Part of our Heritage: The R.E. Olds Museum

When I was a kid one of my grade school classmates and church friends was J. Woody. Doc (Armin) and Louise lived next door and I baby sat Davy (who I know is now David!) more than once. Bunny lived down the street and was a friend of my mom. What I didn't know as a child was that all of these people were descendants of one of our city's great pioneers, R.E. Olds, founder of REO Motorworks. And yes, if you ever drove an Oldsmobile, you have ties to Lansing, Michigan.

Last November attended an anniversary party at the R.E. Olds Museum here and it was a revelation in its wonderful display of classic automobiles from Oldsmobile and REO Motor Company as well as showing a slice of life for this power family in our community.

I should say that this is quite a small museum. Well, large enough to hold many cars, but we are talking one floor. They've done a magnificent job making the museum accessible to people, able to enjoy both the automotive history of the companies as well as the historical elements of family life.

This part of the post is all about the cars!

Imagine, taking a drive in this green beauty!

I have to admit, with its bright green, it was my favorite!

How many of us had a station wagon not unlike this one in our youth?

Nascar, anyone?

REO/Oldsmobile didn't just provide family cars. The police cars in Lansing were from this company.

So, too, were fire trucks in the day.

And a later day!

The museum showcases the functional "business" purposes of these cars well.

REO did farm trucks and tractors.

One could even be driven to their final reward (or the next-to-last stop) in one of their cars!

In some cases, there were child-size versions of the larger cars.

I loved the wonderful colors in the paints.

Have you noticed that most people don't have "happy colors" in their cars these days?

On road trips, I count "Happy Color" cars -- cars that are not silver, black, navy, brown or white. Depending on the day, I include maroon in there but fire-engine red is a happy color. Sometimes I can go a whole three hour trip and not even count ten! I might count this maroon, thought. it's so rich!

But I've only seen a KIA Soul this color.

So whether your tastes run from dignified black...

...to something bright...

A vehicle for your fancies...

...or a fancy pint-sized car...

This place had it all! (But wait! There's more -- coming soon!)

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Musings

It's summer in our little city. You wouldn't know it by the temperatures -- it feels more like June or perhaps even late May.

But my basil is looking good.

And the little hosta garden my friend Kate planted in my back yard is, too. (That was my best deal ever -- I bought her gardening services at a charity Auction in February and she delivered with lots of perennials for front and back!

The farm markets are looking good, too.

I love supporting the local/regional farmers, and it is great fun to see others carefully picking and choosing their veggies.

I loved this sunflower merchant and bought enough for a bouquet.

They are pollen free and not supposed to drop bits of yellow pollen on the table. So far, so good.

Sometimes when I see bouquets like the ones below I wonder why they are so expensive. Then I think about my luck growing flowers and that thought flies from my mind!

Apart from the basil, my own veggies aren't faring so well. My pepper is about the size of a ping pong ball.

I have one -- count 'em -- one yellow grape tomato (and you don't want to see the pix of the others, most of which look like large, green marbles, with only a lone red one to give me hope). (Note: I am pre-posting this before I leave for a mini-vacation, from which I return soon! I hope I have a few red ones by the time you read this!)

Only the banana peppers are thriving.

This rose is OK.

And my hanging basket is still hanging in there.

But overall, it's disappointing.

After a wonderful summer dinner on an unseasonably cool summer night last week (We enjoyed fabulous salmon, potatoes, corn and blueberry pie), Rick and I decided to go to our favorite cafe to play scrable, listen to music and have a cuppa. To our chagrin and despair, we discovered it had closed (alongside one of our favorite "nice" restaurants, which had ominous notes on the door in legalese about payments not being made).

We opted for a place we'd not been. It was almost like a study hall -- our game was one of the more lively, interactive activities (but it was very nice and we'll probably go back). Rick beat me by 100 points, but I had more complicated words. He played smarter, though. Oh, well.

But the really sad thing was that on the way home, we passed by one of the oldest car dealerships in Lansing -- an Oldsmobile dealership (Oldsmobile was invented here and until the brand was discontinued, operated from here). It, too, had closed.

That really brought home our sad economy to me. This place lasted through everything; it was an institution. Gone.

How long can this one go on?