RICIMER: Bad Boy of the Western Roman Empire - or was he?

The histories are pretty consistent in their opinions regarding Ricimer.

They don't like him very much.

Me being me, once I found out he's a relative of our fictional family, I took a closer look.

(The Back Story, establishing Ricimer's maternal connections)

Remember when we needed a worthy husband for our own Mamm of Dunnottar? She couldn't go through life all alone, and had a family heritage to add to. She needed a mate.

Fretting about it, I distracted myself by doing one of those on line quizzes: Which Conqueror Are You? Not exactly being 'conqueror material', and not really wanting to be, I didn't expect to find any matches.

Ha.

Up popped the only 'good guy' conqueror in the history of humankind: Alaric.

He did sack Rome in 410, this is true, but he wasn't mean about it. Mamm was at his side, and this was to be their final military campaign together, although they didn't know that at the time.

Alaric gave orders to not hurt anybody except in self defense. He insisted that the holy places be left alone, and everyone who got into them. Rumor has it that some of his men found a cache of wealth in the home of a little old lady. She told them it had come from one of the churches for safe-keeping. They gave themselves an escort, hoisted the wealth on their backs, and themselves carried it across town to return it to the church, with a crowd going along with them singing psalms and such. The other story that has survived is that one of his men found a woman alone. Instead of ravishing her he escorted her safely to the church where her husband had found refuge. Alaric gave his warriors but three short days to collect what they wanted, and then they were off - leaving to Rome almost all of the stores and supplies in the warehouses that had been held secure by his armies, and much of their wealth.

[Bear in mind that in the armies of Alaric were thirty thousand Getae warriors whose families had been ordered massacred by Honorius. Bear in mind that also in the armies of Alaric were tens of thousands of Getae who had been enslaved and earlier freed from their Roman owners by Alaric. So no, the sacking of Rome was not bloodless - but these folk were disobeying Alaric's orders, not going by them,]

Previously, he had held Rome under siege twice in the past two years.

THAT's the significant part, from our current perspective.

One of the negotiators for Rome was Aelia Galla Placidia, half-sister to the Emperors East and West, Arcadius and Honorius respectively.

One of the negotiators for Alaric was his brother-in-law Ataulf (Mamm's brother).

Turns out neither of them ended up being a lick of good in the negotiations, being as the two of them were locked in each other's eyes and busy falling deeply in love.

When Alaric left Rome that last time, Placidia went with Ataulf.

Skipping ahead a bit, Placidia and Ataulf ended up leading Alaric's people to settle in their new homeland: Aquitaine in Gaul. They were married and had a son. Then Ataulf was murdered. Placidia returned to her brother Honorius' household in the Western Roman Empire and was forced to marry the ambitious Constantius (the architect of the murder of Ataulf) and produce two children for her new husband. She ended up being Regent/Empress after Honorius died, while her son was a minor (Valentinian III - he was heir to the throne).

NOW we get to the part regarding RICIMER.

Mamm of Dunnottar, if you remember, has four brothers: Davidson of Chattan, LittleEthan of Tarnos, Ataulf of Dunnottar, and their younger brother Wally of the West (born to their parents after they sailed into the sunset to the Far Western Lands once Davidson, LittleEthan, Ataulf, and Mamm had been settled in where they needed to be).

After the murder of Ataulf, Wally of the West was chosen King by Alaric's people, as had been his brother Ataulf before him.

Wally's daughter Anna married Rechila King-apparent of the Suevii (NW part of what is now Spain, and just across the Pyrenees from Aquitaine).

Anna and Rechila had a couple of sons and a daughter.

Their second son was RICIMER.


[If you think I'm telling you a lot of stuff, you should see what all I'm leaving out!!]


The point here is that Ricimer's grandfather was the younger brother of Alaric's wife Mamm of Dunnottar and their other brothers, including the murdered Ataulf whose death left Placidia a widow. She would have been Aunt to Ricimer's mother Anna.

Family connections frequently made for the fostering of young ones by family members who were best suited to bring up certain young ones to fill certain niches.

Ricimer, being a second son with his elder brother slated to be a king, needed a career.

There's more to it than that, of course, but RICIMER went into Placidia's household during the years that she was reigning as Regent/Empress of the Western Roman Empire.

Placidia was Ricimer's foster mother during his developmental years, from young boy-hood through early adulthood. She was his great-aunt, although young enough to have been his mother as he fell in age smack between her son Valentinian III and her daughter Honoria. He would have been in his early thirties when she died at about age 60.


What most historians seem to dismiss out of hand is that Placidia had left Rome to go with Ataulf, apparently of her own free will as we don't hear of any negotiations having been made at the time for her ransom or return. Later, yes. but not during the first years after she left. What they mention but seem to not find all that significant is that, when she returned to Honorius' household, she was accompanied by a lot of Alaric's warriors as her Personal Guard. She refused to relinquish them and they refused to leave the side of their Queen.

Me being me, fiction writer that I am and having the Characters that we do, my interpretation is that Placidia and Ataulf were a love match from the get-go. She was Queen to his King and together they led the people of Alaric although neither was related to any of them. Placidia was Roman royalty; Ataulf was from Albann (now Scotland). Yet the people of Alaric chose Ataulf, and apparently were just fine with Placidia as their Queen. What does that tell you?

At any rate, Placidia was indeed best suited to prepare RICIMER for what was ahead of him.

Meanwhile ... 

There is, as always, a bigger picture to take into consideration.

Fictionally speaking, Ricimer is born to fulfill a Destiny not many would have been able to handle. Perhaps in reality as well, but fiction is our purview, not reality unless it fits into our Story Line. Just sayin'.

At practically the hour of his birth, our own Ullin of Iona claims RICIMER to fulfill that Destiny. From his earliest memories, Ricimer is well aware of what he will be called on to do, the reasons behind the demands, and the consequences should he fail.

Ullin of Iona, for those unfamiliar with him, is a very tall, very skinny, very bald, and VERY powerful Druid leader. His goal over the entire course of his very long life is to protect and preserve Freedom of Individual Choice for all of humankind, among other things. That he has issues with the Roman Empire is a given. That he might have issues with the direction Rome is taking 'Christianity' is a complex question.

Regardless of his personal take on the matter, Ullin of Iona serves the Mother of the Holy Trinity (The Father and the Son too, by association and the fact that the Trinity is unequivocally and inextricably ONE entity). His sight is far-reaching, to significantly understate, and he knows a lot more than he ever lets on.

When Ullin says something needs to be done, and bothers to explain himself, few are going to argue the point.

What Ullin sees in the future for the Peoples of Europe are the resulting outcomes should History take one course or another.

1) Should the Western Roman Empire revive itself and continue the course it started down so long ago, one outcome could be expected.

2) Should the Church of Rome gain ascendancy and move toward power, and control of Europe, a different outcome would be expected.

3) Should the various Peoples of Europe, the Getae/Celts go to war among themselves, still another outcome could come about.

4) Should the Vandals conquer all, something else would happen.

5) Should the invading folk from the East be given free rein, the result would be entirely different.

As RICIMER grows up in the household of Placidia, Ullin comes and goes frequently, teaching and training the young boy, the young man.


Between what he learns from Placidia about the ruling of an Empire, what he learns from Ullin about exploring options, and what he learns from Aetius the Roman General once his formal military training begins ... Ricimer is pretty darned well educated pretty darned early on.

Given that Ricimer is an apt student, the compelling goal of Ullin (to protect and preserve individual free choice for all) takes precedence. That it is a goal shared by Placidia might be an understatement. That Aetius is in accord with the concept is apparent from the fact that he's got a 'barbarian' for a wife and hasn't chosen a Roman woman. The women of the Getae/Celts bow to no man. Ever.


So all three of Ricimer's primary mentors share a common goal.

The goal itself is clear.

It's how to make it happen that needs to be fine-tuned.


The Peoples MUST forge themselves into strong nations whose people have steel in their backbones - steel powerful enough to turn aside the attacks that are to come, if they are to survive, if their culture of freedom is to survive.


The Future of the Peoples of Europe and beyond lie in the choices, and the hands, of one young man - RICIMER.

How will he choose?

Will he have what it takes to do what he has to do when he has to do it so that the Future will become what it will need to be when it needs to be it?

We'll find out.


NOTE: The five interlocked circles represent what all of our Characters live, fight, and die to protect and preserve:

Faith

Family

Friends

Freedom

Future

FAITH IS THE CENTER CIRCLE

Special Room, Special Memories

The doors mentioned below all have the same brass hinges, knobs, plates, skeleton key locks (except the bathroom door). The interior doors are all five-panel.

Height: 83/84 inches

Depth: they're all about an inch and a half deep except for the entry doors which are closer to two inches

Width: 

four 36” – entry  doors w/beveled glass windows

300 each for the three painted ones; 400 for the varnished one

three 32”

200 each

four 30” 

150 each

two 27” – they’re the double doors

300 for both as they go together

And trim:

Trim is about 1" x 4" for all of them – both sides (of doorway) except for the exterior doors/windows; the 'toppers' are all the same design

Trim for interior doors

100 each (seven sets); 150 for double door set

Trim (interior only) for six windows, 65” x 28” 'inside frame' measure

100 each

Trim for two front windows, 65” x 48”

200 each

Trim for double kitchen windows, 53” tall X 67” wide 

200

Also:

Cold cupboard (was a kitchen window at one time) doors and trim

100

Two leaded glass windows, 48” x 19” (or so)

400 each

Clawfoot bathtub (sorry, sold)

100

Retro (1940s maybe?) kitchen sink with cabinet (IF I can get it out)

300

Small bathroom sink (wall mount)

50

Large double wash-sink from basement (IF I can get it out)

200

Assorted window screens

25 each

Two hanging light fixtures for living room/dining room (four bulbs each)

150 each

Two single hanging light fixtures 

50 each

One double hand-painted hanging light fixture

150

Light fixture, gas to electric converted (so I've been told)

200

* There are also a couple of brass push-button light switches, the brass doorbell set (button by door and 'ringer' in kitchen), a few kitchen/bathroom 'accessories', some oil lamps of different ages, several very sturdy counter tops that came out of an old chemistry lab (2'x5'), a wardrobe trunk and camel-back trunk in not so good shape, a screen door, a pair of weights and pulleys from a window that was into a door, and a few vintage theater reels in varying values and conditions from poor to excellent together with two non-functional vintage theater projectors (very heavy) and some accessories.

More photos available on request to vignettes.house@gmail.com

Thanks for taking a peek - please feel free to share if you know someone who might be interested in creating a special room in their home for memories made with love and laughter!

Finding Beauty

Sometimes the beauty in our lives comes not from the expected sources but from the most simple of things.

Here are a few of the beauties that I've found in my life just lately:

Above and below: chokecherries starting to turn. They're now darkening more each day; soon they will be the dark purple that says, 'Pick me NOW and make syrup and jelly!' 

These chokecherry photos were taken a few days ago, before the massive wind storm blew through. I was pretty happy to find that this little tree didn't take as hard a hit as I was afraid it would. It's got lots left for the birds and me!

Below, a double-yolked egg, gift from a friend. Well, from the friend's chicken! 

These below are technically weeds, and this photo doesn't really show the colors right, but they're so pretty hardly anyone thinks of them as weeds any more. 

One of the white hollyhocks along my north property line. This one is short this year, don't know why - only knee-high or so -  but still the whites I planted there. This stays white - the rest of the row has reverted to more shades of pinks. 

Below, another experiment. It's a white 100% cotton dish towel colored with blueberry. I used vinegar to set the dye; we'll find out if it works or not down the road a piece I suppose. I like this pretty purple a lot. 

AND ... comfort food of the simplest sort. Sweet rice with cinnamon. Yum!

A Day For Photos Apparently ...

Below is the photo the above is snagged from.

The Music of the Universe - This Is To Be My Symphony

A friend's blog post reminded me of something that's been a guide to me for a long time, along with a couple of other bits from here and there.

HERE'S THE LINK to the post that set me to thinking about Music and the Universe ... 

And here is the Symphony of Alpha Chi Omega.

One of the things about Alpha Chi that's been recently on my mind is their dedication to the struggle against Domestic Violence.

Back when I was an Active member, we worked to raise funds for  something different. I'm not sure when the focus changed ... I was in an abusive relationship at the time, or perhaps busy with my own work as a DV Advocate.

When I found out what Alpha Chi was doing, I took a deep breath and tried to still my heart. It still affects me that way, thinking about it. 

They've set out to change the world they live in - and my heart does indeed swell within me.

From the depths of my soul I pray for those who are affected by DV, and for those with the courage to battle it.

Recently our own little community, Small Town USA, lost one of our own - so it's surely on my mind and on my heart. A young mother, gone. A father, the perpetrator, gone as well ... so there are two grieving families and an orphan who will not grow up with either parent. Our community is in pain. It hurts us all.

And so my prayer for this day is that we somehow can manage to make our way through this - families, communities, cultures, nations, world. 

For Alpha Chi Omega I have great respect and enormous gratitude. For both its gift to me of the Symphony, and for its dedication to the battle, person by person, against the horrors that affect all too many of us.

Proud and Pleased ...

I'm not quite all the way sure that WE are ready for THEM, but the

YOUNGLINGS OF DUNNOTTAR 

ARE READY AND RARIN' TO GO!

(sneak peeks coming right up!)

The Wrap-up Adventure for the Kin Cousin Books

It's hollering for my attention, it is.

But ... I need sleep.

Maybe I'll just do a quick outline.

Mm-hmmm ... 

It's just a short story! Does it need an outline?

Kind of.

Okay, not really.

I just want to be able to hop out of bed and write it, not have to think about it as I go along.

Since when did you start thinking as you write?

Shhhh ... 

*laughing*

What the heck. Here are the basics.

All of the Younglings of Dunnottar are now there; Merri and Dothann have just arrived from their lifetime of traveling on the Continent. Rua and Corrbed have been around for about a year and Diann has been there for two years, with Brann having been born there (he's now six, Rua's five, Dothann's seven, Corrbed's eight, Diann's nine, and Merri is eleven - just so you know).

The Kin Cousin books tell a little of the back stories of the younglings. They've come for training and for safety. Rua is now an orphan, Diann and Corrbed's homes are battlegrounds, and Merri and Dothann have been on the Continent and witnessed more than anyone realizes of the conditions there as the fifth century CE (the 400s) sees the fall of the Roman Empire - and the seeds being planted for the rise of the Holy Roman Empire. 

That's the background these kids live with.

At the time of this little piece, their individual and collective arrivals on Dunnottar are fresh in their minds, and their emotions are mixed. Of course the story isn't going to go into much, if any, of this stuff - but I want it as fresh in my mind as it is in theirs as I write their adventure.

This time their 'play pretend' has a bit of a dark edge to it. They're all glad to be safe (and together) on Dunnottar, but they're also angry and frightened.

They're angry at the circumstances of their world, and frightened by them. They've seen, they know, how horrific it is out there. Being safe on Dunnottar when their families are either dead or in danger is a mixed blessing. It's very hard for them to remain where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to be doing, when they would rather be venting their anger on the bad guys (in this case 'Rome', the eternal enemy of the Celts from whose culture this family rises). 

They know that right now they are not yet ready to go out there and take on the battle, and they are also conflicted because theirs is a kind of specialized culture within the larger one of the Celtic Peoples - they are the People of Peace. The anger they carry is not natural to them; it hurts them in ways that we probably can't really understand, and nor do they understand it. They aren't going to go to the big folk with their worries - the adults have enough worries of their own.

So it is to their 'play pretend' clearing that they turn, and to one another, to try to work out how to cope with their feelings.

They've got terrific educations (relatively speaking) and part of that is taking the pieces of what they're learning and putting them together to form a complete puzzle that maybe ends up looking different from the 'original' one - but which will meet the needs that our own Younglings have at any given time.

This time it's anger, and pain, and loss, and fear that fuels them.

They're going to take the battle to Rome and they're going to do it their way.

As they choose their individual roles for the 'play pretend' time in the clearing, they're looking for powerful individuals, from whenever and wherever they find them in their studies.

Merri starts her Boudicca kick, which she is going to stay in for quite some time.
Diann chooses a goddess and it doesn't really matter which one - they've got all the times in their world to choose from and Diann knows that the deities fought and won some mighty battles back in their day.
Corrbed our scholar looks to actual history and picks Alexander the Great.
Dothann wants Loki of the Northern Tales, mainly because nobody can ever tell for sure about what Loki is likely to do at any given time.
Brann can't decide but is finally convinced to take on the role of Bran the Blessed, not the last time in his life that he gets put into that role.
And Rua, who is perhaps the most upset of them all right at this time, goes with Scathach, perhaps the most deadly woman to ever grace the face of the earth - she trains the best of the Warriors, which ought to tell us something.

Our Cast of Characters goes straight to the heart of the issue (from their perspective) and decides to head for Rome to try to talk some sense into the connivers who are plotting to take over the world of the Younglings of Dunnottar. If the connivers won't listen, they'll tie them in caves with poison dripping on them forever without killing them, with nobody to catch any of the venom in a cup, either. The Younglings are pretty angry right about now, not feeling much mercy.

Naturally, as these are mainly Warriors they've chosen, they have to fight their way across the Continent. They find foes aplenty and they find friends and allies as well, some in unexpected places.

Just as naturally, some of them fall in battle and the rest have to go on without them.

Finally there are only Scathach, Loki, and the goddess left as the mortals die along the way. They worry a little about Scathach because nobody really knows whether or not she's immortal - but she isn't worried. She just wants to fight the bad guys, come what may ... and so she does.

Ironically, when they finally make it to Rome and find the connivers, nobody can see them or hear them. They have the head of Bran with them, of course, but nobody in the Rome of 487 CE is likely to pay attention to a head that has no body to go with it.

The dragons show up and get a little attention but are gone with their riders before anyone has gotten over the shock of seeing them so the attention is short-lived and soon forgotten.

They go get Bran's Cauldron, collect Boudicca, Alexander, and the body of Bran, get everyone back to 'normal' - and are in short order back in their own 'play pretend' clearing.

They're disappointed that they haven't been able to change anything in their world, but the 'battles' have vented much of their rage, which helps at least a little. 

Their conclusions?

They decide that what they've gotten out of their adventure is that all they can do is the best they can do in the time and the place that is given them, with whatever they have to work with - and to know that always there have been, are, and will be others who are also doing the same in their own times, their own places.

Then they set up their targets while a flock of doves flies into the clearing to sit on the branches of the surrounding trees.

Hmmm ...

That's pretty dark all the way through. Loki and Scathach are going to have to provide some comic relief as we go along.

Good Lord.

I'm liable to have nightmares.

If I can't sleep, I'll get up and write the darned story and get it out of my system.  

*sigh*

Welcome to my life.

God Took A Whole Extra Day ...

He did, I know it. And never told anybody.

He had to have, just to get Dunnottar put together exactly right.

WHOOP! Tomorrow Looks Good!

Starting right now I've got a whole bunch of days off!

I'm trying to be stern with myself about getting to sleep at a reasonable time, but as usual I'm not paying much attention to my own lectures.

A quick check of the forecast informs me that come afternoon it's going to be beautiful.

A walk through my yard on my way to the house after work tonight informs me that the grass hasn't gotten any shorter since the last day I got it mowed.

Put the two together and guess what's on my agenda for tomorrow afternoon.

Since the following couple of days look like inside projects, they look even better to me than tomorrow does - and the reason for that is that it means studio time for me!

There are some horses and ponies patiently waiting for my attention, and some riders anxious to be included.

Because, as a general rule, I tend to work on more than one project at a time I get to consult my list of possibilities and pick one or two others to break up my sketching and painting with sculpting or writing or sewing or twining wire or any of a dozen other options. 

My suspicion is that the writing is the most likely candidate as the Younglings of Dunnottar are at the fore of my thoughts. They want to get on with their adventures but Merri and Dothann aren't even there yet - so first is going to be to write that book to go with the ones for Diann, Corrbed, and Rua. Then we can get on with the getting on!

• Mon

  Jun 1

  Some sun; breezy, warmer74°Lo 58°

• Tue

  Jun 2

  Strong t-storms, mainly later72°Lo 52°

  more

• Wed

  Jun 3

  A morning shower or t-storm64°Lo 50°

  more
• Thu

  Jun 4

  Partly sunny71°Lo 54°

  more
• 
  

2015 May: Robin Hood

While mowing my front yard last week a pair of agitated robins kept making their warning cheep and swooping around the corner of my house. I looked in the honeysuckle and up into the trees nearby but didn't see a nest that they would be defending, so finished my mowing and they calmed down.

Yesterday when I mowed again they did the same thing and this time I found the nest - tucked into the corner of the outside window ledge at the front corner of my porch.

The grass will likely get a little long right around there for a while here. I'm fine with that.

Today, while out in my porch, I glanced over that way and saw a wide open baby robin beak waving around and ran to get my camera. By the time I got close enough to have taken a photo, a sharp cheep from a parent had that baby huddled down playing possum in the nest.

After a little while along comes a parent with a worm in its beak, landing on a little branch of the honeysuckle. It cocked its head at me one way, then cocked it the other way, and the baby kept its head down in the nest. I watched for a while, hoping to get a nice photo of the little one getting that worm, but that parent bird just kept giving me that old eagle eye so I'm leaving them alone for a while.

I did, however, raise the blind of that window right there so as to be able to have a better view. It gives them a better view, too. When I went back out, a parent was on the nest, watching me through the window.

Heh heh.

I just got myself a scolding from a bird.

I also got a 'sort of' picture of that baby's open mouth ... 

I'm fascinated by having a bird's nest that's only a windowpane away and it's tempting to just sit out there and watch- but I won't. It's not worth it to cause the parents the worry or to interfere with the baby's feeding, not just because I want to watch them and try to take pictures of them. 

While doing yard work on the other side of the house I saw that a nest in my ash tree over there wasn't the old abandoned nest that I had thought it was!

I'm surrounded!

Ah yes, life in the Robin Hood ... 

Spending Time vs Killing Time

One of the things I love most in this life is spending time with my daughters.

One of the things I love most about technology is that it can give us some 'together time' even when we're far apart. I thoroughly adore talking to them, getting pictures and videos, going 'shopping' with them, messaging on social media, even texting - these are communication tools no prior generations had and they are truly blessings for many of us who live too far from those we love.

The access to research on line, the ability to submit a file instead of snail-mailing a manuscript, the absolute convenience of being able to go in and change a word or add a paragraph without having to re-type an entire page or chapter - you bet it's handy! Being able to use computers for publishing purposes enables a lot of us to share in ways that would have been impossible not so very long ago.

Spending time with people I love, spending time doing my homework and doing my job ... these are what time is meant to be spent on.

Spending time is an investment that pays off always emotionally when it comes to my daughters, and many times financially as the investment pays off in royalties.

So I'm not knocking technology here, believe me!

On the other side of the coin, however, is another side to the story.

Right now, for example, I could (and should) be doing any number of things besides sitting at my keyboard.

All too often I find myself killing time - I don't play the games that many do on line, but hours can go by without my notice when I'm just browsing around the web. Unless it's daughter-time or research that will directly contribute to the content of my books, or using the web to reach out to others with what I want to share, those hours are but killing time. Those hours are dead, and once dead, time cannot be called back.

There's a big difference between spending time, investing it so to speak, and killing it.

Mea culpa. I have murdered many of my days, and forfeited more I could have spent on worthy investments, by killing time.

That's what's on my mind this day.

Pointing Fingers

Balance, Balance, Balance ...

When at times the hurts of our world become so great that they hurt us all, an individual time of respite can become a necessity.

It's not like trying to make everything just go away, and it's not ignoring what's going on. It's more like the 're-charging' some of us need to avoid getting 'peopled out' and withdrawing from society altogether. A stitch in time, so to speak. 

So yes, I'm aware of Nepal, aware of Baltimore, aware of China and Ukraine and France and and and ... 

I'm not avoiding it; it's in my heart and on my mind even as I stitch away on the Character Collections or get ready to begin art projects or sit down to put the next part of SONG into words.

Everything is part and parcel of everything else.

And life is indeed a balancing act.

A person has to keep his/her own balance internally as well as physically and intellectually. It's the only way to become/remain strong enough to do what you have to do to help with the circles outside of your own self - family, community, region, nation, world ... it's all bound together. 

Those of us who seek peaceful solutions are perhaps doomed to failure. 

Perhaps there is no peaceful solution to anything. 

Yet seek we must, try we must - and succeed at some far distant point we might. 

If we just give up, our future generations may not even realize that there ever were any such things as peace, as freedom of choice, as personal integrity and accountability, as justice tempered with mercy ... as loyalty ... as unity... as faith ... you can add to this list ... please do.

Sometimes it feels as though it's all at risk - or lost already.

Most of the time, however, it's pretty easy to find the good that remains in our world. The people who care, those who step up to the plate when need be.

Yes it might well have to get worse before it gets better - but the 'better' is by no means going to have to spring from out of nowhere. It hasn't gone anywhere - it's right here within each and all of us and stronger than any of us probably have any idea about.

So when it feels as though it's gone from bad to worse and is heading for the worst, let's not forget our own inner strengths - we can, if we will it, use them as the force they are and in the ways they are meant to be used.

Find a way to the good we share instead of focusing on the differences that divide.

We are all of us more alike than we are disparate.

There is so much more to share than to fight about.

Take a little time, as much as you need, to think about what we share rather than what divides us. 

Difficult as it may be to believe, all things considered, those are the things that truly matter - and we might have a tough time remembering that sometimes. 

Still, what we share really does matter more than whatever it is that's dividing us. Lots of folks don't think so ... but a lot of us do think so, and our Voices really do matter. 

Someone has to balance out the rest of it, right?

Sez one lonely little Voice in the middle of nowhere.

Local Couple Brings a Bit of History Home to Share

Photo by Shelly Weigelt

Frank Hockridge knows what he's talking about as he explains the photographs reproduced on this unique quilt.

The first photo is from 1902 and shows a band of Native Americans at the North Dakota State Fair, then held in Mandan, ND.

The State Fair apparently moved around a bit back in the day before settling itself in Minot in the 1960s. There are photos from both Fargo and Grand Forks, who took turns hosting it for years.

There are photos of County Fairs from the early 1900s on through more recent years.

Too many of the photos have sad endings ... 'doesn't exist any more' ... 'went bust' ... 'no longer there' ... 

The photos are enchanting, but some of the Fairs they represent will only ever live again through photos such as have been preserved in this quilt.

On the bright side, Frank and Glenda Hockridge have been collecting Fair things for quite a while. One of the photos of the Quilt they found in Iowa. Glenda laughs and says, 'You just never know what you're going to run across!'

And just exactly WHY is this local couple so fascinated by Fairs?

Oh. Well. It's what they do, you know.

Both of them were brought up in the industry, love it, and love to share with others (like us!). They had businesses facing one another at the State Fair in Kansas lo these many years ago, became good friends, and eventually married. Their kids are carrying on the family tradition, the fourth generation to do so.

Locally, the pair is well-known and well-loved.

Frank is our go-to person about anything having to do with our fair, and now we know he can also be our go-to person about much of our state's history as well! Glenda's big smile and happy laugh can often be found at our local (and internationally famous, made so by anyone who's eaten there and gone anywhere else in the world) Rosa's Pizza where she gives a hand when she has time.

Their affection for one another is palpable in the air around them. You can't see them, together or apart, and not grin. And they've brought us a most wonderful gift, besides their own selves.

The ND Fair Quilt is currently hanging at Close to Home, a shop that carries gifts of local origin. Owned and operated by Deronda O'Neill of Deronda Designs (also known all over the world for her 'OMG I can't believe you MADE those!' lampwork beads, enamel pieces, and metal-worked jewelry), Close to Home has expanded to include the work of other locals or people with local connections - all unique and individualistic pieces. So it's a great place to hang this ND Fair Quilt. 

Close to Home is located in the old Quarve Building at 97 South Main Avenue in Fessenden, ND USA - the same Fessenden of the book called 'Small Town USA' written by another local, Shiela Branson.

If you happen to be driving Highway 52 in ND, swing in and grab a coffee (or any of the creative beverages the Coffee Shop is becoming noted for). The town of Fessenden is located smack at the end of Highway 15, which begins near the MN border at a little town called Thompson near Grand Forks, ND. If you're traveling from the Forks to Bismarck, give yourself a treat and take 15 for a lovely change of scenery - and stop in Fessenden along the way for yet another treat! Shelly Weigelt carries an amazing variety of vintage and just plain interesting things; Ann West has clothing and accessories; Eldredge Publishing has an office; Carson's Computer store comes in mighty handy, and Justin's Stuffitorium has antiques and is a dangerous place to visit (very difficult to walk out of without having added something you didn't even know you HAVE to have - don't say you weren't warned); and soon a hair stylist will be joining us in that old Quarve Building. (that building will be getting a story of its own in due course, so hang onto your hats folks - we're in for a bit of a ride here I think).

If you come through before June 1, 2015 you will find the ND Fair Quilt on display at Close to Home; it will then go to other places in the state, including coming back here for our own County Fair in mid-June. It's slated to go to Bottineau, Jamestown, and up to Pembina County before it gets much of a rest. 

AND, best news of all (from my point of view) Frank and Glenda are talking about bringing more of their collection out of storage. They have enough to put together a museum of their own! Hearing about it is fascinating; seeing it all would be a wondrous thing. My personal favorite of the things they talked about (one of the photos of the Quilt has an example) are what they call the Funny ...something or others... (shhh, it's my memory slipping again) ... where different scenes are painted and there are face holes for people ... anyway, THOSE would be tremendous fun, and Frank and Glenda have a collection. For that matter, we could certainly make a few of our own, now that I think of it. Maybe not in time for this year's Fair, but almost certainly for next year! So bring your smiles and your cameras.

To close, here's a photo of the ND Fair Quilt with Glenda and Frank by it. If you zoom in you might be able to see some of the photos better. Or you could wait a few days to give us time to take close ups of them all, pair them up with Frank's explanations, and post them on line! This is one awesome couple and their inspiration has produced an awesome Keeper of Memories for our state. 

Thank you so very much, Glenda and Frank, for everything you do and for simply being the great people that you are. We love you.

Photo by Deronda O'Neill