Last Wednesday I left Bayside at 5:30 AM to go to Goshen to visit Mother with Bruce soon to arrive. Many hours later exiting PA I entered 196 West Street into my GPS for a quick look at the places I remembered there. Even though I was six or seven years old when we moved to Indiana I have some very vivid memories from those young days, roller skating around and around the furnace in the basement with the wringer washing machine off to the side during the winter and on the concrete driveway in warmer days, swinging on that wonderful swing, eating golden pears right off the tree and, probably my favorite, forever playing in the big sandbox building and shaping things sometimes needing a bucket of water. There was also the time I got a book of Citizen's Bank matches from Grandpa with the caveat I only use them to light trash in the trash barrel. I gathered all the trash from the wastebaskets, mostly kleenex, and put it in the barrel. To light the trash I had to get up on and lean way into the barrel. As you can imagine or even remember, the kleenex went up with a whoosh and I was without eyebrows for several weeks.
196 West Street
Grandpa's Farmhouse Next Door
The Stover Homestead
Grandpa and Grandma Kreider's Last Home
Old Citizen's Bank Building
I drove on after taking these shots finally stopping for the night south of Toledo.
I reached Goshen in ample time for lunch with Mother in the dining hall on Thursday. It was so good to see her and know that she was well and her usual cheerful, engaging self. That evening we were surprised when Bruce arrived. We had been expecting him on Friday but he drove from Kansas straight through in one day! That's way more than thirteen hours behind the wheel.
Friday we spent a little time rearranging the furniture in Mom's living room and took measurements of the window in order to buy a curtain rod for a future valance. Bruce drove us over to Walmart to replenish some of Mom's supplies and to look for a curtain rod and valance. We found a nice simple rod but there was no suitable valance so we headed for J.C. Penny in the Concord Mall first stopping for a nice lunch at the Bag Factory's Trolley Cafe. As it turned out Penny's and another store we went into had nothing that would go well in he apartment either. The rest of the day we chatted, had supper, met some folks we knew then played Upwords on Mother's kitchen table.
Saturday was a bit on the gloomy side so we didn't venture out until noon when we went to Das Dutch Essenhaus in Middlebury. The countryside is so beautiful. It still speaks to me in ways I can't explain. I had a "Manhattan Style" roast beef sandwich though I've never seen anything like it in Manhattan the past forty-two years. It was good though and even had enough gravy for me! In the afternoon we played some Rummycube with one of Mom's game mates, Dorothy, I think, who's funny and pleasingly feisty.
On Sunday Frank, Lori and Nick drove down to join us. After catching up for a while we went for buffet at the Ponderosa. In the afternoon we trekked down to the game room where Mom taught Frank, Lori and Nick how to play Rummycube. I you haven't played before, the games are short and addicting! Nick was a quick study and had five wins under his belt in no time at all. Each of us won at least once. Toward evening it was time for the Jackson Kreiders to head back home. Bruce, Mother and I had a final supper in the dining room after which we played just a few more games, then said goodnight and goodbye to Mother as Bruce and I would be heading homeward very early next day. It was a wonderful time all around. Frank, Lori and Nick's appearance really topped things off in such a nice way. It felt so good to be surrounded by family!
Next Move
A Clean Slate - Game On!
