A Scene You Should Make

The lovely Robin and I had a great time just before New Year's Day. We drove north to Russell's Point, Ohio, between Troy and Lima, where our friends Bill and Lorraine Riley live and lead a church.

This is their church, Russell's Point Church of God, and we quickly fell in love with the warm people of the church.

Bill and Lorraine took us to dinner at Jac-and-Do's Pizza joint right on the shores of Indian Lake (which, according to the Cowsills, is a scene you should make in the summertime). It's right on the shore, and if the weather were (MUCH) warmer, we could have pontoon-boated our way right up to the restaurant.

Indian Lake is a manmade lake (didn't know that), built in 1851 as "Lewistown Reservoir" to supply water for the shallow Erie Canal. After nine years' work, primarily by Irish labourers excavating outward from the source of the Miami River, 1,000 acres was filled, but by then the canal system was already in decline. In 1898 the lake was renamed Indian Lake, and enjoyed a few decades as the "Midwest's Million Dollar Playground," complete with an amusement park (Sandy Beach), and pavilions and dance halls that hosted Duke Ellington, Les Brown, and others (and, of course, the Cowsills, who had a top ten hit with "Indian Lake" in 1968).

We enjoyed a late breakfast at Aunt Millie's restaurant, where the lovely Robin ordered the Rancher's Breakfast, as if she had just come in from moving cattle. She didn't finish it all, but I cleaned my plate.

After breakfast, we took a drive around the lake and over and across a number of the many islands that abound in the area. We were amazed to see a half dozen or so people ice fishing, and found it hard to imagine that the ice was at a safe thickness. But then, what do we know about ice fishing?

It was delightful to be with such old and good friends, and we came home refreshed and ready (mostly) for a new year.