Tune In and Then Go Out

This weekend you will want to be outdoors with me! Ct. Outdoors Radio with Suzanne Thompson will tell you all about it. So tune in your dial early to hear about the A-MAZE-ING Story Slam outdoors, all natural and on the air in 3 - 2- 1
Hi, This is Carolyn Stearns and Suzanne Thompson coming to you from the radio studios of WLIS and WMRD. Ct. Outdoors guest is Carolyn Stearns and she is going to tell the audience about the story slam at a corn maze.

The A-MAZE-ING Story Slam www.A-MAZE-INGStorySlam.ning.com is where Arts and Agriculture Meet! Come out and listen to stories in this free program for the whole family. In fact pack a picnic and come at 12 to hear the Crustaceans a surf band play! www.myspace.com/crustaceansrock Then at 1 the stories begin.

Where to listen as Suzanne and Carolyn bring you this interview on the radio. A large piece of Eastern Ct. fits in the listening area of the two stations. Here is where to set your dial: WLIS 1420 AM Old Saybrook and WMRD at 1150 AM - Middletown will broadcast the Ct. Outdoors Show at the following times. Tuesday Aug 31 12:30 -1 p.m. and again at 6:30-7 p.m. Sat. Sept 4 you can hear it if there is no Uconn Football being aired, the show time will be 1 p.m. and on Sunday Sept 5 tune in early from 7-7:30 a.m.

You can find more of Suzanne's work at www.theday.com/ctoutdoors as she urges people to get Outdoors we recommend this weekend in Thompson , Ct. Take a walk in Fort Hill Farms Corn Maze before or after the slam, enjoy the 70 gardens, savor the farm fresh ice cream flavors and pan for gem stones in the water. Under the tent stories will be told the winning storyteller to receive a hot air balloon flight from www.brighterskies.com Anyone can share a story 5-7 minutes on the theme; In A Quiet Corner. Tune in your radio and listen and then come outdoors and join us at the A-MAZE-ING Story Slam!

Lippitt Morgan Drill Team 2010 Debut

When is a picture NOT worth a 1000 words? When the subject is Lippitt Morgans in a debut Drill Team. Even the video could not, and does not do justice to the beauty and symmetry of the equine drill. The horses sounds, the cadenced hoof beats, the shrill whistle of the go command, the breath of the horses as they pass you on the rail. The exuberance of all the riders at the completion of the ride, all those things are missed in a video. It captures a memory but falls short on recreating that awe inspired moment when the drill flashed past and in the ride created Lippitt Morgan Club history a very first drill team. http://www.lippittclub.net/

A drill team is a study in cooperation and timing. It takes hours of practice to get the pattern memorized, and that's only the start. Horses need to find similarly gaited partners. Riders need to be able to keep the pattern in mind as they maneuver their horses. The horses need to get beyond herd instincts and work in close quarters and become tuned into their partners movements.

How many things in life are like a drill team! Co workers in an office, the morning commute of cars on the highway and the students flowing through the halls of school buildings are all drills like the horses do. There are so many. We need to practice the cooperation and timing, and study the pattern with diligence. We can learn from those we ride with and gauge our speed to accommodate those not keeping up for a bit. We will all be a little happier and get along a bit better when we take a cue from the Lippitt Morgan Drill Team!

Donkeys Just Wanna Have Fun!

Coming into the ring for your viewing pleasure the obstacle class for donkeys. Let's see how our exhibitors have trained their donkeys to work their way through the obstacles. Then there will be the riding and the driving classes. Yes, they let donkeys drive but it has to be an automatic........ well couldn't resist the joke, the driving will be donkey to a cart and a exhibitor at the reins. There are many classes in a Donkey show and again I will be delighted to be the announcer for the annual Donkey show at the Brooklyn Fair in Brooklyn Ct. this Saturday. See my schedule of shows at www.carolynstearnsstoryteller.com

http://www.brooklynfair.org/ The show starts at 9:30 in the event arena near the cattle barns. Donkeys are such fun animals and a resurgence in interest has brought a large number to the fairs and shows held annually around New England and beyond. They are patient and thoughtful much like Eeyore from the Pooh stories. They may not pass an obstacle at first attempt but will ponder the risk involved and the value in doing as they are asked and will make a valiant attempt despite having fear issues.

The donkeys come in three sizes. There are the miniatures which are invariably cute, the standards which are the Grand Canyon type and made popular by the children's classic storybook Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry. Then there are the Mammoth Variety a rather large horse height donkey with magnificent large ears. My all time favorite donkey is a character named Jassper! He has the world's best ears! Jassper resides in Franklin Ct. on Blue Hill Farm and has many donkey friends, he is a gentle ambassador. Jassper recently starred in a video I made in a corn maze with his friend Tabassco and they will both be at the show Saturday. I will see them again next week when they come to the A-MAZE-ING Story Slam at Fort Hill Farms http://www.forthillfarms.com/ in Thompson Ct. The story slam is a storytelling competition and Jassper and Tabassco and possibly their friend Asster will be all ears as they listen to the tales told on the theme "In a Quiet Corner".

http://www.a-maze-ingstoryslam.ning.com/

After their fun at the story slam they will be at the Blue Slope Country Farm Museum Fall Festival in Franklin, Ct. Here they will also have some demonstrations of how to operate donkey powered farm equipment. Dependable and steady work habits the hallmark of the donkey as a farming partner , Jassper did some corn chopping last year very economically, he works for cookies! www.blueslope.com/fallevent

Come out and watch our friends in the show ring Saturday!

What is a Lippitt Morgan Horse?

A weekend of memories, reunion, celebration and horses, weekends don't get much better than that.

I was at the Lippitt Country Show in Tunbridge, Vt. After the quiet peaceful drive over roads I have not travelled in many years I passed familiar scenes, a dairy with its own covered bridge and the place where the road seems carved into the side of the mountain and the valley opened, I had arrived. The sounds of a horse show are the same everywhere but the horses have a great variety, except at this show. Here the horses were cookie cutter similar. A few variations in color but all of the classic bay, brown, black and chestnut. What was most predominant in the landscape of equine bodies was the gentle eye and the indomitable spirit. These are the descendants of great horses, a bloodline well preserved and lauded by its keepers, The Lippitt Club. www.lippittclub.net The Lippitt Club motto is "Preserving Our Morgan Legacy", and truly these horses look just as their ancestors did 200 years ago. A line from the Lippitt Club brochure states; " ...a strain of Morgan that has no 20th century outcrosses to other breeds, resulting in the highest percentage of Morgan blood available today."


This mare in the picture is a Lippitt Morgan I foaled out in 1992. She was my baby and a beauty, with spirit and talent and a structure about as well balanced and correct as they come in equines. Her name is Storybook Salute Vermont ( in honor of her Dad, Horton's Vermont, her heritage and my favorite C.W. Anderson book "Salute"!) . The last time I saw her was in 1997, when I sent her along into the world to become a young ladies show horse and she has had a well decorated career. Now with a new family and back in Connecticut I still didn't manage to see her until I reached the show grounds in Vermont. She entered the ring with her young handler for a clinic in showanship. It was warm and sunny and they had been on a long trailer ride up from home. All the horses were in nap mode but I let out the whistle I always called my horses with and her head popped up in recognition. She was searching the memory bank for that sound was so distant but familiar. Her ears pricked forward and I asked the young lady to bring her to the fence. I rubbed her face and renewed an old friendship, and I know she remembered me. I thought back to the moment when her body burst into the world wet and shiny and as orange as a Halloween pumpkin. She was not the black or brown I had expected but was gorgeous, as she matured the color toned down to the liver chestnut.


Here we were on a track where the original Morgans raced and where the Morgan breed made a name for itself through its power and strength, versatility and beauty. ( grounds of the Tunbridge World's Fair) The Lippitt Show highlights all those qualities so sought after in the classic Morgans of yesteryear and the ribbons were awarded in breeding stock classes and in many disciplines, to include the regular show classes and add in log skidding, trotting races in harness and under saddle, driving and children's classes. It was a weekend to celebrate Morgans.

Morgan's are memorialized in a Disney movie "Justin Morgan Had a Horse", which in the classic Disney manner tells a tale of the start of the breed through the single stallion "Figure" who later took on his owners name. By 1861 and the outbreak of the Civil War, Vermont and the other northeast states had a generous population of Morgan horses. So generous indeed that the First Vermont Cavalry rode off to battle mounted only on the backs of Morgans! The Morgan Horse became the chosen U.S. cavalry breed with their remount breeding program located in Vermont.

Wherever they are in the country the Lippitt Morgan has its roots in the mountains of Vermont and in the traditions of the U.S. Cavalry. They are the Pride and Product of America!

A-MAZE-ING Give A Donkey an Ice Cream Cone

Summer was soooo boring for Jassper and Tabasco, just green grass .... and more green grass. Jassper and Tabasco needed a DAYCATION! Their owner understood when they told him. After work one day they were loaded in the Corn Pro Trailer to go on a Daycation trip. How Excited Jassper and Tabasco were. They were guessing where they might go.

They passed a beautiful town green when they got off the highway. It had not been a long ride, what excitement could be in this quiet country town?

A sign showed them where they would turn and pointed the way to Ct. Grown at Fort Hill Farms http://www.forthillfarms.com/ . Blue Hill donkeys at Fort Hill, Jassper and Tabasco hoped they had more than green grass.

Tabasco helped find a place to park their trailer.

They soon new they were welcome at Fort Hill Farms and it would be a great Daycation!

They got tickets for the Corn Maze. They had never been in a corn maze before!

Jassper and Tabasco tried all the paths, up and down the hill and to the towers and had so much delicious fun!

Winding through the green paths was fun, and relaxing and sometimes they even felt like running a little.

They found answers to the quiz and looked at the secret maps. At the end they looked at the big map again and saw all the places in the maze they had visited. They wished more friends had come to the maze with them.

Back under the big tent they were told about the

A-MAZE-ING Story Slam

coming on Sept 4, 2010 at 1 p.m. They asked if they could come too.

Of course the answer was yes! Jassper and Tabasco would be "All ears" when listening to the stories at the A-MAZE-ING Story Slam. They could be really good listeners!

Jassper whispered to Tabasco that they would look it up on the barn computer when they got home. Tabasco had to try to remember the site address.

www.A-MAZE-INGStorySlam.ning.com



After all the fun in the maze little Tabasco was sooo hungry he was happy to see a little grass. Jassper had a better idea. He had heard from a friend at the Farmers Cow about the new ice cream and he really wanted to try it!

Jassper looked near the fishing pond but it wasn't there.

They found the Creamery and had a hard time choosing a flavor!

Other people were in line to place an order and Jassper got in line next.

Finally it was his turn to order, Mint please! and make it all natural.

Jassper's cone was so delicious!

Got Ice Cream?

It was an exciting Daycation at Fort Hill Farms for Jassper and Tabasco!

Now they will be counting the days until

Sept 4, 2010 when they can come back.

Will they be seeing you at the A-MAZE-ING Story Slam?

Jassper may tell you a story about Scarlet the new baby donkey at Blue Hill, but he may be to busy trying a few more flavors.

THE END!

On the Radio in 3....2....1

Wed. August 18 at 7:20 a.m. I hope your radio is tuned to WILI 1400 AM in Eastern Ct. That is when I will be guest on Wayne Norman's Morning Show. http://www.wili-am.com/ I will be up and out early to bring you the latest news and updates on the A-MAZE-ING Story Slam http://www.a-maze-ingstoryslam.ning.com/ to be held Sept. 4 in Thompson Ct. at Fort Hill Farms http://www.forthillfarms.com/

A story slam is a competition in telling a story. Short and to the point the stories come from everyday people and professional storytellers. Everyone has a story to tell, come tell yours! We will have all kinds of great prizes, the best being the top prize of a hot air balloon flight, now that is a bucket list item if there ever was one!! Before and after the slam the corn maze at Fort Hill Farms will be open and our " All Ears " Listeners from Blue Hill Farm ( donkeys) will be on hand to charm you. There is a place for picnics before hand and the Fort Hill Farm Creamery will be scooping ice cream all day!

If this hasn't convinced you I suggest you tune in to WILI radio 1400 AM tomorrow morning and hear it for yourself. Live on the radio in 3...2...1. This is Carolyn Stearns and Wayne Norman coming to you from Willimantic Ct.

A Gem - Michael Parent cassette

This spring when the trees were fully blooming and the wind came warm off the sea for the first time in months, I was in New London Ct. My annual trek to the Ct. Storytelling Festival http://www.connstorycenter.org/festival.htm I was there to gather in the warmth of story, the exuberance of new and renewed friendship , and the inspiration of hearing the magic that is live storytelling. It was everything I was hoping for and then some. I set aside a small budget for books and items from the sales room and this is where I came across my treasure.

Can you imagine having a treasure chest and not opening it for months? Can you imagine the mystery not calling you, the curiosity not beckoning you to pry free the lid. Never again will I be able to ignore the beckoning call of a story not listened too, for the gem I had left to collect dust on the bookshelf was incredible and its late discovery I hope will encourage me to unlock mysteries as soon as I can.

It happened like this. At the festival there is a sales room. All the performers have their books and CD's etc in there as well as a wonderful selection from the Conn College bookstore. Browsing between shows is a chance to savor titles and make out a wish list and for me one or two titles each year make their way home. I carefully pondered the selection this year and made two choices and approached the checkout table. There I noticed a basket with cassette tapes. Remember those outdated items lost in the technology cyclone that has hit us in the last ten years? I pawed through the tapes and came up with three at such a nominal price it seemed to me like stealing! Oh I know they are outdated and do no good in a closet but still I know the work that goes into these projects and was so happy to put my treasures in my take home bag!

I came home from the Festival overflowing with excitement, ideas, conversations buzzing in my head, so much to think about. I unpacked and looked at the cassettes and placed them on the shelf with other audio and video. I don't presently own a cassette player. Ah well one will turn up. Well this was the weekend, I borrowed my Mom's car to make a trip into Boston, (my car is a story in itself). When I got in I spotted a cassette player, yes they had this car awhile but it is in excellent condition. So I packed up for the day trip to Boston and climbed in toting one extra bag full of cassettes a bit dusty but the anticipation of the 4-6 hours of riding in such good company was high.

I slid in the cassette and was swept away. Somehow the miles between Boston and Ct. slipped by amid the rousing French songs and the envisioned Sundays at Grandma's ( Dimanches Chez Memere) This was my gem, this story of growing up in that wonderful bilingual family of story and song. Here in cassette form, adorned with the shiny gold seal of the Parents Choice Award I was reminded this was recorded a long while back but the story was timeless. Indeed on the cassette is the date 1988, like fine wine a story grows better with age and telling and so this one has come to its maturity and sweeps us back to our childhood memories. Michael Parent opens the door to this tale and you can smell Grandma's cooking and hear Uncle Arthur's truck coming down the road.

All is not lost for the treasure seekers as the cassette has been updated and is available in CD format on his website http://www.michaelparentstorytelling.com/ or email him at michaelparent@maine.RR.com For me, I will happily keep the gem I found at the festival a reminder to stop and listen and even when technology is pushing us forward remembering to look back, we may have left a gem or two behind.

Blind Faith & Cowboy Church

This is the essence of a Cowboy Church program I presented at the Northeast Regionals of Cowboy Mounted Shooting at Three County Fairgrounds on Aug 8, 2010. I love the fact that cowboy mounted shooting has cowboy church preceding many Sunday competitions. Cowboy Mounted Shooting is one of the fastest growing equine sports. 1880's clad competitors ride a prescribed course of balloon targets firing blanks at them in this fast action rodeo timed sporting event. The partnership between rider and horse is so evident in the split second runs and concise accuracy of riding and shooting. It is unparalleled as a spectator sport with new riders finishing a course in about 1 minute and top riders blazing through in as few as 10 seconds. I saw that this weekend and the pure athleticism and power combined with the costuming is so exciting.

The Ct.Renegades http://www.ctrenegades.com/ and the Mass Six Shooters http://www.masixshooters.com/ were the sponsoring clubs of the Northeast Regionals. Both clubs are part of the national organization known as the CMSA http://www.cmsa.org/ It was just a couple days before the competition in Northampton, Ma. when a call came from Cindy Karp, President of the Mass Six Shooters. Due to a work related issue the person due to lead Cowboy Church was not going to be able to join us, I was disappointed as he leads a wonderful service. Cindy really did not want to cancel cowboy church, she was calling with a " can you help," and of course I said yes. Running a weekend long competition is a huge job and she had plenty on her plate along with Roger Dinsmore, President of the Ct. Renegades I told her " got it covered don't worry about it." I meant it because the story I wanted to share had been percolating in my head for days. Apparently it was there because it would be needed. I began to pull the pieces of a service together on the theme Blind Faith. Here is the essence of what I came up with.

BLIND FAITH

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not."

A popular definition is: " A belief that does not rest in logical proof or material evidence." Then of all the words after faith in the Thesaurus I chose - Trustfulness as the word most closely related to my image of faith in this application.

We had an opening prayer I wrote, asking for blessing on those gathered, for our horses who are the embodiment of the Lord's wind, sand, spirit and strength. I asked those to remember to live by the "Code of the West" and that our unspoken prayers be heard that morning. This was followed by a duo reading of Psalm 146 , one line which states "....The Lord sets the prisoners free; and opens the eyes of the blind..." Then Dy Rizzo shared a cowboy prayer from the American Quarter Horse Journal .

I then became the storyteller with an abbreviated rendition of the popular Will James classic of the Seeing Eye. Will James was a real cowboy of the 1920's and artist and writer of considerable talent. The Seeing Eye story is a tale of a ranch cowboy blinded in adulthood who continues to work the family ranch on horseback using skills acquired over a lifetime, incredibly well trained horses and the Blind Faith that they would see him through the days work. In the end he is caught across a river during a flash flood and the only way back is over the train trestle , one agonizing step at a time. He leaves the decision up to Little Eagle his horse and they make the painstaking journey with total faith in each other. About mid way across the distant whistle of the train alerts them to the impending disaster. They ride on causing the train to skid to stop which in the end saves all aboard.

The intimate relationship between a horse and his rider is developed slowly and all present could appreciate the skill it took to rest ones hand on the withers ( neck before the back) of the horse to "read" his muscles as a cue to " seeing" what was ahead. It was in this moment that the cowboys and cowgirls assembled at cowboy church were thinking most of their rides and what a skill this was, of the immense Blind Faith these two shared.

The story was one I read as a child and stayed with me, its message finding relevance in each season of my life but never more so than when shared with this assemblage. I followed the story with verses 1 & 3 of "Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley". The closing prayer was given and the final line was, "As each makes the journey back out from this circle guide and protect them. Lift them up, and hold them in the palm of your hand." I closed with responsive music, that same line from the refrain of the hymn, "On Eagle's Wings."

Something About A Campfire

Forget the temperature, forget the mosquito's and the rain even. There is a natural draw to fire we all find irresistible and when we gather there no matter how big or small it doesn't take long for a story to start. This particular fire is at Blue Slope Farm Museum, Franklin Ct. http://www.blueslope.com/ The Staebner Family at Blue Slope know a thing or two about family time, country living and simple pleasures. From campfires and stories, square dances in the barn ( see pic) to hay rides pulled by a team of draft horses, all reminiscent of the past and wonderfully fulfilling today!
Oct. 2-3, 2010 will be the annual Fall Festival on the Farm. The museum will be open, the hayrides meandering through cornfields recently harvested and the kids face first into a pie eating contest. Great steaming hot baked potatoes will be served up and Boy Scouts and farmers, families and business people will all slow down long enough to take in the scent of fall on the farm.
Blue Hill Farm, just up the road will have donkey demonstrations and a donkey show going on at the event. All the long ears will be showing how generous in spirit they are as they drive carts, jumps through obstacles, endure and love being petted and fawned over by all the children and show their " All Ears " when it comes time for the end of the day stories.
Members of Eastern Ct. Draft horse Club will be out in the field doing demonstrations of plowing with the gentle giants. The horses will do wagon rides as well as work demonstrations. http://www.easternctdrafthorse.com/ You wont want to miss the Fall Festival when all these great things can be seen on one active dairy farm. You may even be asked to coax some milk from one of the beauties!
The events your family shares this Fall will be the stories to tell around the fire this winter, when the wind swings round from the North and blows hard and cold on us. In the meantime go on out and make some great memories.
The night this picture was taken I was sharing some of my stories at the campfire and had to share some good horse tales. Better gather some wood must be time for more stories!