2012 Comes to Leetonia

Well, we went to Charlotte's New Year's Eve festivities at the Cedar Run Inn this year. We have about a 50/50 chance of making it downstream as the roads can be icy this time of year. But it was amazingly warm New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Reaching almost 50 degrees on New Year's Day and the sun coming out to visit until the rain started in the afternoon.
Charlotte gave a try to hula hooping and I got stuck wearing the 2012 glasses. We are all hoping for a more prosperous year for the valley in 2012. So many people just scraping by and most businesses hitting new all time lows.
I worked both days getting some outside work done while the weather cooperated. Today the temperature has plummeted to the twenties and snow is on the way. So looks like we aren't going to be able to stave off winter much longer.
While working my job on over the weekend near Slate Run. I had a visitor. Each day an eagle flew up and down the
creek and sat on a tree not far from me looking for fish.
Pine creek is running full with all the rain we have had lately and it looked like the eagle was hoping for a fish or two to make a wrong turn. If no fish, there is always the occasional duck that volunteers for dinner.
It is snowing now and the promise is for a small amount of snow today. However, you never know until it comes what we will end up with. I am enjoying today off as not many of the local lumber yards are open and it seems a nice cold day to stay in and read a book. Have a great Leetonia year to all our friends far and near! Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

2009 Leetonia Style

We have gone to Cedar Run Inn most every New Year's Eve since we have been up in Leetonia. Charlotte and Stanley helped us out with jobs the first year and getting connected to other people. Over the last six years they have become like a second family to us.

The Inn is closed during December and January, but Charlotte always has a little party for her family and friends. Games and food are part of the fun.

Drawing pictures can be challenging for some people and easy for others. One thing is sure
Charlotte and her sisters seem to have an almost psychic connection figuring out each others drawings. The second picture shows one of her great nieces drawing while the rest of us guess.
It is a small group of people but a fun way to spend the night. After visiting we drove up from Cedar Run on the very road I had my accident on this summer(I was picked up at the Inn were I lay on the floor waiting for the ambulance). Looking at the spot snow-covered and slick is not a comforting feeling. It is marginal to drive on but not as bad as I have seen it. I certainly don't recommend anyone without four-wheel drive, chains and nerves of steel to go this way. The Subaru Forester with studded snow tires did an excellent job.
I let Lee drive and for the most part I remembered to breathe. I will admit I am not as steady after having the accident. There is something very beautiful about driving through the woods when the snow covers the trees and the moon is out. It was very cold with numbers in the single digits and a good wind chill. So when we made it home the warm cabin was a welcome sight. Mountain Girl, Paula, logging out and looking forward to 2009 living in Leetonia.

Starting the New Year 2008

New Year's Eve celebration at Cedar Run Inn wouldn't be complete without the traditional naughty snowman. I will say this year's snowman is more presentable than in years past so you get the idea of valley humor with only a PG rating.

About a dozen or so people attended Charlotte and Stanely Dudkin's annual celebration, which manly includes her family, past and present
employees.

The second picture is Cozzette and her husband John Stoltzfus. Cozzette works at the Inn and "Johnny" is a local handyman.

The third picture is Albert,"Sonny", Margaret's husband. Margaret is Charlotte's sister. As you can see Sonny is very excited about 2008 to the point of barely keeping his eyes open.

The annual required game of Pictionary was played and I am happy to say for the first year I was on the winning team. Never let Charlotte and her sisters: Margaret and June on the same team. They have some sort of psychic link and beat all of us terribly.

A champagne toast brought in the New Year at Cedar Run. No ball dropping or famous Celebrities except on the Television, but memories made at a place less touched by the chaos of the world. A place where playing simple games and spending time with modern day mountain folk is still fun.
We've only missed this celebration once when the roads were too icy from Leetonia to Cedar Run to dare the trip. This night the roads although not great(narrow in a couple places due to snow slides) were passable by those of us immune to the fears of sliding off. Well maybe not immune, but we tremor a little less than the person who doesn't know every rock and stone of the way.
Coming home that night we reminisced about each spot of the road we have been stuck at since moving up here. I will tell you knowledge of the road does not come cheap. Rarely a mile goes by that we can't point out a spot we have had to dig ourselves out of or walk home. The worst being my 3 mile walk home in absolute darkness (no flashlight) although I did have my dog,Jack, whom I couldn't see most of the way. Jack would check in on me with a cold nose to my hand and thank goodness I knew it was a dog and not a bear or big cat. The reflection off of the snow made it barely possible to see where to place your feet. I can tell you a three-mile shuffle, wet from kneeling in the snow digging your car out multiple times, was not fun. But isn't that what memories are made of, "trials."
So in the gloom of my trials or the joys of my celebrations, I know one thing, it will make a good story to tell the grand-children. So 2008, time for the next Chapter in the Mountain Girls' story.

Mountain Girl, Paula, wishing you a Great 2008!

Family Fun in Leetonia

Today was a day for the Cassel Kids to enjoy the Ghost Town of Leetonia. I found them huddled around the wood-burning stove enjoying roasting chestnuts in a variety of ways some more promising looking then others. The blackchestnut dug out of the coals looked beyond hope.
It was great to see kids enjoying something other than video games and watching the next generation forming fond memories in Leetonia. The kids names are Front: Avery; Middle row: Elliot and Colton; and back row Lee Cassel.

Craig Cassel shared his 1999 master thesis paper with me he did on Leetonia and the Pennsylvania lumbering industry and it is very good. I am copying it and hope to share some of it with you at a later date along with some interviews of some still living residents of Leetonia. There are not many left to tell their tales and I hope we can record as much as possible.

From the Cassel kids to the Mountain Girl, Paula, logging out and smelling the roasting chestnuts!