While I was recovering from my foot surgery, I found much more time to read than normal. I won't waste time and space commenting on the books I'd give "thumbs down" to, but I will recommend a couple of worthwhile works, in my opinion.
Fannie Flagg's little A Redbird Christmas was a delight, as well as Can't Wait to Get to Heaven.
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas was thought provoking. The effect of a World War II Japanese internment camp on a small southeastern Colorado town is seen through the eyes of a thirteen year old girl.
I've just begun She Got Up Off the Couch (and Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana) by Haven Kimmel. She is the author of A Girl Named Zippy (Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana). I feel a kinship with Haven Kimmel; we share small town backgrounds, although in her view, a town the size of Williamsport (population 1200) dwarfs minute Mooreland with its mere 300. (I've added her blog to my list.)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
And Yet Another Birthday
On Monday I celebrated/endured another birthday--the end of the fifth decade of my life. One happy consequence is that now I'm only one year away from being "eligible" to retire. Also, many restaurants will be giving me the "senior discount" this time next year! (Oh, a sad state of affairs when that's something to look forward to...)
The birthday caused me to think about the days of my youth in Williamsport, Indiana. I looked on Google images to try to find photos of places from my past, and I was surprised to be able to find so many.
The hospital where I was born was the former home of a Prohibition-era bootlegger. Only the bottom floor of the building still exists, along with several more modern wings added over the years. This is also where I had my tonsilectomy in 1961--and nearly bled to death at the tender age of 11.
When I was very young, I remember walking over one of the "Twin Bridges" on Monroe and Fall Streets in the dark with my parents, returning to my Grandma's house on Boyer Street after having seen a movie at the theatre "uptown." The sound of the falls terrified me, and the stench was overwhelming. In those early days in the 1950's, the falls were not only the highest in Indiana, but also the state's largest open cesspool. Fortunately the environmentalists cleaned it up later.
I attended Williamsport School from 1956 (as a first grader--we had no kindergarten in those days) through second grade. Then we moved to Attica, Indiana, for three years. I completed 7th through 12th grades in the old Williamsport School, graduating in May 1968. The building was demolished in the 1980's, I think, and a new elementary school was constructed on the site.
In 1974, all three of the Warren County school districts consolidated into the Metropolitan School District of Warren County (my first professional employer--but that's a story for a future posting).
The birthday caused me to think about the days of my youth in Williamsport, Indiana. I looked on Google images to try to find photos of places from my past, and I was surprised to be able to find so many.
The hospital where I was born was the former home of a Prohibition-era bootlegger. Only the bottom floor of the building still exists, along with several more modern wings added over the years. This is also where I had my tonsilectomy in 1961--and nearly bled to death at the tender age of 11.
When I was very young, I remember walking over one of the "Twin Bridges" on Monroe and Fall Streets in the dark with my parents, returning to my Grandma's house on Boyer Street after having seen a movie at the theatre "uptown." The sound of the falls terrified me, and the stench was overwhelming. In those early days in the 1950's, the falls were not only the highest in Indiana, but also the state's largest open cesspool. Fortunately the environmentalists cleaned it up later.
I attended Williamsport School from 1956 (as a first grader--we had no kindergarten in those days) through second grade. Then we moved to Attica, Indiana, for three years. I completed 7th through 12th grades in the old Williamsport School, graduating in May 1968. The building was demolished in the 1980's, I think, and a new elementary school was constructed on the site.
In 1974, all three of the Warren County school districts consolidated into the Metropolitan School District of Warren County (my first professional employer--but that's a story for a future posting).
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