Tag Archives: time travel

My Town Monday: We’ve Come a Long, Long Way

by Jennette,

Indie filmmaker David Schock didn’t listen to more than the first few minutes of the odd, unlabeled tape in the box full he’d received for his film that day in early 2008. He was collecting audio of performances by poet and theatrical performer Herbert Woodward Martin for his film Jump Back, Honey, and that extra tape clearly wasn’t one Schock needed for his project.

Who knew something like this could contain a treasure?

He was a little curious about the tape, of the old reel-to-reel format. It started out with someone noting that it was taped at the University Dayton in November of 1964, and introduced Dayton City Commissioner Don L. Crawford, and Charles Wesley, the president of Central State College. He set the tape aside and went on with his work.

Over a year later, the project was finished, and Schock attended a well-received premiere at U.D. But he remembered that odd, unmarked tape he still hadn’t listed to, so he dragged out his equipment and gave it a listen – this time, to the whole thing. Sure enough, it started with opening remarks by president Wesley and Commissioner Crawford, who was the first African-American to be elected to that office. Then the featured speaker came on: Dr. Martin Luther King.

Dayton Daily News pics from 1964

Calls to U.D.’s archivist confirmed that Dr. King had, indeed, visited Dayton on November 28, 1964, and had given a speech at the U.D. Fieldhouse to a crowd of 6,200. In his usual, eloquent style, King addressed how “we’ve come a long, long way” in terms of racial equality, but noted that we still had a long way to go. He advocated peaceful protest and using the ballot box as the way to effect change, and highlighted the need for legislation to abolish discrimination. The tape cut off fifty minutes into his speech. The rest of his talk remains lost, the whereabouts of any other, complete recordings of it – if any exist – are still unknown.

Schock contacted Mr. Martin, the subject of his film, who’d provided him with the box of media. Martin had no idea where the tape had come from, or how it came into his possession. He hadn’t listened to it, nor was he aware of its contents.

King was not universally welcomed

Later newspaper articles about King’s speech surfaced, and revealed how, while King spoke to an enthusiastic crowd, there was a different scene outside the Fieldhouse, where protesters gathered, bearing signs with racial epithets and calling Dr. King a communist.

Despite this, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just a few weeks later, and gave almost the same speech there as the one he’d given in Dayton.

It’s easy for me to think we’ve come a long way, since I wasn’t around at the time King gave this speech, but one only need to watch the news to see that there’s still a long way to go, even now, almost 50 years later. You can hear Dr. King’s speech, digitized by David Schock, on the Jump Back, Honey website, as well as read a transcript of it.

What do you think? And can you imagine finding a treasure like that tape in a box of stuff you’d obtained for something completely different?

More at the My Town Monday blog

Reel-to-reel tape photo via ehow.com
Dayton Daily News photos by Bill Koehler via jumpbackhoney.com 

Dreaming in Third Person

by Jennette,

Are your dreams like movies in your head?

I learned something interesting about my teenage daughter a couple weeks ago. Often, as I’m driving her to school in the morning, she’ll tell me about some weird dream she had that morning – and they are almost always weird. Like seeing a library in the sky, or seeing people she knows in weird places or situations. But what I never realized until she mentioned something about how hair looked in her dream, was that she dreams in third person point-of-view. As in, she sees herself as if she’s someone else, like watching a movie.

It was hard for me to comprehend – and it’s also something I never thought about before. Sure, I’ve had dreams where I wasn’t playing an active role, but was just passively seeing other people going through whatever actions, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen myself, other than looking in a mirror. It never occurred to me that it would be otherwise for others. On the other hand, it seemed weird to my daughter that I would dream everything in first person point-of-view. Although when she thought about it, she thought some, if not most, of her friends dream in first person.

...or are you a first person shooter?

It reminded me of my Grandpa Adams, who told me he dreamed in black-and-white. I was maybe eight or nine at the time, and of course thought this was very odd, although it didn’t seem as strange at the time as it does when I think about it now. No, he wasn’t messing with me. At the time, I figured he dreamed like he watched TV, which for him was in black-and-white, until maybe ten years or so before we had that conversation. But why it seems stranger now, is that he was born in 1914, and therefore wouldn’t have had television until he was well into adulthood. Of course he went to the movies, but wouldn’t have had that frame of reference until he was at least elementary-school aged. I don’t think I know of anyone else who dreams (or did) in black and white, although it’s not a topic that we talk about all the time. It never occurred to me to ask my other grandparents.

It’s something I don’t think about often. I hardly ever remember my dreams, and of the few I do, 99% of them are just dumb and boring.

So what about you? Do you see yourself in your dreams, or are you a first person shooter like me? Does anyone you know dream in black and white?

Photo of people running via Microsoft Office Images
Game photo via gamingbolt.com 

My Town Monday: Now You’re Cookin’

by Jennette,

One thing Dayton is known for is its history of innovation. And what most people think of relating to this, are inventions over a hundred years old, such as Jame’s Ritty’s cash register, the Wright Brothers’ airplane, and Charles Kettering’s automobile starter.

Lee Smithson and his Water Broiler

That spirit of innovation continues today, much of it in commercial and military research facilities, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory. But one recent innovation I’d never heard of was one I found to be quite helpful in everyday life, and I learned about it on the Dickens of a Christmas tour of the St. Anne’s Hill Historic District, last month.

The final stop on the tour was the beautiful, dramatic Bossler Mansion, where homeowner Lee Smithson gave us an overview of the home’s history. He also told us about what he’s been up to in the twenty-five years he’s lived there.

Mr. Smithson is an accomplished chemist, retired from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. More recently, he owned – and worked – his own catering business, during which time he also created a simple yet elegant piece of cookware just about anyone could use: the Drannan Water Broiler.

No more of this yuck!

He compared the water broiler to the one you get with any new oven. Sure, you can use them, but what about cleaning them?  (That got most people’s attention – UGH.) And how well do those free broilers do the job? Adequately, but overall, those things are about worth what we pay for them, especially when we add in the hassle of washing them – none I’ve ever had fit in a dishwasher, and even with no-stick spray, they are a major PITA to clean!

The primary feature of the Drannan Water Broiler is that it’s made of high quality, stainless steel. The cooking surface is a grille, rather than the slotted metal found in the cheap broilers, and it’s stainless steel, too. I have a stainless steel cookie sheet from years ago, so I knew how nice this would be to bake with – no matter how burnt the cookies are, they never stick to that baking sheet, and metal spatulas don’t hurt it. The other difference in the water broiler was that it’s round. Mr. Smithson’s reasoning was that most, if not all, things cooked on it (i.e., roasts) don’t need those four corners. It’s slightly smaller than the freebie broilers, but plenty big enough for a roast – and that enables it to fit in the dishwasher.

The water broiler comes with another of Mr. Smithson’s inventions, the “Forkula.” It’s like a gripper-spatula, only with tines. It’s also made of stainless steel, and can be used on any grill, as well as with the Water Broiler.

My daughter was sold on it quickly, and talked me into buying one for my husband for Christmas (he’s the one who does most of the cooking, and the daughter does most of the cleaning). They had gift shop tables set up in the mansion, so we bought it there. I could tell DH was skeptical when he opened it, but he gave it a try last week – twice.

The Forkula

We tried chicken breasts and pork chops, both of which we’d normally do on the grill. Both dishes turned out great: properly-cooked, and surprisingly juicy. Putting the water in the broiler pan keeps the food moist, basting it while it cooks. DD wasn’t home the night we cooked the pork, so I cleaned. The fatty drippings wiped right off, the broiler went into the dishwasher with no problem, and came out clean and shiny! The Forkula tongs worked great too. We haven’t tried a roast yet, but I have no doubt it will be yummy when we do!

The Drannan Water Broiler with the Forkula is $65 plus shipping, but IMO it’s worth it. The construction is of very high quality, and I expect this to last many years, if not a lifetime. Mr. Smithson guarantees his products 100%, plus postage both ways. I wouldn’t be surprised if no one had ever taken him up on that offer. The Water Broiler and Forkula can be ordered together or individually on the Drannan Company website. (Just as an FYI, I was not asked for this blog post, and I don’t know Mr. Smithson other than briefly meeting him on the home tour.)

Does the Water Broiler sound like something you’d consider trying – or have you already, and what did you think? Have you recently discovered anything new to help in the kitchen? Please share!

Photos via waterbroiler.com

ROW80: Something that Helped

by Jennette,

One week into ROW80 2012, Round 1, and I’m already learning!

Last week, Kait Nolan posted about the concept of a test mile on the ROW80 blog, and how it can apply to goal setting. Toward the end of the last round, I’d gotten my revision down to the type-in stage, which is when all the changes are marked in the printed manuscript, and all I have left to do is type in the changes. Sounds easy, right?

A typical revision page

The timing of the “test mile” blog was funny, because I’d just figured out the week before how much I could do on a type-in in one hour: ten pages. That doesn’t sound like much, until you see that while many of those pages look like the one on the left, a fair number of them look like the one on the right.

There are all too many that look like this

But what was really great, was I found something else that helped: Breaking a task down into manageable chunks, AND planning the work for each day. I read this on someone else’s blog to plan the work for each day, and sadly, I don’t remember where (if you know, please comment so I can link to them!). From my time management studies earlier this year, I know that I have about an hour to spend each evening on actual writing tasks (writing and revision, as opposed to promo, commenting on blogs and responding to comments on my blog, social media networking, cover art, reading for contests, etc.) I also estimated that I should be able to spend 3-5 hours on Saturday, since I didn’t have much else going on besides putting away the Christmas stuff (done – yay!).

So I broke out five segments of approximately 10 pages each (1-3 scenes), and paperclipped them. That left only 20 pages for my Saturday work. Perfect! I could have fit in more, so left that extra time for reading for a contest, writing this blog a day early, and maybe doing a test mile for my next task: reading my book aloud. This is an important part of my revision process; it’s where I make sure everything reads smoothly, the characters’ thoughts and dialogue are appropriate for who they are and their situation, typos, and making sure I stay true to my writing voice. After that it’ll go to the beta readers.

One thing I see a lot of other ROW80 participants doing that I haven’t is to add in other goals, especially ones relating to social media and blogging,  fitness, and decluttering. So I’ll jump in there, too, and maybe share a bit more about what’s worked for me on those fronts in future updates.

So for this week, my goals are:

  1. Do a “test mile” read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive
  2. Eight hours of read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive, hopefully at least 1/4 of the book
  3. Two blog posts plus a ROW80 update on Sunday
  4. Comment on at least 5 blogs this week
  5. Minimum of 3 status updates or shares on Facebook
  6. Tweet at least once a day
  7. Read one Golden Heart entry
  8. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts (bonus: dog walk or some other activity on one of the other two days)
  9. Declutter my desk top (the real one, not the computer desktop)
  10. Bonus: write one book review on Amazon & B&N

Whether or not you’re a writer, did you set goals this week, and if so, how did you do?

My Addiction: Time Management… Games!

by Jennette,

OK, it’s confession time. No, this is not why Time’s Fugitive is late, but… okay, it might have contributed to it, earlier on. It is one reason why I don’t watch TV. Or if I do, it’s looking up from my computer, where I’m writing, emailing, on HootSuite, or…

It all started with an intrepid waitress named Flo

I admit it. Playing games. I’m addicted. Ironically, to time management games.

For the uninitiated, these usually feature a character doing a job like waitressing or running a small farm, and you have to run the character through all sorts of tasks that must be done quickly, and in a specific order. In the Diner Dash series, and also Emily’s Delicious, another of my favorites, you work at different restaurants. You have to hand out menus, take orders, sometimes fix food, take it to the customers, collect money, and so on. There are different types of customers who have differing patience levels, and if they leave early, you loose points/money (in the game, not real money). If you don’t make enough money in the allotted time, you fail the level. As the levels go on, difficulty and complexity of the tasks increases.  There is a story that goes along with it, usually told in cut scenes between levels or major game segments. They’re fairly pedestrian – after all, it’s about the game play – but some of them are cute. What my husband finds most ironic about my addiction to these games is that they’re about people doing jobs I would be horrible at!

In the Farm Frenzy series, you play as Scarlet, who has farms all over the place - and in time!

It was way too easy to get caught up in this. It all started several years ago, when MSN Games offered Diner Dash 2 for free. Yes, it was online-only – as in, a tiny screen in a web browser window. And there are commercials between levels. But free! And legal! I was hooked. Eventually, I finished out the game, only to find that… it wasn’t finished. MSN only offered nine levels on the free, online game, then wanted to sell you a downloadable game. For $19.95, which I couldn’t justify.

Then I found  crack.com gamehouse.com, where they offer the full, downloadble versions of dozens of games, FREE. Like the MSN trial online version, these have commercials between levels, but they don’t bother me. (With the commercials, I know the developers are being paid, and that’s something I have a vested interest in.) Sure enough, they had Diner Dash – and if I wanted it without commercials, it’s only 6.99 on Gamehouse.  There are many to choose from. Not just time management games, but hidden objects, puzzles, arcade games. All designed to be played in short bursts (hence the name casual games, as opposed to something long-term, like Everquest or WoW).

"It's good to work toward my dream," Emily says. Ummm.... yeah. Now I need to go work on mine.

I don’t stop writing to watch TV. But I do, sometimes, stop to play a round of Farm Frenzy–gotta make that cheese! Which invariably becomes two rounds. Or three. Or… well, you get it.

So there is my big time management challenge… time management games. I’ve been good lately, but it’s involved a great deal of restraint. I don’t let myself play games until after I’ve done a set amount of work on my writing, done my workout for the day, taken care of paperwork or whatever else needs to be done around the house, checked and responded to email and so on. But sometimes I do slip up and play before the work is done. Then I get back to the work, and it’s that much longer before it’s finished. I admit, I had to get in a round of Delicious: Emily’s Tea Garden before writing this blog – and now it’s 10:30 PM. But the writing got done first!

So tell me. Do you like casual games, and if so, which ones? Or are you more into the more involved games, or… not at all – maybe your addiction is something else, like TV? Is it an effort for you to stay away from your addiction until you get things done? Please share, and tell me I’m not alone! I’ll stop back later… after I’ve served some customers!

Happy Nude Year! Or, Words We Mishear

by Jennette,

Happy Nude Year!

One of my friends from college has a funny and slightly unique way of wishing people good tiding for the upcoming year: Happy Nude Year! She’s been saying this for years, and my husband and I often use it ourselves. Yet probably three fourths of the people we say it to don’t hear what we say. Granted, it’s close to the original, but the “D” in “nude” is definitely discernible – and our friends are not hard of hearing! Those who do hear it usually laugh. Others just return the standard greeting and go on their way. I guess it’s like proofreading something you’ve written – you miss a lot of mistakes, because you see what you expect. People hear what they expect.

On another note, I’ve finished the markup of Time’s Fugitive.  (Can we have a round of applause, please? Okay, I’ll settle for the sound of one hand clapping – mine.) Now all I need to do is type it in, read it aloud, refine and polish… sheesh, I’m getting tired again already. But really, the biggest part of the revision work is now done.

For New Year’s Eve, DH and I will spend a nice, relatively quiet evening with the neighbors. We can drink all we want without having to worry about driving, especially given that it’s amateur night for that. After owning a bar for over ten years, it’s nice to not have to go out.

What are you doing for New Year’s? Got any funny variations on common phrases to share? In any case, have a happy 2012 – and a happy nude year, too!

Illustration via Microsoft Office Images

My Town Monday: Serving Those who Served for the Holidays

by Jennette,

Veterans line up for a homemade meal at the AMVETS monthly luncheon

On the third Saturday of every month, our AMVETS chapter takes a variety of delicious, homemade foods to the Dayton VA Medical Center and serves lunch to dozens of resident veterans. The vets always appreciate the good food, and after lunch, the AMVETS host Bingo, which the vets always meet with enthusiasm.

During the holidays, the AMVETS make the December luncheon extra special, with a visit from Santa, a care package stocking for each vet, and entertainment.

The vets eat while the girls sing

I’m the chauffeur for the entertainment: my daughter and whichever friend(s) can join her. This year, one of her choir friends came along, and they sang several Christmas songs. My daughter played flute for a few while her friend sang, too. Even though they messed up a few times, no one seemed to notice or care. The vets, as well as the AMVETS serving lunch, gave the girls a hearty round of applause. Even though all I did was drive the girls out there, it’s a good feeling to contribute to something that makes the day a little merrier for those who served us and sacrificed so much.

Of course, it’s just one of many activities our local AMVETS chapter does to give a little back to their fellow vets who are less fortunate, health-wise.

Do you participate in any special charitable activities over the holidays – or all year long?

More at the My Town Monday blog

Goals, and Facing Facts

by Jennette,

On a positive note, I again reached my writing goals this week, although partly because they changed. I finished the type-in through Chapter 11, then marked up Chapters 18 and 19, but decided against sending the first half to the beta readers at this point.

Time's Fugitive book cover

Coming in FEBRUARY!

Because it’s time to face facts and come clean: Time’s Fugitive is going to be late. I’d wanted to release it about now; that’s not even close to happening. There were two reasons for this: 1) earlier on in this challenge, I wasn’t focused enough and tended to push the work aside when it was just too hard. The other, more insidious problem was that I grossly underestimated the amount of time this revision would take. My estimate was based on the revisions for Time’s Enemy, and while the lengths are similar, Time’s Enemy had already undergone several exhaustive revisions before I discovered Holly Listle’s How to Revise Your Novel system. So the Time’s Enemy revision was relatively painless, but Time’s Fugitive needed a lot more work, for me to make it into the book I wanted, with the quality that I’ve committed to delivering to my readers.

One thing this challenge has taught me is what is a more realistic goal, and how to set that goal while taking in mind what else I have going on that week. This week, I knew I had two holiday events to attend today, plus decorating (my tree’s still not up :facepalm:) and getting Christmas cards out. I met my goal this week, but it wasn’t a super-aggressive one. It wasn’t easy, but it was doable.

So that’s what I’ve learned through this challenge. The eighty days of ROW80 ends on December 22, so for my final writing goal, I’m going to keep it simple: one more chapter marked up. How about you? What have you learned lately about what you’re capable of, whether or not you’re a writer, or participating in ROW80?

More Holiday Stress-busters

by Jennette,

We all have too much to do during the holidays. So much that, for many, a time that’s supposed to be filled with fun, friends, and laughter ends up being filled with tension, anger, and resentment – maybe even stress-induced illnesses. I remember my mom being sick on many a Christmas. Now I know that it was probably stress-induced – she has fibromyalgia, so would be even more susceptible to this than most people.

So how can we reduce the stress, while still having fun and making things meaningful for our loved ones? I touched on a couple of ways in my ROW80 update post, last Sunday. Here are a few other tricks I’ve tried:

Parties and other time-commitments
For many people, there are simply too many of them! Sometimes, they even conflict, forcing us to choose – and possibly disappoint someone. I can’t speak to that situation – it will be unique depending on you, and the others involved. But sometimes there are simply too many commitments and they’re keeping you from doing other important things – like spending time with your family, doing the job that pays the bills, and oh yeah, that shopping. So do you really need to go to every one of those parties? Ask yourself these questions about each one:

  • If I don’t go, will someone be disappointed or hurt?
  • Are there people there I care about, who won’t understand why I can’t make it?
  • If I don’t go, will it adversely impact me (for example, career or business issues)?
  • Are these people who don’t live nearby, and whom I don’t see at other times of the year?
  • Do I really want to go? (<- This one’s important!)

If you answered NO to these questions, then skip it!

Shipping Gifts

Just say no to waiting at the post office!

I am blessed to have my close family nearby, so I’m not as affected by this as many. But I do know if I was, I’d be planning ahead – and doing all I could to avoid the post office. There are never fewer than ten people in line at mine on any day, and near the holidays, the place is a madhouse! I think I’d almost rather go to the mall; it’s that bad. Of course, the number one key is to plan ahead and get things taken care of early. But aside from that, the good news is (at least for those in the U.S.), most of the time, you CAN avoid the post office! And I don’t mean paying the higher prices at a commercial shipper either. All you need is a computer, a good quality printer, label paper, a credit or debit card, and maybe a postal scale to take advantage of two AWESOME services provided by the US Postal Service: Click ‘n Ship, and Carrier Pickup. Just set up an account at www.usps.com, type in the address info, weight, etc. Enter your credit card, and the system will automatically generate a label with the proper bar codes, tracking info, etc. that you can print on single-sheet labels and stick on those packages. Use the free boxes the USPS provides for Priority Mail and Express Mail – go in and grab some after hours, or even if you brave the parking lot, you can at least skip the line. It gets better – after you print your label, you can schedule a pickup at your home for the day you ship your package – for free! The 13-ounce, must-hand-to-a-postal-employee rule doesn’t apply either: they have your info in their database, so they know you’re OK. You don’t even need to be home for them to pick up your packages. I’ve had them pick up 17 boxes at a time once – no problem! I haven’t been to the PO in months, if not longer; and then it’s only to check my PO box.

Let Shutterfly do those holiday cards!

Holiday Cards
Christmas cards are my bane. A lot of people just buy a box of cheapies from Wal-mart or wherever, sign them, and send them off. If you’re one of them, then you’re ahead of the game. The only way to speed up from that is to simply not send any. I do know people who don’t, and I’m envious. Yet I do send them, for a couple reasons. One, they help me keep in touch with people I might otherwise not, but want to; and two, they’re a Big Deal to my husband. Even though I don’t think he ever sent a Christmas card before we met. They are his opportunity to brag, and in years past, I used my Graphic Artist Skillz to design a custom card with our photos on it, print them up in our printer, print the envelopes up….  it was awful! I’m a good designer, but I don’t work fast, so this was a huge time-suck from the get-go. Then they would invariably be a pain in the butt to print, jam the printer every other card, run the printer out of ink or toner… you name it. Last year I said, no more! Instead, I asked my husband and daughter to pick out photos they wanted to include, and I purchased digital licensing for the photo we had taken of our dogs a few weeks ago, a free sitting at the PetWants store grand opening. I uploaded the bunch to Shutterfly, picked out a design, and click! Cards on the way. I got a lovely box of them in four days, and with coupons, they were under $1.00 a card. With the cost of card stock (not to mention the aggravation factor), the ones I did at home probably weren’t any cheaper. Instead of printing the envelopes, which always seem to jam, I’ll print labels. My husband can then sticker and stamp ’em, and they’ll be good to go. If you really have more money than time, Shutterfly will even address and mail them for you, but this wasn’t available with my coupons, so I’ll do that part myself.

Holiday Newsletters: These are an artifact from a time before email, Facebook, free long distance, and texting. Do most of the people you’d send a newsletter to already keep in touch via the above? Then give yourself permission to Just Say No!

Baking: just say no – or pick up something they’ll really like, like I mentioned in Sunday’s post.

Santa still wraps, but he uses gift bags, too!

Gift Wrapping: If it’s free at the store where you bought it, and the line is short (or you’ve got time), use it! A lot of malls and specialty stores have Girl Scouts or similar groups offering gift wrapping for a small donation. Another tip is to use gift bags! As Melinda VanLone commented on my Sunday post, they take only a few seconds – and they’re reusable! While I do wrap some presents, especially those that won’t fit well in a gift bag, I also use a lot of gift bags. I hardly ever buy them – almost all of mine once contained gifts to me, my husband, or our daughter. My brother has a weird habit of unwrapping presents by meticulously removing every piece of tape with as little damage to the paper as possible. It takes him at least a half hour to open one present, and it drives everyone nuts. From me, he gets all his presents in gift bags – a double benefit!

Online shopping: Avoid the crowds, lines, and craziness – and save time! Do it online. My favorite store is Amazon.com. In many cases, you’ll also save money – their prices are tough to beat, there’s no sales tax (fair or no), and most things will ship for free if you spend over $25. It takes a little planning ahead, but otherwise, what’s not to like?

The best tip of all? Do as Flylady says: plan ahead, do a little bit every day, and BUDGET your money – that way you won’t be as stressed for the holidays now, and you won’t be stressed when the bills come later!

Got any more holiday stress-busters to share? As much as these make it look like I have a handle on things, there’s always some last minute gift I forgot, commitment I didn’t plan on, and extra stuff to do, so I’m always looking for more ways to make the holidays fun for everyone, and as stress-free as possible!

My Town Monday: A Dickens of A Christmas

by Jennette,

This past Friday night, my daughter and I went back in time. Well, not really, and certainly not like the characters in my books, but in a figurative sense, with help from the residents and volunteers of the St. Anne’s Hill Historic Society.

48 High St. Gallery

Every year since 1986, the group has conducted a tour of homes in their historic Dayton neighborhood. It includes a walking tour of the area, led by tour guides in capes and top hats. Most of the homes are from the Victorian era or the early 20th century, and are lavishly decorated. The homeowners were friendly and enthusiastic, and happy to tell their homes’ stories and answer visitors’ questions. All who were asked, permitted us to take photos inside as well.

Our tour started at 5PM, when it was getting dark, so none of the photos I took turned out well. So most of the photos shown are from the St. Anne’s Hill website, which features a very cool online tour. The 2011 “Dickens of a Christmas” Tour started at the 48 High Street Gallery, which is home to the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors.

The first residence in the St. Anne's Hill neighborhood

St. Anne’s Hill was one of the first neighborhoods plotted outside of the immediate downtown area, by Daniel Cooper, one of the early city planners, in the early nineteenth century (sources vary on exactly when this happened). The first reference to the area as “St. Anne’s Hill” appeared in newspaper ads for a greenhouse in the early 1830s. Where the name came from remains unknown.

A Swedish botanist named Eugene Dutoit built the first residence, a farmhouse, on his 111-acre farm and orchard on the north side of Fifth Street. The original house still stands at 222 Dutoit Street.

The Dragon House

One of the first homes we visited was called “the Dragon House.” Located at 629 McLain, the turn-of-the-century Victorian house was called such because it once had a metal dragon figure mounted above the porch (if I recall the story correctly). The homeowner still has the dragon, stashed away in the basement waiting to be restored. What was really cool, was the address numbers were formed of dragons! Unfortunately, my photo didn’t turn out, and they’re too small to see in this one. The interior of the home sports some amazing woodwork, that reminded me of the interiors of the Piatt Castles. It was also full of beautiful, restored antique furniture. My daughter says she wants to buy the Dragon House. I told her she’d better win the lottery LOL. However, there was a flyer lying on the newel post that stated the owner is planning to put it up for sale this spring.

The majority of the neighborhood was built by craftsmen and industrialists. When the original Dutoit farm was split up and developed, much of the houses were smaller, simpler homes for working-class families. With original construction dates ranging from the 1830s to the 1960s (just a few of those!), there’s a lot of diversity in the architecture, yet it all goes together.

The Bossler Mansion

It was interesting to see how some of the homes were decorated, furnished, and remodeled inside, particularly the three smaller homes we visited on Henry Street. These had very contemporary-styled decor, or an eclectic mix of antique and modern furnishings. All of the kitchens and bathrooms (that we saw) had been updated, and some were very modern. My daughter was drooling at the claw-footed bathtubs in some of the homes.

The tour concluded at the Bossler Mansion, where servers in Victorian garb served coffee and homemade bread pudding. This Second Empire-style home was built in 1869 by Marcus Bossler, a builder and stone worker, who lost the home a few years later in order to avoid bankruptcy caused by another project. The mansion was later divided into thirteen apartments, several of which were still occupied when Lee Smithson, the current owner, purchased the house in 1980. Mr. Smithson spent the next five years overseeing a complete restoration, doing much of the work himself. An accomplished chemist retired from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Mr. Smithson is also a foodie, and has catered numerous weddings and other events at the Bossler Mansion. He resides in the third floor, and even allowed visitors into his personal space. This included the cupola, from which we could see a dramatic view of the city – probably one of the best around!

If you live in the area and are interested in history, the St. Anne’s Hill Christmas tour is a must-see. I’d like to go again, preferably during daylight hours so I can get a better view of the homes’ exteriors and maybe some decent photos. The $20 tour admission was money well spent, and will go toward the Historic Society’s continued work in preserving their neighborhood.

If you’re in the Dayton area, have you ever toured St. Anne’s Hill? I’ve done my own driving tours before, as one of my books’ main  characters lives there (in 1905, on a fictitious street). Walking the neighborhood and talking with the residents adds a whole new perspective! If you don’t live in the area, does your town offer something similar, and have you taken advantage of the opportunity?

More at the My Town Monday blog