Granny's Eastlake Dresser & Orange Julius

Today has been a long day. I woke up with both cats on the bed - yes, there is now a second cat. His name is Julius, and he is an orange and white tabby. Get it, Orange Julius? Here he is playing with his favorite toy, known as Gray Mousey.


This morning I spent cleaning up the house. We have just finished the second bedroom, and have the master closet back. Prior to that all of our clothes were in the dining room- so either you took them upstairs with you, or you walked downstairs to get them after a shower. Not very convenient! Anyway, that is all done with now, as the bedroom is back together except for some furniture pieces that have yet to be found and purchased in the antique store they now reside in.

My office and the Franklin Bedroom were also reclaimed. The bed and the desks are back in order, and with the exception of a few books everything is back in its place. Even the carpet got a good vacuuming, and at one point I found enough cat hair in the corner to create a new cat.

Not one, but two trips to Lowe's later (I forgot the foam insulation for around the window in the stairwell) - and we were on our way to making the upstairs hallway the next project. That involves very little in comparison to the last few projects. It's a much smaller area for one, and all it needs is new molding around the doors, paint on the walls and ceiling, and some window trimming and dressing. Oh, and before all that, there's spackling to be done. The hardwood floor is already down in the hallway, thank goodness. The walls will be a parchment white, with a light yellow ceiling. I know - a departure from my usual colors. However, I've got a great wide border, about 12 inches wide, of a New England harbor scene that will go around the top of it, sandwiched between molding. It will look great when it's done.

One of the best parts about this project is that when it is finished it will be home to my great-granny's Eastlake dresser, which is made of mahogany. I plan to use it as a linen chest, since it will be located just outside my rather small bathroom. We ordered new hardware for it, since the old hardware was missing all but three pulls - and found some fantastic gold pulls for it at Lowe's through special order. They're on it now, and for the first time in over three years, that dresser is back together again.

I don't have any pictures of any of this yet, but when it is all done and finished I will post them here for you to see. Thanks for reading, and if you need me - I'll probably be at Lowe's!

Sheridan Le Fanu

I read a lot of books. I mean alot of books. And many of those have to do with ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural. Not all of them are about Appalachian or West Virginia's ghosts, and I have found that there are many of the ghost/monster genre that I enjoy.

Lately I've been reading the works of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873). I found a copy of this on sale in the book outlet in Flatwoods, WV in the outlet mall there. In addition to this book, I also bought one about John Henry which I have yet to read, but it is on the list. With the onset of this hellish winter, I'm certain I will have more time to read. This work, entitled Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories, is the book I speak of.

The collection's namesake, Madam Crowl's Ghost, is a rather disturbing tale about a young English servant girl who goes to wait on a wealthy old dowager lady who lives in a large country house in England. When Madam Crowl (the wealthy dowager) passes on, she returns to reveal a ghastly secret about her former home.

Other stories, such as The White Cat of Drumgunniol, is reminiscent of the "black dog" stories told throughout Appalachia. It is the tale of a white cat that is like a banshee, appearing to those who are about to die. This type of story shows there is still a connection between the old and new worlds- through stories!

Speaking of connections, the last part of the book tells the ghost stories that surround the Bailey family of Ireland. That family name is a common one in West Virginia. The stories of the Bailey's involve a wizard, a sunken castle, a banshee, and other ghostly/supernatural entities - even a redcap!

Sheridan Le Fanu was a contemporary of the literary ghost/monster story greats of English literature. His works influenced many other authors of his age, including Bram Stoker and Edgar Allen Poe. Although he is lesser well known, his works are nonetheless great in my opinion as an aficionado of ghost/monster tales.

So if you are looking for a good book to read by the fire this winter, and you don't mind a slight scare, pick up this book. I took a chance and discovered an author who really can spin a yarn.

Storied Visits: The Hand of Glory

This entry is taking a step away from the renovation on the house to tell you about one of my passions. That is, ghost stories. Ghost stories, which I have collected from my home state, WV - reflect so much about our culture and history that I insist they must be protected from dying out. In essence, they must be saved from being lost to time and neglect.

Also, one of my favorite times in history, the Victorian era, had a wonderful storytelling tradition. Some of this has passed on to us today, but there are few who recognize or who can say they have been part of a "storytelling visit". In the Victorian era, named for England's Queen Victoria (1819-1901, pictured below), was a time of great invention and exploration. Not only did it give the world some fabulous furniture and decoration, but also embodies a magical and mystical quality that few eras achieved (in my opinion).

During this time, some of my favorite things occured: West Virginia became a state in 1863. Alice in Wonderland (my favorite book - below) was written in 1865, among others.

But I want to focus on one particular - the visits that friends and acquaintances would make to each other's homes (sometimes grandiose two week or more visits). During these, they would have contests during which they would come up with stories - either originals or personalized versions of common tales. At the end of the visit, they would then vote and give a prize to the person who told the best story. This is similar to our modern storytelling festivals, but not as impersonal. These groups were often ten or less people, as compared to today's hundreds.

One of the most famous stories to come out of these "story visits" is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. She was married to Percy Shelley (of Ode on a Grecian Urn fame) and was spending time with him and some other literary friends, one of whom was none other than Lord Byron. They decided among themselves to write ghost stories for one another, and make a contest of it.

Mary (above), of course, felt completely out of her league, but one night she had a dream about a man who was creating a monster out of cadavers - and it scared her so much that she just knew it would terrify others. So she wrote the story, won the contest, and gave the world one of the greatest monster stories ever told.

More of these "story visits" are recorded in ghost story collections, such as The Ghost Book of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax and The Ingoldsby Legends (1889). The Ghost Book is still in print - and The Ingoldsby Legends is now available online in pdf format.

The Jackdaw of Rheims and The Hand of Glory are two of the best-known of the Ingoldsby Legends. This collection of humourous and macabre stories in prose and verse was published in three series between 1840 and 1847 with splendid illustrations by Cruikshank and other artists.

The best of them are very superior light verse, marked by verbal cleverness, wit, elaborate rhymes and bi-lingual puns. They were very popular in the 19th Century and remained so until relatively recently, but are now out of print. Almost all the popular writers of the time were influenced by it and many refer to it explicitly or quote from it. Even Walt Disney used The Lay of St. Dunstan. However, it is now dificult to obtain in print and deserves to be better known. I bought mine at a used book sale years ago, and it is a rather neat original text with the first owner's name written on the front cover in fountain pen dated Jan. 27, 1891.

Those of you familiar with the Harry Potter series of books will recognize the mention of the Hand of Glory - which is a magical item featured in one of the books. This is where it originally came from - well, at least where it was first written down. And more observant readers of the series might note one of the illustrators of the original text - Cruikshank - as the namesake of Hermione's cat in the same series.

Here is the Hand of Glory, taken from the text, which you can find in full version here. It was originally told, my book says, by the nurse in residence at Tappington Hall when the "story visit" was taking place. Below is only the first few stanzas:

THE HAND OF GLORY: THE NURSE'S STORY

On the lone bleak moor,

At the midnight hour,

Beneath the Gallows Tree,

Hand in hand

The Murderers stand

By one, by two, by three!

And the Moon that night

With a grey, cold light

Each baleful object tips;

One half of her form

Is seen through the storm,

The other half 's hid in Eclipse!

And the cold Wind howls,

And the Thunder growls,

And the Lightning is broad and bright;

And altogether

It 's very bad weather,

And an unpleasant sort of a night!

'Now mount who list,

And close by the wrist

Sever me quickly the Dead Man's fist!

Now climb who dare

Where he swings in air,

And pluck me five locks of the Dead Man's hair!'

To read the full text (it's lengthy, but reads quickly and is worth it!)

So if you're looking for a way to lighten up your autumn, why not schedule a "story visit" - maybe not for a week or two, but a few days or hours? I think it's an idea well worth revisiting....