Happy belated Beltane You know it is officially Spring here in Iowa when the garage sales start blooming on a consistent basis. My Mom called yesterday and gave me the list of the ones for this weekend. Before this there had been a small scattering of them but this weekend the season must have officially started cause there are several. I’m planning on visiting them. Just what we need more stuff. Cute kid story of the week, my two daughters were talking, without arguing too much for once, when the subject turned to bakeries and the oldest said we needed a bakery in town. The youngest said well we have one and I agree there was one as part of the grocery store. She said that wasn’t the one she meant. Of course big sister had to tell her she was wrong, and I had to agree, The youngest started arguing yes there was another bakery. Finally I called it to a halt and said. “Ok where is the other bakery” Her answer. “Grandma’s.” I told my Mom and she loved it. I also need to get my butt in gear and weed my garden. I’ve been procrastinating and if I don’t get to it no one is going to be able to tell the plants from the weeds other then me. I will admit part of it is the fact that the place is more then a bit muddy still but it needs done. Unfortunately it looks like my bee balm was plowed under when the person who has loaned me the garden space did his tilling earlier and my lady’s mantle seemed to have not survived last summers heat/dryness. But the rest are coming back beautifully my sweet woodruff is even flowering this year. Remember folks, submissions are always welcomed especially from those who have promised them a long time ago. (Yes that is a hint Jodi.) So until next time, Sheila K. Watkins Editor: Whispers of a Stone Circle See last page of this newsletter for submission guidelines, forwarding guidelines, where you can subscribe to Whispers and copyright information. ~*~*~*~ God/dess Spring By Kathleen A Cheyney Beltaine hands, ghostly remembrances Caress me in the memory of a Springtime past. A scent of tulip trees and walking In a park unfamiliar to Both of us. Falling in love with the taste of Chocolate as I kissed you Deeply and longingly. A bed we never bothered to Pull the covers up on, for It wasted time. Witches dancing through the Rite of sensuality, Waiting, watching, The God and Goddess Lost in each other's Eyes, surrounding Themselves with a Mantle of loving warmth, Rough with desire. As the gathered dance Around the Maypole Weaving spellwork ribbons, Brightly colored blendings Of hearts and minds learning To intertwine In the ritual of the May Where reality and memory Are one. (c) May 2002 ~*~*~*~ Cool Link(s) of the week: A friend forwarded me a copy of this almanac and I found it pretty cool. Wilson’s Almanac http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilsonsAlmanac/ ~*~*~*~ Pasta Salad By Sheila K. Watkins Items needed 1 pound bag of pasta (I prefer multicolored/flavored type but regular elbow or shell macaroni is fine.) 2 carrots sliced 10 radishes sliced 2 stalks of celery sliced 1 medium onion diced 1 can sliced black olives 1 large bottle each of Ranch dressing and Italian dressing. 1 8 oz bottle Parmesan cheese Cook your pasta according to directions, drain well and cool. While it is cooling wash and cut up your vegetables. Put the pasta, the vegetables and the olives together in a large container. (Preferably one which you can use a lid on.) Pour both dressings over the pasta, add the Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. It should be a bit soupy yet. Put in the refrigerator for several hours, stirring occasionally. The pasta should soak up a lot of the dressing. Serves a ton of people. ~*~*~*~ Announcement(s): Merry Meet once again, my soggy friends! I hope your Beltane was a memorable and exciting occasion, and for those who have yet to celebrate the Sabbat, may it be joyous and drier than last weekend. The website is online, but Tony still has some work to do; he asked me for suggestions, and I'm afraid that I bogged him down a bit, but he must have liked my ideas, because he is incorporating them into the site. When he is satisfied with the design, and gets my approval (which I'm sure he will!), I will do a special update. What I have seen of it so far, is very good. I'm sure you will all like it, and find it to be informative and helpful. I am up dating the flyers this weekend with the website address, and will be doing up copies to send out shortly. At the Blessed Be planning workshop at the Beltane gathering on Saturday, Mike Bauer told me that R & R Ranch has a full kitchen setup in the barn, which is used for large groups to eat indoors. He said that he can do a simple supper on Friday, along the lines of burgers and fries, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, contribute to the potluck that day as well, and do breakfast on Sunday. It sounded like it would be reasonably priced also. I will get sign-up sheets from the Bauers before the Solstice, and those who would like to have meals at Blessed Be do not have to pay for it at that time, we're just trying to get an idea of numbers. There are still plenty of volunteer leadership positions open, so I'll put list here now to give everyone an idea of taking on some of these jobs. Event Chair--Kevin Romaine (Sings With Coyotes) Event Vice-Chair-- Workshop Coordinator-- Divination Table Coordinator-- Head of Security--Linda Bauer Food Service Coordinator--Mike Bauer Information Table Coordinator--James Cheaney (Altair) Ritual Circle Coordinator--Jody Michael (Shadowalker) Children's Activities Coordinator--Chrissy Dunham (Gypsy) First Aid Coordinator--Su Walker (Mira Cetus) Media Liaison-- Vendor Liaison--Barb Johnson Website Coordinator--Anthony Clifton Thanks to everyone! As far as getting a politician to speak at the event, I was thinking of telephoning the Iowa Democratic Party, and asking them to consult with someone in the Osceola area who might be interested in coming out to talk with us. I feel that if the request were to come through the official party channels, they would take us more seriously. I am not making the same request to the Republican Party, as it is likely they would refuse us outright, and I don't feel like wasting my time on them. Call me a hardliner if you will, this is my opinion. As to why I am taking this on by myself, I don't feel as though I can shove it off on someone else, unless you want to do it. I have said before, I am not above delegating. But hey, I gotta do something, or I'll start to feel like I'm not doing my job! As always, the floor is open to suggestions, and please forward this to any lists you consider helpful in getting the word out. For those who would like more information, I have an text document I can e-mail you, which you may copy and paste for the benefit of others. Merry Part, hope to see you at the Solstice! Blessed be, Kevin Romaine (Sings With Coyotes) Event Coordinator, Blessed Be and Meet Me in Des Moines 2002[Iowa Mirror Event] October 18-20, 2002 Osceola, Iowa, USA ~*~*~*~ Writer's Biographies: Kate Cheyney began her writing career in 1967 writing human interest articles for her high school newspaper. Her articles won recognition from the Iowa High School Press Association and from the University of Iowa Department of Journalism. While raising a family, Kate worked for various local newspapers in southeastern Iowa. Writing in print media was set aside for a number of years while Kate built various businesses in local access cable television, professional dog grooming, and massage therapy. She returned to writing as a serious endeavor in 1997, and became interested in poetry as a medium of expression for the color and nuance it can provide. Kate lives in southeastern Iowa with her spouse and two English Springer Spaniels and a black cat. She is happy to have all children and grandchildren still living close by. Sheila K. Watkins knew from the time she was 15 that she wanted to be a writer but did not really start writing until she entered college where she worked on her college newspaper and also worked as the editor of the feature section for one semester. She was also introduced to the love of writing poetry at this time. Fortunately for all of us most of the poems have been lost to the world of men. After college she worked several jobs during the next few years but none included writing. It wasn’t until after both of her children had started school in 1998 that she went back to her love of putting words on a computer screen. Her first submission was accepted by publication by the IOWAN newsletter and it started her on the path of truly honing her work. In October of 2000, she founded and became editor of Whispers of a Stone Circle. ~*~*~*~ Submissions are always welcomed and can be made to: Zeliziw@netins.net In submitting materials writers are agreeing that if accepted I may post them in the newsletter and on the web page (whenever I finally get back to work on it.) Works submitted must be the writer’s own work and they must still retain the copyright OR it must be verifiably public domain. Works can have been published before but please nothing that has been around over and over again. Copyright remains in the author’s possession. The Author also realizes that they will not be paid. (If I had money I would be hosting this on something other then Yahoo.) If a submission is accepted, I will check for punctuation, capitalization and spelling in submitted articles. I will fix minor errors if they are present. I will NOT reword things (except for an occasional “an” for “a” and vice versa.) Poems are published as submitted. Forwarding information: If you chose to forward this newsletter, do so in its entirety, including copyright and contact information. People may subscribe to Whispers of A Stone Circle at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhispersOfAStoneCircle/ All articles, poems, etc, except where noted are copyrighted by the writers and are used with permission. They are not to be republished without the express permission of the writers. Contact information may be obtained by contacting the editor of Whispers of A Stone Circle at Zeliziw@netins.net Copyright (c) 2002 Sheila K. Watson. All Rights Reserved