Dalpiaz Ryan Family news and notes: June 2013

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Reminiscing about Silver Creek

Some of you might be following the Silver Creek and Beyond group on Facebook so perhaps you've seen many of these already. I was having so much fun with it that I thought I'd put the ones together that have special memories for me and see what comes up for you.

The bank on the corner. The bank lobby seemed very imposing to me.

Dr. Vona's office was upstairs in this building.

In a previous life, I think this was The Royal--it looks exactly the same as I remember it. Dad would take us in once in a while and we could have ginger ale and dance to the juke box. It was at the bottom of Oak Hill. See below

Though I do not recollect this specific house and sign, I clearly remember the Bentges warehouse and family name.

Self explanatory!!!!!

Main Street in Forestville. I don't have many real clear memories of Forestville except Dr. Raag's office was there (right?). We would sometimes ride our bikes to Forestville on a Saturday.

The High Bridge on Dennison Road

The Main Street School--I believe it contained grades 3-6 and was one street over from the elementary.

Weenie loved Roof's. I think maybe in our time, that front area was all glass.

This is what I remember the high school looking like.

Had to include this. What a treat for Mom to have a dairy right next door.

I can almost remember the inside of this just a little bit.

Mt. Carmel from a different angle.

ACME was kind of across from Mt. Carmel. Mom would go here too once in a while.

Ludeman's where we'd get our Easter finery.

I remember baby chicks and/or rabbits under glass in the floor

This must have been the precursor to the Hole-Parker Funeral Home. Weenie always laughed and laughed at that. I didn't get it for several years. Now I can't believe they allowed that for their business name.

So, now if Judy is still paying attention, I wanted her to feel part of this walk down memory lane:

You can see Roof's behind her. This is on the corner kitty corner from the bank. The park and gazebo would be to Judy's left. Circa 1970. Enjoy.

PS: Here's a very short clip from YouTube of the Silver Creek footbridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4hSFpg1zM

Thursday, June 27, 2013

View from the other side

Wow. Long time between posts. My life has been a bit tumultuous these last few weeks and the blog was a victim. I'm hoping to regain my normal schedule now that I'm officially retired! Friday June 21 was my last day of work and when I woke up on Saturday June 22, it truly felt like a whole new world. It's hard to describe but it's like stepping over an abyss knowing you won't go back again. And it's A-OK. If you're a parent, you remember that people told you there wasn't a good way to describe how it would change you. It's like that. Without spit-up.

When I was reflecting on this phenomenon for the purpose of writing this post, it occurred to me that it's like the Nik Wallenda walk across the Grand Canyon. Highly publicized, lots of people watching and tracking, a balancing act. But he made it even though the winds were buffeting him a bit more than he expected. Yes, there were time the wind was blowing and it seemed a long way to the end of the line, but once you step onto the other side it's wonderfully freeing.

Thank you all for your good wishes. Kathy, Paula and Ryan were able to attend the party with Jim and I last week and it was EPIC. I was well and truly roasted using the ReadAloud as the theme. This is an example of one of the table decorations

This shows "Old Paint"--it's a wooden book truck that was in the library when I started way back in the last century. One of the English teachers would ride him like a horse and called him Old Paint. He's badly in need of varnishing and touch up but I like his character just the way he was. He's used every year to hold the diplomas as graduation so I wasn't able to ride him out of the school on the last day as I wanted to because he was already laden with diplomas. It's probably the only thing left in that library older than my time there. And I expect he's being reconditioned this very minute. Poor thing.

But I feel as though I'm being reconditioned every day as I consider taking a nap--checking the clock to see if it's too late for a nap--then realizing IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT TIME IT IS. Or when I'm thinking about dinner and realizing: yes, I do have time to prepare that. Or when I'm grocery shopping and don't have to buy things that can go easily into a lunch box. You get the idea. It's the little changes so far that have seemed so very sweet to me this week. My first week on the other side.