Through the Eyes of a Stranger
My friend Sue has been visiting from London, England all week. Living in London, Sue is accustomed to bright lights, congestion and a plethora of choices of restaurants, stores and cultural events. In anticipation of her visit, I fretted a little about what to show her, where to take her. Having lived in a city much of my adult life as well, I couldn’t focus at first on what we have here that she doesn’t have. So I started making a list of places to show her.
Luensman Overlook Park was high on my list of places to show. If you’ve never been there, you should check it out. It has a spectacular view of Lake Erie and the surrounding area. I waited three days until we had a clear day with no haze to take Sue there. Even so, Canada was experiencing a bit of smog, contributed no doubt by the Nanticoke Refinery, so she had trouble picking out the smokestacks and buildings over there. But the view of the lake was awe-inspiring. I hesitated showing Sue a Great Lake since she lives on an island surrounded by oceans and channels, but she was taken by the view. I’ve been to the English Channel and there is a similarity but it’s just not the same.
London has several open air markets, most notably Leadenhall Market which is stunning with its glass ceiling. It was the most beautiful market I’d ever seen and much larger than anything we have to offer. But I thought it would be interesting to visit Ripley’s new Country Market, Westfield Farmer’s Market and Cross Roads, as well as the “new” Tops market in Westfield. It’s hard to tell sometimes with Sue what she thinks of things. She has a tendency to take it all in and mull it around for awhile before saying anything. I think that’s part of her “English reserve.” But she found each of our markets interesting and was intrigued by some of the products offered there, particularly the size of jars and boxes. “I’ve never seen such a large jar of peanut butter,” she commented while perusing the aisles of Tops.
The highlight of her visit so far (although I’m sure by the time you read this, there will have been others) was the day we spent having lunch at the pier in Erie, hiking a short distance through the woods at Presque Isle, watching the sun set over Lake Erie, having a bonfire and watching the stars come out. Sue’s assessment of the starry sky from my uncle’s backyard was, “A friend of mine was in my garden (backyard) in London and said what a lot of stars there were. I don’t know what she was seeing, but it wasn’t this!”
I’m glad she was here for the Memorial Day weekend. My father and I made our annual pilgrimage on Saturday to the cemeteries in Sherman, Slabtown, North East and Quincy in Ripley with Sue in tow. Of all the flowers we set out, the one most touching to Sue was the one we put at the grave of little Mabel Schoss in Quincy. Mabel was born in 1908 died in 1909 and is marked by years only, so there’s no telling if she was months old or an almost 2 year old. But she is separated by a large gap from her parents’ graves, with no one in-between. My dad feels sorry for her, being all alone like that, and always puts a flower on her grave. I’ll continue the tradition after he’s gone I’m sure.
Sue rode in the Memorial Day parade in Ripley in our ’57 Cadillac, waving and throwing candy in good old fashioned American tradition. It may be England’s tradition as well, but I’m claiming it as our own for now. As we passed the announcer for the parade, Dave Blackman, she was given a warm welcome, “We have a special guest with us today in the parade, Sue MacDonald, all the way from London, England. We’re pleased to welcome you.” Not an exact quote, but thanks Dave. She was touched and pleased. We are pleased to welcome her and wish her many more trips to America. Seeing our little corner of the world through her eyes has been a wonderful experience.
My friend Sue has been visiting from London, England all week. Living in London, Sue is accustomed to bright lights, congestion and a plethora of choices of restaurants, stores and cultural events. In anticipation of her visit, I fretted a little about what to show her, where to take her. Having lived in a city much of my adult life as well, I couldn’t focus at first on what we have here that she doesn’t have. So I started making a list of places to show her.
Luensman Overlook Park was high on my list of places to show. If you’ve never been there, you should check it out. It has a spectacular view of Lake Erie and the surrounding area. I waited three days until we had a clear day with no haze to take Sue there. Even so, Canada was experiencing a bit of smog, contributed no doubt by the Nanticoke Refinery, so she had trouble picking out the smokestacks and buildings over there. But the view of the lake was awe-inspiring. I hesitated showing Sue a Great Lake since she lives on an island surrounded by oceans and channels, but she was taken by the view. I’ve been to the English Channel and there is a similarity but it’s just not the same.
London has several open air markets, most notably Leadenhall Market which is stunning with its glass ceiling. It was the most beautiful market I’d ever seen and much larger than anything we have to offer. But I thought it would be interesting to visit Ripley’s new Country Market, Westfield Farmer’s Market and Cross Roads, as well as the “new” Tops market in Westfield. It’s hard to tell sometimes with Sue what she thinks of things. She has a tendency to take it all in and mull it around for awhile before saying anything. I think that’s part of her “English reserve.” But she found each of our markets interesting and was intrigued by some of the products offered there, particularly the size of jars and boxes. “I’ve never seen such a large jar of peanut butter,” she commented while perusing the aisles of Tops.
The highlight of her visit so far (although I’m sure by the time you read this, there will have been others) was the day we spent having lunch at the pier in Erie, hiking a short distance through the woods at Presque Isle, watching the sun set over Lake Erie, having a bonfire and watching the stars come out. Sue’s assessment of the starry sky from my uncle’s backyard was, “A friend of mine was in my garden (backyard) in London and said what a lot of stars there were. I don’t know what she was seeing, but it wasn’t this!”
I’m glad she was here for the Memorial Day weekend. My father and I made our annual pilgrimage on Saturday to the cemeteries in Sherman, Slabtown, North East and Quincy in Ripley with Sue in tow. Of all the flowers we set out, the one most touching to Sue was the one we put at the grave of little Mabel Schoss in Quincy. Mabel was born in 1908 died in 1909 and is marked by years only, so there’s no telling if she was months old or an almost 2 year old. But she is separated by a large gap from her parents’ graves, with no one in-between. My dad feels sorry for her, being all alone like that, and always puts a flower on her grave. I’ll continue the tradition after he’s gone I’m sure.
Sue rode in the Memorial Day parade in Ripley in our ’57 Cadillac, waving and throwing candy in good old fashioned American tradition. It may be England’s tradition as well, but I’m claiming it as our own for now. As we passed the announcer for the parade, Dave Blackman, she was given a warm welcome, “We have a special guest with us today in the parade, Sue MacDonald, all the way from London, England. We’re pleased to welcome you.” Not an exact quote, but thanks Dave. She was touched and pleased. We are pleased to welcome her and wish her many more trips to America. Seeing our little corner of the world through her eyes has been a wonderful experience.
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