Lowell, – I make my home in Lowell, a small town in the Midwest. It lies at the crossroads of two major waterways, the Flat River in the northeast and the Grand River in the southern part.
What I’ve always liked about this hometown is the people who live here. They are down to earth folks who earn their living the hard way. Many of them work two part-time low paying jobs with no benefits.
The median family income is around $40,000.
Lowell rowing team on the Flat River.
But, what is most fascinating about Lowell are the people who care about each other. They get together to rejoice and celebrate their successes as in the annual Lowell Area Chamber membership gathering that awards the Person of the Year.
They mourn together when a great citizen passes such as recently Ray Zandstra, and many others who have made a difference in the community.
And in order not to forget community giants like Ivan Blough, the people of Lowell establish foundations and scholarships. The one that honors this truly down to earth man is called the Ivan K. Blough Vocational Scholarship.
The KDL Engelhardt Library in Lowell sits right on the Riverwalk.Being fortunate enough, the town has received bequests from local philanthropists such as Mr. E., that is Harold Englehardt.
In May of 1996, Englehardt’s will set into motion a legacy that benefited the Lowell area community forever. Known as a low-key, humble man who lived his life simply and without fanfare, Englehardt was a self-made millionaire who chose to give back to the community he loved.
Another area philanthropist was late Peter Wege who donated money for farm preservation and nature education in the Wittenbach Wege Agriscience Center.
Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience nature center
The community also fights together; in the fall it is the annual Pink Arrow Pride game that spreads awareness and raises money to fight cancer.
The community honors its veterans, late and alive, in the annual Memorial Day parade.
Main Street before Pink Arrow game.
It stepped up in an uprecendented effort to fight hunger and poverty when local churches created the Flat River Outreach Ministries (FROM) in 1998.
The community collects food for the FROM pantry throughout the year in different food fights like the north side against the south side of the town. Residents bring cans of food to the annual Riverwalk parade in July.
“Can you imagine, all these people bringing cans to the parade,” said former pastor Roger LaWarre of the First Congregational Church of Lowell.
The community loves the arts and it has named the gallery inside Lowell Arts after another philanthropist King Doyle.
It preserves history as local businessman Greg Canfield saved three buildings on the bridge from demolition and turned them into the Main Street Inn,
People of the past, present and the future make up the fabric of this resilient community that is bound together by love and caring.
Lowell, MI- Two years ago, on this day, I published my first post on WordPress. It was my author’s bio that I had later moved into About section. I introduced myself in a story with an author’s photo.
One hundred and ninety-six posts later, I am grateful that I had chosen the WordPress platform. It was a pure coincidence. I wanted to like and comment on the Hawkins Chamber of Commerce in Texas, and I was directed to the press site.
I wanted a blog anyways after Writer’s Digest suggested that every writer should have a blog or a website. At the time I started writing memoir “Greenwich Meridian” and I needed the exposure.
Rediscovering treasures on the Mississippi River
And I fell in love with WordPress for its finesse, sophistication, the variety of themes and the community in general. I found Rumanian colleagues Valeriu dg Barbu and Cristian Mihai, French photographer redstuffdan and many others, whose work I admire. They inspire me in my writings.
I started learning the ropes. Coming fresh from the print media, it was very different. I must say that I like new things, and this was right up my alley.
The constant challenge of change, new themes, new ways of posting, the speed and the prompts delight me.
I feel like I am being pulled deeper and deeper in. Like today’s prompt in The Daily Post “Connect the Dots,” Open your nearest book to page 82. Take the third full sentence on the page, and work it into a post somehow.
100 Posts on WordPress
While sitting in a folding rocking chair in front of the wood stove, I reached into the library and grabbed “The People’s Chronology” and the third sentence on page 82 is entertaining in itself. For once I got lucky.
It reads: “Canon of Medicine by the Arab physician Avicenna (Abu Sina) follows the thinking of Aristotle and Galen but is so well written and organized that it will be a major influence on medical thinking for centuries.”
I couldn’t ask for a better prompt.
EW blog on Gatehouse Media 10 million reader market
Ironically in my Internet discussions, I asked, “Where will the Internet take us?”
Today I realize the real question is, “Where will we take the Internet?”
I took it to the next level. In July, I started my writing and blog design company on WordPress, Emma Blogs LLC. It is a portfolio of 10 blogs that covers a range of topics from health, outdoors, homes to brides and farming suited for advertising, whether affiliate or traditional.
I have great writers like Sarah Harmon who bring their unique style to the blogs, and salesperson Ed Donahue.
EW writer Sarah Harmon in Paris
EW Emma’s Writings also feeds into the Gatehouse Media, a 10 million reader market including the Ionia Sentinel-Standard.
What I like the most about writing on WordPress is that it does have an impact on people and it gets the message out.
Friend Tina Sicialiano Cadwallader asked me when is the book coming out at a Christmas party at the Fallasburg Historical Society.
“We’re going to take a selfie with the book at the Lowell museum,” she laughed.
Last Saturday, I ran into Betsy Davidson, owner of Addorio Technologies, LLC.
“Have you been travelling?” she asked. “I am really enjoying your stories because I don’t get to go to places like that.”
Vizovice, where old meets new.
Longtime friend Ruth Hall said, “I absolutely love reading your posts.”
Comments and advice on the posts are also very gratifying and informational. Following is a comment by Herbal Weight Loss Remedies & Tips at http://url.darkillusion.us/weightloss748972
“Great articles you post on your blog, I have shared this article on my twitter.”
I find the happiness engineering support team very helpful at times when I pull her from my head.
And as I ask in my story interviews, “What don’t you like about so and so?”
Off the top of my head, I really can’t think of a single thing that would stand out that I don’t like about WordPress. I might think of something later as I toss in the bed in the wee morning hours with my chronic insomnia.
Editor’s note: This is the third and last part of the 25th anniversary mini-series “25 Years in the USA.” I published the first part on Dec. 22 on the exact date of the anniversary of our arrival to the country. I published the third part on Jan. 9th.
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- While working the second shift at Meijer, I wrote the most short stories in the morning. People working at the store inspired me.
My husband Ludek and I started looking for land to build a house in 1994. We found Lowell, a small town in West Michigan. And as we drove past the old Parnell store in the middle of nowhere, I knew I was going to like it here.
25th anniversary of arrival to the USA
“This is it,” Ludek said as he showed me the land. He built the house himself with a few contractors.
Hometown Lowell before the annual Riverwalk Festival.
Once we had the house, I started feeling more at home. I got us two dogs. On top of the job at the store, I started selling real estate for Westdale. That was a unique experience where I met my business guru late Larry Combs.
“How many sales phone calls did you make today?” he asked.
I lied when I said 50. I actually made more like seven or 10.
“Call whenever you can even if you’re waiting for food in a restaurant,” he advised. “I want to write a book “My friend Emma.”
I wrote for American Lists, a Czech newspaper based in NYC.
Larry never wrote the book. He got Parkinson’s disease and shot himself.
I was homesick and every Christmas drove to the Gerald Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids to watch the planes take off.
I was still writing for American Lists, former Czechoslovak Newsweek based in New York City out of nostalgia. I was writing in Czech. The paper does not exist anymore.
The first time I went back to Czech Republic was in 2000, and that was a mistake. It brought back memories and old friends even though it was a different country than the one I had left.
I vowed never to go back again.
“Never say never,” told me the store manager.
During my five-year long stint with the Ionia Sentinel-Standard, I finished my first book “Fire on Water” about the communist experience in 2001. Because as they say, “There are three big experiences in this world: communist, capitalist and catholic. I lived them all.
I dropped the store and real estate and commuted daily 80 miles one way to Plainwell to first paid journalism job for Kaechele Publications. It was a one man office with zero training. But, the editor was an avid photographer and taught me how to shoot.
“Don’t go into a shoot with a mindset,” he said. “Keep your options open.”
Since, 2000 I went back home three times.
“Why do you still call it home?” asked my daughter Emma. “You have lived longer in the USA than in Czech.”
Yes, I will always call it home. That’s where I was born, got married, graduated from Technical University of Brno and had our two children.
And that’s just the tip of an iceberg. I am now penning our family immigration story in “Greenwich Meridian where East meets west.”
It’s like reliving all those years since 1968 when the former Soviet Army occupied Czechoslovakia. Sometimes I struggle with it, sometimes I cry, and sometimes I laugh. Just like in life.
About the featured photo: Ice sculptures in hometown Lowell, Michigan 2014
Editor’s note: This article continues from yesterday’s “Looking back at 2014.”
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI-My dad Vaclav turned 80 on July 23rd. We went to Don Quixote restaurant in Valparaiso, Indiana. My dad is friends with the Spanish owner Carlos and he likes to practice Spanish with him. It’s a nice haul from Lowell, Michigan and we even met some Czechs at a rest area. Carlos’ paella is out of this world.
In July, I established my business Emma Blogs LLC, a rolling portfolio of versatile blogs suited to anything you wish. I introduced my employees Sarah Harmon, Ed Donahue and Udoy Karmakar among other contributors.
Sales Jakub Pala, writers Sarah Harmon and Emma Palova on EW team.
But, I also had my “Eyes with Dr.Verdier,” cataract surgeries after I went almost blind and I couldn’t write or drive. I don’t need glasses anymore. Read about the series on http://ehealthwellness.wordpress.com
Dr. David Verdier, a recognized eye surgeon
I’ve never been longer without make-up than during the six weeks long process. I even put make-up on when we were picking hops in Western Bohemia fields.
August meant preparations for the Pala Ruegsegger wedding at Saint Patrick Church in Parnell. We were running to the finish line with the wedding scheduled for October 25th.
We got the house ready for 15 people and arranged for a wedding bus to house them in our front yard. Some of them stayed at Jake’s new house in Hastings.
The first week in September I went for a walk with a bad premonition. Someone will die. It was a beautiful day. Sunny skies, not too hot or cold. One of few days we had like that. I kept walking farther and farther, not wanting to return home. I just kept walking on the old railroad tracks.
My dog Haryk
“Who’s going to die?” I asked myself.
My dog Haryk was waiting for me laying under a lilac bush by the driveway. After my husband Ludek’s birthday, we had to put him to sleep.
The big October. The international party arrived one week before the wedding. They came from Czech Republic and France. But, before the wedding, we had another baptism. It was time for Samuel Chavent to get baptized. The godfather is Jake Pala.
And we threw a huge welcome party. Ella and I made a welcome sign in three languages. Having that little mean streak after her mother, she asked:
“Why don’t we make a goodbye sign?”
The wedding was big and I am glad nobody fell into the Wabasis Lake below the reception lodge. You can read about it on http://ebridesandfashion.wordpress.com
Mr. Jakub Pala and Mrs. Maranda Palova enter the Wabasis Lodge
Baby Josephine celebrated her one year birthday at the new house in Hastings on Nov. 21, 2014. Thanksgiving was at my parents’ house in Big Rapids accompanied by a classical Czech holiday fight between my mother and my brother.
And finally December. We observed our 25th anniversary of arrival to the USA on Dec. 22, 1989. Read the story on http://emmapalova.com
Christmas was peaceful and quiet, so was the New Year 2015.
Lowell, MI – From big anniversaries and baptisms to big weddings, we experienced it all. From joy to sadness, we gained new life and lost loved ones.
First in January I celebrated my one year anniversary with WordPress. It was a year of learning and finding my true self. I found out that I am a better employer than an employee. A Swedish friend of mine laughed at that.
I found out that it’s better to give than to receive. So, I also started a blog for my sister-in-law CJ Aunt Jarmilka’s Desserts for her bakery business soon after my own. CJ also celebrated her one year anniversary of blogging.
Sizzlin Summer concerts in Lowell
In March, I went for my annual retreat in Venice, Florida and I swam with the dolphins. While I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, Samuel Chavent was born two months prematurely in Dijon, France to my daughter Emma and her husband Adrien.
As I walked from one beach to another, and saw divers, I found inspiration for a new story.
I started my walking routine to the Franciscan Sisters in April for the first time in 15 years without my dog Haryk. He was getting too sick to walk. I also celebrated 100 posts on Earth Day.
Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience nature center
“You’re a prolific writer,” said Alan Blanchard, former publisher of the Ionia Sentinel-Standard in 2000.
We had a baptism in May in Kalamazoo. My husband Ludek is the godfather to Josephine Marie Palova.
I scored a great career success in May. I got my blog into the Gatehouse Media, a 10-million reader market through the Ionia Sentinel-Standard.
We also bought tons of meat at the Jones Meat Market customer appreciation day for the upcoming international wedding party.
Bluegrass band Eazy Idle with Dave Simmonds
Then came the summer we never had. I watered my gardens exactly twice. We had enough liquid precipitation to water the moon.
Lowell, MI- ‘Tis the season to be merry, and to shop merrily. After all the wedding turmoil, I find it hard to immerse myself into the holiday spirit or to go back to a full writing, design and marketing schedule.
With a full house, for the last 17 days, I had to steal time to write about the International Wedding and to post other writers’ stories like Sarah Harmon’s Pumpkin 5K run.
The great pumpkin ride at Klackle Orcards
But, on the flip side, I found out that I would not be able to live without writing. There is so much value in the written word. Writing is such a powerful tool not only to express oneself, share information, facts and communication, but it is also a means of escaping the real world.
Call it a reprieve, if you will. It helps organize thoughts and different experiences.
Christmas through Lowell attracts hundreds
Grand Volute is still accepting vendors for Christmas through Lowell
Our EW team plans to cover Christmas activities throughout the area such as the 23rd Christmas through Lowell from Nov. 14 through Nov. 16. The tour is one of my favorites as people open their decorated homes to the public and offer Christmas gifts and nick knacks, along with cookies and cider. The tour features more than 50 houses, businesses and organizations from Alto, Lowell to Vergennes Township. More than 300 vendors will be offering their crafts and arts.
River Edge B&B still accepts vendors for Christmas through Lowell
The Christmas tour attracts people from all over Michigan.
There are still locations willing to add more vendors such as the Red Barn Market, Riveredge Gathering Place and B&B, Grand Volute Ballrooms and many more. For a complete list go to www.christmasthroughlowell.org
New vendors are Gless Board, Lowell Women of the Moose, Our House to your House, Small Town Sentiment, Riveredge B&B and Red Barn Market.
Red Barn Market accepts vendors for Christmas through Lowell
You will find delightful treasures, jewelry, Christmas decorations, folk ad fine art, antiques, repurposed treasures, primitives and garden art, beeswax candles and home-made candles, crocheted and knitted crafts, purses, bags and totes, home-made rugs and quilts.
The Lowell Area Historical Museum also opens its doors beautifully decorated for Christmas.
The Christmas tour attracts people from all over Michigan.
We will also cover the Santa Parade and all related activities.
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