Zoar village was founded by a group of German separatist in 1817, a communal village located along the Erie canal. They sold many things to the “outside” world, including hand knit mittens. The summer we went there my family was making fun of me because all I cared about was going to the local little museum and seeing the mittens. I made fun of them for coming along.

William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States. Although he is not a native of Canton, he spent a good portion of his life there, and of course Ida Saxton is a Canton native. Growing up in Canton the McKinley monument was part of our summer life, and local culture. I remember my mom used to take us to the now defunct Mother Gooseland to play and picnic. It seemed so huge to me. When it was time to go, she’d buy a big bag of popcorn and take us over to the duck pond to feed the ducks. We’d go through Monument park and stop and run the steps of McKinley monument. One summer my sister was sliding down the sides on her butt and wore a hole in her pants!

As a teenager in high school, I remember marching in the Memorial day parade, in full dress uniform, including hats (and plumes) and playing the Star Spangled Banner at the Memorial day ceremony in front of the monument. I had the distinction of being the only one out of three sisters, to not pass out!

I started out this year with a monthly theme for the blog. I got away from that last month with my vacation, unless you consider vacation that month’s theme. This month I want to get back to posting on  a theme, so this month is My Ohio. Taking a look at my extended neighborhood and what my home state has to offer.

A few years ago Lori came out to visit. We were driving down the highway that skirts downtown Akron. Firestone is on one side and Goodyear is on the other. I made the comment to Lori that Akron is the rubber capital of the world. She started giggling uncontrollably. Not that kind of rubber!

Stan Hywett Hall is the home of the Sieberling family the founders of goodyear. Sadly the Firestone mansion is now an office building.  So glad this magnificent home has been preserved.

As promised.

This picture was taken in late October, about three weeks ago.

This is my new color as of last Tuesday.

To me, the difference is huge, and no one noticed!

There is this little park i pass frequently and I have never stopped in there. The weather today was so nice, low seventies, practically unheard of in Ohio in November, I had to get out and go for a walk. I headed over to Brust park and started walking the trail. It lead me down past the Cuyahoga river.

It’s a paved bike/hike trail. It lead me down behind a housing development, not wanting to spend a gorgeous afternoon looking at people’s back yards, I went off trail a little and took a stroll in the woods.

I turned back and started walking up the opposite direction, I am not sure how far back this trail goes, I believe it may be part of the towpath. It was still in a pretty residential area, though not as bad as the first end I had hiked. All together I hiked about three miles. I doubt I’ll hike there again, but I will definitely keep it in mind for biking.

I picked up some overtime at work the past two days. After working a thirteen hours shift (thank you Brian for letting me leave early) I went back in and worked a seven hour shift this morning. I wanted to leave early enough to have a little sunlight left in my day. It’s not often we see temps in the upper sixties in November. I drove over to a park not too far from my home. It’s part of the Summit county metroparks. I usually tend to stick close to the CVNP. It’s familiar and comfortable. this was a really nice little park with plenty of space, a pond for swimming and a pond not so much for swimming and it had a 2.2 mile hiking trail.  This was the perfect end to a work day. Plenty of sunshine, fresh air, fall colors and a babbling brook.

The trail winds its way around to a small (not for swimming) pond, the sun was streaming through the trees and dancing on the water.

As i walked along the trail, enjoying the day, I heard the rustling of leaves over my shoulder. I stopped and looked at around, at first i didn’t see anything until I spotted some movement out of the corner of my eye towards the top of a hill.

One of the things I enjoy most about hiking in Ohio is how frequently I spot deer. Tomorrow is supposed to be another gorgeous day. I plan to go outside and play!

I am at a loss. I have been dealing with my own grief these past few days.  I lead a very small, quiet, little life. I consider myself a sheltered, naive girl from rural Ohio. I do not know much about politics, or what is happening in the world at large. Most of the time I do not know what is happening in my own little world. To be honest with you, I like it that way. I don’t want to know. I have no use for violence in movies or on television. There is enough pain and hate in this world as it is. This week horrific acts of violence have come slamming through the door.

While I was on vacation, it was my privilege to make an acquaintance with someone just returned from Iraq. While I can not even begin to imagine what he has been thourgh in the past three years, I can certainly appreciate the fact that I lead my quiet life, in  my quiet world because of people like him. It’s horrifying to think that after all our servicemen have been thourgh, even after they finally make it home, they are still not safe. To open fire on your fellow soldiers, on American soil, on their home base is reprehensible. Nidal Hasan and his actions can be summed up in one word. Cowardice. Of course if you sign on with the American military there is a damn good chance that you will see action. After all it’s what our government does best, sending our young people to foreign countries to die. Am I fed up with this? Of course I am. I can still support our troops and believe in the men fighing the war, even if i do not believe in the war itself.

Then there is the gruesome discoveries in a backyard in Cleveland. There is a reason I haven’t been to downtown Cleveland in five years. There is a reason I have never been in downtown Cleveland after dark by myself. Anthony Sowell a convicted rapist was released from prison after serving a fifteen year sentence. Police have found a total (so far) of eleven bodies in the yard and in the home. So far three women have been identified. African american, poor socio-economic backgrounds. Some with a history of drug abuse, criminal records, prostitution, in other words the type of people who fall through the cracks in our society. I hate to say it, but if a blue~eyed blonde little white girl like me disappeared, you would’ve known about it.

This week has been a week of loss, not just for me, but for many people. My heart goes out to all who are suffering. The families of the  twelve soldiers murdered at Ft Hood, the families of the victims of Anthony Sowell, the families of the remaining nine bodies as of yet unidentified, still wondering if their loved ones are among the dead. I sit in my own grief over the loss of a patient and dear friend. The world will have excuse me for now, my heart is already overflowing.

I am taking this a lot harder than I thought I would, and maybe even more than I should be. I work with a lot of terminally ill patients. We have patients who have cancer, liver disease (one sort or another) or are in renal failure. We see them on a weekly, sometimes twice weekly basis. You get to know them as a person, not just a patient. they become a part of your life, and you become a part of theirs. I try so hard to stay detached. I have to, if I allowed myself to get emotionally involved or attached to every one of these patients I would be in a near constant state of hysteria and mourning. I always feel bad when one of our “regulars” passes, but it’s not personal. I have had other patients that I have been fond of, and their passing is harder than most, but this is the first time it felt like losing a family member. Like losing your favorite uncle. I saw Ken once a week for over a year. I can’t believe I will never see him again. He passed while I was on vacation. I didn’t find out about it until a few weeks later, and then by accident. I missed his funeral, I would’ve gone if I had known, I was home by then. I missed my chance to say goodbye. I was looking forward to seeing him and telling him all about my trip, he knew how excited I was, and how much I had been looking forward to vacation. I miss our weekly visits, I will miss talking to him, and I will miss his generous heart.

Score! Took a bag of snapea crisps into jc with me and they said i could substitute one serving for a jc snack.

I stopped by borders the other day, and a guy in a chicken suit walked out the door, passed me in the parking lot, got in his car and drove away.

I start back to school in January, my chosen major is a four-year English degree. Thank goodness there is no math requirement. I am trying to pay for my school on my own as much as possible without relying on student loans. I had only intended to take one class to start to “get my feet wet”. Looking at the classes being offered in the spring there were a few that sounded interesting. I sat down to do the math to decide could I afford another class at this time. I multiplied the per credit hour fee times six, the number of credit hours I was thinking about taking and divided it by four. The college offers a payment program that allows you to make four monthly payments. That proved to be too much money, so I did the math again for five hours. It’s do~able, but it would be a tight squeeze. Then i multiplied it by four, for a four credit class. That’s right, multiplied it by four, then divided by four to figure out the monthly payment. That is why I am not going to be an accounting major.

Reached two hundred thousands miles on the Jeep this week. I love my car!

A patient asked me this week how long I had been doing ultrasound. I told him it was nineteen years in June. He said, you’re kidding, you look like you could be nineteen years old.  I said, thank you. He replied, my eye sight must be getting really bad!

The receptionist at worked called me and said there was a doctor’s office on the phone wanting to know if we did penile ultrasound. I never thought I would hear myself say the words, we do not do penis. My job is nothing if not entertaining.

In an effort to get ready for school, I have decided to break myself of the very lazy habit of not using capitals when typing. Sarah will be so proud!

I dyed my hair two shades darker and no one noticed!

Once again, Leslie kicked my butt last night. She always challenges me to do things I never thought I could do, I look at her and think, is she nuts? Then I do it. I have really amazed myself this year.

The difficult part of working with terminally ill patients, is saying goodbye.

i knew the end of this year was going to fly by, but wow! i had a very productive weekend and accomplished almost everything on my agenda. stupid lawn mower wouldn’t start. (insert rolling eyes here) the only other thing i haven’t done is to sit down and write a budget for next year. there are too many variables, our state taxes will be going up, the hospital is bringing back tuition reimbursement and i have yet to find out if i qualify and if so what exactly would be covered, there are even hints that we may actually get a raise next year. we are currently on a freeze. everything else i had on my to~do list has been accomplished. i have a few phone calls to make and packages to mail out, these things are easily done throughout the week. i finally feel like i am on an even kilter, i have perpetually behind since dad’s heart attack. next project to tackle, the christmas knitting, every year i say it’s going to be different and every year, well here we are again. (insert rolling eyes here)