Willard / Meadville Trip / Conneaut Lake Park
A
After living in D.C. for the past 5 years, our son Peter has moved home for a bit to take some classes and do GRE prep. It is nice to have him around. Soon after he returned to Massachusetts we planned a quick trip to Meadville and Pittsburgh to catch a Pirates game.
The Willard employee reunion dish-to-pass event was happening on the Saturday that we drove out, so he and I stopped to say hi to old friends. We had time afterwards to go to the cemetery which is always a very moving experience.
The sign at the Jewish part of the cemetery is looking a bit run down and could use some help.
The little stone marker is still there.
Here is one of the numbered graves in that part of the cemetery. It makes me so sad that #43 has no name. The state of New York could remedy this if they cared enough to publish the names of the patients who are buried here.
Before Peter and I continued on to Meadville, we stopped by the Romulus Historical Society building to see the recent exhibit updates. It was nice to see Craig Williams and Debbie Nichols who had been a nursing student and then a nurse at Willard.
Here is Debbie sitting next to her actual uniform. It is a great little museum and well worth a visit.
I’ve been stopping at the Angola Rest Area on the New York Thruway for as long as I can remember. It is so nice to walk over the highway to get to the main building.
The first stop was a visit to Eddie’s Footlongs on the lake road outside of Meadville. I had 2 with the works.
Next stop Hank’s Frozen Custard. I had 2 here as well. Chocolate.
On Sunday morning we got word that the Pirate’s game was cancelled due to rain, so we checked out of the motel and drove to Allegheny College to see the tree we planted in honor of my Dad.
My sister Karen chose a lovely Winter King, and it is thriving.
It was a rainy Sunday morning and after breakfast at the Meadville Market House Grill, we drove out for a last Hank’s and then around Conneaut Lake. The amusement park was not surprisingly deserted, but it was strange that country music was playing through the loudspeakers.
There was no one there to yell at us to stay off the rides, so we wandered and took some pictures.
Ugh, clowns.
On the left above is the Blue Streak roller coaster. I was never keen on riding it, but once Judy Jacoby who was my girlfriend for a short time convinced me to go on it. It was fine.
It is difficult to know for sure, but I think the park is still open. But it was a bit eerie to walk around with the music blaring and nobody else there.
The coaster car is pretty classic.
A Century Flyer made in Dayton, Ohio.
Here’s the entry into the first tunnel.
The master controls. ↑
Peter and I actually rode the Devil’s Den many years ago. The “Infamous Gum Wall!! is just that. People started sticking chewing gum on the wall when the ride slowed down and it became….well infamous.
Cristine and I are off to Nepal on Friday. I hope to post regularly from Kathmandu.
Cheers everyone and thanks for following.
Pennsylvania Welcome Center
Peter and I drove to Meadville today. We’ll go to Cleveland for a ballgame tomorrow and then to Pittsburgh to see the Bucs on Monday evening. / I have always liked this view out the back of the PA welcome center just beyond the New York State border. Grapevines in the foreground and you can just barely see the lake off in the distance.
Millar Mitts
I will admit to a certain vanity about clothing. I mostly wear a variation of the same thing everyday, which makes life easier in the mornings. I have a real issue with outerwear though. I love jackets, hats and gloves. It is probably why Summer is my least favorite time of the year. I remember as a kid in Meadville looking forward to Autumn because it meant I could wear coats again. When I lived in Ithaca in the 70s, my friend Robby Aceto had a pair of these gloves. There was a shop in the DeWitt Mall that sold outdoor kit and they carried Millar Mitts. I bought a pair and completely wore them out over a period of 5 years. Replacing my worn out pair was really difficult. Nobody in the States seemed to carry them, and I think the company went out of business. They were made in the UK by Millar Gloves, Bingham, Nottinghamshire. On one of my trips to London in the mid 80s I found a single pair in a shop in the Burlington Arcade. The backs are wool and the palms are cotton string. Wearing them is such a treat. The wool isn’t itchy, but you always know when you have them on. In an odd way they are very sensual. / I took the train to New York on Thursday for some work and since I knew I would be shooting outside, I broke out these guys. It makes me happy just to look at them.
Guest check
My dad was a very interesting guy. He died in August of 2007, and my mom died in March of 2009. Cleaning out their apartment in Meadville was difficult in the obvious ways. It wasn’t until July of ’09 that we finally had everything out and divided up. It was very cool the way my sister, brother and I settled on who got what. No hassles at all. Since I was the last to leave Meadville, I had lots of odds and ends to bring home. The boxes ended up in my family room and have sat there since. My plan was to go through them and divide the remaining items between the three of us. It has been hanging over my head since that July, but I finally started opening boxes on Tuesday. Dad had saved some intersesting little items. / After he retired from Allegheny College, he read to school children at my old elementary school and volunteered to teach English as a second language through the Meadville Public Library. A family named Lee moved to town from China to work at the Chinese restaurant run by Mr Lee’s brother. They came speaking no English, and my dad became their teacher and mentor. He poured all his heart into that family, and they really loved him in return. The boys were Jamie and Danny, and Jan was their mom.
Our son Peter was born 5 weeks early in January of 1989. He weighed just over 3 pounds and had a very rough start, staying in the NICU at Floating Hospital in Boston for what seemed like forever. When I was going through the boxes from Meadville, I came across this envelope.
I realized right away that it was from the Lee’s. This note was inside.
Oh, man.
Acorns
When I was growing up in Meadville, there were tons of oak trees. In the fall the acorns would start dropping and be everywhere. Sometimes we would fill our pockets full and inevitably someone would start throwing them,which would lead to some massive neighborhood battles. One day Don Blackmar’s father got involved in the effort, and since he was the only adult, just about everyone started heaving them at him. He got really pissed and took it to a level way beyond parental discretion. It was unusual to see a parent go over so far over the edge in what was mostly just a benign game. I never felt the same about him after that.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
1 comment