Marietta

If I told you I visited a place that looked like the set of a Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie would you think I was drunk, dreaming or telling you a tall tale?

Well... that's exactly what I'm telling you about Marietta Ohio!  

Middle Island is one of several islands in the Ohio River that
are in some state of being returned to nature as wildlife preserves.
This guide provides more information about the plans, activities
that are available and a map of the islands:  https://www.fws.gov/
refuge/ohio_river_islands/visit/visitor_activities.html

I wasn't sure what to expect when, during Jason's last visit, he suggested we keep exploring after a look around St. Mary's and checking out the 235-acre former farm turning back to nature for a wildlife preserve on Middle Island and headed over their lovely old metal bridge.  

But I surely was in for a good surprise!!  It was getting late enough in the afternoon that we were losing light for photographs, and a good look around, so we made plans to go back the next day.

Bridge between St. Mary's, WV and Ohio

We made that exploration a continuation of a trip to the dog park so the boys got an extra treat of taking a little walk around Muskingum Park right on the bank of the Ohio River in downtown Marietta.  They loved it!  And, even with one or the other them pulling me in 20 different directions all at the same time, I managed to get some pictures...

Muskingum Park
Dedication Marker

The park commemorates the westward expansion of our country beyond the original 13 colonies and is now home to a beautiful walking trail and a thriving arts and music community. The section we explored is situated between the downtown business district and a residential area with a number of historical marker-ed houses and churches.

One of the current arts programs is turning several dead trees into art installations by carving historical figures from the stumps like this one.  I didn't find a marker telling me who it is in place yet but I think it's a pretty neat idea to give these old trees a living voice to the history they witnessed.

Memorial to the Start Westward

Memorial to the Start Westward

Looks like it's time for a little more
restoration work...

We eventually headed back toward the cabin over the "Green Bridge," another of these really cool old ironworks bridges that have me so completely fascinated and charmed.

The Green Bridge between Marietta OH and Williamstown WV

And since I was driving, we took a couple more little side-trips to see stuff that interests me.  One of them was to the old Fenton Art Glass Factory in Williamstown.

Fenton Art Glass factory in Williamstown, WV

Sadly, the company ceased making art glass pieces in 2011 and there's just a gift shop that wasn't open the day we were there.  Seeing the glass production is something I would have loved...  Their wikipedia page gives some interesting facts about its founding and pictures the kind of glass pieces they produced at different times during the company's lifetime.

Oh Martha...

Martha, Martha, Martha...

(I bet in your mind you said that like the old Brady Bunch lament of Marsha, Marsha, Marsha... I know I did!)

Thanks to 5MinutesforMom.com for the image/
screenshot of Martha Stewart's interview segment.
You can listen to it here, if you'd like.

Dear Martha,

I'm a blogger.  Of sorts.  Not a very famous one, but I do write and share blog posts all the same.  And you're right...  I'm not a trained editor.  I'm just an average person trying to make my way in the world as best I can.  I claim no special expertise in anything but being me.

I don't have the privilege of hiring expert decorators when I furnish my home.  I pick out the furniture and paint and accessories myself because they are things I like.  Usually a room comes together in layers over a long period of time not in a matter of days like a professional would do it.  And mostly I think I do a pretty decent job.  My colors match, or anyway coordinate, pretty good.  The furniture is comfortable and usually the decorations come with interesting stories.  It's enough that my family and friends and I are happy to be in the room.  And for me that's the point of having it - sharing it with other people who are just as real and average as me.  None of us care, truthfully, that the decor will never be featured in Better Homes & Gardens or on an HGTV segment.

And I don't have formal training as a chef from some hoity toity culinary institute.  While I sort of covet those amazing knife skills I'd gain with that kind of training, I wouldn't trade the lessons in running a kitchen I received from my mom to get them.  And I've never poisoned anyone with what I've fed them!  In fact, I get a lot of compliments on my cooking.  Lots of my average people family and friends seem to think I cook quite well.  And on those occasions when I don't?  Well, they have no problems telling me that either.  You see, the test kitchen that's meaningful to me is my own family dinner table.

And you know what?  The last art class I took was [a deep departure from my Business major] Fashion Illustration in college probably a good 20 years ago.  So I guess it's safe to say I have no real expertise with arts and crafts either.  But mind blowingly... I do them!  And quite often successfully enough that I want to share a picture, sans any training in photography, as sort of a brag about it with my friends.

I also did not attend Divinity School, so I can't claim any special religious expertise beyond daily communion with my Father in Heaven and time spent in the scriptures.  I have no degree in Psychology so advice and commentary on the human condition fall outside my realm of expertise, too.

And to go even further, I have no special training in writing.  Sure, I got good grades in my public school English classes (composition and grammar and sentence structure were part of basic English back in the day) but that's pretty much where it ended.  I just happen to like words.  I like how they feel rolling off my tongue, or I guess fingertips since I'm sitting here typing this out.

I guess this leaves me pretty unqualified to write a blog where such topics are discussed!  But I do it anyway.

And I'm not going to stop.

Doing and writing and sharing about my life make me happy.  It keeps me sane.  Or maybe I should say, it keeps me less insane.  Blogging is my therapy; my release from everything that would become a demon to torment my nights.  And if that's not ok with you Martha, I can live with it.

There was a time when I looked at you as a role model; someone to emulate and study because of your own uncommon rise to success.  You were a fashion model and then a stock broker by trade, correct?  Ironic how that worked out...  I don't seem to remember reading where you found the expertise to start your catering business or to build it into the empire that is Martha Stewart Living.  Where did you get to be an expert about decorating or cooking or crafting or how to compose an enticing photo?  When did you get the training to be an editor or social media guru?  I'm wondering if perhaps you're no expert either?

And that's an oddly comforting thought.

This Thing Called Life

I’m doing it.

I’m doing it as best I can.

I'm doing it by rote some days.

I’m doing it in survival mode some days.

I’m doing it with all the patience and humor I can muster every day.

I’m doing it with an awful lot of impatience and frustration, too.

I’m doing it with tears and laughter and self-doubt and prayers and determination.

I’m doing it with yelling and slammed doors and some sharp words, as well.

I’m doing it with hope that tomorrow will be easier.

I’m doing it when that tomorrow is even more painful or difficult than any day before it.

I'm really trying to enjoy it, but oftentimes I just do it because I have no alternatives.

I'm doing it when there are moments of joy.

I’m doing it when it isn't enjoyable, too.

I’m doing it because no one else will.

I'm doing it for those times when I feel a sheer rush of exhilaration.

I’m doing it when it’s bone crushing hard work.

I'm doing it and trying to learn something new each day.

I’m doing it when the day’s events bore me to tears.

I’m doing it when it’s nothing but disappointments and failed plans.

I’m doing it even on days when the nicest thing I could say about it is nothing at all.

I hope someday I can be less critical of how I'm doing it.

This thing called life…

Whispering Giants

Peter Wolf Toth Indian Sculpture in Idaho Falls, ID

This photo came up in my Facebook feed a couple of days ago.  It made me remember going to watch the artist, who traveled all over the country creating similar statues in tribute to Native Americans, carve it.  Most, if not all, of the carving was done with a chainsaw.  And I remember the impression the raw power of the blade cutting through wood to uncover what Peter Wolf Toth could see in the log that I couldn't made on me.  This was the first time I'd seen a 'real' artist at work and the process was fascinating!

At one point someone asked him what he was doing and his profound answer that he was just "taking away anything that doesn't look like an Indian" gives some insight into artistic vision.  It seems like much the same process, and answer, Michelangelo gave about freeing David from the block of marble.

Mr. Toth created a series of these sculptures all over the United States, and Canada, honoring the original peoples of the continent.  Some of them are modeled after a specific person and some are more generic to honor the legacy of a tribe and provide all of us with a visual way to remember them, their plight and their humanity .  He called these sculptures the Trail of Whispering Giants.

I believe each is carved from a single log and the heights range from under 10 feet to near 40.  They truly are giants!  Mr. Toth began carving these massive tributes in 1972 continuing through 1988 though I do see a few later dates listed including new additions in 2008 (King Stephen I of Hungary in Délegyháza - the only one located outside of North America) and 2009 (Tecumseh in Vincennes, Indiana).  Of the 60 or so I can count still in existence  I've had the opportunity to see 3 of them.  But I'm hopeful of finding a way to see more as I study where they are located in respect to where I live now!  The link above will take you to a full listing of statue locations and this one has pictures of several of them.

The Idaho Falls Indian
This 27-foot tall statue was carved on-site in 1980 from a Douglas Fir and receives a coat of paint each year to preserve it.  It's located in the North Tourist Park which is (or at least was back then) adjacent to the Pinecrest Municipal Golf Course.

The Murray Indian

Photo credit: http://www.examiner.com/article/
chief-wasatch-murray-park

Carved in 1985 in the Murray City Park in Murray Utah, this statue of Chief Wasatch is 23 feet tall and, according to the statistics gathered by the Ogden Standard Examiner, weights 35,000 pounds.  The wood came from a massive Cottonwood Tree which is a messy tree, spewing a thick layer of 'cotton' as it buds each spring, native to the Salt Lake valley  Chief Wasatch lends his name to the beautiful mountains (not visible in these photos) behind the statue on the valley's east side.

The Springfield Indian

Photo credit:  http://www.waymarking.com/
waymarks/WM4QQP_Omiskanoagwiak_
Springfield_MA

Commemorating Omiskanoagwiak, Medicine Man of the Wolf-People who are/were native to Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley, this 15-foot tall statue was completed and dedicated in 1984.  In the early 1990s I worked for a company headquartered in Springfield and traveled there twice.  Forest Park, where the statue is located, was within walking distance of my hotel and it caught me with delighted surprise to see another of these magnificent creations that weekend I was feeling a little lonely and homesick!

About Peter Wolf Toth
Born in December 1947, he is a Hungarian-born sculptor living in Akron, OH.