A Saturday in Marshaltown With Family and Memories.

 

The J.C. Penny is closing in Marshaltown.  And Cheryl's Grandfather had been the Manager there for 25 years ( or so... we don't really know.   It was a VERY long time.)  HE retired and had passed on to the great blue yonder,  But memories still exist of him in the town he called home.  

Andy,  Cheryl's Brother, had scheduled a trip to visit the store one last time before being closed forever.   As luck would have it,  one of the old employees was STILL THERE!  Janet had worked at that J.C.Penny  for 40 years.  40!  IT was her first job and she remembers Grandpa back when she first started ( when she was only 16 years old.)  

We flagged her down and she let us in the back to show us Grandpa's old office and a bunch of old photo books that had been taken over the years.   She pulled out all of the photos that had Grandpa in them and gave them to Andy, along with a bunch of other J.C. Penny trophies and awards,  lanyards and magnets.   I'm assuming Andy has plans for a display in his basement arcade.  

That J.C.Penny store was pretty small.  And a number of people who worked there had been there years.  we even met someone who had been there longer than Janet.   She had transferred to another store, but came back to check things out and say her goodbyes.    Surprisingly, the store was well maintained for being a closeout sale.   Most closeout sales end up looking ransacked after the initial announcement.   Tanya (Andy's wife.)  went on a shopping spree, snapping up all of the bargains.    It looked fairly busy there as well.  It made us question why it was being shut down in the first place. 

Marshaltown Mall... Empty! 

Cheryl and Andy have a little fun in the 
absence of authority. 

Aside from the pandemic, and questionable government policies that have been hostile to business lately,  we figured that the Mall where it had been for all those years (Moved to the mall in 1972?) was on the way towards extinction. Cheryl and Andy ran around like kids,  telling stories of all of the stores that "used to be there" when they were young.  It appeared that only Bed, Bath, And Beyond was the final holdout store. Now that the J.C. Penny store is going,  we wondered what it might become in the future. 

Later, we went out to eat and caught up on what is new in Michigan.  ( Not much, apparently) We did a short walk in the downtown section and checked out the renovation/rebuild of the courthouse.   I believe it was damaged during the Tornado a couple years ago.   But Marshaltown got hit with those high winds a few weeks ago.  There was a lot of damage that could have been caused by that as well. 

Courthouse damage being fixed. 

Flattened corn in the fields. 

For instance!  The corn!   There was huge swaths of corn missing in the cornfields!   Many silos were also collapse from the high winds.   We have seen corn flattened, but uprooted?!   It was a crazy sight. 

Fall Field Flowers are OUT! 

Cheryl runs 10 miles today! 

As for today,  Cheryl and I are relaxing at home.   She ran 10 miles this morning as he cooler temps are right in her zone for best exercise.  I have been chalking and repairing my bike.  ( replaced a tire.)   Other than that,  we plan on enjoying the rest of the day by resting and hanging with the cat.   

Hiro in the Catnip/

Hiro discovered the pile of catnip I poured out on the porch.  It was taking up room in my Hops drawer.   I actually thought the cats did not like it because every time I put some out, they largely ignored it.  But pour out a pile on the porch... and cats go crazy! 

Not very happy with the new layout. 

And finally,  I dislike the Blogger revamp.  It is not intuitive or user friendly.  My pictures go all over the place when I try to insert them into the format.  And I can't seem to be able to send Blogger my friendly imput on what I think of the new lay out.   Hopefully my pics and paragraphs will make sence and I will be able to tolerate things as I move along.   We shall see

Hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing weekend so far.