Round on the ends and high in the middle

Marty and Linda

Our week in Ohio was a trip back in time.  Linda attended her 50th High School Reunion (Watkins Memorial HS, Pataskala, Licking County, Ohio)  and was reunited with Marty, her childhood BFF.  (They were Best Friends Forever before anyone ever invented BFF. )  We have been trying to reconnect with Marty for years and finally relocated her through a Facebook friendship with her daughter.  They won’t lose touch again!  The majority of the 99 graduates in her class still live within the county.

Linda spent her youth in these parts  but I have only traveled through Ohio on the way to or from some of the coasts.   Having lived in California and Washington for so long, so many things about this part of the country had slipped our minds (Both of our minds are quickly becoming slippery places.)  There are lots of bugs here!  The lightening bugs (AKA Fireflies) are amazing to watch, but their numbers are diminishing due to spraying.  Most of the towns and villages have colonial era homes lining the streets and they all seem to have screened porches.  (Did we mention there are  bugs here?)  Driving between the small towns we saw vast  fields of corn growing everywhere.  I remember the expression “knee high by the forth of July” to make sure the crop was maturing well.  Much of the corn here is over 6’, so it looks like it will be a good season.  The various weather pattern is always interesting as we move to different parts of the country.  Thunderstorms are not common back home in Washington, but they are a regular occurrence here.  And they bring with them strong winds, hail, very heavy rain and occasionally tornadoes.  Also in contrast to our weather at home, these thunderstorms come up quickly.  It can go from clear skies to horizontal rain in a matter of minutes.  It is hot here, usually in the 80’s, but more important is the humidity factor.   The higher the % the warmer it feels hence we get the “feels like”  temperatures.

It was great visiting Linda’s brothers again.  They both live within 15 miles of Kirkersville, the small town in central Ohio east of Columbus where they were born and raised.  The town has not aged gracefully and a lot of it has changed.  US Route 40 runs down the main street in town with it’s one street light.  On weekends, the city made most of their revenue by ticketing cars speeding through town.