St. Patrick's Day

This past week we have been celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day…we have also been celebrating Patti’s birthday. How do you think she got the name Patti?! So this is the time of the year we love to do our Celtic and Irish tales; Rory the Fox, The Pipers Revenge, Red O’Halloren, The Man Without a Story and the like, as well as a plethora of Celtic versions of some stories that appear in many cultures like The Theft of Smell and The Three Wishes.

Last Thursday, we told for the Diamond Gateway Women's Organization. These ladies a fine lot… They get together fellowship, cultural enrichment and community service. They invited The Patchwork Players to tell Irish stories at their meeting at the Double Tree Resort. When we arrived, we heard the group was ‘all a-buzz’ about having storytellers come to their meeting. It was yet another reminder that storytelling in NOT just for kids. We had a great time; there were even a couple of young folk in the audience to help us with The Theft of Smell story. These kids were great, a brother and sister team who had some ‘stage’ experience. They were great as ‘starving’ kids. They dropped to the ground, and dragged themselves to (the story cue) smell of food! Thanks your young folk for the help in that story. It was a great evening, telling tales to these fine ladies from all over the San Diego area.

Wednesday, the 15th, we were invited to “The Center for Positive Living’ to tell at their annual ‘St Paddy’s Day’ dinner. Wow…we had Corned beef & Cabbage, red potatoes, and a whole bunch of other good food. Good eats!!! This is one he most popular and profitable of annual events for The Center. So we were very happy to be invited to be the ‘centerpiece’ for the event. We told a bunch of stories, as mentioned above, and James sang a bit of “Oh Danny Boy” too. All in all, the evening was a great success.

The next night we were at Chaparral Elementary School. Not the Chaparral we were at last week…that was in Orange County. This was a school of the same name in San Diego County. This was again, one of our favorite gigs; a Family Reading Night. As per usual, our program helped to support the book sale going on elsewhere on the campus. We had about 150 folk at that show, who were all very pleased with the presentation. James was quite pleased as there was a father in the audience who has seen James tell several times before, in corporate settings as a storyteller and motivational speaker. The Patchwork Player has a wide range of styles and settings. We are glad that some folks get to see several of our storytelling faces.

All in all, it has been a fine Saint Patrick’s week