03-06-05 @ 3:02 am EST

Went to the library yesterday and browsed through the local history section, after I looked all over trying to find it. >:/ Our library is not as great as it should be, but I did locate a few things to check out: Annals Of Fort Mackinac by Kelton, Mackinac Island: Historic Frontier, Vacation Resort, Timeless Wonderland by Piljac & Piljac, and Wish You Were Here: An Album Of Vintage Mackinac Postcards by Brisson. Going to read the second and browse the third; Annals is out of copyright as far as I know, so I'm going to scan the pages for my own use and whenever I have the time, eventually transcribe them to text and upload them online. (The page images themselves are likely still copyrighted as this book is a reprint, and the intro/foreword is probably copyrighted, but I'm pretty sure the page content is not--Kelton wrote that book over a hundred years ago.) I was hoping to find Annals and Van Fleet's Old & New Mackinac, but got only the former. Oh well. Van Fleet still eludes me. Those are the two old Mackinac books I have not been able to locate online in the public domain yet for some strange reason. I would like eventually to make such works available in a special LJ I've set up for this purpose, and link them from my site, so others can read them. So far though I am only through two chapters of Wood's Historic Mackinac. Ugh. My site will probably be dead by the time I should ever finish. -_-

What's more, the second book, despite its handful of stupid misspellings ("descendents"? "cemetary"?) and grammatical problems (the authors apparently do not understand the correct usage of the semicolon and the comma), actually has a tad of info about Fairy Arch etc. in it. The authors claim to not know for sure HOW the landmarks were destroyed, only that they were--"popular opinion" is that they were turned into gravel for the shore road. I find it incredibly odd that "no one knows for sure" what HAPPENED to half the East Bluff... O_o ...but, well, that's the way it goes I guess. Someday I will really, really have to update my site to reflect the fact that I'm now aware that these sites don't exist anymore...but I'm too lazy at the moment. ^_^; And that is only Scott's Cave and the south East Bluff landmarks...no mention of others I'm uncertain about. E. g. Vista Rock, which I would like to look for this year. Still there or reduced to pebbles from target practice? No clue. *shrug*

Oh, though there is also a tiny little legend about Friendship's Altar. The tree atop it must have been removed post-1988 because that's how old the book is and it mentions the tree, which is visible in the park's illustration of the site (see somewhere late in my 2004 Mackinac photos at Yahoo!, there's a picture of it), but it is no longer there. I remember puzzling over that at the time, thinking, "Why is there a tree in that drawing?"

And there's a "creation" story of Mackinac Island which opens up the book, which I found intriguing. According to this story the island first appeared after a "deep fog" had settled over the lake for three days; when it rose and dissipated, there was the island. A deep fog, huh? Interesting. I'm not so original as I thought. ^_^

I know I mentioned it before long ago but I should really try looking into Iroquois culture and myth too. (I know, "Iroquois" is not the proper term anymore; but there are six different tribes under that name, and honestly, I know not a thing about any of them! So "Iroquois" it is, at least until I learn something. Don't sue me, at least I don't use the term "Sioux" anymore! >_< ) I lately got the idea that current character Singing Cedars, the Iroquois spy in RTMI, should appear again in EFMI (something I had not planned on at all--he was to be a one-shot character), and seeing as it's this completely different culture, with SOME similarities, I should learn some more about it. I do know they're matrilineal. And I did learn that their term "oki" is similar to the Ojibwa term "manitou," so that's a start. I've just always been so busy glutting myself on Ojibwa cultural texts that I've never bothered with the Iroquois ones. Canadiana.org is probably the best free place to start, I suppose. I have so much I have to read and never enough time or brain cells! >_<

Have yet to figure out WHY exactly Charmian and Walks-On-The-Shore (the characters I had planned this for--Shore has just gotten his own backstory involving the Iroquois) would end up in Singing Cedars's territory, but I'm already getting a few cute little ideas. Singing Cedars for one will refer to Charmian as "Little Sister," an act which surprises her (but makes sense, at least for anyone who has read the current story).

Cool link for today: http://www.utm.edu/vlibrary/docust1.shtml

And a few days ago I was surprised to find that my "Shywriter" folder is linked from this big erotica directory page set up by somebody named "Lady Cyrrh" or something; I have no reason to believe she's ever glanced at my stuff, but this is like the ONLY place ANY of my sites are linked to anywhere online, except from my own sites, and that one guy who has a link to my Manitou Island site only because he mistakenly believes it has something to do with the actual Manitou Islands. (If he wants to ignore the disclaimer on my page, go right ahead...) So that was kind of nice, even if it's buried amidst a sea of other, probably-much-better erotica links. :/

Well, I'm currently getting sidetracked by stuff, and will never even post this if I continue, so I may as well keep it short. Hey, look! A one-sitting entry! Go figure.