Welcome To Alum Creek Fantasy Of Lights And Happy New Year!

Friday night, my daughter, her friend, my son, my 11 year old dog and I loaded up into my Ford Taurus and headed out to Alum Creek's "Fantasy Of Lights".  The school had given us a ticket so we decided to use it that night.
   I wasn't sure what to expect, seeing that I had been to the "Richland Co" fairgrounds to see the holiday lights there so many times and so many years ago while my husband was still alive.  Being a widow with a car full of teenagers and one dog was interesting, needless to say but fun too.
   It did go beyond my expectations, I was so amazed with all the hard work that was put into it.  It expanded from the State Park Campground to the Cross Creek Resort.
   It was very beautiful and very much worth the trip.
   My grandpa would have loved it seeing Alum Creek was his favorite leisure time place.  He would had been a hundred in 2014.  We lost him in 1987.   I always think of him whenever I cross Alum Creek and I think in a way he would had liked that.
   Anyway, the lady who took the ticket and handed me a brochure wished us a "Happy New Year"  I got thinking about how my brother and his friend spent one "New Year's Eve" camping there .  Well to make a long story short.  "Boys will be boys" , lets just say, the had fun without the use of alcohol.  They always had and have a way to make me laugh at the stories they told and still tell, like sledding down the Alum Creek Dam.  
  The kids love it when I tell them these stories, but that night we enjoyed just being together.  We had the CD player going on in the car, my son's pick, and admired all the lights.   The displays ranged from serious to humorous.  My favorite was a reindeer fishing.  That was cute.  Now it wasn't Christmas Music we played but "Lynyrd Skynyrd ."    It worked.
   We will be going into 2014 and I am very hopeful that it will be a great year.  My daughter is doing much better with her eating, work is going well and my son and daughter are helping out more around the house. My son is also fixing things in the house and on the car!

   I have so many people around me that care and it can't get much better than that.   Of course I wouldn't mind if it did.  To all those who have been there for me, encouraging me , understanding me and well just helping me understand.  My Love To You and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A little bit of my life's trivia,  The radio stations used to play this on New Year's Eve when I was about 13. Of course for those who know me, know I am a big fan of "Boston"

Christmas Lights

   The lights are up at Alum Creek.  I noticed this driving home from picking up my son from his Band Concert.   One year they had placed the Christmas lights up so that they reflected off the water.  I drove over the Cheshire bridge that year with the van and let the kids look at them.  They were sure beautiful !
    With all the rush of the Holidays, its nice to take a moment and enjoy something that provokes such a feeling of nostalgia, Like being a child again.
     Sometimes it can provoke feelings of love and romance, sorta strange, like candlelight on a table in a dark at a intimate restaurant .     Home when its quiet and a fire is roaring in a fireplace while the night is very dark and cold.  Some kind of magical fantasy to escape to when everything else seems so hectic.

     I urge everyone just take a moment this Holiday Season  to hold the one you love just a little tighter, just to be lost within each other, just let the time slip away just for a few minutes and enjoy each other.  Being together is the most important reason and the best present to give to yourself and others!

Worthington In Delaware's Arms

My dad usually tells stories of his childhood most of time while the kids and I are over visiting my parents house.  My mom takes up doing her cross word puzzle during this yarn spinning but once in a while she will tell about the way Delaware, Ohio used to be.   If you have ever lived in Ohio, chances are you are familiar with Rte 23.  It almost cuts the state in half and it goes through the city of Delaware.  "The Main Drag" is Sandusky Street and once on this street you can pick up 23 going North or South.
My mom grew up on a small farm just east of the city, in fact we all grew up on the same farm and it only took about fifteen minutes to get to town.  The school district was Olentangy and it sat on a road that dumped out on 23 called Shanahan.
      Why am I going on like this and what is the point? well, if you go a little ways North of Shanahan Road you come to a little manufactured home community on the right called "Worthington Arms."   It is here that my children and I live.
       I joked about how each street in here was named for a type of tree.  My mom went on to tell me that the reason why was because it used to be a wooded lot when she was growing up.  There is Walnut Blvd, Cypress, Oak, Maplewood and the one we live on called Dogwood Terrace, to name a few streets.
It is funny to me that not only are the streets named for trees but that the community itself is called "Worthington Arms" when it sits in Lewis Center in Delaware, Ohio.  Now to be fair, "Lewis Center Arms" don't sound very enticing, but seeing that just a few "couple miles"  South of here in Columbus, Ohio is a suburb called Worthington.
      " Worthington Arms" was the first trailer park community to be built in Delaware and over the years has been improved upon.   The houses were nice, I can remember my parents good friends who lived here.  My dad played electric guitar in a band and every once in awhile they would play there because "Bob" played steel guitar with them.  I bet that was a treat for the people then.
Bob and his wife Rose are both gone now and so is the home they shared.  It is nothing to see moving vans come and go here. It has its share of troubles like most communities do, and like communities we stick together when troubles come up.
        In this day and age we have to be on guard.  We have meetings and I have to be honest, I haven't attended any of them since our arrival in 2007, but the last one I had an urge to go to see what is was about.
       Curfew is 10:00 pm in here and by 10:30 everyone should be in their homes but many kids had been out running around in other people yards and such.  People stealing car batteries and even an Elementary school bus having its window shot out with a BB Gun .  Each person at the the meeting signed up to be a "Block Watch" Captain, including me.  I felt really good about it.  It can be a challenge being hard of hearing to stand tough, but since I had Military and Law Enforcement in my blood, it made me feel pretty proud. Its nice to get a "Thank You".
"Worthington Arms" has had a long history here in Delaware.  I can't say for sure how long it will be here. One thing is for sure, it has made its mark , many people and their elder parents still live here, many in the same home.  I do hope and pray it will continue to be a good place to live so that it truly can be said that "Worthington is safe in Delaware's Arms."

BEAUTIFUL OHIO (1)

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Beautiful Ohio

The country in Ohio is so lovely, especially north and south of the central portion of the area.  Many times I have rode in the passenger side of the car and relished at the fields, wooded areas and rustic farm houses.
Where Alum Creek is , many farms dotted the landscape in the valley.
 Even now with the water , its a soothing ride across the bridge.  The water reflects all the colors of the trees and sky.  The sky particularly when the moon and stars are in full view.
 At night, the lights in the large cities, they dance with curious wonder for spectators.   Driving down back roads, you can't help but pass through little burgs, locked in the curio of time.  Harbored by one stoplight.

There is something special about Ohio, not only with her history but the beauty of the land that makes up her gown.  The sports fans here are one in a million as well.  Lake Erie is her crown, dubbed "The north shore"
The Ohio River graces her feet, like glass slippers.

For my experience, Ohio shines with every changing season, city or country, she sparkles.  For she is our Ohio.

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Life Changes

As I think back on some of my childhood memories, I often think about my dad's brothers coming to visit.
I had four uncles, only one that lived in Delaware, Ohio.      The others lived in different states, Uncle Wayne, Georgia, Uncle Fred, Mo and Uncle Elvis who lived in Maine.
  It was Uncle Elvis, his wife Rosie and four children I recall visiting most of the time.  It was always in the summer and without fail they would all line up single file and walk into the living room and sit on the couch.  When I got older, it was usually just Uncle Elvis and Aunt Rosie who came to see us.

For many years I haven't seen them, and shamefully never got out to the east coast to return the favor to them after all these years.   Just this year, I lost my uncle and my aunt.  We grow up thinking we have all the time we want, so we let the years roll by.  My dad had lost his brother and a lot of his friends.  I am going to miss them and pray always for my cousins and their families.

Farmers Tribute: So God Made A Farmer. Paul Harvey

A FARMER'S LIFE

I love Fall and the smell of the crisp air.  It brings back memories of Harvest time and when my grandfather works the fields around the house.  The trees in full color and the combine slowly disappearing in the distance only to reappear a few minutes later with dust kicking up behind it. Farming has be a constant mainstay in my family's history and other's like my late husband and father.
Just a month ago a very dear friend of our family passed away. He, his wonderful wife and their family lived just a couple miles down the road. Their children grew up with us, so when he passed away, it was very difficult to take.
I went with my family to his funeral and listened to a recording of Paul Harvey's "Why God Made A Farmer" He was a devoted man of God and man of the land, he loved farming.   Recalling all the memories of dear people in my life who like him "Worked The Land" brought me to tears.  What a moving tribute to the life of a farmer.  To all those who still Farm, this is for you.