Category Archives: history

25 Years in the USA II

January 9, 2015 emmapalova Leave a comment

25 Years in the USA II

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a mini series about the 25th anniversary of arrival to the USA.

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI – The early years in the USA consisted of me packing up my luggage and kids and wanting to go back home to former Czechoslovakia. Once it got so far that my dad Vaclav said he was going to buy me airplane tickets.

I unpacked and my mom Ella with a German neighbor friend Mrs. Gunnell brought over a fortune teller.

“You got yourself in a mess,” she said. “You don’t know where you want to be.”

arrival anniversary — 25 years in the USA

I was torn between the old and the new. The new didn’t seem so great. I remember dad teaching me how to drive on a short stretch of a freeway between Big Rapids and Reed City. Both “holes” terrified me with their nothingness.

“You came unprepared,” he said.

When I think about it today, he was right, like most fathers are. I was unprepared. I didn’t have a driver’s license or a license to practice civil engineering in America, or a desire to do so.

All I could do was listen to the band “Chicago” and cry.

Everything took a turning point when my husband Ludek found a job in Grand Rapids and we could move to an apartment in Kentwood. I took writing classes at the Grand Rapids Community College.

But in the meantime I worked as a clerk in women’s department at a Midwest chain Meijer. Most people have. That’s where I started the store’s newsletter X-Files with a friend. We wrote it on a box from bras. Since Twitter or Facebook were not around, we wrote messages to each other on that same box until finally someone threw it out.

I also wrote for a Czech newspaper former “Czechoslovak Newsweek” that later changed names to ” American Lists.”That was the first time I got into trouble for writing. The article had something to do with religion. Ever since then, I follow the two major pillars of journalism; if you don’t want to get into trouble don’t write about religion or politics.

The kids were doing well in the public schools. Jake went to Challenger elementary and Emma to Kentwood High.

But, then something else transpired. Family members back home started dying. That meant flying to funerals painful flights.

When you emigrate, you don’t think about these things. You are never completely separated from your past, and never fully integrated into the present. You lose old friends, and don’t find new ones.

Gabrielle Garcia Marquez wrote in his “100 Years of Solitude:”

“You’re not home in a new place until someone close dies there.”

To be continued……

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community, eye disease, history, Uncategorized, wedding

Looking back at year 2014 II

January 8, 2015 emmapalova 2 Comments

Looking back at 2014 II

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 23^rd. 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.

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

Verdier Eye Center — 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 25^th.

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.

“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

Wedding reception at Wabasis Lake lodge — 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 25^th 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.

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Christmas, events, history

Holiday moods

December 19, 2014 emmapalova 1 Comment

Christmas in the Grand Rapids area

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Following is a picture essay of the holiday season in the Grand Rapids area, Michigan. From big events such as the annual Christmas party for the ABC Undercar employees in Amway Grand Plaza counting 400 people to a small pioneer one-room school house in Fallasburg Historic Park. That all happened in one day on Dec. 13, 2014. I was overwhelmed by the disparity of both events. One was like a magical kingdom, the other inviting like a tiny cottage in the woods. Enjoy.

Holidays in Grand Rapids — The lobby of Amway Grand Plaza was decked out for Christmas.

The humble one-room school house, home to the Fallasburg Historical Society.

Fallassburg Park — The annual Christmas fundraiser for the Fallasburg Historical Society.

history, travel, Uncategorized

Straits of Mackinac

November 19, 2014 emmapalova 2 Comments

Tale of three cities on the Straits of Mackinac

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Mackinaw City, MI -This is a story about three communities located on the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. The Straits are a narrow waterway that separates Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.

But the Straits connect two of the Great Lakes, and that is Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The Mackinac Bridge swings over the Straits.

The USA’s longest suspension bridge the “Mighty Mac” spans the five miles over the Straits. The steel construction swings in the wind. It connects the communities of Mackinaw City on the south side and Saint Ignace on the north side.

The area is magnificent as it combines human skill with nature’s beauty. It is rich in history and folklore. It is the most visited tourist location, and a nature lover’s paradise.

There are forts on both the Mackinac Island and the Mackinaw City, and an abundance of romantic lighthouses.

Local specialties include pasties, smoked whitefish and fudge.

Mackinaw City downtown fudge and souvenir shops.

One day is not enough for the entire area. So, you have to make a decision about your base camp. Saint Ignace is cheaper, but you pay the $4 fee to cross the bridge.

The most expensive is the Mackinac Island, some seven miles from the peninsulas. Three ferries will whisk you to the island in season for $18. My preferred time to go is off-season, because of the availability and the price of hotels. And the crowds are smaller.

Off season is somewhere around mid October until April. The colors are still beautiful in October, and the weather is nice around 60s Fahrenheit.

For a story on the Mackinac Island in winter go to the travel page on EW Emma’s Writings.

The stay in the new Bridge Vista Beach hotel in Mackinaw City at the beginning of November cost $69. The hotel has magnificent vistas of the bridge, the Straits and the island.

However, many establishments do close for the winter. So, check ahead of time who is open.

A great restaurant open year round other than the mainstay Keyhole Bar in Mackinaw City is the Pancake Chef. The local specialty the northern pasty beef or chicken is tasty and hearty. They also have local brews.

Many souvenir and fudge shops stay open. Marshall’s Fudge offered some 60 flavors.

To be continued….

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history, travel

Historic Bowens Mills

November 11, 2014 emmapalova 1 Comment

Bowens Mills presents Civil War weekend

By Sarah Harmon

EW Emma’s Writings

EW writer Sarah Harmon in Paris

One hundred fifty years ago, life was much simpler. There was no television, no Internet, and the only kind of Apple you could buy in stores grew on a tree.

Visitors to Historic Bowens Mills on the last weekend of October are able to feel as if they’ve been transported back in time to experience what life was like during the Civil War era.

Children can sit in the antique desks in the oldest one room school in Barry County to be taught about American history by eighty-four year old Virginia Alles, dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Alles enjoys giving pennies to young visitors, telling them it’s a picture of her.

One of the highlights of the weekend for her this year was meeting a couple of descendants of actual Confederate soldiers. Next to the school-house, Dave Rowgo makes hairpins and honey dippers on a wood lathe fashioned from a 1920’s toy woodworking set and the treadle of an old Singer sewing machine.

Ladies spin wool into yarn and weave cloth outside the tiny Plank House where families lived as long ago as the 1840’s. Elizabeth Barker shows chemistry in action by making soaps in a variety of scents in the Bowens House, and music lovers can’t resist a stop to hear the live bluegrass in the Trading Post.

Abraham Lincoln impersonator at Bowens Mills

If you play an instrument, you can even join in! A couple of the best demonstrations in the village are the mills themselves. Fresh, sweet apple cider has been made on the press here since soldiers were going off to fight the real Johnny Reb instead of just reenactors. The delicious results of the press can be bought by the glass or by the gallon. A cup of their hot cider with a homemade doughnut is the perfect thing for a cool fall day.

As delightful as all the other diversions are, the highlight of the weekend is by far the battle. The Third Michigan Federal troops go up against Confederate forces from Virginia and North Carolina across the field, taking shelter behind trees and fences. They try to change the battle slightly each year for repeat visitors; the North may win one day while the South come out victors the next.

For true history buffs, the fact the Third Michigan uses a cannon whose barrel and fittings were made in 1861 and was actually used throughout the Civil War is especially exciting. From the homespun crafts to live combat, Bowens Mills’ Civil War Weekend can’t be beat for an old-fashioned good time.

history, travel

Grand Rogue Encampment

September 20, 2014 emmapalova Leave a comment

American history comes alive in the Grand Rogue Encampment

By Sarah Harmon

EW Emma’s Writings

EW writer Sarah Harmon in Paris

Anyone who says time travel is impossible has clearly never been to a living history event. This weekend was the 28th annual Grand Rogue Encampment in Belmont, MI where you could see American history come to life from 1755 through modern times. The focus was primarily military, although there were plenty of civilian re-enactors as well.

Each morning began with the unmistakable drone of bagpipes, followed by the deafening explosion of a British six pounder cannon fired by gentlemen dressed as Revolutionary War soldiers. After the smoke cleared and you regained your hearing, you could chat with one of Roger’s Rangers, a group that worked as scouts through the wilderness during the French and Indian War. They’re happy to explain exactly how our own George Washington’s mistake caused that war to ignite on this side of the Atlantic.

In between watching demonstrations of how rifles were loaded and fired during the Civil War, a stop at the French Voyageur’s tent was a must. While there, you could try on a real beaver fur top hat that cost a man six months’ wages in the 1800s. Next to the hat, you could find actual pipes used by Michigan fur traders 200 years ago. Similar artifacts were in a recent exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, although here, you are allowed to touch them instead of seeing them through glass.

If you’re a parent or a teacher, you’ve probably heard kids whining that history is boring and they don’t see why they need to learn about things that happened so long ago. Admittedly, in a text book, World War II is hardly exciting. However, a teen boy is certainly not going to tell you he doesn’t want to learn about the Allied forces when he’s able to sit in the driver’s seat of a WWII armored transport vehicle. For those who are less enthralled by watching old styles of rifles shot, they could watch the blacksmith heating coals with an enormous set of bellows and forming metal into functional works of art. The kids were also welcome to try their hands at a traditional Native American game or to help power the hand cranked wood lathe. Little girls loved watching brightly dyed wool spun into yarn on an old-fashioned spinning wheel and dancing to live Colonial era music.

No matter your age, if you were at the Grand Rogue Encampment last weekend, you learned a lot and had fun doing it. If you missed it this year, it is an annual event, so make sure to mark your calendars for next September!