Full Moon Monday

Did anyone else have a crazy Monday? Or was it just me? Because I had trouble sleeping last night and when I finally did, it was deep. I mean to tell you - when hubby woke me up, I didn't even know what planet I was on. And the day went from there. Assorted little weirdnessess, the weirdest being a computer problem. Which is better than a weird people problem.

Sister-friends: you can be mad at me all you want, but I do declare all y'all who drive vans, big-a$$ Suburbans, or anything bigger than my Mazda Tribute should either have your licenses revoked or be sentenced to driving a Mini-Cooper the rest of your natural lives. You seem to get a testosterone-hit when you get behind the wheel of one of those things. Put a cell phone in your hand & you become a menace to society. I'm just sayin'.

Did I mention I was cut off TWICE today by women drivers in plus-size vehicles?

The Ohio Chronicles: Last Chapter of Book One

I call it "Book One" because all my family is still there and I'll be making another pilgramage within a year to see them; Ohio Chronicles is an ongoing story. It's about my life & theirs, places we shared, and all the memories & events in family life and growing up that intertwine and interweave to create our personal tapestry. I'll wrap up Book One with a few odds & ends and some pictures that I just kinda liked.

BITS & PIECES OF MY LIFE

These lilies used to cover the bank of hill in front of our house. It was very steep & difficult to mow, so someone planted a mass of flowers. At the time, I thought they were ugly. Now there's only a few left.

Grandpap's favorite cigar, or stogie. There was a tree behind his house that grew some kind of long string-bean-looking thing. I saw one just like it in Kansas City & snapped this picture.They called it a stogie tree. I thought Gramps plucked his right off the tree. I suppose that ranks up there with the dog on the bridge story.

The building on the left used to be the dance studio where I spent many, many happy hours learning modern jazz - real dance, Bob Fosse stuff - not the gymnastic-aerobic-hiphop hybrid choreography done today. (Granted, the contemporary style takes great talent & athletic ability. But, it's just not .... jazzy)The mini-park fountain the town council had built when Uncle Bud was a councilman. I called him Uncle "Fudgie" because I loved fudge and he was my favorite uncle - as good as fudge. But something happened along the way and sadly, he died a lonely, crotchety man.

The church Joe's entire family attended, where he was an altar boy, where we were married, where our baby son was christened. It was a classic village parish. But time took it's toll. The village aged and died off, the young families moved away, and the diocese shut the doors a couple years ago. A non-denominational congregation bought the building.

CLOSING SHOTS

We've come to the close of this particular journey. I hope you enjoyed our little trip back in time. Thank you for coming along.

Charlie: "Joanne, darlin' - dial down the religion."
Joanne: "I was saved by Jesus Christ and I am not ashamed of it."
Charlie: "...just tamp down the fervor."
Joanne: "I can't modulate God's will, Charlie."

Charlie Wilson's War. Loved the movie. Loved the book.

The Ohio Chronicles: Summer Breeze

A storm is coming in and the temp has cooled down to the lower 90's with a pretty good breeze. We opened our front and back doors to let fresh air blow through the house. It feels like my childhood and makes me think of 'home'.

Sometimes, I feel like I miss out on the essence of summer because we go from our air conditioned house to car to office and back again. Don't misunderstand - I am not complaining! A person could bake alive some days here. The sun can be unrelentingly hot and bright with no breeze at all. So a day like today is special and I like to savor it.

At work this week, one of the building units was down and one wing of the office was without a/c. Maintenance put about 6 fans in the hallway to pull some of the cold air from one end of the office wing to the other. The sound of the fans blowing warmish-cool air had everyone remembering our childhood summers.

One of my favorite memories is the Nickels Bread Truck. Not only did the Ice Cream Truck ring-a-ding its way down our road in the summer, but Nickels Bakery would occasionally include our out-of-the-way hillside on their route. When that big, red truck would stop in front of his house, Gramps would always purchase a jelly roll. Nickels also carried banana flips, assorted pies (the real crust kind), and a snack cake that I've never found anywhere else. It's an individual size, chocolate cake confection topped with a filling similar to a HoHo, then covered in chocolate icing. MMMMMMMMMMMM! I craved these when I was pregnant; mom would send them to me in a care package. Every time I go visit now, I stop at the store located at their main bakery and buy a few to take home.My mother-in-law was part of Nickels history. She was one of the first two women drivers they ever employed. It was during WWII, when the menfolk were away and the women helped keep the country going. She then worked in the bakery and learned to make the best pies on the planet. She was a good woman; a good mom and a good mother-in-law. She's in heaven now and I know she received a hearty "Well done" from Jesus.

The Ohio Chronicles: Cemetary Tour pt 2

Several months ago, I posted a picture that I found online of this particular monument. It was cool to see it again in person. This thing is HUGE!. My Grandmother told an interesting story; she said this man owned the local upscale department store. There are two women seated with their backs to each other (or maybe to him!) She said one represents his wife; the other, his mistress. When I repeated that story on my blog, it occured to me that perhaps this was another Grandparent Tall Tale and maybe I should not present it as fact.

As my sister & I were cruising through the cemetary, we happened on a caretaker. I asked her if this was the cemetary where the man & 2 women monument was located. She said it sure was & told us where to find it. I asked if she knew who the women were and she said......

one was his wife and the other was his mistress! Which one do you think is the wife?

They both look sad to me. And that dude is standing there in front of a cross looking all sanctimonious. I really wonder if he commissioned that thing for himself. I haven't discovered any more about it and there's nothing identifying the women. A mystery for the ages.

Below is an interesting monument in another cemetary located on top of a very high hill. I was looking for my in-laws resting place, which sadly, I never did find. I wish I had taken time to read the carving. From the dress, it must be very old. She almost looks like a sentinal, the guardian of the valley. Maybe she was a teacher.
And with that, friends, we conclude our tour of the Ohio Valley's historical cemetaries. Maybe a couple more chronicles, then time to move on to something else!

The Ohio Chronicles: Cemetary Tour

Ladies and Gentleman, we shall now begin our tour...

My sister was somewhat appalled that I was going to drive through here and take pictures. But then she got into it and shot a few pix herself.
I think we have relatives buried here somewhere. I just remember as a kid visiting with my grandmother, mom & aunts. Grandma was diligent about keeping her loved ones' plots neat, so that has to be the reason we were here. I've been intrigued with this particular cemetary ever since. You'll see why.My favorite photo of the group is below. It looked like a little fairy tale house at the end of a curving road. It's not a chapel; it's actually a mausoleum. I desaturated the picture a bit to give it Rivendell quality.
Just one more set of pictures to post. If you think these monuments are big, wait til you see what's next!

Selah

a book closes
a saga ends
light overcomes the darkness

The Ohio Chronicles: Bridge Collection Pt 3

This is the final installment of "The Bridge Collection"

This bridge used to connect Bridgeport, OH to Wheeling Island, WVA. It's been closed for a number of years but never torn down. In fact, most of the bridges I've shown you have long been out of service. I wonder why they're left standing? Too expensive to demolish? That's ok, I'm kinda glad. They're more stylish than the new ones. Tired but proud monuments to the glory days when Steel was King of the Valley.
This is Wheeling Island as seen from the top of a hill in Ohio. To give you some perspective of just how wide the river is, the Island is a small town itself. In its heyday, this was where people of wealth lived in their big, beautiful homes. Go figure, it floods nearly every year. We could never figure out why rich people would live there.

This is the revamped Blaine Hill Bridge. My grandfather helped build the first one (see Sept '07). It's actually not a bridge over water, but is a 500' climb up a hill on old Route 40. Joe grew up less than a mile from here. Since it's on dry land, I could go underneath and take these neat upshots of the arches. I think the stairs are also an interesting piece of architecture.
Below is the original Blaine Hill Bridge. Very historical. It's called an S bridge. I wrote a little bit about it in my September '07 blog.

And that, friends, concludes our tour of the Ohio Valley bridges. Next up, the long-awaited cemetary tour. Oh yes. If you grew up west of the Mississippi, you've probably never seen old cemetaries like we have back east. Stay tuned...

The Ohio Chronicles: Bridge Collection Pt 2

The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is over 150 years old, one of the oldest in the world. My grandfather told me how the bridge collapsed once. He said the structure was already weakened and the steady rhythm of a dog walking across it caused it to finally collapse.I completely believed him until I repeated this story to my husband. When my mom smiled at him and said, "she believed everything her grandpap said" I realized I had been the audience for a Grandfatherly Tall Tale. Actually, I still kinda believed it until the advent of Google. When I did some research, I found that the bridge did indeed collapse in the late 1800's -- because of gale force winds. No dog was mentioned.

This thing scared me as a kid and my little brother would nearly have a nervous breakdown if he thought we were going to drive over it. The floor of it is like a metal grate and it makes whirring noise as you drive over; not to mention the slight swaying movement. To this day I will not cross this bridge. Would you drive on something with this many warning signs?! No trucks allowed; cars must stay 50' apart. A traffic light regulates how many vehicles are on the bridge at one time. No thanks. I'll take the Fort Henry instead; pictured below.

The Fort Henry parallels the suspension bridge. Stay on this road and go through a tunnel. Tunnels are so cool.

This bridge is further south on Route 7 (pronounced 'route', remember?) It used to be a toll bridge. That little rusted box on the bottom right was where you paid the toll man. For some reason, this bridge turns up in many of my recurring weird dreams.
Here's another view of it behind a railroad bridge. I love the graceful architecture of it, how it rises to two peaks (only one is visible in these pictures).

The railroad bridge runs through another small town. Here's how it looks before approaching the river:

I have a couple more bridges to show you and then it's on to the cemetary tour! Betcha can't wait.

The Ohio Chronicles: Bridge Collection

The Bridges of ... The Ohio Valley.

This is the first in a short series of bridge pix. Even though I was born & raised in the Ohio Valley, I never really noticed the bridges. They were just a means to cross the river. Where I live now, there were only two bridges available to cross the river until recently. Another was built and now there's talk of another one. On my visit last August, for the first time, that contrast really jumped out at me. So many bridges!! There must be a dozen within a 40 mile span. I appreciated and admired the architecture and determined to photograph as many as possible next time I visited. Here's the results. I had a wonderful time going off to photograph these. It gave me some time alone to hyper-focus thru a lens and leave my cares for awhile.

This is one of the newer ones. I saw it for the first time a few years ago, on a foggy morning. As we approached, it rose up out of the fog like something from outer space. I was fascinated! It's on the way from the airport, so this was my first stop when I arrived, even before checking in with the folks.

Talk about a "then & now" contrast. This one above is just a couple miles downstream. Just drive south on Rt 7, also known as Dean Martin Blvd in the Steubenville area, and you'll see it. As scary looking as it is, I saw cars driving over it!

A little sidebar: Route 7 -- rhymes with "out". Unlike Route 66 and Route 40, which must be pronounced 'root'. You have to say it "Route 7".

More to come.