AS I LIKE IT!

APRIL, 25

MAGNOLIA COTTAGE

One of my New Year’s resolutions was that I would close my office and put the building on the market in 2016. I’ll turn 77 in September and my consulting practice has wound down to only a few old friends, so it’s time to cut expenses and lighten the load. I plan to spend the rest of my years writing, and I can do that from an office in my home.

I’ve enjoyed my six years in the little cottage and I’ll miss it when it’s sold. The original building was built some time in the1880s as a farm home. The main structure has the original doors and windows, and the building was dated by measuring the flow of the glass. Glass is a liquid, and over the years it tends to react to gravity.

The building was moved from the country to its present location in 1920, and over the years the plumbing and electrical systems have been updated. There was a major renovation around 1995, and I’ve had the foundation reinforced, painted the exterior, and replaced the air conditioning and heating. When I moved in, I named the little house, Magnolia Cottage, and planted a small magnolia tree in the front yard.

I bought the building completely furnished, including a room with eight floor to ceiling bookcases. This allowed me space to store my collection of over 2000 books, many of which are history related, including several semi-rare and hard to find books. Since January, I’ve been sorting through all of them. I allowed myself two bookcases that will fit into my new office at home, and I’ve finally decided which to keep and which to eliminate.

The second step in my plan involved going through 50 years of files to consolidate five four-drawer filing cabinets into the one that I will move to my home office. I’ve been working on this at least two hours every day, and it’s been like living the years all over again. My original goal was to put the building on the market in June, and I’m still on schedule.

YOU’RE OF MY GENERATION IF YOU CAN REMEMBER…

Roy’s horse…

Dale’s horse…

Gene’s horse…

The Lone Ranger’s horse…

Tonto’s horse…

GREAT MOMENTS IN SPORTS

No. 3  Summer Olympics 1984   Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci brought gymnastics to the forefront of international interest. By 1984, the U.S. team had reached the point of equality with the Eastern European gymnasts who had ruled the sport. One of the best hopes for a medal in 1984 was a young American teenager from West Virginia, Mary Lou Retton.

Retton won both the U.S. Nationals and the Olympic Trials, but suffered a knee injury after the trials that required extensive surgery, a mere five weeks before the Olympics. She somehow managed to rehab her knee and still make the team, but many had doubts that she could compete at the Olympic level.

Retton and Rumanian, Ecaterina Szabo, were locked in a head to head battle for the overall gold medal, and Szabo held a .15 lead. Retton would have to score two perfect 10s in floor exercises and vault to win. The U.S. coaches felt floor to be Mary Lou’s strongest event, and she went on to score a perfect 10, and pull within .5 points of the Rumanian. Most observers and commentators didn’t give Mary Lou much of a chance in the vault because of the tremendous strain put on the knees in the dismount.

Retton limped to the vault in obvious pain, but pulled off a perfect 10 to win the gold. Mary Lou won America’s first ever overall gold and four additional medals in individual events, and she was still in high school. I can’t think of a better example of an athlete competing in pain than Mary Lou’s performance that night.