Fighting fishing fever is futile

Dad on the Williams River
Dad and me

Summit Lake. Cranberry River. Cherry River. Deer Creek. Williams River. When I need to relax, I picture these waters in my mind’s eye. And then I picture myself struggling to reel in a huge rainbow trout. Fishing fever runs in both sides of my family.

One of my favorite things to do is to head out on the river or the lake with my dad, Luther Baker, or my brother, Ben, or my aunt and uncle, Judy and Virgil Biafore. My uncle, Craig Lipscomb, took the fishing fever with him when he moved to Florida. This isn’t a new development. It’s definitely genetics at work.

I remember fishing excursions with my grandparents on my mom’s side when I was a kid. We’d load up and head down Marlinton Road from Richwood to Summit Lake. I wasn’t really about the “getting dirty” aspect of fishing until I got through my teens, but now I can’t think of anything better. Even if you don’t catch anything, floating in a canoe or standing up to your knees in a clean river is a good way to spend a morning.

Dad and Ben and I took an annual camping/fishing trip to Williams River for several years. These were really enjoyable times. Dad is really quite the “trout whisperer” and can scale a steep riverbank like a gazelle. I’m not the best fisherwoman, but I like to learn. Sometimes I would pick a beautiful hole of water and stay there while Dad and Ben fished up and down the river. Ben and I would clown around a bit. One time we pretended I was feeding him a crawdad, and another time I jumped into the river after a particularly stubborn golden trout. The best part of the trip is always the family fishing tales Dad tells.

We need to take another trip this summer. I’ll have to suggest that. You can’t fight genetics.

A family visit

I’m weird, I know. I like cemeteries. When I’m driving past a cemetery, especially one that looks old, I feel compelled to pull over and take a walk.

In Robert Fulghum’s book, “From Beginning to End: The Rituals of our Lives,” he describes taking a lawn chair to the grave plot he bought for himself and spending a pleasant afternoon. I haven’t gone that far yet, but I do appreciate his sentiment. Graveyards don’t always have to be mournful places.

Visiting my relatives is something I greatly enjoy as part of my family history research. Looking for the final resting places of people you only know by names on a genealogy chart is like hunting for treasure. To me, visiting these places feels like making a connection. You are letting those who came before you know that you remember them, that they mattered to you.

Over the weekend, my husband and I took a trip to Elkins to get out of town. Driving back on Sunday, we took the scenic route to enjoy the beautiful day.

We passed through Adrian and Abbott in Upshur County, where my maternal grandmother, Jeanne Freeman Lipscomb, grew up. My great-grandparents, Bunyan and Breatice Freeman, and my great-great grandparents, Homer and Ella Freeman, are laid to rest at the Point Pleasant Chapel cemetery in Abbott. I had not been there since I was a kid, so it was a moving experience for me to find them again. I couldn’t stay long because people were starting to arrive for church services that morning, but I know I’ll be back.

I’m looking forward to Memorial Day next month and hope that I’ll have the opportunity to visit more family, those who are still with me – and those who are gone. Cemeteries are places of living history.

A collector of collections

I wouldn’t call myself a pack rat, but I do love antiques.

My mom, Andrea, and I like to travel the state and hit antique stores like Sisters Antique Mall in Flatwoods, Carpetbaggers in Oak Hill and all the shops in Lewisburg. Old Central City in Huntington also features some great stores.

Early on, I decided to limit myself on the types of antiques I would collect, so I
a) wouldn’t be completely broke and

b) would be able to move freely about my house.

Here is a short list of some treasures:

· Blue Willow dishes that I use every day--Ma-Maw Lipscomb had a set of these. I collect the less expensive pattern that doesn’t have a stamp on the bottom. Chipped is OK with me.

· Homer Laughlin’s Virginia Rose dishes—Ma-Maw Baker had a set of these.

· Wexford pressed glass—Mom got me interested in this.

· Mayfair Open Rose pink Depression glass—Ma-Maw Baker collected this. I don’t have any pieces yet because it is pricey, but I do have one reproduction.

· 19th century ladies book prints—These are usually pages from old ladies’ journals. They are usually pen and ink drawings with some color added that show pairs of women in lovely dresses. I believe women used these to order dress patterns. You find a lot of them framed in pairs. I love them. My husband doesn’t love holes in the walls.

· Cameo jewelry—I think cameos are beautiful. I don’t have many of these, but I do have one of my mom’s that she gave me, one that belonged to a special neighbor in Richwood and two that I bought at an antique store in Richwood.

What do you collect?

Words to live by

In my life, I have been blessed with three sets of grandparents: Luther and Vada Baker, Kermit and Jeanne Lipscomb and Carl and Fannie O’Dell. All of them have passed away, but I hope to record information to keep their memory alive, especially for the next generation.

As someone who enjoys family history research, I know that the random memories about people are the true gems you can’t look up in courthouse records. I love that I have objects that belonged to my grandparents, from quilts, glassware and photos to goofy things like hair pins, gloves, keys to cars long sold and notes scribbled on paper.

I found one such note by my Ma-Maw Lipscomb that has a lot of meaning for me. Even though she died in 1986, I feel close to her. I remember a lot about her, her sense of humor, how she called me “Amy doll,” holidays at her house, what her hand felt like when I held it at church. Anyway, she wrote down jokes she heard from TV, poems and other odds and ends she liked, but this is the one that I like the best:

“Know yourself.
Understand yourself.

Accept yourself for what you are.

Don’t be too sorry for yourself.

Be yourself and not somebody else.

Be what you are.”

Mountain State Storytelling Institute

One of the perks of working at FSU and Pierpont is having the opportunity to attend cool events like the Mountain State Storytelling Institute, the brainchild of Dr. Fran Kirk. The event was April 3 and 4, 2009.

Working in public relations means I spend a lot of time writing other people’s stories. I’d like to explore some of my own. I hoped the Institute would get some creative juices bubbling. Did it ever! I am virtually boiling over with ideas.

I learned about blogging from “Granny Sue” Holstein, which is why you’re reading this right now. (I highly encourage you to check out her blog, "Granny Sue's News and Reviews"). I learned how to use freeware to create movies and edit digital audio. I heard some really great ghost stories and even got pulled up on stage by a new friend. I met nationally-known storytellers and saw some memorable performances. I met author Donna Ison and bought her book, “The Miracle of Myrtle: Saint Gone Wild.” I also bought a book by WVU’s Patrick Gainer, “Witches, Ghosts and Signs.”

All in all, it was a valuable and fun experience that I highly recommend to others. Watch for it next year, the first week of April at FSU.

The Purpose of this Blog

This is a blog about wild and weird West Virginia: family traditions, the Mothman, antique hunting, my favorite places, books and more. It’s a veritable Cabinet of Curiosities. Working at FSU, I have been fortunate to learn more about our Appalachian heritage and the preservation of story through the tireless work of Dr. Judy P. Byers and the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center. I love West Virginia ghost lore by Ruth Ann Musick, Dennis Deitz and many others. I am an enthusiastic fan of our state’s monsters--Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster—and I find Gray Barker fascinating. (I can only read about them in the daylight.) I am a genealogist and a collector of collections. I’m domestically challenged, so you’ll probably find stories about my attempts at learning to cook and to sew. Bear with me.