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Calemine’s Patriotic Shoe Repair Shop

Calemine’s Patriotic Shoe Repair Shop

  Guerino “Reno” Calemine died this year. Feb. 23, to be exact. He was almost 91, but up until a few days before his death, Reno was still working in his shoe repair shop at 25 Armstrong St., Keyser, W.Va. “He was the ‘Mayor of...

December 21, 2017 Carl cobbler, immigrant, Italian, Keyser, patriotic, Reno Calemine, shoe shop, West Virginia 596
Tottering season

Tottering season

Nature totters between summer and winter. The weather between rain and snow. The light between flat and awesome. The parting of the clouds is like that of zipper between heaven and earth briefly rent. Actinic light rushes through the slit, paints...

December 21, 2017 Carl Grand River Campus, Nature Conservancy, seasons, solstice 413
A Barn Quilt love story

A Barn Quilt love story

My new documentary film, “The Story Quilter’s Threads,” ends with this moving story about a 40-year romance between a dairy farmer and Kent State University professional.

December 18, 2017 Carl Ashtabula County, barn quilt, Finnish farmers, Williamsfield 867
Follow the Drinking Gourd

Follow the Drinking Gourd

The Crescent Farm barn in Rome Township has a beautiful barn quilt that hints at the farm’s clandestine past.

December 18, 2017 Carl Ashtabula County, barn quilt, Drinking Gourd, John Svoboda, Ohio, Rome Township, Underground Railroad 535
Ashtabula Harbor, a history

Ashtabula Harbor, a history

In the fall of 2016 I embarked upon the most ambitious writing project of my life, crafting a history of Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio. Why? For more than two decades, The Harbor was the greatest iron ore receiving port in the world. More iron ore...

July 3, 2017 Carl A History of Ashtabula Harbor, Ashtabula Harbor, Carl E. Feather, history, Huletts, lake erie, new book, schooners, ship building, shipping, unloaders 3970
A sun sets, we beg for understanding

A sun sets, we beg for understanding

Complain we must about the rain, the clouds, the odd weather that tinkers with our plans for a picnic, wedding, campfire and fishing. The fact remains that the clouds are good for sunsets, and sunsets are good for the heart. A sunset well...

June 29, 2017 Carl beach, lake erie, loss, sunset, water, waves 485

On being INFJ

All my life I have felt weird, out of place. Like a dust bunny in an operating suite. A vegetarian at a Texas barbeque. A lifetime WCTU member at a distiller’s convention. The rest of the world was having fun, I observing, thinking about...

May 19, 2017 Carl Christian INFJ, INFJ, INFJ breakups, INFJ divorce, INFJ misunderstood, INFJ relationships 1395

Keys

My friend of many years, Betty Layport Feher, recently dug out some memorabilia from Shady Beach Hotel, one of the many relatively elegant hotels that once operated at Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio’s oldest summer resort. Shady Beach dates back...

May 5, 2017 Carl Bowers, Geneva on the Lake, keys, Ohio, Shady Beach Hotel, summer resort 536

Elmer Backlund

I met him about 15 months ago, when I interviewed Elmer Backlund and two other A&B Dock employees for an Ashtabula Wave story. Elmer brought a surprise to that meeting at Norman Millberg’s house: The log he had kept while machine...

April 14, 2017 Carl A&B Docks, Elmer Backlund, Hulett unloader, Norm Millberg 487

What two divorces taught me about marriage

In a nutshell: Marriage is the most selfless act a person can take on, aside from dying on a cross. And divorce is the most selfish. And the line between the two is as thin as a divorce decree. That is what I have learned from two marriages and...

April 11, 2017 Carl adultery, dissolutions, divorce, divorce court, divorce lawyers, marriage counseling, right to be happy, truth about 403

Joe College, you were so cool

My brother-in-law from my first marriage died early this morning. Robert N. College. Most people just called him “Joe College.” Joe came into the family shortly after I and Barb married. Her older sister had met him while working in...

February 8, 2017 Carl Conneaut, Jane College, Joe College, memorial, Robert College, Stacy College 300

‘Finnished’

The past three months I have been involved in a documentary film project about the immigration of Finnish workers and their families to Ashtabula Harbor. It’s been a grueling task, particularly the past two weeks as I’ve edited hours...

November 29, 2016 Carl Ashtabula County, Ashtabula Harbor, Dock Workers, Finnish migration, Lauri Maki 1304
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1355 Sherman St.
Geneva OH 44041
1-440-4153596
carl@thefeathercottage.com
On my mind
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