Under the Maples Series
When I am sitting on the back porch taking a moment to reminisce, one of my favorite memories of Cornerstone is of the baby bunnies who grew up at the mansion six years ago in April.
We had raked leaves in the fall and created a big leaf pile near the sidewalk on Fremont Street for pick up. The leaves ended up being there all winter because the street department had been unable to make their last leaf pickup when winter set in early and everything froze to the ground.
Come spring, they were on the job. They swept by and picked up all of our leaves and I was glad to see them go. However, about 15 minutes later I got a phone call from the street department. They told me they found several baby bunnies running around their truck in those leaves. Since we were the only leaf pickup made before they returned to the garage they knew the bunnies were from Cornerstone. They asked me if I thought the mother would take them back. I told them I thought so if they didn’t touch them. They assured me they were using gloves to catch them and put them in a bucket. It wasn’t long before the two men returned with five little bunnies they found in the leaves. I had already went out and looked for the nest but there wasn’t much of it left, just a rabbit hole and not a very deep one. I pointed it out and watched as they gently put the five bunnies back in the nest. The men were still concerned that the mother might not return but my feeling was that she would. Mother’s don’t give up their young easily.
I prayed I was right because the little guys didn’t have there eyes open and were way too small to care for themselves. I was beginning to wonder if I was mistaken about the mother because she didn’t come back all day. However, the next morning when I arrived I noticed she had rebuilt her nest with her own fur and made her babies cozy again.
What fun to watch! I never did see the mother on the nest but the bunnies were getting bigger day by day and the nest was always intact. I stopped to see that nest every morning and evening for 8 days and then on the ninth morning, to my surprise, I saw all these shiny black eyes looking back at me. I was thrilled. They were thriving. I continued to watch them every day for the next four days but on the fifth morning the nest was empty. To my delight I caught glimpses of the mother and bunnies in the back yard all summer. The following spring she honored us with another bunch of bunnies and the legacy goes on as bunny rabbits seem to enjoy living at Cornerstone Mansion.
I have to say, ‘hats off’ to the street department that spring. They could have easily just written those baby bunnies off, but they took the time to bring them back and give them a chance. I let them know that the bunnies lived and became a happy part of the mansion family. The joys of spring and life’s precious renewal makes for such great memories.
That incident always cheers my heart. So often we are told how thoughtless people are and how uncaring, especially public servants. In truth, I have often found people care more than we think. You just have to give them an opportunity and their kindness will shine through.
I’d be remiss not to say that I enjoy spring immensely. I love watching the awakening of mother earth. It’s rewarding to watch the trees bud and blossom and the spring bulbs and other perennials peek their heads out of the earth and start growing again after their winter’s nap. I love driving to the country with my hubby and seeing the farm fields newly planted and tender seedling peeking above the ground. Soon it will be summer and these young shoots will be blessed by abundant sunshine that will bring them to maturity before the fall harvest. It’s a process worth watching. There is such a grand plan in place on this earth that it cannot help but cheer me. Now is the time for the fawns to visit in the backyard as they stay close beside their mothers and then there are the baby birds, baby squirrels, rabbits, and countless other signs of rebirth and renewal. I hope you take time to appreciate it or you will one day realize you missed many precious moments of life.
Cheers to all! I hope you have an amazing weekend and an opportunity to experience a special blessing before next week is over. I will look forward to sharing with you again very soon.
Quote for this Blog
The most important things in life aren't things.
Anthony J. D'Angelo
Inspirational Quotes
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Proverbs 12:10 - A righteous [man] regardeth the life of his beast: (and bunnies)
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
If Only Walls Could Talk
Under the Maples Series
PROLOGUE
What do you do once you retire? There are probably as many answers to that question as there are retired people. For me, being retired was a challenge in itself. However, for several years before retiring, the Lord was nudging me to change course. He wanted me to “come home to Lowell.” Understand, I lived in Lowell but work had always been in Merrillville, Highland, Griffith, Munster and even Chicago; I was never home in Lowell for very long. Coming home meant accepting there was a new plan for my life but I never thought of it being to allow me to fulfill an old dream.
My mother was born and raised in Lowell and I always loved the old town although I was raised in Calumet Township/Griffith. I admired her beautiful old Victorian homes and, even as a kid, knew they had stories to tell. In 1970, married with three children, my husband and I moved to Lowell. Those old homes still fascinated me as did the lovely flower gardens many of the homes enjoyed thanks to the inhabitants who doted on them. Little did I know that one day the Lord was going to help me buy one of them and create a restaurant known as Cornerstone Mansion. It was the fulfillment of an old dream. What did I do to deserve it? Absolutely nothing that I can think of but God had a plan. I can’t even tell you, at least not right now, how extensive His plan was and the prayers that were going to be answered because of my act of obedience and “coming home.”
BLOG
I guess you have to have an over active imagination to feel what I feel about the old mansion. I can hear her sighs, her cries of joy and her laments. To me it isn’t difficult to sense the presence of the Bacon family and their children and grandchildren who built and lived in the house for the first ninety years of her life. I had many customers come in and while slowly walking through the rooms and looking around with eyes of admiration they’d breath a sigh and exclaim, “If only walls could talk.” It may sound a little weird but I think if you listen close enough you will hear them talk and, although, the stately old home did go through a few other owners before my daughter and I bought her, everyone who owned her appreciated her heritage.
It is her heritage from 1870 until 1920, that I will be focusing on in some novels that I hope to write and publish. I love history because I believe our town, our country, our people are a sum-total of their experiences and the experiences of their ancestors. There is an intricate link between one and the other. The location on this earth gives it its own voice and the appearance, and demeanor of a building will always hold some of the characteristic of its original owners. The soul of the owners will be reflected there.
When my daughter, Beth, and I bought the old home we sensed that she had a good soul, other wise we wouldn’t have bought her. Yes, I do mean that! Of course, the first thing on the agenda was a name. We needed a name for the restaurant we hoped to run there. We decided on Cornerstone Mansion. Cornerstone came from the Bible and Jesus being our Chief Cornerstone. Mansion came from other shop owners and our town historian, Richard Schmal, who is now deceased. It seems when the Bacon home was build in 1870, it was considered a mansion to this small town and rural area. Thus it was referred to as the Bacon Mansion. It isn’t a mansion by todays standards but it is such a regal old home that mansion seemed to fit. Some of my blogs will be taken from episodes of the six years she was a restaurant. People who gravitated to Cornerstone and would come to relax and dine often left a small part of themselves behind. I like to think they nurtured the old home in their own way and they definitely left their marks on my heart.
It is not possible for me to recall all the times I set in the various rooms of the mansion and could feel the family moving around. I caught glimpses of Dr. Bacon and felt his love for his family, patients and community. The house is still a lot like Dr. Bacon, a man of character and integrity, and his lovely wife, Martha, a gracious lady. You can still see the heritage they imparted to the home. I could also look down the street at the old historic district and feel the presence of the original shop owners and sense their hopes for the future of their community. Nothing has changed. The community is still viable and still hopeful for the future. The heritage they have been exposed to has been breathed into their souls and they sense the purpose of community. Those who are in it just for the dollar will surely not fair well for long because, the truth be known, the walls themselves will cry out against poor usage and neglect. Those historic buildings being treated badly deserve better and they know it. They will withstand the winds of adversity until help comes and their restoration is completed. They, too, have a wealth of stories to tell and their souls are intact and will tell those stories one day.
Thank you for taking time to read this blog. I have enjoyed sharing this with you and hope you enjoy reading it. I look forward to our next time together.
Life is good; memories are sweet.
Quote For This Blog
To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.
– Herman Melville
Inspirational Quotes
Psalms 61:5 - For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given [me] the heritage of those that fear thy name.
“My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams
PROLOGUE
What do you do once you retire? There are probably as many answers to that question as there are retired people. For me, being retired was a challenge in itself. However, for several years before retiring, the Lord was nudging me to change course. He wanted me to “come home to Lowell.” Understand, I lived in Lowell but work had always been in Merrillville, Highland, Griffith, Munster and even Chicago; I was never home in Lowell for very long. Coming home meant accepting there was a new plan for my life but I never thought of it being to allow me to fulfill an old dream.
My mother was born and raised in Lowell and I always loved the old town although I was raised in Calumet Township/Griffith. I admired her beautiful old Victorian homes and, even as a kid, knew they had stories to tell. In 1970, married with three children, my husband and I moved to Lowell. Those old homes still fascinated me as did the lovely flower gardens many of the homes enjoyed thanks to the inhabitants who doted on them. Little did I know that one day the Lord was going to help me buy one of them and create a restaurant known as Cornerstone Mansion. It was the fulfillment of an old dream. What did I do to deserve it? Absolutely nothing that I can think of but God had a plan. I can’t even tell you, at least not right now, how extensive His plan was and the prayers that were going to be answered because of my act of obedience and “coming home.”
BLOG
I guess you have to have an over active imagination to feel what I feel about the old mansion. I can hear her sighs, her cries of joy and her laments. To me it isn’t difficult to sense the presence of the Bacon family and their children and grandchildren who built and lived in the house for the first ninety years of her life. I had many customers come in and while slowly walking through the rooms and looking around with eyes of admiration they’d breath a sigh and exclaim, “If only walls could talk.” It may sound a little weird but I think if you listen close enough you will hear them talk and, although, the stately old home did go through a few other owners before my daughter and I bought her, everyone who owned her appreciated her heritage.
It is her heritage from 1870 until 1920, that I will be focusing on in some novels that I hope to write and publish. I love history because I believe our town, our country, our people are a sum-total of their experiences and the experiences of their ancestors. There is an intricate link between one and the other. The location on this earth gives it its own voice and the appearance, and demeanor of a building will always hold some of the characteristic of its original owners. The soul of the owners will be reflected there.
When my daughter, Beth, and I bought the old home we sensed that she had a good soul, other wise we wouldn’t have bought her. Yes, I do mean that! Of course, the first thing on the agenda was a name. We needed a name for the restaurant we hoped to run there. We decided on Cornerstone Mansion. Cornerstone came from the Bible and Jesus being our Chief Cornerstone. Mansion came from other shop owners and our town historian, Richard Schmal, who is now deceased. It seems when the Bacon home was build in 1870, it was considered a mansion to this small town and rural area. Thus it was referred to as the Bacon Mansion. It isn’t a mansion by todays standards but it is such a regal old home that mansion seemed to fit. Some of my blogs will be taken from episodes of the six years she was a restaurant. People who gravitated to Cornerstone and would come to relax and dine often left a small part of themselves behind. I like to think they nurtured the old home in their own way and they definitely left their marks on my heart.
It is not possible for me to recall all the times I set in the various rooms of the mansion and could feel the family moving around. I caught glimpses of Dr. Bacon and felt his love for his family, patients and community. The house is still a lot like Dr. Bacon, a man of character and integrity, and his lovely wife, Martha, a gracious lady. You can still see the heritage they imparted to the home. I could also look down the street at the old historic district and feel the presence of the original shop owners and sense their hopes for the future of their community. Nothing has changed. The community is still viable and still hopeful for the future. The heritage they have been exposed to has been breathed into their souls and they sense the purpose of community. Those who are in it just for the dollar will surely not fair well for long because, the truth be known, the walls themselves will cry out against poor usage and neglect. Those historic buildings being treated badly deserve better and they know it. They will withstand the winds of adversity until help comes and their restoration is completed. They, too, have a wealth of stories to tell and their souls are intact and will tell those stories one day.
Thank you for taking time to read this blog. I have enjoyed sharing this with you and hope you enjoy reading it. I look forward to our next time together.
Life is good; memories are sweet.
Quote For This Blog
To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.
– Herman Melville
Inspirational Quotes
Psalms 61:5 - For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given [me] the heritage of those that fear thy name.
“My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Lasata, A Place of Peace
Under the Maples Series
This is a new adventure for me.
I’ve always had a vivid imagination and have enjoyed writing ever since I can remember. I’ve been wanting to start a blog but what I wanted to focus on was what always caused me to hesitate. I’ve enjoyed my life. It hasn’t been perfect, believe me, however every problem taught me how to be an overcomer and never give up. Every mountain peak taught me to look for smaller peaks in everyday experiences.
I have three beloved children that somehow survived my inept mothering to marry and give me eleven remarkable grandchildren that bless my life and who are starting to produce these truly amazing great grandchildren. Yes, your right, I’m not 25 anymore. Age is relative however and I have as many ideas and dreams today as I have ever had. It’s just that as you grow older you have so many more life experiences behind you and so many more things that are important to you and have helped make you who you are today that you can feel overwhelmed when it comes time to sharing some of yourself and your thoughts with others. Early on I worked in offices and even pressed tool boxes in a factory in Grant Park, IL while studying for a brighter tomorrow. I’ve been a wife, a mother, an interior designer, a graphic designer, and the proud owner of a restaurant in my lifetime so far and it’s not over yet. I look forward to the future and many new adventures.
I chose the name Lasata for my blog because of a book I read about Jacqueline Kennedy as a youth and how her family had a summer place her grandfather had named Lasata. He had told them it was an old American Indian word that meant “a place of peace.” I like that and I hope you do too. Whether you are twelve or one hundred, we all need to find a place of peace from time to time. Since I don’t intend to make my blogs too long, I invite you to join me and maybe some of my stories will bless your life and provide you with a few minutes of peace and enjoyment. I do know some of what I will write about will concern my days of owning and running Cornerstone Mansion Restaurant in Lowell, Indiana. Other blogs will talk about the writing I am doing now and, knowing me, I will share thoughts of each of the seasons and my perspective on many things.
It’s time to give credit where credit is due. My granddaughter, Abby, the other writer in the family, started a blog and I have been reading it with enjoyment. Her work inspired me to do what I have put off for far to long. Since she was a little girl I have encouraged her to write because I feel she has the gift for it. The wonderful thing about Abby in my life is we can share our thoughts and frustrations in a way that others just can’t understand. We can also inspire one another which is what Abby did for me concerning this blog.
I’m very excited about Lasata and hope to brighten your day with my blogs. I’m definitely not promising one everyday but I am hoping to produce a blog once a week. If there are more, think of them as bonus blogs. :)
Quote for this blog
Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.
– Barbara Kingsolver
Inspirational Quotes
Lord, make me the instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Francis of Assisi
This is a new adventure for me.
I’ve always had a vivid imagination and have enjoyed writing ever since I can remember. I’ve been wanting to start a blog but what I wanted to focus on was what always caused me to hesitate. I’ve enjoyed my life. It hasn’t been perfect, believe me, however every problem taught me how to be an overcomer and never give up. Every mountain peak taught me to look for smaller peaks in everyday experiences.
I have three beloved children that somehow survived my inept mothering to marry and give me eleven remarkable grandchildren that bless my life and who are starting to produce these truly amazing great grandchildren. Yes, your right, I’m not 25 anymore. Age is relative however and I have as many ideas and dreams today as I have ever had. It’s just that as you grow older you have so many more life experiences behind you and so many more things that are important to you and have helped make you who you are today that you can feel overwhelmed when it comes time to sharing some of yourself and your thoughts with others. Early on I worked in offices and even pressed tool boxes in a factory in Grant Park, IL while studying for a brighter tomorrow. I’ve been a wife, a mother, an interior designer, a graphic designer, and the proud owner of a restaurant in my lifetime so far and it’s not over yet. I look forward to the future and many new adventures.
I chose the name Lasata for my blog because of a book I read about Jacqueline Kennedy as a youth and how her family had a summer place her grandfather had named Lasata. He had told them it was an old American Indian word that meant “a place of peace.” I like that and I hope you do too. Whether you are twelve or one hundred, we all need to find a place of peace from time to time. Since I don’t intend to make my blogs too long, I invite you to join me and maybe some of my stories will bless your life and provide you with a few minutes of peace and enjoyment. I do know some of what I will write about will concern my days of owning and running Cornerstone Mansion Restaurant in Lowell, Indiana. Other blogs will talk about the writing I am doing now and, knowing me, I will share thoughts of each of the seasons and my perspective on many things.
It’s time to give credit where credit is due. My granddaughter, Abby, the other writer in the family, started a blog and I have been reading it with enjoyment. Her work inspired me to do what I have put off for far to long. Since she was a little girl I have encouraged her to write because I feel she has the gift for it. The wonderful thing about Abby in my life is we can share our thoughts and frustrations in a way that others just can’t understand. We can also inspire one another which is what Abby did for me concerning this blog.
I’m very excited about Lasata and hope to brighten your day with my blogs. I’m definitely not promising one everyday but I am hoping to produce a blog once a week. If there are more, think of them as bonus blogs. :)
Quote for this blog
Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.
– Barbara Kingsolver
Inspirational Quotes
Lord, make me the instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Francis of Assisi
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