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When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

November 15, 2009

Huntington, a Nice Place to Live, but I Wouldn't Want to Visit There!

That title isn't very friendly sounding, but it's kind of true I think - there are not too many enticements to making a visit to our fair city.  But it is a friendly and pleasant place to live.

And there are certainly plans afoot to make it an even more pleasant place to live - or as the new motto says - "live, work, and play in downtown Huntington".   I had a nice chat with the woman who manages Jamie's kitchen.  I volunteered there for the first time this past Wednesday and I think she's sort of warmed up to me since then.  Although I don't know if I've warmed up to volunteering too much - spent a lot of time washing up pots and pans, etc.  But I'm hopeful that if the place manages to take hold and stay open, I might get involved in a little more interesting work.  Anyway, she told me that she had attended a meeting with Ebenezer Outreach, a local charitable organization, who will be taking over Jamie's Kitchen when the filming is finished (I think the week before Thanksgiving).  The week of Thanksgiving, the production people will take everything out that was necessary for filming - lights, cables, etc., - and then Ebenezer will open it back up again.  At the same time, apparently three local women have definitely decided that they are going to open some type of small grocery store downtown and they and Ebenezer will work out who has what available, because Ebenezer hopes to have a fresh, local produce and products type market within Jamie's Kitchen.  So all of that is pretty exciting, I think.

She also said that plans have been firmed up for trying to revitalize Heritage Station, the old train station in Huntington that has, over the years, had various shops and restaurants come and go and has never managed to really take hold.  It is located one block away from Pullman Square which went up about two years ago and seems to be doing well, although what do I know?  But the hope is to somehow draw people from Pullman Square over to Heritage Station and vice versa.  The owners of the property have agreed to provide very reasonable rentals to potential shop owners, who in turn, will have to agree to all maintain the same business hours and to cover each others' shops if someone must  be absent for some reason.  This would help, because right now, the few shops that are there are very rarely open (at least not any time I'm poking around).  But I don't know if it will be enough.  There is an alley that runs directly from Pullman Square to Heritage Station and there are also plans to beautify that area with trees, plantings, and large prints of historic Huntington that would cover the fencing around the huge electrical plant located at one end of the alley.  So, I guess all one can do is wait and see.  In all the 30 or so years I've lived here, this is the first time I've seen so much community participation, so maybe that's a good sign.

I took some pictures of the places I'm mentioning here - Pullman Square, Heritage Station, the alley as it is now.  If things start to happen with the station and with the alley, I'll be able to track the before and after.  The first four pictures are shots of the Heritage Station area.  It's really an attractive site and it sure would be nice if something good could happen to it.





































These two pictures show the alley and the large electrical plant at the Heritage Station end.





And, totally on another subject, I made another of my justifiably somewhat famous (with my kids!) pot roasts tonight and mmm-mm, it was a good one!  Here's a picture - now if I was a real cook, I'd have it dressed up with some parsley or something.


4 comments:

January said...

Lookin' good Mama (the pot roast, I mean) - the potatoes look yummy and browned. . .
I hope the plan to get Heritage Station going solidly really works - it is a neat little place.
And good for you sucking it up and washing dishes. Stay involved and you're right, you'll probably be able to do more interesting things after a little while. Hooray!

Christopher said...

(PS---let me say I forgot to say how good the framed print looks!)

I'm excited to hear things are afoot for Huntington... I hope the momentum builds and continues; the location has a lot in its favor, being a waterfront city---that is prized elsewhere. And with some older architecture still intact downtown, and the lovely courthouse... there's lots there ripe for a revival.
Keep up the volunteer work, I say... I love mine (granted, it doesn't require pan washing) and I feel good by doing it.
That pot roast looks d e l i c i o u s! (said while fluttering fingertips together, like Catherine in Mixed Nuts, when she learns Steve Martin's character broke up with his girlfriend... (Yes, it will soon be time for a Mixed Nuts viewing...!)

Mary Lynne said...

Thanks, January - you and Chris are my own little boosters club!

Mary Lynne said...

I do that fluttering fingertips thing too whenever anything really wonderful and exciting happens!

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