7. Notes - next to nothing

7. 31 August 2019

       Late evening. Carol is in bed reading. Jadah is on the far corner well curled for sleep. Spooky is supposedly under the bed. Carol's sister, Gayle, went with you to Cracker Barrel for lunch on State Route 36/37 near I- 71. You both had a relatively relaxing day. You boy-sat from five to seven this evening while Kim and Paul had about forty guests for Kim's Fortieth Birthday Surprise Party. A regularly boy-sitter took over at seven o'clock. - Amorella

       2248 hours. We had a good time observing the scene. Everyone was having fun when we left (including the boys). Cracker Barrel had been packed with people too, but it we had a good 'dinner' though a bit loud. 

       One of your great personal joys of the day was getting 51.5 miles per gallon driving around in the Avalon today. - mh

       2254 hours. Indeed, it was. We were mostly driving the back roads, but still. I like car stuff. I love the excellent engineering I see in both the 2005 Honda Accord EX as well as the new Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited. I'm getting tired and really don't have anything to talk about tonight. -- Writing helps me feel important, like I'm contributing something to our greater culture. I know better. I have such an ego to think something like this, but at moments such as this I realize this writing business is a rather dark fantasy. I know it is, but I write anyway. I like to see words appear on the page more than about anything else. There is a magic about it. I can see my own sense of consciousness, but not much of it here presently though. I can read and write, two of the most marvelous inventions ever, and it costs me nothing much. Paper and pencil will do, and did so use both for a long time in my life. It is a joy to see a word take form in line of sight from next to nothing. (2311)

       Post. - Amorella

6. Notes - reasonable sense

6. 'reasonable sense'  30 August 2019

       Mid-afternoon. Carol has the Weather Channel on and is watching Dorian's progress towards Florida's east coast. You had lunch with Kim at Keystone near Kroger Marketplace on US 23. Tod had a fall last night and is recovering today. No dinner out with Cathy and Tod tonight. Later, old man. - Amorella

       After NBC News and you are over to Lowe's for Carol to pick up some cleaning supplies. Another pleasant evening. You were both 'spooked' this morning to look at Carol's phone to see she received a call from Mary Lou last night. You both smiled because Mary Lou has been dead and gone for four years if you remember right. Carol did say she had been fooling with old numbers trying to delete them last night. You were not going to bring this up even though it popped in your head first thing when trying to remember what you did today a moment ago. - Amorella

       1933 hours. Spooked is a good word because we were spooked; it does not really assume that Mary Lou's spirit was doing the spooking. Associative memory. We are really haunted by ourselves. We miss Mary Lou and I'm sure she attempted a call to Carol when she was alive; it was pretty common for them to use the phone. We are superstitious by nature. 

       I feel superstition is a misrepresentation, first, because people have a soul, a slight connection with the Spiritual World; and, second, human intuition will direct you to your spirit, your heartansoulanmind. The rest of it, the superstition is from imagination from heartanmind. That's my take, but then what else would one expect? - mh

       2108 hours. I would expect nothing less from a poetic personification of my soul. I accept the idea of a soul, so it is not a matter of belief. You are consistent to what you represent. Even with human beings one accepts consistency. Amorella has always been consistent. I attempt to be consistent in heartansoulanmind. 

       We three fit consistently within the frame of the three blogs: EncountersinMind, EncountersinSpirit and OldManonaStudy; and I, the Amorella, am consistent in the writings of the Merlyn trilogy as well as the Notes. 

       2122 hours. As I accept myself as at least partially fiction, then I, as the Old Man, am fiction too, at least within these blogs. Actually, this makes reasonable sense. 

        And, that is the truth of our situation and our consciousness. - mh

       Post. - Amorella

5. Notes - humor, irony and anger

5. humor and irony   29 August 2019

       Nearly noon. Tom, supervisor at M/I, finished the house work and cleaning service except for repainting the front door and porch next Tuesday. Presently, you are at Oakland Gardens off Rt. 36/37 in east Delaware city waiting for Carol shopping. The morning has been very pleasant and fall-like. Football weather in Central Ohio. - Amorella

       Nothing comes to mind but something is troubling your soul. - mh

       1203 hours. I like to keep a lot of stuff to myself, Ms Havisham. I like to stay away from today's raw politics and religion as much as possible. 

       You brought up slavery yesterday. - mh

       You are presently at Barnes and Noble at Polaris. Carol is looking for her The House with Secrets as she has misplaced or lost her copy. 

       1320 hours. Ms. Havisham, when you wrote the above, I immediately thought: 'What would Press Williams think about our world today?' On second thought though, I don't know whether I would like to think on how the world might be seventy years or so from now? It will probably be better for people in some ways and worse for other people. It no doubt depends on who has the money and who doesn't. Is this what is troubling my soul?

       Lack of human justice and human equality rings a bell. -mh

       1331 hours. So, what else is new? I'm tired of this subject, Ms Havisham. It's never going to change. Human beings are built like they are and basically, it's a dog eat dog world out there; if you are going to get anywhere in the world you have to work for it, marry someone who has money, inherit it or steal it, I suppose. Nothing's ever free in this world. Even if money grew on trees, somebody would find a way to corner the market. In the short and long run I'm not too hopeful about the species. If one looks around at us in the world today, and wonder why we haven't found any evidence of other human-like creatures in the universe, it seems to me though there many planets that support our type of conscious life out there they don't have the capability to communicate with us, or if they do, they've chosen not to do so. 

       I wonder at your optimism old man. - mh

       Carol bought a new The House of Secrets, Barnes and Noble had one copy, plus she bought two cookies, one was free. Presently, you are facing west in the shade at the south end of Heritage Park with the playing fields behind you. The shared cookies are long gone. - Amorella

       1410 hours. Most sane people are not optimistic about the future of humankind in old age. Of course, that really hasn't changed that much over the millenniums, so there you go. I guess I should keep that in mind too. We tend to stumble through from one would be crisis to another. Fortunately, so far anyway, no nuclear war beyond World War II.

       You wanted equal pay and self-served justice where possible. - mh

       1416 hours. I wrote about it for human-like aliens who were marsupial bent, so to speak. Don't bring this up, Ms Havisham. That was a long time ago when I had a stretch of hope, not for us so much, but for a human-like species, one where each had a heartansoulanmind as we do, but had an extra twenty-thousand years to mature both economically and socially. They had one biological advantage, they did not have to carry 'babes' to full term naturally. The pre-babes instinctively climbed out and up to a pouch to survive final term. The social advantage is that when confronted with danger they ran for cover and did not stand and fight except under rare circumstances. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I actually had hope in those days, a secret hope that we humans could find a way to live like that. The marsupials had other advantages too, but they were secondary. The marsupials were runners first. Run and hide and live another day. The hiding took cleverness so their brains developed along those lines. Besides, the marsupial babes were clever enough to climb up to hide in the pouch in the first place. They crawled in, matured, climbed out then they learned to walk. Later, the marsupials ran. Enough. An idle dream. The nightmare, of course, was their 'goody, goody two-shoes' nature sent them to Earth to make life better if Earthlings wanted it. Of course, Earthlings didn't want any foreigners telling Earthlings what to do, so they didn't. The marsupials thus left, set a sign of some kind 'Out There' saying to the effect, "Do Not Disturb This Planet and Species." (1437)

       This sounds very much like the human species you detest. - mh

       1438 hours. That's the humor and the irony. That's the delight. 

       Your deepest sincerity is depressing. mh

       1440 hours. I enjoy the humor and irony. I see a light at the end of the tunnel through it -- at least there is one truth in the combo - "Humor and Irony".

       Later, Ms Havisham and old man. Post when applicable. - Amorella

       1444 hours. That's all right, Amorella. I can deal with it. 

        I think if the old man wants the title "humor and irony" it ought to include "anger" for clarity's sake. - mh

       I agree. What do you say, old man? - Amorella

       1632 hours. For self-honesty and in deeper reflection, I'll include anger, but I don't like it. 

4. Notes - nothing else to say

4. nothing to say - 28 August 2019

       Mid-morning. Full sun and blue skies for a change. Your sister, Cathy, is coming over to see Carol about ten o'clock after her Tai Chi class where she was a teacher. Cathy is helping with Carol's 'natural garden' between the old farm back fence and your property. The M/I development where you now live is on the old LeVeque estate. - Amorella

** **

History towers over LeVeque family’s estate

By THOMAS GALLICK, This Week Community News

Posted Mar 10, 2015 at 12:01 AM Updated Mar 13, 2015 at 10:59 PM

   

An Orange Township home that previously served as a sanctuary for runaway slaves and a retreat for one of central Ohio’s most prominent families has seen a lot of history.

An Orange Township home that previously served as a sanctuary for runaway slaves and a retreat for one of central Ohio’s most prominent families has seen a lot of history.

Now, it’s awaiting a new owner to write its next chapter.

Until last spring, the five-bedroom manor off Africa Road, just southeast of the Interstate 71 overpass, was the home of Katherine LeVeque, philanthropist and former owner of downtown Columbus’ LeVeque Tower. LeVeque died April 9, 2014.

The 500-acre site, until recently, was a farm that housed corn, hay and soybean fields as well as horses. Now, the former farmland largely has been divided up into plots for single-family homes.

About four months ago, the LeVeque home -- currently accessible from a neighborhood street known as Katherine’s Way -- and the 5-acre site on which it sits went on the market at a price of $1.25 million.

Barbara LeVeque, Katherine’s daughter-in-law who currently lives in the home with her husband, Colin, said it will not be easy to move on from the property.

“We just sort of have to tidy up the estate,” she said. “I, personally, would live here all of my life. It’s the perfect family home and it’s hard for me to let it go.”

The two-story house is a storied property with modern touches. Barbara LeVeque said that reflects the influence of its former owner.

Built in 1841, the home still features the original brick and woodwork, crafted on-site when Orange Township was largely uninhabited. An addition constructed in the mid-1960s includes a domed solarium Katherine LeVeque used for gardening. Now, it serves as a summertime dining room.

“She was sort of a woman ahead of her times,” Barbara LeVeque said of her mother-in-law. “I found books on organic gardening written in the ’60s when I cleaned out her things. Now organic is all the (rage).”

Panels salvaged from either the LeVeque Tower or the adjacent Deshler Hotel hang on nearby walls. Gargoyles that once guarded the tower now sit watch over the outdoor pool.

“We’re all doing reclaimed and refurbished and repurposed, and (Katherine) was ahead of all of us,” Barbara LeVeque said of the decorative touches.

She said her mother-in-law, who was raised in South Carolina, enjoyed the balance of the site’s rural appeal and proximity to the big city.

Although the LeVeque family members added to the site’s story, the property already was a notable piece of local history when they acquired it in the mid-1950s.

Samuel Patterson, one of the early settlers to locate east of Alum Creek in the township, moved to the property in the mid-1820s when the surrounding community was known as East Orange. He initially lived in a log cabin on the site before he “burned the brick and cut and seasoned the walnut and other choice timbers for a new house,” according to The Mysteries of Ohio’s Underground Railroads by William Henry Siebert, published in 1951.

According to that text, Patterson, an outspoken abolitionist, housed runaway slaves in large barns erected on the land. Some of the slaves were stationed at the edges of his property “for the purpose of watching all approaches and giving the alarm in case of danger.”

According to an Ohio Historical Marker that sits in the Below Dam Recreation Area at Alum Creek Reservoir, Patterson caused a stir in the community by inviting abolitionist speakers to East Orange Methodist Church. Patterson and like-minded neighbors later split from the church and built the anti-slavery Wesleyan Methodist Church in the area.

A pro-slavery neighbor mockingly referred to the community as “Africa,” a name that stuck for many years and replaced East Orange over time.

A marker farther south on Africa Road in the city of Westerville lists the Patterson house as a key stop on the Underground Railroad route that ran between Westerville and a Quaker settlement near Marengo in Morrow County.

Barbara LeVeque said her family has heard legends of secret passageways within the existing house, but she’s found no physical evidence to back up those stories. She said the LeVeque family was aware of the property’s history but never sought any kind of landmark status for it.

“It was never put on the historic register because (Katherine) was very private,” she said. “I don’t think she wanted school buses of children coming through, and I don’t think they wanted to be restricted in what they could do to the house.”

At one point in the last few years, the LeVeque family invited some of Patterson’s descendants to tour the house. The meeting between the two families led to hugs, smiles and even a few tears of joy, Barbara LeVeque said.

“It’s certainly a house that’s held in great esteem by that Patterson family,” she said.

As to who will follow in the footsteps of the Patterson and LeVeque families at the site, Barbara LeVeque said she has some ideas.

“I think the perfect person would be somebody with kids that maybe has a job where you need to entertain,” she said. “The house entertains beautifully.”

She said the home’s location adjacent to a modern subdivision offers “the best of both worlds” as a country manor that also has a sense of community. She did note that it will take a “unique buyer” to add a new page to the property’s history.

Selected and edited from - https://www.thisweeknews.com/article/20150310/news/303109564

[This article may be placed on Facebook; thus, I am assuming it is common domain.]

** **

       1552 hours. Out of memory and great respect I add a moment of personal history. I was a lad of five and Mr. Williams was an old man when we shook hands after being introduced to me by his neighbor, my grandfather, on West Walnut Street in Westerville. Mr. Williams was born a slave and at a young age he worked a tobacco press. The name he chose upon being freed was Press. Press Williams is not forgotten, he became an adult friend to this little boy now old. (2142)

       You can think of nothing else to say. Ms Havisham is silent too. Post. - Amorella

3. Notes - Live With It

3. "Live with it" 27 August 2019

       One after twelve. The workers are coating the ceiling in the kitchen, dining/living room and hallway a smoothed white plaster. Tomorrow they will lightly imprint the white with textured, smoothed out splats. Carol is napping Spooky is under the bed sleeping and Jadah is looking at the bedroom window on another dreary day in north Westerville. Traffic sounds from I-71 roll by north to south and south to north about five hundred yards away down the hill and beyond the trees and a few houses on Africa Road where it intersects with Lewis Center Road to the west and Big Walnut Road to the east. - Amorella

       1959 hours. Watching the sunset above and between the trees -- a light pinkish glow with a blue sky above, both very welcome. Jadah is sitting and cleaning on an outdoor black stand next to the window. She was. Jadah is a black and white short hair with green eyes, pink nose and pink paw pads and an all-black tail. Daughter Kim got her from a rescue group in east Cleveland where she and Paul were living. Jadah was found in a foreclosed house. The owners left her because they couldn't find her. If Jadah doesn't want to be found she won't be without a lot of work. Clever cat she is. She likes to play cat and mouse with us and follow the leader, that is, she leads and we follow. She was seven and a half pounds and has for as long as we have known her. Jadah has a great deal of empathy and meows to make sure we stay calm during a momentary stress, such as temporarily losing something we don't have tagged with an electronic Tile. Spooky is a rescue cat too. All black with a small tuff of light gray at her genitals. Her acting mother dropped her off at our front porch in full sight of us. Mother cat appeared to have nothing else to give this particular kitten. She disappeared back into the woods touching our back yard in Mason. She grew once we took her in and to the vet. Spooky was not much larger than my right fist. Tiny little thing, we didn't think she would make it. Jadah helped care for her and show Spooky the ropes of life at our house. That was several years ago. She's a hulk today, sixteen pounds of seeable black with large yellow eyes, almost a young owl's eyes. She spooks almost every day. Out of the blue, she jumps up and rushes around the house like a banshee. I'm not sure what a banshee really is; always have to look things up. Always have. Little memory.

** **

Banshee- noun (in Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of an impending death in a house: the little girl dropped her ice cream and began to howl like a banshee | [as modifier] :  a horrible banshee wail. 

ORIGIN late 17th century: from Irish bean sídhe, from Old Irish ben síde ‘woman of the fairies’.

Selected and edited from the Oxford/American software

** **

       2028 hours. Spooky is like a female spirit, although to be honest I wouldn't know a female spirit from a male. Spirits don't propagate as far as I know. I have never read about spiritual genetics. My life-long experience is that a spirit can take whatever sex one is most comfortable with, or uncomfortable with, depending. Spooky doesn't wail, she rarely attempts to meow, she rushes like a banshee. Spooky mostly has a snappy clipped bark when she wants food we have not provided at the time she has her desire to eat. Spooky is our Halloween cat and though we try to love them both equally, we just cannot do so. We love and care for them both though. In return they lean toward wife, Carol and tolerate me, except in the Winter when this old man's body heat can, with a touch, help make any of the three at home females more snugglingly comfortable.

       Old man, did you know souls don't have any heat? - mh

       2052 hours. I did not know that. Why, Ms Havisham?

       A full soul, one holding a spiritual human heart and a spiritual human mind, holds enough heat for the three of us, your heartansoulanmind, your human spirit. - mh

       2057 hours. Most every human, young and old, knows what it's like to feel the heat from time to time. I never thought about what an immortal soul might feel empty or full. Never considered it. People say, "my soul," like they own it, like it's pet and a not very well-cared-for one at that. 

       You are a cynical old man. Fortunately for you, I am not. - mh

       Post, old man. Don't think about apologizing for being human. Live with it. - Amorella

2. Notes - The Shivers / Nothing to Say

2. "The Shivers" - 26 August 2019

       After noon. The men are replacing the ceiling in the kitchen area due to a structural problem corrected earlier. The end of the month and you will have owned the house for one year and the one-year warranty will be terminated. Other warranties continue to exist, one up through fifteen years with M/I Homes. Carol is napping on the bed, Jadah and Spooky, your two short hair cats are under the bed because of the periodic noise. You are in your black bedroom chair as usual. - Amorella

       1227 hours. I don't know what's worth writing about. The news and social medias carry both the worthy and unworthy news from time to time each day. I will talk about our pets. Lots of people have cats and dogs. We have had both. Our first major pet was a pretty long hair cocker spaniel named Lady. She was named Lady because she reminded everybody older who knew her of the cocker in the Disney film, "Lady in the Tramp" back in the 1950's. She was a beautiful dog, at least she thought so because she loved to be brushed each day and ever so often we would take her to a very pet oriented middle-aged woman who would give her a bath and a coat trim from time to time. Lady was the cat's meow. As a family she was the only dog we ever owned. I remember her for her enthusiasm for living. When our daughter graduated from high school and moved over to Miami University for her Freshman year Lady was sad as a dog can be when a human companion leaves home for a time. Lady's great joy was when we took her along on the drive from Mason, our home at the time, over to Oxford. With the windows down, she enjoyed all the smells along the way, especially McDonalds and farms with livestock. Daughter was surprised and happy to be greeted by her number one four-legged friend. We loved our Lady and she loved us. Life is better being loved than not.

       Old man, did you know love can go deep enough to be soul touched? mh

       1259 hours. I know love can go pretty deep, but I didn't know it could touch your soul. How would anyone know when love was deep enough to touch their soul, Ms Havisham?

       When one's heart of hearts becomes still and reflective, the soul shivers slightly. I know I do. - mh

       1304 hours. I don't know that I ever got those shivers in return.

       Sometimes those shivers run the length of the spine for no known reason, and sometimes a person looks around and sees no one else but her or himself but the person notes an unseen presence. Sometimes, that is one's own soul, still and reflective as usual. - mh

       Post, old man, it's time to think about lunch. - Amorella. 

       Tom finished cleaning up about four this afternoon after his men repaired the ceiling and tomorrow they will be 'popping' a new ceiling in the kitchen, living room and hall. You had Smashburger's for supper, watched the news and another season fourteen, "Midsomer Murders" on Netflix for relaxation, then Rachael Maddow on MSNBC. - Amorella

       2256 hours. We had a long day and a dreary rainy one at that. I'm too tired to write about our cats Jadah and Spooky tonight. Carol just turned off the light for sleep. It is difficult to focus on love or the soul when one is just plain physically and mentally tired. It is difficult to believe I am the same person this time of day as I was when writing about our cocker, Lady. If I have a soul where is she this time of day? She doesn't pop up, she has nothing to say. 

       Post. - Amorella

1. Notes - First Page

1. Notes - First Page  25 August 2019

       You drove to the Worthington Graeter's and met Carol's sister Gail for a treat. Presently you are facing west at the north end of Heritage Park in Westerville. Carol has been reading Brad Meltzer's The House of Secrets, Chapter Fifty-Six. - Amorella

       1608 hours. I don't want Ms Havisham, my poetic personified soul, to write any stories. If I do them it will be on my own with your help please, when needed. 

       I understand, Mr. Orndorff. I am here though, and I am more real than you think. I will converse when you feel the need. - mh

       Presently, you are a writer in search of a topic. If you decide to begin a new blog let's search for a title that will fit if and when you settle on something. - Amorella

       1616 hours. I like that idea. I cannot imagine not being able to see letters and words appear on the screen from my fingertips -- it is very comforting in itself. 

       It is a nesting procedure to you. You like to hear words and you like to see them in print. The 'nesting' is your fingers pressing the keyboard like a bird building its nest. - mh 

       1623 hours. I never thought that before. I appear to be ready, at least my comfort zone is. 

       I will listen in but I may add a comment where I feel the need -- for protection and comfort. - mh

       This is more than quite acceptable. Thank you, Ms Havisham. I am ready now, Amorella. 

       This will be the first day of your new blog. - Amorella

       1634 hours. I need a blog title. What about "Old Man Searching". 

       "Old Man on a Search", how's that? - mh

       Check the thesaurus. - Amorella       

** **

search

noun - noun the police continued their search: hunt, look, quest; pursuit, manhunt.

Selected and edited from the Oxford/American Apple Software

** **

       After fresh ears of corn and steak burgers you have been cleaning up in earnest for tomorrow M/I contractors are coming to set the house in order for its final first year inspection. Tom is the coordinator and they will be here three to four days going over the list Tom asked for. - Amorella

       1913 hours. The fresh corn from Westervelt Farms was excellent, Carol had two ears and I had three. The meat was quite good also. We had had breakfast but no lunch save for Graeter's. -- I have been checking out the words. I don't see what fits for "search".

       Go online. - Amorella

       1926 hours. I found 'study'.  "Old Man on a Study" It sounds different enough that the title might be open.  . . .

       Surprisingly, you found it open. Let's use what we have as the first page and title it so as you have. - Amorella