The 2017 YMRA Model Train Open House

The Youngstown Model Train Association is 
holding their annual winter 2017 Open House at their headquarters at 751 N. Four Mile Run Rd. in Youngstown, Ohio. This is always a treat for everyone who has a love of model trains.





Begun in March of 1957,  a small, but devoted group of HO model train enthusiasts worked diligently to find a permanent home for the Youngstown club. It acquired  its present location at the corner of Raccoon Rd. and Four Mile Run Rd. in Austintown, Ohio, the former Four Mile Run Christian Church in April 1978, first as a rental, and later purchasing the property for the club.




At present there are two giant railroad layouts. The upper level of the old church is O scale train layout that is mostly industrial and rural landscapes with a large, curved, concrete viaduct. An impressive eleven stall roundhouse and coaling tower fill the northern section of the classification yard. 



Overlooking this meticulously planned trainscape is a specially constructed caboose end that utilizes hardware from a genuine New York Central caboose. This platform is a favorite visiting area, especially for the kids. The O control room  is located in the windowed balcony. 


The HO scale layout is located on the lower level and is about thirty by sixty feet. The landscapes are more varied than the O scale landscape, and has a detailed Youngstown, Ohio in the 1950's cityscape that is historically detailed and absolutely delightful!


When I first started attending these local train shows, it was mostly older people, and mostly men. Over the last few years, the number of young families in attendance has grown. The interest is trains seems to be booming, at least in the Mahoning Valley. 



Today I was impressed by not only the number of children enthralled by this gorgeous train exhibit, but also their conversations, discussing horsepower and signal houses.



The YMRA Model train Open House continues the December 2 -3 weekend. The exhibit is open from 12:00 to 6:00. There is a $5.00 donation per person requested, and children eleven and under are admitted free with an adult. 



Snacks are available and the club has a little scavenger hunt list of highlighted items to look for. Bring your camera. Bring your kids. And step back into the world of trains.








Club website is www.ymra.org. 
Membership is now open.  





More photos from a great day:

The Kubota Collection - Japanese Kimono Art

 

Dear Gentle Readers,    

Six years ago, William and I had the distinct pleasure of viewing this fabulous textile art exhibition in Canton, Ohio at the Canton Museum of Art.  The
exhibition ran from February 8, 2009 to April 26, 2009, and was only the second showing in the United States,
first appearing at the Timken Museum in San Diego in 2008 and ending in January, 2009.

    Itchiku Kubota was born in Japan in 1917 and became a textile art apprentice as a very young man.   His formal education and textile training were disrupted by the Second World War, when Itchiku was sent to war and  was captured by the Russians.   He was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Siberia, forgotten about by everyone except his family, and he drew and painted the Siberian sunsets in order to keep his sanity amid the deplorable conditions.

Itchiku Kubota is best known for reviving and modernizing a lost art of fabric dyeing and decorating called "tsujigahana," which means
"flowers at the crossroads."  It was a technique used in the fifteenth century with natural dyes, but was lost because of it's difficulty in controlling the resulting shading of the textile.

Kubota's masterpiece, "Symphony of Light," was a series of painted and elaborately decorated silk
kimonos that he said depicted "the grandeur of the universe."  The kimonos were displayed on large black frames and arranged in a giant oval depicting a panoramic view of the seasons of the year. 

The textiles were shaded so that they seamlessly blended into each other ever so slightly, allowing the viewer to almost see the movement of the earth as each breathtaking view is passed.  

Once around the oval is not enough to take in the intricate design and the delicate beauty of the shading on the huge silk kimonos, creating a mural of the natural loveliness of the Japanese countryside throughout the seasons.

The sheer size of these large kimonos, set side by side, filling up the huge exhibit hall, was a scene to behold in itself.  

But upon a closer examination of the subtly dyed silks and the elaborately decorated designs was truly inspirational and awe-inspiring.  It was a once in a lifetime, spectacular display that I will fondly remember.

I sent information on this exhibit to several friends, noting "don't miss this event!" Some thought I had lost my mind, thinking that walking around in a room full of kimonas sounded more like punishment than jaw-dropping beauty and inspiration. 

The few who took me up on the offer were amazed at the sheer beauty of Itchiku Kubota's work depicting the grandeur of the universe.

Information for this article is from memory of my visit to the exhibition.  Photos are from the Kubotacollection.com and also Canada's Homage to Nature page, www.historymuseum.ca

Interview withHistorical Author Lizzie Lane

LIZZIE LANE

City of Bath

United Kingdom

Good morning, Lizzie, and welcome to Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors. What have you written?
I’ve had over fifty novels published in a number of genres. My latest ones are usually based in World War Two by Ebury Publishing, a division of Penguin/RandomHouse.


What is your favorite genre to write?
Whatever I happen to be writing though I have a passion for history – and getting the facts right!

Favorite food.
Marzipan – but I choose to avoid it. One bite so easily leads to another.

Tea or coffee? 
Chardonnay – suitably chilled plus a few Kalamata olives.

Pizza or ice cream? 
Neither.


Wine or beer?  
Definitely wine.


Where would you like to visit?
My dear Icelandic friends live in Norway and sometimes in Iceland, so either of those places just to see them again.

Favorite musical artist. 
I tend to like songs rather than preference for artists, say, Leonard Cohen, Adele, Ronan Keating.

Do you listen to music when you write? 
Sometimes though not for long because it does interfere with my concentration.


What?
That depends on what I’m writing. It could be pop, blues or classic.


What makes you laugh? 
Politicians. They’re not quite up to speed with modern technology and don’t seem to realize we can easily find their weaknesses.

Favorite work of art or sculpture. 
Michaelangelo’s David.

We saw the David in Florence the last time we were in Italy. He is an unforgettable piece of art. How old were you when you started writing? 
44


Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
 I try to but my imagination takes over and presents me with something better than I’ve written down.

Describe your perfect evening. 
Family meal accompanied with a bottle of wine and followed by watching TV with my eyes half shut and my feet up. Who needs to go out?


Where do you get your inspiration? 
From inside my mind and usually based on some past experience of my mother who lived through the Second World War. They kept the Home Front going, turning scraps into delicious meals, blankets into coats, and adult clothes into ones to suit ever growing children.


What do you do when you get a writer's block?
What is writer’s block? I choose to think it’s just that you’re waiting for the story to develop more strongly than the initial idea I was entertaining for a particular scene, character or plot. It’s all about getting it right.


Who is your favorite author?
Charles Dickens.

Best book you ever read. 
The Far Pavillions.

Last book you read. 
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.


What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
Property developer and interior design – though I am planning to do that anyway. I can’t sit still for long. Like being busy.


Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
My late husband. He believed in me and had the best sense of humor of anyone I have ever known. I miss him.

New Paperback Cover coming out Jan. 24, 2018

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
I think my previous answer will give you the clue to that. There’s so much I wish I’d said and so many things have happened since he died. Sometimes I find myself saying ‘Oh, I must tell him that.’ Forgetting I cannot tell him anything any more – not to his face. I’d also quite like to meet Henry the VIII and tell him that he did produce the heir he wanted – a strong ruler; except that she was a woman not a man. Queen Elizabeth the First.


What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Read, read, read. To be a writer you must also be a reader. I’ve met people at workshops blatantly telling me they wanted to earn tons of money a writer but didn’t like reading! I’ve been told I am a natural born storyteller – I can’t stop doing it. As a child I ignored dolls and toys and collected books. I was the kid curled up in an armchair with a book and a packet of custard creams

Do you have links for us to follow you?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jean.goodhind 
Amazon: Jean G Goodhind: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jean-G.-Goodhind/e/B00JO1AEQG/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1509378588&sr=1-2-ent 
Amazon: Lizzie Lane: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lizzie-entLane/e/B00DWXUZAW/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1509378428&sr=8-2-ent

BOOK TOUR You Came Like Hope by Jyoti Arora

About the Book:

Peehu:

“I heard them mourn my death. I lay in the next room. Motionless, silent, and staring at the ceiling.”

Adih:

“When it comes to a broken person, some of them are expert at blinding you. Spend an entire evening with such a person, but you may still not know how he is crushing inside.”

Uday:

“Who would say no to him? He is smart, intelligent, super handsome, rich, suave and sophisticated. He’s perfect!”

Pooja:

“Pooja gave no explanation. She asked no forgiveness. She just arrived in his home, resenting him for being her husband.”

Arunav:

“He had smiled as if nothing was wrong.

He had behaved as if he still had his dreams and hopes.

He had pretended as if it didn’t hurt.

But it did.”

Does Destiny hold the key to our happiness?

Is it always the feeble that is the victim?

Love can be the embrace of heaven. But what happens when it unleashes hellfire?

Lose yourself in the intense narrative of You Came Like Hope as it unleashes a rollercoaster of emotions, uncovers some bitter truths, challenges widespread prejudices, and forces you to reconsider your beliefs.

Check out the Free Sample of the novel

Book Trailer:

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon * Flipkart * Google Play * Barnes & Noble * Kobo

Read an Excerpt:

Prologue

The trouble with me is that I forget all caution, when I need it the most.

I knew I was not supposed to set foot inside his house. I had already done one blunder. The result of that was wrapping its web around me. Suffocating me. It was foolishness to be stepping into yet another mistake.

But there I was.

‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll leave soon. He’s not here anyway,’ I excused myself, taking a deep breath of the pleasant lemon-scented air of the place.

The room was simply furnished. There was an oval centre table topped with a black glass. Pencil scrapes fluttered on half of it and school books and notebooks covered the other half. An almost empty school bag lay huddled on the grey couch next to it. There were matching single-seaters on the other side of the table. A square dining table stood on one side of the room. It had only two chairs.
Besides this sombre furniture, there were three Disney cushions on the grey couch, artificial sunflowers with smiley faces in a vase, a flower-shaped wall clock, and a cute flower and bee shaped perfume dispenser in a corner. These childish whims and fancies served well to add cheer to otherwise too plain a room.

My eyes brushed past all these things, only to be arrested by a photo hanging on a wall. It showed a girl child holding the hand of a tall man. He was dressed in blue jeans and grey t-shirt. The attire suited his height and strong built well. The child was grinning at the camera. Her companion was looking down and smiling at her. It was a smile that could have forced any woman to become rude and stare with desire. I was glad it was just a picture that I was staring at.

The owner of that smile had moved to Delhi four months ago, renting a house very close to my cousin sister Rajni’s house. This was the first time I had come to stay at my cousin’s home since then. My mother had let me come. But she worried that he was too near, the son of a defamed family.

‘You know what his family history is. Stay away from him, no matter what Rajni tells you,’ she had ordered.

‘Too late,’ I murmured, staring at his picture and wondering what mother would say if she found out. But then, there were far worse things that I had hidden. Things that, I knew, would hurt my parents more. Far more.

About the Author:

Jyoti Arora is a novelist and blogger from Ghaziabad. You Came Like Hope is her third novel, coming after Dream’s Sake and Lemon Girl. She is Post Graduate in English Literature and Applied Psychology.

Jyoti has over five years of experience working as a freelance writer. This experience includes abridging over 24 famous English classics like Jane Eyre, Moby Dick etc.

Jyoti Arora is a patient of Thalassemia Major. But she does not let this stop or discourage her. For her determination and achievements, Jyoti has received appreciation from Ms Sheila Dixit, Ms Maneka Gandhi and the Ghaziabad wing of BJP. Her life story has been covered in various local and national TV shows, radio programs, newspapers, magazines and websites like YourStory and Inspire India. She was also one of the ‘100 Women Achievers of India’ that were invited to witness the Republic Day parade of India (2016) as special guests.

Besides reading and writing novels, Jyoti also enjoys blogging and has won several blogging competitions. She loves checking out latest technological innovations, watching movies, and listening to old Bollywood songs. Reach her at jyotiarora.com.

Contact the Author:

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Instagram * Goodreads

Madison's Christmas by Carol Ann Kauffman

Encore Post from 2014

Dear Gentle Readers,

Well, I am finally finished shopping, wrapping, and mailing and now would like to snuggle up on the couch with my wonderful husband and enjoy the holiday season. Christmas music, tree lit, a glass or two of Sweet Baby Red. Ahh...

And yet, in the midst of all this holiday cheer, it's hard not to look back with some sadness when we think of loved ones who are no longer with us. My father was the head and the heart of our family. Memories of Dad are entwined in every single Christmas activity.  "I'll Be Home For Christmas" always brings a tear or two. As these years roll by more and more dear, sweet people are gone.  And it's only natural to remember them and think of all the good times and love we shared with them.

It's okay to visit, but don't live there! Focus on the right now. Find something to enjoy right now. Loss is part of life. Don't let it consume your holiday.  As we age it is harder and harder and takes more conscious effort not to be sad, missing those who made us feel loved, unconditionally loved.

My Christmas short story Madison's Christmas deals with grief during the Christmas holiday. It is free today for the last time this year! It can be found at http://tinyurl.com/lys6yqj and I hope you get a chance to pick it up.

I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2015. We have today only once. Make the best of it.

Hugs,
Carol

Schedule for Nov. 27 - Dec. 1, 2017

This Week’s Schedule

Mon., Nov. 27 -  Madison's Christmas

by Carol Ann Kauffman

Tues., Nov. 28 - BOOK TOUR

You Came Like Hope by Jyoti Arora

Wed., Nov. 29 - Interview with

Author Lizzie Lane

Thurs., Nov. 30 - The Kubota Collection

Japanese Kimono Art

Fri., Dec. 1 - The 2017 YMRA

Model Train Open House