when I see a bowl of shiny red apples.

?© Copyright Violet Apted 2004

Violet Apted
violet77 @optusnet.com.au

~**~**~

Just a Few Words
By Vance Agee

One a.m. many students were in the school hall near my homeroom. ???Best check, Mr. Agee,??? was my freshman homeroom??™s advice. (Yes, we share advice!) Since they were fine, I stepped out to be sure that everyone was ok in the corridor. They were fine, except that I saw one dispute starting. It involved one student whom I had in class and knew was very sensitive. This student would probably over-react to any confrontations. I was on the way to help.

There is much said and written about ???bullying???, about need for character education, about problems among students. I thought that I would need to intervene. Of course, the adult! (We just wage wars on one another.)

No.

Before I reached the students in question, one student of character did the simplest thing possible. As he walked down the hallway, he, too, saw the problem.  As a student, he said the simplest thing possible ??“ but he said it: ???Aw, just leave him alone!???

The others did exactly that.

Instead of hurrying to the ???problem???, I ran after the student of few words. I got his name and parent??™s name and phone number. Later, I explained to him what his few words said a hundred times over could mean in a school ??“ any school. He understood. So did his mom, when I phoned her that evening; not about a discipline or academic problem (which she said she would have more expected ??“ what a shame that these are the main reasons for calls home!)  but about the character of her son and what he had done. She said that it was time for the family to take him to dinner!

I agreed.

Post Script:

Why can educators not build character by rewarding it? By reinforcing it? Why can the adult world not educate all of us by talking and by compromising, instead of killing?

Someplace I recall reading about loving our neighbor.
My thanks to a student whose first name begins with ???J???.

Amen.

If anyone would like to congratulate ???J???, please just send you e-mail to me, and I will forward it to him and his family. Vance

 Vance G. Agee

vgagee @adelphia.net
About Me:

I was born in Buffalo, New York, a few
decades ago. I was a lonely only child.
However, my mom read to me: the KJV Bible
cover to cover, Pilgrim's Progress, and
numerous books. Between four and eight
years old, I lived at 162 Bertie Street in
Fort Erie, Ontario. I loved Suzanne Bevan,
blond hair and bangs and recently wrote a
poem about that. Great people there!
I then attended School 54 in Buffalo and
the Martin Luther School,where my favorite
subject was Church History. I would write
the assignment and then read for fun! I
attended Buffalo Bennett High School in
Buffalo, a great school then. Out of 2000,
I was often among top 10 and sometimes I
would be number one on the honor roll, with
a 99% average. I was valedictorian 1/400,
but hated the SAT's. The school failed to
measure my I.Q.,because I maxed out their
group test. Basically, I hated school,
but learned to play the game, because that
attention was one of the very few things
which made me feel some self worth! I
had the problem of being interested in
nearly every subject and having no idea on
which to finally concentrate for a life's
work.

I attended and became valedictorian at
summa cum laude from Houghton College in
our NY Southern Tier. I spent one summer
in Europe and one at Middlebury College,
VT. I was asked back for two years as an
interim instructor. There I met my wife,
Kathleen. For two years I taught at
Phil-Mont Academy in Dresher near
Philadelphia, PA, took courses at Faith
Theological Seminary, and loved working
retail at the old Gimbel's Department
Store in King of Prussia, PA. Then we came
to Pembroke Jr-Sr High School in Corfu, NY,
where I taught five years and led two
student tours to Europe. I earned my M.S.
in Ed. from SUNY at Brockport 4.0, and
moved to the Town of Lewiston near Lake
Ontario, NY, to become an assistant
principal at Lewiston-Porter C.S.D. for
nearly 25 years. I built an international
exchange program that included:
Minsk, Belarus; Germany, Australia, Canada,
France, Japan, Spain, and Venezuela! I took
the students to Belarus, Germany, and
Australia, and later a small group to the
U.K. I also had a cable TV show and
produced student video movies!

I took all courses at 3.8+ for a doctorate
at SUNY at Buffalo on a Presidential
Fellowship (1/100/6840 grad students --
top 5%), but a 13 page survey was a problem
in completing a dissertation!
I retired from Lew-Port in June of 2001,
fairly disgusted with school
administration. I have a red belt in
karate, used to bench 265 (I weigh 155),
and always loved working with students.
I did complete a "distance doctorate". For
a time, I worked in real estate and did
retail again at the Boulevard Mall in the
Kaufmann's Men's Store (part of the large
May Company). My daughter has both a B.S.
in Management from Buffalo's
Canisius College and an A.A.S. summa cum
laude from the F.I.T.
in Manhattan. She works for Calvin Klein,
and I love to visit her in NYC and at her
Brooklyn Heights apartment. I love to
write for both print and Web, to do video,
and have numerous other interests. I was
recently hired at Bishop Timon -St. Jude
H.S. in South Buffalo, as their Latin
teacher. I am grateful to many Internet
lit. sites and to all my readers!!!

Writers Feedback 

Carol,

That was a great interview my friend. You really shared your dreams and your heart with your readers here. I know that this will bring even more readers to your newsletter. Wishing you every joy, Joe

 Hi Carol...

Your interview was terriffic...!

It's nice to learn a little more about you.

God Bless you for your dedication to

Storytime Tapestry!

Love,

Barbara

What a commendable interview and how sweet of you to   mention me, of all people, with having the possibility with so many to choose from with all of those who have crossed your writer's path! I feel that I owe you a gratitude for all of the support that you have afforded me over   the past.

  May God continue to bless you with more stories to fill our hearts and minds. Also, may He see the need for more books to be published from your hearts to ours!

  Love forevermore, Mom NormaLee xo   xo

Great interview ??“ Carol - Kudos to both the of you ladies. Very interesting to hear the ins and outs of starting up, Carol. I do remember one of those "unnamed" sites that many of us were introduced to--all those themes and the ax if you didn't write just so-so. Thanks for beginning this wonderfully sharing and caring site.
Barb Deming

(hello Carol )_ sure am excited to see this...I used to teach writing
with my students...and I know several right now who love writing. so I
will forward to school and get right on them!!  Blessings....??”Kay Seefeldt

PS Enjoyed your interview very much and am very thankful for Storytime.

                            Announcements

I would like to introduce you to Phil Evans and his business known the world over as People Stuff
Phil Evans produces PeopEmail - a FREE weekly inspirational e-newsletter and you can subscribe by visiting his website - going to Subscribe to FREE PeoplEmail button in the main menu - and following the simple steps.
There is also a virtual library of inspirational 'stuff' to be found by going to www.peoplestuff.com.au and checking it out.

Phil sends his love and good wishes to all.

Hey everyone if you have the time please help out a fellow member who is starting up

his own newspaper. 

Carol,

Just letting you know I have a website explaining the upcoming paper, should anyone ask. Thank you for running the ad for it.

www.christianlink.com/publish/mwwj

Thanks again, Jim

SENIOR WRITERS

Agee, Vance;  Apted, Violet;  Baker, Kathy;  Batt, Al;  Berry, Nell;

Boda, Ginger;  Bryant, Sharon;  Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.;  Crider, Mark; 

Deming, Barb; Goodier, Steve;  Harris, Kathy Anne; Hunt, Sharlette; 

Jacobson, Gary;  Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Jenkins, Pamela;

Liles, Norma;  Mazzella, Joe; Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

  Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan;  Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam;

Walker, Bill;  Walker, Joe; Warner, Gorden K;

Whirity, Kathy;  White, Robert;

STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Moderator: Clara Westerfer

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