Come Take a Ride on the Smile Train

The latest edition of Smile for the Camera is posted! Check out all the photos submitted for the word prompt, "travel". I think you'll enjoy the ride!

When you're done, consider submitting a photo for next edition. With the holidays in mind, the word prompt is, "gift". I'm already mulling over the possibilities... I have until the deadline of December 10th to decide. Hmmm...

What the COG Means to Me, The Writer

I like a challenge. I like research challenges and I like writing challenges. The Carnival of Genealogy provides me with the opportunity to take on both challenges. And I get to do it twice a month :-)

As a writer, I like to craft a story, write a persuasive argument, present a researched topic proving or disproving a theory, spin a tale, wax poetic, pen an essay, and even write song lyrics on occasion. I can do all those things in the COG. It gives me a chance to stretch my wings and get creative.

I strive to write better and I'm driven by passion. I want to rise to the challenge! I want to record my family history and I want to do it in style, a nice style. The COG helps me do that. I always enjoy writing on the topics I pick for each edition, but I've probably been most challenged to write on the topics that my guest hosts have chosen. The military/war themes are the hardest for me to write about. I don't have a strong history of military service in my family which makes it difficult for me to find individuals to write about. But I do it.

The thing I most appreciate about the COG is the friends I have made along the way. I feel a bond, a camaraderie with my fellow participants. I learn from their comments and by their examples, not just about writing, but about life. It makes the whole online experience so much richer when you have friends you truly feel connected to. My life is richer, for all those I have met via the COG. It's been very rewarding.

The COG has benefited me in other ways too. It brought more traffic to my blog, helped me "find my voice", introduced me to many, many wonderful genealogy writers, taught me a great deal about genealogy research sources that I have never had reason to use, ...and it gave me deadlines! LOL! Where would we be without deadlines to make us get things done?

I have to share with you a list of some my favorite editions of the COG. I have many "favorites" but here are just a few...

• #21 Funny, Foolish, Family - Any time I need a good belly laugh I re-read this edition of the COG. It is funny from start to finish. I enjoyed writing my mom's story about her "First Time Driving" a car but the other articles in this edition are even better. It's a hoot!
• #31 Halloween and the Supernatural - This collection of articles would make a fantastic book! Reading this edition will make you laugh, make you cry, creep you out, and make you pause and reflect. You should make reading this edition an annual Halloween tradition! I wrote, "I Prefer a Happy Not a Haunted Halloween".
  
• #45 Cars as Stars of our Family History - Another classic! And to think that I hemmed and hawed for months before deciding to go with this topic. I should have done it sooner (and probably again)! Great cars, wonderful memories, a real delight to read. I wrote about my first car, "It was an Ugly Car!"
• #47 A Place Called Home - This was a very popular edition and with it we traveled around the world to famous places, remote villages, and everywhere in between. We each got to write about the home town of our ancestors and we did it very well. This edition, maybe more than any other, showed off our research skills. I amazed myself with how much information I was able to come up with about the tiny village in Poland where my Lipa family came from, "A Place Called Home, Bobrowa, Poland".
• #61 Traditions - This is the stuff that makes our family histories rich. These articles took me inside the homes and lives of the participant's families and made me feel a part of their heritage. Wonderful, wonderful, read. I wrote, "Wigilia, A Polish Tradition".

Besides these, I've also really enjoyed the editions about women's history (#20, #24, #44, #48, #68, #72) and the swimsuit editions (#49, #74) but I can't choose a favorite among them.

I have written for all 83 previous editions of the Carnival of Genealogy. I look forward to many more to come. I hope you will join me!

What the COG Means to Me, The Hostess

Since I have the unique perspective of being the creator and primary hostess of the Carnival of Genealogy and it's most prolific writer (I've never missed writing for a COG edition), I'm going to take the liberty of writing two articles this time around. This first one will be reflections on being the hostess and the next one will be on being a contributing author.

So what does the COG mean to me, the hostess? Work! Lots of work! LOL!

Although I've put a lot of time and effort into the COG over the years, I can honestly say it has been a labor of love. I've really enjoyed seeing the Carnival of Genealogy grow from one person's attempt to canvas the internet for several articles on a given topic to an entire community of people contributing well researched, well written, educational, touching, humorous, instructional, and entertaining articles on specific genealogy-related themes. My, my, how it has grown!

Topics
My biggest challenge early on and again recently has been choosing topics. It's harder than you think! I've tried to vary the topics so they don't all feel like variations on a theme. But I know enough about genealogy researchers and the blogging community to know that not everyone brings the same research experience, writing talent, or depth of family history knowledge to the table. Trying to find topics that have a broad general appeal but are at the same time fresh ideas is a struggle. And with the recent rise in themed writing projects of all sorts, it's made topic selection even more difficult.

Have I ever been totally stumped for topic ideas? Oh heavens, YES! You'd be surprised how often I've sat drumming my fingers at the 11th hour trying to decide what to write for the call for submissions. I can honestly say that some of the more popular topics were those "last minute" theme ideas. Sometimes the pressure of a deadline can be a good thing ;-)

I got to be a pretty good judge of how popular a topic would be by watching the submissions come in. If I'd picked a good topic the articles would start almost immediately. If people were enthusiastic they didn't procrastinate with their writing. If the topic was a bomb, the submissions would trickle in with the bulk of them coming just before the deadline. That changed after the whole daily/weekly blogging theme thing became popular. After that the genea-blogging community had so many ideas of what to write about tossed at them the COG more or less got lost in the shuffle. Often people were submitting articles right before the deadline not because the topic was a bomb but because they were just too busy to get to it sooner. I can't use the pattern of submissions as a barometer of a topic anymore.

Writing Talent
One of the things I've enjoyed most over the years is watching participant's writing talent develop. The more "better writers" that have participated in the COG the more they have inspired us all to be "better writers" by example. Some have developed more than others and that's OK. Everyone doesn't strive to better their writing (but they should ;-). But I strive to encourage better writing. It's something I believe in as much as I believe in honing research techniques, learning about genealogy resources, or recording family history in various forms.

Promotion
There have been times when I've felt like the guy in the midway hawking his game... "step right up ladies and gentlemen and win yourselves a Cupie doll" only I was hawking the COG, asking people to contribute articles and promote the COG on their blogs. This was and continues to be very hard for me. I'm not a self promoter by nature. Even though the COG is made up of the contributions of others it still feels like my baby to me. It's hard for me to say, "Come by and read the COG". I'm much more comfortable in the roll of cheerleader, promoting those authors who participate in the COG, within the COG.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped promote the COG on Facebook and Twitter but especially those who promote the Carnival of Genealogy on their blogs. I always appreciate your links! I'm going to go outside my comfort zone and ask you to please continue to spread the word about the COG when you can. The more publicity the COG gets the more notoriety the writers will achieve. And that benefits everyone :-) The tweets and FB updates are nice but they don't help with search engine rankings or listings. If you want to do the most good for the COG, please continue to write about it and link to it from your blogs. Thanks!

Community
We have a wonderful group of authors who contribute to the COG, but more than that we have a great community of genealogy researchers and writers who are supportive, encouraging, helpful, creative, and very talented. I never cease to be impressed with the character of the people in our online genealogy community and I applaud those who rise to the challenge of writing for the COG. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!

Changes
Over the years there have been only a few changes in the COG. I started having guest hosts on a regular basis, I stopped writing intros, and I published future topics ahead of time. Some changes worked better than others ;-) I've had other ideas for the COG too but I've hesitated to mess with a formula that was working. The time is coming for more changes though. Change is sometimes scary (and I'm feeling that) and sometimes exciting (I'm feeling that too) and always inevitable. With the New Year knocking on the door it seems like a good time to be introducing those changes that will happen with the arrival of 2010. But I'm not going to do that here and now. You'll have to stay tuned to learn more.

My Thanks
I'm going to end by saying thanks to everyone who has contributed articles to the Carnival of Genealogy over the past 83 editions. If not for you all, the COG wouldn't be. I wish I'd kept track of everyone who has participated so that I could thank each of you personally for your contributions, but it simply didn't occur to me to do so. Please know that I appreciate all your hard work and your willingness to share the personal stories of your life and your ancestors. Your stories are the threads that have been woven into the wonderful tapestry that is the COG. You have made it great!

Thank you to everyone who reads the Carnival of Genealogy. And an extra special thanks to those who take the time to leave a comment for me and for those who write the articles. WE ALL REALLY APPRECIATE YOU! Please keep the comments coming. You've no idea how rewarding it is to hear a few words of praise, thanks, or a question, from a reader. Believe me, it's appreciated!

I would also like to say thanks again to all of the guest hosts of the COG. You have been there for me when I was burned out, when I needed a vacation, when there was illness and even deaths in my family. You have taken a load off when it was needed most and I am very grateful. I couldn't have kept it up this long without you!

And last but not least, thank you to those of you who I have turned to for advice. You know who you are. Your input has been invaluable to me. Everyone that I asked for help came through for me. You were sounding boards, advice givers, supporters, suggestion makers, cheerleaders, and best of all, friends. I appreciate your honesty and your willingness to help a friend. I am truly blessed to have you in my life. Thank you.

And now I have to end this. It's starting to sound like I'm saying goodbye or something and I'm not! I just wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my thoughts and gratitude. Long live the COG! It's been a helluva ride!

And thanks fM for all the terrific posters! There have been so many times when I thought I'd stumped you for sure but you always came through with a great visual. Kudos!

True Confessions of One Who Is Polish Language Challenged

How many of you know how to pronounce your surname? What about your great grandfather's surname? Can you pronounce the name of the town where they lived? Ok, ok, those of you with surnames like Seaver, West, Palmer, Wiseman, Manson, and Midkiff are probably rolling your eyes about now. But there are a whole cadre of us who have never heard the proper ethnic pronunciation of the surnames of our ancestors and the villages where they lived. As one who finds herself Polish-language challenged, I can tell you it's very frustrating!

I took Polish language classes for 3+ years but never got beyond conjugating verbs in 3 of the 7 cases. Most of what I've learned, I've forgotten, because as they say, "if you don't use it you lose it". I've been told I have excellent pronunciation for a non-native speaker but I still get tongue tied when I come up against some of those long Polish surnames with 8 consonants and 2 vowels. And city and village names? Fagitaboudit!

So when I came across Donna's post about a web site where you can have text converted to audio, in Polish, I clicked on over right away. And then I spent the next hour or so learning how to properly pronounce the surnames way back on my family tree and the villages my ancestors were from. I know what you're thinking... how could I not know that? Well, the surnames of ancestors who were only a generation or two back were no problem because I heard my parents say their names. But farther back than that... they never came up in conversation. Surnames aren't the only problem. How would you pronounce Uncle Wawrzyniec? And no, that's not a surname it's a first name! Here's an easier one for you. Do you know how to pronounce Jasia or my dog, Kaj?

Some of the surnames in my family are pronounced pretty much the way you'd guess, like Furman, Adamski, and Lisowski. But others like Łanucha, Mołecki, and even the first name Anna might surprise you. And in all the many times you've read the surname Lipa on this blog, you probably didn't mentaly pronounce that correctly either.


Expressivo has instantly become one of my favorite web sites. I can see myself making good use of it in blog posts to come! If you're Polish-language challenged like I am, you'll really appreciate Expressivo!

Thanks for pointing me to this wonderful site Donna!

Honoring A Very Special Veteran

It all started with a holy card (funeral card) that my dear cousin ME sent me. This is the card of which I speak. One year ago today I wrote Won't You Help Me Honor This Veteran? and asked for help researching military records.


As you can see, the card is a memorial to Chester Louis Lipa. Chester died at a young age while in the military. The thing that caught my interest was the handwritten notation on the top, "Son of Michael". I pondered that and then checked my Legacy database. Sure enough, my Granduncle Michael Lipa had a son named Chester. The problem was, Chester shows up in the 1920 Census as being a year old while the Chester of the holy card wasn't born until 1930. Obviously this was a different Chester Lipa, one I didn't have in my database.

I've written about Chester Louis Lipa a couple times over the last year as I've tried to figure out where he fits on my family tree. The holy card was passed down to ME from her mother and probably originally belonged to her grandmother, my dear Grandaunt Josephine Lipa Ronowski (my father's Godmother), who I've also written about before. So there was no doubt in my mind that there was a family tie to Chester. I just had to figure it out.

I got some help from dear online friends Tex and Chris Dunham (thanks again guys!) who helped me get started. Chris discovered that Chester was killed in a train wreck and sent me a link to the index for Lousiana Death Records :-) . And Tex sent me a couple newspaper articles describing the train wreck. I learned the names of Chester's parents, Stanley Lipa and Anna Sulima, from these sources but discovered they weren't in my database either. Or were they?

I did have a second cousin twice removed whose name was Stanley (Stanislaw) Lipa and he was the right age to have a son born in 1930. I didn't have any other information on him though. So I did some online searching and found a few bits and pieces of information here and there, and potentially a "new cousin" in Virginia if in fact I could tie Chester in to my family tree. My dear friend Waleria did an obit lookup for me at the Detroit Public Library (thanks Waleria!) which gave me more bits and pieces. But try as I may I couldn't find conclusive evidence that proved that my second cousin twice removed, Stanley Lipa, was the same Stanley Lipa that fathered Chester Louis Lipa. What I needed was the marriage record of Stanley Lipa and Anna Sulima because that would name Stanley's parents.

So after exhausting all my other options, I wrote out a check to the State of Michigan for $26 and requested the marriage license of Stanley and Anna. I'm not a cheap person, but I would go bankrupt if I wrote out those checks for everyone of my second cousins twice removed, if you know what I mean. ;-)

The marriage license came in the mail a few weeks later and I finally had the evidence to prove a relationship. The Stanley Lipa who fathered Chester was in fact my second cousin twice removed, making Chester Louis Lipa my third cousin once removed.

So now that I've established the family tie, I'm honored to share with you what I've learned about my cousin, Chester Louis Lipa.

Chester was the first of two sons born to Stanley and Anna Lipa. He was born on March 11, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan. His younger brother Anthony was born nine years later on August 2, 1939. The family lived at 2314 Whalen Street in Hamtramck, Michigan when Chester was born. It was right in the heart of a solidly working class Polish neighborhood.

I don't have any information on Chester's grade school years. If the family continued living in Hamtramck, it's likely they would have attended the nearby Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church or St. Ladislaus Roman Catholic Church. However, at the time of Chester's death in 1951, his parents were living at 11151 Findlay in Detroit and the family could have moved several times in between.

Chester attended the Holy Cross Missionary School at Watertown, Wisconsin and planned to enter a seminary in Milwaukee. He joined the US Marine Corps in 1948. He served a year and then took a job in the office of the Chrysler Corp. Jefferson Ave. plant. He was recalled to active duty in December 1950 and was working as a clerk in battalion headquarters at Camp LeJune, North Carolina just prior to the train accident that would take his life. Two days before Chester died, his family received $30 of his Marine Corps pay to be saved for his education as a priest along with a short note indicating that he was bound for San Diego, California and then on to Korea or Japan.

Corporal Chester Louis Lipa was one of two Marines killed when the troop transport train he was riding in (carrying 300 Marines) crashed head on with a passenger train near New Roads, Louisiana (60 miles NW of Baton Rouge) about 7 a.m. August 10, 1951. The passenger train had left Kansas City a day earlier and was southbound for New Orleans. The troop train was heading northbound out of New Orleans on route to San Diego. Newspaper accounts at the time reported a good deal of confusion with varying counts on the number of dead and injured. Some bodies charred beyond recognition (including Chester's) were not recovered and identified until the next day. In all, it seems that 8 people lost their lives and some 30 others were injured. One of those killed was a young boy of 8 who was hit by a car while riding his horse on the way to see the train crash.

A June 2009 Newsletter of the Midwest Province of the Brothers of Holy Cross, lists Jubilarians celebrating their years of religious life. The five 60-Yr Jubilarians would have been colleagues of Chester at the Holy Cross Missionary School in Watertown, Wisconsin. If not for the train crash on that fateful day, we might be reading about Chester's life on those pages as well.

Rest in peace, dear cousin. I wrote this in your honor, on this Veteran's Day, that you may live on in the hearts and minds of your family, friends, and those who never knew you.

Transportation Motor City Style

The prompt for this month's Smile for the Camera carnival is, "transportation". I had sooo many ideas for this prompt but in the end my Motor City roots reigned supreme. Here is a picture of my dear mother and father in law as they were leaving their wedding reception on June 6, 1953 somewhere near or in Barnesboro, PA where they were married. The decorated car behind them transported them to their honeymoon in the Wisconsin Dells and to and from work at Murry Ohio Mfg. Co, in Cleveland, OH (they both worked at the same place).


Later, my father in law worked for Ford Motor Company from 1966 until he retired in 1993. He was an engineer in the Manufacturing and Development Lab where he specialized in new welding technology. He has several patents in his name. You could say he engineered transportation!

A New Magazine With A Shady Past

I just love it when I have good news to share. I am delighted to share with you a new online magazine created by my dear friend, footnoteMaven. Her wonderful blog Shades of the Departed has become a magazine... and what a lovely magazine it is! Anyone with an interest in photography and family history will find this magazine helpful and delightful. There's a wonderful collection of articles that will teach you how, amuse you, educate you, and leave you wanting more, more, more!

Click the image to go to the magazine on the Shades blog!

Carnival of Genealogy, 83rd Edition

The 83rd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is posted! The topic for this edition is: Musical Instruments. Janet Iles, of Janet the Researcher, is the hostess this time around and she did a super job with this edition (thank you Janet!!!). The topic was very popular and there are many submissions, all heartfelt stories of music, instruments, and family. Pour yourself a mug of hot cider and head on over for a good read. Your toe will be tapping before you're through!

I've made a change in topic for the next edition of the COG over what was listed on my side bar for most of this year, so pay attention ladies and gents!

Call for Submissions!
The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: What the Carnival of Genealogy has meant to you.

The COG has been published twice a month for over three years now, 83 editions thus far! It's covered a wide variety of topics and introduced many, many new bloggers and even a new carnival. Here's an opportunity to look back and reflect on when you first discovered the COG and when you first participated in it.

• What was your favorite topic to write about?
• Have you guest hosted the COG?
• Is there an article you've read in the COG that stands out in your mind?
• What have you learned from reading or writing for the COG?
• Have you ever recommended the COG to anyone?
• If you haven't participated in the COG thus far, why not?
• How has the COG helped your family history research?
• Has it impacted your life in any way?

Share your COG experience with us and please indicate the number of COG editions you've participated in at the end of your article.

The deadline for submissions is November 15th and the next edition (#84) will return home here at the Creative Gene blog.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Thanks for the poster, fM!

PBS Documentary on the Polar Bears of WWI

A documentary on the Polar Bears of WWI will air this Sunday, November 8 at 3pm on Detroit's public television station. The "Polar Bears" were a group of Michigan WWI soldiers who fought against the Russians in frigid conditions near the arctic circle. The movie was filmed last January in Michigan's upper peninsula where frigid conditions resembled those experienced in Russia during WWI.

You can read more about the movie making and the actors involved in the project here. The documentary, Voices of a Never Ending Dawn, has it's own web site here.

Wypominki at St. Hedwig Cemetery

Yesterday, Nov. 1, was the Wypominki held at St. Hedwig Cemetery in Dearborn Heights, MI. It was co-sponsored by the WSDPAHS and the PGSM. The prayer service was held at the mausoleum and there were over 70 people in attendance. Among those participating were my friends Valerie, who made the yummy "soul cakes", and Ceil, who gave a very heartfelt plea to those in attendance to record what we know about the Polish immigrants in our families. She reminded us that we need to record what we remember about them so that they will live on not only in our hearts and minds but in the minds of younger family members who never knew them.


Following the prayer service, Ceil took everyone outside to demonstrate the traditional cleaning of a grave.

After the service I visited my parent's graves,


And snapped a few photos of the autumn leaves and candle-topped graves.





It was a lovely service honoring the memory of the deceased members of our families. I'm so glad I was able to attend!

The Magic in Grandma's Parlor

My 5 year old brain could not process what my eyes were seeing and my ears were hearing. "It's magic", my brother told me, and I had to believe it. I stared and stared, fascinated as only a curious child can be. It didn't make sense but then magic never does, does it? I remember thinking my grandma was the luckiest person ever to have something so magical in her home. Boy, wouldn't I like to have one of those for my very own. Imagine, a piano that plays all by itself!

Even at the age of 5 I knew you had to use your fingers to play a piano. But right before my eyes was evidence to the contrary. How could that piano be playing all by itself? The keys danced up and down, up and down, several at a time even! And as the keys danced you could hear the most beautiful melody. I'm not sure if I was more fascinated with the keys moving up and down by themselves or the song that was playing. I'd sat at that piano many times in my short life and plunked away at the keys, making sounds that my mom and grandma used to cringe at. It was just a big version of the piano I had at home. Or so I thought. I had no idea the piano was magical and could play by itself!

I rattled off questions as fast as they popped into my head. "How does it do that?", "How does it know which keys to press down?", "How did it decide to play that song?", "Does it know any other songs?", "Why didn't it play like that when I sat at it?", "Can we get one for our house?", "Please, please, please, mommy!"

As my mom sat at the piano with the parlor blanket over her lap she explained to me that this was no ordinary piano, it was a player piano. When the song ended she explained that there were foot pedals in the bottom of the piano and then she pulled the blanket back to show them to me.

"You pump the pedals and it makes the piano roll go around", she explained.

"What's a piano roll?"

"It a paper scroll with holes in it." She opened the little doors with knobs on them on the front of the piano. I'd opened those same doors before but never saw a paper scroll with holes in it.

"Where did the piano roll come from?"

"Grandma has a whole bunch of them in the closet."

"Let's play more, mommy. Can we?"

"Let's play this one again and then we'll play a different one", she replied.

"Where did those pedals come from? I've never seen them before."

"They're hidden behind this door. You have to pull this lever to open the door and pull them out." She pointed to a lever under the keyboard that I'd never noticed before.

"Can I pump the pedals, mommy?! Please!"

"You can try, but I don't think your legs are long enough to reach the pedals yet."

I did try and my legs weren't long enough to reach the pedals when seated. If I leaned back against the piano bench with my elbows braced on top I could just reach the pedals but I didn't have enough weight or muscle to pump them. They required quite a bit of effort as I would learn in later years once my feet did reach the pedals.

That magical player piano was a gift to my grandmother Sophie Mizera Lisowski, from my grandfather Vincent Lisowski, on her 31st birthday (June 1925). My mom, who would have been almost 7 at the time, remembered the day the piano was delivered. It was quite a novelty and the talk of their immigrant working class neighborhood. At that point in time, my grandparents had been married for 9 years, and had 3 children. It had been 12 years since my grandmother immigrated to the USA from Poland, 13 years for my grandfather.

The piano was a Bush and Lane Cecilian. My grandfather paid $1075.00 for it. The receipt indicates that my grandfather put $300 down on it and the other side of the receipt shows he paid the remaining $775.00 three months later in September of 1925.

BUSH & LANE CECILIAN

This famous name, which has been known in the piano players' industry for a score of years, is owned by the Bush & Lane Piano Co. and is used to designate the players' pianos of the Bush & Lane and Victor lines. The Cecilian players' action, manufactured exclusively by the Bush & Lane Piano Co., contains many valuable improvements and special features to humanize the playing that is not found in other players. It's ease of operation. It's freedom from trouble, its responsiveness to the controls that enable the operator to produce artistic musical effects place the Cecilian in a class by itself and. Coupled with the excellent pianos in which it is installed, the Bush & Lane and Victor, it produces musical instruments of the most advanced type, capable of operation easily with the most charming musical effects even by those who have no technical knowledge of music or of the piano keyboard. [From BlueBookOfPianos.com]

According to my mother, neither my grandmother or grandfather ever took piano lessons, nor did my mom's brother. She and her sister took lessons for a short time as children but they never became accomplished players. The joy and entertainment they received from that piano over the years came from the "player" aspect of it. They bought a number of piano rolls and had a variety of music.

I like to imagine that the family gathered around the piano at Christmas and sang along to Christmas carols. But the truth is, I'm not sure if there were piano rolls available for Polish Christmas carols. And I don't know how familiar the family might have been with English carols. It's not likely they would have heard them at church since they attended a Polish Catholic church. But according to the 1930 census, they did have a radio at home, so presumably they would have heard some Christmas songs that way. It's just another of the many things I wish I'd asked my mom about before she died. And I'll hang on to my image of the family gathered around the piano in the parlor because it pleases me to do so.

When I was about 10 or so my grandmother told my mom to take the piano since I was the only one of the grandchildren to show an interest in it. But my mom and dad's house was just a small bungalow with no good place to put a piano. My mom paid for movers to move it to her house anyway and they put it in the only place there was room for it, in the basement. Our basement was "semi-finished" meaning the floor was tiled and there was a single wall dividing the basement in half. But the exterior walls were cinder block, uninsulated, and cold. The basement was lit by fluorescent lights and was always cool and damp, definitely a bad environment for a piano.

I was really excited when we first got the piano and I have happy memories of my mom and I sitting side by side and taking turns pumping the pedals and singing along to the songs (the words were printed on the piano rolls so you could see them as you played -- karaoke 1920's style!). I took piano lessons for a year or so but my heart wasn't in it. I hated practicing in the cool, damp, basement where the spiders were. The piano was badly in need of tuning but my mom said she wasn't going to pay for tuning unless I was going to take my lessons and practicing more seriously. I gave up and once more the piano only got played when we put a piano roll in. As a teenager it provided great entertainment for me and my friends. They always enjoyed coming over and playing the old songs on the old piano. Eventually, the damp environment took its toll on the piano and the piano rolls. The sound got worse and worse and the piano rolls got brittle and crumbled.

Fast forward to the early 1990s when my daughter was about 6-7 years old. One day when she was spending the weekend at my mom's house, my mom asked her if she wanted to take that piano home with her. Mind you, I had the perfect place for it in my house at the time and I would have LOVED to have had it. But did my daughter say, "Yes!" like any other kid would? No.

She said, "I don't think my mom would let me have it."

I don't know why she thought that or said that or why my mom took that as the gospel truth but she did. No one said anything to me about it and the next time I was over at my mom's house I noticed the piano was gone. I asked her where in the world it went and she said, "I gave it to your brother. He had the movers come over yesterday and they took it right out."

To which I said, "Oh mom, I didn't know you wanted to give it away. I would have loved to have it!"

To which she replied, "I asked your daughter if she wanted it and she said she didn't think you'd let her have it, so I gave it to your brother."

I stood there, disbelieving. There was nothing else to be said at that point. I'd always thought of it as my piano at her house. After all, my grandmother told my mom to take it so I could play it. But now it belonged to my brother who never took lessons or showed any interest in it. Oh well.

That piano still exists at my brother's house to this day.

He has talked of restoring it one day but he hasn't gotten around to it yet. The piano's cabinet looks its age but the inside looks pretty well in tact.

I can honestly say I'm not bitter that my brother has the piano but I sure wish he'd get it restored so I could hear it play again!!!

Legend of the Devil's Transport

Years ago, as legend has it, a castle was to be built in Melsztyn, near Wojnicz. Stones for the foundation had to be located and suitable ones were found in the Holy Cross Mountains (Gór Świętokrzyskie). Transporting the stones from the mountains to Melsztyn was a monumental task. So a request was made to the witches on Bald Mountain (Łysej Górze) in order to achieve this. When all of the conditions were discussed and agreed upon a contract was written up on buffalo skin. It went like this: "We the witches of Bald Mountain commit to the transfer of quartz stones by our brethren of devils, headed by the chieftain Boruta, to the area where a castle will be constructed at Melsztyn . In return for delivering the stones we will receive the rights to take from the fields of the Dunajec Valley all the wicker we need to make the brooms we need for our flights. If even one stone doesn't make it to the construction site, we will not claim payment for those previously delivered. The deadline for implementation is one year from the date this contract is signed." The agreement was signed and sealed in the autumn and the plan was executed.

So the transportation of the foundation stones began. It was hard work that only took place at night and during the new moon. Despite this, construction of the castle at Melsztyn made progress. The owner of Melsztyn brought in stones for the walls. He had previously placed signs directing which way to go so that none would get lost. The devil force transported the foundation stones through the air in a straight line from the Holy Cross Mountains to Melsztyn. The route ran 2 km west of the marketplace at Wojnicz.

One night there was a horrible noise, like a hurricane, and following that the great stench of sulfur and tar. The residents of Wojnicz and the surrounding areas would not venture far from their homes. They were afraid and didn't like the terrible odor.

In mid-September of the following year the days were hot and you could feel a storm approaching. Lightning streaked all across the eastern sky. It was a rare phenomenon indeed for a storm to approach from the east! Hurricane winds sprang up and that night no one in Wojnicz slept. The sound of loud rolling thunder along with almost constant lightning made the villagers very fearful. Around midnight they heard a terrible roar but there was no lightning. Then suddenly everything became quiet. The clouds parted and the stars were shining once again. The terrible smell was no more. The merchants and craftsmen of Wojnicz immediately left for the fair in Krakow to buy more goods. The castle gates opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and the last of the carts and carriages left the city.

The road was bumpy and there were some puddles after the rain. But the earth quickly absorbed the excess water because it had been parched for a long time. The storm had been loud and strong but relatively little rain had actually fallen. The horses snorted and the coachmen and passengers of the carriages rode along singing merrily. They traveled through Piaski, Wolica, Podlesie and Śniadki approaching Biadolin. They went by the shrines of Sts. Peter and Paul along the right side of the road. Next they approached the bridge over the river Piotrówka and that's when the trouble began. The horses stood rooted to the ground and neither encouragement nor threatening motions could coax them to move on. They heard moaning sounds and began to smell a terrible stench once again. The hair on everyone's heads stood on end. There was no choice but to return to Wojnicz and notify the mayor who was a man of uncommon strength and courage. He was also compassionate to all and quick to offer his assistance to anyone in need.

The people of Wojnicz had known about the transportation of the castle stone to Melsztyn by the devils for quite some time. They immediately suspected that some sort of diabolical accident had occurred in connection with the hurricane during the transporting of the stones.

Once the mayor was awakened he immediate got dressed. The blacksmith brought along his strong chains and accompanied the mayor to the place indicated by the merchant travelers. Taking all precautions, they discovered that the storm caused the devil and his cargo of stone to be dropped near the shrines of Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Stanislaus. One of the largest stones fell near the shrine of St. Stanislaus. It was buried deeply in the ground but the tip could still be seen. Two more fell on the hill behind the Piotrówka River where the devil who was transporting them had tried his best to hang on to them. All in all, the devil had made a pretty good effort. The one thing the devil did not want to have happen was to be seen by those in hell. He'd wanted to prove something but he had failed.

The devil was bewildered and didn't know what fate awaited him. The mayor and blacksmith put him in chains and into the carriage and brought him to Wojnicz. Then they locked the devil up in a hallway where he went to sleep. After a while the devil awoke, broke the chains, and escaped. Later in the day the mayor got curious and went to check on the devil. But there was nothing there, only the chains covered in tar.

The three stones lost in the field near Biadolin were the last ones needed to complete the castle at Melsztyn. The Lord of Melsztyn was very upset that the castle could not be completed. The new moon came again but no more transporting was done. Days passed and nothing happened. But eventually something had to happen. The three stones were missing but that could be remedied with stone from elsewhere. In his heart the Lord of Melsztyn felt that the contract with the witches was broken. He completed his castle and the witches of Bald Mountain did not gain their rights to the Dunajec Valley.

View of the castle ruins in the valley of the Dunajec at Melsztyn

Ruins of residential buildings erected by the defense in Jordanów XVI century

The ruins of the castle tower at the end of XIV century

Meanwhile, the devil who'd escaped from the mayor was out wandering around. He was afraid to go back to hell. Strange things could be seen happening all around him. Some trees fell and the grass became slanted appearing weak and sick. The witches doggedly sought the devil and eventually did catch him. They sentenced him to be punished for scarring the hill behind the Piotrowka River at Biadolin. But what of his fear of going back to hell? Well, he continued walking around the hill in various forms. He was seen as an old man, a gentleman, a wolf, and even a black cat. People would flee from the images of him. Finally, in Krakow, when life had gotten somewhat back to normal, it was decided to put an end to these horrors. There was a statue of Mother Mary with Child on a stone pillar. This column was placed with the other figures at the shrines of Sts Adalbert and Stanislaus, east of St. Margaret's, west of St. Joseph and from the north St. Tekla. Lime trees were planted in the area as well. The two stones that never arrived at the castle Melsztyn were left at the east and west sides of the religious statues and to this day you can still see them. But the devil roamed the area no more.

Sources:
Legends of Wojnicz
Wikipedia

The 3 photos included are from Wikipedia. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and / or modify this image under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 or later, as published by The Free Software Foundation.

Legends of Wojnicz Series:
War Waged Against the Naughty Wives of Wojnicz
Legend of the Stingy Heir
Legend of the White Horse
Legend of the Devil's Transport