Weekend Catch-Up

Incredibly beautiful morning here, crisp and clear, the humidity and rain finally leaving. The eastern side of our state has been having flooding and road collapses, a real mess. We were spared that in our area.

I am baking bread today, and will plant some coreopsis and spearmint later. Larry is working on the electric fence for the big garden which we have yet to plant. We are so far behind due to his knee replacement a month ago. But late veggies will be good too, and at least the little garden will keep us going til they come in.

In other news, the tanagers have hatched their young and are busy feeding and defending them. This morning four blue jays were apparently trying to get to the nestlings (they are known to eat the young of other birds) and the tanagers had a busy time running them off. It was something to see! The male tanager warned and warned, then when one jay approached the nest, BAM! The tanager knocked the big jay to the ground. He continued to run the others off, and after a bit the female came off the nest and also attacked the jays. The blue raiders left, apparently having had enough.

The weekend was a hectic swirl. We took furniture to our Ravenswood booth on Saturday, and when we got home our yard was full of people! We had told some neighbors to come pick mulberries anytime, so they were here with friends of theirs to do just that.

The one lady is from China, and was thrilled because she remembered a mulberry tree beside her home in China. The children were all over the place, hunting for ripe strawberries and playing as kids will do when they have good imaginations. It was so much fun to watch them.

Our Saturday was a busy, busy day. We went to Ripley to pick up a poor broken Victorian table from a friend--she gave it to us because she was sure Larry could fix it.

She was right. It's ready to paint now. We left there and drove to Wirt county to pick up some things I bought from a friend along with a few things she gave to me. She is moving and downsizing and it has been a stressful time for her and her husband. The drive to their home is so pretty, through lush green landscapes where there are neat homes with well-kept gardens.

The next stop was in Ohio, for a birthday party for a six-year-old boy. Held on the banks of the Ohio River, the party was just relaxed fun. I had a taco-in-the-bag for the first time. Good! The kids had a blast with water balloons and squirt guns. It wasn't long before almost everyone was wet. I managed to stay dry, but just barely.

After a stop in town to pick up some fresh fruit, we came home to firepit time with our pets, and the quiet and stillness of our hidden-away home.

Sunday found us both worn out and not good for much. I painted a table we'd picked up and did some housecleaning while Larry worked on the broken table and a few other projects. It threatened rain until mid-afternoon, when the skies opened up. So it was a day for puttering and recuperating. Perfect.

Today we are both back to our normal selves, raring to get into the gardens but knowing we have to wait for the ground to dry. The therapist came and was pleased with Larry's progress with his knee. He's been more vigilant with exercises and it shows.

Back to the kitchen now to check my bread.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Life in the Eclectic Lane

There is nothing like variety, at least for me. I think I thrive on it.While family, storytelling, writing and gardening should have been enough to keep me busy in retirement, I seem to have added a part-time job: re-selling. But the rest of my life also continues and is just as interesting to me as it ever was. This weekend is a good example of how eclectic our days can be.

Friday was a "work day" for me--listing items on eBay, packing and mailing and adding to and rearranging my booth at the antique mall. While working on the booth, another vendor stopped by. She was complimentary about how it looked--and ended up buying the little green wicker shelf and the wicker chair, along with a few other items. That meant I needed to add another shelf for display and I also needed a place to stack linens for sale since I had them on the green chair. I noticed several other things had sold too, so I left feeling pretty happy about how things were going. We met two other vendors at the mall, and checked out the new booth that came in last week. This is a small mall with about 20-24 vendors; I'm not sure exactly because several of them have more than one space. The ones we spoke with seemed pleased with their sales and one lady was moving to a larger space. Even more encouraging.

Larry has been busy with his own list of work. He took a load of scrap metal to the scrapyard and sold it. It is amazing how much metal we can collect without really trying--my old washer of course was in the load, and Larry has been collecting the odd bits of copper wire and saving those to sell along with all sorts of other oddments. A load in our truck may bring between $50 and $100 depending on what's in it; not a lot of money but I like that this stuff that otherwise might go to the dump is now being re-used.

He has also been working on his cabin and has two more courses of logs to go before the roof goes on. He's been hunting for windows--then realized we had two from the cabin we took down in 2010 that would work just fine. He still needs to find doors; those may have to come from ReStore if we don't stumble on some freebies. On his way home from selling his scrap he stopped to talk to a man who had just replaced his porch. The old porch roof was out in the yard and the guy said Larry could have it for the hauling off! There's the porch for his cabin. The wood and tin are in great shape, not more than 10 years old. More recycling

While he was off taking care of those things, I had another project to try. Boy did I make a mess! But it turned out well in the end. I'm still not finished. Here's what I was up to: last summer at a yard sale I bought a grocery bag full of those complimentary soaps you get at motels. The whole bag was 50 cents--I guess the lady traveled a lot and took the unused soaps from each motel stay. Now those small soaps are a pain to use and generally a lot goes to waste because they get so small so fast they end up getting tossed. I decided to try making all those little bars into standard size bars. First I tried melting them in the microwave. NOT a good idea. They didn't really melt and they smelled so strong from the perfumes in them that I had to abandon that idea pretty quickly.

The next try was melting them in a pot on the stove. I put a bunch of them in the pot and added a little water, turned the burner on high and stirred just in case they might stick. I'd never cooked soap before! Well, they did soften but I had to add a lot more water. I kept cooking and stirring for about 20 minutes; then I decided to take some of the liquid out, cool it, and put it into an empty liquid soap container I had--just to see if it would work, you know.

It did! The soap came out foamy and just fine for use. I continued cooking the other soap until the liquid was really thick and most of the soap chunks had melted. Not all of them had, surprisingly--soap is made from fats or oils so it would seem to me that it would melt easily but that was not the case for some of it. I ladled it out into a plastic-wrap lined square pan and let it cool. I wasn't optimistic at this point, I can tell you--some of it was hardening but some was sort of gooey and stringy. But after 2 hours it all hardened and I cut it into bars.

So from batch #1 I have nine big bars of soap and a bottle of hand soap. That "liquid" soap also set up and I thought I had a mess on my hands with hard soap in a squirt bottle, but it's more like gel and it still works fine.

We had a lot on our to-do list for Saturday. I needed to go to Sistersville to check out the theater and other arrangements for next weekend's storyteller retreat and I needed to take more things to my booth and replace the chair and the wicker shelf so they could go to their new owner. I also needed tires BAD--I was pretty much riding on air held in by thin, thin rubber. I have never been good about tires; I keep them until they are so worn out even strangers point out the fact to me. Last week I realized I'd pushed my luck as far as it would go, so we went in early Saturday morning to get them replaced. After leaving a painfully large amount of money behind we were riding in style again.

Next stop was the flea market that's been running a half-price sale all week. I've bought a lot from them but there was a cabinet I really wanted. They weren't open. Bummer. We waited a bit to see if they would open but no luck. So we left for Sistersville, and there I found a sweet little resale shop with all sorts of great stuff. Best find was a stack of 5 Tepco Banana Leaf platters. I remembered that this pattern was highly collectible so I bought them, a gorgeous modernistic blue glass bowl, an old jewelry box and several other really neat things. We went over to the Gold Derrick Gallery to meet with owner Terry Wiley, checked out the theater and made arrangements for the storytelling concert, then headed over to the Wells Inn for a delicious lunch. I checked with Kim Winslow while there to be sure we had the spaces needed for our retreat.

Then it was time to return to Ripley then to see if the flea market was open. It was--but the cabinet I wanted was gone. Bummer again. However, I did find a shelf that would work so we drove back to Ravenswood to rearrange my booth yet again. I noted more items missing which meant more sales. Happy dance! I got everything re-done and we added still more items. The booth is getting pretty full but I still see areas that could hold more so I'll go back this week and add to it.

By the time we got home, we were both tired, and tired of being cold! It was a bitter day yesterday and we were in and out all day so we were chilled to the bone. A nice fire and some peppermint tea fixed us up nicely. Some early daffodils were about to open so I picked them and brought them inside to bloom, afraid the night's cold would freeze their stems. Now the house smells heavenly and the daffodils are a delight for our winter-gray eyes.

Today we both had projects to do: Larry worked on taking apart the porch roof he'd been given and I worked on sorting some of the things we've bought recently. Two of the Tepco platters sold quickly on eBay and I also needed to pack the 8 amethyst plates that sold, as well as the Dansk placemats. I made a good Sunday dinner of ham, cauliflowoer and broccoli in cheese sauce, and baked potatoes. Then we took a road trip.

This time we drove to Spencer, a small town about 24 miles from home, to check on an antique mall there. I am thinking about opening another booth and this is the closest to home except for the mall where my first booth is. The drive was beautiful--the sun shining brightly and signs of spring everywhere. The mall is beautiful too, full of great booths and so much to look at. I talked to the lady who worked there and was surprised to hear that the city of Spencer actually owns and runs the mall. That's an unusual setup but it has worked well for them and the mall made it through the recession in good shape. Their arrangements for vendors seemed good so I agreed to start a booth there in April. That gives me time to find shelves and prepare my stock without feeling rushed.

We took the long way home because we needed to stop by my son's house on the way home to pick up his female dog. Larry will take her to the vet tomorrow to be spayed. She's spending the night with us tonight; Tillie is such a sweet girl she's no trouble to have at all.Larry built a fire and we all enjoyed relaxing in front of it at the end of this long busy day.

That was our weekend: junking, selling, organizing, recycling, road trips, experimenting, and cooking. I hope your weekend was just as interesting as ours was!

A Weekend Getaway

When someone offers a night's stay in West Virginia's most haunted hotel, with dinner and breakfast included, for the low price of $65, would you sign up? You know I did! Charles Winslow of the Wells Inn made just such an offer for Facebook friends only, for last Saturday night. If you've been a reader for a while you know that I love the Wells Inn, and you know that it took me only a few minutes to call and make a reservation.

I knew that Saturday was going to be a busy day of storytelling. Three ghost stories programs at three libraries, to be exact. So a night at the Wells with a good dinner and breakfast and some time to wander the town after dark sounded like just the right way to relax after all that work (well, I suppose it's work but it really doesn't seem like it to me).

Larry and I traveled from one gig to another, setting up the decorations in record time. I did not take photos of the decorations, unfortunately--we were really on a tight schedule and I did not even think of bringing my camera in! I brought things that were simple to set up: plastic pumpkins with several battery-powered tealights in them to make them flicker like real jack-o-lanterns, deep purple satin table coverings that were printed with moons and stars, tall Halloween flags at either end of the table (I had to make my own stands for these), light-up ghosts, more tealights on the table, and then my puppets: the witch, rat, wolf, bat, cat, dog, ghosts, owl...it made a great display and we could put it up and take it down in minutes.

We finished the last show at 4pm and headed home to pack. We were packed, had the animals taken care of and back on the road by 5:30, no mean feat when you consider that the last show was an hour and 15 minutes from home. We arrived at the Wells at 7pm, just in time for dinner. One of these days I will also remember to take photos of the food they serve. The portions are huge and the fare is just delicious.

After dinner we headed out to walk, a necessity after all that good food. Town was quiet, with rain in the offing.

We didn't walk far before we saw a sign in front of the Gaslight Theater that advertised "Horror Stories." Storytelling? Really? I had to find out so we ventured in. As it turned out, the show had just ended. It was a performance by an acting troupe from a nearby city. We got into conversation with the new owner of the theater who told us he had also opened a gallery next door. He has many plans for the two facilities and we had a good conversation about some possibilities for storytelling there in the future.

We continued our walk, passing the unusual octagonal Town Hall building, with the old jail located below:

 The lighting just called for this photo:

and this one:

The stairs going up behind the window fascinated me. Where do they lead? One day I hope I can explore inside this building.

Dark alleys invited thoughts of wandering spirits:

And overhead, a circle of orbs watched:

We returned to the Wells for some indoor exploration--to be more precise, to visit the old Wooden Derrick lounge, which has been closed since 2001. The lounge, located in the basement of the Wells Inn, was once filled with local roustabouts and oilmen in the drilling heyday of the early 1900's. It would probably be filled today too, if the State of West Virginia would see fit to grant the license that the Wells applied for months ago. Instead the lounge is being used as a storage area. Larry and I took a glass of wine down to the lounge so that we could, in theory at least, have a drink in the Wooden Derrick:

The mirror behind us interested me so I had to take a picture of it too:

For some reason it looks smoky in the photos although it was really clear.

In the morning, the world looked different--foggy but bright. Doug was out front of the Wells selling produce so we loaded up with fresh cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini before we left.

Then we headed back down the river, enjoying the fall scenery and watching the barges pass. It was a lovely getaway and just what we needed after a busy, busy week.

Ups and Downs and All Arounds

Goodness, it's been a strange week.

Saturday we took granddaughter Haley to Charleston so she could participate in the annual Capital City Challenge, the Charleston triathlon (bike, run, kayak). It was a beautiful day for the event and this year there were twice as many entrants as last year. Haley, however, was the youngest by far--no one else in the race was under 19 years old. So she won first place in her class, of course--but better than that, she improved her time from last year by about 30 minutes. So she was very happy about that. I have to admit to getting granny jitters to think of her out on the Great Kanawha River all alone in her kayak, but she did superbly. Why do I worry?

After the race I drove to Sutton in cerntral West Virginia to attend a meeting for a new project for West Virginia Writers. I had time to kill so of course I used it wisely--browsing in junk shops :) I got lucky, too, finding a Fenton glass bear for a dollar, lovely table linens, some dishes made in Paden City, West Virginia, and many other pieces of vintage glass. Most of these items will eventually be listed on my eBay auctions.

eBay has become a good little sideline over the past two months. I'm not making a fortune, but I am meeting my goal of paying for my phone, cell and satellite internet costs with some $$ left over. I'm learning a lot too as I research various glassware, learn what sells and what won't (hobnail milk glass-no one seems to want it. Aprons? everyone wants them!). I'm also still selling books on Amazon and while not as lucrative as eBay it is a lot easier to sell books, and so much easier to pack them. It's not the income producer that eBay is, however. Still, every little trickle of money is helpful. If you want to look at what's listed right now, check my sidebar link. My inventory is down a little because I can't list items until the computer is working again (insert frustrated sigh).

Sunday morning was devoted to reviewing stories for the Mothman Festival that afternoon. I had my set list but there were two new ones I wanted to tell and I needed to be sure I had them down well enough for performance. We drove to Point Pleasant that afternoon and enjoyed the sight of people dressed as Men in Black and Mothman after the storytelling. I was in the State Theater for the performance and was very pleased with the audience. Since this gig was finalized only a week before, it had little publicity but there weer 50 attentive people there to listen.

Mothman, some of you might know, was an apparition that scared many people in the Point Pleasant area in the 1960's. Described as a large, gray creature with red eyes and large wings, the creature was said to be able to fly 60 mph. Many people credited Mothman with some of the disasters and troubles that have occurred since the sighting, like the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. Many theories have been advanced as to what Mothman actually was, and there is a whole museum dedicated to the story in Point Pleasant.

My computer modem quit working Sunday morning, so that's been an interesting wrinkle in my usual routime. Since I place many listings to end on the weekends, it meant I had no way to verify and ship my orders. I worked on it for a while and concluded there was no hope, so Monday I called Hughesnet and ordered a new one. The tech on the phone offered a free replacement! How cool is that! So I sprung for expedited shipping and hope the thing will arrive today or tomrrow.

Without the computer, there was only one thing to do--use my new smartphone to look up what sold, pack and weigh the items, then head to the library to print shipping and labels. That's what I did. It was cumbersome and took more time than I wanted to spend, but the packages got shipped.

On the return trip home, we stopped to talk with a neighbor who is getting ready to build a new house. Larry has some block laying in his future, I think. While we were talking he asked us if we wanted the little log building on the property. You know what my answer was! So we have another project to work on over the winter.

(The log room we are currently working on is moving slowly ahead--the footer is ready and the block for the foundation will arrive this week. We plan to get the subfloor in place and the logs stacked before winter, but the way things are going we might not get that far before the ground gets too muddy to work.)

My cell phone rang as we were discussing the log building with our neighbor--it was the delivery truck with the gas refrigerator we've been waiting for. He had it ready to deliver--on a tractor trailer! Now if you've been reading my blog for a while you know there is no way a tractor trailer can get to my house, and really should not even try to get up Joe's Run. So Larry and the neighbor went out to meet the truck and brought the fridge home at last. I am not happy at all with Lehman's Hardware about this shipping service. We paid for delivery to our house, but it turned out to be a total hassle. word to the wise if you ever buy an appliance from them--they seem to be clueless about how to arrange a suitable delivery to a place in the country.

We finally settled down to dinner and then decided to watch a movie--a rare thing for me since I am usually busy with computer work in the evenings. Just as we got settled someone knocked on the door. Visitors! We spent the evening talking with them. It was a nice way to end the day.

Sometime in the night the electricity went off. I woke to a pitch black room. Expecting it to be back on shortly, I snuggled under the quilts to sleep some more. We woke at 8 am, late for us but it was dark and gloomy outside and there was still no electricity. I got up and called the power company--the power would not be back on until 2pm. That kind of messed up our plans to put in the new fridge, so we decided to take care of some business in town, mail more eBay packages and so forth. So that's where I am now, at the library printing labels, catching up on email and writing this blog.

This is only Tuesday. I wonder what other surprises we'll have this week. 

Big Stone Celtic: A Photo Journal

 Big Stone Gap, here we come! I took this as we headed down the mountain into the Powell River valley and the little town of Big Stone Gap.

I met Wendy Welch and her husband Jack Beck about 12 years ago at the West Virginia Storytelling Festival where they were performing. I'd actually met Wendy previously online on the storytelling listserve Storytell. At that time they were living in Jack's native Scotland while Wendy finished her doctorate. They later moved to Big Stone Gap and established a used book store in the town. I've stayed in touch and have looked forward to an opportunity to re-connect. When I read about the Big Stone Celtic Festival last year, I put it on my calendar as a gotta-do this year.

Big Stone Gap has been made famous by two novelists, almost 100 years apart--John Fox Jr. wrote Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (the first American book to sell one million copies) while living here. In 2000, Adriana Trigiani published her novel titled Big Stone Gap and it became a best-seller. She followed up with other stories in the Big Stone Gap series. I read Trail of the Lonesome Pine when I was about 12 years old and fell in love with the Appalachian culture (romanticized, to be sure) that it portrayed. When Trigiani's novel came out I read it as soon as it became available and recommended it to all my friends. A town that inspires such writing must be quite a place, right? It is.

 When we arrived we stopped first at Miner's Park to pick up a program for the festival and to listen a bit to the band Coyote Run, a Celtic Rock band that also performs more traditional material. The band's harmonies are to die for and they know how to engage any audience, rock, traditional Celtic or even old-time. I was struck by the juxtaposition of the miner's statue and the guys in kilts on stage. Such is our wonderful mountain world.

 As I was walking to the ballads workshop, I passed this sign. Whoa! I knew John Fox was from this area, but here was his house? I made a mental note to go back after the workshop, which I did.

 This is the porch of Fox's home, a lovely place for rest and reflection. No wonder he was so inspired here that he wrote about 500 stories while living here.

 Coyote Run came to the Fox home to present a program far different than their stage stuff I'd seen. I liked both!

 Some workshops were held here in "the cabin." I did not have time to learn the history of the cabin and only got to hear the last 10 minutes of Jack Beck's ballad workshop. Next year we need to start our trip earlier! At least we'll know where everything is next time.

There was a lot to do during the day--a person could stay at Miner's Park and hear several different bands, go to workshops and performances at the cabin or the Fox home or attend jam sessions on the porch of the book store (which is housed in a beautiful old two-story white house in the middle of town). I opted for a workshop, a session in the Fox home, and two singing sessions on the porch of the book store. I thoroughly enjoyed singing with the people who gathered on the porch, and was happy to run into Joseph Sobol from East Tennesee State University there and share some ballads with him.

After the day's activities, many people gathered for the final ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) at a local church. Musicians from the day's performances provided the ceilidh band.

 Our friends Jack and Wendy (she in the red and he in the kilt) cut a good figure dancing together)

 The ol' Granny got into the dancing too (only for the last dance, but next time it will be more. Too much fun!)

After the dance people congregated on the book store's porch for more music. A young fiddler tried out her chops with the positive encouragement of seasoned musicians. She played Soldier's Joy, Sally Ann, Cluck Old Hen and several others, an amazing repertoire for one so young.

We headed home before dark, sorry to miss the evening get-together that was just beginning. but had to stop for one last long farewell look.

Good-bye, Big Stone Gap. You are too lovely for words.

Saturday Tourists: Cupcakes, Antiques, Picnic and Ghosts

After considering many possibilities, we decided that what we wanted to do yesterday was to go to Marietta, Ohio and take the ghost tour around this historic town. It was a good decision, and since we left early we had several adventures along the way.


We headed north on old US 21 towards Ravenswood, intending to stop at the riverside park for a picnic lunch. Instead we made a detour to the covered bridge at Sarvis Fork.

 Picture taking time:

Then we saw that the Silverton Fire Department was having an ice cream social, so of course we stopped. Homemade ice cream, music and meeting with some old friends made for a pleasant and unexpected treat. I can attest to the great ice cream--chocolate was awesome.

No one was really hungry for lunch so we stopped at the River's Bend Antique Mall in Ravenswood and browsed. Grace and I had a great time; Larry and Clayton humored us (and I took this bad photo. Geez. You'd think I'd remember to check the camera settings). I like this store because it has such spacious aisles, no danger of knocking things over. Some antique places are so full I'm afraid to even look. This one has breathing room.

I was impressed with this HUGE barrel--it was a shipping barrel for wool and it is without a doubt the biggest barrel I've ever seen.

I found something I'd been searching for--a glass washboard. I have a small one but this one is the standard size, and the price was excellent. While paying for my washboard I got into conversation with the lady who works there. She is also one of 13 children, was raised near Ravenswood and remembers her mother washing all day on a washboard. We talked a long time, and I will be back to see her. She has many stories to tell.

We left Ravenswood and went in search of Alligator Jack's, a big flea market on the Ohio side of the river. We found it all right---and this place was guy heaven. Guns, knives, weapons of all sorts; food and snacks; movies. For us women there were vintage items, beads, books and all sorts of things to look at. Including this little lady:

Gwen is 14 years old and was shy at first, but soon showed her feathers. She was a real delight, and I appreciated her owner's graciousness in talking to us about her pet.

It was time to find somewhere to eat! We drove on towards Marietta to have lunch in the park I wrote about last week, on the shores of the Muskingum River.

The park is a lovely place, the only downside being that there are no picnic tables. We improvised and had a nice picnic--we'd packed ham and turkey sandwich fixings, pickles, tomatoes, cucumbers, chips, cookies and drinks so we were all set. We decided that since we had some time, we should venture up to Beverly, Ohio to see the site of the explosion of the Buckeye Belle and the gravesite for the 13 unidentified people who were among the victims of that disaster. Imagine that many people dying and no one knowing who they were. Back then a person could pay cash for their fare and no one would even know they were on the boat.

The grave was not difficult to find; I knew that it was near the back fence of a cemetery in town and after asking a young guy where the "old" cemetery might be, we drove straight to the site and found the stone marker. We stood and talked quietly, feeling the past creeping around us like the evening shadows.

As we drove back to Beverly we saw this little brick schoolhouse, which is the oldest brick schoolhouse in Ohio--the Round Bottom School (ahem).

 
A cemetery beside the school drew my attention (surprised?) and this stone in particular caught my eye. Story indeed--surely there are many stories that could be found about those sleeping in this peaceful spot.

At last it was time for the ghost walk. More in my next post!

Weekend Thoughts

Sometimes we have days that make us reflect on our lives, call into question where we have been and where we want to go. Sometimes we have days that call back the past, or put us too much in the present. Sometimes we have days that feel like we're treading water and trying to breathe through a vapor cloud.

That about sums up this weekend. Visiting good friends in the hospital will make you think. Because, you know, they're about the same age, a little younger actually, than I am. Nothing in their own actions put them in a hospital bed yet there they were, struck down by surprise. I was glad to be able to see for myself how they were getting on. I was forcibly reminded of the caprice of life, that we cannot take any moment for granted. All the to-do lists in the world can't trump fate, or God's will, or whatever you want to call it. We can plan, scheme, work, devise, but in the end how much control do we really have? It's the luck of the draw.

That was Stage 1 of the emotional roller coaster of the weekend.


Stage 2: Wake and wake-up call. Belvie was 95. She taught me so many things about living in the country, and especially about living in the country without electricity. Her common sense and work ethic were my inspiration. I wanted to be just like her. She taught me to make apple butter, render lard, cut up a hog, make headcheese and mincemeat and relish and Lord only knows what else. I remember her strong voice, straight talk and her lively sense of humor. My regret: I did not go to see her after she moved away from Joe's Run to live nearer to one of her sons. Time, you know. That to-do list. I always thought I'd have time "later." For 15 years I thought that. What a fool I can be. So I missed my chance to spend time with her in her last years, I missed hearing her laugh and tell her stories, and it was my own fault because I was...too busy. Belvie had a good life, a full life, and I know she passed on with no regrets to be leaving. The regrets are with those who are like me, realizing too late what we missed. And no one to blame but ourselves.

Stage 3: Which led to me stopping on the way home from the wake to visit an 89-year-old neighbor. She didn't recognize me and took me for someone 20 years younger--a real compliment! I had not stopped to visit her in years either. Imagine sitting on the porch of a quaint (there is really no other word for it) farmhouse at the base of a steep hill and just...talking. Remembering. She told me about how she shot a snake out of the tree in front of her house because it was after the baby birds. We watched the hummingbirds dart in and out of the feeder as she told me about her growing-up years. Stories, bits and pieces of the past. It takes time to hear such tales, time sitting in a porch glider and watching the hummingbirds.

Stage 4: The funeral was a celebration of a life well-lived and a woman well-loved and respected. I was glad to be there, but still sorrowing for those missed years. We did not go to the grave; there were many family there, and that was their time. I will go sometime this week, to the site she picked because it looked over her home.

I had plans to get so many things done. In the end, the important things were done. The rest can wait. 

Weekend Road Trip: On the Road to Marlinton

This past Friday and Saturday we didn't plan any work: we planned to play. We saw friends, heard music, beat on drums, helped build a story, ventured into wild places and in general just had a pretty wild time.

The weekend started Friday as we packed to go to Marlinton, West Virginia to attend the Masters Concert that culminates the weeklong Allegheny Echoes workshops. In 2004 and 2007, I attended the workshops as a student. Last year I was there as a Master for the Creative Writing class; this year we went just to attend the final concert of the week which featured all of the week's instructors.

We drove up by our usual route through Webster and Nicholas counties, and stopped at a scenic overlook to view the place called Crupperneck Bend on the Gauley River.

 The Gauley is one of West Virginia's best whitewater rafting destinations, with good reason. The river has many rapids, twists and turns, and the scenery is fantastic.  Below the overlook is a bend in the Gauley that is more than 180 degrees, and a place called Ship's Prow that is a Class IV rapid. You can read a description of the river and see a photo of the Ship's Prow rocks on this website.

 This is part of the bend; and this is on the other side:

I wondered about origin of the word "crupperneck" so I dragged out my huge old dictionary and learned that a crupper is a deep U-shaped piece of harness that goes over and around a horse's tail. I suppose that "crupperneck" came from the shape of the river's bend, combined with the narrowness of the river--the "neck" of the river. If you have a better definition for the term, I'd like to hear it. I enjoy unusual words and their origins.

 The stone wall at the overlook was fascinating. I am always amazed when someone incorporates art into a functional piece, and this wall is a good example.

 Probably built by the Civilian Conversation Corps, or maybe by WPA workers, the detail and art put into it delightful and a reminder that even in hard times, people with skills and creativity produced work that stands today as a monument to their labor. I believe that there were stone balls topping the columns at each end of the wall, but these are gone now. In looking up Crupperneck Bend I also learned that there is a geocache hidden there. (Just in case any of you like to go geocaching!)

We stopped again just outside of Richwood at a lovely little roadside park that is within the Monongehela National Forest. There is an arched bridge over the North Fork of the Cherry River that leads to a trail into woodland that almost feels tropical, it is so lush and green.


The two-day trip was so filled with good things that I'll need to write more posts to cover it all: more about the roadside park, the evening concert, the evening on the hill, The FestivALL festival in Charleston where we spent some fine hours, the drum circle...you can see I have a lot to write about, and photos to share, in the coming days. Meantime the rain is falling softly, Larry is napping after weeding the strawberry patch and I need to make bread and unpack/re-pack for my next trip: I'm off tomorrow to Wheeling and Paden City in West Virginia's northern panhandle for storytelling performances. Maybe I'll see one or two of you along the way?

A Few Things Going On

Time for a little catch-up post on what's happening around our place these days. It's been a busy, busy time, as it usually is in the spring.

Baby chicks! I got them about 2 weeks ago. These are barred rock and Rhode Island Red pullets and a couple of unknowns that are straight run, meaning they could be pullets or roosters. Our hens are 2 years old and older so it is time to start looking at replacing some of them.

They are so cute when they're this size.

The potatoes are up and thriving on all the rain. This was taken about a week ago, and they are twice this size now. Larry planted them on March 21 in a lull between rainstorms. It's been tough getting things in the ground but we did manage to get all the spring veggies in.

We went ahead and planted new raspberry and blueberry bushes in the rain. We figured we had to water them anyway, why not? These are lovely big plants I bought at Green's Feed in Charleston with a gift certificate that was a retirement gift from people at work. They knew I liked to garden so this was a perfect gift. We got 4 blueberry bushes with berries already on them and 3 raspberry plants, plus some new herb plants. In this photo you can see the peas climbing up their trellis; they're about twice that height now and blooming.The hay mulch is around the cabbages and broccoli--those plants are struggling because of all the rain. It's been dry for like 24 hours now so maybe they can catch their breath a little.

The big snowball bush in the side yard is coming into its own. This bush is out of sight most of the time so I have to remember to look for it--unless I am hanging wash on the line. Which is what I need to do right now.

I found this lovely, big porch swing at ReStore, the Habitat for Humanity resale place. It's made of oak and is 6 feet long. We need to buy chains for it to hang it, and I think I'm going to put it on the front porch, where I used to have a swing. We took that swing down in favor of rockers but I've missed it. This is a better, bigger swing and I am in love. Can you just see it with pillows, me and a cat or two? That box of junk you can see to the left is another story:

Can you say auction? Can you say $2? The truck is still full and I will be sorting and listing on eBay for a good while from the haul we made. More on that later.


That's a quick catch-up on all the side projects going on in addition to the usual grass-mowing and so on that keeps up hopping in spring.

We also have a special event for this evening. More on that in tomorrow's post, I hope. In the meantime, Happy Mother's Day to all of you! I hope you have a restful and memorable day.