Parents and kids get ready for fun filled Tuesday and Wednesday mornings! If you’re like me you may be wondering what can I do to help keep my kids from just sitting around the house? Well you are in luck, Regal Cinemas is starting their Family Film Festival June 26th.  Feel free to check out this link for dates and times, http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx?state=VA.

Leslie Miller lives in Christiansburg and is a mom.

A recent evening brought a magnificent rainbow just before dusk.

(click photos for full-screen preview)

It’s been awhile since my last post, in part because spring just couldn’t quite arrive in Giles county. Cold, rainy days rightly belonging to March continued to make weekly appearances until just before the Memorial Day weekend. Further, the powerful winter wind in Giles (ask a resident about it sometime) has been something of a spring time menace.

But Sunday evening’s shower, and the ensuing purple sky, seemed to finally wash all that away. (more…)

It was like a scene out of Tom Wolfe’s book The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, like the filming of a Merry Prankster adventure. It was a “Vision Quest,” in the form of a film by local artist Starroot, premiered at the June Bug Center’s Black Box Theater last night. (more…)

1. A front row seat at the First Friday Irish Night Jam at Oddfellas Cantina.

2. Lucy Goldman Singing Dougie Mclean’s “Ready for the Storm.” Tina Liza Jones (on the left) was strumming an unusual guitar; I think it was THIS.

3. Several played fiddle and one played a harp. I wish someone in the group played THIS, an instrument that when played well can bring tears to my eyes.

~ Colleen Redman is a writer from Floyd who blogs daily at looseleafnotes.com. Her writer’s bio can be found HERE.

The 7-9 time-slot stretched on to 10:30, with several new readers, a full house of attendees, and a line-up that resembled a Spoken Word variety show. After Greg opened the evening with a reflective essay about photographs and memories, Mara (pictured left) and I shared our very different Scrabble poems, created using words we played in a game on St. Patrick’s Day.

Chelsea (pictured reading below), one of my fellow winning teammates of the Literacy Volunteers Scrabble Tournament, kept the theme going with a just-written poem about Scrabble. Others, read from her first poetry collection, “Looking for a Landing,” were prompted by the subject of Greg’s reading.

Our third Scrabble Tournament teammate, Virginia, was in the audience with her husband, Don. Don took a shot at the mic, reading a poem from Chelsea’s second poetry collection, Java Poems. Seeing as how the café specializes in coffee, Java Poems is a favorite of Café Del Sol owner, Sally, the evening’s gracious master of ceremonies.

Rosemary premiered a performance piece about self-empowerment, presented with an edge. Mara read several poems by Virginia Tech creative writing professor, Bob Hicok, and one of her own, for the first anniversary honoring the victims of the April 16th Tech shootings. Her “Show and Tell” about wearing her late husband, Cory’s Calvin and Hobbs Grateful Dead T-shirt was memorable … Tonight I need a miracle, and not the kind that Calvin wants with one finger in the air asking for a ticket. I need to know you’re there.

A few of my six word memoirs got some good laughs … Gidget goes Woodstock; ends up country … College drop out, flunked middle class. I followed the memoirs with a group of short poems representing spring, taxes, and Earth Day. “Save the Planet” is a good slogan … or is it a slow gun we hold to our head … a sound bite to relieve us of our sins …. a glossy sticker on a gas guzzling bumper …

Photojournalist, Doug Thompson (above), was in the house. I told him that his large wide lens camera was a little intimating, but I knew he would capture some great shots, and he did (see HERE). Doug, who is a walking storyteller, shared some mic time with us, adlibbing a story with a mix of humor and tragedy. The attentive audience laughed, gasped, and choked up.

A young man (below) scribbling in a notebook during the readings shared the results of his notes, a new poem called, “In the Ear of the Beholder.” His mother followed him with a poem about closing your eyes in order to see. Sharing that her son is in cancer remission after forgoing a second round of chemo in favor of alternative treatments (a case that made national news when his parents were charged with medical neglect for not forcing mainstream treatment and then exonerated), brought a rousing round of applause.

Sam read a darkly, funny short story about a half-bald chicken getting revenge on its owner who had accidentally caused the balding (and scaring) when he tossed a pan of boiling water out a window.

Special Ed teacher Skip King was back with some 55 word poems. Lezlie performed her signature free association poetry, some of which involved – of all things – “gay McDonald burgers.” It was a ludicrous notion meant to zero in on divisive judgments and one that had the crowd in an uproar. Fresh from New Orleans, a newcomer named Justin added to the variety, closing the evening’s event by rapping some rhythm and rhyme.

~ Colleen Redman is a writer from Floyd who blogs daily at looseleafnotes.com. Her writer’s bio can be found HERE.

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Pembroke’s Korean restaurant was mentioned in the previous ‘Walking’ column, so I thought I’d elaborate a bit more on our town’s fantastic eatery.

Kal-Bee is currently the New River Valley’s only Korean-American restaurant, and it happens to be located in Giles County in downtown Pembroke. Since it’s opening in 2003, Kal-Bee has seen a fair amount of local press. Many consider it one of the ‘best places you’ve never eaten,’ and alongside The Bank and The Courthouse Cafe it is one of the unique dining spots that have appeared in Giles County in recent years.

Owner Connie Kim runs the kitchen herself, and makes everything from scratch to order. Don’t be surprised if she comes out to talk to you while you’re there, wearing one of her signature hats. The menu is about 2/3 home-style American cuisine such as fried chicken, hamburgers, meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The remaining third is Korean cuisine such as shrimp-fried rice, beef bulgogee, seafood stew and spicy garlic chicken.

No matter what, it’s all good.

Something else first-timers are often treated to is a Korean taco — specially spiced beef wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Connie is all about helping you try new things.

During the early summer, she makes her homemade strawberry shortcake. Even the cake is made in-house, and topped with ice cream it is a real treat. While a few of the seafood Korean dishes are a little pricey, most of the Kal-Bee menu is very affordable to the everyday diner.

The restaurant is located off route 460, about 12 miles west of Blacksburg, and is closed Sunday-Monday. Traveling from that direction, take a left on Snidow St in Pembroke and Kal-Bee is a few doors down on the left.

John Hildreth lives in Pembroke and teaches at Radford University.
www.radford.edu/jhildret