The Carillon in the Park, located near Atlanta

This weekend I decided to take a walk down a steep hill and underneath an umbrella of trees along a path I don’t often travel in the park. That’s where I found the perfect bench to sit down and listen to the Carillon‘s daily music being played. And, this bench even came with a view of  the lake.

The 732-bell Carillon in Stone Mountain Park, located near Atlanta, was donated by Coca-Cola after being exhibited in the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City and you can hear it being played several times throughout the day. Concerts are live on Saturday and Sunday and are taped, Monday through Friday.

Written and Photographed by Mary Gilmartin, September 24, 2013

History, Old Jail Museum in North Carolina

Sometimes the most interesting museums to visit are not in large cities or in other countries, but only three hours away from where you live nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

The Clay County Historical Museum can be found in the small town of Hayesville. It’s located in the building that once was known as the Old County Jail from the years 1912 until 1972.

There are two floors to this historical museum with exhibits filling every room from spinning wheels to a vintage feed sack exhibit.

One of the rooms had an exhibit of a replica of an early farmhouse kitchen. Do you see the oil lamp on the table and the candles on the wall? This was the source of lighting a room after dark before the days of electricity.

In another room is an exhibit of Dr. Killian’s working office where he practiced medicine from the late 1800’s until 1940’s. He was one of Clay County’s most dedicated doctors. One his desk is one of his ledgers where he kept records of all the visits and charges for each patient. Small log books could be carried in his saddlebag.

These photographs are just a glimpse into what you will find in this unique country museum. And, if you ever visit the museum make sure to see the Cherokee Homestead Outdoor Exhibit located outside. Below is only one of the things you will see.

Cherokee Winter House

The American Cherokee Indian villages in the early 1700’s would have looked like this one that’s on exhibit.

To learn more about the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians click on this link. They are located in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Written and Photographed by Mary Gilmartin, September 12 , 2013

Books, A Photographic History of Iowa 1860-1920

I don’t remember where I got one of the books in your bookcase, but I’m glad that I have it especially after I flipped through its pages and found inside a wonderful sampling of over 375 historical black & white images that are reminders of days forever gone.

The name of this book is ”An Iowa Album, A Photographic History 1860-1920 by Mary Bennett” and all the images are reflections of a cultural past that preserves the lives of past generations.

The photographs in this book come from the photograph collection of the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City. The history for this period begins with the American Indians and the land in chapter one. It continues with a photographic history of Iowa’s settlement and countryside showing cows near a lake with planting of the corn along with the gathering of shocks of grain from the farms. The towns and the neighborhoods with community life in the early 1900’s remind us that children back then brought their lunch to school in pails.

I’ve never been to Iowa, but after reading this book and looking at these historical images, maybe I will visit that state some day.  What town or city should I visit first?

The cover of the book is a photograph described as “a nutting party in Hebard’s grove, Red Oak, ca. 1895-1905” by  Leonard Schwinn, photographer; 5×7 glass plate negative, Leonard Schwinn Collection. (I wonder if those nuts are Northern Pecans)…On page 318, in the Notes on the Photograph Collections’ section, it describes Leonard A. Schwinn (1861-1936) “as a photographer dedicated to recording not only his family’s recreational activities, but also life of his community in Red Oak.”

Written by Mary Gilmartin, September 9, 2013

Music, Remember Vinyl Records?

Does anyone remember the days of vinyl records? Today I found a couple of albums that brought back memories from the days when I listened to them being played on a record player.

One record is by the American pop singer Andy Williams and on this album he sings the song Love Theme from The Godfather  released by Columbia Records on March 21, 1972. The album cover looks well-worn but the record inside is still in perfect condition. When I first looked at the cover and saw those beautiful blue eyes, I thought it was Old Blue Eyes. But, then I remembered it was Frank Sinatra that had coined that name.

The other vinyl record called “Moonlight and Keyboard”  is one that I have always liked. There’s something classic about the cover of this album with a photograph of a girl sitting on a sofa with the moonlight shining through the window.  I remember listening to the works of some of the nineteenth-century composers like Claude Dubussy and Frédéric Chopin along with other composers like Schumann, Liszt, and Rubinstein recorded on this album.

Greensleeves, a traditional arrangement by Lewenthall, is still one of my favorites pieces. Perhaps because it’s one of the first compositions I learned to play on the piano a long time ago.

These are only a couple of the vinyl records from the days of the 33 1/3 RPM moments for LP albums. Some still believe the vinyl record is a better quality recording. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings. A vinyl record is an analog recording, and CDs and DVDs are digital recordings.

Written by Mary Gilmartin, September 4, 2013

Book Festival 2013 in Decatur, Georgia

The eighth annual AJC Decatur Book Festival was held this weekend on August 31-September 1, 2013 in Decatur, Georgia where there were more than 300 national and local authors representing all genres of books with lectures and signings.

The outdoor café quickly filled before noon with book festival visitors taking a break.

My first stop around 11:00 am was made to the City Hall Stage to listen to a presentation, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.   There I learned about Laurie Shock’s book “How to Publish Your Own Photography Book.”  She’s the president of Shock Design Books, an independent publishing house in Atlanta that specializes in finely crafted books covering a range of genres with an emphasis on art and photography books.  You can read more about this on this link.

To the right is pictured Architect Richard Diedrich’s book “Legendary Golf Clubhouses of the U.S. and Great Britain.”  The designer and publisher for his book was Laurie Shock. The topic of conversation was about what it takes to publish a photography book.

A sign on the sidewalk  that read “Free poems On Demand” caught my attention. The topic I chose for the poem the gentleman at the typewriter agreed to write was, the horse in the pasture. And why did I ask him to write about this topic?  Because I had written a short memory story on the subject and thought a poem would be nice. Here’s a link to my posting on The Horse In The Pasture.

Fifteen minutes later, Jon Ciliberto had written this poem:

“When science captured in silver flowing animals, then discovery of the floating aspect of a running horse, and propulsion became flight. Each dirt clod flies from shod leg, skipping grass and hot air over from easy canter. Nay, a fence isn’t a corral on space, neither is human fixing of purpose and a finish line.  Drop the flag on broken earth, each droplet of equine equanimity whisks a lazy tail on history’s fierce placement of a single creature in a single place.”

A  statue by  George Lundeen  of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and “author of the Declaration of Independence,” can be found in front of the Old Courthouse on the Square in Decatur, Georgia.

The High Museum of Art Atlanta had a booth at the festival this year. When I inquired about their current exhibit they gave me a fan. It has a picture of the “Girl with a Pearl Earring“ on it.  This Vermeer painting is now on view through September 29, 2013 along with thirty-five Dutch Golden Age masterpieces, Rembrandt and more at the museum.

The end of August is always hot and today was not an exception. The afternoon temperature on Saturday reached a high of 90 degrees, so the fan with the picture of the Girl with a Pearl Earring helped keep me cool from the rising temperatures.

These are a few of the things I saw at the book festival this year where there were more than 300 national and local authors attending.

Written and Photographed by Mary Gilmartin, September 1, 2013