In what seems like the blink of the eye, the whole picture has changed out on my wonderful porch. Many days of summer were spent out on it.
Now, one need not look any further than the porch door to see the squirrels foraging for winter.
How about you? Are you beginning to stock the larder with soup and stew makings? Things to keep on hand – basic soup stock or bouillon, dried beans and legumes ,barley and rice. Then there are veggies that hold in a root cellar – carrots, potatoes (russets and sweet), turnips, onions, leeks, shallots for the daintier tasting soups (such as leek and potato) and of course plenty of fresh and dried seasonings. A heavier hand in seasoning brings better results. Something I need to take note of.
Many old-world master paintings as well as many of today’s contemporary artists have chosen to feature items from the pantry or root cellars in their autumn paintings. The fall season has arrived! Enjoy it in your own creative way of living.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” ~ Matthew 9:38
Vessels to hold God’s gifts of nature ~ Sue Batton Leonard
Is there not a thing on Earth that does not require a vessel?
Vases for heady scented lilacs, for spring tulips with their straight and narrow stems, tall containers for wispy forsythia branches or late summer gladiolus, remembrances of a long summer.
Then there are nature’s offerings of the self- contained. ACORNS, walnuts, chestnuts, drying corn on the cob. Or the dried seeds left ready to be scattered for next year across fields or left to fall in the soil beneath where they grew. Needed are substantial vessels to hold large seed-filled heads of sun-flowers indoors.
When winter arrives, a birdhouse for wintering feathered friends, tree cavities and nest boxes for nuthatches, titmice, and downy woodpeckers.
Hard at work are the birds who know their craft of building of new nests to contain their fragile shells of spring.
Containers all, we are we human beings who feel for the blessing of nature of each season.
Artists change out their palettes of colors to reflect the colors before them, of autumn.
Is it any wonder our Creator is called the most Masterful Artist of all? This fascinating collage in the yellow garden in Monkton, MD at Ladew Topiary Gardens was formed by nature’s reflection and the natural ecosystem.
“Hand-penned letters written by our ancestors are evidence of their human spirit, and in part, our own.” ~ Sue Batton Leonard
Does anyone share my opinion that a part of civility went out the window when the popularity of corresponding by handwritten letter went by the wayside?
I ended up being the “caretaker” of the largest part of the maternal family ancestral records, memorabilia and ephemera. Among them are letters to and from one of my ancestors, whom I believe was a woman ahead of her time. She held a position in the late 1800’s that few other women in the country did. Her treasured correspondence has details about her employment and resignation from her position. The letters are so properly and beautifully communicated, they put our dashed off business and personal-related text and email communications in this day and age to shame.
Every so often I reread the letters, thinking I will try to pair down what I am storing, but five years after my parent’s deaths, it is very difficult to do. It would be like forgetting my forebearers from several past generations ever existed. To me, that is a moral/ethical dilemma when I think an author’s literary influences and writings, in part, come from the provision of one’s inherited background.
“…man is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose flower and fruitage is the world…” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Food has a culture. It has a history. It has a story. It has relationships.” – Winona LaDuke
Research has shown fast food has changed the family dynamic all because less time than ever is spent in the kitchen and around the family table enjoying eating together. Back when daily gathering for meals was the norm, family bonding, relationship nurturing and all the feelings of love that are associated with food played an essential role in the culture of a unified family.
How many of us love certain foods because memories of loved ones are stirred up every time we eat a particular recipe? Every fall, I crave apple butter and there is a story behind my hungering for it. I associate it with two people whom I loved very much – my grandmother and my father. As the colorful crimson, apricot and amber autumn leaves turned to copper, sienna, burnt umber and chestnut, my ancestors always popped a lid on a jar of apple butter sitting in the pantry. What is in the jar contains more than just healthy food ingredients. For me, it is made of heart-warming feelings of family.
Last weekend I went to a small colonial village, Jerusalem Mill where food was cooked over the open hearth embers and it just happened to be a big pot of apple butter. How about them apples?
“Books…they are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” Anna Quindlen says.
This Christmas how about a gift that will keep on being treasured by individuals and families who have roots in Harford County or for people who love to reflect on small towns in America and how community life used to be. This book is one you will want to pass down through the generations. The content is rich with charming stories and memories of people, places and things that made strong communities great places to live.
Order now, in time for Xmas giving. I am proud to say I am one of the contributing authors of In Their Own Words. And also the Author of a beautiful biography about An Artist’s Journey into an extraordinary life, which may be ordered here.
“If you are born with certain convictions, your path, no matter how thorny, is laid out for you and you have to follow, even if your tender feet object.” ~ Fritz Eichenberg – Quaker artist
Two Saturday afternoons ago, I set out for Jerusalem Mill Village in Kingsville, MD. Just as I arrived at the quaint colonial village, the sun broke through. I’d gone to listen to a talk given by Michael Olmert, author and professor, about out-buildings commonly found in colonial villages. Olmert touched on the structures utilitarian value and how they were built.
If you have never been to this beautiful historical settlement, which has none of the busyness of large tourist colonial villages, you are in for a serene retreat. It is located along the Gunpowder River and abuts the lands of Gunpowder State Park. Take a walk on the trails or through the covered bridge. Stop in each of the living history buildings and don’t miss the small art gallery in the Lee Mansion. The general store in the village sells Olmert’s book Kitchen, Smokehouses and Privies: Architecture and Outbuildings of Daily Life in the Eighteen Century in the Mid-Atlantic. His book has been used as a resource for many students of colonial history.
Keep your eye on Historic Jerusalem Mill’s website. There are lectures and other special events throughout the year. Next year, according to Rebecca Weber, Director of the Museum, there will be a series of presentations about how the Quaker values influenced trade and community building in the colonial village. Check the website for the best times to visit because many of the events are on weekends only.
“The role of culture is that it’s the form through which we as a society reflect on who we are, where we have been, where we hope to be.” ~ Wendell Price
Historical Societies play an important part even in today’s world. In fact, they are vital organizations serving as weavers of the past with the present.
Last night, the annual gathering of the Historical Society of Baltimore County was held at the Manor Mill Gallery for a second year in a row. An excellent choice of venue! Many elements of what has quickly become a community gathering place are present at the Manor Mill Gallery. The primary use of the pre-revolutionary grist mill, is an art gallery. Art exhibitions are held there and as well as workshops planned to fit the historical venue. On site is a pottery studio, which appeals to those who enjoy one of the earliest crafts in our country.
The HSOBC program of the night was “Maryland Voices of the Civil War,” author and historian Charles W. Mitchell presented. The audience was given a glimpse into his book through his reading of letters, journals and diaries of ordinary people, such as farmers, children, enslaved people, clergymen who lived during the era. Many documents spoke of their personal viewpoints, struggles and concerns about loved ones who fought for liberties of fellow Marylanders.
Historical societies are a defensive line in the battle of today’s changing culture.. It is vital to protect the ideals of community cohesiveness because it has always always been a stronghold in our country’s history.
I’d like to thank Scott and Taylor Batton (my brother and my nephew) for inviting me to attend the annual HSOBC gathering. They both serve as Board members to the organization and their company, Batton Builders, has experience in historical preservation and revitalization of Maryland’s heritage.
Art, music, light food and drink and tours of the Manor Mill Gallery made for a delightful evening, which was not only fun but also informative and educational.
In a few days hence a new art exhibit, “COUNTER CURRENTS: THE FISH SHOW” will be opening at the same site. Stop in to the met the artists and to support them. For more information, visit the Manor Mill Gallery website.
My love for books and art often leads me to visiting the local library and local fine art and craft galleries when I travel. It is fun for me. My ten year residency in Colorado kept me somewhat in tune with Western art. When I was in Montana this summer, it was fun to revisit the works of artists who are located in the western part of the country,
I witnessed how very young children can enjoy art, too! I walked into the Rialto Theatre in Bozeman, MT and abstracts of horses greeted me. “Neigh, neigh!” a dear little sixteen month old girl, my new grand daughter whom I have finally met, shouted out as she pointed to the equines in the pictures! Frankly, I was surprised she recognized what it was in the abstract. But even the littlest ones, they often don’t miss a thing!
Once finished with the exhibit at the Rialto, next stop was a fabulous fine art gallery on Main Street I had heard of but had never visited before -, Montana Trails Gallery. My daughter-in-law, Meghan, my granddaughter Charlotte, and I had a grand time looking at the exquisite collection and stayed as long as a toddler could tolerate being contained in a backpack.
Once again, my little granddaughter shouted out “neigh, neigh” when she saw the horse paintings and bronze sculptures, “Baa-baa,” she said to the sheep in the pictures, and “moo-moo” to the cows. Ok, in her sixteen-month old experience and opinion, the “doggies” were mislabeled as wolves and foxes. Ah well…perhaps next time we return the labels will be corrected, I think in jest, with a big smile on my face as I remember her sweet little voice calling out to all the “doggies,” and her hands pointing to them as we walked through the gallery.
And lastly during my visit, my son and I took in the art scene at the Bozeman Art Museum. Unfortunately, with my faulty calendar reading we missed the plein air “paint out” two days prior. But on Monday,we did catch up and saw all the works of the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters hanging, still wet with paint, at Bozeman Art Museum. I was familiar with a few artists such as Dave Santillanes, from working at the world-class Wild Horse Gallery in Steamboat Springs a few years ago. And the work of Chuck Marshall was familiar as well as Kathy Anderson, who is now represented by West Wind Fine Art, LLC, another superb fine art gallery where I worked when it was in Vermont. If you’d like to see the results of the canvases from the two hour “paint out,” I invite you to visit this link I have posted. Some of the paintings are still available for purchase.
Now, I’m back to East Coast art, which I enjoy immensely too! With the diverse landscape and culture in the United States of America, opportunities abound to share all kinds of art with the next generations. Sydney Gurewitz Clemens once said, “Art has a role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else.” I wholeheartedly agree!
As a life-long library patron, anytime I visit a library I have never frequented before, it’s like library week all over again. I recently visited one in the western part of the U.S.
Bozeman, Montana has a wonderful library. A good indicator of valuing future generations is a willingness to invest in good community resources for learning, information and gathering spaces which inspire discovery.
Located in the fourth largest city in Big Sky Country, the Bozeman Library is light-filled! In a place where winter is long and cold, an active library where one can find connection through book groups, children’s reading programs, at the library coffee shop and at special library sponsored events, is well appreciated. Sometimes getting involved in library activities can become a “life-saver” for those feeling disconnected or isolated.
Interior Bozeman Montana Public Library
Children’s Library Area at Bozeman Public Library
Art abounds both in the interior and on the surrounding grounds of this and other public libraries around the country.
Through books, we are given the opportunity to fly off to places and meet people we ordinarily wouldn’t! So never discount the value of books and the importance an author feels to engage with others through the written word.
All Things Fulfilling 