Across Indiana

Oh. Hey we were just about to start without you. Got the maple syrup on the boil. The paint on the portraits about the drive. And here there is something going on about women dressing like a man. But I make it a policy never to interfere with any events that take place or 1899. So sit right down there's no time to waste on this ship an illusion make and paste but tweak it a trip across India. To strip across Indiana is made possible by the annual financial support from Pew words like you. And by the following corporate sponsors. And the Arts Council of Indianapolis where you can experience all the arts in central Indiana and in the yard. The. Country book makers will find preview Buells like super diesel X for premium diesel or plus bio diesel and ethanol blend refined here in Indiana country boy is proud to

sponsor across India. Greetings Everyone Michael I would be here ready to start this journey across Indiana when the word for you is. Remarkable for that's what you'll think when I introduce you to Kim Martin. And as you'll see she'll make a friend of you the moment you meet her. Her optimistic outlook on life and a willingness to go the extra mile to help others are contagious. You'd never know that she's faced more than her share of heartbreak. It comes in the form of something that many of us would find terrifying. For Kim has already lost a son to cancer and her only daughter is waging the same battle. But Kim and Andrea have decided to fight back in a most remarkable

way. They've created a world of fantasy and charity that reaches out to other children with cancer and through wit and wonder. Take them to a place if only for a moment for such life and death struggles seem very far away. It's like I found my voice. Writing to children. Is the word that comes to mind for a kid with cancer. Here. They gather. On site. That's sure to be. Their. PLEA. They continue

their fight. You may or may not care but if you do don't worry I can find your head anyway. Just for hair Fieri touching Fairy Tail ABC book of encouragement and insights for the young and the young at heart who are courageously battling cancer. I call it God's project because I had often thought about writing about my son no one who had passed away from cancer. And I wrote to. Adults about it. I had never thought to write to children when it was finished it was just so. You know I felt so good about it I knew it was going to help the kids. I didn't toys bring laughter when looking for fun make starships or terrors that reach for the sun to build houses and build. It's always about this.

Page. These are words that they're not familiar with and that helps put a. Sense of humor. So kind of help encourage them they don't want. They don't want to learn about cancer they learn enough about it while they're going through it. They don't need anything like that this is all about the emotional side of it to deal with emotional side of it. Mr. and Mrs. here are quite cool to wilt and waving their magical wand. We work with all three children's hospitals children's hospitals. And then we also work with Peyton Manning Children's Hospital. And they've all been wonderful and they've all been really excited about the BUT MY HEART JUST LIKE THAT wrong way.

So. But they care for those children by giving this book about how to deal with their daughter Andrea is another inspiration for the creator of the hair fairy project and or is awesome she's so much fun. But when she was 15 she came home from school one day got this and my heart just went right down to the floor. So it was cancer. And that was devastating. I was so mad and I just thought this can't be. I just never imagined that another one of our children would have cancer. So far she's doing very very well. A whole year now with cancer. Very healthy right. How do you ask.

That's what it is an amazing person that has fucked all of us and now she is of the mission I gave So that has gone away. She has been through the sleepless nights what he had in the past so she could have the old mold of what a few patients would be calm and also for granted. And Myra how strong she is and. How she's able to have hope and a strong faith and a sense of purpose in spite of everything. You know when you go through something really difficult don't you really appreciate all the little things now just like the sunshine and I hope that they can come away with that kind of a feeling. I had someone on line and he said it's the only cancer book that he's ever read that left him feeling good after here I think it's thought that's what I want. That's what I want. That night same time. And remember we're out of here. Kim hopes to begin work on a second book so that's right. This one will

be geared to families that have more than one child facing cancer. It's a path she knows all too well and she hopes to lend her special brand of encouragement and insight to moms and dads who might need it most. Still ahead we're checking out a civil war hero what never ever was what she see. Do you remember that famous quote from Henry David Thoreau as Walden the one about leaving this mortal coil with song still on. Well there's an easy way to avoid this twist of fate and that's to find something that you are absolutely totally passionate about. Of course sometimes passion finds you. So it is with our next tale. It's one about a painter who found a very big news wrapped in a very small package. Life well life as a painter actually began in 2002 for Jan

Schrader. She had been meaning to call on Joan willies for a while. After all North America's greatest expert on painting miniatures lived on the same street in Florida as is his karma. Jan's aunt of such star realignments artistic breakthroughs may. Know why. It's something that I guess I have a natural talent for and didn't know that I had because I'd always like little things and collected little things in. And when I found out that there's a whole societies in how far the history goes back. I was like wow this is my niche This is where I belong. No part of that colorful history of which Jan speaks is wrapped up in the centuries old purpose behind a certain class of miniatures portraits commissioned by anxious company lasses who in an era before personal ads these ID sized pics aroud were eligible bashers were known to frequent. Some of them king the variety King Henry the Eighth.

You know how many wives you know how they all ended up but the fourth wife was an acclaimed and hands very famous artist went and painted her. And he painted her very lovely because she was a homely woman and not very charming. But even in the olden days artists could be an honest if somewhat devious and Holbein left Henry the visual aid the artist painted her she had a head piece on. And it was probably lace or something but it ended up looking like thousands of years was thinking about when I first started painting. I felt so guilty about it because I I actually got to do asked my job something that I love. Fortunately making miniatures out of sow's ears is a technique that belongs back in the 15 hundreds still today's painters use a variety of techniques that go way back even before the tutors took the throne.

The costume was just as important as a person's face so they would add real jewels. Little diamond chips rubies and real gold and one of my paintings it's actually called Grandfather. My grandfather taught me how to fish. And I took a bunch of his lawyers and set him up in a still life and painted it and added gold. Speaking of treasures the fine detail of these miniatures will get a rise out of spectators like you or me. They're like holding little jams. But the judges on the circuit were Jans displayed from Washington D.C. to London and England are another matter. They jumped on my meter and magnifying glass. The stress is going to be felt but. You really don't want too much pain on your surface. It's a matter of just Taung it to keep that point nice. And point. Can be really fun. My grandmother had hazel eyes. Right now they've definitely got a green cast.

I go to bed sometimes I'm like OK I've painted today I'm tired I'm done. Our light I'm out I'm painting. You can't stop it. You cannot if you're an artist you can. Not. Like you're not living. Jans But as much as 50 or 60 hours in a painting and that takes a lot of focus and a steady hand. But she's found a very jammed way to unleash the creative tension within you know you know uplifting just you know. It's nice to know that there's a quirky sense of humor behind the long hours and fine detail. But maybe that's what you get when you found an answer to some of life's questions both great and small. Through something that even smaller than smaller still. Then very small. My cat calling me. Like I belong like an you know high.

For me. The demand for Jane's miniatures runs the gamut. Sure there are the usual collectors and art patrons but she also list among her clients a truck driver in Britain a turkey farmer from North Carolina and Swedish Formula 1 ace. Stefan Johansson. Now we're headed off to a time period about three centuries more current in a single battle of the Civil War 34000 troops died. Modern firearms were used for the first time and a Hoosier Colonel became a legend. Yet for most people Chickamauga doesn't seem during the same sort of bell as say Gettysburg for young Hoosier Henry. It would be one of the central events of his life. From forging a lifelong friendship to crossing enemy lines. His civil war experience reaches us across nearly one hundred fifty years. Through his own words written in his battlefield Journal. The objects behind tell our story. But as forgotten pieces are discovered

history is rewritten. One such artifact a journal has recently uncovered two stories that of a Union soldier and his commander and lifelong friend. The claim to Chattanooga became more and more crucial for both sides of the Civil War to capture the city was to cripple the South's third largest rail and stall the transport of troops and supplies. Yet the surrounding terrain was unforgiving and narrow ravines up steep hills provided cover from the enemy but also reduced visibility to sometimes just a few feet. And so the nearby battle of Chickamauga couldn't rely on traditional warfare. Luckily for the 17th Indiana infantry their leader was anything but traditional. John Wilder of Greensburg Indiana knew

how to get a job done and had little time for bureaucracy. Instead of waiting for the union to issue the superior Spencer rifles he purchased them himself. Soon his lightning brigade was firing seven repeating rounds compared to the typical single shot at the battle of Chickamauga. This advantage would prove vital. A journal once owned by Wilders personal aide Henry to Wyler has recently sketched a portrait of Wilder painted the scene of Chickamauga and provided a peek into the life of a young man at war it was not a professional soldiers perspective. It was a young man's perspective. As soon as the way was clear we opened up upon them checking and driving them back. Once it was over new to us and our sponsors did such terrible excision they were glad to see over the timber. The fight continued until dark and then for nearly an hour increasing density. In our position. All mine.

With combat continuing into the night. The two. Would prove to be some of the bloodiest of the war. And reported losses of 16000. The Confederacy. Peaked. Yet with a break in the unions lying. The South claimed victory. It was one of the last units to leave the front line. The men were commended for bravery and wilder for his leadership. The union would go on to claim Chattanooga two months later and the city would become a gateway for Sherman's march to the sea. After the war Henry to Wyler moved back to Indianapolis and was a successful businessman and he remained lifelong friends. Eventually Wilder was able to return the favor for Henri's years of service. He wrote about two Wyler in a movie in memoriam. Relations during the war were confidential maybe true but I always feel if you.

Look upon your wars more than anything else. John. Just ahead we sampled the best of the National maple syrup festival. That's serious. How sweet it is. As we've just seen while the facts of history never change how they become known and are communicated to us can shift over time. One fun way this is done is through the historical novel a combination of actual events like the Civil War all wrapped up in the travails of characters like Rhett and Scarlett. So put yourself in the author's place just where do you draw the line between yesteryear and your imagination. Well Hoosier author Mary Mackie might just have a few answers for you. First she's done a little delving into Indiana's involvement in the Civil War herself writing about a fictional character whose pristine life was never quite as simple or pure as it seems.

We have all heard stories of the American Civil War. Of the bloody fields where brother fights brother. And the. Torn country divided between North and South. Sometimes history is presented to us as a tedious assembly of facts and figures and often overlooks the emotional relevance of the wall and the connection of history to the human. It is the occupation of the historical novelist to create the bond between time and space and of its fictional characters who have an authentic voice. The New York Times best selling author and Indianapolis native Mary Mackey has done just that. I'm very interested in what life is like in other times and places you know it's very exotic It's kind of a time machine to take you back there and put the human in it. Latest book The notorious Mrs. Winston Mackey writes of a love story between Winston and abolitionist Confederate soldier and

friend of rebel General Morgan. Two years later while trying to find John. Clare takes on the guise of a male soldier. But this summer I wanted poster Claire Winston name as a girl. Boston hostess murderer adulterous horsethief Union spy and still you will not find me for I no longer look like the woman I was in two days ago. Indeed I do not look like a woman at all. My main characters are always women because I I feel more. You know I'm I'm a woman. Obviously here and I feel that I get into female psychology and I know how women think but I also have a lot of really sympathetic male characters I do things from the male point of view. So what can a novelist bring to the table. I cannot sit back and make up. Thoughts for a person unless I have some evidence that a novelist could do that. And so if that novelist wants to motivate this this woman soldier by saying she's going off to find her lost love. She can do that.

I feel like we've changed technologically but we haven't changed emotionally. That's why Shakespeare is still readable and good you know if you have the strong human emotions and passions and and desires and you know seven deadly sins and seven virtues and all of those things they don't change very much over time. It was then that I came to me on that hill not as a memory but as a living presence. For a moment. I even smelled the scent. I still cannot explain how I could have such an intense vision. I know he was not real in your ordinary sense of the word. I was never that deluded. But he came to. Yes. I try to be very accurate and I do a lot of research I'll even do research on whether I see what the weather was like that day and when I did research for the notorious Mrs. Winston I actually went the whole route of Morgan's raid and I had a little camera point shoot camera and it took hundreds and hundreds of pictures so I know they went up hill here and they went downhill over

there. So I try to keep it very very accurate I tried to do it at the same seasons so I could see what was blooming and what wasn't. I believe you know that if you're reading historical fiction one thing people read it for is the history. And so you need to be in the main part be quite accurate. And. After all that's done then I create fictional characters and I weave them in there and I stick pretty close to the band. Finally this trip we're headed south to a small town that's aiming to get a big reputation. Or at least that's what folks in the door are hoping to achieve with their fledgling national maple syrup. Best of all. Check it out sounds like a job for our hungry Hoosier Scott Hutchison who filed this report. Hot off the griddle. You know most of us sit before a stack of pancakes and waffles this is what we reach for. But if you take a look at the back you'll see that there's actually no maple in the sermons.

The very concept of bogus maple syrup is one that could destined stacks of farmstead cookbooks to the dumpster. But take heart. We do have genuine maple syrup here in our state. In fact we've created a new way to pay homage to the Embraer mixers. Most of us know menorah for its famous triple span bridge but that landmark now has some company in the town's horizon. The National maple syrup festival. That's the good the bad is that March weather in Indiana is more suited to a dog sled than a hungry Hoosier. Still pancakes in mind I brace snow drifts as tall as Paul Bunyan to catch up with the festival organizer Sabrina Burton. Well this is America's first and only national maple syrup festival. This year's festival we were producing 100 percent pure maple syrup that are separated when we were serving pancake breakfast snack shack. And I know the cook on the first day cooked over a thousand pancakes with my curiosity piqued my appetite.

I headed out to check out the names of people in cells were the first people the actual hard maple tree the sugar maple North America. Or you can use the hot rod method by heating up rocks red hot in the fire and putting them in a row. You bring up the boiling in a minute. Oh load. I can make that rope out of anything that will twist and or the thing that limit your throat making is your imagination. Wrong in. What I do for a Mabel's or processes I take care the end where the trees are tapped. Pretty much has to be maintained 24 hours a day seven days a week. I do a lot of Band-Aids over over a weekend here as Mabel served just makes pancakes so much better. When cowboy runs not making rope at the festival Laurie pancakes he's helping out tim burton burton Maplewood farms the host of the annual festival we have here about 750 trees on the sugar bush that are tapped.

We average about two taps per tree every year it's a little bit different as far as how much sap we're going to have last year for example. We harvested 14000 gallons of SAP last year out of the same size Sugarbush. Next we moved into the sugar bush to see how the sap gets turned in the syrup. Right sure. That's serious. It's important to know that the nationally festival is sponsored by the heads up Foundation to benefit children with cranial facial anomalies. The festival's monies are specifically earmarked to go to camp about face lift a fashionable term ended up being the least of what I was taking away. I was leaving with new friends and lasting memories.

The things that truly make life sweet time about your time. Didn't I tell you this was going to be a time shift an illusion make and taste bud weekend trip across Indiana. Just goes to show you I'm a man of my word. We're heading out now but of course will always be back ready to take you on another trip across India. Those group of girls Indiana was made possible by the annual financial support from viewers like you and by the following corporate sponsors and the Arts Council of India novels where you can experience all the arts in central Indiana

and in New York has got all. The. Country book makers are fighting premium fuels like super diesel X for premium DS a lot less bio diesel a level of lead were flooded here in India a country boy is proud to sponsor across India. When you go through something really difficult don't you really appreciate all the little things.

On our next trip across Indiana we'll meet the sister a woman who's created a world of fantasy that reaches out to children with cancer and you know it is the way that kinds to line with cancer. Many tried and true Witten one takes them to a place where such life and death struggles seem very far away. It's like I found my voice writing to children.