Turning 60 is amazing when good friends mark it with a noteworthy road trip! This adventure had nothing to do with the Silvermine and camping, but is notable for every other detail, and thus deserves a ‘streamin’ blog entry. The purpose of the jaunt was two-fold: to celebrate my birthday and to visit a teacher friend who lives in rural Ohio south and east of Cincinnati. Years ago Margie found her little retirement dream in the middle of quiet Amish countryside and has since worked to fine-tune her homestead vision. She is now fully retired and firmly established in a little piece of heaven that all originated out of a wilderness hunter’s cabin that originally had an outhouse and no electricity or water! Lois and Cindy and I made the 4-hour journey to see Margie’s latest and final transformation of her little cabin in the woods to her retirement retreat. The original hunter's cabin was the basis around which this sanctuary was built. All by itself it is a functional haven in the woods; downstairs sitting area and upstairs sleeping loft, with an accommodating chamber pot for midnight convenience! During her final teaching years Margie retreated to the little cabin during weekends to plot her restoration and build her future. Next, Margie added an "annex" to the complex; it was a very serviceable outpost with bathroom facilities, kitchenette, indoor dog kennels (did I mention she raises award winning Doberman Pincher?) and a beautiful indoor aviary a-fly with exotic finches. This served for several years as her weekend retirement base as she took care of winding up her working life as a high school biology teacher in Northwest Ohio. Finally, Margie established permanent residency in her wooded utopia and began connecting the little cabin with the annex to provide a full-featured home. Or course, the logistics of the building addition is not the only WOW factor of Margie's home -- the details of a life-long love of antiques and collecting have all accumulated to create an environment that has a permanent atmosphere of backwoods paradise.
It was in this delightful setting that Cindy, Lois and I spent two afternoons with Margie, enjoying her hospitality and the chance to see her finished dream. Thank you Margie for inviting us to spend time in your beautiful haven.My only regret is that I did not get pictures of the outside -- which just means another future visit! Aside from sharing her home with us, Margie arranged for us to stay at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast and took us on an historical tour full of surprises down by the Ohio River. You will have to come back in a few days to read about this continuing adventure.
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |