"Clouds" by Robin Russell Gaiser
– “Why am I still here? Why can't I die?”
Then, a single, wispy white cloud appeared and wafted its way past me in an otherwise cloudless blue sky.
“Clouds” may be one of my favorite stories to share since readers may interpret it in their own way. With two memoirs published (Pisgah Press) and countless short stories printed in various publications, yet another book sits with my editor/publisher at Pisgah Press awaiting final touches. As a creative, I also find joy in making music and folk art. My husband Gordon and I live at 2100’ elevation in Asheville, NC.
Author’s Talk
Robin Russell Gaiser with photo of Grandma Char
The story of “Cloud” still hangs in the air for Robin. Her deep connection to nature and her study of Indigenous cultures provided a beautiful background for the touching events in her personal life that occurred during this particular trip out west. Even though the death of Grandma Char was anticipated, learning its reality still rattled Robin. Of course! How she was moved to both celebrate and mourn Char’s loss begat a mystical experience that Robin easily conjures to this day.
Even Grandma Char herself has a unique story. At age fifty, Charlotte (Char) Alice Duncan married Robin’s grandfather and became Charlotte Duncan Russell. You’ll notice Robin’s maiden name, Russell, there. Char was the younger sister of Robin’s natural grandmother who died when Robin was ten. Char was already known as Aunt Char to the large extended family. She assumed her role as matriarch while still teaching at the college level, but never missed sending a card for All the birthdays and anniversaries, and later for all the generations of children’s birthdays and anniversaries. She was a no nonsense kind of gal and kept the family on its toes. She set a formal table, opened her house to the whole family, regularly hosted guests, and cooked meals with many courses in her small kitchen in the family Duncan house in Northville, New York, a village in the Adirondack Mountains.
Robin and her husband, Gordon, retired from careers in Northern Virginia and moved to that very village of Northville and lived there until they tired of long, frigid winters and isolation. Many relatives, like Char had passed away or moved elsewhere, so Robin and Gordon found their way to a new home in artsy, mountainous Asheville, North Carolina, where Robin became serious about her writing. She has had two memoirs and multiple short stories published, and a third book is presently with her editor/publisher at Pisgah Press. Besides writing prose, she writes poetry, some of which will be included in this next book, tentatively titled “The Possible Book.” How it got its whimsical title is a story for another time.
Robin is an avid reader, musician and folk artist. She and Gordon have three children and five grandchildren who live coast to coast. They get together yearly for a rousing good time. In Robin’s lifetime Grandma Char hosted huge family reunions in the side yard of the Duncan house in Northville. More rousing good times when Char wasn’t looking!
