September 19, 2020
UHAUL Medium Moving Boxes 3 cubic feet $1 each
Thursday, October 1, 2020
On the first day of October, with a cool, clear morning, it felt like Fall. We decided to grab a Starbuck’s coffee and head over to Brown County and the hills and hollows of Nashville, Indiana. At historic Nashville (1836), we walked the quaint little village, admired the Fall decorations on the streets and in the attractive shops, and took pictures. A delightful little town with many original log cabins, and subsequent Victorian homes, now house the eclectic shops and restaurants. The town, close to nearby Indiana University, is best known as the center of the Brown County Art Colony and as a popular tourist and party destination. After our morning walk at Nashville, we hit McDonald’s for a quick, drive-thru breakfast, then drove over to Brown County State Park.
At Brown County State Park, the largest State Park in Indiana, we took the trans-park-drive through the hardwood wonderland. Nicknamed the “Little Smokies” because of the area’s resemblance to the Great Smoky Mountains, Brown County State Park encompasses nearly 16,000-acres of rugged hills, ridges, and fog-shrouded ravines. The Brown County State Park is a traditional fall color hot-spot, with nearly 20-miles of tree-lined roads and many scenic vistas overlooking miles of uninterrupted forestland. Fall colors were beginning and we checked-out all the stops and overlooks. It was a stunning sight this morning!
Fall Colors in Indiana:
Each Fall, Indiana is blanketed with a rich tapestry of reds, oranges and yellows from the variety and abundance of hardwood trees. Throughout October, thousands are drawn to state parks to gawk or leaf-peep at, and take photos of the changing leaves. My favorite time is early morning, with the trees backlit by the morning sun.
There are the yellows and golds of poplars, the vibrant reds from native sumacs, while maples add a touch of vivid orange. There are more than 100 native tree species in Indiana, not to mention all the shrubs, so Fall colors are spectacular in the Hoosier State. Now’s the time!
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
My, how time flies! We have been busy with house-projects, so the days just fly-by. We have moved electrical and cable TV outlets higher-up the walls, in order to position them closer to TV mounts and to hide the outlets and wires. I’m also planning to add some outside floodlight with convenient inside switches.
We have done a lot of cleaning and spruce-up projects on the house which really look good. Over the past few weeks, we have furniture-decorated the rooms with new beds, night stands, drapes, couch/ottoman, end tables, desk, plus bathroom fixtures and furnishings. All of these items have come to our door by on-line shopping. A great shopping option!
The weather has been cool and the Fall colors have been fantastic but recent rain and wind have put lots of leaves on the yard, creating an on-going, leaf-raking project.
We take our daily walks on the Columbus trails and get our exercise while enjoying the trees, landscaping, wildlife, and various architecture along the route.
We have enjoyed some good social-distancing visits with family and friends. We’ve had bring-your-own, picnic meetings in the parks and fellowship, wearing masks and with ample distancing.
Thursday, October 22, 2020
This morning, we closed the loop on our Columbus loop-trail. We’ve been regulars on the trail and have covered the entire thirteen miles in the last few weeks. Walking one mile out and returning to our starting point each time, means we walked 26 miles. Now, we move on to other trail challenges and opportunities in the area.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
This morning, we began a walking tour of the architecture and landscaping in Columbus. On our first outing of this challenge, we did a lot of stopping and picture-taking, and we also did a coffee/muffin take-out at a bakery we walked by. If this sets a precedence, we’ll have to make this waking tour a now-and-then thing. Anyway, we’d like to share some photos of the architecture and landscaping, as we work our way (walk our way) through this challenge.
Columbus is a great place for us and we are staying busy learning about our new home-town. This is another great “noun-experience” for us with the people, place and things.
Unfortunately, sister Rose has had a fall and broke her leg, so I will be going down to Senatobia to be her care-giver.
Rose fell on November 10.
Rose had surgery on November 13.
Bob arrived in Senatobia on November 14.
Rose remained in Baptist Hospital Desoto and entered Rehab
Rose came home on November 24. Monday,
November 23, 2020
Today, I took a day-trip out east to Ripley, county seat of Tippah County, Mississippi. Ripley is located in the Hills region of the old 1832 Chickasaw Cession land of North Mississippi, acquired by the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek.
This area later became an important region for the birth of American music. The area is known as birthplace of the hill country blues. Cotton is still king but now they harvest 5-thousand-pound rolls, wrapped in green plastic.
Colonel William Clark Falkner, (1825-1889) great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, was a prominent resident of Ripley in the mid to late-19th century. Colonel William Clark Falkner's exploits in and around Ripley served as the model for William Faulkner's character of Colonel John Sartoris. (Not sure when they added the “U”) I visited Colonel William Clark Falkner and his first wife Holland Pearce (?-1849) today, and they are still dead. My impression was that; he got rich after Holland died and never improved on her grave marker, but his marker is colossal and overlooks his old railroad.
I took the backroads and it was like going back in time. I traveled on some roads that were familiar to Nathan Bedford Forest ("Wizard of the Saddle"). Had a fine, sunny day in the Chickasaw Cession!
Thanksgiving with Rose was good and we had McDonald’s for lunch. Being sequestered, we got reacquainted, after any years of brief holiday-visits and fleeting vacation trips.
I tested positive for COVID-19 and Rose tested negative. Covid was a difficult experience for me, try to be a care-giver and struggling to do simple chores. Fortunately, I recovered without hospitalization or serious complications but symptoms still persist.
I had about 12 days of COVID-19 illness and continue to have symptoms, but no longer contagious. Thankfully Rose was symptom-free and did not get Covid-19.
We continue making medical appointments with Rose and she is making good progress.
Dr. Gupta schedules a bronchoscopy for Rose on a COPD lung issue.
Christmas 2020 found us sequestered, so we had a quite Christmas holiday at the house. Rose’s 80th birthday on December 8th brought her a huge stack of birthday cards from friends and family. This was a little secret campaign that Marilyn and I executed by spreading the word through social networks. Rose was elated and saved every card to enjoy over again. Nothing like loving friends and family!
This posting will be the end of my notes for 2020, so I’ll try to catch up with notes in 2021. What a challenging year 2020 has been, with COVID-19 virus, hostile politics, and shook-up people acting-out, we have demonstrated that we can overcome the negative with the positive spirit. See you in 2021!
