The Abandoned Mill

It seems like my husband has been gone a lot lately for work, I try not to complain too much about. But when he told me he had to be gone Saturday morning to Kalamazoo to help deliver some cleaning equipment for work, I had had enough. I suggested that we go together and then while he was working I would take the car and do some exploring then come back and pick him up when he was done. We decided that would be a good idea.

Kalamazoo is about an hour southeast of where we live. I always seem to be northbound so I don't get this direction often, this was the perfect excuse to do just that.  I forgot my wonderful Michigan Recreational Atlas at home which has detailed topographic maps of each county. I love this atlas. I have always plotted out my back roads adventures using it. And I guess this adventure is the start of a revival of the back roads adventures I did last year. I have missed them and I am at a place where I am ready to do them again.  Now seems such an impractical time with winter right around the corner, but we will get out as much as we can before the snow flies.

Without my atlas, I was relying completely on my Google Maps app to get me back to Glen at the appointed hour. I decided to pick a main road and start driving south. At first I was disappointed that there weren't many barns along this road, but then I saw this building and that made me happy.

Although Boat Storage made me laugh since there was no water in sight. Never the less I loved the dull sheen of the building and the magnificent lettering of BOAT STORAGE.

Inspired by my first find I continued on, driving in large squares so that I would find my starting point back each time and not get completely lost.

I drove into the town of Vicksburg and noticed an Art Sale going on at this building...

Honestly the building interested me more than the art sale. I even drove into the parking lot snapped this photo with my phone then got back in my car and drove off looking for more unique buildings.

In one of my large driving squares I spotted a cemetery.

Being the cemetery geek that I am this caused me to slow down and then I saw this...

Thankfully there was a wide shoulder to the road here so I pulled over, got out and set off to explore...

Since this was the day after Halloween there was a bit of a creepy feeling to the place, and who puts a school next to a cemetery?!

Leaving the cemetery and old school house behind, I circled back into Vicksburg again. This time gathering up my courage and curiosity, I stopped at the Art Sale at the Nursery Building. And oh boy am I glad I did.

As I walked into the building the first thing I noticed were lovely hand crafted pottery pieces. I love pottery! Then I noticed free hot spiced apple cider, free cookies and donut holes. Oh yum! I was starving and there had definitely been no Starbucks anywhere in Vicksburg. Hot cider and chocolate chip cookie in hand I began to wander, admiring all the beautiful pottery pieces. Then I noticed one lone photographer amongst the booths, naturally I gravitated that way. The first thing I noticed as I approached his booth were three matted and framed photographs of gloriously decaying wood doors.

I struck up a conversation with Dave, a hobby photographer who has been photographing for over twenty years. I asked how the transition from film to digital went for him. He still prefers film but is practical about needing to be digital. Then I asked him about those doors. He said they were taken at the abandoned paper mill just on the other side of town. "Oh really", I said. "Is this place easily accessible?" "Oh sure it is, just go through town and take a left, you will see it." After more conversation and admiring his work, we exchanged business cards and then I was excited to get out of there and go find this mill.

Sure enough, through town, a left turn and there is was. The front was unimpressive being a combination of bad 1960's and 1970's additions, but because I had seen those photographs I knew there was more. I was expecting NO TRESPASSING signs and fence barriers but there were none of those things, just some large cement pieces so you couldn't drive around the mill. I parked in a nearby parking lot, geared up, and set off.

There was an intentionally set fire here in August of 2012 that heavily damaged portions of the mill. A suspect was caught and tried for arson but found not guilty.

Here is an early photo of the mill...

Vicksburg's Lee Paper Company was originally built to fill a need for a rag-content paper mill in the Kalamazoo Valley paper producing region. Vicksburg was selected because it had a good supply of clean water, two railroads and was centrally located to possible paper markets.

When construction was completed in 1905, production was 35,000 pounds of paper per day. There were 205 employees whose wages ran from 20 cents per hour to 32-1/2 cents an hour. Girls earned 10 cents an hour sometimes working 50-60 hours a week.

Textiles in the form of worn-out clothing and other rags formed the material for rag-content paper. Women sorted the rags, removed buttons and foreign objects in the Rag Room. The cloth was shredded, cooked and processed into fine-quality writing papers.

In 1996 the mill was purchased by Fox River Paper Company, who then announced it's closing by March of 2001. The fate of its beautiful buildings, among the oldest manufacturing structures in the area, is unknown.

The windows and doors that peaked my interest in the first place...

Along with a few other fluttery feeling finds...

I am in a Facebook Group called The Monochrome Explorers so I converted this one to monochrome to post in the group...

Such a sad loss for the area in both jobs and the loss of history. I am so thankful the buildings are still standing today so I could photograph them, but for how much longer remains to be seen. I am thankful too that I followed my curiosity and ventured into that Art Sale and met Dave.

*Historical information taken from the Vicksburg, MI History page, click here to see more vintage photos from the mill.

Inspired by Curiosity

Last week the lovely Donna Hopkins had a couple of very intriguing things on her Friday Finds post. They got me thinking about the subjects of passion and curiosity.

I have always thought you needed passion to be good at something, that passion drove you. I would say that I am passionate about photography and writing, but that depends on the day, my mood, the weather, etc. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, in a conversation with Oprah sums it up perfectly "Passion is rare; passion is a one-night-stand. Passion is hot, it burns. Everyday you can't access that." This is certainly true for me, I will write one good story and then not write anything mildly good for another two weeks. Or for many weeks I won't even pick up my camera, but then I will take one trip to the country have some good barn finds and be head over heels again.

So I have a fickle passion for photography and writing, but what about all the other things I love? I can't have passion for them all. That is where curiosity comes into the picture. Without curiosity I would have nothing to photograph or write about. Curiosity is the subject finder.

So I sat down and made a list of things I am curious about:

• History
• Old Buildings
• Barns
• Travel and Exploring

Looking at this list none of them were a big surprise, I see them all appear in my work, they fit my personality and all tie together well. But as I was out walking with the dog, I thought some more on the subject and suddenly random things started popping into my head, things I am curious about...

• Aston Martin cars
• Ireland
• The Mystery Machine

Aston Martin Car - I saw a car that looked like an Aston Martin while we were walking. I don't know anything about the car other than it has appeared in James Bond films. Yet I was curious about it, I love old cars, especially to photograph, so I did a little research when I got home from the walk.

Founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin as Bamford & Martin LTD, the company has developed into an iconic brand synonymous with luxury and elegance. 1914 saw the birth of the name 'Aston Martin' following one of Lionel Martin's successful runs at the Aston Hill Climb in Buckinghamshire, England. Within a year the first Aston Martin had been built and registered with the name, and an icon of the automotive world was born.
                                                                                                     source: astonmartin.com

The firm became associated with luxury grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the fictional character James Bond following his use of the DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger.
                                                                                                     source: Wikipedia

Ireland - A girl I follow on Instagram @local_milk has been in Ireland the last week and has been posting wonderfully tempting photos. Every place she went intrigued me and made me want to be there. The plan is to go for my 50th birthday which is just under four years away. Lots of research is going to be needed but I can use her photos as reference points for places I would like to visit.

The Mystery Machine - I saw a van when we were walking that reminded me of The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. The van I saw was bright yellow and not the psychedelic colors of the real one, but it got me curious about The Mystery Machine. There was not a lot of information about the van itself, but there is a good Wikipedia read on the Scooby Doo series here.

I have decided to start a Curiosity Journal where I can record things that make me curious and do some research on them. Research is a writer's friend.

I will go one step farther by saying that curiosity needs to incite action, otherwise it remains just an idle curiosity. I am not saying you need to take action on everything that interests you but you must follow through on some. Take for instance the Aston Martin, they are not plentiful were I live, but there is a great vintage car museum only an hour away that could incite my curiosity of old cars and give me a subject for my passion of photography. I also want to watch Goldfinger, it has been a long time. Ireland will come in its appointed hour, until then I will gather ideas of places I want to go. The Mystery Machine may incite nothing more than watching a few Scooby Doo episodes and reliving my childhood a little, but that could lead to a great blog post.

So in the spirit of needing a change, I will be sharing on Friday Finds a few things that make me curious each week and the actions those curiosities incite.

What makes you curious? I would love to hear.

Joining Kim for Friday Finds

The Coffee Shop Chronicles No. 21

I have always had a slight obsession with barns, but after being up north for vacation a couple of weeks ago that obsession may have taken over my life. I look for them everywhere. That is what happens when you vacation someplace that has spectacular specimens of cobblestone foundations, weathered barn boards and crimped tin roofs on every country road that you travel. As I pass them in the car they call to me "Sarah, stop the car, get out, raise your iPhone and capture me in my timeless beauty". Yes, I am pretty much head over heals in love with barns.

Barns are not plentiful here at home. It's not that they don't exist, it's just that I have to drive farther and more out of my way to find them. So as I passed one on my way to my new coffee shop destination, I heard that voice from vacation saying "Sarah, turn around, go back, get out of your car and raise your iPhone". I am getting much better at listening to that voice because I did go back and I did capture it.

Then I remembered another barn that was close by, I might as well go capture that one as well.

I didn't feel bad about delaying going to the coffee shop, on this my second official work day. Photography is my work just as much as writing is. I have finally come to terms with that idea, I am meant to do both. So with the second barn captured and then a portion of another barn safely stored in my camera roll it was on to the coffee shop.

I wasn't exactly sure where the coffee shop was except that it was located on Main Street. Glen and I lived in this town for the first seven years that we were married. I knew that Main Street wasn't that long, so I was confident I would find it. What I didn't expect was for it to be on the partial second half of Main Street next to the flower shop, but that was where it was. Easy access parking was available right in front of the shop.

I had no intention of writing a Coffee Shop Chronicle on this day. I had some other planned writing to do. I mainly wanted to scout this place out for a future edition. I really should know by now not to go with preconceived ideas about what I am going to write because they NEVER work out. Part of being an artist/creative of any sort is learning to be open and trust the process.

I arrived at the coffee shop at half past nine.

Having visited enough different coffee shops by now, I have a mental checklist that I go through when I visit a new place, first impressions are everything.

Feng Shui: Very good. I walked in the one and only front door. Walking through the front door a clearly defined path led me to the delectable treats glass case and the clearly labeled Order area.

After a short pondering I decided to deviate from my usual Chai Latte and try the Whopper Latte in the Grande size. Stepping up to the order area I requested my Whopper Latte and then asked what the delicious looking muffins were today. The choices were; blueberry, pumpkin or white chocolate and raspberry. Raspberry sounded like it would go good with my Whopper Latte so that was the winner.

Presentation: The muffin was removed from the case, placed on a real plate. I was asked if I would like that warmed? Yes, please. The warmed muffin was then removed from the microwave and presented to me with a real fork. Lovely.

While I was selecting my muffin, an eager beaver woman in her 60's moved into the order area. Even though it was obvious that the order taker was helping me. She had her punch card out on the counter as well as her money, obviously anxious to get her morning coffee and be one punch closer to her free cup. I still needed to pay for my muffin and drink. It was a bit awkward maneuvering around the lady and her punch card. I like my personal space and she was in it.

Warm muffin in hand I looked for a place to sit. I saw a four seat table towards the back of the shop but then thought better of it given my past coffee shop experiences. I chose instead a two seat table that was between the order and pick up areas, perfect for people watching and eavesdropping. The order taker said she would have my drink done shortly, since I was close to the pick up area I knew I wouldn't have to go far. But that sweet order taker brought it right to my table when it was finished. So far this shop was getting a grade of A+.

As pretty as I think those fancy designs are on the top of lattes, I prefer my drink in a to-go cup. Then I don't feel the pressure to drink the whole latte within the first ten minutes of being there. I like my drink hot and I like to nurse it for a while. My Whopper Latte arrived in a to-go cup.

I settled in, arranging my muffin, my latte, my coffee shop notebook, and my pen for their customary Instagram photo. Even if I am not going to write a Chronicle the picture is mandatory.

It became apparent quite quickly that I had, at long last, found my ideal coffee shop. It was also apparent that I wasn't going to get any writing done because I soon became part of the story.

This place is the Cheers of coffee shops. The girls behind the counter are female versions of Sam and Woody. They know everybody and what is going on with them. Friendly banter exchanged on both sides of the counter. I was drawn into the story when a very social gentleman, he easily could be the coffee shop Norm, sat down at the two seat table across from me. We faced each other with our two tables in between us. He was obviously a regular and the topic of his weekend was of great interest to the coffee shop girls.

His wife had had a piece of her mixed-media work in the ArtPrize Competition, so they asked how that had gone and what else he had done for the weekend. He stated that he and his wife had gone to a burger joint with another couple on Saturday night. One of the coffee shop girls remarked that she was surprised he had gone to a burger joint. She figured his tastes to be more hoity-toity than that. She expected him to go to a place where the waiters came with table crumb sweepers between each course. This is where I jumped into the conversation. I knew that this coffee shop gal was my kind of girl when she used a word like hoity-toity.

I confessed early on that I went to coffee shops to write and that I wrote about what goes on at the coffee shop. Mr. Hoity-Toity says "Well now I am nervous about what I might say."

The coffee shop girls, Mr. Hoity-Toity and I engaged in more friendly banter until the girls were pulled back to their coffee duties. Mr. H-T and I continued on though. He was only too happy to suggest coffee shops where I could write that had interesting people. I gathered he visits a lot of coffee shops. I found it funny for a man who prides himself on getting a lot of personal information out of people, how much he told me about himself. I know where he worked for thirty years. How long he has lived here, how many different places he has lived, what he does for a job, although that sounded a bit mysterious. That he never answers his phone, although he will respond to texts and emails. That he only mows his yard twice a year, and that he does the cooking and has dinner waiting when his wife gets home from work.

Then we got on the subject of photography. You know that look people get on their face when you have happened upon that close to their heart topic. That look was all over his face. He was old school film photography, having had a dark room in the past and taken classes at university. He has not embraced the digital age other than a small pocket size point and shoot camera that he uses for work. He feels that digital and digital processing take away the pureness of photography. I asked what he enjoyed shooting. He told me unusual things. An assignment that he had when he was at university was to go to the downtown where he lived and shoot things. He chose things like wooden poles with all the left behind nails from past event posters. The best was when there was still a fragment of the poster still attached to the nail.

I guess that means that I like to shoot unusual things as well.

It was nearing eleven o'clock and I really needed to go to the bathroom, so I made packing up motions, along with the excuse that I needed to get going home. Otherwise this conversation might have gone on all day. He said he needed to get to that mysterious job as well, so we said good-bye and parted ways. I went to the bathroom and returned to finish packing up my unused notebooks, iPad and  books.

As I was ready to depart I became engaged in conversation with one of the coffee shop girls, the one that I would liken to Sam from Cheers, and the one who had originally said hoity-toity. As it turned out she is the owner of the coffee shop and was very intrigued by my Coffee Shop Chronicles and wanted to read them. I dug a business card out of my wallet that has my blog address on it and gave that to her. Since it was quiet in the coffee shop at the moment we continued talking. My inkling that she was my kind of girl with the use of hoity-toity was spot on. We could be sisters, similar age, although she would be the older sister, finally that responsibility would be lifted from me. We had similar feelings about a lot of things and similar challenging relationships with certain people. It is always a liberating feeling to talk with someone who gets you so completely because they have been there too.

I told her I would definitely be back because this was an awesome coffee shop. I might not get a lot of writing done but the conversations will more than make up for it. She said maybe next time she would be able to share a latte with me, or she says "Do you like wine?" Does a cat like catnip? "Yah! I love wine." She says "Well then maybe we can share a glass of wine sometime?" Sounds like a deeper interesting conversation lies ahead. I sense we have a lot to learn from each other.

5 Random Friday Finds

Find No. 1

Glen and I had lunch with his parents this past Sunday before their annual sojourn to Arizona for the winter. We had Chinese. The top fortune was the one I found in my fortune cookie and the bottom one was Glen's, I like them both.

Find No. 2

I found country gravel roads always have the best finds on them...

Find No. 3

The gravel road find, a lone tree and a country fence.

Find No. 4

I found some hydrangeas still in bloom.

Find No. 5

A mysterious find inspired by a coffee shop conversation.

Joining Kim for Friday Finds

One Perfect Day

Most of our married life I have been the decision maker for the family. Nobody else wants the pressure of deciding on something and then it being the wrong decision. I have grown very weary of that role. So for most of our recent vacation to the Leelanau Peninsula, I let Glen make the decisions about where we were going to go for the day. Either that or we would mutually decide on something.

But there was one day where I knew exactly what I wanted us to do. I had been planning it since we were last up here in June. The plans were derived from things we had talked about doing in June but never got the chance to do. I knew we would enjoy doing them together.

The day needed to be nice, overcast or partly cloudy would be ideal. Not full on sun since a lot of the day involved photography outside, and I knew we wouldn't get going in time to catch the morning golden hour.

Wednesday presented the perfect conditions, starting out overcast and becoming partly sunny in the afternoon. The temperatures were lovely in the low 60's. Wednesday also preceded three days of forecasted rain, not very nice when you are on vacation in one of the most beautiful places in the United States and the Autumn colors are starting to emerge.

We began the morning exploring the historic farms on the southern side of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We have explored the northern historic farms a fair amount because they are closer to the condo that we rent. We had Susan Tuttle's new book Art of Everyday Photography along as our field guide. Glen tends to believe things more if I read them to him out of a book versus me telling him what he should do. He has come so far in his photography from a year ago and I saw huge improvement this trip. He always had a good eye, he just needed to work on the technical stuff.

First stop was the Tweedle School...built in 1895 and served the little farming community until the schools consolidated and the building was converted to a residence.

This school is a bit too close to M-22 to get a nice full view shot, so instead we concentrated on the details.

But what really caught my eye as we wandered around the old schoolhouse was the barn next door. So of course I had to go explore...

I do love barns with all my photographing heart...

Two different views of a similar object... first mine...

Then Glen's...

This is my favorite shot of his from the whole day, not because he didn't have other good ones, but this one speaks to me. I love close up, detail shots. I love the angle and I love the mystery of this piece when taken out of context.

I went back to this barn on Monday by myself, Glen had to go back to work, and captured it in beautiful golden morning light.

After exploring another close-by historic farm and driving by one other one we decided to see where the road would take us and we landed here...

Esch Road Beach, the site of the ghost town of Aral, and where Otter Creek flows into Lake Michigan.

This was my favorite place of the whole day. It was a magical place; water, sand and the guy I love.

There were a few magical moments as well...

As I was standing about here a beautiful orange Monarch butterfly floated by, the orange set against the gray blue water was so striking. Something fluttered deep inside me as I watched that butterfly drift by, buoyed by the light breeze. I knew that this was a special day, a special moment and a very special place.

Then to make it even more magical I found a heart shaped stone, which shhh, I did put in my pocket and take home. It now sits on my writing desk, I see it right away every morning, reminding me of the One Perfect Day with the one I love.