Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Editor's Corner

 

By Mary E. Adair

“Autumn serenades the breeze into dancing a cha cha cha;
the mountains echo in the background.
October sky never looked more charming
nor the sublime leaves of the trees so graceful.”
– Avijeet Das

As much as I tried to hold onto September, October gave it the tiniest nudge at midnight, and it fled. I do hope some of you are more welcoming than I found myself. Truly can't recall being so reluctant in the past to greet a new month. Shall look for the good and/or blessed in the days to come.


It's already a fact that we have some lovely submitted compositions, so let's begin there. Interesting about the many titles with the letter "L" so we'll start with  Bruce Clifford's poems are "Love Adore (the starlight in your eyes)," Beautiful Girl," and "Life Lives." Yours Truly helped with "Love The Snow." Walt Perryman shows "Dear Lord, I Have Amends," "Trail of Life," and "A Brand New Day." John I Blair's is "In Love With The Earth." Bud Lemire's poems are "My Beauchamp Family," "Love Isn't Imagining," "Exquisite Corpse," (actually a game) and the timely "Halloween."


The interesting article is authored by one of our former columnists Ara Parisien. The title "During Transformation" is derived from the platform of hers described as her I AM Transformation series. It sounds very reassuring.


Judith Kroll's "On Trek" is an encore that ties into the Halloween side of this month. Both Marilyn Carnell in "Sifoddling Along" and Melinda Cohenour in "Armchair Genealogy" chose to honor dearly loved former family members in their columns.


Mattie Lennon's "Irish Eyes" updates us on the recent Listowel Storytelling Festival and the participants. Thomas F. O'Neill's "Introspective" describes the helpful lessons he delivered while teaching in China. His students were quite receptive and he misses the associations formed there. He includes some favorite photos from that period.


Pauline Evanosky's column "Woo Woo" describes discovering if you're ready to develop your psychic capabilities, if you feel you have any. "Cooking with Rod's Family" features Melinda Cohenour's own recipe, Best Potato Soup from Scratch. She shares all the details along with tips to streamline the preparation.


We are thanking our dear friend Mike Craner who keeps us in working order as our Webmaster who is also co-founder. He and his wife Susie are both very supportive, and are active, caring people.


See you in November!


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


Armchair Genealogy

 

By Melinda Cohenour

September. So nostalgic for so many reasons but for me it shall always be my beloved Rod's birth month. September 10, 1945.


My daughter recently located a photo she took of us as we were leaving her home on one of our many business trips.


I Love this old pic of our Personal Telecommunications Team: my beloved partners Rod and Tito (who became nicknamed by our construction teams from coast to coast as "Cujo" for her vigorous mouthy "greetings" to those who approached my window and caught her unawares.) Those were GOOD times, up before dawn, destination could be a few hours or a couple day's travel.


As Project Manager Rod directed the activities of all the specialties required to complete the work assigned by our various client corporations: AT&T, Cricket, T-Mobile, Verizon, all the biggies. We worked new builds from clearing the plot, gravel pour, fencing, erecting the cell tower, mounting antenna array, positioning and fully equipping the telecom shelter that housed all the computerized brains that controlled the antennae and tracked and documented the traffic for billing, etc. These sites necessitated overnight stays. Always a chore finding a pet accepting motel nearby.


We also managed colocations where our client corporation had an agreement to mount their antennae on another company's cell tower. These were usually much simpler. But watching the guys (a very few gals) who climbed the big towers and their ground crew maneuver the antennae arrays into position was exciting. Most deaths and serious injuries involved in telecommunications arise from falls. We had more than one good friend injured and, sadly, a couple fatalities. Fortunately none occurred while we were on site. I always held my breath when Rod climbed, rooftops, towers, control room sky platforms.


We had a lot of Generac power installs where alternate power was needed to ensure the cell site continued to function when weather or malfunction of the primary battery array required a backup source. Interesting job overseeing the prep work (trenching per plotted diagrams of the cell site, line installation, heavy equipment lifting and positioning of the big Generac generator, and final testing before restoration of the dirt and gravel over the lines etc.) Some sites were really remote: mountaintops, or on a rancher's acreage. Many times our work might be delayed as we waited out a herd of cattle Hell-bent on grazing the approach to our target cell site.


My job was documentation. Tracking dates and times, cell site drawings Before and After, becoming familiar with the antennae types and specific directional locations, etc. Expenses had to be billed so I had to maintain careful records. Some of our trips took several days and, occasionally, involved multiple job locations with different vendors and clients. I most enjoyed creating the cell site drawings. I used specialty computer applications. Had to actually use a grid to show exact distances for trenches, tower footings and directional attenuation for each of the three faces, antenna mounts (these required elevations vs ground plots). I learned a lot and loved the work.


Our work took us coast to coast: California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Alabama, Missouri ... Made good friends, found some really good Mom n Pop cafes and restaurants. Fond memories.


My time with both my beloved Rod and our precious baby girl Tito will always evoke bittersweet memories but I shall always be thankful God granted me the man, the time and those priceless memories.



Rod-Tito-Melinda


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


Irish Eyes

 

By Mattie Lennon

Listowel, Marrakech and Further Afield


It has been said that a storyteller can’t afford the luxury of an ordinary life. If that is the case there were many extraordinary lives in Listowel, Irelands’ Culture capital, for the 7th Annual Listowel International Storytelling Festival- September 18th to September 21st.


After a week of sharing stories and weaving magic in Ireland, Master storyteller Omar Belaarej returned home to his residency in the World Storytelling Cafe Marrakech. As Omar said goodbye at the bus-stop it was obvious that a bridge had been built between the World Storytelling Café in Marrakesh and the storytelling hearts of Ireland. A World Storytelling Festival with eighty storytellers from all continents taking part in Marrakesh earlier this year. And I’m sure Omar Belaarej would agree that Sonny Egan and Frances Kennedy could hold their own with any of them.


As the 7th Annual Listowel International Storytelling Festival finished for another year, Cara Trant, Executive Director of Kerry Writers’ Museum, and Festival Director of Listowel International Storytelling Festival, thanked everyone associated with this, now legendary, festival. Ms. Trant said a big thank you, “To our volunteers, sponsors, partners, and the dedicated team in Kerry Writers’ Museum — your support makes this festival possible. Listowel has long been a home of the story, and it’s a privilege to see that tradition grow stronger each year. Here’s to the stories we’ve shared, and those still to come. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this year so special. To our incredible storytellers, musicians, poets, and artists — thank you for sharing your voices and traditions with us. To our audiences — local and international — your warmth and enthusiasm keep the spirit of storytelling alive in Listowel. We were especially honoured by the presence of Dr. Lahcen Mahraoui, Moroccan Ambassador to Ireland, Morocco in Ireland, and his wife Leyla, whose support underlined the growing cultural bonds between our countries. Listowel has long been a home of the story, and it’s a privilege to see that tradition grow stronger each year."


This year's line-up included many incredible storytellers, musicians, poets, and artists. From local legends like Sonny Egan, Frances Kennedy, and Seosamh Ó Maolalaí, to the former Storyteller in Residence and Festival Director Maria Gillen, and international guests Ines Alvarez, Storyteller (Spain), Omar Belaarej (Morocco), John Row (UK), and Godfrey Coppinger (USA) — their stories reminded everyone that tales travel across generations, cultures, and borders.


Part of the festival was held by the cosy fireside of Sheehans Storytelling Cottage in Finuge, which has been a “Rambling House” for generations, a few miles outside the town of Listowel. This year also saw artist Priscilla Donovan open her inaugural solo exhibition, while Aidan O’Leary and Sandra Behan launched their debut books, milestones that remind us how deeply creativity thrives in Kerry.

* * * * * *


Sonny Egan. There has never been anyone before quite like Sonny Egan. He is not just a champion storyteller, he is a musician, a singer, a podcaster, an actor and an expert on many subjects. He is generous with his talents and for years opened his door to everyone in his famous rambling house. On the opening night of the festival, a tribute was paid to Sonny, one of Kerry’s cultural icons. Featuring music, song and dance with Lixnaw Comhaltas, of which Sonny is a member, with storytellers Frances Kennedy, Daisy Kearney, Conor Cox, and other special guests.

* * * * * *


Frances Kennedy. Frances Kennedy is one of North Kerry's most popular traditional storytellers, and entertainers. Originally from Freemount, Co. Cork, Frances now calls Listowel, Co. Kerry her home.

* * * * * *


Brendan Kennelly. On Tuesday, 30th September 2025, at midnight, a Midnight Court was held at Carrigafoyle Castle in partnership with the OPW - Office of Public Works and the Brendan Kennelly Literary Trust.


There was a rare screening of a short film featuring Brendan Kennelly (1936–2021) reading his poetry within the walls of the castle – a unique opportunity to experience the voice and words of one of Ireland’s most celebrated poets in an unforgettable setting.


This screening formed part of the Rivers of Words archive project, which has preserved over 100 original recordings of North Kerry writers. Thanks to Jimmy Deenihan, Joe Murphy, and The Heritage Council, these tapes have now been digitised by Kerry Writers’ Museum, ensuring that an important part of our literary heritage is safeguarded for future generations.


I’ll check if it is available on disc and let you know next month.


See you in November.


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


Cooking with Rod's Family

 

By Melinda Cohenour



It's finally Fall. Leaves are beginning to change, donning their colorful lacy adornment for the trees that host them. Gold, Orange, Red, Brown, bright Yellow ... An awesome display upon which we can feast our eyes.


Fall means a change in the foods we yearn to eat as well. Hearty casseroles. Squash, pumpkin "everything", stews, tasty soups and lots of creative ways to prepare and serve hot breads.


My MomMay made wonderful soups. A curative, delicious chicken noodle soup. Soups made colorful and earthy using root vegetables (carrots, onions, potatoes, beets, turnips, rutabagas ...). But I think my favorite of her homemade soups was from scratch Potato Soup. She used a secret ingredient (cucumbers!) to make her potato soup piquant and fresh.


This month I offer my own potato soup. This one doesn't include celery moons and cucumbers but is filling and tasty. Hope you try it and enjoy it


Bon appetit~!

Cooking With Rod's Family:
Best Potato Soup from Scratch


Servings: 8


Ingredients:

    * 8 to 10 medium large to large (Baking potatoes), peeled, rinsed and cubed to about 1 inch cubes
    * 1 qt. (32 oz) Chicken broth
    * Water sufficient to cover all the potatoes in the pot plus a couple inches
    * 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
    * Bag of California Blend frozen vegetables (add at very end, after mashing some of your cooked potatoes and just a few minutes before you're ready to serve)
    * 1/2 to one stick sweet creamery butter, stir in and allow to melt before adding anything else (some like more butter but a little is essential to make your soup taste right.)
    * 1 to 2 cups milk just before serving
    * 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
    * 2 Tablespoons parsley flakes to stir into soup
    * 1 Tablespoon parsley flakes as garnish


Additional garnishes (completely optional)

    * Crisp bacon bits (do the bacon yourself, don't use bottled bits)
    * Grated cheddar cheese
    * Sour cream, let your guests choose to use this or not
    * One bunch green onions, diced tops and bulbs. (Remove any dried or discolored leaves and rinse with cold water before chopping)
    * Green, red, orange or yellow sweet Bell Pepper diced. One cup should be plenty for all 8 servings


Instructions:

    1. Rinse and peel potatoes. Cut into about one inch cubes trying to make all pieces the same.
    2. Rinse and peel onion. Cut into smaller pieces.
    3. Add potatoes and onion to a large soup pot that has a lid.
    4. Pour chicken broth over potatoes and onion. Then add enough water to completely cover all ingredients plus a couple inches above. You want your potatoes and onion to boil until tender. (A fork stuck in the potatoes pierces easily.) Cover the pot until it comes to a boil. Lower heat to Medium to continue simmering until potatoes are tender.
    5. Remove pot from heat. Using a potato masher, mash about half the potatoes, leaving the rest as cubes. Make sure there is enough liquid for this to be a SOUP not mashed potatoes. If necessary add more hot water.
    6. Add butter and let it melt. Stir to blend.
    7. Add California Blend vegetables that you have rinsed to remove any frost and then drained all liquid.
    8. Add milk. Stir to incorporate and return to burner to let heat a bit.
    9. Add Black Pepper and parsley. Stir well. Taste. You can add a tiny bit more pepper or even a dash of garlic powder to suit your taste. Remember potato soup is supposed to have a delicate flavor.


Serve in individual bowls, and either garnish each with tiny bits of suggested toppings or if serving at the table arrange toppings and let your dinner guests add their own.
(NOTE: I strongly suggest YOU sprinkle each serving with the bacon bits or you may not have enough left for everyone to get an equal amount )


This soup is delightful accompanied with hot crusty bread, a simple salad and iced tea or lemonade.


 
Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter
 



Woo Woo

 

By Pauline Evanosky

Some Steps to Becoming Psychic

Nobody can tell whether I’m making this stuff up or if it is honest. It’s just me you’re looking at.


All I can do is be the psychic channel I turned out to be. In fact, being dishonest is one of the steps you take when you’re learning how to do it. It’s called pretend.


Now, who would ever equate dishonesty with pretending? When a kid pretends, they are not being dishonest. They are pretending they have an invisible friend who does the dishes. Likely, that was a man-child. Be careful when you get married, ladies, that your intended never had fantasies that their invisible friend did all the work, did all the shopping, did all the dishes, and all he liked to do as a kid was lie around and make a mess. Believe me, there are men like that out there. Just bear that in mind before you say, “I do.”


Anyway, back to the dishonest part. Or rather, the pretend part of learning how to be a psychic channel.


First, you must truly believe that it is possible. This, when it finally happens to you, will ensure that you know how to really, really believe something. Like everybody believes the sun will come up with the new day and the stars will come out with the night. There could be extenuating circumstances like rain or clouds, but basically, that’s the belief we have.


So, even though you don’t feel like you’ve got a single psychic bone in your body, you have to really convince yourself that you are psychic. I wouldn’t go around advertising it until you begin to feel it happening and even then, you might wait a year or so before you announce to your brother-in-law that you can read his mind. Cautionary note: Don’t ever tell anybody you can read their mind. I know this is what is depicted in literature, but just don’t do it. You might get hunches about a person’s intent, but unless you ask them plainly about it you won’t know for sure. Personally? I’ve talked with people and suddenly, out of the blue, I’m talking about a Martha. They are shocked and asked me how I knew about their friend Martha. I say I don’t know. And I don’t. What I believe? It’s the magic of being a channel and talking to the dead.


So, once you’ve done that, although the belief hasn’t yet been tested, you’re going to put your feelers out to “prove” this belief to yourself.


How do you do that, exactly? Listen to other psychics. Not every one of them is going to have the same advice. This does not make one more right than another. But this will be the truth for them.


The thing is, there are many different kinds of psychics. You can have those who get “feelings” about you. Sometimes that works for me. Like I might say to someone, “Do you like to write?” Or I meet somebody, and I get the willies. This happens with narcissists. Or maybe they are serial killers. I never stayed around long enough to find out. I just put a whole lot of distance between me and whoever they are. If I get a bad feeling? I’m out of there.


You can find a psychic who is into numbers. I would tend to say this might be an important person to hang around with, just because you might have better luck playing the lottery. That’s just a theory on my part because I’ve never really had the luck to run into anybody like that. Also, my Spirit Guides have told me they’ll give me lots of numbers to play. It’s just that none of them ever won. Unless, perhaps in another country I don’t know about. Being psychic does not get you a tick for an easier life. It does, though, mean you’ll have an adventurous time of it.


I’ve never really figured out what sort of psychic I am. Stuff shows up all the time that is “different”. Like I’ll be thinking about a friend I haven’t heard from in years, and the next day they call me. That happens occasionally to me. Or I will call my husband on the telephone, and he tells me he had just picked up his phone to call me. That happens a lot to us.


I visit with dead folk and people in Spirit in my dreams.


Before I learned how to channel, my dreams were always me and whoever was chasing me. I’d get mired in the mud and not be able to move with a monster or a bad guy behind me closing in quickly. Once I learned how to channel, my dreams became me and lots of people. As I’ve gotten older and more people around me have died, they too show up in my dreams. It’s just another way of saying hello. If you are lucid when you dream, that’s super fun because then you can have a real visit with your loved ones.


An interesting thing happened involving normal everyday things when I began channeling. I trust my Spirit guide, Seth, and others to help out at the grocery store. I’ll reach for a piece of produce and hear, “No, not that one. Choose this one.” And, for goodness’ sake, doesn’t my hand reach for the other onion. Spirit is not going to do that one without permission. All you have to do is ask. I don’t go to the grocery store much these days. Ever since Covid, I learned that I liked being housebound.


I’m a writer. I sit in a chair and write. My husband does the shopping, or we order from Amazon. By the way, I’ve even ordered ice cream from Amazon, and it comes frozen. But, back in the day, I’d have gotten all my shopping done, and I’d pause at the end of an aisle and ask Seth, “Is there anything else?” That’s when I start getting directions: “Keep going. Keep going. Turn now!” If nothing comes to me in that particular aisle, I’ll stop and take a deep breath and refocus on what is for sale. Then, I’ll see it, whatever it is that I haven’t had in a long time.


A good exercise to help you begin to communicate with your inner self that came about from Julia Cameron’s "The Artist’s Way" is for writers or artists who are having a hard time getting going with their stuff. You assume, you pretend that first of all, you have an inner self. This is the part of you that is probably your soul. It’s the higher part of yourself. It’s the part of you that is not afraid. This is the self you want to be talking to. Draw a line down a piece of paper. Right in the middle. The left side of the paper belongs to you. The right side of the paper belongs to your higher self or your unconscious self.


When I first did this, I wrote on the left side, “I am a writer.” My higher self wrote, “You couldn’t write your way out of a paper bag.” An argument of sorts ensued. I’d never done such a thing in my life. It was amazing. I didn’t know how to channel in those days. But that’s what Julia Cameron taught me: how to get in touch with my higher self.


The idea was that your higher self was also your unconscious self, who held all these deep-seated misgivings that somehow prevented you from attaining your dreams. You realize that these fears and truths were not real. In some cases, they were downright silly. Breaking through as a writer was necessary for me to really believe that I was psychic.


Everybody is psychic. I really believe that now. Psychic is just another sense. Wanting to be psychic means that you are waking up that sense, honing it. Like if you were going to be a perfume expert or a wine connoisseur, you would need your sense of smell and taste, in the case of the wine, to be so refined that you could know there was a hint of citrus or of clover. Becoming more psychic is just waking up those senses, and in order to do that, you’ve just got to pretend.


Imagine, and it is so.


Now, would that work if you wanted to be a brain surgeon? Sure. Though we all know that you will need to go to school for a gazillion years to do it. The same thing happened to me when I wanted to be a psychic. It took me at least five years of concentrated study before anything “real” happened. I just took the steps as they came to me. I didn’t go to school.


I went to a lot of psychics to see what it was like. Later, I studied them to learn which techniques I liked and which I did not trust. For instance, if a psychic says to you, “For more money, I can lift the curse that is on you.” Right. Say thank you and leave. I don’t believe in curses, though some people do. I also don’t believe that to withhold help in lieu of more money is just shameful.


Oh, another important step you might consciously take is to make a promise to yourself and to the universe that you try your hardest to remain calm and in touch with your mental self. This can first be accomplished by you keeping a journal and recording the interesting things that are happening and how you are feeling. Sometimes when a person begins to investigate what makes them tick, they stumble upon areas of their life where having a psychotherapist is a good thing. It happens. It happened to me. In order to know others, you will first need to learn about yourself. Sometimes that can be upsetting. So, just make the promise and if and when the time comes, you’ll be open to some help for yourself.


The steps that you take might be different than the steps I took. One of the steps is to trust that whatever is going to help you achieve your goal will be there for you when you need it. So, going to an Ivy League school is not going to ensure success. There are tons of ways to get where you are going in life, no matter what you want to do. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in the universe.


Bon chance.
Pauline Evanosky


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.