Going back

So, it's Saturday evening, we just got back from seeing Tamar in a play in Hadley,  MA - part of a camp she was in this week. We've been cleaning house - the mildew and mold got to Ellen when we returned - mostly in the bedroom, but also in the buffet - when you opened the doors of the buffet the odor of mildew was powerful. It hadn't been cleaned and oiled for a long time. So we took everything out, washed and oiled the wood, washed all the dishes, and put them all back in. Then I cleaned the bedroom thoroughly, we aired, sunned and washed bed linens, pillows, clothes, etc. It's better.

Let me go back to our time in Bartlett. I finally got photos of our bedroom at Maggie and Jerry's - the guest room there is, as Dan put it, a "trip down memory lane" because the walls are covered with photographs of family members going back for decades. It's neat being reminded of loved ones. We sleep pretty well there because there is a window fan and a ceiling fan.

Here is a picture of the outside of the house.

Maggie and Jerry Hochberger's house in Bartlett, IL

We helped Maggie & Jerry with coffee hour at their church Sunday morning, and afterward we inspected the work that had been done on the side porch at "Whitewood" - Stewart's old house where Becky lives. Dennis has been working on it. The house has nice lines and a lot of potential.

Monday morning we had our traditional breakfast at Richard Walker's Pancake House in Schaumburg. It's always a nice way to end our visit.

On the trip back we had a late-ish supper at the Aladdin Eatery in Oberlin - another favorite place to stop to eat - it has fabulous middle eastern food and we always get the lentil soup and falafel cakes, which are always good.

Interior of the Aladdin

We stayed at a motel in Barkeyville, PA Monday night and Tuesday we stopped just to look at the Kinzua Dam just east of there (pronounced kin'-zoo). It was first proposed after a devastating flood in Pittsburg in 1936, but it was 1965 before it was completed. I think it was a very controversial dam  -  it flooded a large area, including 20 cemeteries.

Back of the dam - showing the combination of earth and concrete

The dam produces a lot of electricity - and there is a huge reservoir that water is pumped up into as a reserve.

Tuesday we drove to Schenectady, stayed in a motel and Wednesday I did some research on places Shirley lived and worked there the summer of 1953. More on that later.