Fighting the Good Fight

Yesterday, I watched the Realm of Avalon clashing in practice battles at a city park in Akron, Ohio.  The battle participants wore fantasy-themed attire and used foam-padded weapons in their clashes.  The fighting was chaotic and surprisingly quick.

I very much enjoyed watching the battles.

The Realm of Avalon is an Akron-based group practicing under the rules of the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society.  According to the Belegarth website, http://www.belegarth.com, the society has been active and expanding since 1979.  Today, members can be found worldwide.  The society provides members with rules for organizing realms, safety guidelines, and a forum for communication and related events.

The participants of the battles I watched were eager to explain the rules and fighting strategies as I watched.  Soon, I was able to better understand what I was witnessing.  Skills and strategies emerged from the chaos.

The weapons used in these fights must be constructed to strict specifications regarding weight, length, and foam assembly.  Specifications for the strength of bows used by archers are in included.  Stringent rules for the placement of blows by weapons are also given.  Obviously, you cannot strike someone in the face with hand weapons such as a sword, club, or spear.  Anyone injured or dealt a fatal blow must play that part.  In a staged battle, a killed participant must contact the ground at three points to indicate that they are dead     

I assure you, the fighters take great pride in clothing, weaponry, and fighting skills.  Most society adherents take on fighting nicknames.  These names often translate into their daily lives.

The Realm of Avalon practiced for several hours as I watched.  Today, I am posting photographs from yesterday’s mock battles. 

I would happily go watch such an event again.

--Mitchell Hegman

And I Quote

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes again, only sooner.

--Tallulah Bankhead

Stan Hywet

Stan Hywet, is old English for stone quarry.  Stan Hywet is also the name of the estate that once belonged to Franklin (“F.A.”) Seiberling here in Akron, Ohio.  Seiberling and his brother, Charles (“C.W.”) Seiberling, were co-founders of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company started out in an abandoned strawberry processing factory on the banks of the Little Cuyahoga River in 1898.  Initially, the company produced bicycle tires, carriage tires, horseshoe pad, and poker chips.  By 1916, helped along by the expanding automobile industry, Goodyear was the largest tire company in the world.

The groundbreaking for Stan Hywet Manor took place in 1912.  This undertaking was so enormous, a railway spur was extended to the property for delivery of construction materials.  The house totals 64,500 square feet and contains 65 rooms.  The Seiberling family took up residence in the house in late 1915 and resided there until 1955 (the year F.A. Seiberling died).

The family donated the entire estate to a non-profit in 1957.  They wanted everyone to enjoy the manor and gardens as they had.

That girl and I took a couple hours to visit Stan Hywet yesterday morning.  There is no way to share the experience with just a few photographs.  I have posted a few that might offer a “feel” of the place.

I suggest you drop in for a visit if you are ever in Akron.

--Mitchell Hegman

Welcome Mackenna (Born 6-9-2016)

Today we welcome Mackenna Eliza Flanigan to our world.

Welcome, Mackenna, to our very best.  Welcome to your first day of warm sunshine at the windows.  Welcome to smiling faces and calm voices and songs for dancing.

Later, we will take you to where wind twirls leaves on trees, where songbirds jump and stick to painted skies, where you can run through grass and jump just because you feel like jumping.

Welcome, Mackenna to a waxing crescent moon.  Welcome to warm blankets.  Welcome to long stem roses, puppies to join you, and all things that taste sweet.  Welcome to twenty-four hours in a day and sky-on-fire sunsets.  Welcome to bugs you hold in your hand.  Welcome to all the visible colors, all the long rivers, all the clear lakes, all that glitters, and all that does not.

Your mother and your father welcome you.

Your grandmothers welcome you.

A dozen Irish uncles with gruff voices and soft hearts welcome you.

Welcome, also, from all the aunties with sing-song names.

Welcome, welcome from all.

You, my dear, are the reason why we have been here since the beginning of time.

--Mitchell Hegman

The Grandfatherish Person

In what must certainly be considered an act of supreme generosity, I am being allowed to become a grandfatherish person.  I am not and cannot be the actual grandfather in this case for two valid reasons.  First, I am not married to that girl—the actual grandmother.  Secondly, I have no connection by blood to either birth family here.

I am brand new to most of both families.  I have, in fact, spent virtually every day of the last four meeting that girl’s friends and family here in Ohio.

Last night, that girl’s daughter was admitted to a hospital so the process of an induced birth might be started.  She is eight days past her due date.  These days, the process of inducing child birth is slow and methodical.  The child will likely arrive at some point later today.

Here is the generosity: This morning, the expectant mother and father are allowing me to go to the hospital with that girl so that I can act as the grandfatherish person.  I am not under any illusion that having me there is everyone’s most fervent wish.  I know that I am too early into this many-webbed relationship to have any weight at all.  I am allowed due only to the kindness of that girl and her family.

Still, I am thrilled at the whole idea of this grandfatherish thing.  I can already see the new toys.  Imaginary games.  Something stirring around every corner.

A new baby!

And me…all grandfatherish in Ohio.

--Mitchell Hegman

Charm, Ohio

Charm reposes firmly in Holmes County, Ohio.  In 1808 a man Jonas Stutzman settled in the yet wild countryside that would later become Holmes County.  Stutzman was Amish.

Today, Holmes County and the tiny community of Charm is home to one of the largest concentrations of Amish faith holders in Ohio.

The Amish (and closely related Mennonites) are part of the 16^th Century Anabaptist movement.  The Anabaptist movement originated during the 16^th Century Protestant Restoration in Switzerland.  Anabaptists reject the idea of baptism at birth (in favor of baptizing adult believers).  They also believe in firm separation between church and state and in nonresistance.

Adherents to the Anabaptist movement came to America from Switzerland seeking freedom of religion.

Today, several disciplines exist within the Amish/Mennonite faith.  The most conservative Amish, the Swartzentruber sect, live the simple life of the 19^th Century.  They are the image of Amish that most outsiders have come to expect.  They avoid new technologies that they feel might erode family structure or create inequities within the community.  They still use bicycles and horse-drawn buggies for transportation.  Fields are tilled and harvested with implements drawn by horses.  The use of electricity and power tools is not allowed for the most part.

Some Mennonites have adopted most, if not all, conveniences of the modern world.

The Amish and Mennonites dress in accordance with the scripture, “Be not conformed to the world.”  Women wear long dresses, prayer caps, and bonnets.  Men wear plain clothing and grow beards without a mustache.  The exact style of dress might vary between sects.

Yesterday, that girl and I drove to Holmes County.  I have always said that every state in this nation has a place of great beauty.  For me, Holmes County is that place in Ohio.  I fell in love with the softly rolling hills, the paved roadways that cover the hills like netting, the orderly farms, and the buggies coming and going on the roads.

--Mitchell Hegman

The Ohio and Erie Canal

The Ohio and Erie Canal complex was built between 1825 and 1832.  The canal provided a quick and reliable transportation route for then sparsely populated Ohio.  By the time of completion, the canal extended for just a bit over 300 miles through the treed expanse of Ohio.  The canal started at Cleveland, on Lake Erie, and ended at the Ohio River near Portsmouth, on the border with Kentucky.  The canal complex included several feeder canals and over 100 lifting locks for transitioning boats from one elevation to the next.  Paths were cut through the wilderness alongside the canals for the horses and mules that were used to pull canal boats.

Yesterday, that girl and I hiked a 5 mile section of the Towpath Trail.  The Towpath Trail is a multiuse trail that follows the canals and connecting river systems, sometimes using the actual mule paths from when the canal was in operation.  We hiked the section along the Cuyahoga River Valley (in Akron) where the Cuyahoga River and the Little Cuyahoga converge.  The Cuyahoga River served as part of the canal network.

Our hike started at that girl’s daughter’s house.  Her house is literally across the street from one of the Towpath access points alongside the Little Cuyahoga River in the notch valley below downtown Akron. 

We enjoyed the hike immensely.  The trail is well-developed and the clouds lifted for the afternoon.  Posted is a photograph of the path and a photograph of that girl looking where the two rivers converge.

--Mitchell Hegman