10-04-2016: Cousins Weekend

September 30 – October 2 was our second annual cousins weekend. Growing up there were 7 cousins of my generation from Dad’s side of the family.  Dad had 2 sisters, Martha Jane and Beryl.  Each had 2 children – Jill and Tom (from Aunt Jane and Uncle Hank) and Jane Ann and Karen (from Aunt Beryl and Uncle Donnie).  Until my family moved to Binghamton from Ohio in the early ’60s, the 7 of us cousins spent a lot of time together in Newcomerstown, OH, with the center of the family being Nannie, out grandmother.  Four of the cousins remained in Newcomerstown (Jane in nearby Coshocton) and so they are much closer.  As a matter of fact, Karen/Dave, Tom/Kelly and Jill live on the same street!

In later years, it was Dad who got us together occasionally with trips to Newcomerstown, but for us, we only connected with our cousins on these occasional visits.  As our parents left this earth (Beryl being the only one still with us), I had been thinking that we needed to find a way to stay connected.  I had suggested a cousins weekend, but we didn’t do anything about organizing one until last year.  The plan was to find a place to meet about halfway between Newcomerstown and Binghamton. Last year we got together at a B&B in Westfield, NY, between Lake Chautauqua and Lake Erie.  It was great fun, although we couldn’t all stay in the same house due to limited bedrooms.  Finding a place with 6 or 7 bedrooms that also has kitchen/dining and hanging out space is not easy to do!  This year, Jill found a house on a lake in southwestern PA that was really perfect.  So we congregated at the Indian Lake house for our second annual cousins weekend.

The whole gang
The whole gang (minus Jane) – Jill, Karen, Linda, Kelly, Tom, Grant, Dave, Christine and Eric

The house worked out very well.  The lake is fairly large but is horseshoe-shaped so you couldn’t really see the whole thing.  Eric and Dave tried a little fishing but had no luck.  Apparently, the lake was quite weedy off the dock, but they had fun trying.  Dave and Eric are the entertainment and the two of them together are quite something.  They play off of each other very well and kept us laughing and groaning the whole time we were together.

We all brought food to share so we stayed in for dinner both nights.  This, I think, makes for a nicer time together because it’s just not the same when we are in a restaurant.  Grant brought beef tenderloin and marinated chicken and cooked it on the grill.  One of the things not good about the house was its limited supplies, like TP, firewood and propane for the grill.  The grill had a nearly empty tank and so the guys went off looking for a tank to borrow, which came from the lakeside raised flame bowl pedestals the neighbor had.  Of course, the neighbor wasn’t there and we figured the police would show up any moment since we thought maybe the neighbor had surveillance cameras around his property.  But it all worked out okay.  Dinner was cooked and the tank was returned.

On Saturday, we all did various different things.  Christine, Grant and I set off to check off something from our bucket lists – a tour of the famous Frank Lloyd House Fallingwater.  It was a little over an hour away from where we were staying, too close not to pay a visit.  I must say that southwestern PA is beautiful country.  The drive on Friday took us through the Endless Mountains, and the drive to Fallingwater took us through the Laurel Mountains.  Both afforded us great views of lovely rolling hills and beautiful farmland in addition to going through nice forests.

The American Institute of Architects named Fallingwater “best all-time work of American architecture.”  It was built in 1935 as the summer home of the Kaufmanns, of Kaufmann department store fame.  I must say that it is a fabulous place to visit.  The entire compound is wonderful and the conservation group that runs it does a fantastic job of moving a lot of people through the building and grounds without it seeming to be too crowded.  Advanced ticket purchase is a must as the daily tours sell out fast.

The design is based on cantilevered structures that form the terraces.  The cantilevered beams provided sufficient support so that the corners of the rooms do not require support structures, thereby allowing the corners to have glass windows that kept the views unrestricted.  Unfortunately, no photography was permitted inside the house, but Frank Lloyd Wright’s style was clearly evident throughout the house.  Wright’s passion for Japanese architecture was strongly reflected in the design of Fallingwater, particularly in the importance of interpenetrating exterior and interior spaces and the strong emphasis placed on harmony between man and nature.  The house is in an incredibly beautiful location with Bear Run, a small creek, flowing fight under the large terrace off the main living room.  From the living room are stairs that go right down to the creek where the Kaufmanns would fish.  The design incorporates broad expanses of windows and balconies which reach out into their surroundings.

The tour was well done and informative.  We got to see nearly every room in the house, all furnished with original furnishings. It is an amazing house!  The guest house above the main house up the hill was really beautiful as well, with a terraced dipping pool that captured spring water coming down the hill.  And it’s easy to see where the logo for Fallingwater comes from!

I certainly would encourage a visit to Fallingwater.  It is an amazing house in a fantastic location.

An amazing place!
Fallingwater – an amazing place!

After our Fallingwater tour, stroll around the grounds and lunch at the café, we headed back to the house.  We texted the others and said we would be stopping at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, so we arranged to meet the others there.  The memorial is the crash site of Flight 93, the 4th plane highjacked on 9/11 that was likely headed for a crash into the U.S. Capitol.  The memorial is a very moving site and worth a visit.  I actually was very surprised by the number of people who were also visiting the day we stopped.  There are 2 parts – the memorial plaza and the visitor center.  The plaza is where a paneled white stone wall has been erected.  Each panel has a victim’s name engraved.  The wall lines the border of the actual crash site and a large rock out in the field marks the impact location.  The visitor center was built along the flight path of the plane prior to its crash and you can stand out on a balcony at the end of a long corridor and look down to the field where the plane crashed.

The exhibits in the visitor center were overwhelming with videos of the other planes crashing into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon.  But the exhibits told the story of that 9/11 morning and all 4 of the planes.  There was  an animation on a flight simulator showing the final flight path of Flight 93 which corresponds with the transcription of the cockpit recorder.  40 people died in the crash and the amazing part of the story is how these people sat in the back of the plane after the terrorists took control of the plane and plotted their attack on the terrorists in an attempt to overpower them and take back control.  The transcript depicted the final struggle in the cockpit.  It was disturbing to watch the animation and read the transcript.  Also very moving were the phone calls and texts the victims made prior to the crash.  This memorial is important to visit.  Christine and I have also been to the Pentagon memorial, which was also a very emotional experience.  Someday we will get to the WTC memorial as well.

After visiting the memorial, we returned to the house and settled in for a nice time just sitting around catching up with each other.  We had leftovers for dinner.  It is amazing how much food we each brought, but none of it went to waste.  Again, Eric and Dave were the entertainment and we listened to some pretty amazing stories (socks over pant legs!) and relived memories of some of the things that happened to us as children.  I’m glad we are choosing to have cousins weekend, and everyone is in for next year.  We all hope that cousin Jane will join us.  It’s not quite right with only 6 or the 7 cousins together.  We need all of us to round out the experience.

The weekend ended Sunday morning as we all packed up and loaded up our cars.  It was a nice time together, but it goes by too fast.  Everyone arrived back to their homes safely.  Eric, Grant, Christine and I had a nice drive home through the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside.  Nice to get away from home, but better returning home!  But, I look forward to the third annual cousins weekend!

Sunset at Indian Lake
Sunset at Indian Lake

 

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