Finding inspiration from “Emily’s Ghost”

At book signings, I enjoy hearing what motivates writers to put words down on paper. I have lots of ideas floating around in my head, but I never seem to actually get them organized and down onto paper.

My friend Sarah and I went to the Morgantown Barnes and Noble last week to a book signing for Denise Giardina’s new book “Emily’s Ghost.” Giardina is an interesting person in her own right – an award-winning West Virginia author, an Episcopal deacon, an activist and a former gubernatorial candidate. I was hopeful she would have some helpful comments. She did.

Here are a few thoughts I took away from that evening:

1. Someone asked Giardina if her characters “spoke” to her, and she said that they did. The person who asked the question said she heard from many writers that their characters actually talk to them. That concept is interesting to me because I’ve always felt you can hear the “voices in your head” when trying to write dialogue.

2. Giardina didn’t write her first book until she was 30. I’m past 30, but this still gives me hope. I think we put too much pressure on ourselves to accomplish goals by a certain age or we give up. Maybe once you’ve lived a bit more of life, you have more to say.

3. Giardina wanted to write the Bronte story from Emily’s perspective, instead of Charlotte’s. Because Charlotte outlived the rest of her family, her version of their family life became the official story. I imagine that I have a different family view from my siblings, so that makes a lot of sense to me.

4. I did not realize that her earlier books, “Storming Heaven” and “The Unquiet Earth,” were connected to Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.” On her web site, Giardina states she considers “Emily’s Ghost” to be the third book of a trilogy. I’ll have to read the others.

5. Giardina did a great deal of research for this book and even traveled to Haworth, England, to tour the Bronte homeplace.

I am a couple chapters into “Emily’s Ghost” and am really enjoying it. As a lifelong Bronte admirer, I find it entertaining and exciting to read about them from a new perspective. I’m also feeling inspired to start listening to some of my own ghosts.

For more information about Denise Giardina or “Emily’s Ghost,” visit http://www.denisegiardina.com/index.htm.

A genealogy day in Morgantown

Inside the Garlow House

The exterior of the Garlow House

Last Saturday was a great day. My friend Valerie invited me for a trip to Morgantown to introduce me to two great places to do genealogy research—the Aull Center and West Virginia University’s West Virginia and Regional History Collection.

I was very excited to visit the Aull Center because it is housed in the historic Garlow House, built in 1907. Never have I worked in such a beautiful library. The librarian on duty was extremely friendly and helpful and gave us a tour of the entire house, which I really enjoyed. I could have spent all day there. They really have an extensive selection of local histories. Their brochure lists the following items that they house: Morgantown city directories, maps, high school yearbooks, cemetery readings, early deed book and court records, family histories and W.Va. county histories.

We moved on to the WVU collection, where I was amazed to see resources that top what the State Archive offers. I could spend a couple days there. Here’s a link to the collection online: http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection/

What did I find? I found information, but no great leads. I was working on the big family mystery on Mom’s side, which is finding the parents of my great-, great-grandfather Homer Freeman, who was an orphan. He fought in the Civil War and was a teacher for more than 30 years in Upshur County.

I really enjoy learning about family history and am glad to find two more great places for research. Thanks for a great day, Valerie!

Pirate cat to blame for failing crops?

If you’ve seen my Facebook page lately, you’ve probably noticed my growing obsession with, well, growing things, mostly vegetables.


Last year, my husband and I (99 percent David) put out two barrels, one with zucchini and cucumbers and one with tomatoes. We had a ton of zucchini, but the other plants didn’t do very well. This summer we put out Topsy Turvy tomatoes, a barrel of green peppers and a barrel of zucchini. Only the peppers have survived. Over the weekend, we pulled out the zucchini and replaced them with begonias. Argh.

I blame the boat cat. That’s right. The neighbors behind our house have had a landlocked boat on the border of our yard for years. It’s a landmark right beside our gravel driveway.

The other day I was weeding the edges of the driveway (as my husband likes me to do). I pulled a Wal-Mart bag full of clippings and went to take a rest.

As David and I stood there, a mangy gray cat came down from the boat and sauntered over to smell my grass clippings. The cat walked down the driveway to our two barrels of produce. With us watching, it got up into the zucchini barrel and conducted some business. It then moseyed over to the pepper barrel and looked into it and walked away. The brazen feline marched back down the driveway toward us and went under our startlingly white Dodge Dakota, my husband’s pride and joy. David and the cat had a standoff, and eventually the cat lost. It ran away to terrorize another house.

My theory is that this pirate cat might be the zucchini killer. I’m going to keep an eye out for this cat. I think it might generate some interesting stories. (Avast, me hearties!)

More critters

My co-workers, relatives and Facebook buddies have requested more photos of my sock critters, and I am happy to oblige. These socks, buttons and bows tend to create a personality of their own. I’ve been thinking it would be fun to start a blog about the ones I’ve made and the special people who received them, then follow up to add notes about the things their new owners notice about them. We’ll see where it goes.

This one was for my friend Miyuki's new baby, Myleigh.

This one was for my husband David, who loves Dalmatians.

This one was for my friend Angela, who was having a tough time.

This one belongs to my sister Megan.




This one was for my friends Robert and Christy's new baby Anna.

Miss Bunny Fantastico, complete with cape, went to Lauren who is herself fantastico.

Andrew needed a friend with a mustache and goatee.

I think this may be Aunt Sis's Mabel.

This bunny went to my good friend Susan.

And this was one of the very first ones that went to Chas, who inspired all this nonsense.

The little things really matter

1976 - Me (at age 2) with Ma-Maw and Pa-Paw Baker

Dad mentioned to me that my sister, Molly, who is 14 years younger than I am, asked him some questions about his parents. She never met them because our Pa-Paw Luther D. Baker Sr. passed away in 1986 and our Ma-Maw Vada M. Baker passed away in 1985. I’m lucky enough to have known and loved them and to remember them.

What I’ve learned from doing genealogy research on both sides of my family is that the stories that really define us as people are the random memories. The little things you remember about someone you’ve lost –things they liked, what their house smelled like, how they laughed—are the things you can’t look up in courthouse records. Don’t lose the little things.

I put together a few of these random memories of my Baker grandparents and shared them with Molly for her most recent birthday.

Here are a few things I remember:

• 
  I remember how the house used to smell when we visited. The closest thing I’ve smelled like it is the Cracker Barrel restaurant-- a cross between a sweet apple butter and wood smoke from the fireplace.
• 
  When we got to Ma-Maw and Pa-Paw’s house or when we left, Ma-maw used to say, “Come here and give me some sugar.”
• 
  I remember Pa-Paw kept a really big garden in between their house and Aunt Karen’s. Down in the trees was a pen for Oscar the dog. We used to feed him table scraps sometimes. He was a really kind dog.
• 
  I remember the bathroom wallpaper was pink and silver. There are still pieces of it in the dollhouse Dad made for me when I was 4.
• 
  I have a jewelry box that I’ve had since I was a kid that Dad says Pa-Paw won in a card game when they lived at Fenwick. Ma-maw had a friend over, and Pa-Paw was out with another friend. The men came back with one jewelry box for Ma-Maw’s friend, and they were teasing Pa-Paw that he couldn’t win a second one. He left and came back with a second jewelry box.
  

Celebrating family ties

We West Virginians know how to treasure our families. The roots of Mother’s Day, Decoration Day and Father’s Day can be traced back to our state.

Fairmont’s Central United Methodist Church is recognized as holding the first Father’s Day service in the U.S. on July 5, 1908. A Spokane, Washington, woman is given credit for establishing the day as a national holiday, but the first true observance was the worship service here.

According to an article in the Dominion Post written by my friend Kelly Barth in 1987, members of what was called the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South may have been motivated in creating the service by the 1907 Monongah mine disaster, which claimed the lives of many area fathers. Of course, the first Mother’s Day observance happened in Grafton on May 10, 1908, so Father’s Day may have been a natural outgrowth of that holiday.

So, when you remember your father this Father’s Day, also remember that you’re really celebrating a West Virginia tradition. Go West Virginia!

Critters

The gift of a book from my friend Chas has created a whole new hobby – what I call sock critters. The book had ideas on making sock monsters, but I can’t follow simple directions so I began to do my own thing.

I take a pair of socks, some thread and some buttons and piece together a small creature. I like to sew them by hand, partly because I haven’t learned how to use my new sewing machine and partly because I just like the idea of creating something by hand.

When I start one, I try to think of little touches to make them personal. I made a Dalmatian for my husband who loves Dalmatians. For Christmas 2007, I made 15 different critters for my family members, and they were a big hit. I enjoy seeing people laugh when they open their gift and see this crazy creation staring at them with its button eyes.

My critters are a take on the sock monkey, which I love. They tend to take on a personality of their own. Sometimes I start out making one with one person in mind, but I realize in the middle of the sewing that the critter really belongs to someone else. For example, I bought some pastel polka dotted socks to make a critter for my friend Miyuki’s baby, but in the midst of the project I realized the critter was perfect for my aunt Tammy in North Carolina. Why? Well, Tammy and her family really enjoy eating at the Poky Dot restaurant in Fairmont when they come to visit. I bought more socks to make a critter for the baby.

I’ve been thinking I may start a new blog all about my critters and their owners. You never know…