From Skilled Hands

Saturday was the 65th anniversary of D-Day.  Many men and women on both sides of the Pond, from all walks of life experienced things that changed their lives in ways they could not have imagined. They were from all walks of life; from cities and from villages. They wore olive drab and navy blue, uniforms, work clothes and house dresses. They lived in the dark at night, and spent hours in shelters.  They experienced shortages of food, clothing and fuel.

Their courage and their stories have no boundaries.  They teach us that we do live in the same town, on this beautiful blue planet we call Earth.

Please click here and here to read about my family’s experiences at that time.

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Travis Erwin runs the My Town Monday marquis. Wander on there to see what he has to say.

I have written that my mother-in-law was an English war bride who came to this country after WWII.  During the war, she worked in a factory, making gun sights. Fear, she says, wasn’t an option.  Survival was the only choice.

Memories are shared: hiding under the dining room table during air raids, riding her bicycle home from the factory at night in the dark—no lights allowed during the blackout, the scream of bombs—listening for the the drones since no one ever knew where they’d land.  When the air raid sirens sounded when she was at work, my mother-in-law had to run across an open field to the shelter, hearing bullets hit the metal roofs of the buildings and the train tracks that were like beacons in the moonlight.  My mother-in-law remembers her father being a member of the Home Guard,  his rake and hoe his weapons.  She recalls that the English never would have been able to defend their land if the Americans hadn’t been involved in the War.

A young girl named Rose was placed with my mother-in-law’s family, a safe haven from the industrial city where she lived.  The child wouldn’t sleep in a bed at first;  she’d sleep on the floor. She hadn’t been bathed in a very long time and was fearful of the tub.  It took quite a long time for Rose to feel safe with my mother-in-law’s family. One day,during a lull in the bombing, a woman came to the door. It was Rose’s mother. She had come to claim her daughter and take her back to the city.   Shortly thereafter, the bombing resumed. The road on which Rose and her mother lived was destroyed. There were no survivors.

The Village of Peninsula, current population, 602, was quite a place during the day of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
The men who dug the canal worked long and hard, for little pay.

Men, women and children worked to keep things going—-at a rate of 4 mph, and families would often live together on canal boats.

Peninsula was known to be a rough stop on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Some Captains wouldn’t stop there since fights often broke out; they would stop north or south of the Village.

Captain Pearl R. Nye was one of the last canal boat captains when the canals were destroyed by floods in 1913. His songs were recorded and were archived by the Library of Congress.

You can read more about Captain Nye, and listen to some of his songs here

Although time has passed, the stories of those who carved out a life in the Cuyahoga Valley continue. The legacy of their courage and independent spirits are alive and well in the Village of Peninsula, gently resisting change since 1837.

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My Town Monday is a great way to experience life through someone else’s eyes. Travis Erwin, the fearless leader of MTM can sometimes be found here. Lately he’s been elsewhere—I wonder if he wore a hat with ears…..
In his absence, Junosmom, and Chris have been minding the store. Check out their sites, and you’ll have the opportunity to click on links that will take you places you’ve never been…….

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A Cups of Kindness update: we’re nearing 14,000 meals for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

#2 daughter and I just watched Iron Jawed Angels, an amazing movie about a critical time in our history. The film depicts the fight of the suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which secured women’s voting rights. I am grateful to these courageous women, who stood for their rights, and those of their sisters and daughters, in the face of criticism, violence and injustice. It is an important story these days, one I am honored to share with my daughter, who, due to the courage and fortitude of these women, will one day join me in casting her ballot.