On Monday, we visited some more with the distant Kass family. Aunt Dorothy is Grandpa Jim’s half-aunt and oldest living relative on that side of the family (and probably on either side of our family). She lives in Ashland, one of the nice small towns in Ohio’s farm country. Her daughter Joanne and Joanne’s husband Ken were still in town after the reunion, and we knew them from when they lived in Carson City, Nevada.
I remember visiting distant, old relatives as a kid, and there often wasn’t much to do. Leilani did have her “Barbie Box” along (it was her plane carry-on), but she was soon engaged in the puzzle and making some progress. I never know if it’s polite to let Leilani help people with puzzles–maybe they want the accomplishment of finishing it themselves. She always asks before working on the puzzle, but who can say no to a kid?
We decided to go out together for the afternoon to Mansfield, a slightly larger town where Jim’s grandparents lived. On the way out, I took this picture of Dorothy’s neighborhood in Ashland. I think these are what they call cookie-cutter homes.
In Mansfield, we all went to the old diner for lunch–the old neon sign advertized 5-cent Coney Island hot dogs (with chili sauce). Ohio is at the edge of the rust belt, with many manufacturing jobs gone and downtowns gutted by big box stores, but this little downtown with nice old buildings was still hanging in there:
Just as we got out of the car to go to the diner, there was a downpour and we all got soaked in a matter of seconds. Left to right: Ken, Rosemary, Leilani, Jim, Joanne, and Dorothy:
Above our table were some memorabilia from the local high-school during the more prosperous 50’s and 60’s. Typically American (cheerleading, football, and yearbooks), and almost like props from the Back to the Future movie:
After lunch, Dorothy showed us where Grandpa Kass had his butcher shop in town. We had looked for it on a previous visit, but found the wrong address. The actual shop had been gutted and turned into a workshop for the new owners who were trying to renovate the building. But apparently, the Buckeye Bakery next door has survived ever since it was next to the butcher shop.
The brick and stone building had an engraving at the top that said “Hancock & Dow – 1887.” It had a very European feel to it, especially the alley in the back. There were 2 or 3 blocks in the downtown area that were built up like this.
Then we walked across the street to the Richland Carrousel Park, and we all enjoyed the beautiful merry-go-round. It is a newly made machine, but wooden, hand-carved and painted in the old style:
Leilani immediately ran to the Mer-horse for the first ride. Then we kept giving her token and she kept riding, trying out all the different horses. We probably spent an hour here:
They had comfy rocking chairs for the old folks to relax in and enjoy the spectacle and music:
On the drive back to (Leilani’s) Great-grandma’s house, we stopped at the ever-popular Shisler’s Cheese House. This is a little country store that sells local cheese made by the Amish, as well as candies and chocolate confections made locally by Ben Heggy’s (like See’s Candies, but not so mass-produced and better). This is the kind of place that travelers find out about and stop every time they go by. I’ve always heard that so-and-so stopped at Shisler’s on their way to or from (my) Grandma’s house, and it’s been there forever. I’m fairly certain we’ve stopped there with Leilani before on a previous trip:
I liked their little gnome garden:
They had a carved wooden pole with a mouse and cheese on it on the other side, and they insisted I take a picture of it with Leilani, but it looked creepy to me, so I didn’t post it.
