Last Saturday in Coshocton ...

We celebrated my 56th birthday in smalltown America ... Coshocton, Ohio to be exact ... the birthplace of my Mr. Jones. Oftentimes, folk up north here in Grand Rapids will have a rather blank face when he mentions "Coshocton" ... because they've just never ever heard of such a place. Coshocton is almost 100 miles due south from Cleveland. It's about an hour west to drive to the West Virginia border, and about an hour east of Columbus. When I am there, I feel I have stepped back in time ...

It's kind of like watching "Back to the Future" ... it feels exactly like the movie!

The Canal Days Festival was taking place this past weekend in Coshocton and since we didn't have any big plans for my birthday, we decided to just hang around town and enjoy what was going on! When Mr. Jones was growing up, his family didn't own a vehicle. Everywhere they went, they walked! So we left our motel early Saturday morning and walked up Main Street. They have a beautiful old county courthouse there and two war memorials ... the one from Vietnam had two names Mr. Jones recognized from his graduating class ... twin boys that never came home.

The main square of the town was all set up for the Festival with food vendors, craft booths, etc. and there were lots of little shops that I thought perhaps we could peak into ... but Mr. Jones was heading (with determination) to the tracks ... after all, Ohio is about trains!I was told a lot of history about these tracks and the trains that used to run on them ... but I have a very poor memory of those details!

I honestly think that if Mr. Jones had his "dream" retirement home, it would be right here on Fifth Street, directly across from these very tracks. Mr. Jones says perhaps this is true ... but only if he could live there in the 50's when this was a double track main line of the Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Whew! I was barely born then!

It was a gorgeous day for a walk, so we decided to head north and see what we could see ... more tracks and more trains was definitely in store for me ...

I did get a kick out of this house (the yellow one trimmed in green) on Chestnut Street with a sign that read, "The Art Asylum" ~ with assorted art work strewn about the lawn and another sign cautioning, "Please Don't Eat the Art."

We just kept running into more and more interesting trains parked on tracks all throughout this little town ...

It was regretable that we had NO grandchildren with us to see THIS sight! This trailer truck was emptying wood chips into a huge pit at the Stone Container plant north of town ... I've never seen a truck at such an angle. The wood chips were then transferred to a moving belt that traveled up to the plant to be made into paper.

I was attracted to the graffiti decorating the railroad cars ... even though it is a felony to do this kind of artwork!

And while Mr. Jones was busily inspecting who knows what on each and every train car, I found some pretty flowers to photograph. Because it's not just about trains ... it's about light and shadows, texture, perspective, color and all sorts of other stuff!

I actually like trains very much ... not as much as boats, but I grew up around model trains because my dad was into that sort of thing for a little while.

It was a beautiful day to photograph ... and combining flowers with trains was very fun!

Did I mention there was an antique car show going on in town as well? My Jesse would have spent the whole day walking up and down Main Street talking cars with everyone. I tried to find some old Fords to snap pictures of ...

Mr. Jones took me down Orchard Street and showed me the house where he was born ... well, he was born at the hospital (which is in sight of the house), but this is where he lived for almost the first five years of his life. The present owner of the house was sitting on the porch steps talking on her cell phone when we came by. She did not wish to be photographed, but we spent about 20 minutes catching up on the history of this street. She was very friendly and we had such a nice conversation with her.

And this is the church where Mr. Jones grew up ~ Central Christian Church (on 8th and Main). I wanted to go inside and see the sun shining through those beautiful windows, but it was all locked up. Do you see the tiny window just to the right of the smaller front door? That used to be the office of Mr. Jones's dad. Grandpa Jones was some kind of secretary to the Sunday School there and that became HIS office, after a larger one was made for the pastor.

We walked back to our hotel to meet Uncle Dan, Kathie and Peggy at 4:00 and then walked back down Main Street for the parade. I'll tell you what ... this was the best parade I've ever been to! I guess small towns take their parades seriously! There were any number of marching bands, military folk, interesting vehicles, and about as many homecoming queens, county fair queens, princesses, and former queens and princesses as I could count ... all dressed in beautiful gowns, riding in the parade.

It was so much fun to be there!

Since Nathan is a volunteer fire fighter, he was in the parade as well ... he is in the front passenger seat of the red fire truck. He had a microphone and said hi to us as he drove by. Later, he told me if he'd known it was my birthday, he would have made sure the whole town knew!

We were invited over to Aunt Kathie's for dinner. She and Dan built this house 3-4 years ago. It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere ... but it is actually close by to everything! They do have a beautiful piece of property though. Grandma Theda Jo joined us for dinner, as did Nathan. Peggy and Kathie cooked up the most delicious meal! I ate so much food! You are probably wondering where all the pictures are of Theda and Nathan and Kathie, Dan and Peggy ... but I didn't take very many and those didn't really turn out very well. I always forget to take pictures of people when I am in a beautiful setting ...

Kathie says deer come right up to her house and eat her flowers! I would have loved to have seen that!

Dan is a woodworker. He made this mantle piece ... I think it is so beautiful!

We sat around this fire pit after dinner (and dessert) and enjoyed the sounds and smells of the woods around us ... it reminded me of being a kid at summer camp ...

This is the driveway that leads from the main road, through the woods and to their house ... I bet these trees are amazingly beautiful no matter what the season. What a wonderful day and great place to celebrate my birthday! I have a bunch of other pictures to show you from Sunday and Monday, but I have to get them in order first!