OVPR #1 Of Witches, Wise Women & Wee Ones

October and the OVPR Rendezvous is here!  Mother Nature was very gracious to us this year, the weather was absolutely perfect for tent camping & socializing.  The day time temps allowed for shift, petticoat & bodices or shirt, breeches & weskit to be all one needed to wear.  Of an evening a light matchcoat or sleeved weskit was nice but not absolutely necessary.  No wind, no rain – truly Shining Times!

The Witches Lair

The spring rendezvous is often blessed with a fine informal tea attended by ladies who might not have great earthly wealth but possessed great inner grace and womanly strength.  A fine & gentel gathering it is too. 

The Witches Signpost

The fall ‘Vous hosts a rather different affair.  Oh it looks like an informal (as opposed to high) tea but its participants know the old ways and wisdom.  These are witches & wisewoman; loyal above all to their friends, perilous to their foes.

A Friend of Witches

The Witch’s Lair is easy enough to find.

Broom Parking

Secure valet broom parking is available to one and all.

Wiches or Wisewomen?

What is this?  A Masquerade?  How devious!  Witch or Wisewoman, who can say?  How now indeed.

Witches Methinks

Witches drinking witches brew for sure.  Those are not tea cups!

A Wisewoman in an Owl Mask

Obviously a Wisewoman, no witch would dare to appear as an Owl Avatar.

The Princess

A princess perchance in this gathering of crones? Methinks nay.

A Pirate & A High Elf

Truly this is an eclectic gathering.

Two Young Apprentices

Apprentices were welcome at the tea.  But are they apprenticed to witches or wisewomen?  The mask hides all.

Two More Apprentices

Be they witch or wisewomen in training clearly the Old Ways are being learned by the young ones.

The Apprentices’ Caucus

Well at least the Future of the Learning is secure.  There are many hands here to carry the Traditions.

The Witches Tea Hosts

T’wod be amiss to not honor our gracious hosts.  T’was their want to have a Masquerade at the Gathering. 

The Gathering

A Grand Time was had by one and all – even if we weren’t quite sure who we all were, or so we all pretended.

The Barking Spider Inn

This is the (In)Famous Barking Spider Inn.  Of a Friday or Saturday night it hosts all sorts of woods runners, casual laborers, tinkers, peddlers and itinerant musicians as well as even less savory sorts.

A Gentile Gathering of Ladies

But it’s Saturday afternoon and the Inn is a reformed establishment.  Here a ladies from the better classes are playing a social game of cards.  No gambling or cheating here!  (Well maybe just a wee little bit.  Hee Hee!)

A Prosperous Goodwife

The Ladies Social is open to one and all – as long as they are in truth ladies.  No masquerades here!

Two More Goodwives

Spirits and Special Stuff is available for all.  (Special Stuff has no alcohol.)  Man handling the barkeep is strickly forbidden.

The Good Alewife & Two Matrons of the Town

Barb the Alewife (center above) and her 2 friends see that no unpleasantnesses occur in her establishment.  Personally I think facing the local court would be easier than crossing these worthy women.

The House Social Band

The house band knows many a lively tune to entertain the gathered ladies of the town.  The guitar player is even rather handsome although the waterman sometimes needs a little reminder of just what is and is not proper.

Grandma, Mama & The Twins

Mama Heather capped the festivities by bringing her twins to meet & greet everyone.  They are cute as 2 kittens in a basket. 

Local Flooding May Occur – 9/29

I don’t have a Smart Phone but I do have a phone with a Emergency Alert feature.  Said phone woke me up on 9/29 with a Flash Flood warning.  It was monsooning outside so the warning was definetely spot on. 

Drainage Ditch in the Backyard

The drainage ditch along one side of my yard overflowed about an hour after the phone warning.

Drainage Ditch a Few Minutes Later

The water continued to quickly rise and started spreeding over the rear of the backyard.

The Ditch Overfloweth

Within an hour of the 1st warning there was water 4 inches deep flowing over the rear 1/3 of the yard. 

My Fire Ring Near the Woods

I don’t think I’ll be having a quiet little fire this evening.  The entire ring was totally submerged by noon.

Looking Towards the Neighbor’s Yard

The yard next door & upstream of me had significantly more water flowing over their property.

The Neighbor’s Yard

There is about 8 inches of water flowing over the back right corner of my yard at this point.  About a third of the neighbor’s yard is under water.

Near Peak Flooding

The flooding got deep enough for me to kayak in it except the current was faster than I wanted to tackle. 

Fenceline Waterfall

The neighbor’s had to move their goats from the goatpen to the fenced area right behind their house.  There’s 14-16 inches of water at this point.

View from the Road of the Flooded Neighbor’s Yard

This is the most flooding I’ve had in the 23 years I’ve lived here.  There wasn’t any damage worth mentioning from all this water and I just had very very soggy ground by mid afternoon.  But it was a reminder that flash floods aren’t wimps.

Camper Van Basics

I’ve been reviewing my Camper Van posts and realized I’d omitted any mention of the panorama mirrors or the vent visors I’d installed.  These were the first 3 things I added to the van.

Stock OEM Rear View Mirror

This is what the driver sees with the stock OEM Rear View Mirror.  The mirror doesn’t quite show the entire rear windows top to bottom plus a little bit of the rear side window.  The blind spots are large with this mirror.

Aftermarket Panorama Mirror

I bought this mirror from the local auto parts store.  It fully displays the entire area of both rear windows and the side windows right up to the driver’s and passenger’s seat headrests.  This is a grand view of the traffic all around the van.  The van still has blind spots but they’re very modest.

Driver’s Side Insert Panorama Mirror

I also got small insert panorama mirrors for both of the OEM side mirrors.  The driver’s side mirror clearly shows the parking space lines for back in parking spots.  It also almost eliminates the vehicle blind spot on the driver’s side. 

Passenger Side Insert Panorama Mirror

The passenger side mirror clearly shows any vehicle in the lane to the right of the van.  It also shows parking space lines on that side of the van.  Thank you Lewis for telling me about these little stick on mirrors.

Vent Visor

The Chevy Blazer I used to own came with vent visors installed.  I fell in love with them.  They let you drive down the road in the rain with the windows open about 2 inches without having any rain come in the windows.  They also help with defogging the windshield on those days when the window is fogging up even with the defroster going full blast.  I installed them on my GMC Canyon pickup and I’ve installed them on the van.  I prefer the style that goes into the window track. 

Two Function LED Flashlight

This light has a nice magnet on the back.  It can be used as a single beam LED flashlight or as an area LED light.  I’ve got 2 of them on the van’s cargo area ceiling.  They’re great for lighting the van’s interior after dark.

Gilmore House – August 27

George Gilmore was born enslaved ca. February 1810 at Montpelier plantation, the home of James & Dolly Madison.  He married Polly,an enslaved seamstress, ca. 1850.  Together they would have 8 children, 5 of whom lived into adulthood.  George was a carpenter and saddlemaker as well as a farmer.  By 1870 he was residing on & farming the land on which he would build this cabin.

Gilmore House

The cabin is constructed of squared logs which were taken from the derelict huts of a Confederate army winter camp located less than half a mile from the cabin’s site. 

Main Room – Fireplace & Dining Area

George Gilmore was neither a share nor tenant farmer, he rented the land he farmed & built his house on from Dr. James A. Madison, the newphew who inherited Montpelier from James Madison.  In 1901 Dr. Madison sold the farmstead to George Gilmore. 

Main Room – Bedroom Area

The house is the only known restored freedman’s farmstead home.  Local records note that Mr. Gilmore could read & write.  He apparently had a decent income from his carpentry & saddle work.  Polly was also working as a seamstress, there were significant numbers of pins, needles, buttons, etc. found under the cabin. 

Loft Area – Children’s Sleeping Pallet

The cabin must have been quite a busy place with 8 children in the family.  The practices of the era would have had the children sharing pallets at night, then folding them during the day.

Kitchen Garden Behind the House

The Gilmore family were subsistance farmers.  George improved the land he lived on by planting an orchard, digging a all season well, and maintaining a hogpen.  The Gilmore family owned the land George bought until the late 1930’s.  George & Polly’s decendants still live in the area.  

Late Summer Kitchen Garden

The garden was winding down when I visited the Gilmore house.  It is now open on a regular schedule thanks to a grant which funded site research and maintenance.  It’s owned maintained by the Montpelier Foundation.  There is no admission fee for this site.

Hogpen & Hogs Near the Kitchen Garden

The Confederate Winter Camp has been partially reconstructed by a local reenactment/living history unit.  They man the site several weekend a year.

Re-created Confederate Winter Camp Huts

Civil War winter huts were small and housed 6 to 8 men each.  Their small size made heating them easier.  The roofs were generally canvas tent material over poles.  Their exact size and construction technique varied somewhat but the camps were laid out in the same way as a summer non-campaign camp.

Winter Hut Rear

This is a hut at the head of a company street for the company officers.  Officer’s huts were not necessarily bigger than enlisted huts but they did tend to be of the best construction.

Winter Hut Front Entry

This hut has a standard military wedge tent end as a door entry. 

Winter Hut Interior

These huts are about 12x16 feet.  The soldiers would have regularly repaired the mud & straw clinking in the log walls.  The huts usually had a fireplace of some kind in the back hut wall.  This hut also has a rough plank floor that has been covered in straw. 

Thank you Montpelier & whoever funded the research & restoration of this cabin.  It was well worth the effort.

The Ark Coffeehouse – 50 Folkin’ Years

Fifty years ago 4 churches in Ann Arbor Michigan opened a coffeehouse in a historic mansion owned by one of the churches.  That coffeehouse has become a premier acoustic music venue and the only surviving folk coffeehouse from the 60’s.  It has changed locations in the city twice and now is celebrating FIFTY FOLKIN’ YEARS!  So of course The Ark threw a birthday party for itself to which yours truly attended.

Plywood Model of the Original Ark Location

Unfortunately the original Ark location on Hill Street has been demolished, but on a sunny day in early August an outdoor picking party complete with 6.5 oz. Coca-Colas and Dunkin Donut quarters was held on the site where the house once stood. 

Picking Party Folks

For 3 hours various of the Arkies from back in the day played and sang as we had done in the Old Days.  Well, OK, we’re a bit grayer but we know more songs too!

Picking Party in Progress

Note the donut quarters in the foreground if you please.  The cokes were on ice. 

Another View of the Proceedings

There were folks from all over the country at ther Reunion including some from California. 

One of the Californians & His Blue Synthetic Travel Guitar

The Reunion started with a sign in and greet session Wednesday afternoon and ended at about midnight on Saturday.  There were picking sessions from 11am until 3pm daily with coffee, tea, soda, juice, fruit trays, vegatable trays, and sandwich fixings to sustain us all.  Thursday afternoon was the Ark Hill Street site picking party from 3:30pm until 5:30pm and Friday evening there was a potluck and picking party at a current Arkie’s home.  Wednesday through Saturday evenings there were concerts at the Ark’s current venue, a location which is getting bought by the Ark as its permanent home! 

It was an awesome 4 days. I sang harmonies left, right & sideways, caught up on all the news from folks I haven’t seen since my college days, and got very, very little sleep.  It was awesome.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to the current Arkies who put this all on!

(I didn’t take all that many pictures, I was too busy signing!)