Off to school FF 2/12/21

Friday Fictioneers, Curated by the talented Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who challenges with building a story in 100 words or less, inspired by a photo. his week provided by Alicia Jamtaas.

Today’s prompt, took me back in local history.

Photo by Alicia Jamtaas

Lenore walked slowly. Spring had seen her last day in eighth grade. The county superintendent had asked her to take the school for the next year. Father approved.

Lenore was happy for the job, she wanted to BE a teacher.

The news had just come, the deserted lumber train tracks were going to be used for a bullmoose train, running twice a day.

A stop here in Dowitch each day for milk cans and passengers. The impossible 10 miles from the two room school to the Academy, overcome!

Lenore knew Father would object, but she was going to go!

****

Lenore, child of depression in our area, did ride the bullmoose to the Academy, gaining her teaching credentials. During the 1960s when I attended the High School that was the metamorphosis of the Academy, Miss Camden was still teaching eighth grade.

Some years later, she was a resident at a nursing home where I was employed. She left this world at 102, having touched the lives of hundreds of minds over her 50+ years teaching.

A scolarship fund was organized in her name. Long will she be remembered.

The rails are long gone but on occasions of heavy rain, railroad spikes still make their way up through the railroad bed, now used as a local road.

Saturday in the park

Saturday morning, we set out for adventure.

As often happens, the original plan got sidetracked, but fate intervened to give something better. The road we traveled passed The Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site, near Ironton, MO.

Welcome to the Historic Site

This park commemorates the site of the Battle of Pilot Knob from the Civil War. A dedicated group of reenactors provide living history at times. Saturday was one of those times.

Spring Encampment was going on. Much less crowded and ‘busy’ than the battle reenactment later in the year, it was easy to access all of the camp and talk to reenactors in a more relaxed setting.

Everyone we met was willing to share information about their part in the war effort.

It is really amazing at how much support was required, not only soldiers, medical personnel and all the equipment but blacksmiths, laundresses, musicians. Some of the officers even had personal slaves to serve them.

camp site

Loading the cannon

some of the ladies

blacksmith, a necessary part of the army in the 1860’s

 

Thoughts

I was thinking a while ago. Long ago, some brave souls got on a ship from England. They had no idea where they were going to end up or how things might turn out.
They landed on the stony shores of what is now Massachusetts, starting Plimouth Colony. Unprepared and lacking knowledge of the country, many lives were lost.
Had it not been for the Native Americans, teaching these immigrants and working beside them it is sure the colony would have died out within a short span of time.
I can imagine that first thanksgiving celebration. Turnips, stewed pumpkin, corn, beans, berries, maybe some apples and some wild game. Probably cooked over an open fire.
Shared in a true spirit of gratitude, to the Lord for his grace and provision and to those who helped bring them through.

This past weekend members of our family were gathered to share in that spirit, good food, happiness and temembering the blessings we have.
May your Thanksgiving be blessed.

Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month.
I think that is a very important thing.
As I look back over women in my own family and extended family, I can think of many who should be honored. Oh, they might not have done anything ‘newsworthy’ during their lives, but they made a difference.
A long ago ancestress, one of the members of the Plimouth settlers. Looking for freedom to practice her Puritan religious beliefs?
Those women who gave up eastern homes and left to blaze trails west. Long wagon trips to find new homes and so much hard work to build them.
The Irish ancesstress, in steerage with her children to bring them to a new world, was she filled with hope for the future?
The great-great and great grandmother who fought for our right to vote, because they believed women should have a say in things. The grandmother who took a ‘man’s job’ (making radios) during World War II. In a day when global communcation took hours, if not days. She once told me about waiting at night outside the telegraph office, waiting for casualty lists to be posted after a battle. Always the fear, or pride, that her work would bring the news that would be relayed through the wires.
Shaking the famioly tree and thinking with pride of these ladies, I wonder what sort of history I might leave for those to come.

It’s Friday once again. Friday Fictioneers

The challenge is to tell a story about the picture in approximately 100 words. Here is how to find other entries. http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=232846
This weeks picture by Renee Heath gave me lots of thoughts before I came up with this.
On the boardwalk (historical)
Bump, thud, bounce!
I stopped, looking past the boardwalk,
Out to the sandy beach.
In that moment, my 90 years fell away,
I became a tender and frightened lad.
The beach I saw was covered in blood and broken bodies
D-Day! The horror of those moments
Never goes away.
I turn the wheelchair away from the scene
Cannon, long silent, thunder again in my mind.

Sharlene MacLaren ‘Maggie Rose’ four stars!

Book 2 in the Daughters of Jacob Kane series, by Sharlene MacLaren, is sure to bring pleasure to the reader of historical fiction.
Centered in the teeming streets of early 1900’s New York City, MacLaren takes us on a journey rampant with action as Maggie Rose Kane and reporter Luke Madison struggle against their growing attratcion for each other and their overwhelming desires to bring hope and homes to the waifs at Sheltering Arms Refuge.

This book was a fine read, and well researched. It made me want to follow the path of Maggie and Luke farther than the end, always a plus for the author.

An easy four stars!

With Every Letter – Susan Sudlin ***** and then some! Book Giveaway!

What makes a good book? Interesting plot, strong characters, a lesson you can understand?  All of these of course!

What makes a great book? Days after you finish it you are still thinking about the book!

With Every Letter, by Susan Sudlin, published by Revell fills all of those requirements!  I would like to give this book more than 5 stars, but that seems to be the limit.

The setting is World War II Africa as Allied forces begin the task of defeating Rommel and the entrenched Axis armies.

The characters, Tom MacGilliver, engineer, trying to prove to himself that he will never kill as his father did, and Philomela “Mellie” Blake, a shy Filipina-American nurse in the Army Air Corps.

Commanders of Tom and Mellie’s units have the idea of promoting good will and morale through a series of anonymous letters. As letters are exchanged, both Tom and Mellie open up to each other, encouraging each other to overcome challenges and reach out by accepting friendship.

When Mellie is transferred to an Air Evacuation unit in North Africa, sh accidentally discovers that ‘Ernest’ the soldier she has been writing is Tom. He has already fallen for ‘Annie’, Mellie’s alter-ego in the letter writing campaign and is afraid to act on his attraction to the nurse.

Can they find a happy ending as battles rage around them?

Sudlin has done a great job, bringing her characters to life, describing situations and places I have never seen until they wer as real as if I were there!

I don’t want to give away the story, so how about this… Susan Sudlin sent me more than one copy, If you would like to enter for a chance to win it, leave a comment on this post along with your email so I can contact the winner. In your comment, tell me these two things: your favorite reading genre and recommend a favorite book.

Winner will be randomly chosen on September 25th.

Steep slopes and slick rocks

Yesterday, I was out on a field trip with a friend of mine.

We ventured over to Rocky Falls, near Current River,  part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverway. This natural wonder is located a few miles from Highway 106 between Ellington and Eminence Missouri. Take Highway H to Highway N and enjoy the beauty. The hot dry summer had made the falls less pronounced from lack of water, but seeing and hearing it rush over the rocks and down into the still pool below was a nice treat.

We ventured farther up the creek and followed a steep trail up and over the creek branch to the top of the falls. Dampnes and moss made some of the footing a bit slippery. But the view was well worth the hike!

After we reached solid, more stable terrain we drove further along N highway to a fork in the road where the pavement ends. We drove up County Road 422A and came upon Klepzig Mill. At one time this mill had a concrete diversion area for the mill pond, that remains, and a building stands, without the millworks that had once been underneath.

 

 

#friday fictioneers July 20 Dust Bowl

It’s time to tell a story in 100 words or less! Madison Woods has provided a picture, everyone provides the story it conjures. http://madison-woods.com/index-of-stories/grapevines/ will take you to Madison’s picture and links to other writers offerings.

This weeks photo and the hot dry weather we have had, led me to try to tell a tale of the past. Please feel free to post comments and criticism.

Dust Bowl

Streaming hot sun,

Soaks through the leaves

Turning them Autumn gold.

Sweat soaked bodies

Stop to look,

The young man pushes back

Battered straw hat

Sighs, “Gemma. Don’t think there’s a crop.

Jest too dry,

An’ this hunnert degree weather!

Killing ever’thing.

See, the blooms burnt up.

They ain’t gonna make, girl”

Dusty face raised to the cloudless sky

He shakes a fist at the perfect blue,

Chokes back a tear.

“Not this year, Gemma,

Not this year.”

He watches dust boil over ruined crops

When did it last rain?

He doesn’t remember.

It’s time to pack and leave.

Day 10 #photoadayjune “the best bit of the weekend”

Saturday was a grand and gloriuos day shared with friends at Ozark Heritage Day, held at Big Spring on the lovely Current River.

THe event was sponsored by the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, as a part of their ongoing challenge to not only showcase the wonders of the rivers, but to impart some knowledge about the people and history of the area.

I met a lovely lady who was kind enough not only to pose for a picture but to play her dulcimer for an audience of one. me.

to listen to her play, click here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37lnQCCgk0A&feature=plcp

She told me she had never picked up a dulcimer until she was 70, and here she is doing demonstrations to share her abilities and some wonderful history at this event.