Getting Farther Away

Missed turns and byways, but safe arrival at the destination.

 Some people fished. (None of us.)

Landing a 27 # carp.

 These guys are serious about carp.  The kid on the left caught the big one above.

 Beach time and driftwood..

 Big Red

 Yes, she is having fun!

 Sand is for digging.

 And for the birds.

 A nostalgia piece.

Great grandson time.

And the grandkids who are the parents of Samuel.

Plenty of food.

Homeward bound we left Holland about eleven o'clock.  Down 31 to 20 where we whipped east to Middlebury.  There we put on the feed bag at Essen Haus.  Excellent down-home cooking, way more available than we needed but then we enjoyed it immensely.

From Middlebury we headed south on 13 and rolled through old familiar territory as we went through Millersburg, Syracuse, and North Webster, vanilla pointing out places that had etched themselves in his memory thanks to one incident or another.  Finally we turned into B60 Lane and around the bend to the site of the old place on Secrist Lake.  The cottage of course is long gone and replaced by a McMansion.  However, further down the lane we found that many of the cottages remained much as memory had recorded them.  

Then finally back to 13 and on home.  Home where we found the yard and house immaculate thanks to the efforts of daughter JoLynn who did all that while we were gone!

For the good times in Holland, thanks to Kris and Jenn, and Samuel; to daughter Shari and her hubs, Reid.  Thanks, too, to son Kent and to Erin who drove all the way up from Frankfort, Indiana to be a part of a wonderful family weekend.

Getaway

 A few days parked at Chain o' Lakes State Park.

 Visited a small zoo.

 Saw some cool courthouses.  

Columbia City, Whitley County

 Albion, Noble County

 Small car show.  She called it "The Red Bitch."

Said he lavished more attention on the car than he did on her.

Much pleasure with friends Rebecca and Don.

Their lovely bit of paradise.

Whaaa?

Hunh?!

How do I read this, she said, if I am dead?

Big Hotel and Boil Water Order

BBBH and I took a three-day two night excursion to Southern Illinois.  We drove across some 250 miles of prime Indiana-Illinois farmland.  We saw a handful of fields that have been prepped, zero that have been planted and this two weeks past the target day.  Pray for some dry weather for Midwest farmers.

We checked into our hotel in Mt. Vernon and thus our adventure began.  We contacted the spouse's 94 year old brother and he and his son met us for dinner in a nearby restaurant after which we all repaired to the hotel lobby and shot the breeze until this scribe was exhausted.  Good memories, debatable memories and so forth.

The following day BBBH and I cruised her "stomping grounds" (her words) while she detailed the

ancient days in which she grew up.  We located the corner where her parents lived at the time she was born but were not sure we had identified the house, though the brother asserts that it is still there. (We did not drag him out of bed to guide us on the tour.)

 Ugliest cat I ever saw.  This at BBBH's favorite junk shop.

She always buys something when we stop there.

Anyway.  Met again in the lobby the second evening and the breeze having been shot the previous day, we shot the bull.  My words.  They assert that their memories are true and accurate.  Perhaps.

Now on Friday morning we were advised that the entire city was under a boil order/conserve advisory due to a major water leak somewhere.  They finally found it We were advised that there might be 14 to sixteen hours water left in the towers.  Boil and conserve.  Well, the hotel provided bottled water for the few guests who had already arranged for a Friday night stay and started turning people away as they arrived.  When we went out for dinner that evening we found most restaurants closed so we wound up with chicken salad and a loaf of bread from Kroger.

By Saturday morning the leak had been repaired and samples had been sent to the lab but the boil order remained in effect because they did not expect test results back until Monday morning.  We packed up and got out of Dodge.  Or Mt. Vernon or whatever.  Adventure.

Until Then

<sup>Is this blog dead?  Well you might ask, for I seem to post infrequently.  I ran this site on a near-daily basis for about nine years, slowed down a good bit in the tenth and now it looks as though it is coasting to a stop.

A few years ago I wrote a piece on blogs that lie dormant.  The questions I addressed were</sup>

  1. Why does this blog lie dormant?

  2. Why did this person try blogging in the first place?

  3.  Did this blogger cave to some other social medium?

I have written several drafts from time to time saying "goodbye" to the blogosphere.  Never posted any of them.  Now I find that though I don't use the space much I don't really want to abandon it permanently.

So, Dear Readers, I have appreciated your support, and should the "juices" start flowing again (you may think "sap rising") something new might appear here.

Visit with a Centennarian

Five years ago I related the account of our visit with Bessie Hart on the occasion of her 95th birthday.  Today we attended a party in celebration of her 100th birthday.  She is still alert in recall and conversation and a joy to visit.

This is part of her family who were in attendance (I didn't get quite everyone in this shot).  The lady to Bessie's left is her 97-year old sister Elizabeth who walked around and "worked the room."  The white haired gentleman in the jacket and red turtle neck is her son, Les, who practiced medicine here in Tipton for several years.

Good memories, good times.

Wallpaper for the Bedroom

I bought two items at CVS today. My Beautiful Beloved is 5' 4" tall. The receipt was-- you guessed it-- 64 inches long.
Purchase: $20
Ridiculosity: Priceless