Last week was fall break for us. I think everyone in the family felt like we had come to the end of a hard run triathlon by the time the break arrived. Last Tuesday we pointed our van toward the Buckeye State for a long awaited vacation. We got a lot of rain, but I think we all had too much fun to care.
HOCKING HILLS. We spent the first part of our time away in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. There are several state parks in this area and with the cool days and the trees changing color it was a great time to go and enjoy some hiking. We rented a very nice cabin near Logan, Ohio.
As it turned out Tuesday was the rainiest day of all the days we were away. This made for a miserable drive, but at least we weren’t sitting at the cabin wishing the rain would stop.
The next day we went to the Rockbridge Nature Preserve to hike the trails there. We weren’t deterred by the light rain that started when we got there, but Vicki and Jenna turned back about three quarters of a mile in when the rain got significantly harder. The boys and I forged ahead to see the natural bridge, but we were drenched when we got back to the van.
We decided to find some lunch and go shopping after we changed clothes so we drove in to Logan for pizza. Our shopping took us on to some outlet stores in Nelsonville and Rockbridge where we enjoyed poking around places like an Amish stores and antique malls. That evening we went to the movies to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Thursday morning we planned to eat breakfast at a place based on a brochure we’d picked up only to discover they were only open for breakfast on the weekends so we wasted a lot of our time driving and then retracing our route. Once we had filled up on a large brunch we hiked around the Old Man’s Cave area which was really pretty.
When we had worn ourselves out hiking we returned to Logan where we toured the Columbus Washboard Company. This is the only place in the United States where washboards are still made. The company employes five people, two of whom actually assemble the washboards. These two ladies--who are part time--turn out some 40,000 washboards a year in addition to giving tours of the factory. This is down from the 1.5 million washboards a year the company produced back in the 1930s.
After the tour we found some supper, browsed around another antique mall, and headed back to the cabin a bit early to enjoy playing some games together.
ON TO AKRON. We headed north on Friday to visit my cousins, Grant and Robin Luton and their daughter Lyndsey for a couple of days. After we arrived Grant took us out to see a few of the local sites. That evening we enjoyed supper together.
The next day, Saturday, we went with them to worship. We all really enjoyed their services. That evening Grant’s brother, Bryan, and his family came over for supper. Bryan and Mem have four adorable children and we really enjoyed our visit with them.
All too soon the evening was over, and our vacation was drawing to a close. Grant and Robin fed us a wonderful breakfast Sunday and sent us on our way home.
A SURPRISE GIFT. The last time I visited the Lutons I took copies of a CD I had made from an old audio recording of my grandmother, Joella Swann. She was their aunt. This time I took another CD they weren’t expecting to get.
I think it was one day back in the fall of 1997 that I got a phone call from Mr. John M. Covington. His wife’s brother and sister-in-law, Jennings and Edna Luton, were visiting and they were talking about my dad. He called to invite me to come over while they reminisced so I could hear their stories. My dad and Jennings were first cousins and spent time together in the summers when they were kids. I asked if I could bring a tape recorder and they were only too happy to oblige. So, as we were preparing to leave for our trip I dug up the tape, digitized it, and took the CDs with me.
I arranged with Robin to sneak the CD into the CD player while Bryan and Mem were over for supper. She turned it on while we were talking over dessert. It was really neat to see Bryan and Grant both stop in the middle of the conversation as they realized they were hearing the voices of their late parents, uncle, and aunt.
BACK IN THE ROUTINE. Now that vacation is over we are back in the routine. The only exciting thing to report here is that Ben made the middle school basketball team again this year. We don’t have a schedule yet but we know this will keep us going two nights a week for a while.
Joe
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
A Touch of Color
Fall is here. The trees are beginning to put on their colors and the weather is getting cooler.
IN MEMORY. We made a quick, unexpected trip to Brandon, Mississippi, to celebrate the life of Darice's dad, Jerry Bowles, who passed away a week ago Sunday (the 5th).
We had known for a while that Jerry had been battling cancer, but he had recently been given 9-12 months to live. Upon learning this he decided to move to Athens to be close to Darice. Little did anyone suspect that he only had two weeks after the move.
I had met Jerry on a couple of occasions, most recently at Cameron's graduation. He really impressed me as someone who would go above and beyond to do something good for others. For example, back in May Jerry made it a special point to speak to each of the graduates even though he didn’t know any of them. It was a small group so this was easily done, but he took the time to do it.
I never knew Jerry when he had legs. Back in January 2000 Jerry happened upon an accident on the interstate where a man have been ejected from his vehicle after a tire blew out and was lying in the highway. He pulled over to help (not knowing the man was already dead) and was struck by a car as he was trying to get a flashlight out of his trunk. He woke up four weeks later having lost both legs at the knee and lucky to be alive. His attitude about this curve life threw his way was phenomenal.
Jerry always impressed me with his positive outlook and a business card he’d had printed up that we spotted on a table with pictures really sums that up. It read:
Part-Time Volunteer
FULL-TIME
Loyal friend, shoulder to lean on
Listener offering a little help now and then
Christian encouraging independence through love.
Jerry Bowles
One who believes life is worth living.
Darice, your dad was, no is, quite a fellow. I wish I’d had more of a chance to know him.
HARD OF HEARING. If you’ve ever been around someone who is hard of hearing then you know things can easily get comical when the person continually misunderstands what is being said.
Apple’s Siri is remarkable technology--making you phone a voice activated personal assistant--but I think “she” is hard of hearing. Vicki likes to use Siri more than I do so I got to see her in action more than normal on our trip to Mississippi and boy did she make us laugh. Sometimes Vicki would ask Siri to look something up on the Internet and she’s get the search request so wrong it was just hilarious. For example, we had stopped in Jackson, Tennessee, for supper and Vicki asked Siri if there was a Whataburger nearby. Siri responded that she didn’t know what that meant and added, “If you’d like, I can search the web for ‘Angry sex bees Quiznos Whataburger.”
To be fair, I think I was reading a list of nearby restaurants from my phone when Vicki asked Siri about a Whataburger (and I think “angry sex bees” was a misunderstanding of “Arby’s, Zaxby’s”), but she (he on Vicki’s phone) made us all laugh.
DID YOU WASH BEHIND YOUR EARS? Our equivalent of that question to the boys at bedtime is “Have you bruised you teeth?”
Vicki asked Ben about this the other night and he said he had. She wasn’t convinced so she pressed the point, several times. Each time Ben said he had until finally Vicki played the “lightning will strike” card. Again, Ben said he had brushed his teeth but this time thunder rumbled outside. Then he said something about kidding and headed off to the bathroom.
THINGS YOUR DENTIST SHOULDN’T HUM. Vicki had a dental appointment the other day and came back laughing at something that happened. Our dentist plays a light rock radio station in his office and as he was working on Vicki’s teeth he was absentmindedly humming along with the music. The song just so happened to be Exile’s 1978 hit “Kiss You All Over.” We are now getting a lot of milage out of picking out songs you wouldn’t want your dentist humming to you when you’re in the chair.
JAMBOREE. I’m backing up a couple of weekends for this last story. Every four years the Middle Tennessee Council has a jamboree. The boys and I went with the troop and had a great time. We estimate there were over 5000 people camping out and several thousand more came just for the day on Saturday (the 4th).
There was a lot to see and do on Saturday. The National guard had an impressive display of tanks, Humvees, and other equipment which included a mobile air traffic control center. There were also a lot of activities for the boy including a bridge building contest, archery, human battleship, and tug-of-war. The evening featured a show and concert starring the Mann Sisters, a duo of twin sisters from Florida.
The only bad thing about the weekend was the unusually cold weather when it had been perfect the whole week before. The highs and lows dipped a good 20° just for us and it got windy. We woke up to a light frost Sunday morning. To add insult to injury no one was allowed to have a campfire due to insurance regulations.
Joe
IN MEMORY. We made a quick, unexpected trip to Brandon, Mississippi, to celebrate the life of Darice's dad, Jerry Bowles, who passed away a week ago Sunday (the 5th).
We had known for a while that Jerry had been battling cancer, but he had recently been given 9-12 months to live. Upon learning this he decided to move to Athens to be close to Darice. Little did anyone suspect that he only had two weeks after the move.
I had met Jerry on a couple of occasions, most recently at Cameron's graduation. He really impressed me as someone who would go above and beyond to do something good for others. For example, back in May Jerry made it a special point to speak to each of the graduates even though he didn’t know any of them. It was a small group so this was easily done, but he took the time to do it.
I never knew Jerry when he had legs. Back in January 2000 Jerry happened upon an accident on the interstate where a man have been ejected from his vehicle after a tire blew out and was lying in the highway. He pulled over to help (not knowing the man was already dead) and was struck by a car as he was trying to get a flashlight out of his trunk. He woke up four weeks later having lost both legs at the knee and lucky to be alive. His attitude about this curve life threw his way was phenomenal.
Jerry always impressed me with his positive outlook and a business card he’d had printed up that we spotted on a table with pictures really sums that up. It read:
Part-Time Volunteer
FULL-TIME
Loyal friend, shoulder to lean on
Listener offering a little help now and then
Christian encouraging independence through love.
Jerry Bowles
One who believes life is worth living.
Darice, your dad was, no is, quite a fellow. I wish I’d had more of a chance to know him.
HARD OF HEARING. If you’ve ever been around someone who is hard of hearing then you know things can easily get comical when the person continually misunderstands what is being said.
Apple’s Siri is remarkable technology--making you phone a voice activated personal assistant--but I think “she” is hard of hearing. Vicki likes to use Siri more than I do so I got to see her in action more than normal on our trip to Mississippi and boy did she make us laugh. Sometimes Vicki would ask Siri to look something up on the Internet and she’s get the search request so wrong it was just hilarious. For example, we had stopped in Jackson, Tennessee, for supper and Vicki asked Siri if there was a Whataburger nearby. Siri responded that she didn’t know what that meant and added, “If you’d like, I can search the web for ‘Angry sex bees Quiznos Whataburger.”
To be fair, I think I was reading a list of nearby restaurants from my phone when Vicki asked Siri about a Whataburger (and I think “angry sex bees” was a misunderstanding of “Arby’s, Zaxby’s”), but she (he on Vicki’s phone) made us all laugh.
DID YOU WASH BEHIND YOUR EARS? Our equivalent of that question to the boys at bedtime is “Have you bruised you teeth?”
Vicki asked Ben about this the other night and he said he had. She wasn’t convinced so she pressed the point, several times. Each time Ben said he had until finally Vicki played the “lightning will strike” card. Again, Ben said he had brushed his teeth but this time thunder rumbled outside. Then he said something about kidding and headed off to the bathroom.
THINGS YOUR DENTIST SHOULDN’T HUM. Vicki had a dental appointment the other day and came back laughing at something that happened. Our dentist plays a light rock radio station in his office and as he was working on Vicki’s teeth he was absentmindedly humming along with the music. The song just so happened to be Exile’s 1978 hit “Kiss You All Over.” We are now getting a lot of milage out of picking out songs you wouldn’t want your dentist humming to you when you’re in the chair.
JAMBOREE. I’m backing up a couple of weekends for this last story. Every four years the Middle Tennessee Council has a jamboree. The boys and I went with the troop and had a great time. We estimate there were over 5000 people camping out and several thousand more came just for the day on Saturday (the 4th).
There was a lot to see and do on Saturday. The National guard had an impressive display of tanks, Humvees, and other equipment which included a mobile air traffic control center. There were also a lot of activities for the boy including a bridge building contest, archery, human battleship, and tug-of-war. The evening featured a show and concert starring the Mann Sisters, a duo of twin sisters from Florida.
The only bad thing about the weekend was the unusually cold weather when it had been perfect the whole week before. The highs and lows dipped a good 20° just for us and it got windy. We woke up to a light frost Sunday morning. To add insult to injury no one was allowed to have a campfire due to insurance regulations.
Joe
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