90. Weekend Rambling

I've spent this entire weekend basically doing nothing. And it was a beautiful weekend to do so. Although there were political events on the calendar Friday night, one in Oldham County, the other at George Stinson's up on Longview Lane, I attended neither. Instead I did nothing. I should point out that Friday was the birthday - the 60th birthday no less - of one of my favorite people, Hazel Hartley. I called her late in the day, spoke briefly with her husband Darryl, then gave her her birthday wishes. I've known Hazel and Darryl for about thirteen years after having first met them at a Christmas Party in one of the years that Ken Herndon was unsuccessfully running for office, something I helped him do several times before I helped him run successfully several times.

Saturday's calendar had nothing on it, so again, that's exactly what I did - nothing. Late in the day, I took a drive out Dixie Highway towards Radcliff. I've been helping a friend who is working for Willie Neal, a candidate for Family Court Judge in Hardin County and I wanted to see what sort of signs had gone up. A few have supporting someone named Hatfield, but only a few. From 31W, I headed east over to I-65 on the Joe Prather Highway. I know Senator Prather, for whom the road is named, having worked in the LRC back when he was in the State Senate. As I recall, Joe was a resident of Vine Grove. The last time I saw him was in a little diner on the northwest corner of the town square in downtown Elizabethtown.

I took I-65 north, but just a little, up to the Lebanon Junction exit, where I followed KY 61 (called South Preston Highway in this part of Bullitt County) over to Nelson County (where it is called Boston Road) and US 62, where the very small community of Boston is situated, a very small town with no stop lights, but it does have two liquor stores and two funeral homes - I wonder if there is a connection.

I followed US 62 northeast into Bardstown, taking a look at the new part of the road west of town where, just past the Airport (Samuels Field), the road formerly went deep into a valley to cross Withrow Creek, before emerging up and widening as you come into Bardstown proper. Withrow Creek on the west and Rowan Creek on the east are branches of the Beech Fork of the Rolling Fork of Salt River, which winds in "S" curves from the west and toward the south of Kentucky's home of My Old Kentucky Home.

Leaving Bardstown I took KY 245, a old, old trail (ancient would be an honest word to use here) which more or less follows the Harrodsburg-Louisville branch of the Wilderness Road, itself following old buffalo paths in search of salt licks. Many of us learned about these old roads and salt licks back when they taught Kentucky History in the 8th grade in Kentucky's public schools. Along the way, one passes the original area of Clermont Springs, the seven-generation home of Jim Beam Whiskey (named for the founder's grandson, James Beauregard Beam), still made right along the north side of the highway in southern Bullitt County - another Jim Beam plant was passed earlier on the road from Lebanon Junction to Boston.

KY 245 will take you back to either I-65 or to KY 61, which in Jefferson County we call Preston Highway for the most part. In downtown Louisville, northbound KY 61 runs along Jackson Street - southbound along Preston Street. The northern terminus of the highway is found at the Louisville Slugger Baseball Park along East Main Street.

Today being Sunday, I attended the church of my choice. There used to be little reminders in Saturday's and Sunday's papers telling people to do just that. As it was a beautiful morning, I walked the six or so blocks from my home up what was really known at one time as Phoenix Hill along East Broadway to the Episcopal Church of the Advent at Baxter Avenue and Cherokee Road. Today's readings and sermon focussed on Jesus' role as the Good Shepherd. The discussion centered on not the various names by which we know Jesus, but rather by the various names by which He knows us, whether as friend, parent, child, caregiver, or any other type of ministry, irrespective of any involvement with an organized church or religion. Although I am not a fan of the current "interim" rector, today's message was interesting.

After church I did my weekly chores at "Mom's house," chores I've been doing more or less every weekend since I was ten or eleven years old, including the two or three years I lived in either Lexington or Frankfort. My mother lives in a house built in the mid 1950s by her father and his friends. As two of my brother's children have also been raised there, a total of four generations from the same family have so far occupied the 2160 square feet home sitting upon just under 6/10th of an acre just off South Park Road in southern Jefferson County.

Life goes on, and even when you have nothing to do, you usually end up doing quite a few things.