Sunday, October 27, 2024

Autumn: My favorite time of year ...

I've looked back and can see I've not been good at posting what I've been up to these past few months. I'll try to be more faithful in that. Admittedly, I'm not as active as I was in the past. Most of my driving is just "drives" in the country. One of the things that might be affecting that is I'm slowing down. I had one of those "special" birthdays this month and another excuse is I'm also still mentally recovering from living through the tornado (as well as just now fighting off a mild case of pneumonia). So there's that ...

Here goes with some photos with blurbs of what I've been doing:

I went to the Randolph County Art Association show in the spring, over at The Art Depot in Union City. These first photos are from that show. I especially like this one because it's a painting of the building in Farmland where our knit n' crochet group, A Good Yarn, meets. I love the Red Gold mural, a local company. The artist did an excellent rendering of the old building which began it's life as a grocery.

The show was at the old depot building in Union City, IN. It's a wonderful building and I wish it was used more frequently. I do go to a bi-annual quilt show that's held there, too. But I don't think it's used for much else...

The chair of the county art association has her office there, in the west end of the depot building. She is a very talented artist in her own right. She gave me a tour of her office and studio. She was working on small portraits of women musicians.

That building (the old depot) would make a great venue for a small wedding or reception, or other small gathering of that sort. There's a large, roofed brick floored front platform that would be great for spill-over outdoor use, and the large, old waiting room where this art show was set up makes for overall a really generous area for events. I'm in love with that old depot and think it's underused. Oh, to be young and involved again!


Well, I'll just add these two last photos because my internet connection is sooooooo slow! I'll get back on another time and add more. (Sometimes it is hard to believe that I had super fast internet out in the boonies of Greene county and here, in town, it sucks!)


Took a drive to Downing Fruit Farm this weekend. Oh, memories! We used to take the boys there every fall when they were young and we lived in Ridgeville. We would walk out in the orchard, watch apples being pressed into cider, taste apples, and buy a half-bushel bag to take home. Usually followed by an apple pie that evening or next day. Well, now I have a peck of apples (which is really a very small amount; the smallest they sell) but I'll probably have to end up giving some away. I think some of the neighbor ladies might appreciate them ...

More later, I promise. My patience with the internet speed is wearing out. 

Take care of yourselves, each and every one, and God bless you!


Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Catching up ...

I see it's been a year since I wrote in this online journal. My life is so different now without my sweetheart. So much has changed. I'm slowing down. And I have had some real changes other than just Wendell's death. Been trying to get onto some sort of track. But in the past three years I've wandered and not found the path yet. I'm almost to one of those "special" birthdays and if I don't find the trail by October I don't know if I ever will. 

One of the biggest changes recently has been the tornado that has affected so many people here in my new hometown, Winchester, Indiana. I believe about 50 homes were completely demolished and more than 100 others severely damaged. There are lots of homes which are still sitting with tarped roofs and boarded windows. Here at our condo complex two units had to be completely torn down (that's 4 families out of a home) and about a quarter of the others so severely damaged that people couldn't move back in for days or weeks. Lots are like me; windows were boarded and living here but really we're just existing, waiting for the repairs to happen. So many people are in the same boat that a person can't complain; it seems like a hopeless situation some days.  And other days, when you see progress going on just down the street, you feel more hopeful. 

It happened March 14, more than five months ago. About 8 p.m. The sirens warned us and I believe that was why we had no deaths in town. It was a miracle. I left my chair where I was watching the weather radar on TV and went into the guest bathroom, which is in about the center of the condo. I took a throw I had on the chair and covered my head with it and hunkered down between the stool and the tub. Almost immediately it came thru. I don't know how to describe it. The sound. The worse besides the roar was the sound of things hitting the outside and roof. And the sound of breaking glass. Then it was over. Quiet for a few moments. 

Had my cell with me so I called my son Jeff to see if they were ok. They were out of town, near Cambridge City, and he said he would come back and get me. I called Ray and he told me what to gather together and put in the car and lock. No power so I couldn't drive out because of the garage door. (And found out a few minutes later that I couldn't have driven out anyway because there was an electrical line down across the only street of egress from our complex.) 

Besides this computer and paper files, I put Wendell's ashes in the car, too. Ray suggested that. As I went around with a flashlight gathering some clothing and other things, I could see several of the windows were broken on the west side as well as the door to the patio. There was a board laying in front of the bookcase. In the office there were shingles laying on top of the desk and on this computer and the printer and the floor. Lots of shingles and pieces of boards. And it was raining lightly, coming in the broken windows. Two pairs of men came to the front door and almost immediately emergency people started checking every home in my complex. I could see flashing lights and people shouting. Jeff got here in about an hour and he had to walk me out to Greenville Pike because of the downed power line. It was quite a walk for me but the adrenaline kept me going. I could see how badly the condos were damaged. Jeff said, don't worry, you can stay at our house. Well, when we finally made it to their house it was worse than mine. My heart broke for Jane and Jeff! They had worse damage than me.

Bottom line, around midnight we ended up in Richmond at a motel for the night, and ended up staying there for four nights. Jane's mom was taken to the local motel (where she still is BTW). She had just moved into the Lodge at Summer's Pointe two days prior to the tornado! Poor Betty! What a shock for her and just all of us. The next few days were a blur of patching up repairs. I stayed at the motel and then I went to an Airbnb place near Hollandburg OH for a few days until I had the place cleaned up enough to move back in. Had to have power restored, gas meter reinstalled (they had to pull it), and venting for the gas furnace & water heater repaired. My insurance adjust came to see me literally the next morning; he was here when we came back to town from the motel. I was paid within a week! God bless Farm Bureau Insurance! 

Since then I've gotten a new roof, new AC unit, new siding on all sides, new windows and doors, new garage door, new exterior trim, new storm doors, new shutters, painted front door, attic insulation replaced as needed, interior walls and ceilings inspected for moisture, fireplace inspected, crawl space inspected (found a little mold in one small spot and that was remediated). That will make this place look as good as new. They are beginning to rebuild the two units here that were destroyed. 

In town the tornado demolished three churches (including the one I went to), damaged Randolph Nursing & Rehab beyond repair; a strip center near Walmart that had Verizon, a tobacco shop, Japanese restaurant, nail salon was destroyed; the Goodwill store is still a skeleton; another thrift store was damaged beyond repair; part of the Silvertowne foundry was demolished, and Taco Bell leveled. In my complex it badly damaged the Summer's Pointe Lodge, an assisted living place; those folks are still living at various motels and nursing homes in the area. That's enough of that. Boy, that's the first time I've written that in full. 

I still journal (on paper) but have been lax about that since the tornado, too. No words can express how that incident affected me mentally. So, I think I'll just end with some photos.

Debris caught in the fence row near our complex.

The entrance to Walmart on right with debris of the Taco Bell. On left, Silvertowne and at the point, the New Life Church was leveled.

This was the day I got a new roof! Yeah!

Entrance to our complex. The duck pond is full of debris.

All of this looks different now and that is good. Two of the three churches intend to re-build. The nursing home is in limbo. The strip center will not be rebuilt. Goodwill says they will be back. Taco Bell just re-opened last week. The Lodge at Summers Pointe will reopen next month. It's looking up.
God is good!