It really is a small world or at least a small country since I haven’t really seen all that much of the world. I know that I have shared other experiences in this vein but this is the most incredible story.
In this small world is the small town of Demopolis Alabama on the Tenn Tom Waterway. We don’t particularly care for it here and had not intended to be here longer than a fuel stop and overnight dockage but the weather (don’t worry I’m not going to wine about that again) caused us to remain a day longer than we anticipated. More for entertainment than any real need we borrowed the courtesy car for a run to the grocery store which is on the northern edge of town. Since the marina is on the southern edge of town we had to travel through the “downtown” area and that is when I noticed, in the window of a cute little shop, some Christmas ornaments. Of course we had to stop.
As we entered the store a clerk asked if she could help us and I replied that we just wanted to check out the ornaments. She then inquired where we were from, our accent (or lack of one) was probably her first clue, and then again it's likely she knows everyone in town. We never know how to answer that question because we are no longer from any particular place; however, recognizing that others want to know where visitors to their town hail from we often say St. Louis; which is what we said yesterday. The clerk smiled and said “I used to live in St. Louis, well St. Charles really”. Naturally I replied that I had grown up in St. Charles. The usual kind of conversation ensued.
Clerk: “Where did you go to school”?
Me: “I went to a small little country high school at Orchard Farm.”
Clerk: “I went to school there!”
This was just too surprising because I grew up in a rural area North of the town of St. Charles which was then a fairly small town itself. I think my graduating class (of about 40 or so) was the first class to spend all fours years at and graduate from O.F.H.S.. Prior to about 1962 high school students were bussed to the town of St. Charles because there were too few of them to warrant a high school (there were only 3 scattered elementary schools each with about 4 rooms). Talk about small! Then came the amazing part.
Suspecting that she was younger than I am I asked what year she graduated and we determined that she must have been a freshman back when I was a senior. As we were chatting about what a coincidence our meeting was the clerk said: “I was there when they did the play The Sound of Music”. “OMG, I was in that play, I was the crabby nun” and she replied, “I sang in the back-up chorus”.
As I said it was a small school and I grew up there and had no recognition at all of this person which surprised me a little. When we asked where she lived she said her parents lived in a trailer court; then we mostly knew that she lived right on highway 94 just outside of town. A little more conversation and we were able to determine which of the 2 trailer courts she had lived in (Princess Jodi, for those of you who remember). We tried to see if we had any mutual acquaintances but nothing clicked there. It might be important to note that at this point in the conversation none of us had introduced ourselves. Then she said, “people had unusual names up there” and I replied that there is a lot of German heritage so that might be why they sounded strange to her.
“Well”, she said, “I remember one name was Valentine”! Unbelievable! Larry said that his name was Valentine.
Clerk: “Where did you live?”
Larry: “You know that subdivision that was across the highway from the gas station and about a block down, I lived in the only two-story house in that subdivision”.
Clerk: “I’ve been to your house!”
Oh My God! She couldn’t remember why she was at his house, just that she had gone there with several other girls who lived in the trailer court; perhaps to visit some of his younger sisters/brothers.
The strangeness continues because we learned that Ann (by now we are on a first name basis) only lived there for two years before returning to Demopolis. And Larry’s family only lived there for two years before they returned to Texas. We aren’t sure if it was the same years but there was obviously some correlation in the time.
What are the odds that we would ever encounter this person? Even if we both stilled lived in the area I would think the chances would be slim and here we are many miles away.
So here’s to a really small world; and to Ann Jones, from Demopolis and Larry & Theresa Valentine also from Demopolis, at least for today.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
No More Whining
Before I go off on a tangent I want to remember to tell you that I have started adding something called "hyper-links" to the blog. Don't ask me to explain them because it would be beyond the scope of my ability. BUT using them is simple enough; when you see text that is a different color than the rest of the type you can click on the text and it should take you to a website that will give you more information about the topic. Try it, you'll like it.
Last time I posted I apparently got so caught up with whining about the weather that I forgot to tell you about the fun stuff that we saw (and some that we didn't see) in Florence, Alabama.
At the top of my "things to see" list was Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller who you might remember as the blind and deaf girl who learned to sign and speak and read Braille back in 1887. The original family home was built in 1820 by Helen's grandfather and was the home to which his son Captain Arthur Keller brought his wife Kate after their marriage. Most of the furniture and objects in the home are pieces which belonged to the Keller family when they lived in the home which survived the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression as it is know in Alabama). Today the home is beautifully maintained by the Helen Keller Foundation.
Those who remember the movie The Miracle Worker" will be glad to know that the original pump, scene of the dramatic moment when 7 year old Helen made the connection between the finger tapping out a code for the word "water" and the sensation of the water flowing over her hand, is still standing in the yard. She must have been incredibly intelligent to have managed to put it all together at such a tender age with the limited teaching methods available in 1887.
While at Ivy Green I picked up a "tourist book" listing 10 things to do in "The Shoals" (as the towns of Florence, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals are known). I noticed that Florence is home to a Frank Lloyd Wright house, I have always been intrigued by photos of Wright's designs but had never visited one, so we took advantage of finding ourselves practically next door to the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Alabama. Let's just say that I was underwhelmed. The home was built in 1939 for the Rosenbaum family and they are the only family to occupy it. In 1999 with Mrs Rosenbaum in failing health and unable to fine a buyer the family sold the home to the City of Florence with the proviso that it would be restored. With the extensive & lengthy restoration completed the home is now open for tours and other public events.
This home was built in the Usonian-style (whatever that means because I did not research it). The exterior was striking but once inside the front door I was amazed at how dark the interior felt despite one entire side of the home having glass walls, well really individual framed glass doors that opened out. The walls were all wood and stained a medium to dark tone, about the color of dark teak wood, the ceiling was also wood in the same tone and the floors were stained concrete in a reddish-brown tone. The ceilings were only about 7' above the floor, all in all I had the feeling of being in a cave. The docent told us that when Wright was questioned about the low ceilings he replied that he "didn't know anyone tall enough to require a higher ceiling". The kitchen was amazing; it was about the size of a powder room in a home today! I am not exaggerating, it was about 8' x 8' with a U-shaped arrangement of counters/sink/stove/icebox (yes, I do mean icebox) along 3 walls, there was almost room in the center of the "U" for one person to turn around to tend to all 3 surfaces. The 4th wall had a narrow doorway opening directly out onto the hallway that connected the living areas of the home to the bed/bath area, across the hallway from the kitchen door was a "dining room" no larger than the dinette on our boat! Actually that kitchen doorway was quite wide (maybe 30"-36", max), at least compared to the bathroom and bedroom doors which were only 24' wide. Not all was negative though; the master bedroom was a suite, not terribly common in 1939 when the house was designed, and the plumbing fixtures were surprisingly modern.
Another item on the "top 10" list was the Coon Dog Cemetery. We passed on the opportunity to check out this "monument to the breed" (their words, not mine) but we talked to some boaters who did make the trip and they said the marker stones were phenomenal. Since 1937 there have been more than 185 certified coon dogs from all over the country buried at the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard. I know you think I make this stuff up, but really it's true.
Last time I posted I apparently got so caught up with whining about the weather that I forgot to tell you about the fun stuff that we saw (and some that we didn't see) in Florence, Alabama.
At the top of my "things to see" list was Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller who you might remember as the blind and deaf girl who learned to sign and speak and read Braille back in 1887. The original family home was built in 1820 by Helen's grandfather and was the home to which his son Captain Arthur Keller brought his wife Kate after their marriage. Most of the furniture and objects in the home are pieces which belonged to the Keller family when they lived in the home which survived the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression as it is know in Alabama). Today the home is beautifully maintained by the Helen Keller Foundation.
Those who remember the movie The Miracle Worker" will be glad to know that the original pump, scene of the dramatic moment when 7 year old Helen made the connection between the finger tapping out a code for the word "water" and the sensation of the water flowing over her hand, is still standing in the yard. She must have been incredibly intelligent to have managed to put it all together at such a tender age with the limited teaching methods available in 1887.
While at Ivy Green I picked up a "tourist book" listing 10 things to do in "The Shoals" (as the towns of Florence, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals are known). I noticed that Florence is home to a Frank Lloyd Wright house, I have always been intrigued by photos of Wright's designs but had never visited one, so we took advantage of finding ourselves practically next door to the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Alabama. Let's just say that I was underwhelmed. The home was built in 1939 for the Rosenbaum family and they are the only family to occupy it. In 1999 with Mrs Rosenbaum in failing health and unable to fine a buyer the family sold the home to the City of Florence with the proviso that it would be restored. With the extensive & lengthy restoration completed the home is now open for tours and other public events.
This home was built in the Usonian-style (whatever that means because I did not research it). The exterior was striking but once inside the front door I was amazed at how dark the interior felt despite one entire side of the home having glass walls, well really individual framed glass doors that opened out. The walls were all wood and stained a medium to dark tone, about the color of dark teak wood, the ceiling was also wood in the same tone and the floors were stained concrete in a reddish-brown tone. The ceilings were only about 7' above the floor, all in all I had the feeling of being in a cave. The docent told us that when Wright was questioned about the low ceilings he replied that he "didn't know anyone tall enough to require a higher ceiling". The kitchen was amazing; it was about the size of a powder room in a home today! I am not exaggerating, it was about 8' x 8' with a U-shaped arrangement of counters/sink/stove/icebox (yes, I do mean icebox) along 3 walls, there was almost room in the center of the "U" for one person to turn around to tend to all 3 surfaces. The 4th wall had a narrow doorway opening directly out onto the hallway that connected the living areas of the home to the bed/bath area, across the hallway from the kitchen door was a "dining room" no larger than the dinette on our boat! Actually that kitchen doorway was quite wide (maybe 30"-36", max), at least compared to the bathroom and bedroom doors which were only 24' wide. Not all was negative though; the master bedroom was a suite, not terribly common in 1939 when the house was designed, and the plumbing fixtures were surprisingly modern.
Another item on the "top 10" list was the Coon Dog Cemetery. We passed on the opportunity to check out this "monument to the breed" (their words, not mine) but we talked to some boaters who did make the trip and they said the marker stones were phenomenal. Since 1937 there have been more than 185 certified coon dogs from all over the country buried at the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard. I know you think I make this stuff up, but really it's true.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Everybody talks about it...
..no one does a thing about it. About what? The weather! This was an old jingle that a TV station used to market their weather segment when I was a teenager. Sort of like death & taxes the weather is an issue everyone is required to deal with on a fairly regular basis. It is just when things are going well, the sky is blue and the sun shining we tend to forget that it is "weather" and take it for granted, or at least I do. On those days I tend to take an attitude that is something like "yes, this is the way things were meant to be"! I love the sunshine and the rain that we have been experiencing the last month is getting me down, not to mention slowing us down.
As you might expect, given our lifestyle, the weather governs our day to day life in a fairly big way. For one thing we are outdoors quite a lot; I mean taking the trash out is not just a trip to the garage to drop the bag in the trash can it may mean a half-block walk, or at the extreme a half mile dinghy ride, to put the bag in a dumpster. It's no fun to schlep dirty cloths to the laundry room in the rain, and it is even worse to have it rain on nice freshly laundered sheets & towels.
Then there is the schedule. As you may have surmised we don't usually have a very rigid schedule but even our loose timing is affected by a month of rain, and it is not fun traveling in rain. Yes when we are operating the boat we are inside a covered enclosure but then there is the matter of transiting locks, at which time I have to leave that nice dry enclosure and go out into the rain and catch the bollard and tend the line. Generally on the river there is at least one lock each day and sometimes as many as 4 or five. There is also the matter of docking or anchoring, the big difference between the two is whether it's Larry or I who gets wet; if we are docking I am out handling the lines, if we are anchoring he is out setting the hook or raising it. Not only are thunderstorms no fun they are also potentially dangerous so we do our best to avoid them.
Our plan, such as it was, anticipated the customary nice warm mid-South September with generally clear dry days and cool evenings (good sleeping weather). It was our intent to use this lovely month to sample the beautiful anchorages On Watt's Bar and Guntersville Lake, if you have been checking in you already know how the September plan failed. We had also decided that if the hurricane situation allowed we would plan to arrive in Mobile on Halloween, thus avoiding the potential for frosty weather that can occur by mid-November in lower Mississippi & Alabama. This schedule would allow us time to spend a week in early October anchoring on Bay Springs Lake with a stop to check out the "waterfall anchorage" on Pickwick Lake as we went by.
We have wanted to try this anchorage for a couple of years and every time we go past there has been a reason that we can't/don't stop, this trip was no different. We had run in overcast weather through two locks that day and the forecast was for thunderstorms overnight, feeling that the waterfall anchorage would not afford adequate protection from the expected thunderstorms we found a different anchorage and hunkered down. It did indeed storm but we were protected on three sides by rock cliffs covered with trees so all we got was rain and a spectacular light show courtesy of Mother Nature.
The next day was bright and sunny as we left the Tennessee River astern and pointed our bow Southward on the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Bay Springs Lake. The forecast was for rain the following day and then a glorious stretch of fall weather. That forecast lasted for about a day. The rain arrived, on schedule, the day after we did it just never left. We stayed at Bay Springs 5 days and it rained 4 of them. We finally left and went to a marina near Fulton to visit friends who have bought a home there. We were lucky to make it through all 3 locks and get docked before the skies opened up and it poured rain for 12 hours.
As you might expect given the amount of rain the region has experienced in the past six weeks the ground is saturated so now the Tombigbee part of the Tenn-Tom is flooding (which you expect in the Spring but not in the fall). After 3 days in Fulton we made our way as far as Columbus where we will wait for the water to recede and the debris and trash to float on downstream and watch for a good opportunity to continue down to Mobile. We spent part of last winter here and coming back reminded us how much we missed the people here, the marina manager & staff just can't do enough for you.
Today the sun finally came out, first time we have seen it in over a week. The downside to that is that the strong and windy cold front which pushed out the rain also brought a chance of frost here tomorrow - so much for avoiding frosty weather!
As you might expect, given our lifestyle, the weather governs our day to day life in a fairly big way. For one thing we are outdoors quite a lot; I mean taking the trash out is not just a trip to the garage to drop the bag in the trash can it may mean a half-block walk, or at the extreme a half mile dinghy ride, to put the bag in a dumpster. It's no fun to schlep dirty cloths to the laundry room in the rain, and it is even worse to have it rain on nice freshly laundered sheets & towels.
Then there is the schedule. As you may have surmised we don't usually have a very rigid schedule but even our loose timing is affected by a month of rain, and it is not fun traveling in rain. Yes when we are operating the boat we are inside a covered enclosure but then there is the matter of transiting locks, at which time I have to leave that nice dry enclosure and go out into the rain and catch the bollard and tend the line. Generally on the river there is at least one lock each day and sometimes as many as 4 or five. There is also the matter of docking or anchoring, the big difference between the two is whether it's Larry or I who gets wet; if we are docking I am out handling the lines, if we are anchoring he is out setting the hook or raising it. Not only are thunderstorms no fun they are also potentially dangerous so we do our best to avoid them.
Our plan, such as it was, anticipated the customary nice warm mid-South September with generally clear dry days and cool evenings (good sleeping weather). It was our intent to use this lovely month to sample the beautiful anchorages On Watt's Bar and Guntersville Lake, if you have been checking in you already know how the September plan failed. We had also decided that if the hurricane situation allowed we would plan to arrive in Mobile on Halloween, thus avoiding the potential for frosty weather that can occur by mid-November in lower Mississippi & Alabama. This schedule would allow us time to spend a week in early October anchoring on Bay Springs Lake with a stop to check out the "waterfall anchorage" on Pickwick Lake as we went by.
We have wanted to try this anchorage for a couple of years and every time we go past there has been a reason that we can't/don't stop, this trip was no different. We had run in overcast weather through two locks that day and the forecast was for thunderstorms overnight, feeling that the waterfall anchorage would not afford adequate protection from the expected thunderstorms we found a different anchorage and hunkered down. It did indeed storm but we were protected on three sides by rock cliffs covered with trees so all we got was rain and a spectacular light show courtesy of Mother Nature.
The next day was bright and sunny as we left the Tennessee River astern and pointed our bow Southward on the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Bay Springs Lake. The forecast was for rain the following day and then a glorious stretch of fall weather. That forecast lasted for about a day. The rain arrived, on schedule, the day after we did it just never left. We stayed at Bay Springs 5 days and it rained 4 of them. We finally left and went to a marina near Fulton to visit friends who have bought a home there. We were lucky to make it through all 3 locks and get docked before the skies opened up and it poured rain for 12 hours.
As you might expect given the amount of rain the region has experienced in the past six weeks the ground is saturated so now the Tombigbee part of the Tenn-Tom is flooding (which you expect in the Spring but not in the fall). After 3 days in Fulton we made our way as far as Columbus where we will wait for the water to recede and the debris and trash to float on downstream and watch for a good opportunity to continue down to Mobile. We spent part of last winter here and coming back reminded us how much we missed the people here, the marina manager & staff just can't do enough for you.
Today the sun finally came out, first time we have seen it in over a week. The downside to that is that the strong and windy cold front which pushed out the rain also brought a chance of frost here tomorrow - so much for avoiding frosty weather!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
We meet the nicest strangers, mostly
And then again some of them are just, well, a little strange. The most recent case in point was just yesterday at Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, AL. In Alabama (as well as Tennessee & Kentucky) many State Parks have lodges and marinas as well as the usual camping & hiking. Our boat is docked near the lodge where guests with rooms on the water side can sit on their balcony and look out over the marina.
The other day as Larry was walking up to dispose of our trash some guys sitting out on a balcony called to him and he waved in response. One of the fellows called to him and asked if he was on "one of them boats out there", of course that led to a conversation. The guy said he had heard that people could "take them boats from here all the way to up to Canada and then come back here from up in Lake Michigan, is that true". Upon being assured that indeed it was not only true but that Larry had done just that he responded with, .."well I still don't believe it".
So as I said at the outset we meet the nicest strangers, I mean have you ever had that kind of conversation in a hotel lobby?
The other day as Larry was walking up to dispose of our trash some guys sitting out on a balcony called to him and he waved in response. One of the fellows called to him and asked if he was on "one of them boats out there", of course that led to a conversation. The guy said he had heard that people could "take them boats from here all the way to up to Canada and then come back here from up in Lake Michigan, is that true". Upon being assured that indeed it was not only true but that Larry had done just that he responded with, .."well I still don't believe it".
So as I said at the outset we meet the nicest strangers, I mean have you ever had that kind of conversation in a hotel lobby?
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