Our Twentieth Anniversary of the fall condo meeting

 Last night the residents of our condo association had its fall business meeting.  It was our 20th anniversary of our first business meeting with our new neighbors (complex of 30 units was built in mid- to late 70s). That first meeting was in the Fishinger Road school and was a potluck.  Some of the people I remember meeting that night who are no longer with us or have moved to a retirement community are Tom Fitzpatrick (and wife), Ohmer and Pat Crowell, Barbara Stradley, Mary and Dan Dunbar, Tom and Judy Wessel, Mac and Marilyn Campbell, Dick Smith, Herb and Ruth Abrams, Kate Haddox, Bill and Jean Baskwell, the Herrolds, Al Gallucci, Dee Cole and her parents.  On September 11, 2001, we all remember what happened, so the bottom also fell out of the real estate market, and our home on Abington was not moving.  We were about to put the condo up for sale, and take our chances.  Fortunately, at Christmas, the daughter and son-in-law of one of the realtors who had shown our home, made and offer, and in January 2002 we were able to move.

This past year, 2021, there were significant changes and repairs--the roofs were replaced with a black shingle (also replaced the first year we were here, so apparently something wasn't done right), the shutters were removed, cleaned, painted and replaced (at about half the cost of buying new), downspouts were replaced, new solar attic fans were installed to replace the old ones, and that all went with the color scheme of the new garage doors that were replaced in 2020. Other years we had all the driveways and the street replaced, or the stone wall along the creek replaced (needs another repair--perhaps next year).  Trees are a huge asset, but a huge cost to maintain to keep them healthy. The refurbishing and new roofs cost about $350,000, and each owner was assessed a share based on their percentage figure.  Some condo associations use an annual upkeep fund where each owner pays in to cover repairs, but ours uses an assessment system. Both systems are legal in Ohio and each year we have to vote to continue our choice.  Most of our neighbors would rather keep their money in investments rather than lose it if they move after 5 years of contributing to the fund if they move out. With our new roofs, clean and painted shutters, new garage doors, and some very close attention by our landscape committee, the place is looking very good. 

Thanks for the Christmas display

When we moved to Columbus in 1967, the area we live in now was farm woods and pasture—ravine, woods, and creek.  There was a 19th century farm house and old barn (now gone) on the property.  We had actually watched this area being built  and the firm Bob worked for, Urban Calabretta (now Brown Calabretta)  in the 1970s designed this very attractive 30 unit condominium community, a concept still rather new to Columbus 50 years ago. We had never driven back here until 2001 when we noticed several listings in the paper, and we fell in love with the setting.  So we have a lovely view north out our living room window of our neighbors on the next street “over the river and through the woods.”  They are close on this side, but about 1/2 mile to drive there.
 
We’ve been enjoying their Christmas lights in their back yard this season.  The colors change and rotate through the lights through a large tree. The other night Bob asked for a piece of stationery so he could write them a Thank You note for the enjoyment we’ve had every evening.  I thought it was a nice idea, but we don’t know their names, and the back of the house is 3 stories, yet the front appears to be a ranch—I’m not sure on that street if I could even identify it. Ten years ago when I was still walking in nice weather I’d noticed how difficult it was to identify the front of the homes I could only see from the rear.

No problem.  He wrote the note and then drove there, knocked on their door, and introduced himself.  They had a brief visit, and he told them how much we had enjoyed their lights.  Bob thought they were very nice, and they were quite surprised to get a personal and written thank you.

Too much food

Read e-mail invites carefully. Last night I took a lovely arrangement of peanut butter cookies and chocolate mints wrapped in green foil to our fall condo meeting. Beverage and desserts were supplied--didn't need to do that. Now I have waaaay too much food here, and my daughter just stopped by with some frozen meals--her fabulous lasagna and beef stew. So I ate some cookies--just to free up some space.

Condo Christmas party

We had a wonderful Christmas party/progressive dinner with our neighbors last night. Such fun and delightful people.

An anniversary celebration--sort of

Our condo association had its fall picnic Sunday evening on the grounds and I announced that we and our neighbors were celebrating our anniversaries on Monday and Tuesday for a total of 115 years.  We’d gone out on Friday at the Rusty Bucket for dinner together.  When I told the waitress she looked at me strangely, and said, "Anniversary of what?"

But the fun part was we have new residents who had moved in during July, so we’d never met.  He’s the new director of the school of music at OSU. They are from Texas, but natives of Iowa and met in high school (one of the questions on the quiz).  When we’d finished eating and playing our games, a group of men singing OSU stuff like Carmen Ohio and Hand on Sloopy walked up to our group—it was about 1/3 of the men’s glee club.  Wonderful voices. Their director was a friend of our new neighbors and did lots of inside jokes and stories.   It wasn’t for us, and it was all planned, but it sure was fun.