Clarysville Inn

The Inn stood on the National Highway between Cumberland and Frostburg from 1807 until 1999 when it was destroyed by fire. It also served as a hospital during the civil war, perhaps Doctor March was nursed there by Mrs Marsh while Jo and her sisters stayed at home!

It was a Stagecoach stop rather than a Waggoner’s stop, “Waggoners knew where and how to have more fun”. I’ve looked online and this is the oldest postcard (from the 1920s) I could find, the image also appears on this site along with the very interesting history of the Inn. Here you see a picture of the Inn after the fire, almost exactly 10 years ago

If you click on the image you can read “Chicken Dinner”, “Excellent dining Room Service”, there is a Coca Cola advertisement and a Bath would have cost 1$50.

Researching this sort of postcard is what I love best about my job. If you’re from the Frostburg - Cumberland area, do you remember the Inn? Why did a fire start?

Ahem, the postcard is for auction here. If you scroll down far enough you'll find some English details . My postcard blog is Time and Oft

Oh those Russians

Dom has gone off to Avignon this weekend with her boyfriend . They’ve been invited to a Russian wedding. When they met, they both met someone who can speak Russian – if you see what I mean. On the way to the station in the car last Sunday evening they were talking to each other in Russian. It’s a lovely language to listen to; like a cat purring. Reminded me of Illya Kuryakin ‘sigh’. Illya even has his own Wikipedia page!

Talking of Russia, Dom asked me the other day if I had heard anything of Spyke Martin. He helped her with her Russian homework once. ( Are you out there somewhere Spyke? – we miss you!). Spyke is a French Canadian, bear hugging, tomato paste loving, ex priest, last known to be living in Denmark. Has anyone any news of him?

Every 'mm' counts

Life is an uphill struggle at the moment. I just don’t have time for myself, let alone my blogging friends. Hopefully better days are coming.

As most of you know I’m a professional power seller on ebay. Rob and I have made over 5400 sales and have 2000 postcards in our shop at the moment. Today we had an email from a customer; she was complaining because we sold her a postcard that was ‘too small’ She maintains that postcards should be 140mm x 90mm, the one that we sent her was 139 X 90. Fortunately for us (!) she will accept the card. I have several postcards in front of me a I write. Do you think that they are all exactly the same size?

Please don't ...

....Sit on the edge of the cliff.

Unfortunately, in some areas, they have to collect the dead bodies of tourists throughout the summer. Here we have soft yellow rock, like limestone. The waves scoop out a hollow at the bottom and eventually the top crumbles and falls down. It falls down a lot faster if there is the weight of someone on it. The cliffs aren’t high here, but if they collapse with you on them you will be injured enough to ruin your holiday.

We do have barriers but they are made of wood. As it is very damp in winter and hot in summer they don’t last long. A gap in the barrier doesn’t mean ‘you can sit here’.

Thank you

How to feel safe

We went to pick Dom up from the station at 10 to midnight as she’d been to Paris over the holiday weekend. I went in on my own to wait for the train while Rob dozed in the car. I was all alone on the platform except for 6 or 7 CRS police. They’re the ones that deal with riots and crowds. I was very well behaved and very self-conscious standing there clutching the ham and tomato sandwich Dom had asked for. As it happens there were only about 10 people on the train, so I don’t think they had any problems

For the last 5 days we’ve hosted the annual Francofolies music festival. a lot of people flock to La Rochelle see their favourite bands, some of them are weird and wonderful (fans and bands), hence the heavy police presence. On Friday when Olivier and I returned from Poitiers we were greeted by a sniffer dog. There are also two English Police Ladies on duty here for a couple of weeks. I hope that they are enjoying strolling around in the sunshine

The results are in...

The results are in; Olivier was expecting to scrape a pass and managed to get a “quite good” pass (the levels are; pass – quite good – good - very good). He was pleased and had made a lot of progress in maths by doing some work – surprise, surprise. Dom got “very good” and will continue on the “master’s” course next year. We are very proud of both of them.

Olivier and I went to Poitiers by train to enrol him at the university. It was a long day as the early afternoon trains were full and we had to wait until four to come home. We looked around the shops and explored and found where Dom’s new flat is. We stood and wondered which was her window.

The nicest part was that Olivier treated me to lunch. The train cost an arm and a leg and I offered to make a picnic, but Olivier had already planned to take me out to lunch. We found a restaurant by the “Notre Dame la Grande” church and sat outside to eat. It was lovely, as well as helping to pass the time. In fact the service was very slow, even for a French restaurant and I swear that the waiter didn’t have a beard at the beginning of the meal.

Other than that it’s work, work, work, I’m just about on top of sorting out the cards we bought two weeks ago. Tuesday is a holiday and Dom has gone off to Paris for a long romantic weekend. Rob and Olivier will be working. I would like to catch up with my blogging friends. Perhaps I’ll see you then.

A quick copy and paste...

When we picked Dom up from the station two weeks ago she was worried sick about not having a summer job; by the following Wednesday she had two interviews which led to work in July and September. She’s home for July, working in the tax office inputting data which is not interesting and they’ve already told her not to work so fast. She’s passed her exams which means she has a ‘licence’ and can now continue for her ‘masters’ exam in 2 or 3 years. We also met her boyfriend. He came to stay for a few days and is really, really nice. His parents are meeting Dom this weekend. My motherly advice was ‘parents get nervous too’.
Dom told me that she has kidney stones. She’s always drunk plenty of water and eats a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and fruit. What else can she do – any ideas?

Olivier finished his exams and, on the whole, he seems pretty satisfied with himself. Remembering he’s hardly worked for 3 years we must wait until Tuesday to see if he’s passed. He’s working in the towers during the summer and then he’s off to Poitiers to study ‘economics’– we hope.

Rob and I want off to an auction last weekend which involved leaving the house at quarter to 5 in the morning and getting home at 10 in the evening. Like the last time we went , two years ago, it was very hot. We came home exhausted with lots of interesting postcards.

I phoned my mum recently. She made Rob a lovely card for his birthday. In her village they have ‘dabble days’ where they can have a go at different crafts. She usually makes lovely birthday cards for everyone. I forgot to ask her how the court case went.

I’m writing this on word but don’t know when I’ll be able to post it. AOL is amusing itself by letting us online for two or three minutes at a time and not very often. Rob spoke to his mother today for a very short while as AOL has control over the telephone too.