Life in Ashland (a short outline) – Memoir Continued

The first few months of my being in Ashland were eventful. Once I unloaded and dropped the truck and car dolly off at the local U-Haul lot, most of my time was spent settling in. Then, there was quite a bit of maintenance and yard work to accomplish, even though winter had settled in.

The large cement block shed needed a new roof and a decent door and lock. The back door of the house needed replacement as well. The back deck was pretty rough, but we put off power washing and refinishing it until the spring.

The house had an interesting floor plan. Coming in from the front, you entered the living room, which had an old non-working fireplace opposite the front door. A hallway ran from the living room back to the kitchen at the back of the house. There was a large room, which we turned into a joint office space/studio, first door on the left heading back to the kitchen.

There was a slight down-step to the right just before the kitchen to enter a small hallway into the bathroom. There were two bedrooms there on either side of the bathroom. I had the back-most room, and Tina had the one on the front side.

My room was set up with everything I needed except my TV, which we put in the joint office/studio. Neither of us wanted it in the living room. I even had an easel set up there, where I did most of my initial painting once I’d retired.

Ultimately, we used the living room for poetry writing meetings/sessions and conversations with friends. This for the whole nine years we were there.

Part of our time there, we volunteered at the Ashland Community Kitchen, providing meals for the homeless and anyone else who needed a meal. I was also teaching a simplified Tai Chi class for the feeble and elderly at the Boyd County Senior Center.

I was even busier then than I had been before I retired. Who’d-a-thunk-it…

–LE