Memorial Day Weekend - Family in Indiana - The Lake - Lots of Memories



This weekend Greg and I traveled to North Webster, Indiana, to Mom and Dad's lake cottage to catch up with a number of family members that I haven't seen in 7 or 8 years. Since we moved to Pittsburgh, the trip to the lake cottage is more than we can comfortably do in a weekend; it's about 350 miles and takes almost 6 hours even with Greg at the wheel. So we have only been there once since we've lived in Pennsylvania. I was missing some of my family . . . and many of the kids are growing up and leaving for college. We made the trip this weekend to catch up and in many cases to introduce Greg because he hadn't met a lot of these people.

We arrived late on Friday evening and opened up the cottage enough to sleep. On Saturday morning, I called my cousin, Scott's, house and talked to his wife Nanette. I also talked to my Uncle Ward, who offered to take us for a round of golf. Even though I didn't take my clubs, I jumped at the chance to play with Uncle Ward because he is a leftie like me. He has donated a set of his old irons to me in the past and kept me in decent equipment; and I rarely ever get to play with another leftie who is so much better than me and can give me tips. Anyway, I was excited about this. Greg wasn't up for a round and said it was a good chance for us to catch up anyway; so Uncle Ward and I played nine holes at his favorite course. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we had such a good time playing the red tees. I even got to try out his rescue club. And he gave me a couple of pointers that will undoubtedly help me in the scramble I'm playing next Saturday with some friends. The picture above is Uncle Ward later on Saturday at Scott and Nanette's farm.

Greg and I went to Scott and Nan's for supper. The hamburgers and pasta salad were great; and the brownies were even better! After supper, Scott and Nan and Uncle Ward took us out to the barn to see the horses and the project that Uncle Ward is working on out there. I'm including a picture of the dog because you really don't get the relaxed feel of their place without seeing the horses grazing and the dog, Laddie, chasing the airplanes across the sky.

Unfortunately, we missed both Mckenzie and Mary, Scott and Nanette's daughters. Mckenzie was out and about; and Mary is on her senior trip to Florida with classmates. She graduates from high school next Saturday. But we got to see pictures of both of the girls; and they are beauties.

It was a great evening, and my cousin, Kirk, also stopped by for a few minutes as well. He was on call for the weekend and getting ready for a business trip next week. But it was GREAT to see him and catch up on his kids and grand-kids! His wife, Linda, was attending a graduation on Saturday and wasn't with him; but we ended up getting to see her later . . . more on that. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to remember to take a picture of Kirk. Next time, I will definitely correct that problem!

On Sunday afternoon, I gave my Aunt Jane a call. Aunt Jane has always been my "cool" aunt. You know. Most girls have the aunt that takes them shopping for clothes and buys them neat stuff for Christmas and generally convinces your Mom that you are old enough to shave your legs or wear eye shadow. Well, that was Aunt Jane for me. And the other thing is that she is a fantastic piano player; and my mom always enjoyed listening to her play the piano when she came to our house. I can honestly say that many a time when I was taking my piano lessons, being able to play like Aunt Jane got me back on the bench to practice. And she is still playing. When we went to her house, we visited for a while. I could see the reflection of her piano in the glass of her TV as we were sitting in her living room. She played us a little ditty; and I sat down and played Ebb Tide from the sheet music on her music stand. This really took me back a long ways to the old upright piano we had in the house in Markle where she used to come and play for us. And even though it had been over 20 years since I had seen her, I didn't feel like a stranger at all.

We walked in the beautiful back yard with the perennial garden and the pond behind the house. And then Linda came by with little Jeremiah! This was a great surprise. I hadn't seen Linda for so long I can't even remember. It was a really good visit.


From Aunt Jane's house, we took our map and found our way over to another lake to locate my cousin Greg and his wife, Ann's, cottage. With the help of the map on the refrigerator at the cottage, we successfully found their place . . . just about the time they were coming off the lake to unpack a freezer full of home made ice cream! Excellent timing, don't you think? This picture is Brian and Kevin (not their best side, sorry) unpacking the ice cream freezer. They took the creamy custard into the house where it was supplemented with chocolate cake and Ann's famous Scotcharoo's!









Opa Greg got to sample a true family tradition in getting to know this part of Dad's family at their finest! Eating ice cream and stuff with chocolate on it! He was suitably impressed. We visited and caught up on college and summer plans and what was going on with everyone. After a couple of hours, we got another round of hugs and took off, exhausted, for the cottage.











I want to end this post with a little lake history and tradition. First, I had forgotten how much Indiana revolves around the Indianopolis 500 Race on Memorial Day Weekend. On Sunday, the radios on the landing started broadcasting the race at full blast as soon as the pre-race festivities began. When they sang the national anthem, you could hear it all over the place. It was great! And then, "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!" And there was buzzing engines in the air all afternoon until the conclusion of the race. It was fun to remember listening to this on the radio growing up before it was allowed to be televised. I remember hours of listening to the buzz and the announcers and the laps run under the white flag as a child. It is a great Indiana tradition.



There are other things about the lake that bear documentation. There is the fact that everything we have "thrown away" for the last 50 years or more has ended up at the cottage. Take for example, this pink and orange bath towel that was a wedding gift I got in 1974. It didn't originally have fringe all the way around; but it does now. I actually used this towel this weekend; it is 34 years old. But it isn't even close to the oldest towel in the closet. Of course, Scott is right when he said that towels last a lot longer when you only use them in the summertime. (Right!)



Besides the towels, there are old things in the kitchen, too. Many of them were left there by my grandmother, who originally stocked the cottage when Grandpa was putting it together in the 50's. Take for example this cooking fork. Grandma liked to use this to turn her meat . . . especially bacon. She carefully removed the center tine so that it would grab the meat easily. Many, many times I have watched my Grandma turn the bacon with this fork. Eventually, my mom also used this fork for cooking. Somewhere along the line, one of the outside tines also broke off leaving it as a kind of sharp little stabber. But did the fork get thrown away? CERTAINLY NOT! This is Grandma's cooking fork! And it is still in the drawer. Thank goodness somebody still respects valuable stuff. It made me smile to find this fork still in the drawer . . . even though we didn't cook any bacon.

It was a good weekend. I slept soundly and enjoyed a walk along the lake with Greg. Even though things have changed, there are still a lot of memories around. And I still remember where the fruit stand used to be where we bought corn on the cob and tomatoes and Indiana melon for our 4th of July picnics. There is a real estate office there now. But I can still see the wooden stand in my mind.



Memories are good. Family is better. I love you all. And I am so grateful that Greg came with me to meet a lot of people that I talk about and get cards from and call my own.

Thanks, too, to the veterans! It really is a time to remember those who served their country. The cemeteries in Indiana were bright with fresh flowers and flags. Small town America still lives. I'm so glad.