Writer. Educator. Artist.
It’s here on Friday-our First Friday Poetry, open mic night, 4th Dec. 7:30 to 9:30.
Come in; you can hear Reasons for the Season.
Come in to hear original works read by the poets who wrote them.
Come in to read your own words or the words of someone you enjoy.
Come in; just listen, FoodWorks, 108 S. Main St Warrenton NC
Come in, nibble on local foods and delectable desserts.
Come in, taste the wines and beers of North Carolina.
Come in and share a table with old friends or meet new ones.
My brother and I had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen in Town Triangle today. I’m wondering if I am way off base or do others agree with my thoughts. The Shredded Mushroom and Spinach Pizzas were good, sided with good Mediterrean Salads, but my chin was about 3” above the table. I asked for a bumper seat, knowing immediately how small children feel. Alas, they had none.
The music was very loud and of a nature that was definitely not conducive to pleasant dining or digestion. Where is the sense of dining room decorum to be found?
It was also annoying to have the wait person come to us, while our mouths were busy chewing our food, and pump us for donations in “supporting the troops.” Really, doesn’t anyone respect time and place for things?
I wonder how others feel about this. Am I out of step, expecting too much for the money paid? If it were McDonald’s or Wendy’s or like fast-food places, I would understand the mentality. What are your thoughts on this?
A DIFFERENT THANKSGIVING THIS YEAR
This year I’m thinking a bit differently. While giving thanks for the abundance in my life, I want to send some of the love I receive to the Mid-East. This love goes to the people who are lacking in enough love that they are creating havoc and sorrow among those who have been comfortable in the love that surrounds them.
Love seems to be something many of us take for granted. We accept our families’ and friends’ hugs and affection almost without thinking about it; especially on Thanksgiving Day when aunts, uncles, and cousins come to re-unite. Brothers and sisters will share the same table laden with their favorite foods. We expect the camaraderie, the flow of stories and jokes that bind us together.
Memories of past Thanksgiving Day celebrations are varied and many. Some of the painful ones, when everything seemed to go wrong, make for the best stories now. As the stories get told and re-told, they may alter a bit, get a bit exaggerated, but the core remains. Laughter abounds regardless.
This year, with so much fear about personal safety and holiday traveling, I want to send love out to those who cause the fear. Maybe if they receive enough love, compassion, and understanding of a culture so different from ours in the western world, that they will re-think what they are doing, learn to love and live good lives.
Hopefully, many others will join me and create a huge cloud of love and peace to send out to the troubled areas of our world.
Cassandra hones her many skills, beginning with nursing Harry from that nasty bump on his head. Her sensitivity skills heighten as her adventures with Harry Shields intensifies. She acknowledges his past undercover work as it may endanger her life, too. It does. Alfie and Chris, Harry’s closest friends come into the story, adding another layer of mystery.
As Cassandra and her GI P.I.’s wedding date looms, with all the excitement of society and privacy, they find new areas to explore, make new plans, and sometimes get side tracked.
Volume 2 adds new dimensions in excitement for this couple as they plow through, happy to just be together. Highly recommend this continuing mystery at Dupont Circle in the Washington, DC ‘60s.
The Warren Artists’ Market (WAM) founder, Thomas Park has announced the completion of Preserved Life: Memories, a 2nd annual anthology. The book features 52 writers, at least 13 from Warren County, including poems from the late, respected, hometown writer Edwina Rooker. Submissions came from as far away as India.
The Book Release reception is scheduled to blend with WAM’s traditional First Friday Poetry Night on November 6, held at Warren FoodWorks, 108 S. Main Street, Warrenton, from 7 until 9 p. m. Local writers have been invited to read from their work. The event is open mic. Others who are not in the anthology are welcome to read also.
The 253 page book will be available for $15 each. Refreshments will be served. There is no admission fee.
The Artists’ Collective hosts First Friday Poetry Nights, book readings/signings for local authors, mural workshops, writing groups, drumming, and after-school tutoring.
Doug Palmieri, owner of the Old Bordentown Bookshop at 200 Farnsworth Avenue, will be a guest on the Jersey Buzz Radio Show this week. He’ll be talking about ghosts and hauntings and the upcoming Annual Ghost Walk in Bordentown, NJ on Sunday, the 25 Oct. from 6 – 9 pm.
He will have copies of the new book by Arlene S. Bice, Living with Ghosts ($15)that include true stories of Bordentown, Burlington City, and Mercer County, all NJ. This is her latest book that brings you many new stories never told before, plus an update on the haunting of her former home in Bordentown.
Resident writer, Susan Von Dongan, holds a guest spot in the book with a personal paranormal story of her own.
Info from Downtown Bordentown Association: Hear true ghostly tales of Bordentown City on this one-hour guided walking tour of the colonial town’s historic district. From the “woman in white” to the haunted Clara Barton schoolhouse, this after-dark tour is sure to provide great stories, chills and fun! Appropriate for all ages.
Stories and routes change each year. Tours happen rain or shine – so come dressed for the weather.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for children under 8. Advance ticketing strongly suggested. Ticket sales begin Oct. 3. Call The Old Book Shop at 609-324-9909 for info and tickets.
Warren Food Works 108 So. Main Str. Warrenton, NC252-257-1239.
In the worst of times, a barroom can be a dangerous place, in the best of times it can be fun, educational, and a good source of income. My few years tending bar at the American House Tavern, in the middle of horse country in the 70s, were the best of times. Some of the people I met became dear friends, some were dark horses, and some just had plain old good stories. I love a good story.
A tavern, with their daily regular customers and the newbies that walked in for the first time, is like a small neighborhood. You get to know some very well and others only their façade. But people reveal more than they realize when they are in public. Many stories didn’t get into the book. I’ll talk about a few of them.
Come out, bring your book to be signed, or you can purchase one for $10, or just come to hear the stories.
Grandfather Harry Daniels, Rachel Ann Daniels Philkill, Mahlon Philkill
WHO I AM & WHERE I COME FROM
Arlene Sandra Bice
Pre-internet years-chasing down the paper trail;
census, taxes, death certificates, birth, marriage,
and divorce. Name changes for many reasons.
Finding parents info, for they’ve been gone,
rarely spoke of their parentage or heritage;
information long gone before me.
Their grandparents-an interesting layer of ancestry,
coming & going, who is who, enlistments, uniforms,
cavalry, War Between the States; desertion, why?
A few stories remain, questions stay unanswered;
family secrets hide in dark corners. digging, digging, digging,
Filling in details, personalities emerge, talents, failings,
lies told, for what reason, what were their lives like,
what was happening in their world to influence their
decisions.
Ah-h-h, history revealed, folded into daily life as it was.
I found a source of my genes, a mirror to hold up,
career, marriages, adventures, a survivor of life, self-made,
keeper of the keys.
It was in a public library, where the original Wills & Testaments
of Rachel Ann Daniels and her mother Sarah Ann Martin
were brought forth; holding the original documents in my hands,
touching the paper they held a hundred years ago.
Unembarrassed, I wept; tears streaming; my roots exposed at last.
This is who I am and where I come from.
