The Obit of Oz #WordlessWednesday

A friend sent me an obituary yesterday.  It was for a local woman, and I just had to share it.  Here's the link.

Many topics are discussed in Wordless Wednesday, but I somehow doubt that there have been too many posts with obituaries in them.  Certainly few written for a Wizard of Oz fan.

That may be because the rules of Wordless Wednesday call for a photo.  I was hoping I could take a picture of the obit in the newspaper but apparently our paper doesn't put obituaries in the Monday or Tuesday papers.

So instead, I want to share a photo with you of the historic old Erie Canal near Fayetteville, New York.

In nearby (to Fayetteville) Chittenango, New York, L. Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz books, was born. Chittenango celebrates all things Oz each year with an Oz-Stravaganza (formerly known as Oz-Fest).  I've never gone.  I should. 

Oz-Stravagana, this coming year, will feature the great granddaughter of L. Frank Baum, the daughter of Bert Lahr (who played the Cowardly Lion in the classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz) and several other people.  Why not check it out?

The first (and most famous) of the Oz books was not written in New York State.  It was written in Chicago, Illinois.  But no matter. 

As for my photo, it has nothing to do with the obituary.  Just enjoy the scenery near to where L. Frank Baum was born.

But back to the obit.  I really hope that obit goes viral.

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Farminton Fayetteville Florida (and) Flowers #AtoZChallenge

"F" is such an easy letter, or so we think.  For my theme of "America the Beautiful", I have so many choices.

There is Farmington, Arkansas, just to the west of Fayetteville, where it "Feels Like Home". (Or, at least it did in 2013.

Speaking of Fayetteville, how about this waterfall? (Technically, it might be in Johnson, but I am saying it is in Fayetteville).

Florida - one of many Florida sunset pictures on my camera.

Flowers? The daffodils are blooming where I live in upstate New York.  Despite what is going on in the world and with humanity, flower bulbs sprout and bloom each year without fail.

Flowers, Dunedin, Florida, January 2020

Flowers don't ask much of us.

Please accept them as my gift to you.

"F" day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

My theme:  America the Beautiful

Fayetteville (Historical Square) #AtoZChallenge

It is "F" day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

In August of 2013, my spouse and I walked the streets of downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The Square.  I worked off the square for perhaps a year and a half in the early 1980's, in two different office buildings.  We lived in Fayetteville for several months while completing our barn house in the country where we would "homestead" for four years.

It was an old fashioned square, the type you find in so many small towns in Arkansas, in Kansas, in other nearby states.  There were some old fashioned stores on the Fayetteville square.  And beautiful historic buildings.

There was the Old Post Office building in the middle of the square.  I found out, online, that it was built in 1911.and was the old Washington County courthouse.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  We ate there several times when it was a restaurant - I believe the restaurant closed about five years ago.

There was the Lewis Brothers building.  I remember the hardware store, full of old fashioned items.  I was last in the store around 1982, and it had also since closed.  I bought gifts for my spouse there, among them a Swiss Army knife he had for many years.  According to sources online, it was built in 1908 and is also on the National Historic Register.

In my younger days, I would not have paid any attention to the buildings and their history and their architectural style.  I was too busy with my interest in alternative energy and living off the land.  Now, I am much older, and much changed, and I wanted so much to wander the square and take pictures using a technology that was undreamed of when I last walked its sidewalks.


I remember the Farmers Market on the Square.  It must have been the first Farmers Market I ever shopped at.  What I didn't know was how new the Farmers Market was in the early 1980's, and how much a supporter of farmers markets I would become.  I also remember the horrible day a little boy caught his arm in a pea sheller (for southern peas - black eyed peas or similar) and his screams filled the square, while we bystanders ran to the scene to try to help.

So I researched for that trip we ended up making in 2013, and I found out, online, that many of those I had known there - my neighbors, and both the business owners I had worked for, had died.  Some had died only months before we made the trip. 

My wise friend, the one I call my guest photographer, told me "I really think God led you to find this stuff out. Please don't let it make you too sad---think of the full lives they led."

So, when I went back in 2013, I didn't know what I would find.  I just knew things had changed - a lot.

Fayetteville has more than doubled in size since I lived there.  But there was enough on the square I was still able to recognize.

The Old Bank of Fayetteville building, now beautifully restored.  It was added to the National Historical Register in 1994.

A corner view.

Mural in the Old Post Office Building

The farmers market is still there, better than ever.
 

Lobby

And so is the Old Post Office.  Sadly, the Country Outfitter store holding its grand opening in there as we toured the building closed less than two years later.

Around the Old Post office building, there is still a beautiful municipal garden.

Hard to believe, as you view this water feature, it was already in the 90's.  So hot and humid.  Some things never do change.

Change is part of life, but sometimes it is good to be able to come back to a place nearly 30 years later, and find some of the same beauty you remember from years ago.  In the Days of Our Lives, nothing remains static.  We can't always reclaim our younger years.  But, that day in August of 2013, we came close.

"F" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Wilson Park

We're winding our way to the end of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and I'm sorry, in some ways, to see the finish line.  I've had so much fun planning the posts, but I also am eager to get back to my normal blogging topics. (I still plan to post daily, which I have done since late April of 2011.)

Today, W day, I'm continuing my theme of America the Beautiful and rescuing some more photos from the depths of my iPhone.

Back in the 1980's, my spouse and I lived in the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas for a brief time.  I worked in Fayetteville for nearly five years.

Years have passed and Fayetteville has grown tremendously.  When we returned for a visit in 2013 for the first time since leaving, we had a list of places we wanted to revisit, or visit for the first time.

Wilson Park, a park almost at the middle of Fayetteville, was towards the top of the list.  Let me show you why.

The Castle is perhaps the most beautiful part of the park.  But it has plenty of competition.

Another view.

How about these gardens?

A bench.

One of several mosaics.

Finally, a plaque tells the story of the park.

Wouldn't you love to spend time in this park?

Only three posts to go, and tomorrow is the hardest day - the letter X. What do you think I will pick for my theme?

Sustainable Saturday - Fayetteville Arkansas Farmers Market

Today, on our vacation in the southeastern state of Arkansas, we visited the downtown Fayetteville, AR farmers market that is celebrating its 40th birthday.

It was the first farmers market I had ever visited, back in - do I dare admit it? 1981.

It is still going strong, unlike the downtown farmers market in Binghamton, New York, where I work. Sometimes I wonder:  what will our future be, in Binghamton?

Binghamton, take careful notes.  When I first worked in Fayetteville in 1981, its population was 36,600 and Binghamton's (which I didn't move to until the mid 1980's) was 55,860.

Now, in 2013:  Fayetteville 76,900.  Binghamton:  47,376.  There are many reasons for this, but that would take an entire post (or more than one) to blog about. 

One of the things Fayetteville is doing right is their farmers market, which was voted #1 market in its category in 2012.  Fayetteville has a town square and this market went all the way around. (It's a 3 day a week market, incidentally, plus a fourth day in another location).

Some items for sale were not surprising at all, here at the end of August.

Greens (although lemon grass wouldn't have been sold in 1981-nor Thai basil.)

Tomatoes would have been sold - but not heirlooms, including the Arkansas Traveler (not pictured).

Peppers (not just as many colors)

The musical entertainment was no surprise.

But this was.  It was actually a complete, but pleasant, surprise to see who was selling a lot (not all of) the produce, because this was not part of the rural scene in Arkansas back in 1981.  It made me so happy to see that.

We enjoyed talking to several of the vendors.  And, what we found was, Binghamton has a lot to learn from Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

It must, or it won't survive.

Be Careful What You Ask For

Twenty-seven years ago, I started a journey that I completed tonight.

After living for five years in somewhat rural Northwest Arkansas in the 1980s, trying to see if we could make a go of living on rural land, we left, and moved back to New York State.  We never returned.

In the meantime, time passed, both for us and for Northwest Arkansas.

In upstate New York, we grew older, I gave birth to, and we raised, a son, and my hair turned grey. (I like to think that having my son had something to do with the grey hair- only kidding.)

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, time did not stand still, although my memories did.

Wal-Mart,headquartered in Northwest Arkansas, became hugely successful, as did other Northwest Arkansas businesses such as J.B. Hunt (trucking) and Tyson (chicken).  Populations doubled and even tripled.  An interstate was built.

And, about five years ago, I started wanting to go back to Arkansas, just to see what had happened, what had changed, what had gotten better, what had gotten worse.

Tonight, I returned.

Be careful of what you ask for. I knew intellectually what progress had done.  I had not seen it though, through my eyes and my heart, not until tonight.

Have you ever heard the song "My City Was Gone" by the Pretenders?

Years ago, I returned to Orlando, FL after 30 years and had seen a sleepy city replaced by tall buildings and superhighways.  But I had never lived there and my heart hadn't been invested in it.

Arkansas is different.  Right now, I am in shock, and even a little bit in tears. I'll explain more later this week.

I know tomorrow will be different.  I will just pretend, perhaps, that I was never here, ever before.....and I will have to accept the change.  Not like, no. But accept.  Yes, I have no choice.

More tomorrow.