Old Time Religion

Last Sunday afternoon I went with my dear friend Keith to a church ice cream social in celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Putnamville United Methodist Church.  Putnamville is a tiny hamlet around five miles south of Greencastle. To get there, we could have driven on a major road - state highway 231 to state highway 40 - but knowing how I love the back roads of Indiana, Keith chose a route on narrow county roads that wound past fields of corn and soybeans.

The church social featured grilled hotdogs with all the trimmings as well as an excellent selection of home-made pies. We shared a piece of the raspberry pie: delicious. Music was provided by a bluegrass gospel band called Upward Journey, playing toe-tapping tunes like "I Saw the Light" and "Leanin' on the Everlasting Arms."

I could have sat there listening to the music and eating pie forever, but Keith and I had to get on the road to head to Goldsmith, Indiana, population 200, Keith's home town in rural Tipton County, where we attended the Sunday night card game that has been going on for FIFTY years, since the players were small tykes hanging out at the town wallpaper store. I don't play cards but loved listening to the banter of these friends of many decades.

So first my day had old-time religion. Then it had an old-time card game of old-time friends. Gimme that old-time Indiana!