Uncle Wayne

My family has been on my mind a lot lately.

I wanted to send out some thoughts of healing, strength, peace and love to my Uncle Wayne. He’ll be 74 on the 10th of this month, and he’s been suffering with cancer. He’s not doing too well, and was recently moved into a pain management program so he’ll be more comfortable, but he is very weak. His wish is simply to get better and walk again.

I was fortunate to be able to visit with him several weeks ago, and it was very hard to see him looking so ill, and to see my family hurting so terribly. About two weeks ago, I saw my Uncle Wayne in my dream, he looked younger, had a beaming grin on his face and was walking. I am hoping my dream was a sign that healing will occur for him. I am thankful for Uncle Wayne’s deep faith, it gives him strength and hope.

I am sending loving thoughts and wishes for strength to his wife, my Aunt Dawn, as well. She is a brave soul, and she loves my Uncle very dearly.

I’d also like to send out hugs and prayers for strength and peace to my Aunt Sharon, who has not left her brother Wayne’s side.

I’m also sending out prayers for love and strength to my cousins, who are trying so hard to support my Aunt during this time, it has been terribly hard on her, seeing her brother so ill, and terribly hard on them, seeing their Mom so upset.

As well, I’d like to send out prayers of peace and love to my Daddy, who is a wonderful, thoughtful man, someone who feels so much more deeply than he lets on.

Many, many prayers are being sent forth for all of Wayne and Dawn’s family and loved ones who are hurting.

Cancer sucks.

Below is a photo of my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Dawn on their wedding day. It is a lovely photo, and they were, and still are, a lovely, kind and gentle couple.

I love you very much, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Dawn.

Oral history

I was doing a bit of research last night before bed, and stumbled across the “Shenandoah National Park Oral History Collection” on James Madison University’s website. In the 1920′s, Congress passed a bill which authorized the construction of Shenandoah National Park, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. As a result, many of the families that lived within the borders of the new park were relocated. The history of Shenandoah National Park fascinates me for many reasons, several of which are purely selfish.

My maternal and paternal families were both affected by the construction of Shenandoah National Park, but viewed this historic moment in entirely different manners. My mother’s family tree contains a long branch of National Park Service employees, and my father’s tree contains a long branch of Virginia mountain folk. My father, in essence, brought these two opposite poles together when he began working for the NPS is 1978. My maternal and paternal families converged to produce me, a child who can see both sides of the “Skyline divide,” as I like to call the differences in how people viewed the construction of Shenandoah National Park.

Within this oral history collection are two interviews that hold particular meaning for me, and illustrate the opposite ends of the “Skyline divide”. One interview was given by my great grandfather, Edward Dixon Freeland, in May of 1978. He was the Superintendent of Shenandoah National Park from 1942 to 1950, and supported the National Park Service’s ideas of preserving natural spaces for the enjoyment of future generations. He was a staunch supporter of racial integration within the park during a time when racial tensions were extremely high.

That’s Edward D. Freeland below:

Click the image below to hear his interview or to read the interview transcript:

The other interview that captured my interest (and my heart, of course) was from my father’s uncle, a Virginian by the name of John Issac Cletus Waters. The interview was held in March of 1980. Cletus’s daddy owned a general store in the 1920′s near Rocky Branch. Uncle Cletus and his wife Hazel knew many of the mountain families who lived in the area, indeed, the Waters family roots are embedded deeply in those mountains.

There’s Hazel and Cletus below:

Click the image below to hear Cletus’s interview or to read the interview transcripts:

When I was a little kid, my dad took me back into Shenandoah National Park to see the Water’s family cemetery, a small plot of stones, overgrown with moss and dappled by sunlight, hidden within the mountainous forest. To me, it is fascinating to stand in the forest, see remnants of a life long past, and imagine how these folks might have spent their days, what they would have discussed, the gardens they might have grown, how they might have raised their children, and so on and so on…

Click below to see information about the Water’s cemetery from Findagrave.com:

To me, these oral histories are priceless. I am so thankful to James Madison University for preserving these interviews so others might listen to and learn from them. I am looking forward to hearing many of them this summer, and to adding the transcripts from E. D. Freeland’s and C. Water’s interviews to my collection of family historical documents. One of my (life-long) goals is to write a book about my family’s long involvement with the National Park Service. This short post reflects just a bit of my family’s history which I intend to include in said book.

The Raven

This was another project for my Modes and Methods graphic design class this semester at the university I attend. The goal was to utilize an image of a raven to create a visually pleasing, contemporary book cover of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. I’ve always loved Poe’s dark works. Each of his stories is simply perfect, each and of themselves. The Cask of Amontillado? The Fall of the House of Usher? The Gold-Bug? The Masque of the Red Death? The Pit and the Pendulum? The Tell-Tale Heart? Poe’s countless poems, his lovely psychological stories, his odd demise, all, simply spooky and perfect!

Here’s the cover I created. For this piece, I imagined the lovely Lenore, her beautiful visage slightly marred by a death pallor, her terrific absence haunting the author of The Raven. I envisioned an illustrated version of The Raven, each page and appropriate sections of Poe’s despairing poem detailed with a similarly styled image:

I like how this turned out. Another idea to add to the “books to make” idea pile. If you’ve never read any of Poe’s work, I highly suggest that you do so, now.

Concert promo poster

This was a really fun project I completed this semester in my Modes and Methods graphic design class. The idea was to create a promotional poster, flyer and merch item for a band. My husband played bass in a hardcore metal band called Ten Year Scar for several years. Before I went back to college, I spent a lot of time designing flyers and merch for them, and taking TONS of photos of their many shows in the WV, VA, MD, and PA area, road trips to Ohio and Michigan, and bunches of birthday parties, benefit shows, and, the most fun of all: field parties with several bands and lots and lots of good friends.  I went to all of their shows and played the role of manager and roadie when needed. I had a blast and count those years among the best in my life. This project brought back ALL of those good memories, and to boot, represents one of my all time favorite bands, Clutch, who are fairly local guys themselves. I even sent these images straight to the band’s email, but alas, have yet to hear back from them (they are busy dudes).

Here’s the poster I created:

Here’s the flyer:

and here’s the merch:

Apparently, some of my friends who are fans of Clutch were fooled into thinking there was a show locally because I posted these images on Facebook. Sorry guys (SUCKERS!!)

Here’s one of Clutch’s albums, self entitled from 1995, because they are so righteous:

November 30, 1943

There’s my Pop Pop, on the right in the photo above.

In the past few years, I’ve become fascinated with my family history and researching the genealogy on both my Mom and my Dad’s sides of the family. My Dad began compiling information about his family when he was a teenager in high school. It’s sort of fascinating to look at all of the documents that he so painstakingly acquired through countless trips to libraries, cemeteries, and so forth….deeds, xeroxes of family bibles, my Dad’s neat all-caps handwriting detailing years upon years of names, birth and death dates, locations, marriages, and offspring on scraps of paper…it’s a ephemera lover’s dream.

Needless to say, the internet has made genealogy much simpler, but much more daunting at the same time. The years stretch so far into the past, and the past gets more and more opaque, lines get crossed and names get confused. More and more, first hand accounts make all the difference, and bring the clearest pictures to mind. I’ve decided to start by scanning and transcribing all of the documents my Dad has given to me in his official “passing on the title of family historian.” I look forward to sorting through all of the various documents in an attempt to create a timeline of sorts, even if it’s just for the little bit of history this branch of the family is are aware of. In the last year, we have (quite fortunately and serendipitously) made contact with several distant cousins in our lineage, and have greatly enjoyed spending time together and reveling in each others knowledge of our family history.

The first on the list of documents to transcribe are my Pop Pop’s letters home, written during his time serving with Darby’s Rangers, 4th Battalion, during WWII. Below is just one of the letters he wrote home to his family, in this case, the letter was addressed to his mother in November of 1943. My grandfather was hospitalized in Africa after suffering a nervous breakdown.

The letter reads as follows:

November 30 1943

“Africa”

5 pages

(Written on brown paper labeled “American Red Cross Club” in red, with the red cross at top. At bottom of page is written: “To furnish volunteer aid to the sick and wounded of armies…..” and “To act in matters of voluntary relief and in accord with the military and naval authorities as a medium of communication between the people of the United States of America and their Army and Navy…..The Charter of the American National Red Cross. By Act of Congress January 5, 1905.” )

My dearest Mother,

Just a line today to let you know I still think of you. How are things at home?

I am well + feeling fine. News here is scarce. But I will try to write a few pages anyhow.

I am not in combat now but in a hospital for my nerves.

For my being homesick + the strain of combat sort of caught up with me.

I have been in Sicily and I was also in the invasion of Italy. The first wave to go in + believe me that was really something. There isn’t a lot I can tell you. But I will enclose a newspaper clipping of a raid I was in. One we pulled on the “Jinnies.” (?) And it happened that I was a “Bazooka” gunner at the time. It was really something.

Mother, have you ever heard from “Carl Stout?” I would like to hear from him. But I don’t know his address. In fact I don’t know anyone here that I knew in the States. Did Virginia get married? She was supposed to get married the 25th. I am afraid I don’t know the guy but I hope to meet him in the future.

How is Tommy getting along? I bet he is a very big boy now. I sure miss him and all of you. But I don’t think there will be a chance of seeing any of you until this is over and how long that will be I don’t know? How is the news from home? I haven’t had any mail for about a month. But I expect to get some very soon. It is very hard to keep my mind on writing this letter. Because it seems to drift back to my duties and other things. Sometimes I start to write but I get to thinking and begin to feel hurt inside. I don’t cry or anything. But sometimes I think it would do some good if I could. But this life makes a hard man out of some guys. I hope you will understand what I am trying to say. So don’t feel bad if some days you don’t get mail. It is just because I am in no condition to write. I hope you are not tired of reading this letter but all I can seem to write about is myself. Why I don’t know. It’s just that I want to forget the other things over here. Please tell all to write.

Love to all,

Louis

Pfc. Robt. Sampsell 33540636

Co. “D” 4th Ranger Bn. Apo 464

c/o ? New York City

Our bee yard

Our three new hives and our winter survivor hive are doing well so far! The Queens were accepted in the new hives and populations look healthy so far. Hooray! The tallest hive in the photo below is our survivor hive.

Visions of tomatoes (and carrots, peppers, etc.) are dancing through my head.

The weather has been a bit cool so far this spring, and we’re just now getting to work clearing our garden and readying it for planting. We pulled up all of the old roots and burned everything. The wind was blowing in the perfect direction, carrying the smoke away from our bee yard. We must have inspired T’s Granddad to do the same, we could see him burning a pile of his own off in the distance. I love the smell of woodsmoke! Here’s a shot of our messy garden before we got started:

And here’s a few of it all cleaned up:

That’s our little ‘supervisor’ above. We had hoped to till today, but it’s raining and in the 50s, so we’ll do that in a few days. After we till a few times, we’ll lay down thick black plastic to keep the weeds down. That’s one lesson we learned from last year, plastic makes a huge difference. We’re not planting nearly as much as we did last season. We had more food than our families could eat or give away. This year we’re going to keep it simple and stick to tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and maybe some carrots and a squash or two. The carrots were excellent last year, and fun to grow. We’re hoping to fill a portion of our garden, which is approximately 80 by 35 feet, with nectar producing flowers for our bees to sip on.