Thrilled — and blessed — to be back in the Alleghenies

Thomas Wolfe was wrong with his posthumous memoir entitled “You Can’t Go Home Again.” I have returned to the Allegheny Mountains and have experienced some joy, albeit for just a month.

I have even renamed my tutoring business, “English Tutoring from the Alleghenies.”

https://www.hughbradyconradjr.com

In truth, I used to think of 80 as old.

Not any more.

While I am not there yet, I have experienced many blessings in my life. Today, I have returned my workouts on my Nordic Track: four times a week, at least 25 minutes a day. This started in the Alleghenies, and now I have returned.

A blessing.

The Alleghenies are my home, and while I was away for eight years, I yearned to return. Why?

Let me count the ways.

With the beauty on Lilly Mountain, 2000

Finishing “The Rage of Needles,” the novel

I started this novel about ten years ago, loosely based on the KKK riot in Lilly in 1924, one in which my uncle was killed, While being away from Western Pa. for eight years, I made little progress on it.

However, the solitude and mountains have me moving in the right direction again. The novel focuses on a story line that is fictional, but is based on what might have happened if my father had known the KKK member who killed his brother.

It traces the woeful destructive philosophical beliefs of people who despised Irish Catholics, along with blacks and Jews and others who were not “100 percent Americans” — and who are now trying to return and destroy America once again.

Living alone, as I am now, I have set up a schedule in which I can work at least three hours a day on completing the novel.

The plot is great, but can I finish it?

That was motivation number one.

I hope to have this finished, at least in rough draft form, when I reach 80.

A blessing.

Phil Conrad, third from left

Blessings of health and cognition

One very positive step in my first month back in the Alleghenies was a visit last week to my new optometrist. I had a fabulous one in Minnesota, and I will always be grateful for Dr. Kari Eliason. She is an optometrist who set me up with a glaucoma/cataract surgeon who allowed my eyesight to improve dramatically. She guided me through the challenge of taking eye drops in both eyes every night.

Last week. I visited my new optometrist, and after going through my test results, she notes that my pre-glaucoma is under control and my syesight is such that I might now be able to have my Pa. Driver’s license restored.

I can see well in one eye, but have serious problems with the other. However, for some reason, the vision in the bad eye has improved significantly, and I am blessed with that.

We will see about the restoration of the license, but I am blessed.

Blessed with cognition in tutoring

One blessing from Covid: I never contracted the disease despite being surrounded people who had. However, one positive is that the disease forced students and parents to realize that electronic education can be valuable.

In 2020, I was preparing to return to the Alleghenies, but then the pandemic struck and elimnated that move. However, I saw an advertisement that English tutors were in demand, and I signed up. The result is that I am now in my sixth year of tutoring students from across the U.S. and in Canada — by electronics.

This is not work — it is joy.

My business is going well, but most important, I am still able to communicate my knowledge well to young people — and even some older ones. Not everyone in my family was as fortunate as I have been with cognition. I can still remember the grammar taught to me by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s at St. Brigid’s School back in the 50s, the foundation which was given to me by my mother.

A blessing.

Starting my business

Part of that is because I was told more than a decade ago that I should read and keep my mind active. I am doing that, and since my business is electronic, it goes with me everywhere I travel along with my iMac and laptop. I have had lessons all over the place, with students in places like Turkey and Moscow and France. The wonders of technology.

And I have shown that I can build relationships with young people who are six or seven decades younger than I am.

Over the past few months, I have worked with students who have earned their way into schools like Harvard and Carnegie Mellon along with other top educational institutions.

That is joy.

I hope that this health continues. Time will tell.

A blessing.

Living alone can bring solitude

I had forgotten how the solitude of living alone, which many people lament as they age, can also be a blessing. Loneliness does not come from living alone. I am in contact with people from all over the U.S. every day.

For instance, on March 29th, I have a session scheduled with a student from Canada, another in New Jersey, one in Western Pennsylvania, one in Georgia, and one in the state of Washington. I am definitely not alone.

And my Nordic Track keeps me in tune with my inner self — as well as my external self.

So, solitude is available for those who live alone.

A blessing.

Finally, a return to reading

I had been publishing every winter my reading goals for the year. I am still reading books about the research for my novel and those my students are focusing on in their studies. For instance, I am now reading “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo because one of my students is reading it and having difficulties with the challenges that it presents.

I will once again list my reading goals for this year. Reading has aided my cognition, and I have started on that return. That is another blessing, that I can read and comprehend fiction and non-fiction — while explaining to my students the themes and meanings of those works.

Another blessing.

These are my roots

Pennsylvania will always be home. My roots are here, and I am grateful for that. I am thankful to my family who have spent time with me over the past eight years. I will never forget them.

However, I am eternally grateful for the love that I was given by my parents and grandparents here in the Alleghenies, even if I never met my grandparents. Irish immigrants have given life to generations who have accomplished a great deal in their lives.

A blessing.

Traveling by train, not plane

After returning from Hawaii in December, I realized that I do not want to fly any longer. Instead, I have planned some visits to locales that are accessible by train.

For instance, I have looked at a vacation in New York City to see a Broadway play and even visit with some of my students whom I have never met.

Wow, what great shows are available. Shows like “Hamilton,” “The Lion King,” “The Great Gatsby,” “MJ The Musical” — and many more.

I can leave Cambria County and travel directly into Penn Station in Manhattan. I am thrilled to have that opportunity.

I have family in the Philadelphia area and Harrisburg whom I can visit by train.

A blessing.

The railroad, a vital source of the Alleghenies

And thanks to all who were part of my journey. I will always be grateful for those blessings.

The Homestead: Where it all began, Lilly, Pa.