Erica Weddle’s Fitness Journey
Tower of Power at Music Center Wa ter You Doing for Spring?
FIELD NOTES
MUSINGS Remembering
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We have curated a flavorful collection for your tasting pleasure with plenty to offer for foodies, the experienced cook, or the novice. It goes well beyond the high-quality olive oils and balsamics we built our reputation on. We’ve added jams, pastas, dipping oils, salsas, sauces, and much more. Come in for a tour of tastes and let us be your guide. You’ll be wild about our shop. Shop us online from anywhere, anytime at www.thewildolive.com
www.thewildolive.com | 37 W
| (812) 988-9453
Bob Gustin worked as a reporter, photographer, managing editor, and editor for daily newspapers in Colorado, Nebraska, and Indiana before retiring in 2011. He and his wife, Chris, operate Homestead Weaving Studio. She does the weaving while he gives studio tours, builds small looms, and expands his book and record collections.
Mark Blackwell no longer makes his home in Brown County where “the roadway is rough and the slopes are seamed with ravines and present a meatless, barren, backbone effect.” He now resides within sight of the sixth green of an undisclosed golf course. He was born in the middle of the last century and still spends considerable time there.
Jeff Tryon is a former news editor of The Brown County Democrat, a former region reporter for The Republic, and a former bureau chief for The Huntsville Times. Born and raised in Brown County, he currently lives with his wife, Sue, in a log cabin on the edge of Brown County State Park. He is a Baptist minister.
Jim Eagleman is a 40-year veteran naturalist with the IN DNR. In retirement, he is now a consultant. His program “Nature Ramblings” can be heard on WFHB radio, the Brown County Hour. He serves on the Sycamore Land Trust board. He enjoys reading, hiking, music, and birding. Jim and his wife Kay have lived here for more than 40 years.
Evan Markley was raised in Brown County. He has been a zipline guide at eXplore Brown County and a lifeguard at area pools. He graduated from Indiana University in 2019. He ushers for Pacers Sports and Marketing at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. He enjoys hiking and following NBA basketball. He plans to start his own podcast.
Joe Lee is an illustrator and writer. He is the author of Forgiveness: The Eva Kor Story, The History of Clowns for Beginners, and Dante for Beginners. He is an editorial cartoonist for the Bloomington Herald Times, a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and a veteran circus performer. ourbrowncounty.com ourbrown@bluemarble.net Also online at issuu.com/ourbrowncounty OR search in the mobile app
and on Facebook for
P.O. Box 157 Helmsburg, IN 47435 (812) 988-8807
Cindy Steele is the publisher and editor of this magazine. She sells and designs ads, sometimes writes, takes photos, and creates the layout. For fun, she likes to play the guitar or banjo and sing.
Julia Pearson wrote for a Franciscan magazine for ten years and served as its human interest editor. She and husband Bruce now reside in Lake Woebegone Country for life’s continuing adventures. Julia enjoys traveling and visiting museums of all types and sizes, with her children and grandchildren.
Boris Ladwig is a Columbusbased journalist who has worked in print, online and TV media in Indiana and Kentucky and has won awards for features, news, business, non-deadline news, First Amendment/community affairs and investigative reporting.
Ryan Stacy and his wife recently moved to Pennsylvania and continues to stay connected with our Brown County. He appreciates good movies, good food, and enjoys cultural events. His other interests include reading, photography, and playing music.
Paige Langenderfer is a freelance writer and communications consultant. She writes for numerous publications. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University and her Master’s degree in public relations management from IUPUI. Paige lives in Columbus with her husband and daughters.
*Joseph Persinger is retired after a career as a newspaper reporter, photographer, editor, and publisher. He turned his attention to nature photography. He and his wife, Judy, reside in neighboring Jackson County but are frequent visitors to Nashville, taking advantage of varied subjects for photographs as well as dining and entertainment opportunities.
Thanks to Tim Grimm for the “Browning Mountain” lyrics
~by Boris Ladwig
Ellen Rigley Carter remembers accompanying her father, Frederick W. Rigley, to the home of Brown County Art Colony founder Adolph Shulz, where they and other artists listened to a violinist.
It was the 1950s, and her father frequently would take the family to get-togethers with other artists to share meals and talk about their craft and the beauty of Brown County.
“They were part of our family. They were our social life,” Ellen said. “We had dinner with them. Our whole lives were completely around art.”
Her sister, Joan (pronounced Jo-Anne) Rigley, recalls meeting many of the artists as they came to her parents’ arts supply store.
Her parents also frequently took the younger sister on rides throughout the county to look for subjects Frederick Rigley could paint, as he did most of his work onsite, outdoors. He would return to the spots
to paint by himself, or sometimes with another painter or even a group of students. Often in the sunshine, but sometimes even in rain or snow.
“He liked early morning light,” Joan said. “Shadows are important.”
She joked that her parents took her along on the reconnaissance excursions because her sister, who is nine years older, probably did not want to serve as babysitter.
For the younger sister, the road trips down unknown Brown County roads have had a lasting impact.
“To this day, I still like doing that. I mean it is, like, ingrained in me,” Joan said. “I can’t hardly stand to drive by a road that I haven’t been down.”
While the sisters never pursued professional careers as painters—in part on the advice of their
father—their childhood experiences have instilled in them a life-long love for art and other creative pursuits.
The sisters recently reminisced about growing up in Brown County as they sat in Ellen’s home just north of Nashville. The rustic dwelling features exposed wooden beams, paintings, and antique furniture, such as a hutch filled with pewter dishes.
Ellen was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and moved to Brown County in 1951, at age four, after her father had met Shulz, who convinced him to join the artists colony.
But selling paintings didn’t pay all the bills, and the family patriarch supplemented the family’s income through teaching, by hosting tourists, and with sales from the art supply store, which was on Van Buren Street, where the Brown County Playhouse is today.
“He sold paintings out of our living room, and we rented rooms upstairs,” Joan said.
Ellen said that lots of kids lived downtown at the time, and they all knew one another. Her mother, Jeanette, would occasionally send her to the downtown grocery store to pick up local bread. She was only five or six years old, but no one worried about such things at the time. Her black dog, named Rascal, would follow her and wait outside the grocery store.
Ellen said she got to know many of the artists, including L.O. Griffith and V.J. Cariani, by accompanying her father to the artists’ homes.
Her father held the other artists in high regard, and as a young member always felt privileged to be included.
While he shared his love for his craft with his daughters—he painted watercolors with his younger daughter on vacations in Gloucester—he steered them from following in his footsteps.
“He didn’t want us kids to be artists,” Ellen said. “Because it was a hard life.”
He sold his paintings generally for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, the sisters said. Some sold for less than $100.
And all the things he had to do to supplement his income kept him away from painting, Ellen said.
He did not really like novice painters, the sisters recalled with a chuckle.
“Beginning artists usually just wanted him to paint their painting,” Ellen said.
“He would complain about that,” her sister agreed.
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AND
48 S. Van Buren Street Nashville, IN 47448
812 988-6185
BrownCountyArtGuild.org
Ellen went to college in Missouri for two years and worked as a probation officer in Johnson and Brown counties for years before she and her husband, Jay, created and ran The Artists Colony Inn in downtown Nashville in the early 1990s. Ellen said she was working in a restaurant at the time but does not recall exactly how she got “roped into” running the inn.
The couple loved antiques and decorated all the rooms with furniture from around the 1840s, including Shaker beds and handwoven, hand-dyed rugs.
They named each of the rooms after an artist.
The restaurant served home cooking, with dishes named after the artists, such as an Ada Shulz salad.
The inn and restaurant had as many as 60 employees. The couple sold the restaurant a little over a decade ago, in part because they were getting older.
“I was tired of working day and night,” said Ellen, 75. “The restaurant business is hard.”
Ellen still keeps busy, though, collecting antiques and paintings.
Both sisters stay involved in the Brown County art community. Ellen serves as president of the Brown Art Guild and is on
the board of the Brown County Historical Society. Joan has served on the Indiana Heritage Arts board.
Joan lived in Brown County for 18 years before moving to Arkansas with her then-husband.
When she was younger, her mother, who worked in the store seven days a week, would send her off with her father, often to deliver paintings.
She remembers going to the homes/studios of Amanda Kirby and Anthony Buchta.
“Marie Goth, I remember taking her to the Hoosier Salon with daddy,” Joan said.
In Arkansas, she worked as a dental assistant and moved back to Brown County in 2001, in part to help take care of her father, who died in Nashville in 2009 at age 94.
Joan said that she sometimes wishes that the family had kept the arts supply store.
“We loved the artists and being part of that community,” she said.
The family got out of the business in part because of competition from big box stores.
The sisters have kept—and even reacquired at auctions—some of their father’s paintings. And while they don’t paint much themselves, they have found other creative outlets to make use of the knowledge and skills they absorbed by interacting with the Brown County masters.
“This whole place is nothing but flowers,” Ellen said, pointing through the windows of her home into her yard. “My creativity is in my gardens.”
Glass Baron Hand-blown Glass
Jim Shore Collec tibles • Lori Mitchell Figurines
Inner Beauty Ornaments • Painted Ponies
Lang Graphics Calendars & Paper Goods
Gooseberr y Pa tch Cookbooks
Blue Mountain Greeting Cards
Handmade Soap & Bath Bombs
Wind Chimes • Music Boxes • Children’s Books Halloween & Christmas Gifts & Décor
~by Julia Pearson
Aprominent mainstay of the area’s artscape is the Brown County Playhouse. Following World War II, it was the first summer stock theater in Indiana, and became one of the longestrunning professional summer stocks in the Midwest. It brought well-known seasoned actors from around the country and served as a training ground for student actors, directors, and designers. A non-profit “strawhat” theater, the Playhouse was built on property donated by Brown County businessman, Jack Rogers, who also financed the initial construction.
Indiana University Theatre director, Lee Norville, agreed to oversee productions from the Bloomington campus, where the company was comprised of drama students and provided the workshop where scenery was built. In the early days, company players jumped into the open back of a truck and traveled the 16 miles on Route 46 to Nashville where their enthusiastic audiences awaited. In time, red and white vans provided transportation for the company.
The first Playhouse was a barn structure with a proscenium opening 26 feet wide. The stage was 39 feet wide, 32 feet deep and was overtop the dressing rooms. It remained unchanged for 28 years. When summer cloudbursts caused damp floors in the dressing rooms, costumes were hung on the walls to prevent water damage. A tent sheltered seating for an audience of 300. It was replaced with a tin roof when the tent kept falling victim to sparks from a nearby potter’s kiln resulting in charred holes.
Restroom facilities were available at the Nashville House across the street until 1965, when a new restroom and roof extensions for 200 more seats were built.
Don Marquis’s Prohibition comedy, The Old Soak, was the first production. Opening night was July 15, 1949 and it ran for five weekends. The title role of Clem Hawley was played by Joe Vurpillat. General admission was 90 cents.
After this success, more dramas were scheduled. Matinees ended when Indiana’s summer heat parboiled those on stage. Due to its enthusiastic reception by the public, four plays were produced in 1950.
But conditions disintegrated in the original barn theater. Rain beating on the tin roof or the racing of motorcycles in a nearby alley were distracting during poignant scenes.
Jack Rogers’s son, Andy Rogers, provided a new site, with financial support from various individuals and the Indiana University Foundation. Indiana University Chancellor Herman B Wells personally contributed to the endeavor by donating proceeds from a sale of Brown County property. For a total cost of $300,000, the modern theater had heat and air conditioning, a three-quarter thrust stage, and comfortable seating with ample leg room for 400. Maintaining the flavor and tradition of the first building, wood siding from the original barn theater was used on the street front and lobby. The performance season was five months long.
Citing increasing costs and declining audiences, Indiana University and the IU Foundation announced that the summer of 2010 was its last. After entertaining audiences of locals and visitors for over 60 years, the Playhouse was an essential part of the
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Van Buren •
IN (next to Subway) 812-988-2267
~by Ryan Stacy
unk music of the 1970s has never gone away. You’ll hear it on a TV commercial tonight, on the soundtrack of a movie you watch this weekend, and sampled by a rap or R&B artist next week. Stop in at a night spot in Bloomington or Indianapolis: you’ll hear seventies funk, through karaoke machines, from DJ booths, and on stages. At any wedding reception, bowling alley, or outdoor festival worth going to, at some point, you’ll hear seventies funk.
More important, on March 18 you’ll hear—and see, and feel—seventies funk at the Brown County Music Center, when giants of the genre Tower of Power make the only Indiana appearance of their 2022 tour. The tenpiece will bring the funky rhythms in the way only they can do it, offering our community a rare opportunity to experience the real deal.
Tower of Power don’t play seventies funk. They are seventies funk. Along with James Brown, Parliament, and the Ohio Players, their relentless rhythms and magnificent horn section carved out an instantly
recognizable, irresistibly danceable style of American music. The foundations of the Tower were laid in Oakland, California in the late 1960s, when saxophonists Emilio Castillo and Doc Kupka, together with bassist Rocco Prestia, set their sights on playing the Fillmore in San Francisco, the epicenter of hippie culture.
“We started adapting to the times, growing our hair out,” says Castillo. Over time, their band grew as well, eventually to ten players. Castillo and Kupka were the group’s main songwriters, and by the mid-1970s, they’d established themselves as a funk powerhouse, with five albums and a string of hit singles including “You’re Still a Young Man,” “So Very Hard to Go,” and “What Is Hip?”
But being musical pioneers wasn’t always easy. “We made every mistake known to man,” laughs Castillo, referring to ToP’s earlier days. Something must have gone right, however,
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community. It was agreed by all: The show must go on! It is now a 501(c)3 organization managed and operated by an all-volunteer board, the Brown County Playhouse Management, Inc. To be a Performing Arts Center, the Brown County Playhouse provides diverse year-round entertainment: live theater, concerts, movies, dance, variety acts, and special events.
In the midst of the pandemic, Amanda Webb took the helm as the Executive Director in August of 2021 when Hannah Estabrook stepped down from that role. It’s a match made in Hoosier heaven.
Brown County has been home to Amanda since marrying Brian Webb after graduating from the IU School of Music (Voice and French). Amanda has taught private voice and piano lessons for 20 years, has led worship in many local churches, as well as being the office manager at the family business, Webb and Sons Auto Restoration. She is also a bandleader, singer, and songwriter.
Amanda’s creative talents, business expertise, and insights into the community enhance her leadership for the Playhouse. It’s bolstered by conversations around the family dinner table. Her oldest son, Billy, works for the Water and Sewer of the town of Nashville; Henry, 18 years old, is a junior at Brown County High School and is active in tech theater, especially set design and construction; Charlie, 16 years old, runs cross-country and has his Eagle Scout in sight; Robert, 12 years old, is active in theater and choir; George, 10 years old, is interested in all the world offers—basketball, guitar, and samplings of his older brothers’ activities.
Amanda speaks of an intangible magic of the Brown County Playhouse that is felt by everyone. The schedule of programs will coincide with interests of multi-generation audiences. Watch community calendars and public media for upcoming offerings. Their website is <browncountyplayhouse.org> and you can find them on Facebook.
because ,while most other bands have crashed and burned, the Tower has been standing as a funk icon for over five decades. Although the band’s lineup has changed somewhat over the years, with Castillo and Kupka steering the ship (Prestia passed away in 2020), there’s been a steady stream of albums, mostly of new material—and no let-up in playing live.
“It’s like clockwork,” Castillo says of his touring schedule. “At least 200 days of shows a year. My bag is always packed.” With his band no longer in the same city (Castillo’s lived in Arizona for over twentyfive years now), touring can be a bit of a logistical struggle. But they make it work: rehearsing as a full group is often done on tour at soundchecks, or in Los Angeles when they can all meet there.
All the hard work is more than worth it. “Any night can be a great night,” Castillo says. “Most of the time, it’s not work. It’s just enjoyment.” And the band, he relates, has become his family. “I’m tighter with these guys than I am with my own brothers. I need to lean on them for their help, and they’re always there for me.”
On this tour, the group welcomes a new member of the ToP family that you may recognize. Mike Jerel, a contestant on The Voice, signed on recently as the new lead vocalist, and Castillo’s excited. “I heard him sing ‘It’s a Man’s World’ by James Brown, and we reached out. We’ve been talking to him for two years because we were looking for a singer, and then the pandemic happened.”
Tower of Power may have played for huge crowds, but Castillo doesn’t expect the show in Brown County to lack any of the energy they’re known for. It’s exciting to play a smaller venue, he says, because the crowd is so close to the performers. “From an audience perspective, it’s nice to be in there with the group. There’s nothing like seeing ten guys just blowing right in your face.”
For more information on the Tower of Power concert, contact the Brown County Music Center box office at 812-988-5323, or visit their website at <browncountymusiccenter.com>.
Apr.
Apr.
June
June
I~by Mark Blackwell
recently came into possession of a hundred or so vintage postcards.
They are the kind with a picture on the front, some with a witty quip printed on them. The postage is a one cent stamp so I reckon that’s how they earned the nickname, “Penny postcard.” They date from 1909 to 1912 or so and they opened a new historical window for me.
They are mostly local, within a couple of counties, namely Brown and Monroe. They appear to be sent to and from a young lady in her early teens. So, there is not a lot of earthshaking information being shared—just “Thinking of you” and “How are things out your way?” It appears that this form of correspondence was the Edwardian equivalent of today’s social networking.
Some of the cards had what appears to be racy themes for the times: “In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking.” And some of the cards were mailed from Youno, Indiana.
That piqued my curiosity and I wanted to know where Youno was.
Being a fellow of my epoch, I got out my collection of maps, from the official 2020 Indiana Highway map, all the way back to an 1876 Historical Atlas of Indiana. No Youno designated on any of them. I then consulted my collection of Indiana history books.
I couldn’t find anything in Weston Goodspeed’s 1884 History of Brown County. But then I did find a short mention of Youno in a tourist guide originally published in the early 1920s, titled Picturesque Brown County Indiana General Guide to Points of Interest; featuring 6 side trips,13 outlined routes over graveled roads, and 24 representative views; published by the Indiana League of Counties.
It was on page 43 that Youno gets a brief mention. “Three and a half miles south and west of Elkinsville is the little community of Youno. It is situated quite close to the County line. It was once a Post Office and possessed a store and other places of business.”
When I saw the reference to a Post Office I was reminded of another Brown County history book, History And Families
Brown County, Indiana 1836-1990 that had a chapter about postal services in the county.
Early on, if you wanted to get your mail, you had to travel to the Post Office in Nashville. Then, after a few years, township Post Offices were established, one for each of the five townships.
By the end of the nineteenth century Post Offices were set up in most villages and communities. So, folks living back in the hills only had to travel a few miles at most to pick up their mail or post a letter. This made the mail service much more viable.
I discovered that the Post Office at Youno was established in 1903 and closed in 1921. This information explained why I couldn’t locate it on any maps or find mention in early history books. Without a Post Office, the village of Youno did not officially exist. It is also interesting to note that Youno was situated in Johnson Township but Johnson Township was absorbed into Washington Township in 1966 and itself ceased to exist.
Reading, what little there was written, about Youno only intensified my itch to know more and so, one warm morning I jumped in my trusty pickup and set off for southern Brown County.
As best I could figure, the way to get to Youno was a route that started on T. C. Steele Road and continued down Crooked Creek Road and eventually to the area I was looking for, so I set out that way. After traveling south and east for quite a while I noticed that the sun had changed position and was now on my left side.
It was about this time that I realized that I was headed north and not much longer after that I came
to the junction of Highway 46. It was one of those situations where you discover that you can’t get there from here.
I headed on into Nashville to recalculate the route. I came to the conclusion that somebody had sited a large lake directly in my path. The only alternate route that I could think of went south down Highway 135 and through Story.
Getting to Story is no big deal but once you’re through Story, well, that’s different story. The road was still paved but it was paved with potholes. After a few miles I got to where a sign announced “Gravel Creek,” and a little further on the road turned to gravel. It was an improvement.
I kept on traveling and came to the “Nebo Ridge Trailhead” after which the road took an abrupt right-hand-vertical hairpin turn up a steep hill. The road had been graveled but appeared to have been smoothed down with a Sherman tank.
When I got to the top of the hill there was no place to go but down. The road smoothed out in the valley and I came across a memorial marker for the families who were displaced from Elkinsville when Lake Monroe was created. That reminded me that Youno was situated just a few miles from Elkinsville.
Heartened by what I believed to be the near proximity of my goal, I continued on for a few more miles. And there it was, the dead end of the road. So, even though I was close, I did not find the lost community that I was seeking.
But then again, it’s hard to find a place that doesn’t exist—if Youno what I mean.
Brown County Playhouse
March 4 Heywood Banks
March 11 Night Owl Country Band
March 12 & 13 Juggling Yoder & The Cincinnati Circus
March 18 Red Mountain Boys with The Hammer & The Hatchet
March 19 40 Years of College
March 25 The McCartney Years
March 26 Asleep at the Wheel
April 1-3, 8-10 Kalamazoo
April 15 Youth Music Showcase
May 1 Slats Klug Musical Tribute (2:30) 70 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-6555 www.browncountyplayhouse.org
Brown County Music Center
March 5 Chris Janson w/ Ray Fulcher
& Shane Profitt
March 12 The British Invasion
March 13 Little Feat
March 18 Tower of Power
March 19 Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros
March 27 Graham Nash
April 1 Jamey Johnson & Randy Houser
April 2 Martina McBride
April 8 Micky Dolenz Celebrates The Monkees
April 21 Classic Albums Live Performs Led Zeppelin II
Wynonna Judd’s new date is May 7
Emmylou Harris’s new date is Sept. 9 812-988-5323 www.browncountymusiccenter.com
Brown County Inn
Open Mic Nights Wed. 6:00 Hill Folk Music Series Thurs. 7:00
Acoustic Brunch Sat. Noon-3:00
March 3 Caitlin Spangler | Joel David Weir | Joe Bolinger in the Round
March 5 Molly Milton & Cara Jean Wahlers
March 10 Will Scott
March 12 Jim Richter & Will Kimble
March 17 Jon McDonald Band
March 19 Dave Sisson Duo
The schedule can change. Please check before making a trip.
March 24 Dave Sisson & Sam Love
March 26 Kenan Rainwater
March 31 Kade Puckett
April 2 Donn Smith
April 7 Jason Blankenship | Bill Poss |
Jan Bell in the Round
April 9 The Hammer & The Hatchet
April 14 The Hammer & The Hatchet
April 21 Megan Palmer & Friends
April 23 Scrapper & Skelton
April 28 Phantoms of Radio
April 30 Hollie Schultz
51 State Road 46 East 812-988-2291
www.browncountyinn.com
Country Heritage Winery
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00
March 4 Clearwater Band
March 5 Bakersfield Bound
March 11 Gene Gillham
March 12 Paul Bertsch Band
March 18 Open Mic
March 19 Homemade Jam
March 25 Tony Hopkins
March 26 Coner Berry Band
April 1 Live Music
April 2 Ryan Paul Wilson
April 8 Hubie Ashcraft & Travis
April 9 Steve Fulton
April 15 Open Mic
April 16 Live Music
April 22 Ruben Guthrie
April 23 Gary Applegate & Joe Rock
April 29 Coner Berry Band
April 30 Clearwater Band
225 S. Van Buren Street
812-988-8500 www.countryheritagewinery.com
Nashville House
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00, Sun. 1:00-4:00
March 4 Wayne Pennington
March 5 Ruben Guthrie
March 11 The Hammer & The Hatchet
March 12 Ben Justus
March 17 Paul Bertsch (St. Patty Day)
March 18 Keith Rea
March 19 Travers Marks (1-4)
March 25 Will Scott
March 26 Buck Knawe
March 27 Jan Bell
April 1 Dakota Muckey
April 2 Kit Haymond
April 3 Jess Jones
April 8 Robert Federson
April 9 Brian Koning
April 10 Wayne Pennington
April 15 The Herb & Jack Harden Show
April 16 Will Scott
April 17 Monon Troubadors
April 22 8-Bit Audio
April 23 Paul Bertsch
April 24 Austin James
April 29 Edward Fry
April 30 Ciara Haskett
15 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-4554 www.nashvillehousebc.com
Ferguson House
Beer Garden
Music Fri. & Sat. 6:00-9:00, Sun. 1:00-4:00
March 18 Ruben Guthrie
March 19 Travers Marks
March 20 Ciara Haskett
March 25 Frank Jones
March 26 Jess Jones
March 27 Coot Crabtree
April 1 Steve Hickman
April 2 Cody Nelson Williams
April 3 Kit Haymond
April 8 The Hammer & The Hatchet
April 9 Will Scott
April 10 Kade Puckett
April 15 Steve Smith
April 17 Frank Jones
April 22 Laura Cannallon
April 23 The Blankenships
April 24 Matt Lundquist
April 29 Austin James 78 Franklin Street 812-988-4042
Big Woods Pizza
Music Tue. & Fri. 5:00-8:00
Karaoke Sat. 7:00-10:00
March 1 Rich Hardesty
March 4 Will Scott & Friends
March 5 8th Crawfish Boil (6-10)
March 8 Island Party
March 11 Ken Wilson
March 15 Justyn Underwood
March 18 Scott Clay
March 19 St. Patrick Party (6-10)
March 22 Jess Jones
March 25 Bob Schneider
March 29 Jon Shoulders
April 1 Roger Osburn
April 5 Rich Hardesty
April 8 Mike and Todd
April 12 Island Party
April 15 Scott Clay
April 19 Justyn Underwood
April 22 Bob Schneider
April 26 Jon Shoulders
April 29 Jan Bell & Friends
44 N. Van Buren Street www.bigwoodsrestaurants.com
Hard Truth Hills
Music 6:00-9:00
March 4 Jess Jones
March 5 Mardi Gras - Mojo Gumbo
March 11 Matixando
March 12 Ken Wilson
March 18 John Ryan Music
March 19 St. Patrick’s Day Party
March 24 Paint Party at the Tours & Tasting Center
March 25 Jan Bell & Friends
March 26 Married Band of Two
April 1 Moonshine Mary
April 2 Wayne Pennington
April 8 Ken Wilson
April 9 Cannon & Cole
April 9 Easter Beer Hunt
April 15 Will Scott & Friends
April 16 Scott Clay
April 21 Paint Party at the Tours & Tasting Center
April 22 Pop Rox
April 23 Married Band of Two
April 29 Wayward Blues & Co.
April 30 Terrace Season Opener Kickitlester 418 Old State Road 46 812-720-4840 www.hardtruthhills.com
19th Hole Sports Bar
Music 8:00-11:00
March 5 Karaoke
March 12 Mitch Ellis
March 19 Austin James
March 26 Tyler Poe
April 2 Karaoke
April 9 Past Tense
April 16 Tyler Poe
April 23 Mitch Ellis
April 30 Austin James 2359 East State Road 46 812-988-4323 www.saltcreekgolf.com
Line Dancing with Billy
Mon. 6:30 | Mike’s Music & Dance Barn 2277 State Road 46 812-988-8636 www.mikesmusicbarn.com
Mysterious Hills Hike Series
Brown Co State Park - with park naturalist
March 5 Ten O-Clock Line Nature Preserve
March 12 Winter Dog Hike 2
Hikes vary on start time so check with the Nature Center 812-988-5240
Cabin Fever Yard Sale
April 9, 8:00-4:00
Jackson Township Fire Department 4831 Helmsburg Road in Helmsburg
Annual community yard sale
Biscuits and gravy for breakfast
Village Art Walk
Fourth Fridays, 4:00-7:00 April-October
Free self-guided walking tour of downtown Nashville art galleries
April 22-24, T.C. Steele State Historic Site and other locations through the area Hikes, wildflower and bird walks
Community Easter Egg Hunt
April 16, 1:00-3:00, ages 2 to 10 Deer Run Park-1001 Deer Run Lane
Brown County Art Gallery
March 5-28 Friends of T.C. Steele members
April 9-May 8 Mabel B. Annis Student
Art Competition
Corner of Main Street and Artist Drive 812-988-4609 www.bcartgalleryonline.org
Brown County Art Guild
March 19 & 20 Watercolors w/ Luke Buck
April 15 & 16 Skies the Limit w/ Rick Wilson 48 S. Van Buren Street 812-988-6185 www.browncountyartguild.org
Slats Klug
Musical Tribute
MAY 1, 2:30
Brown Co Playhouse
Local celebrities perform Klug songs
Tix $20 Proceeds go to Brown County Humane Society
~by Paige Langenderfer
Erica Weddle pivoted through the COVID pandemic like a professional athlete, successfully sustaining, and even growing her Simply Fitness brand.
Erica, a life-long resident of Brown County, started her business in 2015 by offering just a few private personal training sessions while continuing with her full-time work in social services.
“I am literally as native as it gets. I was born and raised here, went to high school here, played all of the high school sports, did all of the outdoor activities,” she said. “My dad, Jack Weddle, was a teacher in the Brown County school system for over 30 years, and my sister Wendy Weddle has been teaching locally for over 20 years.”
Erica, now 50, earned certifications as a personal trainer and as a yoga instructor in 2015, but wasn’t exactly sure where to go from there.
“At first, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them (the certifications),’” she said. “Then I stumbled upon this space the Chamber of Commerce was offering to individuals wanting to start a business.”
Finding a physical space to offer yoga classes and personal training sessions was the push Erica needed to take her business full time.
“You know the saying, ‘Build it and they will come?” she said. “Well, I did, and they came. I outgrew the space within six months.”
Erica moved her business four times before the pandemic hit.
“In the spring of 2020 I decided to close the physical studio space because of the pandemic. I had no idea how long the shutdown was going to be,” she said. “So, I pivoted to Zoom.”
Multiple times a week, clients joined Erica on Zoom for private and group sessions of yoga and various personal training activities. When the weather cooperated, she also met clients outside at the Brown County High School track, Salt Creek Trail, and Brown County State Park.
“I just knew I had to meet people where they were and in whatever format they were comfortable with,” she said.
“…I like to take a holistic approach. I consider the complete picture of clients’ lives, looking at diet and nutrition, exercise, hobbies, as well as any medical issues.”
Meeting clients outdoors inspired Erica to try yet another approach to fitness.
In the spring of 2021, with the pandemic still hindering indoor gatherings, Erica got a permit to move her personal training sessions and yoga classes outdoors to Yellowwood State Forest.
“It was amazing to be surrounded by the beautiful scenery,” she said. “I will definitely be doing that again this year.”
She also began offering paddleboard classes at Yellowwood.
“I thought, nobody is offering them in Brown County, or even Columbus,” Erica said. “The classes are open to any fitness level, and I provide the equipment.”
Paddleboard classes are open to five people per session and participants can sit, kneel, or stand on the board. She also teaches yoga on the paddleboards.
“We paddle out to a spot and anchor the boards and then do the class on the boards in the water. It’s honestly almost exactly the same amount of space as a yoga mat,” Erica said. “There’s a little less stability, because you’re on the water, but it’s a fun challenge. It increases muscle and stability and helps participants work on balance.”
In 2021, in another pivot, Erica began offering classes in a new studio on West Main Street, above the PNC Bank.
“The entire front wall has these gorgeous windows facing Main Street,” she said. “It is so nice to be back in a physical space again.”
Activities include various yoga classes and personal training sessions. For a unique experience, Erica offers classes like yoga and a book exchange, or yoga and acupuncture.
“When it comes to health and wellness, I like to take a holistic approach. I consider the complete picture of clients’ lives, looking at diet and nutrition, exercise, hobbies, as well as any medical issues,” Erica said. “And if they don’t feel comfortable coming into
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~by Evan Markley
As the snow melts away and the redbuds bloom, visitors flock to Brown County to escape the stress life brings in 2022. For some, this is their first vacation in years. What better way to relax than to take a dip in a pool?
You wouldn’t be able to last long in the many ponds, lakes, or outdoor pools, during the unpredictable Indiana spring days, but Nashville has several great indoor aquatic options. Those featured here include the Brown County YMCA, the Abe Martin Lodge, the Brown County Inn, Hotel Nashville, and the Quality Inn.
While it may not be the first indoor pool that comes to mind, the YMCA has one of the most unique pools in all of Nashville. It is a beautiful 25 meter long, saltwater pool with a brand new, bright blue liner. Its temperature stays between 82 and 84 degrees, and it also features a sauna as well as a steam room. The steam room and sauna are some locals’ favorite spots to relax.
The pool is great for weak swimmers as the deepest point is only 5ft, and there is a lifeguard on duty during pool hours. If you ask them, they will set up a basketball goal for you or your kids. For those who would like to exercise, there are lanes for lap swimming. The locker rooms are clean and have warm showers for after your swim.
The Brown County Y is free for any member of any YMCA in the country. For those without a membership, the Brown County YMCA offers a reduced entry fee of $5 for adults and $12 for families of three or more for guests staying in a local hotel. This will also get you access to the entire facility, not just the pool.
The Abe Martin Lodge boasts a dazzling indoor water park. It offers a water slide, splash pad, hot tub/whirlpool, lazy river, as well as a basketball goal and volleyball net for you and your little athletes.
The water slide is a fun for all ages with its moderate intensity. There are always multiple lifeguards on duty. Two of them watch the slide closely, giving guests the green light to slide when it is safe. It has become legendary for being an excellent setting for a birthday party. Contact the Lodge directly for booking events.
Upon checking in, guests of the Abe Martin Lodge receive wrist bands for the number of guests staying in their many rooms or cabins on property. For anyone else (locals, park guests, or visitors of Nashville) it is $15 per person to receive a wrist band to the water park.
The lighting and the large windows, peering out into the woods, give the aquatics center a warm, homey feel. The whirlpool has a waterfall to relax under while young ones swim. This clean facility is fun for all ages and has something everyone can enjoy.
The BCI’s pool is one of the smaller pools of Nashville, but it makes up for it in personality. Access to the pool is free for anyone staying at the BCI.
The Inn hosts the only pool that can claim to be indoor and outdoor in the area because it has garage doors surrounding it on all sides. These doors can be opened and closed depending on the weather. The doors open to 10 acres of grounds that include an extensive garden and a mini golf course.
No lifeguards are on duty and the maximum depth is 8ft, so you will have to watch out for your weaker swimmers.
Outside of the pool, there is access to the Salt Creek Trail that runs all the way down to the YMCA. You could stay at the BCI and enjoy their pool, then walk over to the YMCA for a second pool experience, and then head back to the BCI’s pool before calling it a day. You might develop gills, but you could go between the pools all day long (as long as the pools are open).
The pool is charmingly simple. The ferns hanging from the ceiling add color to the wooden backdrop. The deck provides a nice spot to lay out and sunbathe.
Hotel Nashville’s pools is a bit dated, but it will satisfy anyone craving that water vacation. Sometimes, that’s all you really need. Its most endearing quality is its hot tub.
Jams, Jellies, Preser ves, Specialt y Linen, Rugs, Candles, Cur tains, Stitcheries Antiques, Billy Jacobs Prints
E. Washington St. Nashville, IN 812-988-6362 • Open daily 9 to 5 BREAKFAST & LUNCH
BBQ, Chicken Salad, Soups, Pit Ham Cinnamon Rolls, Cobblers, Cookies, Brownies Gluten Free Items, Co ees and Cappuccino nashville general store and baker y nashgenstore812
Also: Elk, Boar, Buffalo, Venison, Gator, Rabbit, Salmon, Kangaroo, Turtle, Ostrich, Trout, Camel, Python, Ahi Jerky Seasonings & Dips • Peanuts
S. Van Buren St. Artists Colony Shops (Between Toy Chest and Carol’s Gifts)
IN • (81 2) 988-1592
From fedoras and stingy brims to ivy caps and hiking hats —we’ve got you covered Also comfort footwear from Minnetonka and Acorn including slippers for the entire family onka andAcorn
Selling gently used items to bene t Brown County. Accepting clothing and household item donations. Women’s boutique, kids and teen clothing, men’s clothing, and household items
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00 to 5:00 Fridays 9:00 to 2:00
Van Buren in Nashville (near stoplight, behind Subway) (812) 988-6003
This is one of the least expensive hot tub experiences you can get with your stay in Nashville. The hot tub is always soothing, and great for recovering after a full day of shopping. The pool is free to access if you are staying at the hotel; or, if you are a local that wants to visit regularly, Hotel Nashville offers a pool membership for $20 per month.
The first thing you see when you walk into this hotel is its pool. It sits right in front of the lobby with its windows tempting you to swim. The pool itself isn’t very big, posting a max depth of only 5ft 6in.
This is another one of those pools that will satisfy your need to get wet on vacation. It is also a pleasant place just to hang out or read a book. The green tile on the walls surrounding the pool match the branding in their logo perfectly. The pool will have you wanting to swim each time you enter the hotel.
Wherever you decide to spend your spring break, Nashville has your answer for swimming. Remember to stay safe, swim with a buddy, and have fun.
ERICA WEDDLE continued from 39
a physical space, I will go to their homes. I just want them to feel comfortable. I meet them where they are on their fitness journey.”
Erica works with clients of all ages. She has worked with children and has a client in their 80s.
One of Erica’s most unique client requests has come from tourists.
“I often get booked by bachelorette parties here for a weekend,” Erica said. “They will go out Friday night and then I will meet them at their Airbnb Saturday morning and lead a yoga class. It’s really a lot of fun.”
When she’s not working with clients, Erica can be found on her paddleboard, kayaking, backpacking, hiking, working through a yoga routine, or working out in the Brown County State Park or along the Salt Creek Trail. She also likes to spend time with her partner, her two adult children, and her two very active grandchildren.
“Making time for our health is so important. We make time in our hectic calendars for haircuts and dentist appointments, so why don’t we make that same time for health and wellness?” she said. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. There are so many simple ways to be active.”
Erica said she feels like teaching fitness is her calling.
“In the past when I did social work, I used my degree to help people make lifestyle and behavior changes to improve their lives,” she said. “I still do that, just with different clients. My goal is to live to 100. I want to do this as long as I can. If I’m 80, and I can only lead one yoga class a week, I will be happy.”
To learn more about Simply Fitness, visit <simplyfitnessyoga.com> or look it up on Facebook.
ne dining,
~by Jim Eagleman
almost a sideways walk. You might assume since it is slow walking it must be slow thinking, or slow witted. No, its calculating manner has helped it avoid trouble, like dogs, people, predators, and even cars—but not all traffic. “We tend to see more possums hit along roads more than any other Indiana fur-bearer,” my DNR biologist friends tell me when they conduct their annual road-killed counts of raccoons and deer.
hile on a walk recently I saw an opossum (possum) scamper up a hill. The little critter wasn’t an adult, but a sub-adult, some call a “juvee,” short for juvenile. It made me recall some of the things we shared with the public about the “awesome possum” during our park nature talks. The possum is a true survivor. I had no doubt this little guy did just fine this past winter.
Take a look at the possum the next time you see one poking around your compost pile or woodshed, or lumbering down a county road. Never in a hurry, it ambles along with
Also called pole cat, woods rat, or forest kitty, the possum is a relic of times gone by. We understand that an animal, not too different from today’s version, was living at the time of dinosaurs. Now, that is a testament to survivability! What allows it to last all this time on the planet? What qualities make it nearly invincible?
If confronted, we know the possum’s defense mechanism is to play dead, saliva trickling from the mouth as it assumes a curled-up posture. All you did was maybe touch it with a stick. This feigning death act has helped the possum avoid almost every attempt to attack or kill it. A predator might see it unnecessary to continue a murderous attack if the prey instantly lies motionless, even defecating and rolling in its own
feces. The predator may move on. The possum soon recovers from its sleep-like trance, then continues scavenging and ambling along, sampling all the food it finds while on hunting forays.
It may be their wide, varied diet that has helped it survive. They are omnivorous, meaning they eat plants and animals: crayfish, garbage, left-out cat food, worms, bird eggs, fruit, roots, nuts, garden produce, slugs, frogs, snakes, grasses, mushrooms, salamanders— the list goes on. Such a varied diet—carrion, dead coons, other road-killed possums—has allowed it to adjust to man’s ever-changing environment. It isn’t fussy where it lives either, as we know them to take up residency in culverts, brush piles, dumps, junkyards, and other refuse places man creates. So, if it eats everything it comes upon, and lives anywhere it wants, you can bet we’ll have the possum around for millennia to come.
I once observed a mother possum crawl out from a dead carcass in a field. The bloated and sun-dried body of the cow gave the possum shelter and all the food it needed. I looked inside the exposed belly and saw there were babies, maybe seven, waiting for the mother possum to return. Its fifty teeth—the most of any North American mammal—will certainly help it attack any food item: hard-shelled mussels, skeletons of small mammals, even dried up, sun-baked, cow hide. The possum is not picky.
We know the opossum to be a member of the marsupials, like kangaroos, mammals with specialized belly pouches for developing young. Born as blind, hairless, and tiny they find their way to the nursery inside the mother’s pouch. The young stay attached to milk teats for weeks while the mother continues on with her life. There is a theory that the possum helps future generations with this natal attention. There is a low mortality rate as the young are taken care of in the pouch where they nurse and get strong.
Lately, we have also heard of the possum’s tendency for pest control, ridding the garden of injurious slugs, keeping cockroaches at bay,
consuming many ticks. All these admirable habits surely deserve respect rather than any disdain.
And those opposable thumbs—no, it’s not all thumbs, technically toes on their rear feet, called a hallux. These digits help in climbing and handling finely detailed food, to pick at locks and latches, even to open gates and storage boxes. The prehensile tail, which is adapted for grasping and wrapping around tree limbs, is a possum trademark. It can hang from its tail for short periods, but it doesn’t sleep hanging upside down as some people think. They have been observed carrying clumps of grass and other materials for a burrow or cavity by looping their tail around it.
The awesome possum—another critter living in the Brown County hills, occupying its wide niche, doing its thing to add to our glorious assembly of wildlife—is here for us to watch, admire, and enjoy.
One last thing: Why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum it could be done!
~by Bob Gustin
When we moved to Brown County in 1999, I felt a bit like a stranger in a strange land: New job, new house, new neighbors, new community.
In a way, that’s just how it is in Brown County. If you weren’t born here, and can’t trace your family roots here for at least two or three generations, you’re always going to be a newcomer to some folks.
One person helped ease that transition right away. That was Norma Crouch.
Norma died in January at age 82, leaving behind a family and a lot of grateful friends and customers. She ran Crouch’s Market in the Pikes Peak area for more than 40 years, beginning in 1972.
Our new house was about two miles from Crouch’s Market, so my wife Chris and I made it a point to stop by and get acquainted.
That first day she welcomed us, going so far as to say that if we had any favorite food items, just let her know and she would try to carry them in the store. Norma, who was the one behind the counter nearly every time we stopped by the store for years after that first meeting, made a difference in people’s lives.
What a joy it was to find the market and its bounty in the middle of the forested beauty, 10 miles from Nashville and 18 miles from Columbus.
You could pick up all your essential groceries at Crouch’s, along with lottery tickets; home-cooked food; fishing worms; plumbing and electrical repair
parts; screws, nuts, bolts, nails, and locally grown produce. You could fill up your gas tank or buy fishing and hunting gear and clothing. Rent a movie. Drop off a UPS package. Refill a propane tank or get a bag of ice. Donate books to the Brown County Literacy Coalition. Drop off a bag of trash for pickup. Sometimes you could buy local artists’ work there, or a walking stick carved by Norma’s husband Harry.
You could get a cold bottle of pop or a hot cup of coffee. On nice days, you could sit on picnic tables in front of the market and shoot the breeze with your neighbors. Or you could get one of Norma’s sandwiches and sit in the back room. For a while, you could even get fresh-baked pizza.
Most importantly, however, you could say hello to Norma, interrupt the program she was watching on RFD-TV, and catch up on the latest gossip.
Norma married Harry in 1961, and they opened the store at Bellsville Pike on land they purchased from Harry’s parents. They built the store only after getting permission from Eleanor Clark, who was closing her general store in the area. Crouch’s Market started as a pole barn and went through four building expansions over the years. Harry died in 2013.
Crouch’s Market was a community center for Van Buren Township, and Norma was the unofficial mayor. It seems like she knew
everyone in the area and most of the good and bad things going on. She had a wall of photos in the back room, memorializing new babies, hunting trophies, family moments and community events. That back room also hosted birthday parties, unofficial breakfast clubs and genealogy meetings, along with a pool table and an old-fashioned scale.
Her son Wendell recalls the blizzard of 1978, a time when lots of farmers still lived in the Pikes Peak area and a group of them took it upon themselves to clear snow from the roads. Of course, they congregated at Crouch’s Market, and Norma mapped out the routes for each to take. Wendell said she would also sometimes give the farmers a sack of groceries to deliver as they plowed, and residents would come to the store and pay for the groceries when they could get out.
Norma didn’t hesitate to lend a hand, whether it be posting a flyer about a lost pet on her community bulletin board, pitching in on the latest charity effort, passing out maps for the studio tour, or getting behind a petition she thought was worthwhile. She sponsored Little League teams and 4-H projects.
And yes, even in the early 2000s, you could cash a check or run up a tab at Crouch’s if you happened to be caught short in the wallet.
Continued on 58
NORMA CROUCH continued from 55
Wendell remembers how she carried accounts for those on monthly incomes. So, Norma also became the community banker.
Norma was a good soul. She was generous, friendly, and giving—a good neighbor.
Crouch’s closed on November 30, 2015, and an auction was held the next year, selling off all those plumbing and electrical parts, along with the picnic tables and table cloths, hats and T-shirts emblazoned with the store’s name. I saw Norma a few years later in Columbus, and it seemed a little of her spark was gone. My guess is that spark came partly from the interactions she had with her customers, friends, and neighbors.
Wendell also remembers the kids who hung out at the store in the 1970s, many of whom showed up for her funeral, still a tight group 40 years later.
“Essentially, the community became an extended family for her,” he said.
As for the store itself, Wendell says there’s no chance it will reopen, given the way things
are nowadays, with the Wal Ma, Amazon, and the prevalence of the internet. And that doesn’t just go for Crouch’s. Little general stores in the middle of rural areas selling a little bit of everything are rare now.
“I don’t think there will ever be another Crouch’s Market,” Wendell said.
And so we lose a little community and a little of the light that came with it. Rest in peace, Norma.
Night Owl Country Band
MARCH 11 at 7:30pm
Juggling Yoder & The Cincinnati Circus
MARCH 12 & 13 at 2:30 and 7:30pm
Red Mountain Boys with Hammer and the Hatchet
MARCH 18 at 7:30pm
40 Years of College
MARCH 19 at 7:30pm
The McCartney Years
MARCH 25 at 7:30pm
Asleep At The Wheel
MARCH 26 at 7:30pm
Kalamazoo – A Playhouse Theatrical Production
APRIL 1,2,8, & 9 at 7:30pm
APRIL 3 & 10 at 2pm
Youth Music Showcase
APRIL 15 (time TBD)
~by Jeff Tryon
When I was a kid growing up in Brown County, all we knew about Saint Patrick’s Day was that you had better wear something green to school on that holy day, or you were likely to get pinched, and that pinch would be completely legal and accepted, no matter how much it hurt, because you had failed to properly observe the holiday by wearing the correct color.
This went on year in and year out until the eighth grade, when a new kid moved to town, a very bright young man destined to become my best friend. Unlike me or anyone else I knew or had ever known, he was raised Catholic and knew a bit more about the whole Saint Patrick situation than the rest of us benighted Indiana Baptists.
“You know, you guys are all protestants,” he casually observed on that fateful Saint Patrick’s Day. “You’re actually supposed to wear orange on Saint Patrick’s Day. It is we Catholics who wear green.”
Over the years, I have celebrated many a Saint Patrick’s Day, usually by consuming mass amounts of alcohol with my friend because, well, we’re all Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day, right?
I am told that, even though the day inevitably falls in the middle of Lent, the archbishop of the Chicago Diocese grants a dispensation for all good Catholics to sidestep the rigors of that religious fast for a day of enthusiastic drinking in honor of the man who drove the snakes out of Ireland (but that’s another story). And that’s good enough for me.
These days, I have developed or devolved down into a more or less set ritual for observing this important marker holiday that helps to get us through until spring.
Music always helps to set the mood, and I’ve got a couple of CD’s of Irish drinking songs, what my friend calls “Irish Sniper music” to set the tone.
We make Rueben Sandwiches grilled corned beef and Swiss cheese on a good marbled rye, slathered with Thousand Island Dressing and covered with sauerkraut. Yummy!
We drink a bottle or two of Guinness Extra Stout, the beer so perfect that they’ve been making it in exactly the same way since 1759. And I am not averse to a jar or two of a good Irish whiskey like Jameson or Bushmills. Erin go Bragh!
As darkness falls, I observe a new tradition— one that I have invented myself, which has nothing whatsoever to do with Ireland, Catholicism, or Saint Patrick.
I burn my Christmas tree.
I always put up a live tree for Christmas, and when it has done its duty and progressed from a delightful ornament of the season to a definite fire hazard, I strip off the decorations and toss it unceremoniously out into the yard (in the woods).
And there it lays, through the shocks and outrages of late winter until March 17, when I stand it up in the firepit and set it ablaze in a brief but spectacular immolation which sends sparks flying up into the night sky, reminding us of why it is a good idea not to have a dead fir tree in your house.
We call it “The Burning of the Green.”
Thus, we welcome spring.
I took you up Browning Mountain, you did not know what you would see
The sky hung blue on Browning Mountain, there stood the forest through the trees
We walked the tracks of some old mule train— it took us back through fallen leaves
It was on our way up Browning Mountain, that we passed the ghosts of you and me
They were dressed in plain and simple clothing. They were walking down as we walked up
With their arms entwined, they could not see us— their eyes were filled with timeless love
I took your hand in joy and sorrow.
We watched them fade so peacefully
We were halfway there, up Browning Mountain, touched by grace and nearly free
On Nebo ridge we felt the silence, and with your eyes you questioned me were those the ghosts of past or future?
It’s hard to know what’s meant to be
It was near the edge that I stopped you— I said ahead is the mystery
Now close your eyes—I know you trust me, there’s even more for you to see
Where the view was almost sacred, across the hill like scattered bones these giant rocks lay in an order as if the gods played dominoes
We don’t know why, when, or how dear, these ancient stones came here to be
But they’ve made their bed up on Browning Mountain—
Won’t you rest your head on one with me?
Just the sound of a lonesome sparrow, and the dance of a single leaf
On a sun-warmed stone we lay together
Sometimes the truth is a mystery
~by singer/songwriter Tim
Grimm
