124473128_web1_Letter-to-the-editor3

Your view: Thank you to Valley West Middle School choir

Rescues by chopper, front loader as flood hits northwest US

I was telling my buddy Alner about my recent visit to a museum of history when he piped up with a remark amazing even for him.
				&ldquo;You know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever been in a museum in my life.&rdquo;
				Stunned, I shook my head.
				&ldquo;Alner, good buddy,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;You need some education, but let&rsquo;s start small. Every time you take a stroll, you&rsquo;re seeing historical exhibits.&rdquo;
				Predictably, he bolted for his front door. But, as usual, I was too quick for him. Within seconds, we were ambling down a Wyoming Valley street, getting ready for a bit of time travel.
				&ldquo;So, where&rsquo;s all the stuff from the Ming Dynasty,&rdquo; he sneered.
				&ldquo;You&rsquo;d be the headliner at the improv,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Take a look around you &mdash; history of all kinds.&rdquo;
				I pointed to a home with an extension on one side.
				&ldquo;They needed extra room, right?&rdquo; he said.
				&ldquo;Take a look now,&rdquo; I replied.
				Using my power of metaphysical travel, I whisked us back nearly a century.
				&ldquo;Hey, it&rsquo;s a doctor&rsquo;s office,&rdquo; said Alner.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s also our first exhibit,&rdquo; I said. This is called &lsquo;social history.&rsquo; For generations we got most of our medical care from good old neighborhood MDs who practiced out of their homes, often in little side additions, like this. They didn&rsquo;t have much tech, but they were beloved figures to their neighbors.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Interesting,&rdquo; he said with a nod. &ldquo;Hey, I didn&rsquo;t know they had traffic jams way back when.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;If you look down the block, you&rsquo;ll see why all these cars and buses are piled up here. It&rsquo;s a railroad crossing, with gates down, and there&rsquo;s a train passing by &mdash; a long, long train. The crossing delay was a daily inconvenience. Today, there&rsquo;s just overgrown grass where the tracks used to be &mdash; and our delays are too many cars and trucks on the interstate. Some call that &lsquo;progress.&rsquo; Hey, let&rsquo;s go back to the present.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Neat old sign,&rdquo; said Alner, looking at a faded ad on the side of a building I&rsquo;d just pointed to. &ldquo;Funny, but I&rsquo;ve never heard of that brand of ice cream.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Actually, neither have I,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;So, let&rsquo;s snap back to the past and see what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Must be good stuff,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Look at all those people carrying ice cream tubs out of the store.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;In those days, lots of stores made their own ice cream. There were dozens of brands around here. Folks tell me it was nice and fresh because it was made on premises. Today, though, all we have to remind us of the treats our grandparents knew is the occasional old sign like this on the side of a former grocery.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting dizzy from all this travel,&rdquo; Alner said, shaking his head. &ldquo;Hey, I like that little movie theater, but I wish you&rsquo;d tell me &#8230;&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Relax, old pal,&rdquo; I said, patting his shoulder. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s a parking lot in our day was once this neighborhood movie house. You&rsquo;d get two or three showings a night &#8211; and, best of all, 10-cent popcorn. Maybe you had to wait a month for the latest flick to get here, but you couldn&rsquo;t beat the convenience.&rdquo;
				Alner was strangely quiet as we returned to our own time.
				&ldquo;Travel doesn&rsquo;t agree with you, old buddy?&rdquo; I asked.
				&ldquo;I guess you&rsquo;re right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;History is all around us, if we just look. Hey, can we make one more trip?&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Sure, but &#8230;&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I hope they have butter pecan at that old ice cream store.&rdquo;

Remember When: Neighborhood stores made their own ice cream