by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
Last
year at this time it was 64º and a touch humid. Today it is 27º ,
we have snow flurries and yesterday the bulbs, which are beginning to
come up in the garden, were clearly outraged. Really, I thought they
were going to write letters of protest or even start a petition
online. But, naturally, this would be a fruitless endeavor. There
is nothing you can do about the weather and I am assured by life-long
Ashtabulans this has been an amazingly mild winter.
Stories
of snow, covering homes, which brought all commerce to a stop have
been shared with me. Ashtabulans are proud of their hearty
ancestors, with good reason.
Despite
the weather last night sixteen of us met at St. Peter's Church for a
Lenten Pot Luck, sharing home-made dishes, which included my own Taco
Casserole, the scrumptious Devilish Eggs contributed by Margaret
Burnham and Sue Port, who also brought Potato Salad. Clara Saturday
brought her Chocolate Cherry Cake. Umm.
City
Councilman for the Ist Ward, Rick Balog and Anne Balog, brought their
special sausage from Columbus, served hot and savory, with
sauerkraut.
Clara.
sitting next to me, shared her memories of the Ashtabula Mall, when
she was working there at J. C. Penny's Clara ate lunch with her
fellow employees at one of many restaurants in the Food Court. Jim
Heath, on my other side, recalled when the town night club, Sardi's,
burned down. Before then Jim's dad, now deceased, had managed to
fall off the back patio there. Jim laughed, his Dad's antics clearly
amusing him.
A
whole lot of remembering was going on.
This
morning on the way home from the YMCA the emptied buildings reminded
me of the comments from Margaret Burnham on what Ashtabula was like,
'back in the day.' As one memory sparked the next, the past lit up.
I mostly listened, seeing this town through eyes which remembered a
community where all things seemed possible and kids did not leave to
find jobs elsewhere.
Buildings
marked with stark Xs, targeted for demolition in the near future,
where business was growing are common now. Someone mentioned to me
the night before Sardi's, opposite St. Peter's across Main Street, is
also marked for demolition.
A
bell will ring on March 20th, at St. Peter's Church, at
precisely 7:02am. Peace, Justice, and Care of the Earth begins at
home, here in Ashtabula.
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