Back home...

The road to Faith Hill - note all photos are clickable for a larger version

I arrived home late Saturday night and the trip was wonderful!

My trip to Eastern Kentucky was bittersweet, I was allowed wonderful bonding time with old friends and was lucky enough to make a few new friends. We were able to relax, eat and laugh (A LOT). I think I can speak for all of us and say that Lonnie was on our minds and memories of him held close to our hearts, he was missed a great deal.


On May 4, we attended a memorial service for him in the beautiful, old (now rarely used) log church.

The rest of the week we worked on a few of the projects Lonnie did not have the chance to complete including...
Finishing the last couple of rows of rat wire and mortar on the back and side of the bath house.

This is a project started last year - Lonnie wanted to see the concrete exterior of the bath house more in line with the log structures already on the premises (the manse, church and hospital). Lonnie's brother Wayne stepped in as our supervisor and led us to the finish. Included in the above photo are Anne, Wayne and Bobbie.

Another project was staining some of the new floor boards in the church to match the older boards. Anne took that project on by herself - with a little help from Lonnie's brother-in-law, George.

In addition to those projects, we worked on shoring up one side of the seats that were sagging in the shelter house.

As an added bonus, and thanks to generous donors in Michigan, we had an incredible amount of clothes and household items to sort through and get ready for a free rummage for the families that live in the hollow ('holler').

We made new friends...

And lasting memories (Anne and Amanda)

Lonnie added a beautiful pond behind his cabin last year, a couple of us sowed grass around the pond. It felt odd and wrong to be up there without him, but comforting at the same time.

I found this wonderful little butterfly up by his cabin.

It was a wonderful week with an abundance of smiles and many tears. We reconnected with quite a few people we met on previous trips and had a good balance of work and 'play' time. One afternoon several of us took off on 4-wheelers in search of polk salad - this is a weed, it grows wild and is cooked up similar to greens. It doesn't matter if your hunting for it or eating it - I only heard it called polk salad. Our 'chef' James boiled it up with hog jowl and it was a big hit. I am not a big fan of greens, but did eat my fair share of the fried polk stalks, they were delicious! And that hog jowl, fried up crisp - like bacon - oh man it is wonderful.

Come sit on the porch a spell and enjoy the sounds of rain on the tin roof - and maybe a little lightning and thunder...


I did get a bit of beading done, I worked on my BFAC doll. I hope to have her finished in a week or so. I still have 3 Bead Journal Project pages to complete. I have March and May worked out in my head - I just need to put beads to fabric. I really want to finish my doll first though.

Now my latest fascination (or obsession maybe...) - orbs. Have you ever seen/noticed them in your photos? I have captured them in photos on every trip I have taken to this area of Kentucky. Inside and outside the house, in the church as well - they are seemingly everywhere. Kinda creepy, but cool at the same time.

This is the room in which I slept - this photo was taken last year. I took additional photos in the room this year, and there were orbs again, but not so many this time.

If you want to see more of my photos with orbs - I have loaded them up at Flickr, take a peek.

And just one more thing if you can stand it - are you still with me?

I wanted to share a couple of photos of the precious little kitty, he grew SO much while I was away.

He's 4 weeks old today, is very curious and is now climbing out of his box or maybe rolling would be a better description - he's getting plenty of calories!

And mama is VERY alert when there is a knock at the door or a stranger (to her) in the house, I managed to snap a photo just as someone knocked.

Life springs forth!

I know it has been awhile since I posted - so I have many photos with updates. Note - you can click on all photos for a larger view.

I have been so busy with my day job that I have had little time for beading and even less time for blogging (both writing mine and visiting the others I enjoy so much).

For those that have asked about the kitten - it's doing great, getting chubby and oh so cute. It is now two weeks old. These photos are from 7 - 10 days old. It's eyes are just starting to open now.

The body remains white, but it has a black nose and 'tips' - ears, legs, and tail. Mama is diligent and extremely loving. She is 6 pounds of ferocious hairball when we let her out of the 'nursery' to mingle with the other cats - she has been exceptionally violent toward one of the neutered males. Probably a good thing she doesn't have claws as I don't think he'd have a face left if she did. He tries his best to run from her, but she is relentless. That part of it has been a bit unsettling for me.

The baby also has dark paw pads. It's so cute I just want to squeeze it! When stress arises in my day, I sneak off for a peek at the kitten as it always makes me smile.

We are finally experiencing some spring time weather, tulips are starting to bloom and the daffodils are about gone. Unfortunately we have unseasonably cold air coming with temps expected to get down into the 20's and freeze warnings tonight.

Come along on a tour of small bits of our yard...

Tulip

Daffodils

Johnny Jump Up? They are all over the yard

Bleeding Heart

I love bleeding hearts...

I imagine it's apparent that this is one of my favorites!

And what would a post be without a little beading??? In February I was on a business trip to Las Vegas. While there I made several bracelets in this same style and this is the only one I did not take a part. This is a herringbone stitch and I think the stitching is a bit loose. That's why I took a part all the others - they were just too loose for my taste.

I tried thread (C-Lon and SoNo) and I tried Fireline - all of them broke in the middle when I attempted to get the tension tight. This is the only one that survived. The lampwork bead is one I found on Just Beads - someone was downsizing their stash and I love these colors. The seed beads are size 8 - just to give some perspective.

The biggest thing I'm looking forward to right now - a road trip! On Thursday I am driving down to Indianapolis to pick up 3 friends, then we will continue our drive to the hills (Appalachian) of Eastern Kentucky for a little retreat as well as a memorial of our friend Lonnie - he passed away last December. I will be gone from May 1 - May 11.

Here's a photo of our destination - we will stay in the 'Manse' behind the church. These buildings were built by the local community in the 1930's. Aren't they beautiful?

No TV, no radios, no road noise (except for a few 4-wheelers) no cell phone service. Complete and total bliss! All you can hear is the wind blowing through the 'holler' and the birds singing. There is a gravel road that takes us to our destination - here is a portion of it taken last fall

Beautiful woodwork

I am not entirely sure what this is called. It's simple beauty captivates me. I have looked at it closely over and over, amazed at the intricacies.


This is a flower - obviously, and it is carved, shaved or whittled from one piece of wood. I believe it was made some time in the 1970's, but am not entirely certain. It was made by a man named Zack Yeary. He lived in the hills of Eastern Kentucky and created some wonderful items from wood.

As luck would have it - in the not too distant past I stayed with a woman who worked with Zack many years ago. He gifted her a big basket of a variety of flowers carved from wood. With that basket she had a few extras, one of these little wooden treasures was generously offered to me, this is the flower you see above.

Last year I met Zack's son Lonnie - the same Lonnie who's funeral I attended a few weeks ago.


He was a wonderful craftsman, he made wood come to life in his hand turned bowls. Once again good fortune smiled up me and I was gifted one of his beautiful bowls last year.



I don't know if his talent came from his father, but it was evident in his creations that he had a true fondness for working with wood as did his father.


Zack and Lonnie Yeary, Kentucky

I never met Zack and Lonnie, I only knew for a short time, yet I feel lucky to have admired their works of art up close.

I don't know that Zack's descendants have much of his wood work. I know many of the chairs he made for a church in the hills were stolen, it's any one's guess where they are now or if they even still exist.

I wanted to post photos of the flower here as I am getting ready to send it on to Zack's family. It feels right to me that is where this treasure should be... enjoyed by his descendants.

Away for a bit - time to grieve

for my friend, Lonnie

January 3, 1951 - December 10, 2007

His journey here on earth is over now and I am struggling to accept it.

Was he put here for a single moment? Will his actions change anything in this world?

He helped where and when needed, he planted gardens, he worked hard for this to be a better place even when he was so tired.

He offered love where it was needed and caring where it was lacking. He tended the earth and it's creatures with quiet humility.

He left this world a little warmer, a little kinder, and a little richer in love. His time here was far too brief.

He was quite possibly, the most humble and kindest person I have ever met.

It is my honor and privilege to say I knew him and to be able call him my friend.

Lonnie, you will be missed - more than words can say.

The road to friendship and collaboration

Last spring I was lucky enough to visit a part of this country that I had only read about previously. I had not taken a "real" vacation in a few years and it had been even longer since I did any serious volunteer work. Since it had been more then 10 years since I had combined the two, I looked up Global Citizens Network. This is an organization with which I had traveled in the past and enjoyed meeting new friends, seeing parts of the world I might not have otherwise.

I wasn't looking for a lengthy trip as some of their trips can be when going to other countries. Since I had already taken a trip within the Navajo Nation, I was looking for something a little different. When I checked their website, I found they had a new site - Faith Hill, located in Owsley County, Kentucky. About a 2 hour drive south east of Lexington, it is situated in the Eastern Coal Field region of the state, which stretches from the Appalachian Mountains westward across the Cumberland Plateau to the Pottsville Escarpment. I found the beauty of this part of the country breathtaking.

The site consists of wonderful old log buildings including a church, a Manse (house occupied by a minister or parson) and a hospital. They were built in the area in the 1930’s by missionaries from Pennsylvania. They served the community well, but were abandoned sometime in the 70's and fell into a state of disrepair. About 15 years ago, community members developed a non-profit organization to restore the buildings. In order to get to the site one travels some beautiful back roads in the hills and ultimately hits a gravel only road which takes you the last few miles to Faith Hill. The road pictured above is the gravel road that takes you to the site.

How does this relate to beading? I met some wonderful friends on this trip, fellow travelers/volunteers. We also met a few very special people in Kentucky. I formed a close bond with a couple of my team members - sisters, one from Oregon (Bobbie), one from Minnesota (Anne). Bobbie is multi talented, she knits, she beads, she sews and quilts. Anne is a talented painter, embroiderer and knitter as well. They are creative and inspiring, individually and frankly pretty fun to be around. We stayed in touch after our trip to KY and thought it would be nice to collaborate on something we could donate to be placed in the Manse were we had such a wonderful stay and made so many happy memories.

I started with bead embroidery, all I knew for sure was the shape with which I wanted to work as I felt this experience had a special place in my heart. After completing my piece, I mailed it off to Bobbie, where she added it to her beautiful quilting. Once Bobbie finished the quilting and added the beaded heart, she sent it off to her sister Anne. She put the finishing touches on it with embroidery, and a small rod from which to hang the piece. Once it was completed I was awestruck. To this day, it is one of my favorite pieces. The completed piece is about 14x14. I wish the photos did it justice, but I don't think that's ever possible.

The sad part of this whole thing... this was completed almost a year ago and it still does not hang in the Manse for which it was intended. As can sometimes happen, one person has it in their possession somewhere in Kentucky and has not had time to put it up. There is where our little creation with so much love poured into sits, with a promise that it will be hung at it's intended spot someday. I can only hope...

After this quilt square was completed, the three of us made two others. There were several special people at that site that helped us tremendously, they are hard working, kind people with generous hearts and loving spirits. They are the reason I have been back to this place 4 times since my first visit.

Two of them are brothers... Lonnie and Wayne. Lonnie has a cabin up the road from Faith Hill and Wayne is in the process of building one now. We made quilt squares for each of them to hang in their cabins.

The blue quilt square was made for Lonnie. Again, Bobbie did all the quilting, Anne the embroidery and I added the little beaded square once it was all done.

Wayne's square is based on the 'log cabin' pattern (I learned that from Bobbie - I know nothing about quilting). Bobbie gave the the measurements to bead the inner square and when I finished it - sent it off to her to work her magic in adding it to the quilt square. Anne, finished it off with embroidered doves.

I love each of these squares, what they represent, the people to which they were presented and my new friends that help design and create them.