Fall, 2010
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MUSE INDEX Dropdown menus LINKS Previous issues What's New Who's Who Birthdays and Anniversaries Muse readers' own websites Muse History Fall 2010 Photo Gallery Nancy's Quilts |
Part 1 (News Articles) FOUR GENERATIONS (Nancy A. Murdock) Click THE JOHN WILLIAMS HOUSE (Art Murdock) Click MY NEW ENDEAVOR (Barb DiStefano) Click THE LONG JOURNEY (Nancy A. Murdock) Click UPDATE FROM MISSOURI (Charlie Frost) Click PHOTO OF ISABEAU (Claudia Lindsey) Click HOWLETT REUNION 2010 (Nancy A. Murdock) Click PICNIC AT BARRE FALLS (Bob Murdock) Click REGRETS (Joel Liebman) Click JEAN OGAWA VISITS (Nancy A. Murdock) Click ECC BOOK REPRINTED (Priscilla Januskiewicz) Click IRONWOOD QUILT SHOW (Nancy A. Murdock) Click COLORADO VISIT (Regina Howlett) Click MESSAGE FROM JANE (Jane McCauley) Click Part 2 (Readers' Articles) The following Readers' Articles (blogs) and poems are all by Nancy A. Murdock. Please feel free to contribute poems or articles about anything on your mind. BACK TO THE FUTURE Click MY COUSIN CLYDE Click YESTERDAY'S PROMISES Click ALL CLEAN Click THE FORECAST Click TIME TO GET UP Click THE STORM Click FALL COLOR Click A HARSH DAY Click
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By Jean Ogawa Gallery photo
Gallery photo Quilt index |
The Well House |
Art Murdock October 1, 2010 - Thought you might like to hear about an interesting encounter that Lorraine and I had a couple of months ago. For many years I have been driving by and watching the ever-changing appearance of a particular Hubbardston home. The most recent addition was an odd looking outhouse size structure. Making daily trips past the property, I saw slow but steady progress, and became rapidly more curious about its present or future function. Curiosity can only be tolerated for so long. Finally one afternoon when Lorraine happened to be at my side, I spotted the able carpenter putting some finishing touches on the.......whatever the heck it was. I pulled over to the side of the road, set the parking brake and walked directly toward the man who was by then grinning with anticipation. I said as I aproached, "Sir, my apologies but my curiosity will not let me pass this property another day without knowing what it is that you have built here." He chuckled and said that countless passers-by were not so patient. Many had tried to guess but only one could actually identify its function. The building was actually a replica of another, more authentic, on the grounds of the Old Sturbridge Village historic site. It is called a well house and is actually placed atop a very large flat stone which has a hole chizzled in the center . The stone is placed over a dug well with the center hole only large enough to lower a wooden bucket down through to "fetch a pail of water". As you will see in the attached photos, the building has two windows and no doors but a curious shute or spout out one side. Our new friend Bob explained that the lack of doors would stop small children and pets from entering a dangerous area. The outside chute was attached to an inside table which the full bucket would rest on and be tipped to pour the water through the chute and into an awaiting bucket outside. By this time I had mentioned to Bob that my brother Eugene's late wife had lived in this house with her parents many years ago. His interest turned to excitement as he insisted that we stay so he could show us the inside of his home. With the skills of a professonal tour master he led us through room after room of this magnificent building. The original structure was very authentic and well preserved. The more recent additions were tastefully built and decorated to look like the same vintage. Every room had been furnished to complement the age of the main building. When we returned to the beautiful old kitchen area, Bob pointed to a picture frame hanging on the wall showcasing only a list of names and dates. He pointed to the top of the list where the name of John Williams appeared. He explained that Mr. Williams had built and resided in this house but had also built several other of the homes in the area as well. The "area" later became and still is known as Williamsville. That framed list of names contained every known resident of the property including, about midway down the page, the name of Christine Olsen Murdock's father Carl. I would bet that Christine would be very pleased to see how some things have changed and others have stayed very much the same and that the property is in the hands of a very caring wonderful couple. I have only scratched the surface of the information that we absorbed that day but I wanted to share some of it with familly members. For those who remember the original building I think you will like the pics as it is today. Unfortunately I did not have the camera in hand during the inside tour. |
Barb, 2010
Dick, 2010 |
Barb DiStefano Otober 2, 2010 - I thought you might be interested in the new endeavor of mine, as I am taking up quilting! Not so much for its own sake, but as a means to create something. My first one will be made up of the photos Dotty sent me of the covered bridges that Mom had been to and taken pictures of. My first step was to go to a quilting group at the senior center. They in turn steered me toward Joanne's Fabrics for instruction and guidance. Then I will purchase the means to transfer the photos onto fabric, and of course, the fabric itself. I have an idea to make the background squares some sort of woodsy or stone or red boards, but will see what I find. The quilting lady at the senior center mentioned a frame, but I couldn't comprehend what exactly she meant, though understood the principle of it, similar to the round frame for cross-stitch projects. She made her own frame but didn't bring it in. Any advice or tips you have to offer will be gratefully accepted. The other note of interest, and this all can go in the Muse, is that the scientists out there might be interested in Dick's blog, at this link. Right now he is talking about string theory. It is easy to mistype, but if you Google "The Walrus Sez" it should pop up. Will be thinking of you for your anniversary celebration when I am up in Conn.!! |
Their House
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Nancy A. Murdock THE LONG JOURNEY July 25, 2010 - We debated whether to go to the Howlett Reunion, since it was so far away now. Living in the area of the Great Lakes has made some changes in our decisions about where we can comfortably go. We finally decided to go ahead with the usual plan, which is always to GO. It’s great to be able to see so many family members at my brother John’s get-together each year. However, it is a LONG way from Ironwood to Chichester, near Concord, NH. The good news is that both of us have retired from working, so we no longer have to juggle our time off - we don’t have to justify the days away. We elected to go by car and visit along the way, wherever possible. Given the choice between going by way of Canada or through some of the U.S. major cities, we elected to get a good look at Canada in early summer. After checking to make sure our passports and drivers’ licenses were up-to-date, we felt ready to plan our trip. STARTING THE TRIP TO NEW ENGLAND Bob prepared for the trip by getting a Triptik online from AAA. This is one of the free services they provide. Along with some maps of the states we would be going through, this seemed to be enough to get us on our way. AAA had us going through Ontario, Canada to get from Michigan to New York State. So we picked up a map of Ontario as well. Things are often not quite as simple as we expect. We found ourselves sitting outdoors at McDonald’s while something was being done to a large steel item that looked a lot like some of the pictures we had seen recently on a TV show about the old roller coasters. The clanging was enough to test anyone’s ears - and patience. It was a big relief to move on from there. We stayed overnight in Michigan’s lower peninsula, near the city of Flint. (Yes, we spent all the first day in Michigan!) We had driven across the Mackinac Bridge to get from the U.P. to the L.P. We had a rather long delay at the border, with slow lines at Customs. But after we were authorized to proceed into Canada, we enjoyed the trip, for the most part. The scenery was basically lots of very green fields, with some water here and there. Since I was the driver at this time, I quickly got tired of the many large trucks that shared the road with us, but we didn’t have any problems with scary drivers. We began to see signs that the places we planned to stop at for gas and perhaps lunch were not going to be available. However, by the time we got halfway through Ontario, we found a good gas station with an adjacent family restaurant. There was a large spread of foods, with plenty of non-meat items, and the seniors’ all-you-can-eat price was quite modest. So far, so good for our second day! If I had known how many miles we would travel during the two-week trip, I probably would have wondered how we could do such a journey. But whenever we looked at the current situation, we felt quite comfortable. We stopped fairly early each night, choosing Fairfield if we had a choice, because with them we have a number to get credits for using their facilities. We took turns driving, which made the journey more easy on us. We wrote in a notebook all of the times we switched places, etc., but we aren’t including them in this report. On the second night, we went to stay with Sally and Ernie Bacon in New York. We arrived at 7:40 PM. They have a lovely place, with plenty of beautiful flowers to make it even more nice. We had a really good chance to chat a little, and they definitely gave us A-1 accommodations. Bob asked for information about who is doing what in their family. Eric Bacon is director of parks and recreation for the town of Camellia. Tricia works part time with senior citizens. Their daughter Sarah will start kindergarten in the fall. Meghan, age 7, is a “girlie girl” who loves jewelry, crafts, drawing, and coloring. Rebecca and Keith are both physical therapists. Samantha, 10, loves baton twirling. Ernie retired from teaching seven years ago but then worked as a consultant in the same school district. He is an avid Red Sox fan. Sally is an office manager, She worked from home the last three years. She worked for a water treatment concern for 19 years! Sally enjoys reading and doing research online. She is a fan of both Facebook and Scrabble online. Because it took us an extra day to get to the East Coast, we missed seeing Derek and Rosalind Frost, who had invited us to stay overnight at their home in Maine. I was hoping to see her latest art quilts, but at least we saw them online during her show a couple of months ago. The Howlett Family Reunion, the main reason for our trip, is reported in another article in this issue of the Muse. HUBBARDSTON-GARDNER VISITS Bob’s sister Dotty had arranged a nice get-together at Barre Falls, so we caught up with her, Art, Viki, and some of Randy’s family. Randy’s son Dillon is all set to enter Franklin Pierce University in Ringe, NH, to major in criminal justice. We also played Scrabble, using Gloria’s 3D Scrabble board. I can see that I have gotten a little behind in that game, so I got Bob to play a game to sharpen me up, after we got home. As usual, we looked forward to visiting Jane and Ken McCauley. Since Jane is the news reporter for Hubbardston, we get a good idea of what is going on in our old home area. We were impressed with their gardening. I can see that we need to rev up considerably. Of course, we both showed our quilts, and later I found a nice pattern at the library, which looked a lot like one Jane had just used. It looks like fun to do, and not too time-consuming. Her quilt group seems to be quite busy. They gave us a snack of ice cream with a choice of cultivated or wild blueberries. Delicious! I do miss being able to step outdoors with a cup and harvest a few blueberries before breakfast, but I don’t think there are any more on what used to be our property in Hubbardston. They had an amusing gift ready for us to bring home - an old scrub board made by the Murdock company of Winchendon, Mass. That is one artsy household! We were fortunate to find both Tom and Marcia Howlett at home. We had a nice lunch with them as we caught up on the news, especially about the town’s monetary difficulties, etc. They do have a library again, but I don’t know the ins and outs of how it is running. The old barberry bushes that were in front of the post office for decades are being removed. I don’t think I have the name correctly written here, but the bushes are barred from being in public places because they have a bad reputation and are very invasive once they get going. We also went to Baldwinville to visit with Steve and Terry Howlett. Steve is in very good health now. Terry is still the Bursar for the local community college, so she is very busy between home and work. ITHACA, NEW YORK We were very pleased to receive an invitation from David and Cindy Leskinen, and we stopped at their house on the way home. Cindy’s mother and three dogs live with them. If I got the breeds right, one is a combination lab and dalmatian, and the other two are young dachshunds. This is a very loving household, and the lovely older dog is receiving excellent care as she is reaching the end of her life. The decor throughout the house is colorful fun stuff. David served a wonderful meal that included two kinds of salad. We thank them for a lovely visit. We decided to avoid the hassle at Customs on the way home. David showed us the best route to get from their house to Ohio, so we could avoid Canada. It might be 75 to 100 extra miles, but we would see different scenery as well. We mainly slept in a different place each night and traveled 3,000 miles round trip, taking turns driving. I was extremely glad to reach 219 W. Harding Ave. We both kept nodding off for the first two days at home, but I think we’re more settled in now. My quilt guild met last night (Tuesday) at a party at Old Suffolk Ale House. I didn’t have any beer, but the food was surprisingly classy. I had ordered vegetarian cheese ravioli, which was really lovely! It had a white sauce and a lemon slice to make it extra delicious. I was very glad to have arrived home in time to go to the party. I also had a chance to show a few of my quilts. They liked all of them, but I think their favorite was “Ice and a Flaming Sunrise,” which has a lot of silver lame’ and shiny fabrics in other colors. It is really good to be home in time to do these fun things. Just before supper tonight (Wednesday), I was able to get my non-working wristwatch to a jeweler a block from the Old Suffolk, so now I can tell what time it is again. I find that I keep peeking to be sure it’s running, even though I could see he was very competent. We had fun showing some of our quilts, which we carried in a large suitcase. We even gave a couple of them to relatives. I plan to rev up my quilting this year, so I can give more away. We also need to put up some rods to hang quilts on our own walls. I think we have about five that are patiently waiting a turn to be in good spots for viewing. SUMMING IT UP In all, we traveled over 3,000 miles, taking turns driving our car. It was interesting to see the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula. It’s definitely a different sort of life, heavy on fishing and other outdoor work and fun. I don’t think either of us is eager to do it again soon, though. It sort of wore us out! Since we were sleeping in a different building each night (either an inn or someone’s house), we found it a bit of a drag to keep moving everything back and forth. Also, we didn’t get to church either of the two Sundays we were on the road. It was great to get back to our current church today. It was my day to be Lector, and several people said they liked my reading and were glad to have us back. So I was glad we had pushed to get home in time to fulfill our promises. Many thanks to all who spent time with us on this trip! We love you all! |
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Charlie Frost June 29, 2010 - Here's wishing you a safe and pleasant trip east, Nancy and Bob. Regrettably, we won't be there to welcome you but you might be able to link up with Derek and Rosalind. Janice and I returned earlier this month from a most enjoyable trip to far "down east" Maine. Here are the highlights: Stopped first in Chicago for Janice to visit people at the Math and Science Initiative in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperative located at DePaul University. We stayed near Evanston so that we had a chance to visit and photograph Charlie's home as an infant, the carriage house of a Prairie School house just off the lake on Church Street at the edge of the Northwestern campus. The house has marks of a Frank Lloyd Wright, but seems to have been severely bastardized in a renovation. Jan particularly enjoyed revisiting the architecture along Lake Shore Drive from Evanston to Hyde Park. I was happy to get out of Chicago while she enjoyed every minute of it. We stayed one night in Amsterdam, NY, on the old Erie Canal. Saw some ruins of the original canal and aqueduct. Stayed a few days in southern Maine with Derek and Rosalind, and had a wonderful visit with them. Then Janice, Pamela, and I took a three-day trip "down east" to Passamaquoddy Bay to visit my ancestral places. Jan particularly desired to see Frost Cove and Frost Head. I had not explored the area before as much as we did. The big thrill was walking into a little cafe in the little town of Perry and finding paper placemats printed with the story of the founding of the town ",,,,,founded by John Frost in l758...." , the story surrounded, of course, by local ads. We told the waitress who we were and she brought us a bunch of clean placemats to take home. We gathered some driftwood at Frost Cove for souvenirs. Rose early at the B&B in Eastport to catch the tide on the Bay at the right time to see the whirlpool. The bay was too calm that morning for the whirlpool to form but Pam heard a whale blow, and we watched it breach and dive several times in the flood tide. While in the Bay area we saw the West Quoddy Lighthouse, the easternmost point in the USA, and crossed over the international bridge at Lubec to visit the Roosevelt summer home on Campobello Island. Reminded us of that film Sunrise at Campobello. Driving up the coast highway was wonderful. Saw a number of wild blueberry barrens. Every cove and every harbor was different, beautiful, and the architecture of the houses wonderful. Camden was especially authentic. Bar Harbor was somewhat too commercialized for my taste. Pamela loved the four-masted schooner that she watched cruising the harbor as we ascended Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park early that evening. (If you look closely at the Maine quarter-dollar you will see an image of that kind of schooner.) Things have been preserved in Maine, not torn down or mutilated as in the Midwest. Frost Cove has two houses on it, and everything else is just God's nature. Incredibly beautiful. When we left Maine we went down to Tarrytown, NY, where we had dinner with two of Jan's cousins. Jan had a great time catching up on the family news, while I tried to absorb the relationships of the extensive Grow clan. We spent Saturday and Sunday with the Chuck Maienza's. What a joy to be with that family! Those two kids are so lucky to have those two parents! Paul is a kick! He is turning into as sophisticated a little boy, as Cat is turning into a sophisticated teen! Their conversation and interaction with each other and with adults is just amazing! We heard a lot from Jenni and Chuck about how the governor of NJ and the media are treating teachers, and it's outrageous. Jenni is downhearted by all this beating up on teachers but still motivated to help those kindergarten children. Homeward bound on the PA Turnpike we encountered a blinding rain shower as we approached the turnoff for I-70. I missed the exit, so we went on to Pittsburgh, where Jan savored more modern architecture. Correcting, we headed to Weirton, WV, and drove along the Ohio River to Wheeling. Discovered Oglebay Park, the 400-acre estate of a Great Lakes shipping magnate donated to the city in 1928, walked over a mile on the park paths and did water aerobics in the fine pool. The room tariff was not more expensive than that of the chain motel at the bottom of the hill! Have fun, you guys! |
Gallery photo |
Claudia Lindsey Hi Family & Friends, August 29, 2010 - Dennis took this picture of Isabeau last week at Disneyland. She will be in 1st grade this year and is growing up fast. Take care all and write soon. Love, Claudia |
John and Cathy, 2008 2010 roster Gallery photo |
Nancy A. Murdock July 10, 2010 - We arrived at John and Cathy’s house after a very long drive through the Upper Peninsula and Canada. It was easy to see that Johnny had put a lot of thought and muscle into planning and setting up for the reunion. He had rearranged the use of various spots so that it seemed like a whole new place. The food was just being placed on the tables, so our arrival time worked very well. Johnny had done some fancy mushroom cookery - very delicious. As usual, everyone had brought delicious foods and greetings for all. It’s always great to get together with family, whom we see rarely. Paulette Howlett (Andy’s widow) was there, with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. We had an enjoyable conversation about our duties at church. She had recently been the Vestry leader three times in a row, so she is enjoying a chance not to be on the Vestry currently. I told her I was enjoying being groomed to lead the Morning Prayer sessions at our church in Ironwood. It would be nice if we lived near enough to each other to visit each other’s churches, but it’s great to be able to meet at the reunion each year and catch up with everyone. I didn’t see any of the Howlett cousins - perhaps because we were busy checking out all the tasty foods that were offered, or perhaps we weren’t moving around enough. We all definitely missed Clyde. His death has been a big loss. We could always depend on seeing him and hearing what he was doing with his gardens, computers, etc. John had been given a 5-pound Hershey bar, and we became the lucky owners. We’re having a blast with it. It melted several times in the car, but it happily stuck back together each time, before it got liquid enough to pour out the door. It was strange traveling with it! Now it resides in the fridge and is available for strong fingers to break off nice-sized chunks. I think of Johnny and the great reunion with everyone when I open the fridge. I wrote a poem about missing Clyde, which you can find elsewhere in this issue of the Muse. Clyde was a great cousin! |
Dotty's 81st B-day |
Bob Murdock After Nancy and I arrived in New England, I asked my sister (Dotty Salminen) if there could be a get-together on Sunday, July 11. Sure enough, she arranged for a picnic starting at 10 AM at the Barre Falls Dam. Well, we had stayed in Concord, NH Saturday night after the Howlett Family Reunion, and after partaking of the free breakfast at the Best Western Motel, started driving the 100 miles or so to Barre Falls. So it was that we were late getting to the picnic. About 10:30 AM, when we were en route, there was a call on my cell phone. As usual, I couldn’t get to it quickly enough. But there was a voice message from my brother Art. “Just wondering where you are,” he said. I called him back, and he gave us specific instructions to the picnic site. “From Hubbardston, take the Barre Road all the way across Rt. 62 and keep on going until you get to the farthest picnic grounds.” That was perfect. We overshot the mark a bit, but Art spotted us and took us to the picnic tables. Dotty was there, along with Teddie Doane, Randy and Gloria Salminen, and Randy’s son Dillon. Viki Blakley came later. When we arrived, nobody seemed upset that we were late. They had a Scrabble game going on Gloria’s deluxe board. Randy graciously let Nancy take his place, and that freed him to be interviewed by me! But first I talked with Art. Lorraine couldn’t come today, he said, as she was attending her granddaughter’s bridal shower. Art has been with the Wachusett Precast Concrete company for eight years. He is now their sales manager, and travels about 200 miles a day! Daughter Kimberly works for Sager Electronics, a distributor of electronic components. Like her dad, she does training and travels a lot. Bill, her husband, has his own company for selling and installing windows. Kim and Bill both plan to run in the Marine Corps Marathon, October 31 in Washington, D.C. Randy is the training manager for Axis Communications, maker of video surveillance equipment. They have offices in 22 countries. One of their customers is Target stores, where you can see their cameras. Gloria has an important position in housing for the elderly in Brighton, Mass. Daughter Chantal lives in Nantucket, and manages a high-class restaurant. Randy’s eldest son Logan works in landscaping, especially tree service. He and his wife Cassie live in Colorado, not far from Scott Murdock, Gene’s son. Tucker, 16, will be a junior at Gardner High in the fall. Dillon is 18. He will be attending Franklin Pierce University in Ringe, NH, majoring in Criminal Justice. “And baseball,” he told us. He is a right-handed pitcher, and this year played on an elite American Legion All-Star team. Dotty has two new great-grandchildren! William Joseph Doane, born June 30, is Teddie’s first grandson, born to Ben and Jaime. And Viki is the proud grandmother of Zoey Zoel Blakley. She was born July 8, and her parents are Shawn and Amanda. They live in Templeton. Shawn does maintenance for Pepsi-Cola machines. He works out of Holden but travels a lot. Amanda is a graphic designer. Viki told us that her eldest son Jacob and his wife Margaret live in Westford, Mass. Jake is the manager for a “Life is Good” store. They sell “Life is Good” Tee shirts and other optimistic apparel. Margaret teaches 9th grade English. Casey, who turned 17 yesterday (July 10), just got his driver’s license. He will be a senior this year at Monty Tech. He has a part-time job of bottle redemption (5 cents each). In summer he works at a garden stand, and in winter helps with snow plowing. Scott, 15, is going into 10th grade at Westford Academy, in the same town where Jake lives. He was on the honor roll this year. Scott loves skateboarding. He does odd jobs for people including Grandma Dotty. Viki herself has been with Home Depot (Leominster) for six years, mainly in Kitchen and Bath. But in the winter months (November to April) she will run the Deli dept. in the cafeteria of the ski resort at Mt. Wachusett. |
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Joel Liebman Bob and Nancy, it really is for us so hard Only using written words, as in this card Because we’d rather say them on your special day No way for us to do so, surely there is no way Airplanes fly from Baltimore to Minneapolis No way for us to do so, to join you and say yes Cards are sent after e-announcements made Years celebrated, toasts given, music played Memories recalled now of our first meeting Up the stairs you went with food for heating Recalling now we said hello and I held the door Dinner time in 4D soon had one more Opening boxes of games for those befriended Chui had grandparents, now families extended Kindness and caring, ah “singing by the drain” JK sending love and joy, with this e-mail we’re sayin’ “May you share health, happiness and all that is good Bob and Nancy, of Fallridge Court and now Ironwood” - - - - Joel and Kay, September 2010 [Ed. note - Joel, a professor at UMBC, and Kay were good friends in Baltimore. Joel came to our 50th anniversary celebration at our church there, and delivered a nice tribute. Chui was his cat. Note the clever way that the first letters in each line of the poem above spell our name as you read them down. - - RDM] |
Jean, 2009
Hiawatha Gallery photo |
Nancy A. Murdock Jean is our very good friend from Tokyo, Japan. We have had the pleasure of visiting with her many times, when our former church (Christ the King Church in Baltimore) was linked with her church in Tokyo. Jean was often the one who led some of the younger visitors to CTK. When Mary Murdock and Bevin Murdock were planning a big event for our 60th wedding anniversary in October, we asked Jean if she could come to celebrate with us. She said she couldn’t come in October, but she would like to visit from September 3 through 9. She was able to extend her Delta flight from Minneapolis to the airport in Rhinelander, WI, which is only a little over an hour from here. On the way home from Rhinelander, we stopped for dinner at the Perkins restaurant in Woodruff, WI and enjoyed the meal. There is a 2,000 pound statue of a Loon in Mercer, WI. It was too dark to visit it, but we stopped there at the end of Jean’s visit, and she took photos. That was the start of a great week. Jean is always willing to participate in doing simple fun or visiting suggested spots, and we had a great time. One day Darrel called to invite us to Kimball Falls Park. He said I should pick up a sandwich, as he wasn’t bringing a feast. He would be buying his sandwich at a local shop, The Subway. As soon as we hung up, Jean said, “You need to make your sandwich! What kind shall we make?” We had plenty of fresh bread, peanut butter, jam, cheese slices, tomatoes, and mayo, so we laid everything out on the table and went to work on it. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun with making easy sandwiches! We also had some cookies and fruits to round out our picnic, along with a choice of cold water or soft drink. It was a nice day, with the trees showing a good start on Fall Colors. The park is near enough to let us still be in a happy mood getting there and coming back home. Another day we went to a local store, Ben Franklin. that specializes in wild animal items. This is the one where I walked into the store shortly after moving here, to be shocked when I turned a corner and came face to face with a large black bear. Fortunately, it was a harmless stuffed bear, not a live guy! I thought Jean might like to browse for greeting cards, etc. I found a box of three jigsaw puzzles that looked good, and Jean bought either a single puzzle or a box of three, along with a couple of other small, lightweight items. She also bought a nice warm jacket. It’s a fun store! It has jewelry, fabrics, clothing, and stuffed animals. Shortly after we discovered it, I bought a pair of moose socks. It turned out they didn’t get along with my feet, so I gave them to a lady at church whose sister was the right size. To get back to Jean’s visit, she turned out to be a whiz at jigsaw puzzles. I think there are many things she is good at. When we brought home my box of three, she saw me working on my smallest one and getting confused by all the gray shadows. That’s when she took over and whipped through that puzzle in what we would call “jig time.” Another day we went to a different park, in nearby Bessemer. We had intended to go up to the shore of Lake Superior, but the lady at the local Michigan Tourist Center informed us that it would be ten degrees colder and very windy. We had a picnic with us, so we were in great shape for a good party. It was still cold and breezy, but Jean checked out the old train stuff and read every message in the park. Everything we did with Jean was more fun than when we have just the two of us. In the city of Ironwood there is a giant statue of Hiawatha, probably the largest statue of a Native American in the USA. We took our cameras, and you can see pictures in the photo gallery for this issue of the Muse. To celebrate our 60th anniversary, Jean treated us to dinner at the Breakwater Restaurant. We had eaten breakfast there, but never dinner, and we were not disappointed. I finished a small quilt for Jean while she was here. She kindly sewed on the “sleeve,” which is sewn to the upper back to make it easy to hang the quilt on a rod. We mailed the quilt after it was fully finished, and it reached her with no problems. I think she might be interested in making some more small quilts sometime. I’ve been looking through my Quilt Index for ideas. Jean said she might come to visit us again next year, and we assured her that we would get up to Lake Superior after she comes here. |
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Priscilla Januskiewicz Here is some surprising news. I had been looking for a few years for a 1905 book written by our great- grandfather, Emanuel Carlson Charlton, entitled The Ompompanoosuc Parish. I had requested it on Amazon.com several times, but it was always out-of- print. Much to my surprise, last week, while looking at the same website, I found that it had been reprinted last year as a paperback and was in stock! It's also available at Barnes & Noble and even on e-Bay (brand new) and for very modest prices at all three sites. (There are at least four different cover styles.) I ordered the book but haven't had time to read it yet, but noticed that our grandparents, (Emanuel's son, Allen Charlton, and wife Idella) are mentioned toward the end of the book. The book is about the history of the Methodist church in Union Village, VT that Emanuel pastored from 1904-1905, I believe. Apparently he moved to Putney, Vt which is where Allen and Idella were married in 1905. Allen and Idella moved into the Deacon Lord homestead in Union Village after their marriage where they both were active in the church there. When writing about grandma and grandpa a few years ago I noticed, in grandma's first scrapbook, a clipping of the Deacon Lord homestead, marked, "Our first home", pasted on the first page. Roy and I drove to Vermont a few years ago looking for the place, and found it after asking around town where it could be. It is not easy to find, being very secluded and up on a hill, but it has a breath-taking view of the Ompompanoosuc Valley. The man who now owns it is the owner of the Pompanoosuc furniture stores, and he let us walk around the grounds after we showed him the faded picture of the house in the old scrapbook. So I just thought I'd share this with you. |
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Nancy A. Murdock My local quilt guild had a VERY good show. We used the Memorial Building in Ironwood, which turned out to be a very nice place to set up all the vendors, as well as our many quilted items. I entered 16 items. They allowed only items that hadn’t ever been in an earlier show with Northern Lights Quilting Guild, so of course, ANY of mine were okay! None of them had been in a show here, other than a little show-and-tell at meetings. Members and visitors kept mentioning how great the Memorial Building was for the show. I am hoping the next one (which I think will be in 2012) will also be allowed to use that building. It’s a very well-done building, with stained-glass windows on the upper level. We had quilts and other quilted items all over the two levels. The upper level is really a good-sized balcony, with a large circle in the middle. It made a fine place to hang the medium-sized quilts, and I was startled to look up and see FIVE of mine in a row!! The exhibition was reported in the Daily Globe, the local newspaper. Two quilts were pictured, but none of mine. However, Mary Murdock informed us that she had seen one of my quilts in Ironwood Info, an online only publication. Sure enough, we found that they had done an extensive report on the show, with lots of photos. One of the featured quilts was “Flights of Fancy,” which I had made in 2000. Needless to say, I was delighted ! It takes a while to soak up the way the locals do things. No one bid on the one item I had donated to the Silent Auction, for example. It took me several tries to find where it had been stashed. I have suggested that, for the next show, we have some vertical places to hang some of the items for Silent Auction. They had everything on one table, and I understand they had mine sloppily folded and hanging off one corner of the table, with something else over it. I never did find it when I was searching to see what bids it had. The items that were moving were sets of placemats, mostly. They were easy to place, since they could be stacked up. I may have set a starting bid that was too large, also. I thought $35 was a good starting point, based on my many years of chairing or working on the Silent Auction at Faithful Circle shows (and also bidding on items that appealed to me), but next time I’ll make a much smaller item and start the bidding lower. It takes a while to catch up with what is normal for the area. The last time I chaired a Silent Auction at FCQ, we made $3000. I don’t expect to get that much here during my lifetime, but I’d like to have the items more available for bidding. Anyway, we did have a fine quilt show. One of the things I miss here is the quilt shows at Faithful Circle Quilters (Maryland). That’s way too far to travel to a quilt show, but my heart is with them when there is a show. So I was pleased to be a part of a show here. |
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Regina Howlett It was very nice to see you at the family reunion. Hope your drive back was a little better? You guys drove a long way to get there... We had a wonderful visit in Colorado July 16 through 25. Attached is a picture of all of us at the Cumberlin Pass. From left to right Mark, Jeremy, Casey, Regina, Cyndi and Scott. We camped at the Taylor Park for three days. For the rest of the time we did day trips. It's a beautiful state. There is much more to see so we would like to go back some time soon we hope. Our next trip is at Christmas to Switzerland. We are looking forward to it - it's been a long time since we all went to visit my family. I am also enclosing a photo of Casey and her boyfriend Tyler, taken at a wedding they attended recently. |
Jane's Hosta Bed The Black Bear |
Jane McCauley August 14, 2010 - Hi Nancy and Bob, Glad you enjoyed the pictures. Bob wanted me to send some of the hosta beds as maybe he is planning to do some. You had forgotten to bring your camera. We are having two days of beautiful weather with no humidity and then it comes back again. Where did the summer go? Still quilting. I just finished a bear paw with a tree and two bears on it that are appliqued. I thought of the bear quilt you just did. That is invisible thread that you were thinking of I think. I just read in a quilting magazine when stitching in the ditch to use invisible thread in the upper thread. Makes sense.... I have been practicing machine quilting but not good enough yet. Today we have a family reunion of the Kendalls at my brother David's in Charlton. Making a potato salad (with Miracle Whip dressing) and a blueberry pie. We are loaded with blueberries. Keep quilting! |
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