Friday, August 30, 2019
Having friendly fun
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
I'll be seeing you...
over on "Living in Black Mountain," almost every day this week.
And soon at my "Three Family Trees."
But the time I usually use here is being given to another pursuit this week.
A visitor.
I hope the mint takes...it's in new dirt and had lots of roots. The little guy is there for encouragement.
There's the orchid in it's new home.
And the end of August means lots of these black seeds on the Four O'Clocks.
The front porch...we're not allowed to plant anything in that terrible mulched area. Ugh. It's full of poisons anyway.
And soon at my "Three Family Trees."
But the time I usually use here is being given to another pursuit this week.
A visitor.
Monday, August 26, 2019
What's with high of 68 degrees?
It's still only August 25, and went down into the 50s last night. Today when I left for church I went back inside to get a wrap...just a piece of fabric that became my shawl. Yesterday (well a week ago) it had covered an altar. And then it was in the high 80s each day. Other places in the US were sweltering, and this just a few weeks after Europe suffered a terrible heat wave.
So to have damp cool days suddenly is strange, though due to a cold front that slipped south, so sayeth the weather guy. I just decided the middle of August had been the peak of summer.
And now the last week of August begins with fall weather. I wonder if/how long it will last. Weather people say...this is going to continue till Tues, and by Wed. we'll get up to80 78 again. But the nights will still be in the 50s! Amazing.
OK, enough talk about the weather. I'm hostessing a friend from Florida this week. So we'll be traveling around doing some touristy stuff...and I'll probably share some photos here, there or yon.
I'm looking forward to seeing things around me with her new eyes.
So to have damp cool days suddenly is strange, though due to a cold front that slipped south, so sayeth the weather guy. I just decided the middle of August had been the peak of summer.
And now the last week of August begins with fall weather. I wonder if/how long it will last. Weather people say...this is going to continue till Tues, and by Wed. we'll get up to
OK, enough talk about the weather. I'm hostessing a friend from Florida this week. So we'll be traveling around doing some touristy stuff...and I'll probably share some photos here, there or yon.
I'm looking forward to seeing things around me with her new eyes.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Women training on the job
Training on the job!
When the man in the floral shirt had a first baby (well, his wife did) he passed out cigars to all the draftspersons.
I'm on the far left, not smoking the smelly thing, but holding it for the picture.
The other woman in the photo with long hair, had just graduated with a degree in Architecture from one of the Florida universities. I had had 3 years of liberal arts college and 2 children and a divorce by that time. Little did I realize I'd be going to the U of FL myself in another 8 years myself!
The drafting room of an architectural and engineering firm had mainly men working in it. Stephanie got her position by getting a degree. How did I get mine?
A year after my divorce I was a secretary in a cable TV firm...which in 1971 meant that cables were just being run between phone poles for the first time in Tampa. There were some electrical engineers who worked on drafting tables, and I was sitting at an IBM Selectric typewriter, wanting to find a way up in my career, which seemed destined to include typing. Then I decided to apply for an apprenticeship for an electrical engineering draftsman at another firm. I got the job...after all, I knew the symbols, could draw (I had been an art major) and looked pretty good sitting on a drafting stool. I kid you not. I'm positive my legs were part of the package. (Sorry ladies, I was not totally liberated yet!)
After a few months of this, I decided if I could apprentice for the electrical draftsperson, why not an architectural one? So I did, and went to another company and got that job. I did it for a few months, then wanted a better position, which is how I ended up 3 years at the firm seen in the photo. I moved up while working there, by starting to draw plans for landscape design and for interior finishes. The firm only worked on commercial projects, like banks, post offices, and schools. Some government contracts required landscape designs...which were easy enough to draw. I used a book about plants that would grow in Florida. I knew very little otherwise. I was told it didn't matter, because the contractors would replace my design with whatever they had on hand anyway. And the firm I worked for got a drawing that looked almost as good as one a real landscape architect would have made...much cheaper with me! (Sorry professional landscapers!)
And for interior finishes, I used all the samples that were sent for flooring, and Formica finishes for bathrooms, and floor tiles, and paint samples and carpet samples, to build little dioramas, so we could show a bank (for instance) what a color scheme for the bathrooms might look like. My favorite was doing a board room for the top floor of a 36 floor building that still stands in Tampa. When it was built it was the tallest building. I never found out if they used my presentation choices or not. It didn't really matter. I got a business card with my name on it saying Architectural Interior Designer. We also got a contract to renovate the Tampa stadium and locker rooms...so I again had some interior choices put together for it. That stadium got demolished and a bigger one built years ago. (Sorry to the professional interior designers!)
Then I quit. I wanted to take a summer off with my 2 boys and travel in my camper van (my only means of transportation). I had proved I could do many things, and had a gas credit card...so we traveled all over the country camping, and then we settled in another city. I started as a temp secretary first...then worked my way up in different jobs.
I didn't return to drafting. But one of my temp jobs was at the new school of architecture in that city. I unfortunately couldn't consider becoming a student yet because there were course requirements that would mean "pulling an all-nighter" and I knew as a single mom I wouldn't be able to do that.
So that's how I ended up as an apprentice that became a draftsperson that became an Architectural Interior Designer. I felt a bit bad because people were going to college learning all kinds of things to be interior designers, or they worked in antique or furniture stores so they knew all kinds of things about furnishings. I could do finishes for board rooms, post offices, schools, hospitals, and bathrooms!
I guess I learned that the college degrees that I got prepared people for more than just a skilled trade. That was many years after I'd worked for them. In the meantime I also knew that training on the job (apprenticeships) are excellent ways for intelligent people to accomplish a lot.
Our Sepia Saturday prompt this week shows a young woman working on a car (with nice clean hands and even a bracelet!) But come on over to see what else this might inspire others to post. And you are welcome to join the crowd too!
I'm on the far left, not smoking the smelly thing, but holding it for the picture.
The other woman in the photo with long hair, had just graduated with a degree in Architecture from one of the Florida universities. I had had 3 years of liberal arts college and 2 children and a divorce by that time. Little did I realize I'd be going to the U of FL myself in another 8 years myself!
The drafting room of an architectural and engineering firm had mainly men working in it. Stephanie got her position by getting a degree. How did I get mine?
A year after my divorce I was a secretary in a cable TV firm...which in 1971 meant that cables were just being run between phone poles for the first time in Tampa. There were some electrical engineers who worked on drafting tables, and I was sitting at an IBM Selectric typewriter, wanting to find a way up in my career, which seemed destined to include typing. Then I decided to apply for an apprenticeship for an electrical engineering draftsman at another firm. I got the job...after all, I knew the symbols, could draw (I had been an art major) and looked pretty good sitting on a drafting stool. I kid you not. I'm positive my legs were part of the package. (Sorry ladies, I was not totally liberated yet!)
After a few months of this, I decided if I could apprentice for the electrical draftsperson, why not an architectural one? So I did, and went to another company and got that job. I did it for a few months, then wanted a better position, which is how I ended up 3 years at the firm seen in the photo. I moved up while working there, by starting to draw plans for landscape design and for interior finishes. The firm only worked on commercial projects, like banks, post offices, and schools. Some government contracts required landscape designs...which were easy enough to draw. I used a book about plants that would grow in Florida. I knew very little otherwise. I was told it didn't matter, because the contractors would replace my design with whatever they had on hand anyway. And the firm I worked for got a drawing that looked almost as good as one a real landscape architect would have made...much cheaper with me! (Sorry professional landscapers!)
And for interior finishes, I used all the samples that were sent for flooring, and Formica finishes for bathrooms, and floor tiles, and paint samples and carpet samples, to build little dioramas, so we could show a bank (for instance) what a color scheme for the bathrooms might look like. My favorite was doing a board room for the top floor of a 36 floor building that still stands in Tampa. When it was built it was the tallest building. I never found out if they used my presentation choices or not. It didn't really matter. I got a business card with my name on it saying Architectural Interior Designer. We also got a contract to renovate the Tampa stadium and locker rooms...so I again had some interior choices put together for it. That stadium got demolished and a bigger one built years ago. (Sorry to the professional interior designers!)
Then I quit. I wanted to take a summer off with my 2 boys and travel in my camper van (my only means of transportation). I had proved I could do many things, and had a gas credit card...so we traveled all over the country camping, and then we settled in another city. I started as a temp secretary first...then worked my way up in different jobs.
I didn't return to drafting. But one of my temp jobs was at the new school of architecture in that city. I unfortunately couldn't consider becoming a student yet because there were course requirements that would mean "pulling an all-nighter" and I knew as a single mom I wouldn't be able to do that.
So that's how I ended up as an apprentice that became a draftsperson that became an Architectural Interior Designer. I felt a bit bad because people were going to college learning all kinds of things to be interior designers, or they worked in antique or furniture stores so they knew all kinds of things about furnishings. I could do finishes for board rooms, post offices, schools, hospitals, and bathrooms!
I guess I learned that the college degrees that I got prepared people for more than just a skilled trade. That was many years after I'd worked for them. In the meantime I also knew that training on the job (apprenticeships) are excellent ways for intelligent people to accomplish a lot.
Our Sepia Saturday prompt this week shows a young woman working on a car (with nice clean hands and even a bracelet!) But come on over to see what else this might inspire others to post. And you are welcome to join the crowd too!
Friday, August 23, 2019
Another milestone
So here I am, celebrating my 77th today.
Fortunately I've got things scheduled which haven't a thing to do with my birthday. That is because I don't want to have a party...too stressful. I recently was invited to a play, and was all ready to go, then did my breathing treatment and found myself getting dizzy. That was a first. But after feeling like I might fall off my chair, I called my friend and canceled our "date." I hope that doesn't happen again (dizzy.)
On my birthday, I'm going on a tour of the home of a famous Asheville writer, Thomas Wolfe. It's a guided tour, so should be educational. And yes, I'll take some photos to share here somewhere (probably under "Living in Black Mountain.")
And to mark this milestone along my path of life, I need a poem that speaks to me.
You don’t need candles,
only the small slim flame in yourself,
the unrevealed passion
that drives you to rise on winter mornings
remembering summer nights.
You don’t need incense,
only the lingering fragrance
of the life that has gone before,
stew cooking on an open fire,
the good stars, the clean breeze,
the warmth of animals breathing in the dark.
You don’t need a cauldron,
only your woman’s body,
where so many of men’s fine ideas
are translated into life.
You don’t need a wand, hazelwood or oak,
only to follow the subtle and impish
leafy green fellow
who beckons you into the forest,
the one who goes dancing
and playing his flute
through imperial trees.
And you don’t need the salt of earth.
You will taste that soon enough.
These things are the trappings,
the tortoise shell, the wolf skin, the blazoned shield.
It’s what’s inside, the star of becoming.
With that ablaze, you have everything you need
to conjure up new worlds.
Dolores Stewart, from The Nature of Things
Fortunately I've got things scheduled which haven't a thing to do with my birthday. That is because I don't want to have a party...too stressful. I recently was invited to a play, and was all ready to go, then did my breathing treatment and found myself getting dizzy. That was a first. But after feeling like I might fall off my chair, I called my friend and canceled our "date." I hope that doesn't happen again (dizzy.)
On my birthday, I'm going on a tour of the home of a famous Asheville writer, Thomas Wolfe. It's a guided tour, so should be educational. And yes, I'll take some photos to share here somewhere (probably under "Living in Black Mountain.")
And to mark this milestone along my path of life, I need a poem that speaks to me.
You don’t need candles,
only the small slim flame in yourself,
the unrevealed passion
that drives you to rise on winter mornings
remembering summer nights.
only the lingering fragrance
of the life that has gone before,
stew cooking on an open fire,
the good stars, the clean breeze,
the warmth of animals breathing in the dark.
only your woman’s body,
where so many of men’s fine ideas
are translated into life.
only to follow the subtle and impish
leafy green fellow
who beckons you into the forest,
the one who goes dancing
and playing his flute
through imperial trees.
You will taste that soon enough.
the tortoise shell, the wolf skin, the blazoned shield.
It’s what’s inside, the star of becoming.
With that ablaze, you have everything you need
to conjure up new worlds.
Dolores Stewart, from The Nature of Things
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
volunteer appreciation
I have noticed how much of our town's growth depends not upon corporate finaces trickling down....but upon the backs of our volunteers (either retired people or those who can afford to give their time and energies to charitable organizations.)
And what is the return these folks get from their dedication?
Smiling faces who receive food from Bounty and Soul, and Food Connection. Gathering with other like minded people and getting to know new friends in their volunteer work. Education is certainly a bonus from my being a docent at the Swanannoa Valley History Museum. I wish I could remember half of what I hear about! And giving back to the areas that feel like blessings in my life, which is what my volunteer time at the Clay Studio of Black Mountain Center for the Arts provides for me.
The lunch program runs on volunteers who prepare and clean up, who serve the lunches which are catered by a local restaurant in Asheville under a Council on Aging program. The Black Mountain Recreation and Parks has a few paid employees who organize things, including trips around the area.
I know our church also runs on the backs, hands and feet of volunteers. As a new editor for a monthly magazine for that organization, I want to feature the volunteers who don't get as much recognition as I think they should. Others feel the same way, and hopefully will write articles for me, which I'll then add to this newsy e-zine.
But I'm also aware of many time having joined a committee, or worked to share a new creative idea, which over time doesn't seem to work as well as my original intention, and then I've just done the job that is maybe menial but I can do it. And then eventually I've "burned out."
I think appreciation is a lame way to avoid that. There is little feedback to let volunteers know that they are doing well, or maybe need to change their approach so that their work will be more (what?) It should be enjoyable for them, and fruitful for their particular job, and efficient in that they won't make more work for others, and appreciated by those they serve of course.
If you volunteer somewhere, how do you know that you're doing it well? How do you feel committed and invigorated in the doing? Seriously. Comment below, because I want to know.
And what is the return these folks get from their dedication?
Smiling faces who receive food from Bounty and Soul, and Food Connection. Gathering with other like minded people and getting to know new friends in their volunteer work. Education is certainly a bonus from my being a docent at the Swanannoa Valley History Museum. I wish I could remember half of what I hear about! And giving back to the areas that feel like blessings in my life, which is what my volunteer time at the Clay Studio of Black Mountain Center for the Arts provides for me.
The lunch program runs on volunteers who prepare and clean up, who serve the lunches which are catered by a local restaurant in Asheville under a Council on Aging program. The Black Mountain Recreation and Parks has a few paid employees who organize things, including trips around the area.
I know our church also runs on the backs, hands and feet of volunteers. As a new editor for a monthly magazine for that organization, I want to feature the volunteers who don't get as much recognition as I think they should. Others feel the same way, and hopefully will write articles for me, which I'll then add to this newsy e-zine.
But I'm also aware of many time having joined a committee, or worked to share a new creative idea, which over time doesn't seem to work as well as my original intention, and then I've just done the job that is maybe menial but I can do it. And then eventually I've "burned out."
I think appreciation is a lame way to avoid that. There is little feedback to let volunteers know that they are doing well, or maybe need to change their approach so that their work will be more (what?) It should be enjoyable for them, and fruitful for their particular job, and efficient in that they won't make more work for others, and appreciated by those they serve of course.
If you volunteer somewhere, how do you know that you're doing it well? How do you feel committed and invigorated in the doing? Seriously. Comment below, because I want to know.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
When you think you've got things under control...
My car problem this week!
Friday was to start with car work on the air conditioner. Every day while I've driven around with windows open and the heat of August, I have said to myself "It won't be long until Friday when you'll again have air conditioning."
But when I got to the repair place, the part hadn't arrived yet, so he wouldn't be working on it till after one/ So I canceled my friend coming to pick me up, and having coffee with her. Instead I drove to the new doughnut place and got some sinfully delicious thing...and came home to coffee that was already made.
Then I went to yoga and lunch, driving in my hot car, then I rushed off to the repair place again. A friend from yoga came to pick me up and took me home. Then sit and wait, while everything I think I should go do, I'm unable to because I have no car. I'm so used to that (my only means of transportation.) There is a van/bus service, but I'm too independent, wanting to go when I want, where I want. I may sometime start using it.
But today I worked at home, took a nap, and later the woman who had planned to take me home in the morning texted me again. I asked her whether she might be interested in taking me back to the car place around 4:30-5. She said yes.
As we were talking, I got a funny phone call from "unknown number." Which I answered, thinking it might be the car place. How do I know what they call clients from? I usually am calling them.Well, nobody was there, just dead air. So I called the car place, and the man said, "I'm just working up your ticket. "I asked if he'd just called me, and he said, "Not yet." I said "I got this funny call, and nobody was there. You sure you weren't just thinking about me and somehow you mentally sent a phone call?"
He laughed. "Not that powerful." And then he crunched the numbers. And then he told me and it was actually lower than the estimate had been. How many times does that happen?
I peeled off all the $20 bills that had been in my sock drawer (not really) (from the ATM) and when I got done, I told him to use the credit/debit card for the rest. They gave me my key, and I drove home loving my car, taking to it (its name is Grey Hawk.) And the a.c. worked just fine.
Friday was to start with car work on the air conditioner. Every day while I've driven around with windows open and the heat of August, I have said to myself "It won't be long until Friday when you'll again have air conditioning."
But when I got to the repair place, the part hadn't arrived yet, so he wouldn't be working on it till after one/ So I canceled my friend coming to pick me up, and having coffee with her. Instead I drove to the new doughnut place and got some sinfully delicious thing...and came home to coffee that was already made.
Then I went to yoga and lunch, driving in my hot car, then I rushed off to the repair place again. A friend from yoga came to pick me up and took me home. Then sit and wait, while everything I think I should go do, I'm unable to because I have no car. I'm so used to that (my only means of transportation.) There is a van/bus service, but I'm too independent, wanting to go when I want, where I want. I may sometime start using it.
But today I worked at home, took a nap, and later the woman who had planned to take me home in the morning texted me again. I asked her whether she might be interested in taking me back to the car place around 4:30-5. She said yes.
As we were talking, I got a funny phone call from "unknown number." Which I answered, thinking it might be the car place. How do I know what they call clients from? I usually am calling them.Well, nobody was there, just dead air. So I called the car place, and the man said, "I'm just working up your ticket. "I asked if he'd just called me, and he said, "Not yet." I said "I got this funny call, and nobody was there. You sure you weren't just thinking about me and somehow you mentally sent a phone call?"
He laughed. "Not that powerful." And then he crunched the numbers. And then he told me and it was actually lower than the estimate had been. How many times does that happen?
I peeled off all the $20 bills that had been in my sock drawer (not really) (from the ATM) and when I got done, I told him to use the credit/debit card for the rest. They gave me my key, and I drove home loving my car, taking to it (its name is Grey Hawk.) And the a.c. worked just fine.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Ah sweet memories
For Sepia Saturday this week, I'm checking old photos for a shy girl, maybe standing by a wall. Come over HERE to see what other Sepia Saturday-ians have come up with. (I'll add mine as soon as the list is started for this week!)
I've got some old photos I found of myself...back in the dark ages! I don't remember being shy at these times. Maybe earlier I was.
The girl cousins Rogers. From L to R, Sandra, Patricia, Barbara, Mary Beth, and Claudette. Taken where? Maybe Houston TX at my grandparents? But Patricia lived in Wisconsin. My sis, Mary Beth and cousin, Patricia were both born in 1946, so they look to be around 3, thus it could have been in 1949. And I do remember driving with my parents and grandparents and an uncle and my 2 Houston cousins to visit my Wisconsin Aunt Dotty and Uncle Jimmy in 48 or 49. So since I don't recognize the lawn art or cars, I'm voting on this being in Wisconsin until someone tells me otherwise.
And a few more ancient photos (that happened to be saved in the same folder!)
In 1961 or 62 I was a bridesmaid for my best friend Rosemary. This house is where my parents lived from 1960 to 1965. Since I was in college at the time, I only lived there during holidays and summers. It never felt like home to me.
While I was in college, I had a part in "The Boyfriend." I had only minor stage fright and forgot my lines once. I did like wearing that rose velvet flapper dress!
My boyfriend's MG-TD, which drove us from Virginia to New London, CT in the summer of 1962. He was in the Coast Guard. A year after we broke up, I married another man who was in the Coast Guard (who I'd known before.) Those Coasties had something special, I guess.
My profile probably cut for me in the late 60s or early 70s.
I've got some old photos I found of myself...back in the dark ages! I don't remember being shy at these times. Maybe earlier I was.
And a few more ancient photos (that happened to be saved in the same folder!)
Monday, August 12, 2019
Adjusting to changes
I could post this under my geographical blog, Living in Black Mountain.
But many of the changes I'm adjusting to these days aren't exactly geographical. Physical yes, even medical. And if you count a new neighborhood of condos as geography, then they count.
I live on North Blue Ridge Road...and many people live on/off of South Blue Ridge Road...which runs from the south side of the tracks and US 70 all the way around to State Highway 9 South. It actually ends up parallel to the I-40 and US 70 highways for most of its length.
And there are a few horse pastures along it as well as single family homes and a few mobile homes. But one horse pasture was sold and rezoned a few years ago. And it's now got a fancy name and some buildings have been erected which will be the models. Good jobs for construction crews, and perhaps we'll have some new wealthy neighbors (compared to the horses at least.)
Sweet Birch is just a cul de sac at this point...I wonder how many homes will be built there.
Other communities along S. Blue Ridge include a "trailer park" area in the flood zone of the Swannanoa River and still a bit of former farm land. At least 2 more horse pastures can be seen, with horses often. There's a fire department near the indoor soccer building. There's also a community garden with some great produce. And Veterans Park has baseball fields for young people and walking trails for us older folks.
In the next 5 10 years there will be a new exit built off of I-40 leading into Blue Ridge Rd and US 70 in this area of Black Mountain. It has a strange traffic pattern with a roundabout. It will take up a lot of our geography, I think.
------------------
And then there's happy news, that I just re-read an old comment on a post about ancestors all named George Granger, and Gail said:
I didn't know until about six months later that I'm also descended from the de Clairs and Joan of Acre! So now we're cousins, about 10 times removed!
Quote for today:
But many of the changes I'm adjusting to these days aren't exactly geographical. Physical yes, even medical. And if you count a new neighborhood of condos as geography, then they count.
I live on North Blue Ridge Road...and many people live on/off of South Blue Ridge Road...which runs from the south side of the tracks and US 70 all the way around to State Highway 9 South. It actually ends up parallel to the I-40 and US 70 highways for most of its length.
And there are a few horse pastures along it as well as single family homes and a few mobile homes. But one horse pasture was sold and rezoned a few years ago. And it's now got a fancy name and some buildings have been erected which will be the models. Good jobs for construction crews, and perhaps we'll have some new wealthy neighbors (compared to the horses at least.)
Other communities along S. Blue Ridge include a "trailer park" area in the flood zone of the Swannanoa River and still a bit of former farm land. At least 2 more horse pastures can be seen, with horses often. There's a fire department near the indoor soccer building. There's also a community garden with some great produce. And Veterans Park has baseball fields for young people and walking trails for us older folks.
In the next
------------------
And then there's happy news, that I just re-read an old comment on a post about ancestors all named George Granger, and Gail said:
"La NightingailMay 6, 2018 at 3:08 PM
It
does seem a little strange there would be two fellows with not only the
first and last names the same born around the same time in the same
area - but also with the same middle initials. But families do funny
things with names, sometimes. Back in my own family history - prior and
up to Edward I of England, my family history shows the de Clair family
going from generation to generation as Richard de Clair to Gilbert de
Clair to Richard, to Gilbert, to Richard and so on down the line till
Edward I's daughter, Joan of Acre, married a Gilbert de Clair. There
our knowledge of how many more Gilberts and Richards there were ends. I
can see the confusion now, however. Uncle and Grandfather Gilberts,
and Uncle and Grandfather Richards - not to mention great Uncle and
great grandfather Gilberts and Richards. Whew!"
I didn't know until about six months later that I'm also descended from the de Clairs and Joan of Acre! So now we're cousins, about 10 times removed!
Quote for today:
Call out to the whole divine night for what you love. What you stand for. Earn your name. Be kind, and wild, and disciplined, and absolutely generous.
|
DR. MARTIN SHAW
|
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Visitors at arboretum
Friday, August 9, 2019
These women mean business!
Three women, one of whom I recognize by name. Emmeline Pankhurst!
Three British Suffragettes for Sepia Saturday
All the following information is from Wikipedia, with various sources cited. I'm afraid I don't know how accurate they are!
Emmeline Pankhurst (born Emiline Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist and organizer of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. In 1999 Time named Pankhurst as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back".[1] She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.[2][3]
Born in Sloan Street Moss Side, Manchester in 1858,[4] to politically active parents, Pankhurst was introduced at the age of 14 to the women's suffrage movement. She founded and became involved with the Women's Franchise League, which advocated suffrage for both married and unmarried women. When that organisation broke apart, she tried to join the left-leaning Independent Labour Party through her friendship with socialist Keir Hardie but was initially refused membership by the local branch on account of her sex. While working as a Poor Law Guardian, she was shocked at the harsh conditions she encountered in Manchester's workhouses.
In 1903, Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), an all-women suffrage advocacy organisation dedicated to "deeds, not words".[5] The group identified as independent from – and often in opposition to – political parties. It became known for physical confrontations: its members smashed windows and assaulted police officers. Pankhurst, her daughters, and other WSPU activists received repeated prison sentences, where they staged hunger strikes to secure better conditions, and were often force-fed. As Pankhurst's eldest daughter Christabel took leadership of the WSPU, antagonism between the group and the government grew. Eventually the group adopted arson as a tactic, and more moderate organisations spoke out against the Pankhurst family.
With the advent of the First World War, Emmeline and Christabel called an immediate halt to militant suffrage terrorism in support of the British government's stand against the "German Peril".[7] They urged women to aid industrial production and encouraged young men to fight, becoming prominent figures in the white feather movement.[8] In 1918, the Representation of the People Act granted votes to all men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30. This discrepancy was intended to ensure that men did not become minority voters as a consequence of the huge number of deaths suffered during the First World War.[9]
She transformed the WSPU machinery into the Women's Party, which was dedicated to promoting women's equality in public life. In her later years, she became concerned with what she perceived as the menace posed by Bolshevism and joined the Conservative Party. She was selected as the Conservative candidate for Whitechapel and St Georges in 1927.[10][11] She died on 14 June 1928, only weeks before the Conservative government's Representation of the People Act (1928) extended the vote to all women over 21 years of age on 2 July 1928. She was commemorated two years later with a statue in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to the Houses of Parliament.
---------------------
Mary Gawthorpe - a new name to me. I've got many of the American Suffragists in my history, especially as a 1970's feminist. But the British women who were working with similar efforts, nope, I haven't studied them, nor seen the film (it's still on my wish list) "Suffragettes."
Ada Susan Flatman was born in Suffolk in 1876. She was on independent means and she became interested in women's rights.
Flatman was sent to Holloway Prison[1] after she took part in the "raid" on the Houses of Parliament in 1908. The following year she was employed by the WSPU to organise their activities in Liverpool[2] taking over from Mary Phillips.[3]
Flatman worked with Dr Alice Stewart Ker, but it was Ada who was trusted by Emmeline Pethick
when Liverpool requested that they be allowed to open a WSPU shop. The
shop was a success and it raised substantial funds for the cause.
The first world war started in 1914 and the leading suffrage organizations agreed to suspend their protest until the war was over. Many activists disagreed and Ada Flatman was one. She decided to carry on her work in the US and she emigrated to the US to work (at) Alice Paul's The Suffragist newspaper in 1915.[4] She became their Business and Advertising manager.[5] After the war was completed she was keen to carry on the work but organizations in America and South Africa did not accept her offer of assistance.[4] Flatman supported the work of Edith How-Martyn in later documenting the movement in the Suffragette Fellowship. [6]
Flatman died in Eastbourne in 1952.[4]
OK, I should know about these women, especially the ones who came to the US to help the women's cause, the suffragists.
Three British Suffragettes for Sepia Saturday
All the following information is from Wikipedia, with various sources cited. I'm afraid I don't know how accurate they are!
Emmeline Pankhurst (born Emiline Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist and organizer of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. In 1999 Time named Pankhurst as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back".[1] She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.[2][3]
Born in Sloan Street Moss Side, Manchester in 1858,[4] to politically active parents, Pankhurst was introduced at the age of 14 to the women's suffrage movement. She founded and became involved with the Women's Franchise League, which advocated suffrage for both married and unmarried women. When that organisation broke apart, she tried to join the left-leaning Independent Labour Party through her friendship with socialist Keir Hardie but was initially refused membership by the local branch on account of her sex. While working as a Poor Law Guardian, she was shocked at the harsh conditions she encountered in Manchester's workhouses.
In 1903, Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), an all-women suffrage advocacy organisation dedicated to "deeds, not words".[5] The group identified as independent from – and often in opposition to – political parties. It became known for physical confrontations: its members smashed windows and assaulted police officers. Pankhurst, her daughters, and other WSPU activists received repeated prison sentences, where they staged hunger strikes to secure better conditions, and were often force-fed. As Pankhurst's eldest daughter Christabel took leadership of the WSPU, antagonism between the group and the government grew. Eventually the group adopted arson as a tactic, and more moderate organisations spoke out against the Pankhurst family.
With the advent of the First World War, Emmeline and Christabel called an immediate halt to militant suffrage terrorism in support of the British government's stand against the "German Peril".[7] They urged women to aid industrial production and encouraged young men to fight, becoming prominent figures in the white feather movement.[8] In 1918, the Representation of the People Act granted votes to all men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30. This discrepancy was intended to ensure that men did not become minority voters as a consequence of the huge number of deaths suffered during the First World War.[9]
She transformed the WSPU machinery into the Women's Party, which was dedicated to promoting women's equality in public life. In her later years, she became concerned with what she perceived as the menace posed by Bolshevism and joined the Conservative Party. She was selected as the Conservative candidate for Whitechapel and St Georges in 1927.[10][11] She died on 14 June 1928, only weeks before the Conservative government's Representation of the People Act (1928) extended the vote to all women over 21 years of age on 2 July 1928. She was commemorated two years later with a statue in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to the Houses of Parliament.
 |
| Emmaline Pankhust 1908 |
The Wikipedia article goes on for many more pages under her name!
Mary Gawthorpe - a new name to me. I've got many of the American Suffragists in my history, especially as a 1970's feminist. But the British women who were working with similar efforts, nope, I haven't studied them, nor seen the film (it's still on my wish list) "Suffragettes."
 |
| Mary Gawthorpe 1908 |
After qualifying as a teacher in her native Leeds, Mary Gawthorpe became a socialist and was active in the local branch of the National Union of Teachers. She joined the Independent Labour Party and in 1906, became secretary of the newly formed Women's Labour League. She became involved in the women's suffrage movement and, in 1905, joined the Women's Social and Political Union. In 1906, she left teaching to become a full-time, paid organiser for the WSPU in Leeds. Sylvia Pankhurst came to Leicester in 1907 and joined Alice Hawkins who made introductions. They were joined by Gawthorpe and they established a WSPU presence in Leicester.[5]
She later joined Christabel Pankhurst in Wales, where she drew upon her working-class background and involvement in the labour movement. At the meeting in Wales, organised by Samuel Evans, who was standing for reelection to Parliament, Gawthorpe, in perfect Welsh, worried Evans by putting questions to him in his own language at his own meetings.
Gawthorpe emigrated to New York City in 1916.[15] She was active in the American suffrage movement and later in the trade union movement, becoming an official of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America union. She chronicled her early efforts in her autobiography, Up Hill to Holloway (1962)---------------------------------
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| Ada Susan Flatman 1917 |
Ada Susan Flatman was born in Suffolk in 1876. She was on independent means and she became interested in women's rights.
Flatman was sent to Holloway Prison[1] after she took part in the "raid" on the Houses of Parliament in 1908. The following year she was employed by the WSPU to organise their activities in Liverpool[2] taking over from Mary Phillips.[3]
The first world war started in 1914 and the leading suffrage organizations agreed to suspend their protest until the war was over. Many activists disagreed and Ada Flatman was one. She decided to carry on her work in the US and she emigrated to the US to work (at) Alice Paul's The Suffragist newspaper in 1915.[4] She became their Business and Advertising manager.[5] After the war was completed she was keen to carry on the work but organizations in America and South Africa did not accept her offer of assistance.[4] Flatman supported the work of Edith How-Martyn in later documenting the movement in the Suffragette Fellowship. [6]
Flatman died in Eastbourne in 1952.[4]
OK, I should know about these women, especially the ones who came to the US to help the women's cause, the suffragists.
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Wore me out it did!
My friend who is 3 years and a few weeks older than I am, proved she is in better shape than I am...but she would gladly sit and let me rest when I had almost completely worn myself out. We walked around the Arboretum in Asheville Wed.
These lovely blooms which bumble bees were enjoying are a variety of Dhalia.
These white trumpet shaped flowers all fell from their stems toward the ground. But I did catch a bumble bee crawling into one. Sorry I don't remember their name.
These look like hibiscus, and they were huge!
Some metal and glass garden art was for sale at the store.
A lot of walking, and the last leg was after the sun had made it rather warm...but actually it probably didn't even get up to 80. My last leg was even inside viewing some displays in airconditioning, but I was ready for a nap. I came home and snoozed for 2 hours.
Yes, more beauties over on Living in Black Mountain soon too!
A lot of walking, and the last leg was after the sun had made it rather warm...but actually it probably didn't even get up to 80. My last leg was even inside viewing some displays in airconditioning, but I was ready for a nap. I came home and snoozed for 2 hours.
Yes, more beauties over on Living in Black Mountain soon too!
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Inanna's Daughters water ritual
Monday, August 5, 2019
A bit of danger with pottery
A bit delayed to add a Sepia Saturday post...but it's the first time I had a few minutes to sit and ponder, and post! The beginnings of a week are a bit freer for me to sit and look for photos and talk about them here.
Hope some other SS'ums will be still come to see it.
Man relaxing, with arm on a saw blade...while holding a hammer.
Here's a firing outside of pottery with these photos taken in 2009 here in Black Mountain. Not quite sepia, but it does involve a lot of risk, both of the pots cracking or getting burned if the safety precautions aren't followed.
Geoff (teacher) uses long tongs to remove a pot from the gas heated kiln at 1500 degrees F, and then it will be placed into a little trash bin with a lid. I have done this when firing my own pieces.
The fire in the trash bins comes from a combustible material, we used shredded newspaper, leaves and pine needles. By placing the lid on while the hot pot just started the fire in the bin, there will be a reduction of oxygen for the fire to feed upon. That's called reduction firing. So the fire will draw oxygen out of the glazes and the actual clay. Clay turns black, and glazes get some great metallic shines.
There's also a thermal shock that the pot goes through, from that hot kiln down to the temperature of the day. After the fire goes out, the pot can be further cooled in a tub of water, which also helps remove some of the ashes. When it's completely dry, a sealing coat may be applied which will keep the colors bright.
We haven't had anyone get burned (yet.) But there haven't been any raku workshops for a while. It's kind of hard to do next to a parking lot, so sometimes it can be offered in more secluded places. If you make pottery, it's a great experience to do a raku firing.
The local Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway schedules a pottery day about once a year, and if the weather is good, they will offer raku firings. Last year it was canceled.
Here are 2 of my raku pieces (which I still own.)
Hummingbird mask with beading and feathers.
A take off from the masks worn during the times of the plague...
A non-vase sculptural piece.
I've done several other raku workshops in the 10 years since this one. And each time I come home with a couple of beautifully glazed pieces. As always when firing clay, the coming together of chemicals and fire make for surprises. And I have yet to have a piece explode or crack.
Hope some other SS'ums will be still come to see it.
Here's a firing outside of pottery with these photos taken in 2009 here in Black Mountain. Not quite sepia, but it does involve a lot of risk, both of the pots cracking or getting burned if the safety precautions aren't followed.
We haven't had anyone get burned (yet.) But there haven't been any raku workshops for a while. It's kind of hard to do next to a parking lot, so sometimes it can be offered in more secluded places. If you make pottery, it's a great experience to do a raku firing.
The local Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway schedules a pottery day about once a year, and if the weather is good, they will offer raku firings. Last year it was canceled.
Here are 2 of my raku pieces (which I still own.)
Hummingbird mask with beading and feathers.
A non-vase sculptural piece.
I've done several other raku workshops in the 10 years since this one. And each time I come home with a couple of beautifully glazed pieces. As always when firing clay, the coming together of chemicals and fire make for surprises. And I have yet to have a piece explode or crack.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Wrong timing to bloom
The sun wakes up the Four O'Clocks, and they bloom. When I try to see them in the afternoon, they have their little petals closed up. What's going on? Or maybe they are just happiest in the morning!
I think they also have a scent, but I have little olfactory abilities these days.
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