I would like to wish a happy New Year 2016 to all from Emma Blogs, LLC. May all your wishes come true.
On this last day of the year I always look back at the previous one. Year 2015 was very good and productive on both professional & personal fronts.
Happy New Year 2016
With this post and thanks to the 30 Day Content Challenge, I have reached 346 posts.
I sought out new clients, the Fallasburg Historical Society (FHS) and created the Fallasburg Today campaign. I continue to work with CJ Aunt Jarmilka’s Desserts and with new prospects and that is Lynn Mason 2016 campaign, Tri River Historical Museum Network, Americas Voices and more.
The 30 Content Writing challenge by Learn to Blog was inspiring and it transformed me in many ways. The challenge taught me the discipline of everyday writing.
The challenge encouraged me to explore new avenues such as writing for children, writing about fear and persistence. It was a powerful force in a sense that 400 people were writing and posting on that same day.
During the challenge I made many new friends such as Pittsburgh Grammy, Peter Safe, Annie Conboy, Jan Booth, Deanna Burton, Nan Raden and Nicole Varge, Lisette Jenkins, Kathy Thompson just to name a few.
Then I participated in a heated political debate in the group Czechoslovaks on Facebook. It warrants a separate post. Watch for it soon.
Another surprise came just last week. Bene Hofmann, a German architecture student contacted me via FHS Facebook page. Hofmann will be building a model of the Fallasburg Covered Bridge for a school project. So, I wrote about that as well.
Peggy Topolski contacted me that her husband wen to the one room school in Fallasburg. I will be doing a story on that.
Twenty people came to look at the historical buildings in the pioneer village during the first annual Fallasburg village bazaar.
So, to wrap it up as the clock keeps ticking, I found out that social media marketing really does work. It has its own bizarre ways, but it works.
Fallasburg Historical Society celebrates 50th anniversary
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Fallsburg, MI- It was Leonora Tower of the Vergennes Cooperative Club who started the West Central Michigan Society in 1965 with Norton Avery. The goal was historical preservation of the Fallasburg village once a thriving village six miles north of Lowell.
In 1990, the society changed its name to Fallasburg Historical Society, but the same people remained involved. However, the society became bankrupt in 2006.
That’s when the current president Ken Tamke got involved.
One room school house, a museum for the Fallasburg Historical Society
“I grew up around there, visited my grandparents all the time,” Tamke said.
His grandparents, the Bradshaws owned the farm on Fallasburg Point, which is now a fancy development.
His passion for historical preservation runs in the family. His dad was involved in history preservation in Berkeley.
“I am a big fan of history,” he said. “Historic preservation is in my blood.”
So, basically, according to Tamke, the modern society grew out of a group of women from the Vergennes Cooperative Club. Also involved was Marcia Wilcox, former Vergennes Township supervisor.
Fallass House 1842
I love the place,” Tamke said. “It’s a little hamlet that became forgotten.”
Truly, time has stopped here. The village sleeps its dream from the thriving 1800s.
Founded in the 1830’s by John Wesley Fallass. The village of Fallasburg includes 42 acres along the banks of the Flat River, the covered bridge, a schoolhouse, village cemetery, the Fallasburg Historical Museum and the Misner House Museum, the Tower House and a barn.
The Fallasburg Historical Society exists for preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the Fallasburg Village, as well as encouraging public support through education, sharing information, and hosting many events.
Misner House 1850
The one room schoolhouse is actually the museum where artifacts are stored. It is open during summer time on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Fallasburg village was listed as the Fallasburg Historical District in the National Register of Historic Place on March 31, 1999.
“There were initial problems with that, but it did go through and doesn’t give restrictions,” said Tamke. “We’re very proud of this. It’s an honorary designation.”
Now, the biggest project ahead of the society is fixing up the Tower House to give it a new purpose since it sits close to the North Country Trail.
The society received a grant from the Lowell Community Fund and Lowell Cable Fund. The roof got fixed. But, the kitchen, the bathroom and other interior spaces need to be restored. The financial estimate from 1999 to fix the Tower House was $100,000.
Charming annual Christmas party in the Fallasburg village
“We want to repurpose the building as a meeting place for the historical society, the Lowell Area Historical Museum and other community groups,” he said. “We hosted weddings at the school.”
The quaint village attracts couples to tie the knot, and hundreds of photographers. The restored barn was the Barn of the Year 2014. Also new markers have been placed by the covered bridge. It is the goal to have unified markers by each building.
Fallasburg events include the first and brand new village bazaar will be held during the Fallasburg Fall Festival in September, along with the vintage baseball tournament with the Flats team in the field.
Tents with crafts, food and arts will be set up by the Misner and Tower houses. All buildings will be open for self-guided tours without any admission.
“We’re not affiliated with the arts council, it will be a concurrent event, ” Tamke said.
Barn of the year 2014
The biggest event is the Covered Bridge Bike Tour coming on July 12. However, the most charming event is the annual Christmas party at the school.
Ladies from the society bring delicious dishes to pass, there is music and Tamke serves up wine and grog .
There are 120 members in the historical society and most actively participate in various events.
Kids from the area schools take field trips to the village. Addie Abel and Mike Organek actually went to the school give tours.
Interpretative markers in the Fallas village
“Parents come with them and gain appreciation for the village,” said Tamke. “It hasn’t been touched by the pass of progress.”
Lowell Area Historical Museum director Lisa Plank will help with mentoring of an intern to help scan and catalogue documents and artifacts.
“We want to raise public awareness because you can forget that it’s out there,” Tamke said. “It’s a hidden gem.”
It’s also a great place to visit for Father’s Day and get some unforgettable photos and to escape from technology.
Emma Blogs June newsletter is out now. Read about what’s coming up. You can sign up right here.
Emma Blogs June newsletter.
Pictured on the featured photo is Saint Patrick Festival coming up from June 26 through June 28 with famous chicken dinners on Sunday June 28th from noon until five. The cost is $9 for adults and $4 for children under four. The festival kicks off with a 5K run, a beer tent and Conklin Ceili Band on Friday, June 26th.
It also features a helicopter ball drop, festival auction, Las Vegas tent, a classic car show and a polka band, The Diddle Styx.
Lowell, MI – Under the gloomy skies Monday, the people of Lowell honored the 629 veterans who found their final resting place at the Oakwood Cemetery.
Groomed to the nines by Don DeYong and the crew, the lovely cemetery whispered its own stories of 151 Civil War veterans. The Boy Scouts marked each veteran’s grave with a star and a flag.
Emotional Dave Thompson was the featured speaker for the ceremony located by a monument to the unknown soldier.
Memorial Day 2015
“I like to think the rain are tears,” he said. “This is the first time in many years it is like this.”
Oakwood Cemetery
Thompson introduced the beautiful strings band of Wendy Tinney. As the violins played their sad tunes and rain sprinkled, many people were wiping off tears from their faces.
The strings band.
The only two remaining veterans from WW II laid flowers to the monument, much like representatives from the local organizations.
The flags were flying half staff in the wind that was blowing from the south.
“We have 29 new veterans here at the cemetery,” said tearful Thompson.
Mayor Jim Hodges also laid flowers to the monument.
Memorial Day 2015
Even though it started to rain heavily, people stood there in the rain under the umbrellas listening to Thompson hauntingly name the deceased veterans followed by a bell ring for each.
We thank you all veterans for our freedoms and your sacrifices.
Today is a big day. As I write to the morning chirping of the birds, I still have my feet wet from watering the flowers for my mother, for Mother’s Day.
My dog Haryk passed in September of last year. So, I don’t have him anymore. It’s bizarre how many things have changed in one year. I’ve made a lot of posts since April of last year. I had around 100 posts, now I am close to 300 posts.
Mistakes. Yes, tons of them. Success, too. I’ve established my company Emma Blogs, LLC in August of last year. I got my eyes fixed with Dr. Verdier.
It’s May 9th, it’s my birthday. I was born on the national holiday in former Czechoslovakia. On that day, the nation’s capital Prague, the mother of all cities, was freed from the Nazi occupation by the Soviet Army. That was the end of World War II.
Many years later, I was born in the wee hours at 4 a.m. to parents Ella & Vaclav Konecny. My mom woke up to the cracking noises of fireworks announcing the anniversary of the victory.
“I thought it was war again, but then I realized those were fireworks celebrating your birth,” she said to me this morning as she wished me a happy birthday. “The whole nation celebrated.”
Czech Capital Prague
Mom says that to me every year, as the nature too celebrates the awakening after long winter.
“The nature blossoms on your birthday,” she says. “You always had the day off and a parade.”
Birthday blossom
The above note is one of the many reasons why I dedicated the memoir “Greenwich Meridian where East meets west” to my mother.
200 Posts & beyond
This post is inspired by Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” and the constant friction that I have witnessed between sisters in this world.
Mom Ella & I
Mom Ella and aunt Anna
As I watch people drop like flies around me, I realize how time is going by fast. I like the inscription on the clock in the living room, “Tempus fugit.” That’s why I bought that pendulum clock as one of the first things when I arrived on this continent in 1989 for $110. Not that I had that kind of money. I just wanted the clock so bad, that I probably borrowed money for it. It announces the time by boldly striking every full and half hour. My husband Ludek still has to wind it by hand much like the clock that the in-laws had at home in the old country.
“They probably wouldn’t even let us know if Anna’s dead,” mom said about her sister.
Well, I think she is right. There is probably no one left to let us know. That’s all part of the emigration package that I am writing about in the memoir “Greenwich Meridian.”
To be continued as part of the ongoing series 200 Posts & beyond
May Day is not only known for the International Worker’s Day to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, but it is also a Northern Hemisphere spring festival.
It was an official holiday in former Czechoslovakia, complete with parades. But, most importantly, it was and it is a celebration of spring called Majales accompanied by the opening of the beer gardens. Majales are dances around May poles decorated with ribbons.
May Day pole tied with ribbons signifies love and spring.
The first day of May is known as the day of love immortalized by many artists, poets and writers. It was mainly the work of Czech poet Karel Hynek Macha who attached love to this day and the entire month with his poem May.
Karel Hynek Macha, Czech poet
Here are the first few verses from the poem translated by Edith Pargeter:
Late evening, on the first of May—
The twilit May—the time of love.
Meltingly called the turtle-dove,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.
Whispered of love the mosses frail,
The flowering tree as sweetly lied,
The rose’s fragrant sigh replied
To love-songs of the nightingale.
In shadowy woods the burnished lake
Darkly complained a secret pain,
By circling shores embraced again;
And heaven’s clear sun leaned down to take
A road astray in azure deeps,
Like burning tears the lover weeps.
A haze of stars in heaven hovers—
That church of endless love’s communion—
Each jewel blanches and recovers
As blanch and burn long-parted lovers
In the high rapture of reunion.
How clear, to her full beauty grown,
How pale, how clear, the moon above,
Like maiden seeking for her love,
A rosy halo round her thrown!
Her mirrored image she espied,
And of self-love, beholding, died.
Forth from the farms pale shadows strayed,
Lengthening longing to their kind,
Till they embraced, and close entwined,
Coiled low into the lap of shade,
Grown all one twilight unity.
Tree in the shadows writhes to tree.
In the far mountains’ dark confine
Pine leans to birch and birch to pine.
Wave baunting wave the streamlets move.
For love’s sake—in the time of love—
Anguished goes every living thing.
The poem takes place by Doksy and the castles of Bezdez, Pernstejn, Holska and Ralsko point toward east and west, noon and midnight.
Castle Pernstejn the setting for the poem May.
Czech parks and castles invite to romance many designed in classical English style with strict hedges and groves.
A castle park in Vizovice where a big part of my book takes place.
Typical flowers for May are lilacs. Some have grown into trees and have been cross-bred into different colors. Some Czech customs have carried over to the USA. In the photo below, Americans of Czech heritage are dancing around a May pole easily recognized by the ribbons.
authoremmapalova 