Awake: 6:45am Temp 53 sleep 8+02 fog…then sun overnight @
Nicktown.
I slept longer than usual after that heavy dose of social time yesterday.
It was fun though, seeing & talking with so many people I still know
around here & those who travel many miles to be here for this occasion.
Kathy asks that I make a quick trip to the Bi-Lo grocery store in Spangler
(10 min) for some maple syrup, bacon & light olive oil. “You bet”! I tell
her. She is making her famous sourdough pancake breakfast this morning &
has invited Grace & Gary over for a 9:00am feast.
We start with fresh cantaloupe, then eggs over easy, bacon & sourdough
pancakes with real maple syrup. I think they enjoyed this breakfast….I
always do.
After breakfast, I advertise to the gang that there will be a (2) hr tour
of the Nicktown area starting around 10:30. Kathy is startled! “(2) hrs?”
she questions. “That’s correct” I tell her. Gary & Grace appear excited &
insist that we use their Honda auto which has a GPS in the dash in the
event that we get lost!!
1st attraction: our new community center, merely an 8 min walk from our
property; then the Catholic School, The Catholic Church, Krumenacker’s
Hardware store, St. Nicholas Hotel & then a drive east on St. Henry Street
seeing some more Nicktown homes that are hidden behind the picnic grounds.
Next, we are heading south, past the Enchanted Gardens flower shop & the
photo shop. Entering the suburbs now, we pass the vast operations of the
Lieb farm, further down the Nicktown road, or as some people call it,
“Kirschtown.” I tell G & G “who lives in this house & who lives in that
house;" i.e. cousin Jimmy, cousin Bernie, etc. We turn left onto Kline
Road which I haven’t been on for maybe 20 yrs. I see 3 new homes and have
no idea who occupies them.
We turn around & drive down Kirsch Road, past Nealens, taking a right turn
just past our big old barn & onto our ole homestead driveway. Here we
stop; Gary & I get out & talk with my cousins, Russell & John, who just
happen to be hanging out in Russell’s driveway. We sold Russell our
homestead with 2 acres in the mid 90’s after my mom passed away. He has
brought it back to life with a wife & 3 children + a completely renovated
& different floor plan inside. Outside, Russell has completely removed all
the wood siding & is using stone for the outside finish. Both guys are
extremely talented woodworkers & run a nearby cabinet shop.
Next we drive past the ole cabinet shop where I point out the natural
spring & wading pond below Russell’s home that he has cleaned out &
manicured. Then a left turn to the lane that leads to my 1st cousin’s
family home where we meet with Cyril, Tony, Dick & Bill. Cyril, Tony &
Dick are in the area for the cousins’ reunion & Homecoming Festival this
weekend, but they also do some preventive maintenance work on their
homestead when visiting. After a nice chat with those guys, we drive out
of their lane, continue down the ole brick road, past cousin Richard’s
homestead, past the grotto that cousin Jerry built, past his homestead
where Jerry & Marian lived, past the construction company warehouse, etc.
Now we are leaving the Nicktown area & getting closer to the town of
Spangler. The town of Barnesboro & Spangler merged several yrs ago & now
call themselves “Northern Cambria” but most people still refer to them as
B.& S. As we travel toward Spangler, I point out Max & Diane’s summer
home, then I round out this tour by turning around @ the Bi-Lo grocery
store & heading back to our buses in Nicktown, arriving @ 12:20pm. The
Honda automobile gave us a smooth & quiet ride, no one fell asleep & we
completed the tour under 2 hrs. Maybe Kathy was right!
@ 1:00pm, Scott & Al arrive separately. I’ve invited them to look over our
property while Gary & Grace are here for the purpose of future home
building. We are considering having Al as our builder & Scott as our
architect. Gary & Grace are our specialized heavy construction specialists
& personal advisors. We spend about 1.5 hrs talking about building the
basement, hot floors, geothermal heating & cooling, the slope on our
property for natural drainage, the floor plans, etc. There remains a lot
of planning yet to do but we do have the initial idea in mind.
After Al & Scott leave, Gary & Grace decide to leave also. When we were
visiting with Russell & John, Gary received a phone call regarding what
could be a family emergency with one of their daughters. Quite a few phone
calls later, they were still concerned enough that they felt it would be
best to be back home & personally be there for their daughter.
Grace backs up their Newell while watching Gary who is walking in the
front of the coach & giving hand signals along the way. They made it look
easy. Once the coach is turned around, their Honda is hooked up; we thank
them for their visit, say our “goodbyes” for now & off they go.
Next, Kathy & I drive to Ebensburg to attend a cookout at my brother Don &
sister-in-law Josie’s house; their son, Craig, in from Texas, Josie’s
mother, two brothers, a niece + the Footes from Indiana are also there. We
start with snacks: hard pretzels & chips. Then the hamburgers with all the
trimmings, kielbasa, potato salad, baked beans. For dessert: rubbarb &
strawberry pie + apple pie. Melissa brought her homemade healthy whole
wheat cookies. Matthew kept himself busy playing with some big metal toys:
a car carrier, front end loader & a dump truck. Andrew was putting on the
yards, crawling all over the long outside deck. Craig is leaving tonight,
driving to a few other cities to take care of business before flying back
to Texas. Josie’s Mom, Vi, is doing good & looking good @ age 85. We were
grateful for the invitation & enjoyed seeing & talking with some of
Josie’s family. Back to our bus around 7:45pm.
Melissa gave us a rental DVD to watch: “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks,
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, etc. Viktor (Hanks)
arrives @ JFK from the fictitious Slavic country of Krakozhia just as a
coup erupts in his homeland. American officials no longer recognize the
country as a sovereign state & yank Viktor’s visa & passport. For the next
9 months Viktor camps out in the International Transit lounge of the
airport with his freedom ensnarled in bureaucratic red tape. 2004. We
liked it! When watching the DVD, we recommend using the sub-titles as
Hanks usage of Slavic is incredibly funny, but when listening, doesn’t
come across so clearly spoken.
Today’s high=74 Lights out: 11:58pm
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