Sweeney School in Willimantic was so much fun as families and I celebrated the life and work of Dr. Seuss on their Family Reading Night. The children were wonderful listeners and my program of Folk and Fairy Tales fit right in with the whimsical Dr. Seauss. Long River Live, Uconn's Open Mic particpated on Feb.15,2010 as the featured performer. A great turnout out of performers and participants had the room packed and pulsating. So many arts shared including, poetry, acoustic guitar, folk guitar, short story, phiosophy, printmaking galllery exhibit, and my storytelling. Be my Valentine, or join me for tea at the Fairfield Museum and History Center in Fairfield Ct. Feb 14, 2010 at 2 p.m. I will be telling tales of love and Valentines at the mother - daughter tea. Go to my links page to connect withthem and make a reservation! Feb 15, 2010 I'm back at the Fairfield Museum and History Center with Leaves and Blossoms From the Family Tree. Don't miss the opportunity to hear some wonderful tales from my family tree over the centuries and then to learn more about collecting your family tales. Go to my links page and click on the event to find out all the details. Almost Festival Time! First comes the Sharing the Fire Festival held in Warwick RI this year. If you want to hear a huge variety of tellers go to the Lanes website lanes.org League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling The next festival is the Ct Storytelling Festival held at Conn College in New London Ct. Each April this year o the 23rd, 24th, and 25th! Should be a great weekend of stories and listening and sharing www.ctstorytellingcenter.org An Old Fashioned Christmas; an event to fund raise for the First Church of Christ Congregational at Mansfield Center Ct. Tercentenary Fund 2010 . This Christmas Program featured my epic Christmas tale " Holly's Story" flanked by rounds of Christmas Carols sung by all. A visist from the venrable old man, Santa Claus as he settled in to read Twas The Night Before Christmas and speak with children was a highlight. Cookies and puch followed. Hang onto your hats! Fall in the Quiet Corner Ct. is a whirlwind and no different for me. The Big E garnered 6 shows in two days and kept me busy sharing with wonderful audiences. I've also been out to Thompson, Ct .to Fort HIll Farms corn maze what a delight telling under the full moon in the maze you should have been there! Every Wed. in October you will find me at the Alnaveigh Inn ( Storrs) sharing stories at their tavern night. The special menu, fireplace, candle light ambiance and 1734 building lend an air of authenticity to tales spun out for the diners as they have been in taverns for centuries. The month will be highlighted by Lantern Tours at the Coventry Historical Society and a night by a crackling camp fire with my resceduled Stone Soup and Stories here at Storybook Farm. Novemeber won't be quiet either be sure to save Nov 11 for a very special Tellabration at EO Smith High School in honor of Veteran's Day! Professional and Student tellers join forces to present works that honor military tradition form allcenturies. Just $5.00 the proceeds go to the Ct. Storytelling Center at Conn College. You might be able to join me for SpinningTales at Groton Public Library on Nov 14 the all tales with spinning wheels in them while I spin wool to yarn is a new favorite show. It begins at 2 p.m. at the library. I will be presenting a benefit show on Sunday Nov15 at 2 p.m. for the benefit of the herkimer NY Humane Society in Little Falls New York. It is a small way indeed to pay thanks to those who rescue our animal frends and the funds will be aiding animals. If you are in NY on that weekend you shold make an effort to support the humane society and come listen to a show of all animal tales. Fort Hill Farms in Thompson Ct I will be available after you finish the corn maze 2010 to tell " amazing " stories to your group. Call to book a date with either myself or Kristin at Fort Hill &( Kristin at 860-923-3439) (Carolyn at 860-690-4292) Quintessential Gardens and we can all have some fun! Thompson is in Connecticut's Quiet Corner, it is a town of renowned beauty and quiet charm, come enjoy the fresh air and the exercise in the maze. Opening in august check the web for dates as the growing season gets going for 2010.See you there in the fall! Learn more by clicking Fort Hill Farms from my links page. A busy weekend! I was at the Trumbull House and Wadsworth Barn Museums in Lebanon Ct. Saturday ( July 11) to plan for the 300 th birthday of Ct. Gov. Jonathan Trumbull. Told a story with a church bell in it and the one there rang at just the right moment! Sunday I was announcing for the Ct. Renegades Cowboy Mounted Shooters on a perfect summer day. Monday I had the wonderful opportunity to share stories with an Amish family now that was something unique! A family reunion is a perfect opportunity to host a storyteller. I was delighted to be the storyteller for the Hubbell/Crane reunion and had such a nice time sharing stories with the multi generations of this family. That it was held on the 4 th of July in a historic town gave me the opportunity to share a couple of my historical tales that came from that town and 2 tales that were related to the 4th of July. The evening finished with the fireworks display that was wonderful and inspiring and the children playing with the delights of writing their names with Sparklers. Andover Seniors defied the weather odds and got a beautiful sunny day for their annual picnic at Gay City State Park. I enjoyed the company and then as they settled the bountiful lunch I shared a variety of stories leaving everyone with a favorite and closed the program with a folk song that so well described the old foundations and lost farm of Gay City. Today -June 16, 2009 was so much fun doing the live radio show Ct. Outdoors with host Suzanne Thompson on WLIS and WMRD 1150 and 1420 am we promoted the Cowboy Mounted Shooting match to benefit Sam a young farmer wheel chair bound after a farm accident, it wil be held on June 21 at 11 am in Chaplin Ct at the Fin Fur and Feather Club. We also talked about storytelling and how I went from 4-H leader to professinal storyteller. Latest from the inbox: " What a great time we had listening to Carolyn's stories at our annual FFA banquet this year! We needed a change of pace from our typical banquet routine and that is exactley what we got! I highly reccomend for other youth groups to invite Carolyn in. She will entertain, bring history to life, and teach our youth how to deliver a great story themselves!" Cheryl Matthewson RAY FFA Advisor ( Ct.) The debut performance of my newest show "Spinning Tales" went off without a hitch today at the Mansfield Historical Society. A perfect summer day and the opening of all the new exhibits for the season and the 200th anniversary of the Baptist church across the street made for a fine audience of about 100 total although they came and went in batches while seeing all the exhibits. The little girls loved the tales with a pricess and all ages relaxed and enjoyed the stories. The greatest adventure in a long time! I am a Grandma! Now that will be fun, cant wait until she can listen to tales Grandma tells. Presidents' Day 2009 I was invited to the Fairfield Museum and History Center. I walked the galleries peered through the sunlit windows to the colonial buildings outside and eased back in time to 1861. When the show began and the 100 people were seated I entered the room as Adaline Whitaker Civil War Woman and sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic to open the program. The warm reception helped unfold each tale and the audience was superb. It is the kind of day a storyteller and a story listener love. You could hear them long before you could see them coming, it was the whole third grade from Annie Vinton School coming up the trail to Wolf Rock. This was the starting moments of a wonderful storytelling session. The day was a perfect crisp October 15 under warm sun and the place was perfect. We were perched on the top of Wolf Rock a preserved piece of land in Mansfield ,Ct.This rocky cliff looks over a valley on this day ablaze with autumn color and the giant glacial boulder that overlooks it all was displaying a charcoal drawing of Joshua's mark. The mark was the signature of Joshua, son of the Sachem Uncas. He deeded portions of Eastern Ct. to settlers and his mark and name are used today in a land preservation effort called Joshua's Trust. So it was in this ideal setting I shared Wolf stories with the 50 third graders. It was perfect! October 1-4, 2008 This was a very busy week of storytelling! I began on Wed. at the Marlborough Senior Center with historical tales. A favorite topic to a very nice group. On Friday eve I was at Ashford, Ct.'s Babcock Library. Here I presented a program of Folk and Fairy Tales. They laughed along with the antics of Daybreak and the Police a personal story which is the kind of tale American flok tales spring from. The Saturday I was at Storrs Farmers Market with a program of mostly food stories with the addition of Daybreak after requested by a boy that had seen me on Friday night. So... now I do requests! Well I guess I have a new fan of my stories for sure. It was a very nice day and place to debut the new version of a classic Stone Soup rewritten for this event. THE BIG E 9/27/08 A wonderful day despite the showers from hurricane Kyle's fringe. I was dressed in a traditional 1860's hoop skirt and all the trimmings and put on 3 shows of Civil War Stories from my repetoire repeating only a couple of favorites. I found that at the Big E a costume helps divert attention from all the fair excitement and when people recognized a show they were eager to sit and listen. I totally enjoyed my day sharing stories at New England's State Fair , The Big E. |
