Many of you are asking if I am an Artist in Residence again this summerand I am not, but I am writing music this summer for the Limberlost Historical Site in Indiana to celebrate the centennial event for the Limberlost Swamp's famed author, Gene Stratton-Porter, who wrote "A Girl of the Limberlost," and "Freckles," among many other classic novels and books on nature. Gene was a Victorian lady who scandalized her friends and neighbors by donning men's work clothes and a revolver to enter the swamp, study and photograph the birds and insects and later immortalized them in her novels and nature books. I've been a fan since I read "Freckles," but I thought the Limberlost was fictional until a trip there in June. They were planning a centennial celebration, but had no entertainment lined up and voila, my song "Long Ago in the Limberlost" was born.
The swamp was logged out and drained in the ealy 1900's for farmland but through local efforts, is slowly being restored. We lived and taught in Indiana for my first job, so finding out about the Limberlost was kind of nostalgically magical for me. Since I was already commissioned to write the song and was donating my playing and singing for the event, which is a Victorian Tea held in Gene's Limberlost "cabin" (think Biltmore House, but tiny and mildly rustic), I decided that this song ought to be preserved in a CD that the gift shop could make available. Thanks to the expertise of my engineer, Geoffrey Goodwin, I have also added it as a new track on my older CD, "Patchwork, Southern, Sacred and Celtic." If there is interest, Mike may arrange it for bands, since he was a high school band director in Indy, long ago in a galaxy far away....
In Gene's romantic nature novel, the girl of the Limberlost discovers she has a rival for her love's affection and the two women 'duke it out' in an apparel competition that is designed to mimic the exotic moths that our heroine collects to pay off her education. A woman who loved the Limberlost as I do, made the doll dresses above, based on the description in the novel and donated this gift to the site.
At the base of the doll exhibit stands the actual images of the two moths, the luna and the Imperialis, along with excerpts from the novel, describing the scene.
The Victorian Tea is the first stop on our tour to Prince Edward Island. I will be singing other venues as well as this one, as am a KOA-Approved Kampertainer (no kidding) and I will sing at (so far) 4 campgrounds in MI and Ontario, bartering for sites and selling my CDs enroute. We will add pix and print as we go, knowing of your curiosity about our artsy-gypsy lifestyle! By the way, the reason we are free to do this now is that we retired this spring! We figured we needed to take advantage of the fact that we are still young (ish) and flexible(?) enough to climb into our kayaks and exist for an extended period in our tiny Wee Hoose. (See photos at beginning of Glacier blog.) And yes, as of this post, we plan to take the dogs, although the old lady is 16 and the youngster is 11! If you want more info. or are interested in having us speak to your organizations, etc., about our adventures, leave your email in the Comment Box and we'll be happy to chat with you, and visit our "Edge-U-Cation" blog linked onto this one. The same goes for interest in my talented engineer.
To listen to the results of my AIR-ship at Glacier, do a search on Glacier songs and enjoy! I also do this sort of thing for schools, groups, weddings, events, etc.
Hey, I'm retired....gotta do something to put food on the table and gas in the Wee Hoose!
