Reunion

September 1, 2014September 1, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

We spent the greater part of yesterday at a high school reunion. This one was a little different, the first 10 classes of Mohawk Trail Regional High School gathered at the Charlemont Fairgrounds for a festival of sorts. It felt like a small fair with the food vendors and class tents. Bands played from the past all day long, whisking us back to youth with the power only music has on one’s memory. There were activities, group photos, reminiscing along with a table of yearbooks and photographs that did and didn’t make the cut back in the day (how those survived 35+ years is beyond me).

This is the kind of thing that reminds you how close our communities are. As I have said in the past, each town that sent kids to this regional school was a small town. My class from Rowe consisted of four people (including me). In school you make your lifetime friends I believe but for those of us that grew up in such small communities our town friends become our family. Having the reunion encompass so many years, with my class right in the middle allowed us to not only visit with our classmates but reconnect with people we wouldn’t have otherwise.

In this age of social media we are fortunate to be able to stay connected with some of our favorite people with a touch of a few buttons. It is an amazing world. When I arrived at the reunion it was good to see so many of the people I talk to so often, it felt comfortable. Then there were a few of those OMG moments. Those occurred when I recognized someone I never thought I would see at an event like this.

Good moments, moments of recognition, hugs, warmth, familiarity. These were moments spent with the people I have known since I was 5 years old. Moments talking about age, family, life. It was a time, however brief, when I felt like I was surrounded by the best parts of my family. These are the people who know you so very well. The interesting thing is that many of them I have not seen in a decade. It’s the situation you find yourself in where you just pick up where you left off.

I read somewhere a long time ago that people who know each other from their youth always see each other as they were when they were young. A trick of the mind. So all of that graying hair, weight gain or loss, baldness falls away as the conversation begins – you are really seeing their soul in some respect, their essence. You see them as you know them and always have.

For me, that’s the amazing thing about these reunions. While part of it always serves to remind me how quickly time passes I am quickly reminded that even with the passage of time we all are essentially still teenagers in our minds.

Where Did Summer Go?

August 15, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

I woke up this morning, before daylight, to the sound of rain on the roof. My first thought was “Are you kidding me?!?” I went back to a restless sleep and finally got up to a rather cold house. When I looked at the thermometer it was 48 degrees.

I picked up a brochure for the Heath Fair last weekend at the local farm and garden center and the woman at the check out said, “Yup, next weekend, marks the end of summer”.

To me this has been the summer that wasn’t. We had a handful of days in the 80’s, very few days in the 90’s. All of the fans have been taken out of the windows so I can close them at night against most of the cold air. The window in my bedroom will stay open until November – in part to keep the fresh air coming in but also so I can hear the owls and other critters at night. The garden has been so so. I look back at records of past years and realize that everything is 2 weeks or so behind except for the garlic. It will be a miracle if I get beans at all – they love the sun and heat.

This past Wednesday was a complete washout (and the only day I really had to work in the gardens). It was warmer but pouring and brought in the cooler weather. There was a rainbow to mark the end of the day and the rain. It also showed me where my pot of gold resides. There is such beauty here. Every day gives another opportunity to see it and share.

Today the chicken fence goes up and they will venture outdoors for the first time in their lives. Although I have so much to do with the summer ending I will move my lawn chair to a good vantage point with camera in hand and watch the chicks take in the fresh air and sunshine. What better way to spend part of a late summer day.

Regroup

August 13, 2014August 13, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

Today is the kind of day weatherwise where time is spent (at least initially) regrouping. We have been fortunate to have had a lot of rain over the course of the summer and most of it happened at night. The gardens and even the potted plants needed little attention as far as moisture is concerned which left that much more time to pursue the heavy gardening that I wanted to get done.

Well, we are almost to the middle of August and there is sooo much more to do in the next week or so. That is what is in the back of my mind but also this little voice is saying, regroup. Tackle those indoor projects that can be done in less than an hour. You know the ones – clean the refrigerator, wash a floor, scrub the stove. No matter how much I don’t like these jobs they have to get done and no one else is going to do them – sigh. Where are those elves when you need them?

This rainy, indoor day is also a blessing. I need to get my things prepped and ready for the Heath Fair. They need to be dropped off tomorrow night and there is still some finishing that needs to be done. Three things are going in this year, weaving and a photograph. The weaving needs to be pressed, the photograph framed (I printed it last night). I’m not as confident in my blue ribbon prospects this year but it’s always fun to see your stuff on display.

Photographs are something I never, ever enter into anything. I think they are so close to my heart that I don’t want to know that they aren’t as good as I think they are. I guess I’m thin-skinned when it comes to opinions of how I see. Be brave, take a step, just do it, what’s it really going to hurt? So in it will go.

My weeks have suddenly filled with a weaving camp that I’m taking until the end of August. Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be filled with rug weaving, a new skill. This is great for my brain because I’m a morning person, not so good for the other projects I wanted to get done by fall, choices will need to be made.

Now back to my lists. Maybe, just maybe that refrigerator will get cleaned out today . . . but there’s a warp on the board that is calling my name.

Enough Already

July 28, 2014 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I woke up this morning to thunder rumbling in the west and air that was thick. Visibility was low. It rained, hard.

There were breaks of sunshine allowing me to get a little gardening in but the day pretty much looked like this. Small breaks of blue sky with the ever present clouds building all around, thunder constantly in the background. The kind of day best spent doing chores indoors. Digging in the dirt was more like digging in the mud.

There’s nothing worse than being forced to stay in the house when all you want to do is be outdoors. Somehow doing laundry and vacuuming lose all appeal when there is sod to dig and plants to move. Maybe sitting around thinking about it will make setting the garden in easier. I might actually have a plan.

Coop Down

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

The coop has been part of the landscape here for decades. You see it in the background of photos taken at the turn of the century (1900). When we moved here in 1967 and over a good many years stuff was thrown in there never to see the light of day again. “You never know when you might need it” is the refrain that continues to this day and there may have been once or twice that something was salvaged.

Miraculously the building continued to stand, through some pretty snowy winters when other, newer buildings didn’t fare so well. We always joked that it stayed standing because all of the junk was holding it up.

I finished cleaning it out a couple of weeks ago and stood back to look at what remained.

There were structural repairs made over the years and the only thing that was really holding it up was the metal column in the center.

Yeah, time to go.

Now I have been waiting for many, many years for the tear down of the building. Bill just happened to be driving by on his way to put the tractor away and decided to just knock it down. Damn, I missed it!

This is the aftermath of about 5 minutes of tractor work. Amazingly it collapsed in on itself. Now some real work begins in cutting up the huge chunks and hauling it away to make way for a new building. I think it’ll be one of those little by little kind of tasks. Everyday cut up a few more things into manageable pieces.

There are chicks arriving July 1st but won’t be housed in anything like what this coop was. The only thing in common the new coop will have is its orientation to the sun. Work is in progress but that’s a post for another day. I can tell you this – I did salvage 12 squares of perfect roofing shingles that were stored in a faraway corner of that now gone building. You never know when you’re going to need something.

Wise Words

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 7 Comments

I visited with an old friend the other day. I see her much more often now that I am in Rowe than I ever saw of her in the past 35 years or so that we’ve known each other. She has gone through some major life changes in the past few months. She is a wise woman. We talked about others that we know who are dealing with life changes of their own (myself included). Some are retiring and moving away from the place that has been their home for over 50 years. Others are taking care of aging parents, their children are moving out or they’re recovering from the loss of a loved one.

She said “You need to learn to love your new life.”

Profound words those. We are all hit with changes – some predictable, some not. For me, the changes were seen and prepared for in the best way I knew how. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things that are happening that I hadn’t anticipated. When life changes are made (or happen) it can take a while to truly get the big picture of how those changes are going to affect you and yours. It takes awhile to get into that new routine.

I confess to be floundering a bit here. There’s so much to do and so many of the decisions have to be made in somewhat of a vacuum. The idea of being in a situation where I can work on producing the kind of life I only saw myself doing after “retirement” has been a bit overwhelming. I think I thought I would have a more concrete idea of what I was going to do than I do. Things are getting done, not necessarily in the time or way I thought they would. I just have to roll with it.

In realizing that things are never what they seem or intended those words about learning to love my new life were exactly what I needed to hear. Decisions were made based on the realities of my life whether good or bad – this is the way life is. Learning to love it – working on loving it – is probably the most important thing I can do to have things be just as they should be.

What We’re Called to Do

May 28, 2014May 29, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

When I was 18 people told me that I needed a plan, a plan for my life. My friends went off to college, confident in the choices they had made for their life’s work – nuclear engineer, mechanical engineer, music education, nursing. I had taken business courses in high school knowing that I wouldn’t be going to college – wasn’t in the cards for this girl. This was back in the day where if you knew how to type, take dictation and do rudimentary bookkeeping you could land a pretty good job. Yes, I’m really dating myself here.

Although I took and kept an office job for a few years I knew that it was not what I wanted to do. Little did I realize that taking that path initially I would always be working in an office in one capacity or another for a good deal of my life. I’m an excellent multi-tasker and can be pretty well-organized. I manage my time well if I have to.

I went to school for photography when I was 22 and again was told I needed a plan for my life. “Your days are numbered” said to me by my teacher and mentor still whispers in the back of my brain on many occasions. Good words, words that really should be heeded.

Fast forward 35 years and I have to say I’m just beginning to formulate what it is I should be doing. Honestly, I may never truly know but I think you have to look at your history, your ancestry, your genetics. I come from a long, long line of farming and textiles, both of which require good problem solving capabilities. (Although I sometimes think the biggest problem I have is figuring out what it is I want to do).

I think many people (especially in recent years) choose a career based on their likes and capabilities. Some are blessed with extraordinary gifts and are pushed or sent in a certain direction. Somewhere along the way I believe everyone undergoes a “crisis of faith” so to speak. That moment (or moments) when we wonder just what the heck were we thinking. Upon reflection we either realize that what we are doing is the only thing we should be or know in our hearts it’s time to get out. Taking action is the next big step and that always contains the fear that you are not listening close enough. You just have to leap.

My move to Rowe permanently was really precipitated by finance but the reality is that this is what I really should be doing. It allows me to create on many different levels and that is who I am intrinsically. To sit in an office, no matter who’s it was, was killing me. I thought it then, I know it now. I’ve had the slate of Fort Pelham Farm for a few years but now I have the time to form it into a thing of beauty both physically and spiritually.

Following in the footsteps of those I knew and loved makes what I’m doing special to me. I am learning to live much the way my ancestors have. Growing my own food, weaving my own cloth, knitting my own sweaters. We all create our own happiness minute by minute and I’ve been given a new opportunity. People shake their heads and wonder, at least those in the urban area I just left. I’m certain the tide is shifting where some will understand but you should know I have never, ever done what people expected me to do. I’d rather have them watch and be amused.

New Day

May 8, 2014May 8, 2014 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I often post photographs of the sunrise over the weathervane in Rowe but today’s feels a little different. After much prep I am here full time. It’s not exactly the way I had anticipated this all happening over the years but really, how many of us can say that things turn out the way we planned?

I understand that I am more than fortunate to be able to do this in a place that is so special to me. It’s not so much the house or property but the spirit of a place that’s been my home for well over 50 years. I have lived in other places for much, much longer than the cumulative number of years I’ve lived in Rowe but there is no other place that I feel calmer, safer than here.

The bedroom I’m currently occupying faces east. I chose this one for the sole reason of seeing the sunrise in the morning. I just situated the bed so the sun wouldn’t shine right in my eyes should I oversleep and miss it peeking over the horizon. I also crack the window open a bit before I go to bed to have the frogs lull me to sleep at night and the birds wake me up in the morning. To me there is no better way to end or start a day.

The move went like clockwork, my father is settling into his home of almost 50 years. He slept late and commented on how he hasn’t slept that well in 2 years. Although he will miss the people who surrounded him in his time away I can’t help but think this will be healing in its own way. Rowe is so much more home to him and Fort Pelham Farm is what he brought into my life.

New Old Photographs

April 28, 2014April 28, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

For as many years as eBay has been in existence I have been bidding on and purchasing old process photographs with children and dogs. In recent years these have become a little too pricey for me to win often. The photograph above is one I recently purchased for a very decent price. It’s an ambrotype in a pristine Union case. In the case was a slip of paper that read Myrta Hill and Mrs. R. E. Smith, woohoo! For me this is the holy grail of photography finds. I can match the photograph with a family. After a brief search on Ancestry I found Myrta’s family and was able to contact the owner of their family tree and send them a copy of the photograph.

I love it when that happens. I love the investigative work that goes into this and I am all too familiar with the feeling of seeing new old photographs of relatives. Being online with the genealogy community has given me so many opportunities to communicate with relatives that I had no idea existed. They all are similar minded and very open to sharing what they have. There have been instances where I have met long-lost cousins with photographs in hand and others that have emailed me diary transcripts from the mid to late 1800’s.

In the past few months, with online connections, I have seen photographs of my father as a baby and my grandparents that I have never seen before. It’s really a wonderful experience. With this photograph arriving in the mail I was able to share that experience with a total stranger and that is something that makes searching these little treasures out worthwhile. I often wonder when I buy one of these what happened to the photograph’s family, especially when there isn’t any identifying information with or on the photo. Because of the time period of my collection we are going back a few generations and in my mind I know that someone’s estate was cleared out and things put up for auction. Either there were no family members left, they didn’t realize what was in the auctioned items or they didn’t care. Sad.

I have been the “keeper” of family photographs forever. Someone’s household is cleaned out the photographs come to me. I scan them, put them in chronological order and file the originals away. I currently have thousands of photographs from all branches of my family as well as Bill’s. The beauty of this is in the sharing. Being able to show other family members the photographs they have never seen. Sharing is a little gift on my part but very often it seems like a big gift to the receiver. I know, being on the receiving end is wonderful.

Posting will be a bit sporadic for another couple of weeks. I will be packing up all those photographs and moving them to Rowe (hopefully their final home). No small feat because moving them can be a real distraction. I have to just move them and not look at them until I have time. I expect regular postings to resume once I’m there. Send positive thoughts for a smooth transition!

The Clocks

April 7, 2014 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

This past Saturday morning the family clocks were taken from the house for cleaning and regulation. They were taken by a man I have known since the early seventies. I have known that something needed to be done with them for many, many years. They used to run. I missed their chimes and the deep tick tock of the oak wall clock. There is nothing that whisks me back to childhood faster than closing my eyes and listening to that clock. There were times at my grandparents house when it was so quiet that was all you heard (I have to add that it is a particularly loud clock).

The story goes that this clock was taken from a factory by my grandfather. They were replacing it with something else I assume, I’m also assuming it came from a woolen mill. It was filthy, black I’m told. He painstakingly took it apart, cleaned it up and got it working. Then it was placed on the wall in his parlor on Stafford St. There it ran for most of my life, it probably ran for a good deal of my father’s. When my grandmother left the house for a nursing home it was the first thing that came to Rowe. There it ran on the wall in the living room for another 20 or more years. My children had the pleasure of growing up with it’s sound and presence for their childhoods as well.

The workmanship on this clock is spectacular. The woodwork, the brass is beautiful. It is the sound that is most important to me though. We complain about not knowing what time it is in the middle of the night because it no longer runs.

I have to tell you there was a little anxiety when these clocks went out the door on Saturday morning. The only reason they did is through a conversation I had with someone the day before. She told me her brother in law was repairing clocks now that he’d retired to Heath and gave me his phone number. I went to high school with him, worked a summer job with him, knew where he lived. The only other lead on clock repair I’d had was a guy in Conway. I didn’t know him but I knew he was good – I just couldn’t call him. I didn’t know where he lived and I couldn’t let them go.

I’ve been told it will take about 6 weeks to get them going again, they will then be returned, put in their respective spots and started up. They will be worked on until they are running perfectly. I’m beyond happy about this and so pleased they are with someone I know. I’m also looking forward to waking up at 4:00 AM and knowing what time it is.

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