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Written by Michelle Gill “I fell in love, that is the only expression I can think of, at once, and am still at the mercy of words, …” Dylan Thomas Words, books, the actual feel and smell of a book - I inherited my love from my daddy. I hated reading when I was little and stood around waiting on him as he looked for yet another book, more times than I can count. He quit school when he was fifteen but he loved to read. He knew all the private book dealers in town. I remember one such man named Danny Wheeler, who had an old house with tall high book shelves that had an attached wooden rolling ladder to reach the top shelves, just like the one in My Fair Lady. Cats ran around on top of his counters and his house was packed to the brim. It seems to me that I can still smell the cigarette smoke, of course that could have been from my daddy as we traipsed across the valley looking for books in his yellow Duster. I now see the value of all the interesting characters that he knew – book collectors, book sellers, book hunters and their stories, not to mention the many friends in the books themselves. Now many years later, I too have a love of books. April, a friend and writer, heard of a memior from her violin instructor that she said I must read - The time Mom met Hitler, Frost came to dinner, and I heard the Greatest Story ever told. Most of my college years I was an English major, although in my last year I changed to PolySci. My love for writing and reading is how I began in the English track and this writer, Dikkon Eberhart, grew up with those writers in his home on a regular basis, that I read in my classes. Dylan Thomas had a crush on his mom and read him bedtime stories. He and Robert Frost had a conversation about the intentions of his most famous poem. Of course, I was hooked. What kept me reading was this writer is not just a writer but a wordsmith. To me, being able to use words so the reader feels what you intend for them to feel and more; to paint a picture without brush or colors on a canvas – only using words - is an art. Also, his writing has a rhythm that keeps the reader moving ahead. It is a memoir that ends with his journey to Christ from Judaism. Extraordinary, yes? Since my first touch of that book, Dikkon Eberhart has moved from Maine to where I live. I have had the fabulous opportunity to get to know him first hand and he allowed me to ask him some questions at a restaurant the other day for a short inteview. If you have any interest in word crafting at all, I suggest that you read his writing. I can still smell the cigars on their family boat, taste the bourbon, and feel the movement of the sail boat on the lake with his father. (I have never smoked a cigar, I don’t like bourbon, and I have never been on a boat with he or his father but it is now a memory of my own because of the way he painted it for me in his book.) THE INTERVIEW...  When will your next book come out and do you have a title?
"If God, while intending Adam, should have created Satan instead, it would not have been a righteous creation; it would have been a clang. My father created me, molded me, and taught me, and once - when I needed it - he slapped me down. As he forced me forward, sometimes he slipped in his effort, and instead of making music, his effort went awry, and there was a clang. I hated those clangs, but the effort of the man behind me - that is, of my father, and of his father, and of his father, all the way back to Eberhart the Noble sitting on his throne in Stuttgart in the scarcely imaginable thirteenth century - that effort, too, tensed me up. And more to this: Eberhart the Noble had a father, who had a father, who had a father, who eventually was our very first father - our very first father, Adam himself, who was pushed into existence - fearfully and wonderfully made - by the very breath of God." - quote from The time Mom met Hitler, Frost came to dinner, and I heard the Greatest Story ever told by Dikkon Eberhart For more about Dikkon Eberhart, visit his website at www.dikkoneberhart.com
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Written by Michelle Gill  So the sun rose again... There was a time in my life when I dreaded waking up. There was a time in my life when I needed someone to tell me that I would make it too. There was a time when I needed to know what to do when I woke up in the morning again. As time passed, I searched on the internet for someone, anyone who had been through anything remotely similar to what I was going through and survived. As a blog and website designer, I see postings all the time of loss and I have read many articles describing the grief process. But there are times when you can't think and you just need to be reminded to eat, to breathe, to make your bed, and it really doesn't matter what phase of grief that you are in. So if today is your day of grief and you just need someone to tell you how to live for today, before better comes, and it will, then these are some practical things you can do: 1 Ask God to show you a future. You need to see that better will come. 2 Get up when the sun comes up. Rhythm, routine can be healing and you need to physically get up. 3 Make your bed! Yes, go make your bed. I am not going to explain all the reasons why but it is important. 4 Eat. Eat regularly. Eat well. 5 Read. Read stories from others who have had it worse and survived well. (Into the Deep by Robert Rogers is one that I read.) 6 Be. Be okay with just being sad. 7 Write it out. Writing it out, helps you to get it out. This may come later. 8 Drink lots of water. Sometimes we forget. You will think better. 9 Do something for someone else no matter how small. 10 Look for support. You will need time alone but alone is not good all the time. Try healing prayer, support group, mentors, pastor, counselor, worship night or prayer night at your church... Reach out in some way as a way to take action in your grief to care for yourself. 11 Cry. Sometimes we even forget to do this. Schedule a time, if it never seems convenient or if this is all you do. 12 Choose some verses that you need to believe, even if you don't now, and read them and reread them each day, until one day you will. 13 Give yourself time. 14 "Do the next thing," as Elisabeth Elliot said. Whatever the next thing that you need to do is, do it. Wash the dishes. Turn in a report at work. Whatever is next. Just take the next step. Eventually, when the white sunlight peaks through your window blinds, you will look forward to the day. There will come a better. It is hard to imagine now. But one day you will even laugh and look around wondering if that was really you. Life will never be the same but there will be life and new ways of seeing. Hopefully, then, you can tell someone else to go make their bed, that it is important, and that their better is coming too. "Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must]."
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (AMP)  A reprint from the Heart to Heart Newsletter, July 2015 edition
The rain tapped lightly against the window glass and fell softly off the edge of the open pane. As I sat inside watching the clouds passing by, my thoughts all clambered together like the thunder and then I began to write... I was first introduced to journaling when I was sixteen. I took a local community Journal Keeping class at Roanoke College. In that class I learned how to journal and the benefits. Sometimes our thoughts and desires all come together like one big roar of thunder. Writing it all down, helps us to sort. It helps us to see what is really important. Write whatever you want to be, wish you were, glad you are, feel deep inside, think about your mother-in-law or boss. Write Who God is to you, Who you wish He was. Write him a letter. Write your thoughts on your reading in the morning or the night. Just write! Journaling is cleansing. It promotes focus. It is a discipline. Another benefit that I have found is the discipline of thought. At times I am intentional about my gratitude or rather I need to be intentional. I write down things that I am thankful for each day and this in turn improves my attitude. Some people even have a separate journal for this; it is called a gratitude or blessings journal. Journaling also helps us to track God in our lives. As the days busily pass and I remember to record a verse that impresses me or a word spoken, an answered prayer or unexpected detour, I can look back and see God's steps in my life. Often I write down my prayers. There are two benefits to this. One, I must think through my prayer, rather than quickly spouting it out and secondly, I can record the answers which may be useful for encouragement for others and myself. Also, I can stop and record Scriptures that may go with that specific request. Sometimes it is hard to know what to write. A good writing exercise is to put on some instrumental music and sit in a place you can relax. Set a timer. Write for five minutes. Just write whatever comes to mind. Your initial thoughts oftentimes are junk and then as you continue to write, the real issues will come out so don't fret about what you are writing at first. Some say that stress and repressed or misplaced emotions cause physical illnesses. Journaling can also help relieve stress when you have no other outlet. Journaling can benefit your life in so many ways. Why not give it a try? Michelle Gill is a writer, barista, trail walker sometimes runner, disc golfer's wife, Jesus lover, book collector, mama, and old house explorer. Learn more about her story on her website www.maceyhollow.com. This recipe is a mix of recipes. Originally a friend's mom from Mexico gave me the recipe and I changed it a bit. Then I found a recipe for crust and tweaked it. Voila! Out came the most lovely, comforting chicken pot pie.  Crust:
1 cup of whole wheat flour 1 cup of all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur non-bromated) 1 stick of cold butter 1 teaspoon of salt Put into food processor or Ninja. Pulse till crumbly. Add ice cold water until firm dough. Split into two lumps. Roll flat. Line a greased deep dish pie pan. Add one flattened dough. Filling: Boil 2 chicken breasts with 1/4 to 1/2 chopped onion. Remove cooked chicken and pulse in food processor to chop. Add 1 chopped sweet potato and 1 chopped regular potato, 2 chopped carrots, and a can of drained green beans to water that you boiled the onion and chicken in. Boil until the vegetables are done. Add 1 teaspoon of sage and 1 teaspoon of thyme. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Mix 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of cold water to make a paste and then add it to the vegetables to thicken. Then add chicken and stir filling. Pour into pie shell. Top with 4 pats of butter. Top with remaining flattened dough. Press edges with finger to make a scalloped edge. Punch top in 4 spots with a knife to allow air. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. 0 Comments  April 6, 2017 The last year of Grandaddy's life, I took over his garden and he was going to teach me. He passed away in the middle of the summer. The weeds ended up getting the better of me. The next year, which was last year, I felt compelled to try again for Granny. I wanted her to be able to look out the window and see the garden like she always had. The weeds overcame again but I did sell my first bushel of blue lake green beans. Now I have cut his garden in half and then half again. It is a forth of the size it was, so hopefully I can conquer the weed monsters. It is the beginning of April and I have planted early peas, onions, spinach, and kale. Sometimes I think I hear him say something to me and I look up from the dirt but he's not there. It's weird how you can forget in the moment what time you are living in. The other day my grandmother said that Grandaddy would be proud of me. She has never said anything like that before and somehow it was what I needed to try again. I work from his shed with his tools in his overalls and it still feels like his garden. Gardening isn't my thing or something I even naturally like, it is just something I have to do right now. Easter week, it will be time for green beans, tomatoes, peppers, thyme, and basil to be planted. Even though I know that he is not actually here, I will still be gardening with my grandaddy.  3rd attempt - Recycled Garden June 18, 2018 There is no way I can do what Grandaddy did but I wanted to give it another go this year. I happened to be visiting my friend Kayla and saw her garden. It seemed to fit my personality better as I am not much of a farmer. She had hers made from wood planks and I chose concrete blocks. I used left over fence from the chicken house and another garden, bricks from someone's old patio, an arch that wasn't in use to make it cute, and my cousin's gate. Take a look and see what you think! Michelle Gill is a writer, barista, trail walker sometimes runner, disc golfer's wife, Jesus lover, book collector, mama, and old house explorer. Learn more about her story on her website www.maceyhollow.com.
Sometimes the Spirit will take me to the same passage in the Bible over and over. Sometimes I don't have to words to pray but I find a Psalm or other chapter that is my prayer. The Word is powerful and alive and real as it is, but somehow the sound of my voice reading it to Him, to myself, and believing it moves my spirit and His. Psalm 91 has been my chapter lately and this is how I wrote it in my journal to read each day as a prayer: "I who dwell in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!' For it is You Who delivers me from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. You will cover me with Your pinions. And under Your wings I will seek refuge; Your faithfulness is a shield and bulward. I will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; of the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not approach me. I will only look on with my eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For I have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, my dwelling place. No evil will befall me, nor will any plague come near my tent. For You will give Your angels charge concerning me, to guard me in all my ways. They will bear me up in their hands, that I do not strick my foot against a stone. I will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent I will trample down." God responds, "Because you have loved Me, therefore I will deliver you; I will set you securely on high, because you have known My name. You will call upone Me, and I will answer you; I will be with you in trouble; I will rescue you and honor you. With a long life I will satisfy you and let you see My salvation." Michelle Gill is a writer, barista, trail walker sometimes runner, disc golfer's wife, Jesus lover, book collector, mama, and old house explorer. Learn more about her story on her website www.maceyhollow.com. Fullhardt Knob is part of the AT that passes through Botetourt County. There is a shelter, outhouse, and water source on the second peak of Fullhardt's coming from Route 11. It was once a fire lookout for the surrounding mountains and community. A gentleman that has lived here for over eighty years told me that he remembered as a boy going up the mountain and an older man named Bage Shay lived in the lookout cabin during fire season as the lookout. He recalled Mr. Shay showing him a nine-foot pine snake that he had killed up there. If you climb the cut-in trail from Mountain Pass, you can still see the remnants of the communication line for the lookout. The cabin is no longer there but there is a shelter. The mountain that was my great-grandfather Gibson's is part of two peaks that is considered Fullhardt. Fullhardt is the last name of a family that once lived in this area. My great-grandfather bought a large amount of property in this area to farm. He left his family of moonshine and prostitutes behind in Franklin County and started fresh with his wife and children in 1905. He was the father of my grandfather. In the 1930s the mountain was taken for the creation of the Appalachian Trail. He was given a little money for it and was able to keep the field at the foot of the mountain, in which he grew tomatoes. There was a cannery over the hill and one around the corner. When I first moved back from Florida there was a lady in her sixties who kept squatting at the shelter and the town would try to get her to leave. She had been in politics in Georgia and lost her mind. She would sometimes claim to be a queen. My cousins even put her on a bus and sent her home to her family but she returned. People would see her hauling her groceries from time to time up Fullhardt Knob. I can't recall where I got this picture but this is a picture of her.  
I created this list on the Ward Haven Camp website. There I also included a few maps and more information so take a look at www.wardhavencamp.com/hiking.html Some of these trails are not for young kids so do your research! Hoop Lower & Upper in Craig Co. Roaring Run Mill Mountain trails Belfast to Devil's Marbleyard Rt. 11 to 220 Sarver's Hollow in Montgomery County Cascade Falls Meadow Creek Falls in New Castle Fullhart Knob Dark Horse Hollow James River State Park New River Trail State Park Carvin's Cove Cedar Creek Falls Big Rock Falls St. Mary Falls - Staunton Explore Park trails Bottom Creek Gorge Sharp Top and Flat Top - Peaks of Otter Spec Mine Trails Blackhorse Gap (to Camp Bethel) Andy Layne Trail Buzzard's Rock (Read Mtn) Tinker Mountain Greenfield Trail System Bobblet's Gap Blue Ridge Springs Trail Loop McAfee's Knob (one of the harder trails so plan ahead but the view is worth it) Dragon's Tooth Woodpecker Ridge - Troutville Apple Orchard Falls Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve Chestnut Ridge Waid Recreation Park Smart View Loop - Ferrum  Craig Hall has thru hiked the AT, the PCT twice, the CDT, Long Trail, John Muir twice, Foot Hill Trail and worked in Yellowstone National Park. He currently travels the country as an ENO rep and is an awesome photographer. Listed below are Craig's recommendations of what to take on a day hike.
1 Footwear is the most important thing. A good trail running sneaker like Montrail, Brooks, New Balance, Vasques, Solomon,... 2 Shoe Inserts - I prefer Super Feet. 3 Socks - merino wool 4 Trecking Poles 5 Layers: Under layer - short sleeve of natural fiber Base layer w/ hood Outer layer - fleece with zipper Outer shell - raincoat (Gortex) Same idea for your bottom half (swim trunks, tights, fleece pant, rain pants) 6 gloves, fleece hat, ... depends on the weather 7 polarized shades 8 30-35 liter pack (Granite Gear, Lowe - if you are taking a big camera) 9 sunscreen 10 bug spray (doTERRA's Terrashield and Lemongrass in a spray glass 4oz bottle) 11 trowel and toilet paper (always burry your waste 6" below) 12 head lamp 13 lighter 14 map and compass 15 food 16 water and a filter if you will be out all day (Sawyer) 17 watch 18 eno hammock and straps, of course. :) 19 I take a camera and tripod everywhere I go. There is always an opportunity for great pictures in nature. Check out my facebook page for some of my photographs. 3 1/2 cups of nonbromated/unbleached flour 1 tsp. real salt 1/8 cup avocado oil or olive oil or your favorite oil for baking 1 1/4 cup of warm water and 1 packet of active yeast (set aside for 5 minutes with a touch of sucanat until bubbles slightly) Stir. Knead. Set aside to rise with towel covering for 1 hour. Knead slightly. Set aside in bread pan for another half hour, covered. Preheat oven to 450. Place in oven for 28 to 30 minutes at 350. See Casi's tutorial below! (2010 - she was 3 years old) |
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