Abandoned building in Philippi, West Virginia, former ball room.
Meaningful and tired are the words for my thoughts, feeling and photos for 2018. Over the year I was able to take beautiful photos, spend time with people I enjoy, do work that I find meaningful and I am still surprised at that. Being tired was my overall experience this year.I have never worked so hard at something I love so much in my life. Often I would work my 8 hours and walk 6 to 7 miles a day, up and down 3 flights of stairs. Then spend one day a week processing the items that I had carried down those same stairs. Some how,I kept my clothes washed, got my son to school and I walked another mile or two with my dog every day. I pushed hard on the weekends too, with updates to my house and trips with friends and family. I think, I finally collapsed into bed on the 21st of Dec. and just slept… I took a nap that afternoon that lasted 3 1/2 hours and then went to bed that night at 9:30 and slept 8 1/2 more.
So for fun I put together some of my more favorite photos from the year. 50 has been very eye-opening for me creatively. I have found “myself” as an artist and photographer and have finally found a subject matter that excites me!!As you will see, I have fallen head over heals in love with antiques and windows. I never realized how much I love the glow of light through a window and how that light fascinates me. Someone once said that we are always taking the same photograph over and over subconsciously until we discover what we love. Then we can focus on that subject and make a world out of it. Well the world opened up for me in 2018.
So I hope you enjoy my photos from the last year and I hope to do better next year with reaching my goals.
Clock at the Barbour County Court House
Court Room of the Grand Jury of Barbour County
Stained glass in ceiling of the Barbour County Court House
My first few days at the new AmeriCorps location at the Barbour County Development Authority. It was at this court house that I realized my future was working with the history of this community and it’s treasures.
main floor of the Golden Rule mess t 1st Day
Third floor wall and mess 1 st day
large collection of dirty doors 1st day at the Golden Rule
The following week was an over view of the project that I am still working on today. The Golden Rule building was purchased in April of 2018 and I was brought on board to help clean up the mess and help preserve and liquidate all the assets in the building. Needless to say I am still working on cleaning up the mess but some of the photos I have taken inside the building are priceless.
Adaland
Buffy table in dinning room of Adaland
bathroom window at Adaland
In June my office was invited to a luncheon at the Adaland Mansion ( circa 1841) where we explored and toured the grounds of the historic home in Barbour County. The food was traditional to the late 1800 to 1900’s and everyone dressed in time period costumes. It was a great break from the dirt and dust of the Golden Rule.
Adding Machines, type writers and cash registers stored one at hardwood table
Basement full of bottles and plates
Broken Boy with Grape basket lamp by window.
Spoiled canned fish from the 70’s?
As the Summer wore on I found items that were strange, beautiful and unusual in the Golden Rule. My work was labor intensive, being the main person moving 7,000 pounds of garbage into bags and boxes day after day wore me out. But, the pay off was seeing, photographing and sometimes saving pieces of the past that would other wise be lost if the building had belonged to someone other than Woodlands Development Group.
Frog on moss covered stone Cranberry Wilderness WV
Bickels knob observitory Elkins WV
Allegheny trail head bridge Harmon WV
Finally in July we took a few days off to rest and spend time with the family. We fished, hiked and spent afternoons swimming in the river just enjoying a holiday weekend.
As summer came to a close it was announced that my home office would be moving and we were able to tour the new location for Woodlands Development Group in Elkins WV.
Door at the new Woodlands Development group office in Elkins WV
door to no where at the new Woodlands Development Group office
Wild Mountain Laurel Elkins WV
In Oct. we watched the West Virginia episode of “State Plate” with Taylor Hicks. I wondered how Tom and I ever survived cooking and eating on national TV. We both enjoyed seeing what they made out of day together.
Jolynn Powers and Taylor Hicks cooking in the kitchen.
Baked Apple Dumplings fresh out of the oven.
Then the Open House at the Golden Rule was an overwhelming success. We had over 100 visitors and gave tours to over 65 people in 4 hours. We raised over 300 dollars to help the preservation and rehabilitation of the building and I must have made 14 trips up and down those stairs again. I was really tired when it was over but it was worth all the work to put it together to see people enjoying my work!
Golden Rule Building 1902, Belington,West Virginia with window murals
Vacation time came and I celebrated my 50th birthday in the best way. I went back in time and relived the joy and happiness of my youth at Hershey Park, PA. Riding roller-coasters and eating Hershey’s chocolate was so much fun and I got to see several old friends that I love dearly. Could not have planned something better if I tried.
Alex Smits, Christopher Powers and Tom Powers having fun at my birthday trip to Hershey Park, PA.
Hershey Tower drop
Halloween is my favorite time of the year and this year I explored two ideas for my haunted house costume. The first was the idea of making myself into some kind of moth-man or fly-man and the other was the evil crow. In the end the mask and wings of a bird won out and I spent a great night at Christopher’s after-school program volunteering to scaring the heck out of young and old a like. I then went with the kids Trick or Treating as the scary crow and had a ball… the best few weeks of my year!
Halloween Costume #1 for 2018
The Holidays were a blur, I remember that we had a nice couple of holiday dinners and I got to spend lots of time with my family and friends. I got to see Christopher sing at his choir concert and watched three movies at the theater in 9 days…. so much fun!
Christopher Powers in Santa hat age 10
Govenor’s Inn Main Street Buckhannon, WV
So it was a busy year and I learned tons about myself and what I want to do as an artist in the future. I think my photos are getting better and I realized that I do much better with natural light and I am not great at photographing people. I hope to work on that this year. So the goal is set to take at least 6 natural light portraits this year. We will see if I can reach that goal while painting another couple of murals.
Hope your holiday was a good one and I hope you have a productive 2019. Maybe it will slow down just a bit for me in 2019. I can only hope to do more traveling and spending more time with friends and family and continue to grow as an artist. 
Categories: About me, antiques, Art, Christmas, Golden Rule, New Years Eve, photo review, Photos, Travel, Uncategorized Tags: about me, Anitques, Christmas, Golden Rule, New Year resolution, New Years Eve
So to keep from bitching about how disappointing 2016 was from my point of view and keeping my mind off another medical procedure I am planing to have this week. I wanted to lighten up and share what good things did happen in 2016 and skip my reasons to complain and just share my Joy for life, Friends, Family and Creativity.
Tom sanding floors of Christopher’s bedroom 2016
My finished Master Bedroom with new bed and paint
One of the few things I did actually accomplish after Tom and I both spent the spring recovering from surgeries was redoing two bedrooms.This is the first time Tom or I had re-finished hardwood floors and learned tons and will be doing more of the house over the next couple of years. The biggest think I learned was sometime imperfect conditions lead you to perfect resolutions. The floor in Christopher’s room had several places with water damage and some were very dark. We learned from Dan Antion a fellow blogger at “No Facilities blog” how to lighten them without having to actually remove the damaged sections if they were not rotted.I also learned, more about polyurethane then I ever hoped too this year between this project and the following one.
I poured my heat and soul into a public art project with my AmeriCorps site in Elkins, West Virginia. I helped to plan, paint and install three large 8 X 8 foot quilt block panels on downtown city buildings. It was some of the most fun I have had in years. Not only did I get to work with a great groups of volunteers I got to spend time doing art in a way that I never imagined.That Art degree finally paid off and my mom is so proud.
“Maple Leaf” installed on the side of the YMCA in Elkins WV
installed “West Virginia Star” on wall of Davis trust company.
“Log Cabin” installed on back of the YMCA Elkins WV 2016
The summer was full of time out side whether we were working, traveling or just trying to spend time together as a family. For that I am really thankful and we were able to see some wonderful places that were new to my family this year. One of my favorite hobbies is hunting mushrooms and I think I missed all of the best foraging days this year but was able to find and photograph several that I had not seen before. This photo is from the Monongahela National Forest.
I got to beat the summer heat at Cannan Valley Ski resort with some of the wonderful co-workers. Picking wild blue berries for a work Team Meeting was one of the most refreshing trips outside I made all year. We rode the ski lift up the mountain, hiked out to a point and sat on rocks over looking a valley where we ate the berries we had picked. I will never look at work meetings the same again.
summer wild blueberry picking team meeting July 2016
We ended summer with a trip deep into the mountains of West Virginia with a trip to Green Bank and Cass State Park. In all the years that we have traveled the state I think the trip to Cass is on my top five places to see in West Virginia. The train, the town, the hiking and river all combine to make this a must see place.
Scenic over look at the top of Spruce Knob by way of Cass Scenic Rail Road
Then fall arrived and my friends and family descended on our house for almost the entire month of Oct we spent time with people that we had not seen in years. First my brother came for a week to visit. We spent time sight-seeing, eating and drinking are way across the state.
The Powers family with brother Bill Lowrey at the Mystery Hole just West of Hawks Net State Park, West Virginia
Road side view of the Mystery Hole Rt#40 near Hawks Nest State Park,WV
Mystery Hole front doors… We needed to see what was in that Hole!
After a morning at Bridge Day in Fayetteville West Virginia everyone traveled the next 16 miles to the town of Ansted to see the World Famous Mystery Hole. One of the most silly and fun road side attractions in the state. This place is something you just can’t really explain unless you have been there. The fun part is trying to explain how they do what they do in the Mystery Hole and joke about what drug induced night mare inspired its construction.
Street side view of the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Oct 2016
Then a life long friend and Haunted House expert Alex came to visit for my birthday and Halloween. It had been years since we got together and it was the perfect time to take him sight-seeing at West Virginia’s most haunted location, the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum and Haunted House. We had a great time on the VIP tour and got to see every floor of the old mental hospital and take hundreds of photos.We laughed and screamed inside their annual haunted house and spent time taking classic old building photos around the surrounding counties.
A Beautiful Mess in a Plaster Repair room second floor of the TALA.
Alex Smits taking photos inside the TALA. This room is supposed to be haunted by a little girl named Lilly who will play with the toys.
Long corridors along the third floor of the TALA. This is floor was used for farm workers.
Then we also added the most time-consuming project of the year! Doc takes up almost all of my free time with his walking and play times. He is not the dog for everyone but perfect for my family.
“Doc” Holiday our sleepy puppy at about 3 months old
“Doc” trying to share a chair with Tom at 5 months old… getting sooo big.
“Doc” has been a very active and funny part of our year and If I can just survive the next year with him,he will make a wonderful friend for many years to come. As of today he is 6 months old and weighs about 48 pounds. Full grown he should be about 60 pounds. He is the reason I get out walking every morning and the reason all the neighbors now know me as the lady with the big red dog. Doc will start some kind of training in just a few months. I hope to see if he is able to be used as a search and rescue dog for our local county. Time will tell if he is going to help find lost hikers and children in the mountains of West Virginia or of if he is just going eat everything insight and keep Christopher company on our trips planned for next year. I will let you know!
It was a long year in many ways. Health issues were my main topic of worry this year and some seem better while others seem to just keep me from enjoying my life as much as I would like too. So here is to a healthier 2017! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Categories: “Doc” Holiday, Bridge Day, Cannan Valley Ski Resort, DIY projects, family fun, ghosts, hiking, Monongahela National Forest, mushroom hunting, Mystery Hole, New Years Eve, photo review, Photos, puppy, Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Travel, West Virginia Tags: Cass State Park, dog, DYI project, friendship, Monogalhela national forest, Mystery Hole, New Years Eve, puppy
New Years is the time when everyone one gets a second chance . It is a time to rejoice in the new beginnings of life and to mourn the loss of the lives we have lost. It is my time to look back at some of the wonderful things we have done and places we have visited. So here is my New Year Photo Review, hoping that you enjoy seeing what I have been up to, Happy New Year from Mountain Mama.
Old Cabin Rock Cave, West Virginia Feb. 2015
Red barn in snow Buckhannon, West Virginia Feb. 2015
Tom walking to old barn on Kenchelo March 2015
Jinn our new kitty April 2015
JoLynn Powers new to turkey hunting May 2015
Tom and Christopher early Easter morning Seneca Rocks 2015
Chipper and Splinter the new Barnwood Builder Babies June 2015
Front porch of the old Hutte Swiss Restaurant Helvetia, West Virginia June 2015
New friend in the back yard Red Eyed Box Turtle July 2015
Christopher and I after sanding the tape on the new ceiling summer 2015
Jolynn Powers’ new experience holding television camera from the Barnwood Builders crew Aug. 2015
New Barnwood paneling in the family room Aug. 2015
River Otter Sculpture at the old Ogelbay Zoo and Park, Wheeling ,West Virginia July 2015
New Competitor at Lewis County 4-H rabbit show ( with dad Cody Powers) Aug 2015
A new day in the Mountains of West Virginia 2015
The old Henry Lee cabin at Lost River State Park, Mathis, West Virginia, Aug. 2015
A fresh new 7-year-old, Christopher Powers Sept. 24 2015
New friends Christopher Powers and Polar Bear at the Pittsburgh Zoo Oct 2015
Very old St. Bernard Church, Weston ,West Virginia Oct 2015
New back yard fun, Paige and JoLynn Powers playing in fall leaves Oct. 2015
The memorial for the very old Henry Gassaway Davis in Elkins, West Virginia, Nov. 2015
The new Santa ( Tom Powers) with Christopher on his knee Dec. 2015
A new poacher in the Stocks at Fort New Salem, Salem, West Virginia Dec. 2015
An old barn in Harrison Co, West Virginia Dec. 2015
The old Cold Full Moon Christmas Eve 2015
Just as a reminder all of these photos are copyrighted and belong to the creator and the blog site Jolynnsmountainmama.wordpress.com and can only be reproduced with consent from JoLynn Powers. Contact can be made through this site or at [email protected].
Categories: New Years Eve, Photos, rural life, Travel, West Virginia Tags: Memories, New Years Eve, photo year in Review, photos of West Virginia, rural life, Travel
If Martha Stewart had a ADHDD sister I would be her.I love the holidays it gives me a reason to cook, bake and decorate. I at one time was a professional interior decorator. I worked for J.C. Penny’s custom decorating and I worked with a furniture store doing whole homes of furniture and accessories. So I get into the holidays deep, really deep, baking, candy making, making decorations and trimming trees (this year only three). Yet, as a house wife I don’t have the staff of professionals that people like Martha Stewart does to help me. So what most people do in a weekend I spend all month working on and in the process I make a huge mess. I dream of someone to clean up every thing for me, maybe a hansom older man to do dishes, a young one to climb the ladder for the roof lights, and a nice granny kinda woman to clean while I decorate the tree. I just wish that I was not so caught up in my disorder ADHDD ( Attention Deficit Holiday Decorating Disorder) that I could say stop all on my own. But my family all know that the only thing that ends my ADHDD binge is the date Dec 31st. New Years Eve sends shivers down my spine because it is the next day that I start to clean it all back up.
Blue and Silver Christmas tree 2015
I feel like the bad sister that Martha would never talks about. You know the one who suffers from over decorating and over baking. That family member who has a couple of rooms in the house totally covered in exploding holiday decorations. The one that has two sinks over flowing with pots and pans because on a whim I needed to make candy for the entire 1 st grade class. The one who is making a mad dash to Wal-Mart at 10 pm to get spray paint because you forgot the it 4 times this week. The one who puts more lights on the pre-lighted tree because it is just toooo plain with out blue lights too. The one who has to color coordinate the tree to the curtains and the dinner dishes, you get the picture, right? I have ADHDD so bad that I can never really finish one project before the next one needs attention. I am usually doing several things at once.
mess of unpacked decorations
So this being our first Christmas in the new to us house, I have begun to get things out of the boxes and totes.I am trying desperately to get a grip on this ADHDD thing and not go over board. I have so much I want to decorate now that we live in town. I never really did much outside before because we lived on a farm.The only people who would really enjoy it were my own kids and making them happy was easy. Now we have neighbors, and they have begun to decorate outside, leaving me feeling behind in the decorating game. I can’t blame them, the weather was perfect last weekend and I wish I had spent some time trying to make things look festive but in the end we spent time with family instead. It was great too and I hope to write about it soon.
So as I write this I am just finishing up a batch of old fashion hard tack candy and bagging it up. Then putting up stockings and putting out my sons train under a tree. Holiday music is blasting and I cry every darn time I hear someone sing “Mary did You Know?” … something about Mary kissing little Jesus’s face….. gets me every time.
Sugar covered table and Old Fashioned Hard Tack Candy
I have three strings of out-door lights that need hung and an inflatable snoopy that needs placed in the yard. I have holiday cards to send out and three holiday parties to attend. I have groceries still to by and two wreaths to make. The silly thing is that in all of this mass of confusion, I am happy, more happy than I have been in years.The ADHDD has kicked in and I will be holiday buzzing for the next month.Maybe it is all the cookies and candy or the extra caffeine but I am feeling grand.
Christopher’s tree that needs help to finish and a table of trains
Then as if I did not know it was coming, it will be over, the holidays will end and I have to put it all back. New Years day will come with its lingering effects of staying up to late will make me tired and grumpy. Tom and I will sleep in and little Christopher will crawl into our bed to snuggle as we say “Happy New Year” to each other. I will be sad, lingering under the covers to long, knowing that a the New Year has begone. I will worry about where to put everything that has arrived at our door over Christmas. I will drink a strong cup of tea in my P.J’s and start the long, slow process of undoing all my hard work in a matter of a day or two. I will miss the blue and white lights, the smell of cinnamon, and the taste of home-made cookies. I will carefully pack away each ornament and place the tree carefully back in its box. I will dust and vacuum up the silver glitter off the floor. The plates of cookies and candy will get tossed out. I will known in my sad heart that my disorder is restrained again for another year. Secretly, I think about my “New Year Resolution”. It will not have anything to do with weight or being more loving, but about taking it easy on the decorating next year. Praying that next holiday season my house will look perfect from beginning to end and Martha Stewart will stop by and be pleased with what I have done. That maybe she will share in my story of ADHDD and secretly nod to me her understanding.. because once many years ago she was a decorating nut-bucket just like me.
Categories: About me, candy, Christmas, Home Decor, New Years Eve Tags: candy, Christmas, Decorating, holidays, Home Decor, New Years Eve