Authors often entertain my imagination with their story plots.  Ray Bradbury surpasses most because he combines words in ways no one else ever does.  For example, here is an excerpt from the General talking with the drummer boy the night before the historic battle.

“It’s wrong, boy, it’s wrong as a head put on hind side front and a man marching backward through life.  It will be a double massacre if one of their itchy generals decides to picnic his lads on our grass.  More innocents will get shot out of pure Cherokee enthusiasm than ever got shot before.  Owl Creek was full of boys splashing around in the noonday sun just a few hours ago.  I fear it will be full of boys again, just floating, at sundown tomorrow, not caring where the tide takes them.”

“… many nights from tonight, many years from now, when you’re as old or fare much older than me, when they ask you what you did in this awful time, you will tell them – one part humble and one part proud – ‘I was the drummer boy at the battle of Owl Creek,’ or the Tennessee River, or maybe they’ll just name it after the church there.  ‘I was the drummer boy at Shiloh.’  Good grief, that has a beat and sound to it fitting for Mr. Longfellow.  ‘I was the drummer boy at Shiloh.’  Who will ever hear those words and not know you, boy, or what you thought this night, or what you’ll think tomorrow or the next day when we must get up on our legs and move!”

The cover of the book calls Ray “The World’s Greatest Living Science Fiction Writer”.  I find that definition confining.

Ray Bradbury has always loved Halloween; it is his favorite holiday.   Our mutual friends William F Nolan, Jason Brock and Sunni Brock recently presented Ray with one of my Halloween pens.  Jason is pictured here with Ray.  When Ray was told that like him, I was born in Waukegan, Illinois, he said simply, “I’ll be damned”.

]]> http://familystoriesblog.com/blog/2012/03/31/in-awe-of-ray-bradbury/feed/ 0 http://familystoriesblog.com/blog/2011/10/11/sharing-stories/ http://familystoriesblog.com/blog/2011/10/11/sharing-stories/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:20:47 +0000 Norman Paulk http://familystoriesblog.com/?p=2943 I would like to introduce a recently new member to our website.  Her name is Caryn Schulenberg.  If you look on the home page in the Favorite Authors section you will find the link to her stories.  She has written one almost every day since she joined us.  Here is what she says in her profile:

“I have been married to my best friend, Bob since 1975. We have two beautiful daughters, Corrie and Amy; two wonderful sons-in-law, Kevin and Travis; and 4 beautiful grandchildren, Christopher, Shai, Caalab, and Joshua. God has richly blessed me and my family. I have been an insurance agent in Casper, Wyoming since 1989, and with The Stengel Agency since 1996. I have been blessed with the most wonderful boss in the world, and I would never work anywhere else again, as there is no better place to work. I love to hike and take long walks outside. The mountains are my place of peace. I love to see what is just around the next turn in the trail.”

Pens by Norman Newsletter

June 7, 2011

Sign up for our newsletter so you can be notified when we have new pens or special offers.  10% of our sales go to our local food bank.

Event Schedule

Here is the current schedule of shows and festivals where you can talk with Vicki and me, test drive our pens and buy the ones that grab your attention. Watch for additions and changes.

“Downtown Farmer’s Market” … Vancouver, Washington

click here for information about the market

May 28-29

June 4-5, 11-12, 18-19, 25-26
July 2-3, 30-31
August 6-7, 13-14, 20-21
September 3-4, 17-18, 24-25
October 1-2, 8-9, 15-16, 22-23, 29-30

.

“Harvest Days” … Battle Ground, Washington

click here for information about the event

July 15-17

.

“Camas Days” … Camas, Washington

click here for information about the event

July 22-23

.

“Art & Air Festival” … Albany, Oregon

click here for information about the festival

August 26-28

.

“Arts & Crafts Festival” … Ocean Shores, Washington

click here for information about the festival

September 9-11

.

“OHSU Farmer’s Market” … Portland, Oregon

click here for more information about this event

October 4

.

“Christmas Bazaar” … Stay tuned for where we will have our booth.

We added 12 new pens on April 24th.  They are on the home page of pensbynorman.com under the “Featured Products” and “New Products” headings.

We are very upbeat about her condition and have decided to celebrate by offering a $10 discount between April 4th and April 17th on all on-line orders for our pens.  This is valid within the United States.  The discount code is BG89692G5A8I8.  This is better than a “Groupon” because there are no minimum or maximum number of people who can use it.  Click here to see the offer and pen choices.

Pass the discount code # to all of your family and friends.  That can be your gift to them.

Strange as it may seem, Vicki is the one with all the energy these days.  I spend my time making pens and am also writing a book called “Secrets of a Pen Maker”.  Naps keep me going.

Norman Paulk
April 4, 2011
Camas, Washington

Click here to see a copy.

Vicki and I are happy with the reception of our work.   We are working on some custom pens for a couple of businesses to give to their valued clients.  We recently sent a pen to Florida as a result of a Facebook sale.

Thanks to all who have responded.  The food bank also thanks you since it gets 10% of our sales.

Norman Paulk

Vicki is very good about having a mammogram done every year.  This time, it was determined that she has stage one breast cancer.  We are so thankful that her cancer was discovered early.  Surgery is scheduled for this month.

I turn sixty-nine later this month.  I pre-date the Baby Boomers by a few years and have not slowed down.  Now I am starting a new business.

For the past three and one-half months Vicki and I have been working non-stop on our new pen business.  The reception our pens get is outstanding.  The website pensbynorman.com was launched March 11th.  It is featured at the top of the Market Place on the right column of the FamilyStoriesBlog.com home page. 10% of our sales go to our local food bank.  Click here to take a look at what we have to offer.

The FamilyStoriesBlog website has had visitors from fifty-five countries to date.  While not all visitors sign up for membership, our stories are being read.

Rock stars have experienced extreme highs when performing before thousands of excited fans.  Often they have turned to drugs in an attempt to recapture the highs that came from performing.  Writers share that same level of exciting connections when their works become public and turn into best sellers, television shows or movies.  For writers, drugs might not be the solution for recreating experiences; friendships remembered and new friendships created might be the true answer.  Bill Nolan has experienced that level of public acceptance.  More important, he has shared the emotions, thoughts and experiences of contemporaries and friends while they each became known as authors of merit.

Bill shared very personal feelings about loneliness and the sense of loss as his friends have died.  He, like my friend Gale Drysdale, understands the passing of time and the changes that occur.  Gale is the feature of my story
How Do You Measure A Man.  Bill appears to have come to terms with his life and his new friendships.  After all, once old friends have passed away, we can only nurture their memories and add new friendships to fill the void created.

I consider myself an empathetic weather vane.  The emotions of life seep through my veins whether those emotions belong to me or someone who has touched me.  Even if I never have a chance to meet Bill Nolan, he has become a part of the Gestalt being that is me.

Norman Paulk

October 20, 2010

This morning as with every other morning,  I was reading the Oregonian.  On page C2 is a section called People.  The lead article today is about the death of Johnny Sheffield who played Tarzan’s son “Boy” in the movies.  The article tells that he later played “Bomba”.  You know where this is going.  After finishing the paper I picked up The Bleeding Edge, a fascinating book given to me by one of it’s co-editors Jason Brock.  Jason compiled this selection of short stories with his friend, Bill Nolan, co-author of Logan’s Run.  I opened to the bookmark from where I stopped reading yesterday and began the next story,  “The Boy Who Became Invisible” by Joe Lansdale.  On the very first page is this paragraph:

“Jesse and I liked to play Tarzan, and we took turns at it until we finally both decided to be Tarzan, and ended up being Tarzan twins.  It was a great mythology we created and we ran the woods and climbed trees, and on Saturday we watched Jungle Theater at my house, which showed, if we were lucky, Tarzan or Jungle Jim movies, and if not so lucky, Bomba movies.”

This type of connection has happened to me so many times that you would think it would no longer affect me; you would be wrong.  I covered my face with my hands and felt gripped by emotion.  I do not know if it was awe, disbelief or mild shock.  My wife has heard my “connections” many times in the past, but her arms were instantly covered with goosebumps on hearing what had just happened.  I know it will happen again.

Norman Paulk

October 19, 2010

[Click on any of the names or titles in orange to see more]