Other thoughts as 2026 dawns

I am beginning another year as a resident of Newcastle, Wyoming. The post office has always received my mail, but for most of my life it was sent to a rural route address in Weston County. This is the hometown I have always loved, and I pray I never own another. If I do, you can be certain it is necessitated by illness, feebleness or insanity!

Newcastle’s streets, avenues, stores, businesses and services are familiar and comfortable to me. The few midtown blocks, from the railroad tracks to the Weston County Courthouse, are dear to the earliest memories I can recall. Many, if not all, of those buildings have served changing purposes across the decades. Some of the original buildings have been replaced with newer ones, some of them possibly more than once.

When Main Street turns right at that beautiful courthouse, many of the homes lining it were built soon after the town was established. Many have been carefully preserved in their original, elegant style. I admire them and think about them nearly every time I drive or walk past.

The love of old places, old things and old people must have been born in me. I am grateful that it is as strong as ever, into this eighth decade of life that I am so fortunate and thankful to be experiencing. I have a few very early memories of my parents taking me to visit elderly residents of those beautiful old homes.

On those occasions, I was awed by the interior beauty and decor even more than the exterior. Good wine grows better with age, and I am firmly convinced that the aura of all Newcastle’s lovely old homes and business places becomes sweeter to me with each passing year.

I love you, Newcastle, Wyoming!