St.Simons Festival

 Trish and I have just returned home from the eighth annual St. Simons Island Storytelling Festival.  This lovely festival is held at Epworth-by-the-Sea, a Methodist retreat and conference center located on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

The setting itself is beautiful, beside the water and under huge live oak trees.  In addition, if you come to the festival you can stay and eat here as well making it an easy single stop event with very little walking.

This year I was joined by Andy Offutt Irwin and Kuniko, with Bil Lepp as the emcee. There was also a special visit by the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters, all of whom live nearby.

Andy has a long relationship with Epworth, having both performed here and organized programs, including this festival, many times.

After a five year hiatus from storytelling, we were all glad to have Kuniko back with us on the stage once again.

The Festival is held each February on Presidents’ Day weekend.  Watch out for the plans for 2024 and join us then.

Finishing at Paradise

 Trish and I are at the end of our stay at Atlantis.  We have had a wonderful time and both have winter suntans as the evidence.

We have nothing but good to say about this place.  It is like a little country all its own feeling safe and secure and having everything you could possible need without ever needing to leave or look anywhere else.  

We had our last dinner at the Marina Village steak house and watched the sunset as we finished there.

From pools to the rapid river to the beaches to the dolphins to the food, you can’t miss out on a vacation here.  Yes, it sounds like we are advertising, but, when you have such an overall good experience with kind service at every turn, you want to say something about it.  We will definitely come to Atlantis again.

Visiting the Fish.

 The Atlantic Aquarium is the largest open-air marine habitat in the world.  The lagoons hold more than eight million gallons of sea water and are home to over two hundred and fifty species of fish and other varieties marine life.  

You can visit the lagoons outdoors or you can go through The Dig, a series of tunnels that take you under and through the lagoons where you are almost face to face with fish everywhere.

Each day Trish and I try to visit the fish.  We often end our day with a walk through The Dig and tell these beautiful creatures goodnight for the day.  They are so beautiful.

You are so close in The Dig and get to see them right as they live.  We are very impressed at the healthy environment of this giant aquarium.  They do a great job here caring for the marine life.

From large to small these creatures are fascinating!

Sunshine!

 On Saturday we had a stormy and rainy day.  The rain fell and the wind blew all day. We actually needed a day like this since it had been 80 degrees all week and we were at our capacity for sun.  We rested and watched movies happily.

Yesterday the sun came back!  There are so many pools here that we have not yet been at the same one two days.  We look down from our room and decide where to go for the day.

Just below us the Rapid River ride starts.  It begins as a lazy river, but, it doesn’t stay calm for long.

There is so much to do here, including doing nothing!

Bahamas

 Trish and I had three weeks between the Pike Piddlers Festival in Alabama and the St. Simons Island Festival in Georgia. So, instead of driving home and back, we decided to leave the car at the Atlanta airport and fly to the Bahamas for a February warmup.

We have now been at Atlantis at Nassau for a week and have ten more days to go before we have to go back to work.

There is a wonderful aquarium here that you actually walk through.  Each day we go see the fish for a visit on our way to or from the sunshine.  They are beautiful!

Pike Piddlers

 For the past seventeen years the last weekend in January has been the Pike Piddlers’ Storytelling Festival. I have been privileged to be an all of those festival events.

The weekend starts on Friday evening at the We Piddle Around Theatre in Brundidge, Alabama. That evening is a dinner theatre where, with music from local musicians, we eat and then each teller tells a story.  This year I am here with Bil Lepp and Tim Lowry.

The theatre itself is interesting. The building was once the town offices of Brundidge.  It burned in a fire but the walls were standing and undamaged. A new roof was put on and the theatre, with sawdust floor and a wooden stage, came to life.  The interior is highly decorated with folk art. 

Tellers love this space. It is intimate and fun. The tickets sell out the first hour they go on sale.