END OF AN ERA

The end of an era came about yesterday.  The STARZ app aired the final episode of season 8 of Outlander.  Wow, what a ride!!!

Sometime in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s a friend told me about a book titled Outlander by Diane Gabaldon.  I don’t read much fiction, but this book sounded interesting so I picked it up.  And then, I couldn’t put it down. 

The book was first published in 1991 and it was followed up by 8 additional books in the series.  Most of them were excellent.  The only one I didn’t think was up to par was the third book, Voyager.   It just wasn’t as engaging as all the others.

If you got hooked as I did, it was a nightmare to wait for the next book in the series, they went like this….

 Dragonfly in Amber (1992)

Voyager (1993)

Drums of Autumn (1996)

The Fiery Cross (2001)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005)

An Echo in the Bone (2009)

Written in My Own Heart's Blood (2014)^[17]

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021)^[18]

There is a 10^th book due out sometime this year, which wraps up the story.  Not sure how the TV series was able to close out the story when the 10^th book hasn’t been released yet….but Diane has been closely involved with the series so I’m sure that helped. 

If you don’t know the story line, Claire is a WWII nurse starting immediately after the end of the war.  By accident she time travels back to 18^th century Scotland and meets Jamie, a Highland warrior, and that’s where you just cannot put the book down.  It ends in North America during the Revolutionary War.  There is so much intrigue and complexity to the story, you have to read it to get it.

When the news came out that it was going to come out as a TV series the wait was agonizing.  Ronald D. Moore picked it up as the developer and I have to say, I have been impressed with every episode following the books as well as they have. 

The first episode of season 1 aired 8/9/2014 and again, waiting for each new season was just impossible.  My opinion is that they picked exactly the right actors to play Claire and Jamie….their chemistry was amazing.  

       

There has been some speculation that the series will continue.  But in my opinion, I hope not.  I think it ended just as it needed to end. 

I am waiting for that 10^th book, as soon as it hits the shelves, I will have a copy.  Sure hope I love it as much as I have all the others!!!!

AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS.....

 Wednesday, July 7, 2022 was a tough day.  Actually, the week had already been tough.  The Saturday before we had to put our beloved Sonny down.  In 2009 while out on a hike in Adams County I had passed by a beat-up, abandoned house when one of the hikers yelled, “Look at the puppies.”  There in a bush at the corner of the building were two faces looking out at us.  Two very young puppies were obviously living there. 

Someone in the group said they couldn’t believe someone would abandon them like that.  I said no, Mom was a stray and this is where she had them.  I was up near the front porch and saw prints of the puppies and then a print of a much larger dog. 

It took three attempts and on the third try I managed to capture the two.  Our vet guessed them to be about 7 weeks old, so perfect timing to remove them from their mom; a boy and girl we named Sonny and Cher.

      

Thirteen years later Sonny was in pretty bad shape from arthritis and he could no longer walk out into the yard to do his business.  So that was the end of our week.  Pete and I mourned Sonny and we knew it would be tough on Cher.

Things got a litter crazier on Wednesday of the following week.  Storms were brewing and according to the weather channel they were going to get bad….and they did, very quickly.  So quickly that our fire station less than 2.5 miles from the house couldn’t even alert the community to a tornado that was touching down. 

I didn’t know about the tornado, but I knew the signs so I drug Cher to the basement.  I called Pete and learned that he was driving through our village of Goshen just as the tornado passed through.  He got home okay, but a whole lot of damage was done.  It was a small tornado, F2, but those suckers still do some serious damage.  It was a direct hit on our fire station and several houses were severely damaged. 

As it turned out, Saturday of that week was just as bad as the prior Saturday.  Cher passed on her own.  Not really sure what happened, but it may have been grief, as she definitely was missing Sonny.

So, in 8 days we lost both our dogs and went through a very serious storm.

NOW THE GOOD NEWS…. this weekend, our rebuilt fire station was finally opened.  It took 4 years to get the funding, tear down the old and build the new. 

Friday there was a ribbon cutting ceremony and then on Saturday they held an Open House.  I wandered through, came home and asked Pete if he minded if I moved into the Fire Station.  It is very, very nice (especially the kitchen!).

 While the 43-year-old station had not been so badly damaged that it could have been repaired.  However, 43 years is a long-time in fire station history and the building was out of code.  So, they tore the whole thing down and started over…..once they finally got the funding.  That is a whole other story.

 The funny thing is while it is only 2.5 miles from our house, it is not our fire station!  We live in a different county so our fire station is 3 miles from our house.

Guess I can’t complain, seems we are pretty well protected!!

AN UPDATE

On April 10 I posted a blog about finding a profile on FaceBook of a friend from 69 years ago.  I mentioned that we would have lunch soon and I would share an update after the lunch. 

Well, we met for lunch this week, in Lebanon just a few blocks down from our old homes.  I arrived at the restaurant first and sat in my car in the parking lot cause I got there about 20 minutes early.  I was watching as folks went in, knowing I would recognize Marilyn from her profile photo.  Ann was also joining us but I would not recognize her. 

A few minutes before our meet time I went in, wandered around, didn’t see Marilyn so went back to the front and there stood a woman, about the right age, who was also waiting by the front door.  I asked if she was Ann and she smiled and said yes.  We hugged, started to visit and then were seated, waiting for Marilyn. 

We visited for about 10 minutes and then Ann wondered where Marilyn was, cause she “Is always on time.”  We both looked at our phones, and she was waiting for us on the porch of the restaurant.  Ann went and gathered her up and the visit began.  Before it got far, I stopped Marilyn and said, “I have to ask you a question!”  She paused and looked like she was scared to hear what I was going to ask.  I smiled back and said “I have a memory, that your birthday is May 10.  Do I remember that right?”  She started laughing, “How in the world do you remember that??!!”  It’s been 69 years and for some reason, as I was thinking about this lunch gathering, her birthday came to my mind.  Don’t ask, I have no idea. 

We had a lovely lunch.  All three of us talked sharing memories.  How long they lived in our neighborhood before they moved on, etc.  Their current lives.  It was a wonderful follow-up. 

Marilyn still lives in Lebanon, which is what Facebook noted, and is a widow, has adult children and grandchildren.  Ann lives in Clifton, is also a widow and takes OLLI classes like I do at Univ. of Cincinnati. 

I wish I had thought to have a photo taken of the three of us, but I was too wrapped up in the moment to think of it.  We didn’t make any follow-up plans, but I hope we do.  It would definitely be fun to stay in touch.