Hello, Everyone.   It has been a very long time in coming but I have finally found the time to begin blogging and writing again. You will notice in the near future a complete and total change to this site. As I plan to shift away from a single page blog to a multipage blog, book review and published creative writing set up.  I am actual in my third semester of Graduate School for a MFA in creative writing in Non-fiction/ Fiction and will be sharing things that I am doing in school and around the state along with Book Reviews and copies of my published work for those of you who want to read my ..read more

One of the projects that has been taking up some of my extra time these days is a dream project involving creating a Heritage Apple Orchard at the 1870’s Adaland Mansion in Barbour County, West Virginia. I actually started work on this project last spring during the Covid shut down. Volunteers came together to apply for a grant to bring apples back to the historic property. The application was awarded to Adaland from “Try This West Virginia”, a health improvement coalition in West Virginia that are tackling health issues in the state. The hope is that not only can we restore a historical part ..read more

Apple deserts of any kind are a family favorite at our house and apple strudel is one of the easiest to make. My family is not a fan of the white icing that is usually drizzled on top of a strudel or danishes so I have omitted it. The flavor of this strudel is crip, sweet and spicy so no one complained about missing the icing. The raisins add a fruity sweetness to the tart apples, making a nice balance, that can get lost in apple pie. This was my gift to my husband for our 29th Anniversary. Homemade Apple Raisin Strudel and carrot cake for our Anniversary Dinner. This strudel was made with 1 b ..read more

I often suffer from seasonal depression. I have to fight everyday to get out of bed, drag myself out of the house and I generally don’t want to do anything. Over the years I have discovered that just getting outside really helps my winter blues. I don’t get out as often as I should in winter, but when I start to feel drawn into my grumpy hibernation state I try to get moving outside. Christopher and I headed to Tygart Lake State Park last month to see what we could find. We had no plan or even a good idea what we would find, so it was exciting to see what the park had to offer. I was also nice ..read more

Cleaning up the last bits of construction at The Golden Rule building 1907- Jan 19th 2020 It has been a very long 3 years of construction, and a year of clean up to get to this post. The rehabilitation of the Golden Rule Building is complete. We are ready to move our equipment and fixtures back into the building starting in Feb. It is almost unbelievable that I will be finished with my small portion of this project very soon. The ten upper story apartments are fully rented and have given Belington, WV much needed quality housing. Soon I will help to bring a new economic driver to downtown wit ..read more

JoLynn Lowrey Powers age 3 1971 Christmas was wonderful, the older son and his family came and friends sent cards and gifts. It was noisy and full of toys like it should be, then it wasn’t. Like clockwork my son, his wife and my grandaughter went on their way for a second round of gifts and another home cooked meal. The annual afternoon naps in our P.J.’s took place and the house got peaceful and quite. But, something about the afternoon felt off… Something was missing and I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I felt like I had missed something important, something that I had was always done Ch ..read more