AMPERSANDTALES

The food you have come to know as "foreign" may not be what you think it is.... you may just be eating a romanticized Americanized version....

Bea turns heads.  Follow her and Adam through their adventure in Rome.

Pronto means "ready" in Italiano.  So get ready for Bea's next podcast series, "Dogs of Sorrento".

Listen as Bea talks about The Parlay, her art, and the next story in the queue.   Bring your kidnapping and shakedown money cause you never know where we are going to go or who we are going to meet in Cabochon County.

Ever know someone who has to have the last word…. no matter what?  Bea wraps up the story of The Parlay by giving the last word to someone without words, but pleny to say.

Which obligations weigh heavier on a mind?  An obligation committed to never to be required, or an obligation committed to that is attempted then cast aside.

In this episode Bea talks about hopes for the future - hers, Martin’s and Adam’s.  Everyone dreams about the  future and the way life could be; possessions to be acquired and relationships to explore.  Bea exposes the dreams she has for Blanca; Martin dreams about the togetherness that will satiate his love; and Adam takes a path that he never desired.

Come listen to Bea in the first of four final episodes as she dabbles in some complex newtonian physics and starts to tie up the loose threads of The Parlay.

Welcome to our second interview with Bea, and the start of the last season of The Parlay.    In this interview Bea will talk to Sister and Sparky about story telling and their origin story. You know Bea loves a good wedding tale, and this one will be just as interesting as any you have heard before.  Everyone has a beginning and Bea loves to get into each story and hear all of the details.  Sister will introduce us to Uncle Sam and Aunt Kitten and a shady character known only as the 'Captain.' Sit back and kick up your heels in our second interview with Bea, and get acquainted with Sister and Sparky… They may be Bea’s family, but they will soon be your new besets friend.

In the final chapter of Season Three, Bea reveals the darkess that tired to surround her and her drag her down in to a bottomless night.  This isn't a autum ghost story but a cautionary tale of what does lurk in the night, and the misery it brings and the depth of the darkness it owns.  But the light in Bea’s heart is fueled by another, more Holy Spirit and it cuts through the inky darkness causing shadows to retreat and causes malevolent forces to shrink away.  The Spirit of Truth promises a new heart, one that is swept clean of the dirt and debris of our past. The Holy Spirit gives a new heart that is clothed in light, and from which springs a well of living water.  Bea emerges from the listless darkness clothed in raiment of righteousness and with a heart for those who have tried the same path.

In this next to last installment of The Parlay, Bea reveals the fact that sometimes couples come together for a multitude of reasons.  In the cold of the world, two individuals swirl around each other, and sometimes coalesce into a single.  For the fortunate, that singularity remains closely knit and the bonds intensify with time.  For the less fortunate, as the two orbit each other the swirl  of life prevents the space between from collapsing into togetherness and the individuals are slung back apart.    Those that survive the vortex find themselves a rescuer a preserver of life and limb and a maker of a partner for life.

We all have memories that hang on and remain stored in the recesses and niches of our mind.  Mundane memories float back to our conscious mind only when triggered by an outside stimulus, a familiar refrain, or a faint aroma on a spring breeze.   Those memories are harmless and the collection of a life lived.  There are memories that float on the conscious which intrude on our daily routine and cannot be shaken.  These are the ones we call baggage.  We all have it.  When you are young its baggage.  When you are old its history.  Where the line blurs is a call that only the one lugging it all around can decide.  The sooner its history the sooner you can categorize it, organize it and learn from it.

Thanks for coming back.  In this weeks story, Bea tells the tale of a personal tragedy sprung on her at the start of a family visit.  who has not daydreamed of injury or illness to distance ourself from emotional pain so deep and crashing down upon us like a dark sea inadvertently fallen into.  Thankfully with the help of family, friends, distance and time, even the deepest cuts can be survived.  An octogenarian with skin leathered by the weather of a lifetime will tell you that life isn’t what you think it should be, but at the same time much more than could ever been hoped for.

Society might try to define who we are and mark us with titles, roles, and responsibilities, but the definitions that are hardest to leave behind are those with which we mark ourselves.  Some marks like, tattoos, are visible and available for the world to see and attempt to decipher.  Too bad the ones that tangle our minds like weeds in an untended garden are the ones we brand ourselves with. Those scars are unseen to those around us, yet inform so many of our choices and perhaps predestine the outcomes of our lives.

Welcome to episode 3 of season 3.  Bea continues her story by recounting the beginning of her relationship with someone as bruised and battered by a past relationship as herself.  It’s a shame that beginnings don’t always foretell the rest of the story.  Time eventually heals all wounds and gives perspective to our setbacks.   Emotions rebound, hurts seem more distant, and life goes on.

Everyone has ups and downs - No one ever is immune to this fact of life.  In this episode, Bea talks about starting over and learning that previous life upsets do not keep you from heartbreak.  In this life the well of heartbreak never runs dry.

Most of us are not afraid of the dark anymore, but Bea tells us that there are things that go bump in the night.  Don't worry because Bea will shine a glorious bright light of love into the inky blackness and drive those maleficent spectral apparitions away like whips of fog on a warm spring morning. 

Bea is back to end 2018 with a Christmas Special reminiscent of those from our youth.  No regular scheduled programing will be preempted, but you can be sure this special will have all the holiday warmth you would expect from a Holiday program. Don't dispair Season 3 Episode 1 will come out before the new year.  Thank you for waiting patiently 

In this season conclusion Bea tells about her own personal D-Day.  a small gathering made up of a mentor, a secretary and Pastor Joe seal the deal.  That day started out like any other, however by the end of the day God had joined together a perfect match.  God’s divine providence moved a rock and a flower into a common location and created a love match for all eternity.

What is your favorite Christmas memory?  Do you have a beloved gift received from a special relative or a picturesque postcard scene at a loved ones house?  Sometimes the things that stand out the most are not the picture perfect memories.  Listen to Bea reminisce about Christmas in this special episode of the Parlay.

Every kid day dreams about the day when he or she graduates from school and never has to do home work again.  But thats not really the way it goes is it?  Life is really enrollment in the school of Hard knocks and most of us have earned a PHD in hard lessons.  Pastor Joe takes Bea and the Stranger back to school to learn a whole new calculus.  Life is about learning and you never know what you will learn from The Parlay.

In this episode, the Stranger meets the family.  Will the self-proclaimed matriarch of the family approve?  Fast fired questions from the elder female members of the group probe for weakness and are fired for effect.  Will they uncover a hidden fault or clever deception?  What if its just a simple unexpected kindness that tips the scales in the tall stranger’s favor?  Be a fly on the wall during this tale from The Parlay.

In our experience there are only a few people who make an extraordinary mark on the direction of our lives. No doubt you can think of a teacher, mentor, or other person who influenced the pathway of your life. In this episode Bea will tell you about a man who spoke truth from the Spirit and made wisdom his friend. Bea has her own home-spun wisdom that makes everyone she meets feel like a cherished friend…. ever wonder who Bea looks to for her wisdom and guidance? Well by the end of this story you will surely know, and may find it a light for your own life from the Parlay.

Bea takes a road trip to Huntsville to meet a Stranger, however a misunderstanding of the cartographic kind almost sends her in the wrong direction.  Ambrosia keeps it real, keeping the silence filled with random wisdom.  Could you tell if that moment when a stranger met in a hotel lobby might be the moment when your life changes direction forever?  See if you can spot that moment in Bea’s wedding story during this weeks episode of The Parlay.

Its that time of year when calories have no meaning and we sit down to arguably the best meal of the year.  Bea talks about Thanksgiving at her house and it might surprise you how little of her story revolves around the meal. So come on in and join us at the table, there is a place set just for you.  All families are the same, whether yours looks like a Norman Rockwell painting on a Sunday afternoon, or more like a National Lampoon holiday special, your time with the family is what the holidays are all about. Give us your best turkey gobble and join in the fun for Thanksgiving in The Parlay.

Friends can sometimes read between the lines and know - without knowing - that something or someone is occupying the random thoughts in our private mind.  Some call it the glow of love, others a cheshire grin… in any case, even when you think you are hiding a secret, chances are you have given yourself away to those who know you best. If you have a friend like that then chances are you will sympathize with Bea as she relates the next episode of The Parlay.

The purchasing power of the dollar has changed quite a bit since the 1960s.  In harder times, some purchase are too frivolous to contemplate.  What Bea tells us is that the cost of some losses is incalculable.  What is the cost of a cut glass punch bowl and would you pay the price? In this episode, Bea fills in the missing details from the letters from the attic.  You might be surprised at how much more meaningful things that are not said can be over those words that are spoken, and how those details can inform mysterious and meaningless family actions. Could you suspect that such a unlikely purchase was insurance against a future catastrophe?

There are no ghosts or ghouls in our seasonal fall story, but Bea reminisces about childhood halloweens, costumes and other spectral what nots.

Living a glamorous life is never what it seems from the outside and there is always a price to pay.  Bea informs us that the Hollywood love story has a darker, lonelier side that is left on the editing room floor.  However each redacted clip in actuality gives the movie greater depth and is what really makes the story one we can relate to on a more personal note.

In this installment Bea begins her own wedding story by introducing a bigger than life personality that would literally drop of of the sky.  Bea challenges the stranger to woo her with stories.  Can the stranger meet the challenge?  Bea has high standards and isn’t easily impressed with a thin retelling of someone else’s story.  Will his stories be a dud or more like 1001 Arabian nights?

 While this is the first, we are please to say it will not be the last.  This is a chance to get to know the person behind the story and learn about her  from her own point of view.  As the Parlay is a memoir, our time with Bea will fill in the blanks, add depth to her characters, and explain the back story.   Of course you can participate directly in up coming interviews by submitting your questions to Bea, which she will answer personally in her own charming and humorous way.

In this episode Bea talks about movies from the 1980s and their meaning.  She introduces Suzy and describes her friendship through the years.

Be sure to check us out on Amersandtales.com for our updates.   Season two is on the way.  Join us in October for all new episodes and meet more of Bea's cast of characters.

It cannot always be sunny, not even in Parlay MS.  Into all lives a little rain must fall.  God sends his refreshing rain on the just and the unjust.  To the righteous the rain is a nurturing tonic that brings out the finest lily of the field whose regiment is finer than the purple robes of Soloman.  But to the wicked the same shower is a storm of judgment from Gods cup of wrath.

Come on in and sit a spell.  Bea has another recollection to spin for us about the naive teenage machinations of getting married.  Too much is taken for granted and reality is just a truth to be ignored.

Coming back to hear Bea is like coming back to a dear friend.  She is always glad you came, and she never remembers the time between visits.  In this episode Bea will roll the dice on some long shots and hope that luck will be a lady.

Welcome back y’all.  In this episode Bea we hear about family dalliances and piece together the double entandré about pants on fire.

This time Bea tells Someone-Who-Never-Was about the family penchant for cussin and fussin.   You won’t hear Bea say nary a trashy word here, but she stands firm that the family can make a Sailor blush with its perniciously perfected Potty mouth.

Every family has skeletons, and as  Bea tells it, they are neither scary or objects of pride they are just what they are…. lessons to learn from.

Bea reminisces about the end of a "civil war" and the beginning of a blistering "cold one".

In this episode Bea explains old fashion technology, proper telephone etiquette, the davenport, and eaves dropping on neighbors on Party lines.

On this beautiful sunny day in Parlay, MS, join Bea as she moves into the subject at hand.  Enjoy a tall glass of your favorite beverage, kick your feet up and lets listen to Letters in The Attic.

In this first episode of The Parlay, take a stroll down the shady green lanes of Bea Ampersand's memory as she recounts the stories of her family, friends, villains, lovers, and fighters.  Become part of the family as she invites you to partake in the rich oral history of her life.  In this episode, Bea introduces you to Someone-Who-Never-Was and tells them all the things they will never have to answer for.