Merry

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Peace, light and love to all. 🕊🎄

Ireland

 October.  Pretty fall color and a long-awaited trip to Ireland. We stayed in Dublin at the beautiful Shelbourne Hotel (The Shelbourne, Autograph Collection) while enjoying sites in the city, the numerous tourist offerings, great restaurants, and took day trips to Northern Ireland, and to the western coast of the Republic of Ireland. 

The Shelbourne is so lovely, and I think it’s one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed in and fully enjoyed. It’s truly perfect, with its traditional architecture and furnishings, and plush and comfortable rooms; the restaurants are wonderful, attentive staff, plentiful bars, and a spa that offers an expansive relaxation experience. I highly recommend this wonderful hotel.

If you’re looking to travel outside of Dublin, whether on day trips or multiple day excursions, please consider booking them with Little Gem Private Tours (littlegemtours.com). Our tour guide, Richard Ball, was highly experienced and knowledgeable. He went above and beyond in ensuring our travel itinerary was memorable, positive, flexible, full of historical anecdotes, and fun; the tour days we took with him were the highlights of our visit. 

In fact, if you aren’t making Dublin your vacation base, Richard and his wife, Barbara, offer lodging accommodations and tours via their family farm about an hour outside of the city. Known as Johnsfort House and built in the late 1700s, the property is located in the village of Clonmellon in the Boyne Valley.  For more information on lodging availability and tour offerings, check out their website at Ireland at Your Leisure.

I’m still going through photographs and probably will be doing so for quite some time. Below are just a few. Please check out my website of photographs at veronica-batterson.pixels.com.

Appalachian Hands

 "They think it's strange to see a woman carve. A woman can do most anything she wants to...puts her mind to."  ~  Polly Page, in 2013, at age 94.

Aunt Polly (in her studio) with Dolly Parton 

My aunt, Polly (Pauline) Randolph Page, passed away in 2020. She was 101 years old. She was a well-known folk artist, whose wood carvings were in the Smithsonian Museum and in Folk Art Museums around the globe. In 2013, she was awarded the Tennessee Folklife Heritage Governor's Arts Award at the age of 93. I own some of her wonderful wood carvings.

She was a pioneer...independent, talented, opinionated, and (in my opinion) a feminist for her time. She believed that women could do anything they wanted if they worked for it. 

Sharing a poem that I wrote with her in mind. As always, copyright applies. 

Appalachian Hands

By Veronica Randolph Batterson 

©2022 Veronica Batterson

The hands speak volumes

As they cradle the wood

Gnarled and misshapen

Skin chapped, stained with blood.

The wood is their infant

Molded and created

Delicately balanced

Shaped between arthritic fingers.

The knife moves swiftly

Cedar shavings cover the floor

The slightest miss

Bears testament to scars she’s worn.

As life emerges

Directly from her palms,

Fingers move as if caressing

Breath from shapes appearing.

An artist carves her creation

With tenderness, with love

Never hesitating.

The knife and wood are one

Under nimble fingers they work,

Peeling layers away, skilled

Twisting, turning until

Forms of beauty are birthed.

The life of this master

Molding wood like clay,

Deftly she moves

Never flinching or pausing.

She works until finished

And carves shavings away,

Then as if releasing, a whisper

Touches graceful artistry in Appalachian hands.

A Fogelberg Kind of Day

It's been one of those days. Sharing some Youtube videos of the songs I've been listening to...all music by the late Dan Fogelberg. Amazon Music, Sirius XM, my old-fashioned iPod...I'd listen to my albums (vinyl) if my turntable hadn't died. 

Also worth sharing is a Youtube video of his former ranch that's for sale again, in addition to the link of the listing. The current owner/seller renovated and updated the property. As anyone will see, it's stunning. Known as Mountain Bird Ranch and located in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, it is worth drooling over simply for the location. I've visited Pagosa Springs a few times and the area has breathtaking views and scenery; it's a wonderful place to photograph, as I've done. Oh, to be able to see and photograph this property, though! Eventually, the house and land will sell and the video and link will be deleted, but I thought it was worth sharing now. 

Mountain Bird Ranch

Gettysburg, History and Folklore

   

Sachs Covered Bridge, Gettysburg

A few years ago, I was taking photographs at various spots in Memphis and wandered through Elmwood Cemetery. Established in 1852, the 80-acre cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The dramatic entry bridge, the elaborate monuments and markers, and the beautiful landscaping (especially during the spring) provide stunning natural backdrops for landscape photography. It also offers inspiration.

For some reason, historical cemeteries give me ideas for stories. I don’t intentionally look to them for divine intervention, it just happens sometimes. This was the case with my book, Williamsburg Hill. The basis of the story was set around Ridge Cemetery in southern Illinois. Now it seems Elmwood Cemetery has given me the same jolt of motivation to finally get started on another historical fiction novel. 

When that “this could be it” moment happened, I had walked in front of a headstone for a man whose profession happened to be in the theatre. He had been a ‘Scenic Artist’ in the 1800s. For those who don’t know the relevance of this, my husband’s early professional career was as a Theatrical Designer. We live and breathe the theatre, and the business side of it. I don’t believe in coincidence, but I do think most things happen for a reason or for some purpose. The fact that I randomly saw this gravesite said something. It actually gave me a good shake and yelled, “There’s a story! Write about it.” 

I immediately attempted to find information on this man and documented all that I came across. Surprisingly, for the era and what he did for a living, there was more than to be expected. But there were plenty of gaps and holes to fill, dead ends, and dwindling trails that went nowhere. The more I couldn’t find, the more that I wanted to know. 

Then due to the pandemic and shut downs across the country, it became harder to find anything. Research was at a standstill, and my 19th-century Scenic Artist grew quiet. The muse wasn’t speaking. It seemed he was waiting for me to get it right. 

Interestingly, it was a trip to Gettysburg that brought him back to life. For those who are still planning a visit, don’t pass up seeing the Cyclorama. To say it leaves a person speechless is an understatement. Painted by artist Paul Philippoteaux, the massive Cyclorama depicts Picket’s Charge, the final attack of the Battle of Gettysburg. 

As I stood in the center of the room where the Gettysburg Cyclorama was housed, listening to the narration of the timeline, and viewing this magnificent art, I remembered. Philippoteaux had hired artists to work on the painting. The muse stepped out of the shadows; there he was again, reminding me that he, the Scenic Painter resting in Elmwood Cemetery, had been commissioned to work on a Civil War painting. Was I viewing his work? It was another good shake, a reminder, a path to take. Once again, I had direction and became excited to take on the challenge of writing this story. 

Our lodging in Gettysburg

Regarding Gettysburg, it was a trip that I’d wanted to take for a very long time, and it didn’t disappoint. We stayed in an historic house for the long weekend, walked the battlefields and the cemeteries, worked in getting to the museum (and Cyclorama), visited (and walked across) the Sachs Covered Bridge. The area is vast and overwhelming; I took a lot of photographs, but we only had time for the highlights. There’s so much history there. And yes, ghosts. It’s said that the Sachs Covered Bridge is extremely haunted. Our time there was during daylight hours and I got quite a few orbs and unexplained weirdness in a lot of photos; I can’t imagine how ‘visibly active’ it is at night. Since it’s rather isolated and off the beaten path, I think it would be a creepy attempt anyway, and one I would not do.

As for the research, the man in Elmwood Cemetery died before work on the Gettysburg Cyclorama began, but did paint a Civil War panorama in 1863. There’s no disappointment in that for me. The journey to Gettysburg brought the story back to me, and there are so many potential storylines. A local historian in Memphis has been generous in finding some information, as well. I also suspect, as I shared a few times regarding Williamsburg Hill, this book, too, will be based a lot on folklore rather than historical accuracy. 

Finally, I’ll give a few clues. I enjoy dual/multiple timelines to tie a big story together, so that’s the plan for this one. I’ll share his surname later, but the man in Elmwood’s given name is ‘Sam’…and that’s how the readers will know him. I will make him as true to his history as I can. But along the way, there’s a fictional ‘Josephine’ that will, perhaps, affect his life. Other plans in the outline include the Yellow Fever epidemic, the mighty Mississippi River, Memphis, famous actors of that era, and another Sam…Samuel Langhorne Clemons, also known as Mark Twain. 

That’s the plan for now. But things change, stories evolve, and folklore will be a big part if it’s needed. As I always say and always mean, thank you to all who continue reading what I share. 

"Mainely" Maine

   

 In 2018, my husband and I completed a goal of visiting all fifty states together with a cruise to Alaska. The plan then was to revisit; go to places in those states we had yet to see, and to enjoy more International travel.  We were able to get to Lake Tahoe and travel the Pacific Coast Highway before life changed in the world and little to no travel could be enjoyed. Car trips across Colorado and Tennessee have been fulfilled in the last year, but I didn’t do any air travel for over two years. I eased into those again with quick trips to Chicago and New York, masked and cautious

Last week, we enjoyed a vacation…the kind that isn’t worked around the job, or a visit to see anyone. The kind that’s a destination, a plan, a goal, a bucket list check-off…the kind that you turn off the cell phones and enjoy, be in awe of beautiful scenery and amazing places. The pre-pandemic kind, the kind that says maybe we’ve turned the page and things will be “normal” again (whatever that means). However hard it is to breathe with those masks, and I was masked in the airports and on the planes and in certain places, it felt as if I could actually breathe life again just by embracing  something I’d taken for granted. Travel. A real vacation and it had been three years. Living again. Deep breaths. 

Maine. Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor. Blue Hill. Stonington. Castine. Camden. Rockland. Rockport. Bristol. Boothbay Harbor. Portland. Cape Elizabeth. Freeport. State Parks and Lighthouses. Harbors and Mountains. Lobster Rolls. Lobster Dinners. Whoopee Pies and Blueberry Pies. Fresh Seafood. Ice Cream. The week was full but it was relaxed; I ate whatever I wanted and didn’t worry or care about the calories. Vacation. No worries. Appreciating life again…those calories can be counted next week, just as all of those missed calls and text messages can be returned when one gets home. It felt so nice to live again.

Finally, I’ll share a few iPhone photos of gorgeous scenery here, because I’ve yet to go through the photos I took with the Canon. That will take me a while, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to the next trip around Labor Day. A short one. Another bucket-list goal. 

As always, thanks for reading everything I’ve shared here over the last ten years. It is appreciated. 

Photograph Updates

 I think Fine Art America has finally fixed the issue that the majority of its users disliked: that the most popular/highest sales images were being shown first to viewers as a default option. We finally have the option now to show the latest uploads first...something that had always been our choice: to arrange the images in the way we wanted them shown, and one that I'd always utilized. Newest first. Hoping that it remains "working" with no more hiccups.

Sharing some more images here. They're simply screenshots with the higher resolution photographs available on the site. 

Btw, as usual, I can't quite get the spacing between the images right. 😕

Thanks, all.