Off to the Library and an Iron Furnace

 

  

 

The day was beautiful, the sky blue and the temperatures were perfect for being outdoors. That was exactly what Ann Marie and I had in mind.

                I had read on-line that the Carnegie Libraries were open! Can you believe it? After nearly a half year they have finally reopened again! I called a local library and was told that they were still closed. So, it looked like AMB and I were heading towards Oakland and the Main Branch.

                We stopped at City Books to say “hello” to our friend Arlan, the owner, on the way. We stood in the door and talked to her behind the counter. There were customers in the store so we stayed outside. The store limit is currently four customers at a time. By staying outside we allowed the paying customers to go inside.

                While we were there, two girls and their mother brought some books up to the counter to buy. There were three Nancy Drew books amongst them. While checking the prices on the inside cover, Arlan discovered that one of them used to be hers. It was given to her for her birthday by her best friend! (“She had red hair!”) I always think it is cool to find out some of a books provenance, if it were me, that book would become special because I knew its background! I had met the person who owned it before me!

                The three of us discussed a couple books and Ann Marie put one on order. We discussed some astronomy stuff that would be happening later in the evening and then, as more customers showed up, we left for our next stop…the Library!

                In Oakland, we found a parking spot a short distance away from the library, right in front of Caliban Books. Since we were there, we stopped in. This store has a 6 person limit. The door was locked, we had to knock to be allowed inside. I’d tell you the “secret knock” but you know what I’d have to do if I told ya!

                We wandered around a bit, listening to the conversation between a customer and the salesman. We couldn’t help but hear it; there was no one else there. So we ended up adding our own two cents a couple times. We both found something to take with us. Putting the books in the car we walked over to the library.

                Walking around Oakland we saw lots of students laying out in the grassy lawns and swinging in hammocks strung between trees, sitting together in groups on the walls and playing Frisbee and softball. Ann Marie said it felt like we were walking through Ground Zero. Masks were both on and off, we felt a little nervous.

                Arriving at the main entrance of the library building, there was a tent set up outside of it. A young woman sat under it and asked us how she could help us. We told her that we’d like to go in and look around to which she replied that it was only open for computer use and to pick-up books that had been ordered. That and the restrooms were open. Of course we were upset, we had been led to believe that they were open for business. There wasn’t much we could do about it. They were open, just not for what we wanted to do in it…use it as a library, look at and get some books! Instead we settled for a quick visit to the bathrooms.

                It was sad, employees stood around directing us where to go and making sure we didn’t go anywhere else. We looked into the main room, the shelves filled with books that we couldn’t touch.

                Returning outside, we took a short walk around the area and then returned home. Some beers and a game of Scrabble welcomed us back. We sat under the tree out back and ate chicken sandwiches covered with homemade BBQ sauce on fresh bread, drank a few beers and played our game. (AMB beat me by 100 points!)

                Later tonight the moon and Mars will be rising together, we had a nice drive around the city this afternoon and the weather has been wonderful, the holiday weekend is turning out pretty nice, even though we will have to wait a bit longer before we will be able to browse the racks again!

Moon and Mars- 11:24PM, 9/5/20

                Monday morning, Labor Day, the two of us headed south to West Virginia. (Sounds a bit odd doesn’t it?) We visited Coopers Rock State Forest where we walked on the edges of high cliffs and then hiked down to see the remains of the Henry Clay Iron Furnace. It was only a mile downhill on a rocky dirt road, to tell the truth, going up was easier than down, as far as my knee was concerned.  It was nice being in the shade while we hiked, we found it quite enjoyable.

Our first view of the furnace

                The Henry Clay Furnace was built between 1834 and 1836 and operated until 1847. While it was in operation it employed about 200 men. There were about 100 houses, a church, a school and a store. Now, about 173 years later, nothing remains of this industrial complex except the stack of the furnace. The buildings that stood around it to support the process of making iron have all disappeared over the years, leaving this pyramidal structure sitting alone in the woods.

                The corners have a step like edge because the stones were cut as rectangles. On other furnaces we have seen, the stones on the ends were cut on an angle to match the sides. There are a fair amount of cracks visible in its sides but it still stands strong!

Inside the stack

                On our trip we stopped at an antique and book dealer we had read about. Sadly the store was closed.  Maybe the next time! We returned home about 8 hours after we left and the rain started not soon after. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!