I LOVE COMPUTERS -- BUT...........................

          Computers a great.  When they are working properly.  Then they can be the most frustrating thing on the face of the earth.  I don't know what we did without them, and I don't know how to get along with them.  There is always some little something going wrong.

         So - for all you friends, acquaintances, whoevers, if you have e-mailed me and gotten no reply it is not because I am ignoring you.  I can receive the e-mails just fine, but can't reply, forward, or create a new message and send it.

Sometimes I think my computer looks like Mr. Whimsey - hasn't the vaguest idea of what it is supposed to do.

 I tell it what to do, is just tells me sorry, can't do that.  Over and over.  Have e-mailed Hughes.net for help.  Wonder what they will tell me.  Probably, sorry, can't do that, try again later.

You don't realize how dependent you have become on your computer until it stops doing what you tell it to do.  No amount of arguing, explaining, losing your cool, whatever, makes a bit of difference.  Sorry, can't do that, try again.

So, please keep sending me your e-mails.  I WILL answer them, when the computer decides to quit pouting and play nice again.  Until then, I hope I can keep my cool.  When and if I can't get my e-mails either, I am afraid I will lose my cool big time.  Pray for me and God Bless.

THE LIGHTHOUSE LAMP................................

          I have a lighthouse lamp.  The real deal.  My lamp is about 6 foot tall, hand-crafted by my Grandfather in the late 1930's.  It is the only one in existence.  It is made entirely of wood, put together piece by piece.  This lamp has lived in Martins Ferry, Ohio - Cleveland, Ohio - Pierpont, Ohio- and finally in West Alexander, Pa.  And it still shines brightly, lighting your way.  Let me tell you it's story.

          My Grandfather lived with my parents while I was a child.  He was a carpenter by trade.  He had his shop set up in our basement.  I loved to go down when he was working on his lathe, jig saw, all that neat stuff, and watch him turn out beautiful pieces of furniture.

          He did end tables, coffee tables, small what-not tables, a desk, many small items such as an inlaid sewing cabinet, miscellaneous wooden containers for stuff.  He never sold any of his crafted items, just gave them away to family and friends.  But he only made ONE lighthouse.

          The lighthouse consists of 4 legs, turned on his lathe.  The base of the lighthouse is a large square piece of wood, about two inches thick, and hand-chiseled (that is, using a chisel and hammer) so that the finished product looks like a rocky piece of land.  Upon this stands the lighthouse itself, complete with its light. 

          For close to 100 years now this light has welcomed  folks into its home.  I am the second owner, this is the lamps 5th home.

          My Grandfather made this lamp for my Aunt Pat, my Mother's sister.  She was still living in Martins Ferry when this lamp was created.  She liked the unique and unusual, and this lighthouse was very special for her.

          When my Aunt moved to Cleveland, the lamp went with her.  It sat in her apartment all the years she lived there, and every summer I would travel, by myself (I was just a kid) on the train from Bridgeport Ohio to Cleveland.  Mother would put me on the train and the conductor would watch over me until we reached Cleveland, where Aunt Pat wold be waiting for me.  Those summer trips were the highlight of my summer. 

          I can remember when Aunt Pat, Uncle Cas and I would go out doing things that were fun, that upon returning home, usually at night,  you could see the light shining out the window.  I always knew which apartment was ours.

          By the time I was a teenager Aunt Pat and Uncle Cas had retired and moved to the small rural community of Pierpont, Ohio.  I still spent several weeks each summer with them, making life-long friends, whom I still visit with.  Again the lighthouse stood in the window, showing the way home.

          Aunt Pat was the older sister, and Grandfather wanted the lamp to go to the oldest girl.  As Aunt Pat had no children, and I was the oldest  in my family, the lamp was to come to me.  Upon Aunt Pat and Uncle Cas' deaths I inherited the lamp.   I moved the lamp from Pierpont to West Alexander where it stood in my home's window, lighting the way home. 

          Upon my marriage to Tom, the lamp moved into our home, where it has stood for over 35 years now, lighting your way home.  Upon my death it will go to my daughter Rebecca, and from there to her daughter Shelby.  From there, I know not where it will go, but am hopeful that everyone who has this lamp will let it shine, showing the way home.

          I hope you all out there have a light shining, showing the way home.  God Bless.

RUNNING LATE-----------------------------------

Time has gotten away from me today.  Can't imagine how that happened.  Anyhoo, will be posting a new blog early this afternoon.  Be sure to come back later for a visit.

A JOINER or a NON-JOINER - WHICH ARE YOU???

Some of my friends are, what you would call, joiners.  They belong to this club, that organization, always going to meetings, dinners, playing cards, etc.
You know who you are.

Then there are folks like me - the non-joiners.  I have always hated to be locked into some meeting or function, knowing I had to be there EVERY week, EVERY month, EVERY whatever.  What if something more interesting came along - couldn't do it because I had to be SOMEWHERE.

Don't get me wrong.  There need to be the joiners just as there need to be the non-joiners.  It is what makes the world go 'round.

There are two exceptions in my life - my Church, and the Barnstormers.

What is/are the Barnstormers you are probably asking yourself. 

Mail Pouch Barns, our very first form of roadside advertising, is very prominent in my area.  After all Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company was headquartered in Wheeling West Virginia, just a few miles from where I live in Pennsylvania.  So Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania had, at one time, many many barns painted with the Mail Pouch Tobacco sign.  It is a part of our history.

Times have changed.  The barns are no longer being painted with the Mail Pouch logo.  It is a part of our local history that is rapidly disappearing.  So, hence the Barnstormers.

This year, 2011, will be the 10th anniversary of the Barnstormers.  The main focus of this organization is the preservation of at least some of the history pertaining to the original roadside advertising.  But the BEST part, they only meet ONCE A YEAR in July for the Barnstormer picnic.  The remainder of the year we receive quarterly newsletters.  One of the main goals of the Barnstormers is to donate time and money to help land-owners with barns in desperate need of repair and/or restoration.  That is one of this group's goals. 

The picnic is held in Belmont, Ohio, the home of the last barn painter Harley Warrick.  It was upon his retirement that the company discontinued the practice of painting the barns.  We meet in the school gym one Saturday in July.  We have Mail Pouch items for sale, a fantastic buffet luncheon (there is sooooo much good food) an auction of mail pouch memorabilia, stories, and tales of adventures while looking for these elusive barns.  After all, they are not along the Interstate Highways (they didn't exist back then) but on the out-of-the-way back-road roads. 

The picnic is open to EVERYONE, you don't have to be a member.  But, membership brings you the newsletter, and keeps you up-do-date on what is going on.  Membership is only $15.00 per year, payable in July, either by mail or at the picnic. 

I am going to share three of my mail pouch barn pictures, one from West Virginia, one from Pennsylvania, and one from Ohio. 

This barn is in Harrison County West Virginia.  West Virginia has very few barns left standing, even though it is the home state of the tobacco company.  Progress has taken so many of them, and abandonment has taken it's toll.

This barn on the right was found in Bedford County Pennsylvania.  You can see that time is beginning to take its toll on this barn.  Only the dog seems to be in good shape.

I am sure this barn is thinking that if someone doesn't do something soon it will become just a pile of rubble, as so many of the barns have over the past couple of decades.  And last you can see the barn here on the right.  I found this barn in Trumbull County, Ohio.  You can see that the owners are

very proud of their barn.  Just look at the landscaping and how well maintained this barn is .

I am not condoning tobacco, or the use of it, but at one time it was a very important part of our history.  At one time the annual compensation ($12.00 per year) paid the taxes on the farms (this was during the depression) and enabled the landowners to keep their farms, not lose them to non-payment of taxes.  You can see it was a how important this was.

If you would like a fun day in July, join us on Saturday July 23, 2011 and the Belmont, Ohio (just west of St Clairsville, Ohio) school gym (it is air-conditioned) for a fun day of food, history, stories, and friendships.  I hope to see you all there, and God Bless.

THE IDES OF MARCH --- what is next?............

The last four days of March.  The end of the first quarter of the year 2011.  I just put my Christmas Tree away.  Before I know it I will be getting it out again. 

The winter flowers are now a thing of the past.  I saw some of the most beautiful poinsettias over the holidays - called Fantasy Poinsettias.  The flowers were many-colored with gold and silver sprinkles making them sparkle.  You can see how beautiful they were.

But now it is time to think spring.  April is just around the corner, my crocuses are in full bloom.  The tulips are up, as are some of my other perennials.  I am afraid they will get frosted, as winter isn't over yet, but I guess they know what they are doing.

Some of the first flowers we see are the Dandelions.  Lots and lots of Dandelions.  Entire areas are yellow instead of green.  But have you ever looked really closely at a Dandelion?  They are a beautiful flower, resembling the fall Chrysanthemum.  What do you think?

The trees are just beginning to bud out, the weeping willows already look green.  They are the first to get their leaves in the spring and the first to lose their leaves in the fall.   The dogwoods will be blooming soon, the magnolias, red buds, fruit trees, all of them will be wearing their spring colors, possibly their new Easter outfits.  The lilacs, rhododendron, azaleas, all that will be blooming. 

Then there are the times when the spring finery gets covered with snow.  Winter just doesn't always want to give way to spring.  When  you think it is all over, look what happens.  This is a Red Bud tree in bloom, covered with snow.

I think we have had it all this month of March:  Snow, sleet, hail, wind, rain,  floods, tornadoes, mud slides, all in our area.  This doesn't count the weather in other areas.  And the month isn't finished yet.  What will the next few days hold?

On Friday we will know.  Have a good week and God Bless.

SAN DIEGO - Part 5 - MISCELLANEOUS....

We saw so much in four days, it is hard to believe.  One really neat place was Coronado Island and the Coronado Hotel.  It is huge, very pricey, and very beautiful.  It is, supposedly, the oldest all wooden resort hotel in the country.  Only the rich and famous go there.    We went as far as the lobby, then decided we had better leave, or we might have to pay to get out.  We also passed the Coronado Island Naval Base.  My son Andy was stationed there for a bit while in the navy, so it was neat being able to see the base as we went by.

The next few pictures are of several different things we saw in our time there - The Bob Hope area I told you about, the aircraft carrier Midway in the background behind the sailor and the nurse,
some of the bougainvillea in bloom, and a "lady of the night"

 

The last picture I am sharing is of the lady Pirate that we ran into down at the waterfront.  She was pretty neat.  Not often you see a lady Pirate.

On Sunday our friends Kay and Brenda arrived in S.D., we went to Old Town to have supper, and were serenaded at our table as we ate.  How neat.  On Monday we checked out of our hotel and took the shuttle to the waterfront and the Cruise ship terminal.   The next 13 days were our Hawaiian adventure, four days cruising to Hawaii, five days on the Islands and four days cruising back to San Diego.

These three segments were adventures in themselves, and some time in the future I will tell you all about it - Rough seas, Volcanoes, Tsunami warnings, rougher seas, shipboard happenings, all my daughter could think about back home was the movie "Poseidon Adventure". 

As you can see, we all survived, have many stories to tell, and actually had a wonderful time.  Maybe it is because we are nuts to begin with, but we had fun.

Laughter and fun makes the world go 'round, and we had a lot of both.  I wish everyone could have as many adventures as we have had, and lived to tell about them.  Have a good week and God Bless.

SAN DIEGO - Part 4 - BALBOA PARK.......

Balboa Park is an amazing part of San Diego.  We thoroughly enjoyed our
time there.


In 2015 Balboa Park will celebrate their centennial - 100 years since the Panama-California Exposition.  Balboa Park consists of 1400 acres, and one of the first steps for the beautification of the park was taken by a woman named Kate Sessions.  In 1892 she vowed to plant 100 trees and shrubs a year as long as she lived, at no cost to the Park, or the city.  She kept her word.  Balboa Park is a living memorial to a woman who brought much beauty to the area.

San Diego played host to the Panama-California Exposition in 1915, and the name City Park was not dignified enough.  The park was renamed Balboa Park in honor of Spanish-born Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

De Balboa was the first European to spot the Pacific Ocean while exploring Panama.

Many of the buildings in Balboa Park
remain today as they were in the early 1900's.  These include the San Diego Museum of Art, the Spreckles Organ Pavilion, home of the world's
largest pipe organ, Casa de Balboa, Casa de Prado, the Botanical Gardens, and many many more.
Below you will see the Spreckles Organ Pavilion.

Our only disappointment was that the organ is only open one day a week, when they give an afternoon concert.  What an amazing experience that would have been, but again, too much to do, not enough time.



The San Diego Zoo is also a part of the Balboa Park complex.  We saw sidewalk musicians playing, real artists painting the old fashioned way, outside, the beautiful botanical gardens inside display, more things than I can even begin to mention.

 

Here you see the painter and musician.

 

Here are the artisans center and Casa Del Prado Theater. 

 And down here is the Botanical Gardens building, and one of the other unique buildings.  I can't begin to name them all, but all were beautiful.

You could spend days in Balboa Park and still not see it all.  There are concerts, art classes, museums, a carousel, (which hadn't opened for the season yet), theater performances, just a little bit of everything.    I hope there is never an earth-quake that will drop California into the ocean - how sad that only the sea creatures would be able to see all this beauty. 

Enough for my rambling today.  Sunday I will share a few of the miscellaneous San Diego gems, and when I decide to continue my 3 week adventure, will start another series.  In the meantime, stay safe and God Bless.

SAN DIEGO - Part 3 - OLD TOWN....................

Old Town was visited the most - we actually were there 3 different times, just too much to see and do, and still not enough time.  Old Town Was the original San Diego, up on the hill.  Old Town never did take off as the founding fathers thought it would, and died a slow death. 

As this San Diego was crumbling a very astute, wealthy, gentleman bought acres and acres of ground along the ocean. 

Everyone laughed, who would want to build down there?  Ignoring all the comments and fun being poked at him, he began construction of a few modest buildings.

Today that "joke" is the beautiful city of San Diego, and also the County seat.  Luckily there was a group that thought old San Diego should be preserved.  A lot of the buildings are original, and a lot of history is stored there.

Most of the old buildings are furnished as they were when the town was still a town. 

There were scheduled tours you could take, and the history of the town was explained as you walked through, going into the buildings.  We didn't have time to do all that, but we did learn a lot from our trolley drivers.  Not only were they drivers, they were tour guides, and we learned the history of every stop we came to.  The neat thing was, we had a different trolley driver each day and even though we passed the same stops coming and going, the stories varied as each one told something different about that particular stop.

Not only were some of the buildings very unusual, so was the plant life.  We saw things we had never seen before, didn't have a clue as to what they were, but sure had fun.

Old Town is just what it's name implies, it is a very old town, settled

200 years ago, on a hilltop several miles inland from the ocean. 

Old Town stands today, thanks to some folks with the foresight to preserve a part of California's history, so that we might see what had been, once upon a time.

Maybe someday you will get to see Old Town - and if you ever visit San Diego, be sure to take the trolley ride.  Vicki and I heard about it in the airport in Pittsburgh.  As we were waiting for our flight out we were talking to a gentleman sitting next to us, and he asked where we were going.  We told him, and that it was our first stop of our 3 week adventure.  He told us if we didn't do anything else to be sure to ride the trolley.  It would be an experience we would never forget.

We did, it was, all thanks to an unknown fellow traveler who was willing to share his experience with us.  God bless folks like that.

SAN DIEGO - Part 2 - THE WATERFRONT...

          Two blocks from our hotel was the waterfront.  Old Sailing ships, the Midway aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, sculptures, statues, Bob Hope entertaining the troops, great restaurants, a carousel to ride on, and, of course, the terminal for the cruise ships.  It was also one of the Olde Town Trolley stops, which we rode for 4 days, getting off at all the interesting places, re-boarding to the next stop, we got to see it all.  And still didn't see everything!

          I really can't say what we liked the best.  Everything was our favorite until the next thing, and on and on.

There were several blocks of sculptures, created by different school groups, complete with plaque telling what group had created each sculpture.  I am going to share just a few, don't have enough room for them all.  Look and enjoy:

There were so many of these, each one more colorful than the last.  Another neat thing, they were constructed so that when the wind blew, they would spin around, slowly or fast, depending on the amount of the wind.  You can see we had picture-perfect weather, not the snow and stuff back home.  Loved calling home and rubbing it in as to how beautiful it was in San Diego.  That wasn't nice, was it?  We thought we had seen them all, but the next day we would discover one or two that we hadn't seen before.  Every day was a surprise.  I think there were times when my camera over-heated, I was taking so many pictures.  I DO know that before I left San Diego for the cruise, that I went to a camera store and had the pictures on my memory cards copied on to CD's so I would have memory for the rest of the journey.  I also invested in additional memory cards.

We saw the Midway Aircraft Carrier, but didn't have the time to do the tour and lunch.  We had too many things to see and do and not enough time.  We saw the statue, it will show up later, of the famous WW II photograph that was taken in New York City at the announcement of the end of the war.  A sailor walking on the street grabbed the nearest girl, who happened to be a nurse, and gave her a mighty kiss.  This photograph became famous all over the county.  What an awesome thing to see this.  I know you young folks don't know what I am talking about, but us old folks do.

          There was one area that had a life-size sculpture of Bob Hope standing in front of a microphone entertaining the troops, also life size sculptures, and a recording was playing the tape of his show - just listening brought back so many memories.  I am sharing another mural with you, there were so many.

          We found a carousel that you could ride on, but I just took a few pictures.  We had some of the best seafood ever.  Here is a picture of the SD skyline, what a beautiful city. 

          But, among all the wonders and beauty, there had to be some sadness.  Down at the waterfront, under some trees, we passed the belongings of a homeless person.  We did not see the person, but his belongs were there, along with the American Flag. 

 

          I believe I have covered the waterfront, we still have Balboa Park, Old Town and possibly some miscellaneous.  It will take me the remainder of the week to share these with you.  Maybe some day you will see some of these places, and if you do, I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.  Until later and God Bless.

SAN DIEGO - Part 1 - LITTLE ITALY........
          Right now I am pretty much grounded - because it is in-between weather, and because my house is a, literally, disaster area.  The walls are being prepped for a re-do, everything is everywhere, can't find anything, you know the scenario.  So not is everything a mess, life is boring, and I am not used to boring as I seem to go from one adventure to another.

          And so, for the next few days, will tell you about San Diego.  During the Monster Snow Storms in February of 2010, my friend Vicki and I flew to San Diego, just our first stop before cruising to Hawaii and back.  But that will be another story. 

          I AM NOT a city person.  I grew up in a rural area, and have lived in the country since my early 20's. (not THE early 20's!!!). I really don't know how people cope with city life.  But if I HAD to choose a city to live in, as of right now it would be San Diego California.

          We had four days in San Diego before the other two of our group could join us for the Hawaii adventure - they had to work, we were retired.

We stayed in the Little Italy section of San Diego, at the Harborview Inn, just a couple of blocks from the waterfront.  This first picture is what we saw every morning when we left our hotel to go exploring.  We had found a Starbucks a couple of blocks away, that was our first stop every morning, sitting outside and drinking our coffee. 

As we drank we watched the people coming and going, and talked to the dog walkers.  San Diego is a completely friendly dog-city, everywhere we walked there were bowls of fresh water sitting on the sidewalks outside of the businesses for the dogs to drink while on their walks.  This particular dog was carrying a rock.  His owner told us every morning when they left for their walk, he had to pick up his rock and carry it with him.  He would drop it to drink, then pick it up again.  Only in San Diego.

Another thing we noticed were the murals.  They were everywhere, on buildings, signs, what-ever.  I guess San Diego is famous for their murals, but they were beautiful, as you can see.

Everywhere we walked there was something neat to see.  We visited the farmer's market, walked the waterfront - another chapter, ate, really good Italian food, and ate and ate.  Good thing we did a lot of walking.

We were also fortunate as they were having their Italian Festival when we were there.  On Saturday evening it was like Mardi Gras.  There was music everywhere, singers, bands, individuals playing their what-evers.  People were dressed in their Mardi Gras finery, it was really a great experience.  The next three pictures are of one of the revelers, one of  the couple on stilts dancing down the street and one of the "Party Dog".

There will be several more chapters of this particular adventure, the Waterfront, Old Towne, Balboa Park, and possibly some miscellaneous stuff. 

I hope you enjoy your thumb-nail participation in some of my adventures.  I wold love to have e-mails - marthadou@hughes.net, or comments on the blog so I know whether or not I am boring you.

I hope you have the opportunity to have as many fund adventures as I have had over the years, and hopefully I will have many more.

Everyone have a wonderful day and God Bless.

IS A COMPLIMENT REALLY A
COMPLIMENT?

          Good question.  I think we all have, at one time or another received a compliment, which we accepted at face value, feeling flattered, thinking we have done or said something profound,  something we really enjoyed hearing.

          We don't listen to the compliment, then start taking it apart, one word at a time, to see if it really WAS a compliment.  We accept the compliment and say "thank you".

          By the same token, we give compliments - I think to make us feel better as well as being "kind" to the recipient.  "You look nice today".  "I like our new hair-do."  "That color really suits you."  "I love your new car."  And on and on and on.  We hand out compliments left and right, but do we really ever stop and think about what we are saying, and how it will be received?  Of course not, we just hand them out.

          I am as guilty as the next person.  I never thought about it until this past weekend.  Now I will probably di-sect any compliment that happens to come my way.  And that is not a good thing.  Compliments are meant to be accepted at face value.  We are not supposed to question, or wonder why.  We are just supposed to accept them graciously.

          At Saturday's wedding reception I had a chance to speak with a young lady, my daughter's age, (46 - that is young to me).  This gal was a friend of my daughter's cousin,  the one whose daughter got married on Saturday, and as my daughter would spend time with her cousin during the summer, the three of them hung out together.  I sure hope I haven't gotten you hopelessly lost with the above narrative, but there is a point.

          This young lady happened to see me across the room, and next thing I knew she was asking me to sit with her a while at her table so we could catch up with old times.  Remember that - OLD times.

          She is quite a chatty someone, always was.  So as we were sitting and talking, she proceeded to tell me that I hadn't changed a bit, she knew me the minute she saw me.  It took me a while to place her without coming right out and asking her - who the heck are you anyway?  But I think I would have been a little more polite.  Hopefully.

          We did have a lovely chat, I enjoyed seeing her again, once I knew who she was.  But then - on the way home - I got to thinking about her compliment.

          YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT!

          I haven't changed a bit?  I look in the mirror and sometimes don't even recognize myself.  Haven't changed a bit?  Either I looked REALLY REALLY BAD when I was her age, or I look REALLY REALLY good at my age now.

          The picture below is what I see when I look in the mirror.  I'm the one on the right.  Of course I don't have my glasses on, which could make a difference.



          I think I'll go with the REALLY REALLY GOOD.  The alternative is very discouraging.  They say looks improve with age.  So I will believe that I look a lot better now than I did thirty plus years ago.

          The next time you receive a compliment, take a long look at it.  You might be surprised.  I kind of like to think that maybe I do look pretty good for my age.  So, many thanks for the compliment and God Bless.