Upcoming

SHOW SCHEDULE
"Tales & Music to Warm the Heart of Winter"

Sunday, Dec 22
Trapp Family Lodge (St. George's Hall.)
700 Trapp Hill Road, Stowe VT
7:30 pm

Sunday, Dec 29
Trapp Family Lodge (St. George's Hall.)
700 Trapp Hill Road, Stowe VT
7:30 pm

Monday, Dec 30
Hawk Mountain Inn (The Library)
75 Billings Rd
Plymouth VT
7:30 pm

Tues, Dec 31
Burlington First Night
First Cong. Church Chapel
38 South Winooksi Ave, Burlington VT
3:00 pm

Saturday Jan. 25
Montpelier Frostival
Kellogg Hubbard Library (Community Room)
135 Main St., Montpelier
Afternoon (exact times tba)

Friday Feb 15
(Valentine Show!)
The Bridges Family Resort
Waitsfield, VT
Evening show (time & space tba)

Wednesday Feb 19
Trapp Family Lodge (St. George's Hall.)
700 Trapp Hill Road, Stowe VT
7:30

OUR RECORDINGS
ARE IN SEASON

Somebody you know really wants at least one of these. Maybe it's you!
Buy them from us, online, or at fine stores around Vermont
some of which are listed near the top of our website.

• The Vampire Princess
  • tales of humor and suspense
    • "Tim and Leanne are true Vermont treasures, and listening to their stories never grows old." Seven Days
• The King and the Thrush
  • tales of goodness and greed
    • ALA Notable Children's Recording
• Wolves
  • tales of our best friend's wild cousin
    • Parents' Choice Foundation Silver Honor
• World Tales
  • coffeehouse storytelling, live at Bennington College
    • ALA Notable Children's Recording
• Weatherbeard
  • Tim's solo storytelling
    • In a voice filled with color and nuance he beckons adults as well as children into the timeless realms of the folk tale." School Library Journal.
• The Water Kelpie
  • Instrumental Celtic Music
    • Useful for falling asleep, waking up, eating dinner, giving birth, working late, working out, making out, spacing out, reading, writing, and lolling in the tub. Various people.

Pictures of Ivy
in chronological order

Taken within ten minutes of our little dog walking into our house for the first time on a Saturday night late in October, after a 72 hour van ride from Georgia.

Taken the following morning

Dogging our footsteps the following week

My next assignment is to take pictures of her sleeping and cavorting, both of which she does a lot. It's just, she's very fast, and I'll need to get her to ignore me, which she hasn't been inclined to do. Instead, we get all these endless soulful gazes

She's probably mixed terrier and chihuahua, & was described by the placement service as a "chorkie/" Our vet sees little evidence of Yorkie, though, and in any case, we prefer "Yo-huahua."

 

One of the reasons for maintaining this series of email newsletters is to give me an excuse and a deadline for writing

Something About Storytelling

So here is the next installment of one of my most popular solo performances. You can read the first part in our last newsletter, on-line here

Farmer Weatherbeard - pt 2

(continued from last issue)

"Oh," says the old man. You know where Farmer Weatherbeard lives."

"(pant pant) Yes," says the eagle. "(pant pant) I just (pant pant) got back."

"Well, I've been looking for somebody like you!" says the old man. "I don't know how long it's been, years ago maybe, I apprenticed my son to Farmer Weatherbeard. Ever since then I've been trying to..."

"Your son!" says the eagle. "Apprenticed to Farmer Weatherbeard! Oh that's no good! We can't have that! We've got to get him out of there! I'd take you right now, there's no time to be lost, but I'm too tired, we'd never make it. I'll rest up overnight, I'll take you first thing in the morning."

So the two of them rested overnight, and the next day the old woman plucked three feathers off the eagle's back, then put the man in their place. The eagle took off.

They flew up and around, up and around. Past the clouds, past the moon, past the sun, past the stars. They flew until there was nothing. They flew through nothing for a long time, until finally they saw a speck in the distance. As they came closer the man saw they were flying towards a wooden platform. The eagle landed on the platform and they started walking, steps echoing underfoot, then there was gravel and dirt, and grass, and bushes and trees, and there was a whole country up there. And in the middle of the country stood a great tall building, built like a barn, but higher, and narrower, and grander, and carvings all over the outside, and heaps of dead bodies out in the yard.

The eagle said, "You go in there, and you'll see heaps of sleeping creatures. Don't worry, so long as you don't talk, they won't wake up. Go to the biggest and ugliest one of them. That's Farmer Weatherbeard in his real form. Pluck three feathers from the top of his head, put them in your pocket. Go to the table, take a handful of crumbs. Come back outside, pick three pebbles up off the ground, put them in your pocket. Go to the stable, open the stable door, throw the crumbs down on the doorstep. Pick three splinters off the doorframe, put them in your pocket. Whatever comes out of there, grab it, and run back here with it, and we'll get out of here as fast as we can."

So the man nodded, and went up to the big double doors and pushed them open, and came into a big wooden hall, with rafters and little windows up near the top, and heaps of giant sleeping creatures lying slumped all over the floor, . He walked around them, and through them, and right on top of them, but he didn't talk, and they didn't wake up.

He went to the biggest and ugliest one of them, slumped in a chair, snoring loudly, that was Farmer Weatherbeard in his real form. He tiptoes around to the back and he plucked the first feather.

"OW," said Farmer Weatherbeard, and went back to sleep.

He plucked the second feather.

"OWWWWWW!" said Farmer Weatherbeard, and he half stood up, then slumped back to sleep.

The old man plucked the third feather

"OWWWWWWWWWWW!" said Farmer Weatherbeard, and he stood up, and his eyes opened, but then he fell back into his chair again, and went back to snoring loudly.

The old man put the feathers in his pocket, went to the table and took a handful of crumbs. Outside, and he picked three pebbles up off the ground and put them in his pocket. Went to the stable, opened the stable door, threw down the crumbs, picked three splinters off of the doorframe, put them in his pocket.

A rabbit came out and started eating the crumbs.

The man grabbed up the rabbit, put it in his shirt, ran back to the eagle, and they took off.

After a few minute of flying, the eagle said, "Look back behind us, see if you can see anything behind us."

"No," said the old man, "there's nothing there.

"It's only a matter of time," said the eagle. "Look back now can you see anything now,"

"Well, there's a speck."

"That's Farmer Weatherbeard," said the eagle. "I'll have to fly even faster." He flew even faster. He flew so fast that the tears left the corners of the old man's eyes and turned into vapor trails in space. "Look back now, can you see anything now?"

"It's Farmer Weatherbeard," says the old man, " and a thousand men behind him!"

"Quick," said the eagle, "throw out the feathers."

So the man went into his pocket and pulled out the feathers and let them go, and as they fell they turned into a giant flock of huge black crows, all flying straight down at Farmer Weatherbeard, with the beaks snapping and their claws snatching.

Farmer Weatherbeard had to beat them down, beat them down, wring their necks wring their necks, until there were piles of them around, piles of them around him.

That took a little while, gave the other two a little head start.

"Look back now," says the eagle, "can you see anything now?"

"No," says the old man, "nothing back there."

"Look back now, can you see anything now?"

"There's a speck."

"Look back now, can you see anything now?"

"It's Farmer Weatherbeard, and a thousand men behind him!"

"Quick," said the eagle. "Throw out the splinters!"

So the old man threw out the splinters, and as they fell, they turned into a dense pine forest, every tree many yards in circumferance, only inches between them.

Farmer Weatherbeard had to go all the way back home and get his ax, come back and hew a swathe through that forest big enough for him and his thousand men. That took a little while, gave the other two a little head start.

"Look back now!"

"There's nothing."

"Look back now!"

"There's a speck."

"Look back now!"

"It's Farmer Weatherbeard, and a thousand men behind him!"

"Quick," said the eagle, "throw out the pebbles."

The old many threw out the pebbles and as they turned into a huge mountain range, bigger than any mountains ever seen on earth.

Farner Weatherbeard had to go all the way back home and get his mining equipment, come all the way back and start drilling a tunnel through the mountains. Halfway through, he fell and broke his leg, he had to go all the way back home and get it set, that gave the other two the time they needed.

Eagle flew down and around, down and around, landed outside the old man's cottage. The old man jumped off. The eagle said, "Put the rabbit on your doorstep. Sprinkle a little churchyard dirt on its head, see what happens," and flew off-- so fast, and so thoroughly, that it flew right out of the story.

The old man got a handful of churchyard dirt, put the rabbit on his doorstep, and started sprinkling. And as he did, the rabbit settled back on its haunches and seemed to stretch, and its ears drew in, and its face got flatter, and its whiskers drew in and its eyes got more human, and when he was done, there stood his son.

And his son said, "Dad you got me out of there just in the nick of time. I am now a Master of All Masters. We don't have to be poor, ever again. Listen closely, and I'll tell you how it works."

(concluded next issue.)