http://www.taleswappers.com Sharing stories, telling tales - pull up a chair and listen! Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:23:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I woke up the other morning, when it was still nice and dark.  I yawned and stretched, and then looked for some fun.  My bowl was empty, so I had a few laps of water; I started back out toward the living room when I saw it -- a mouse, ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2009/09/16/those-silly-humans/ I don't remember living with my first father.  I was only three years old when my mother Herodias took me and divorced him.  He was a Herod, just like my dad, and I learned later that the two Herods were brothers, and their father, too.  Mother would never talk about ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2009/07/12/the-dance/ Wagtail Duckypants was a duck.  Not an ordinary duck, mind you, but a very special, one-of-a-kind, wonderful duck.  Wagtail's father was a mallard duck   and his mother was a muscovy duck.  Wagtail knew he was very special, because he had never seen another duck like him before.  He had his ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2008/11/23/mr-wagtail-duckypants/   "Michael!" the angel called. "Michael, where are you?"   Michael paused in his drill, his sword halted in mid-swing. "What is it, Gabriel?"   "It’s Jesus, Michael. You have to come see."   Michael sighed and put up his sword. He didn’t have to physically put it away, but the archangel found ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2008/03/20/a-story-for-holy-week/   Trudging through the sand, kicking rocks, I saw the sky is slate metal steel gray - not pretty dove grey, not snow sky grey - but plain old gray, harsh and a little scary. The ocean was dark, roiling and churning, darker than gray, but not quite black. The wind ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2008/02/20/time-travel/ I was expecting a visit from a dear friend in August. He's from Ontario, where butter tarts are a favorite treat, and I live in Virginia, where nobody has ever heard the words butter and tart put together that way before. I wanted to surprise him by having ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2007/09/25/the-saga-of-super-sleuth-and-the-butter-tarts/ Once, long ago, there was a Yard Art Bear. http://www.taleswappers.com/2007/08/28/yard-art-bear/ Since it's Sunday, and since I've just written two pieces on the Transfiguration, I thought that this week, I'd share some story snippets about transforming moments along my journey. The first memory I have of a brush with the infinite was when I was almost-four or just-turned-four, when we were living ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2007/08/12/story-snippets-for-sunday/ It was hot and dusty. It's always hot and dusty in these mountains, young John thought. He and James had lugged water with them on the long trek up the harsh mountain, but now the skins were much lighter. Too light, he thought, gently shaking one without ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2007/08/10/down-from-the-mountain/ Molly trudged up the mountain. Sweat rolled down her back as the humidity of a Virginia August combined with the work of hiking uphill, toiling after her trim mother and her mountain goat of a little brother. Christ, but I hate these trips! Molly thought. I ... http://www.taleswappers.com/2007/08/07/transfiguration/