It's been a while....

I guess I've been lazy, for the lack of a better word, but I have been really tied up with spring planting and keeping rhe garden watered in an extremely dry Summer. It has been way took hot to venture out to photograph so the camera has been napping in my camera case. The tomatoes have been doing well and the Sego Palm that I thought I had lost due to the winter sprung back to life which is really good news as I have had it for over 40 years. I'll protect it better this coming winter. I hate to lose old connections.

I was in Carthage several months ago for a very good friends funeral that I grew up with, and went by my old build  at 340 Lyon and got in a cross between heart broken and mad as hell. The man that bought the building after the woman who bought it from me and lost it to the bank, has allowed the building to fall from being a really great office and studio into a pigeon roost with windowpanes gone and wooden window structures close to rotting away. The building has stood since 1883 and to have it neglected like it has been should be a crime. The value on Zillow has gone from over $ 120,000. to less that $ 60,000. It's not really the money lost in value as much as it is in my mind the loss of History. The building was originally the home of the Carthage press and was built in 1883.

In the basement there is writing on the walls telling the boys that picked up papers to sell on their routes not to spit, cheat, and take other boys papers. After I left Carthage in 2005 some boys, and I know who they are, broke into the basement and spray painted obscenities on the walls. No brainers !! I know who did it but they have no money and would be tried as juveniles at the time and really wasn't worth the time to pursue. The deed will come back to haunt them as Karma does appear.

The potential for the building is so spectacular that someone with a creative mind and some cash could turn  it into a showplace condo and live comfortably. Karen and I were planning to do so until she landed her dream job here in Tulsa and we moved down here. 

When I bought the build in in 1975, 2 years after launching my business, I painted it black, the windows white, after sealing the windows, added the Morgan Logo in stained glass above the doors, refinished the doors and floors taking them beck to their natural hardwood, built a wall between the office and studio area, rented the upstairs to my Dad for his business after remodeling it to his needs and and owned it for 30 years. To make it habitable again would take a lot of work, and appreciation for Carthage history. If I ever came back to Carthage I would probably try to buy it........but it would have to be at a fair price...I don't think it will ever happen. 

Carthage could be a goldmine of opportunity and flourish but it will take a huge investment of vision, work, and pride, to make the vision come true. The Carthage Hardware owners have done a great job of restoration on their building and business and my hat goes off to them. I'm sure there are some others in town and they deserve an applause also. Enough ranting for now enjoyed Carthage and have many friends there ,but I've become an Okie and am here presently........who knows what the future holds...