Campbellsburg - Lesson 1

We live in an old-fashioned railroad town, with the road running along the still active tracks. Snuggled against the tracks is the old railroad station, once a graceful white icon of our town, but now just a faded and falling memory of the boom times of Campbellsburg. I love hearing the faint whistle of the lonesome train calling across the fields.

Across the street from the station is our downtown. Campbellsburg's original down town was taken out by a tornado in the '70's and replaced by a brick strip mall containing our local businesses. Our bank is still owned by long-standing members of the community, as is the local grocery and our small-town drug store. Brenda's beauty parlor is where the woman-folk catch up on all the local goings-on. Last is the post office, hanging on in spite of all the recent post-office closings.

The gas station is the hot spot in our town. Called the Minit-Mart, it is situated on a small triangle of land between the highway, the rail road tracks and a side road, it has two pumps. Folks often think of that space beside the pumps as a parking space and make it hard to get gas. The Minit-Mart also sells chicken and pizza, closest thing we have to a fast food joint. It is also the local coffee stop for all the retired gentlemen, farmers and rail-road men from the trains that stop on the side-switch in town. Few women will brave the smoky man-cave more than a few minutes.

My husband died in April.

What can I say? I'm lost? I'm broken? So many feelings and so much sorrow.

How to keep busy...

My biggest problem is that I don't know what to do with myself. I have spent the last year keeping myself busy on the computer and reading while my arm healed, re-operated on and healed again.

Nice

Chuck a rock...

What a fun day... so far. It's warm and sunny, with just a touch of a breeze. And that means I can't go outside... the maple, pear and redbud trees are blooming. Pollen alergies!

Oh! And a warning. Don't let your thoughts drift in church: Today our new minister was talking about his visit to the holy lands and said he was standing on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, so close he could have "chuck a rock" to the temple. I got so tickled I about chocked! All I could think of was Ernest T.

Ray gave me a dirty look to make me quit laughing, but LAST WEEK... when the preacher started his closing prayer, he started, "Oh God!" and Ray thought of the prayer for the poor farmer in the beginning of "Paint your Wagon."

It's a New Day!

It's a new year and lots of things have happened. Guess I've started a new me. I'm not sure how I will turn out by the end of this year, but I know I will not be the same.

I left the scrapbooking world. I just didn't have that many pictures to scrap, and all the kits were beginning to seem the same. I thought about selling kits, but I think that would just be adding to the problem of lack of creativity.

I've retired from my job as the secretary of our church. I had been frustrated for about as long as Bert was our preacher. He didn't even try to be a pastor. I was tired of trying to keep the church on track with a immense lack of communication and resentment. I was beginning to hate me and my life. Then Bert resigned (hooray!) but my feelings of resentment did not seem to improve that much, so it was time for a change. I had lost my religion and beginning to dread going to work or church.

I made some rules with my retirement. First, I will be a better partner to my husband. He loves me to do things with him, so I have decided to work on ways we can be together more often. Maybe go stay on the shanty a few days when he is there. Also, I try not to let a day go by without doing something constructive (besides Mafia Wars on Facebook).

I can't say there has been much improvement yet. I've spent lots of time just sitting around - playing on the computer or cutting up material for quilts. I took a photography class, (which I loved), and bought some more equipment that I think I will really use. I haven't cooked much lately, I think mostly because I don't want to go shopping. I just have to decide what I want to do and then WORK at.

Happy New Year's Eve

We had a lovely sunset today. I thought it was a lovely ending to a year.
I tried to take a photo of it, but the trees kept getting in the way. I scraped it about seven times, never getting the look I wanted.

Poor Lulu
Our little cat was operated on four times this last month, then the vet said she had a rapidly growing cancer on her head. So we had her put to sleep on Dec 27th. The photo below shows her after an operation sleeping with Shebie and I.
Lulu was the daughter of an outside cat. We tried to give her away several times, but she wouldn't go away as a kitten. Very skiddish and needy.