Thankful Sunday, October 13, 2019

I am thankful for fall flowers.

The weather has been unseasonably hot. The weather has been dry. The weather has been cool. And through it all, flowers are still blooming. And for this fall beauty, I am thankful.

Here are a few of the flowers I'm thankful for in my yard.

The ever-faithful begonias have continued their bright blooms from early summer through now. I have definitely found the right flower for along our front walk.

And speaking of begonias, I've shown you before the begonias from last year that seeded themselves behind the bushes in the front. Now they have little blooms on them. You have to look hard to find them and I call them my secret garden.

One even made it the backyard and sprung up in the corner of the sidewalks.

When we first moved in, I planted these two mums to fill up a space. They were small, but have come back every year, bigger and better than before.

And speaking of bigger and better than before, these mums have also grown every year since we've been here. They were already in the bed when we moved in but have expanded by almost two feet over the last couple of years.  I have thought about moving some of them, but they are so happy in this spot, I am hesitant to do that.

These mums also play host to a lot of insects like this bee...

...and this cucumber beetle. I'm not sure what I should do with this beetle. Let it be, or get rid of it so our cucumbers won't be attacked by it next summer. More research needed on this.

Near the yellow mums are yellow cosmos. I got seeds for them from a friend in August and decided to plant them even though it was late in the season. I'm glad I did because we are enjoying the bright blooms now.

The canna lilies are starting to fade, but are still giving a nice shoot of red. 

Reflections

On our vacation, we toured the Weston State Hospital, formerly and now known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. It was an interesting but not a fun place to visit, but we did because Ward had talked about wanting to see it for years. I found out on this trip that his desire was mostly to see the architecture of the grand old building up close. He likes to see how things are made.

Hospital in my town, internet source

Visiting it was a very difficult decision for me. I grew up in a nearby town that also had a state hospital. I had a childhood of memories to go with it-some good, some bad. The hospital in my town sat on a big hill overlooking the town. It was a long, Gothic, red brick building with a foreboding appearance that we could see easily from our house. Most days we could hear continual yelling from some of the patients there. We could also hear the constant squeak from swings that patients swung on all day long. We had patients write to us, begging my mother to help them get out. I was afraid of the place when I was little.

When I got older, I went with groups to sing carols and take cookies. My sister went with youth groups to play pool with other youth who were there. Sometimes we would babysit for doctors who lived on the grounds. And sometimes, my friends would be admitted there to deal with drug problems. But everyday, we lived the rhythm of our lives by the whistle that would blow at the hospital--7 am, noon, and 5 pm.

It was an important employer for our town and our neighbors and friends' parents worked there. And some of the residents were important people in our town, too. Teddy was the paper boy whom everyone depended on to be the first out with the paper. Robert had the most beautiful speaking and singing voice I'd ever heard and frequently visited churches to preform. And Esty, who did different jobs for people, was the hardest worker and had the most colorful expressions I had been around. Sometimes she would come help my mother and we would work all day trying to keep up with her. Those are just a few of the people from the hospital who integrated into our town.

After I became an educated adult, I learned that during the 100 year history of the hospital, that sometimes things were bad. Very bad even with the best of intentions. I wasn't sure that I could enter a hospital that was so similar to the one I grew up with. I had very mixed feelings about it.

But I did enter the other grand, Gothic building for a tour. And as soon as I entered I was surprised as  tears started to flow.  But they didn't last. I was able to tour throughout the building--some of which had been restored and some that was in disrepair. One of the things I was worried about was that these tours were taking advantage of the people who used to live there and who were treated there. I felt better after the tour to know that they were very respectful of the former patients. I was also happy to know that people who had grown up with the hospital were leading the tours. They seem to have a knowledge and empathy that I don't think you could have gotten from someone outside of the area just stating facts.

I'm still not sure how I feel about my visit to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. I don't yet totally understand the strong reaction I had to just walking into the building, but I do know that it has occupied my thoughts.  I may share soon some of the actual history of the hospital. It is very interesting just as a history lesson.

Note: All the revenue from the tours is put back into the building to help with restoration.

Thankful Sunday, October 6, 2019

I am thank for fotor.com.

When I first started blogging, I used the free photo editor Picasa. It worked great.  Besides basic edits, it made collages and blurred things out. Then Google bought Picasa and retired it. After that, I have been on a long search for a replacement. I had PicMonkey for a while, even bought the advanced version, but it was awkward to use and, in my opinion, wasn't worth the cost. Then the other day I found a free version of fotor.com. It's the standard set up. The program offers you basics and you can pay for more advanced features if you want. I was thrilled because with the free version, I found a way to blur out personal things in a photo so I can post it.

So for the free photo editing app, fotor.com, I am thankful.

I am also thankful for my cousins, some of which I saw at my recent family reunion. However because of fotor, you won't be able to see them very well. Just as I had planned. And for that, I am thankful.

Home again, Home again jiggity, jig

or My Trip Back Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.

Day Seven:
Chips, Cataracts, and Cats

We decided that even though we had been enjoying this trip, it was time to go home today. 

We couldn't leave West Virginia without getting a bag of Mr. Bee
potato chips, the only potato chip made in WV. They are made in Parkersburg
which was the 1st part of our trip.

We had about a five hour drive back, so we decided we would stop along the way at Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland and take a hike. On the map it seemed just a little out of our way. But it seemed a lot our of the way as the GPS took us on miles and miles of dirt roads to get there. Earlier in the week, we had been happy to explore several places on back roads, but when you are starting to think about getting home, they can be annoying after an hour or so. But we eventually found the back entrance to the park.

 The park had a loop hike that went past four different falls on the Youghiogheny River. The water levels were very low so the falls were much smaller than normal but they were pretty all the same.

On the way out, we finally found the front entrance to the park.

We are home now and the car is unloaded, but much of our stuff will have to wait until tomorrow to get sorted and put away. The cats are demanding that we pay attention to them. Even though Theo took good care of them, they have missed our laps.


Until next time...

Day Six, My Trip Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.

Day Six:
Moving, Mines, and Mental Hospitals

Today we moved our base from Beckley to Weston. It was another hot, dry day but most of our time was either spent in the car or touring indoor things.

Before leaving Beckley, we made one last stop at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. In 1953 the city of Beckley bought the abandoned Phillip mine and reopened it almost 10 years later as an exhibition mine to help to educate the public about coal mining. 

We took a tram down into the mine that was driven by Marvin, our tour guide. He was a retired miner and said that he had had just about every job in the mines except electrician and boss. Here is he is showing a bird cage that would house the canary that helped monitor air quality. When the bird died, you had about 15 minutes to find fresh air.

The mine was forced out of business in 1910 by bigger companies. We were seeing the mine as it operated in 1910 when it closed. However, they had newer machinery displayed for us to see along the way.

Outside the mine were representative buildings from a coal camp. Each one had been in a coal camp and moved to this area. And each building had a guide who had lived in a coal camp or had a relative who had lived in one. Everyone was very friendly and eager to tell what they knew about their particular area.

Each building had a guide, that is, except this one which was too small.  This was a bachelor's shanty meant for one person.

Inside of the bachelor shanty. Looks pretty nice because apparently his grandmother embroidered and crocheted things for the inside.

A little more information about the miner's shanty.

Coal has been an important part of West Virginia's history and continues today as an important part of the state's economy.  It has provided many jobs--but jobs that are dangerous with long term health effects. This exhibition mine gives a small glimpse into that.

After that stop, we headed north to our destination of Weston to tour the abandoned Weston State Hospital, formerly and now known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. The hospital building was begun in 1861 before West Virginia became an independent state from Virginia in 1863. After the Civil War, it was completed and admitted its first patients 1864. Construction continued throughout the years.

The hospital operated until it closed 1994. It remained abandoned until it was bought by Joe Jordon in 2007. He has begun restoring it and is giving tours to help with the expenses. We had an excellent tour guide who went through what happened in different locations of the 1/4 mile long building and the changes of treatment for mental illness throughout the years. It was an informative tour about a very difficult subject.

Until next time...