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Monday, July 21, 2014

Archery camp


Laura started archery camp this afternoon, at Old Trail School in Bath, on Ira Road, just over the river past Riverview Road. I’d not been there before; nice campus.

I haven’t been that way into the valley since taking Hamilton to and from church every Sunday, and occasionally spending the three hours between enjoying the valley, the river and the herons. Sad Hamilton couldn't be bothered to stay in touch with the men who would underwrite his mission. Like his father, I agree the structure and direction could only benefit him, as much as proselytizing turns my stomach.  Now he wants sent to college, and his dad says “Get a job.” I suppose he’s waiting for a really good job for a summa cum laude high school graduate to come up the steps and knock.

Metro Parks has an archery range on the way to Old Trail, and we stopped there to show Laura what a range looks like. No targets were up; I suppose because the range wasn't booked for the afternoon. However, the posts the targets hang on are there and all the backstops.

As we left I said she’ll know what she’s looking at this afternoon. “Yes,” she replied, and I also know the string goes toward my nose!”

I dropped her off in a classroom; I bet they start with theory. “Only William Tell and Douglass Fairbanks shot arrows over the shoulder. The string goes toward your nose.”

I opted to wander the valley while I waited. When I picked her up I learned there is an up and down to a bow, and it’s necessary to bend the elbow of the arm holding the grip, else the string will thwang you on the forearm. I do recall that from gym classes in college. She will most certainly go back tomorrow.

I drove down Ira to the end, which is not the end, but where the road is closed because no one has enough money to put it back together again. Since the only landowner is the national park, it’s their problem.

In the order in which I took them:


Impatiens around a mail box 



I'll be. Hale Farm. I'd forgotten it's on Ira Road, past Old Trail.
It's a sort of living history place now. Admission charged.


The Hale House, but you can bet not the "homestead." Took some money to put up such a house.



Ditch lilies, brown eyed Susans, and I think, phlox. 


A barn at a private home on the way down Ira.



 The Covered Bridge!
It was on our way to Aunt Laura and Uncle Frank when I was a child.
There was a sign with clearance over the cross beams.
Ira Road makes a sharp right under the bridge.
Drivers had to blow a horn to see if another driver might be in the bridge.
It's part of the Towpath Trail now; not a road.


Looking at these beams and timbers, I doubt it is the bridge of my childhood. Too new. 
Part of the rewritten history of the valley, courtesy of the National Park. 
On the other hand, another generation can look at and understand a covered bridge.


The river under the bridge and
the origin of one of Dad's favorite remarks as we passed through the bridge.
"Mary (an artist friend) sat in the river and painted the bridge."
"Did she have a ladder?"
"No. She sat in the river and painted the bridge."


Along the river bank.


On the way back up the road.
I cut off the openwork metal piece on top of the church.
On the Hale Farm property, one of the buildings moved to the site to emulate early 19th century life.


Must be private property.


I believe this barn and the next are on Old Trail School property.



Altogether too precious, and that's not a compliment.


Raspberries along the parking lot, waiting for Laura.
I left them for the birds.



  

26 comments:

  1. I hope so much that Laura enjoys archery.

    Love,
    Janie

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  2. Hooray for Laura, archery - and glorious scenery. And for you. Covered bridges are exotic magic to me.
    And I hope Hamilton finds his way. Soon.

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  3. I just adore the old houses when we are allowed to wander through, yes even for the price of admission. You are convincing me this could be a weekend vacation destination.

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    1. Hale Farm has a lot of old houses, collected from around the valley.

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  4. I twanged my arm every time in college gym!

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  5. Wonderful remnants of history in your area......hope Laura enjoys the archery. Hope the life lessons you tried to teach Hamilton kick in soon.

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  6. I know I've been there. School field trip, maybe.

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  7. Since you are his grandmother, I will bet on Hamilton. He is a young man and young men are seldom in a rush. He will come around.

    Your summer scenery is just lovely.

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    1. You think making him get up to his own alarm for school and forbidding his sisters to call him might pay off?

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  8. How fun with archery; I did it way back years ago in high school PE and enjoyed it!

    betty

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  9. What a nice lot of photos, Joanne. You made good use of your waiting time.

    Hamilton will probably get himself in gear when he is sufficiently motivated, either by lack of money or lack of future prospects, or by his father's continued refusal to support him in the manner to which he has become accustomed ...

    The birds are lucky you thought of them :)

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  10. Some very nice early architecture in your area -- wonderful to view them on your post -- barbara

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  11. Wonderful buildings & I smiled at the painting joke - I'd love to see barns & bridges like these so thank you for the show.
    Archery is a lot of fun ! I have a teenage son who needs a kick up the backside. He's great at college but at home has forgotten to offer to do anything to help out. He's a nice lad & I hate getting on at him but it has to be done !

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  12. Joanne - these photographs brought back so many memories of my holidays in the US that I really wonder if this is one of the areas I went to. I have read your profile but it doesn't say exactly where you live. That covered bridge is so lovely and I walked under just such a bridge.

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  13. You're not that far from us..... looks like it would be a great place to visit for a mini vacation.

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  14. What a beautiful area -- much of it reminds me of New England! As for Hamilton... it's so hard sometimes to let them 'find' themselves as well as their 'own way'!

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    1. We were the Connecticut Western Reserve and that's where the earliest settlers came from, using their Revolutionary War land grants. Much of the rest of the state was settled from south to north, by immigrants who came via the Ohio River, looking for land. That's why so much of the early architecture in NE Ohio is lifted straight from NE--New England.

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  15. Hale House looks like a doll's house! I'd live there.

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  16. Dear Joanne,
    these are very lovely pictures - I find the 'covered bridge' especially interesting - and it is a very good thing that the national park looks after those treasures. Yes - the houses and barns you show are like those I imagined as a child when I read Louisa May Alcott's novels. Beautiful.

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  17. I love old barns, great photos.

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  18. Hari OM
    What delightful 'waiting' sights! Archery is all the rage again....something to do with computer games, or throne games or some such........ YAM xx

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  19. Hale House looks a lot like the painted house that always came in the bucket of assorted building blocks we had as kids. Every kid I knew had a bucket of blocks just like it.
    I hope Laura enjoys archery. One of my daughters owns an ornamental crossbow, because she likes the idea of archery, but she isn't at all sporty. Or coordinated.

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  20. along the rive bank photo is crown vetch...Wonderful for holding dirt and prevent erosion. I speak from my years on the banks of Lake Erie. Expensive to buy the crowns but it takes hold. Today it has washed down the creek on my property and I refuse to allow my yard mowers to cut it down. It will eventually kill the weeds. Laura will love archery. I got pretty good back in my teenage years. Yes, there is a top and bottom to the bow.

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  21. My grandchildren are in Theater Camp this week. I drive them 30 miles each way and then have to hang around all day until it is over Pendleton, Oregon is not near as interesting as Ira Road. On Monday I went to the Pendleton Woolen Mills Factory outlet, on Tuesday I had lunch at a brewery and went to the Salvation Army. There's nothing left to do for the rest of the week. I'll sit in the college library, in uncomfortable chairs, and read my book.

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  22. I love all these beautiful old buildings, especially the barns!

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