The Big Snow

People in the south get excited about snow, primarily because it is a rarity, especially on Christmas Day. Everyone makes the bread and milk run and other favorites things before the big event. In the city of Atlanta they have the first Christmas snow in 128 years, so this is keeping the weather forecasters busy with pictures and comments.

In north Georgia we too get excited for some of us have visitors coming and we want them to arrive and depart safely. At my house only half of our family arrived before the snow hit. We had a great time with early lunch as my grandson had to leave around 12:30 to drive to the Hartsfield-Jackson Air Terminal to pick up a friend from England. All went well with that venture and my daughter and her husband stayed on until around 3:30 when the snow arrived and began to ice over on the bushes. The temperature outside was still in the mid thirties so there was no immediate threat.

The other half of my family was expected Sunday but with warnings of "don't drive unless you have to" they decided to play it safe and postpone the trip until Monday.
One needs to be flexible when the weather plays tricks on us.

I kept waiting for someone to notice something in the southeast corner of my front room where the big windows are. I have several lush plants grouped in the area and back of them is a big old white, five gallon bucket, with something growing in it. Gardeners are experimenters and this is my experiment. It is just as well that they did not notice as it is rather unsightly.

Last spring I ordered some seeds for heirloom tomatoes. I planted them in small pots. I then covered the whole thing with a plastic dome, and put it on a table in the front room. I am positive that every seed I planted came up. Good seeds, Baker Creek Nursery! I will be ordering from you again. After these plants reached the stage to move to larger pots, I placed them out in the sun room. When they seemed large enough to put in the raised bed garden outdoors, I again moved them there. I had more plants than I could use so I gave some to my dentist and to another friend. Some went into individual outdoor, makeshift pots. One did not thrive down in the raised bed garden so at the end of the season I brought it back up to the back porch. It did not grow well there, so when cold weather threatened I moved it indoors. I just hated to relegate it to the compost heap.

This one heirloom tomato plant is what I now have in my living room hiding behind the lush plants but where it can get some sun. It is actually growing quite well. I have not used any fertilizer on it as that should wait until fruit appears. I just had to give it one more chance since it had clung to life for eight months. I suppose you could call it a traveling tomato plant as it has been in many locations. Perhaps the threat of the big snow will cause it to summons enough strength to defy all odds and do what it was made to do. Then I will know at last if the fruit is orange, Arkansas Red, Purple Red or the Kellogs Breakfast yellow. Whichever, I know it will be "yummy".

Scary things

Technology is moving so fast that we can hardly get adjusted to one new thing before another comes up on the horizon. A few years ago we learned of a new devise which could be used in warfare. When a soldier is faced with higher ground this devise can tell him what is on the other side, thus making it safer for him to proceed.

I well remember the first time I saw television in Nashville Tennessee. I believe the year was 1950. Our landlord invited us to watch the Kefauver hearings from Washington D.C. Television was mind blowing to me at that time. Now we are hearing of autonomous cars. They are computer run and no driver is needed. The idea is that they will be safer and save time and money. I wonder if they will lower insurance rates? If so it will not happen for a long time!

Just recently, the Metrodome in Minnesoto collapsed from the weight of 17.1 inches of snow, on its roof. It is pretty amazing that such a building could be erected in the first place. It has been in use for 25 years with regular inspections and minor repairs. An architect told my husband that if our flat roof received 11 inches of snow it could collapse. Fortunately for us that is unheard of here in the south. But it is still scary to think about.

Scary is a subjective term. I am not afraid of insects, or snakes, but many people are. However, I am wary of some of them . I wear shoes inside my house because scorpions have been known to come indoors, through unseen cracks, etc. If I am stung by one, it is because I inadvertently stepped on it.

Young teen age kids seem to like to be scared by certain movies. Us older folks know that you need not go out of your way to be frightened, as life if full of scary things. The trick is to plan on avoiding them.

Perhaps one of the scariest things of all is something we do not think about; that is the absence of something. We do not think about the absence of good health, until it strikes out of the blue. We can drive along serenely, until we have an accident, then we realize how good it was to be safe. People do not plan on tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes. Sometimes the weather watchers may warn us, and we hope it does not happen; but if it does, it is very scary.

I can think of one thing that would make this world a really scary and ultimately unsafe place to be and that is the absence of love. We probably take the love of our family and friends for granted, until it is no longer there. Think of where we would be if emergency workers did not love (delight in )their work. Or scientists did not love spending their days investigating and discovering ways to make our lives better. This idea can be applied to most anything in life. I am just thankful that we are designed to love, as it is the oil that lubricates the way our lives mesh together.

R. R. Parsons, March 26,1922 - December 11, 1970

Forty years ago the lives of my family came to a screeching halt. We were in shock for some time. It takes a lot of healing to learn to lead a normal life after the husband and father in a family is suddenly lost. It takes time to learn to move through the routine things and think again about the future. It takes a lot of help from others as when you are in the middle of grief you really cannot think straight.

Much time has passed since that day when our lives were turned upside down. Remembering the man who was my husband and the father of my children brings me to want to express what kind of man we are talking about. Here are some facts.

He served his country in Europe during World War II. Upon returning to the states he enrolled in college at Eastern Ky. State. When he had finished his schooling there he and I were married and both of us began teaching in Kentucky. He continued in school after that first year of teaching. After three summers of nothing but study he graduated from Peabody College in Nashville Tennessee with a masters degree. This was part of our plan for our lives together. He would complete his schooling and we gave ourselves five years before settling down to having our family. He found employment in the state of Maryland and then our plan continued to work. Since teaching was not bringing in enough money to live as well as he wanted for his family he found work in the business world. As the years passed other opportunities became available for work. He and I discussed moving our family to another state in order for him to take a new job. We sold our home and moved the family to Georgia. We had only lived in Georgia for one year and four months when our plan as we knew it came to a finish.

Without his counsel I had to take on the job of single parent. My children and I had a good solid base for continuing in the same pattern because of his character and integrity. He took his job of father very seriously. His children and I were foremost in his mind always. When he was away from home he called us every night. He carried a picture of his children with him wherever he went. He was always thinking of them and what he could do to make our family strong. He succeeded and because of his strength and love for us we were able to rebuild our lives in the knowledge that we were continuing what he had planned for us.

Much has changed in our individual lives but one thing remains constant, that is our love and concern for each other. I know he would be pleased that we are carrying on the concern and love which he showed for us.

Pearl Harbor Day

Our citizens were in shock upon hearing that our fleet had been attacked at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. It happened on a Sunday early in the morning while most of our Naval personnel were still sleeping. In those days news was spread by radio so we were all hearing of this assault at different times of the day. If you ask anyone who was living during that time "what were you doing when you heard this news" you would get varying answers.

As for myself, I was a freshman in high school. Our family had just returned from Sunday worship service. My mother was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch. No doubt, my father had turned on the radio and that is how we learned that all of our lives would be changed forever. My mother said to me that I should get my journal and record this event. I said to her, "what should I say ?". She told me to write that I was electrified. I think I was more in a daze but if I did write that it has long been destroyed, probably in a flood which took everything stored in our basement.

In thinking about that day, I decided to call my sister in a distant town and ask her what she remembered. She said she remembered that when she heard this she was wiping down the stairway in our home. I am not sure why she was doing that on a Sunday but there must have been a good reason.

Next I called my brother who lives in Illinois. He remembered very well and told me he had been at Gunter Field in Alabama. He had joined the Army and had finished aviation school at another air base before going to Alabama. He said early in the morning around 4:00 or 5:00 his squadron leader burst into their barracks and woke everyone up and asked if all were there and accounted for. Someone said "all are up and accounted for sir". Then my brother began to laugh for half of the young men were "hung over" from Saturday night drinking and though accounted for they were definitely not "up". All of them were immediately put on alert and were scared to death, he said. At that point none of them knew if their base was to be attacked. As it turned out only the fleet was attacked and the results were heartbreaking for those at that Naval Base and elsewhere.

Though I do not remember my mother saying anything about my brother and any danger he could be in, I feel sure she was thinking about it. At that point only one of her sons was in the military, but before World War II was over, two other sons had served in the states. Bill, however spent years in the China, Burma, India theater of war in the jungles recovering airplane parts and repairing planes.

My parents were devout Christians who lived their faith and praying for their son and the other sons in this war was foremost in their minds. Since all mail leaving the war front was censured my mother devised a plan to keep up with where her son was. When he wrote home the first letter of each paragraph spelled out the name of the area where he was when he wrote that letter. That gave her some comfort to at least know where in the world her son was during those years.

That day in our history set in motion many, many changes for individuals and for our country as well. Food, gas,sugar, tires,and other products were rationed. Travel was curtailed. New industries were put in place and people migrated to larger cities where war preparation factories were located and jobs were available. Women began to work away from home, even in factories making war machines. Our culture was turned around and changed forever. Thus it is good to remember Pearl Harbor Day. We should never take our country for granted. Too many suffered and died for us to be cavalear regarding our freedom, for once lost it is not easily regained.

The Maryland Years

Earlier I wrote of living in Baltimore, Md. Those were the years of being a home maker and early parenting. Many of our family activities took place in the Baltimore, D.C., Annapolis area.

My husband and I came to this new area as he had taken a job teaching in a high school in Salisbury. it was all part of our Five Year Plan. We decided early on to work, save money, for him go to graduate school, then in five years time we would start our family. Being on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was almost culture shock, in a positive way. We had left family and friends and gone into the unknown.

Our first friends were Phyllis and Russ Cooper. Phyllis worked for the Dept. of Education and invited us, being newcomers to their home, for a duck dinner. Russ was the ultimate outdoorsman. He hunted and fished and we were often treated to wild game dinners. We hit it off as couples and thus began the forming of a nucleus of couples who met and visited and had many happy evenings together.

As we settled into living in the very nice town of Salisbury I found a job teaching a class of three year old children in a Day Care called Tiny Tots. I did not want to sign a contract for a teaching job in the public schools as we had our Five Year Plan to follow. The Nursery was owned by a Mrs. Moore. She was a good business woman and her business thrived. Thinking of those years I remember one little girl who had a phenomenal voice. At Christmas she performed in our little program. She sang "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus". She had a strong clear voice and was right on key. She would have been out on You Tube if it had been available then.

We found an upstairs apartment with the retired Police Chief of Salisbury. This man and his wife had no children and rented out the top floor of their home. She once gave us a large bowl of beef/vegetable soup. It was simply wonderful and I remember it after 50 years,but have never been able to duplicate it. When we learned we would be a family of three we found other lodgings and this couple was quite upset with us for leaving.

We made friends with Bill Conrad, basketball coach at Wicomoco High School, where my husband taught. Every Saturday morning he came over to our apartment and I made oatmeal for him. His wife's name was Georgia and she worked at a bank. She did not like to make oatmeal. Oatmeal was a regular item at our morning table and we looked forward to his visits.

The manual arts teacher, Nick Guilanio and his wife Faye became friends also. Nick was from New York and if he drank beer he got terrible headaches. Nick helped us select our first dining room set. We used it for over forty years. I loved it as it had a modern design and was made of maple. It was made in Denmark, I think. Nick said it was well built and on his okay we paid $600 for it. A lot of money for us at that time. Thirty years later when my son bought our home in Decatur that furniture went with the house.

Another teacher, ED Manus and his wife, both from Tennessee, became our fast friends. They had three little girls and our friendship with them was a bit different as their girls dictated their social life. Most often we visited in their home in the evenings when the girls were in bed. We played cards a lot and had many meals at their home. We really had a lot of fun with them and the other couples also.

Those were carefree days in 1951 and 1952. We had not started a family, and living in apartments, no yard to maintain. We had time to explore the area around us and eventually bought a lot across the Chesapeake Bay, with an eye to built there one day. That never happened but we had many happy week-ends on Love Point swimming and enjoying the water. My husband bought a runabout type boat which we sometimes used to reach this property. There was a huge fig tree near the clubhouse and I delighted in the fruit of that tree. The first time I had tasted a fresh fig was in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was intrigued with this fruit. The pink interior, which is actually the bloom, is pollinated by a particular wasp.

By the time we had children, and they were old enough to take out in this boat we would cross the bay and spend the day there. Once on the way home we were in the middle of the bay when a squall came up quite suddenly. It was a scary situation. The wind was very forceful and the rain was pelting down. My husband told me and the children to huddle down in the prow to protect us from the biting rain. He, however was right in the line of fire, and navigated us out of the squall and home safely. Only later did I realize what a dangerous situation we were in.

I was reminded of this trip many years later when I was in a boat with my son-in-law Jim, my daughter and their young son. We had been to see the fire works display at Lake Lanier Islands on the night of July fourth. When we left it was dark and Jim discovered that he did not have running lights on his boat. He had to cross the lake northward and get back to my dock with only the light he could see from the shore line. We made it safely but it was a tense ride.

Many memories come back to me of our time living on the eastern shore of Maryland, but this is enough for mow.

Mind Tricks

I am always amazed by the way the mind works, by how we can be transported into the past by a smell, an action or a thought. Recently I was driving into our nearest town and when I turned on the heat, the change in temperature caused me to cough. Then I went back in time to 1957 when our young family lived in Baltimore, Md.

My husband worked in a research lab where he was working with different chemicals and colors. The mission was to develop a technique for glazing a concrete block for a decorative appearance. You can go into any school and many buildings and see these blocks on the interior walls.

When my husband returned home after a days work his clothing held a pungent odor. He probably should have been wearing a uniform so that he could change clothing before leaving for home. His clothing had to be isolated to prevent all of our clothing from taking on this odor caused by the styrene used in his experiments.

Thinking of this time in our lives reminds me of many happy normal family incidents.
One of those involved some refugees from Hungary. These young men had left their country because of political unrest. There were several of them and they lived in our building. They all had motorcycles and they parked them in front of our building. When I passed by these motorcycles with my year old son in my arms, he would fairly leap from my arms trying to get to them. My daughter who was around four at the time, passed by without any notice at all !

She was however most interested in the books which our neighbors had. The matriarch of the family was from France and every July 14th she reminded us all that it was Bastille Day. Her name was Mrs. Napoli and her adult daughter lived with her. Her daughter worked as an air traffic controller. I well remember her speaking of the stress she experienced at her work. She had collected a set of books from her childhood, which my daughter loved. The central characters were twins and each book told about the twins living in a different country. These books were given to my daughter and she loved them. My daughter remembers them too, but alas over the years they have disappeared.

We were well known in our neighborhood as every few days my daughter would "go missing" and I would alert the neighbors Bonnie had run away. Everyone would get out and help look for her. She was three years old and would leave when I was occupied taking care of the new baby. At least on one occasion she left the apartment complex where we lived and traveled across a four lane highway. A construction crew saw her and concluded correctly that she had come from our apartments. She was returned intact by the supervisor of the project she had traveled so far to see. We were fortunate indeed that she was always found soon and unharmed.

There were many families there with plenty of children going all over so we very often had several in our home to play. I never minded for I was at ease when I knew that my two were indoors and playing happily where I could supervise.

During our time there Asian Flu was rampant. We were spared but one of our neighbors, a man, his wife and young child, all were terribly ill at the same time. No one dared enter their home but the neighbors took food and left it at their door. I do not know how we avoided having the flu as it was all around us and generally all over the country.

We had joined the near by Presbyterian Church and I taught a preschool class and had my three year old daughter in my class. On one of our family outing I had found a crysallis on a milkweek plant. I brought it home and my husband made a "home" for it where it could be observed. I knew very little about such things at that time and I took it to my class to share one of nature's fascinating occurances. I told the children that next year a butterfly would emerge. Thankfully our pastor, Tom Allen corrected me. He said it would emerge in about two weeks. And of course he was right. We were able to see this beautiful Monarch butterfly come forth with dampened wings, dry itself and prepare to fly away. I hope the children remember this incident with awe and wonder as do I.

Picnics were a common thing for us, no matter what time of year. We once had one picnic in a park on the Potomac River with our warm coats and hats on. On other picnics we would find blackberries and pick them. At one park we had our picnic and all of us went for a short walk, as we walked we remembered that I had put a chocolate pie in our basket and when we returned to our table we could have that reward. When we returned we were in for a surprise. Our pie was gone. The children thought perhaps Yogi Bear had found it. Whoever took it had a fine feast I am sure. Our spirits were bruised but not damaged. I knew it was an excellent pie and could make many more.

I am so thankful that, though I do forget where I put things sometimes, my mind can still travel back and relive some very happy times when our children were young and we all enjoyed each other to the fullest.

Good-bye to November

I was really happy to see November come. October had not been an easy month for me. However I did get through it with some medical help and am none the worse for it all. I suppose November must have the last say about the weather as today we have a tornado watch in north Georgia. The day started out very foggy and has been dreary all day. Most of the leaves have fallen. When I look at the hickory tree in back, against the sky it is still holding some brown leaves high up near the top. It has fed the squirrels all fall and probably will during the winter months. I occasionally find the hickory shells left by these wild animals. They seem to like to eat on my brick walk.

I am not without pretty blooms outdoors however. The Christmas Sasanqua on the west side of the house is loaded with deep red blooms. The centers are showy with the many stamens holding the yellow pollen. It is still a small bush but is remarkable in the number of blooms at this time of year. When this Sasanqua stops blooming the buds on the camellia at the east corner will be opening. For a few months we will be able to cut those blooms and bring them in to cheer us in the cold weather. When they have stopped blooming we still have the Daphne to give us their heavenly, heavy fragrance in January and February.

So all in all it is a colorful time of year with the bright yellowing of the tulip leaves, the red of the Sourwood and orange of the maples. I have in mind some outstanding specimens to look for each fall. Some I see right from my windows.

So, as I say Welcome to December and all of it's bright lights and decorations, I can still enjoy the lingering of some of fall's best colors.

Mental Gymnastics

This morning I had an appointment to have my left shoulder examined by use of an MRI. I went into the hospital center in my town and proceeded to get this thing done. My main concern was that I would need to cough while confined in this tunnel.
I learned something today. Gratefully I made it without coughing - that came after I got up ! I learned that it is almost impossible to think with the noise like a jack hammer in your ear, even with ear plugs.

To entertain myself and not think about coughing I concentrated on making a mental trip all around my place and in my head name the various plantings I have put here. I could not keep up with that and count them, so here is what I was able to come up with. I am forewarning all that this is a long list and if you need to check out, go ahead and do it now.

I left from my back door and turned left to go around the northwest corner. The first plants which come into view are the Leyland Cypress - 9 in all, now as tall as my house. At the top of the rock wall is Blue Rug Juniper and under the Leyland Cypress is Vinca Minor -no periwinkle blooms in the fall. To my left are native ferns I did not plant and a Christmas Sasquansa which I did plant this spring, and it is blooming. Next on the left is a Savannah Holly at the south west corner. To the right, sort of under the Cypress is Japanese Iris which grows in a circle and almost covered by the Cypress is beautiful red blooming Quince, not thriving now. That plant came up here from my old house.

To the right, next is the cedar house where I keep small tools. At the south corner is planted a Gardenia which was started from a bloom my neighbor gave me. Near it is a dormant Butterfly Bush with English Ivy growing all around and Day Lilies which really need to be divided. Next is a Blackberry Lily, and Bearded Iris all around. Close by are two pink Guava planted by my son-in-law. To the south a bit is a small bed of Canna Lilies from my friend Louella. The lilies are now dead above ground but busy under the earth.

Several purple Illiam are in dormancy there too, but yellow Chrythsanthmum Pacificum is blooming and beautiful, beside a row of Liriope which has purple blooms in fall followed by round black seeds. Large Daffodils are sleeping undergound beside a large "Miss Huff" lantana with it's yellow/orange/pink blooms. In summer all around this area will be yarrow of varying colors, but now it is in sleep mode.

Across the rock steps is another huge Miss Huff lantana and a Peony which will have bowl size red blooms come next summer. So many Daffodils sleep under all this that it is hard to count when they come up in spring. Another favorite of mine is the Calla Lily which has died back to get ready for next summer. Right now purple Ageratum has seeded itself in and around here and a lot of other places where Gerbera Daisies once bloomed.

Taking a right turn around the rock walled in area is the Jane Saucer Magnolia which was planted about 12 years ago. The pink petaled blooms with the white backing is a unique sight in early spring. Now it is at least 15 feet tall. Beside it is an Alpine Spruce, one of three my daughter and son-in-law sent me at Christmas. They are a perfect cone shape and very slow growing, but beautiful none the less. About five yellow Forsythia plants along this side are now showing purple leaves instead of yellow blooms commonly called yellow bells. In the open area of this part of the yard are two Redbud trees, native trees for here. They look ugly now with the brown seed pods hanging there waiting for strong winds to send their seeds flying. Two Blueberry bushes in this area need to be transplanted. We now come upon the Stone Mountain Daisy in decline but still showing off round spiky seed pods.

Next in sight is the blackberry bed with four Arapaho thornless blackberries still showing green leaves. If we ventured further south we would come into the electric fenced in area of the raised beds. I have grown many vegetables there and asparagus grows yet, but dormant now. Many tomatoes, green beans, squash, cucumbers, kale, beets, swiss chard, sweet basil, purple beans, walking Egyptian onions, once were harvested from here for our table.

Moving north toward the curve is a bed filled with Iris, white and pink striped Amaryllis, Black Eyed Susan, and one Cherokee red rose bush. As my mind takes me down the gravel road I only see on my right hardwood trees and a few pines until I reach the well house where Iris is planted. Then by the red barn are pink and white Azaleas. On the north side of the barn is Red Tip Photenia now towering over the barn. North of them is a male Kiwi plant quite apart from the seven others which have their separate posts and wires to grow upon. Not far and to the left are two pear trees, one is called Orient, the other simply 411. The squirrels usually take them for their sweet treat in early fall. Next is the vineyard. Two dark, large Muscadines that Mr. Huffman planted are off to themselves. Around 21 vines are here plus one green seedless Niagra.

As we are now at the entrance we see the large Forsythia bushes outside the fence and the Stephens Holly inside under the power line. This year it was covered with red berries. Turning back and going south along the road the first grape vine here is called Cowart, a dark muscadine. About 4 more different varieties follow down the road. To the right of these vines is a row of Forsythia which my son and grandson planted. They will give a beautiful display of yellow next year. Two Black Bamboo plants, slow growing and non invasive, stand alone. Just this side of the foot bridge are two lavender Crepe Myrtle trees, gifts from my husband from Callaway Gardens in south Georgia. On either side of the foot bridge are yellow Stella D'oro Day Lilies. Looking up the hill toward the house are many Stewart Azaleas which my son Bruce planted for me. The railroad timber path up the hill was made by him and Jim for me many years ago on Mothers Day. This hill is covered in English Ivy and serves a purpose though it is very invasive. At the foot of the hill are two Hershey Azaleas transplanted by Reed, from near the red barn. many of the Azaleas along the pathway have sent out shoots and the hill next spring will be ablaze with melon colored blooms.

Back up the hill and around the curve are lemon yellow Day Lilies which have delicate fragrant blooms in summer. They are accompanied by white Achillia and in early spring some windmill flowers. Going on up toward the house is an Azaelea and a lavender Crepe Myrtle, a volunteer from the two at the bottom of he hill. They are just before the fenced in blueberry patch where 7 plants strive to produce plump blue berries. Next are five Burfordi Hollies transplanted from Bon and Jim's house many years ago. They grow so fast and are green all winter. Beside them is an outdoor bench and a pink Camellia. Also pink Oxallis, dwarf Nandina and still more Azaeleas. Next is another outdoor shed then more Azaleas and Monks Cap in summer, plus more Azaleas, a gardenia, and Camellia which blooms in winter. Looking straight ahead are four Crape Myrtles which produce bright red blooms and have lovely cinnamon colored trunks in very pleasing shapes.

Looking to the left and to the front of the house are Indian Hawthorn, both white and pink in front of the big front windows. along with the Azaleas and Pachysandra is more pink Oxyllis. Around the stone steps leading to the side entrance are Ajugs and a short type Liriope around the steps. At the corner is Daphne which blooms in January and smells heavenly. All by itself by the curving rock wall is a bed of oriental lilies which will come up in summer and look gorgeous. Purple Verbena is spreading around the pink rose Bush Bruce gave me and is competing with the pink Cosmos which loves this spot.

Above the wall are more Stone Mountain Daisies, Day Lilies, various sleeping bulbs, more Chrysanthmum Pacificum, Bee Balm, Winter Savory and Oregano smelling herbs. Planted haphazardly is moon glow Liriope, a white leafed plant. Behind the rock wall is a blue Plumbago, now dormant and Narcissis also dormant. Down in front of the rock wall is Autumn Joy Sedem and an outcropping of Confederate Jassemine which never bloomed.

At the other angle of the wall are more Iris, Ice Plants, pink Dianthus and Ivy coming over the wall.Also cascading over the rock wall is Ice Plant, so beautiful with the purple blooms most of the year. Before leaving the tour I must note the shrubs at the back of the house, Acuba with a shamrock holding its own in the shade of these spotted leaf shrubs. We have come full circle to the back door. I did not count the plants but there are so many which I have planted and which did not survive or have run their course. I have loved every minute of nurturing these growing wonders all around me.

The wonder of it all is that I could remember them with the jack hammer banging in my left ear, plus I had to hold still !

12 by 28

Twelve feet by twenty eight feet is the area of my sun deck. It is on the east side of my house and is entered from the balcony area inside. Being on the second floor I do not use it as often as I could. In the hot summers it is not inviting until after four in the afternoon. On a sunny winter day is a good time to be there. The plastic chairs are inside, but can easily be put out if desired.

I did not take a chair out as my mission was to walk for thirty minutes and that I did. It was fun for me and interesting as I looked out at the trees with their leaves changing in all sorts of colorful shades. This house sits directly facing south and as I was walking the deck, the long way is north to south. Each side gave me a nice view and happy memories. At the north end I can see half of the Leyland Cypress that I planted in 1991. They have grown very tall and are doing just what I had planned for them to do. They serve as a screen from my neighbors to the west and also as a shield from harsh winter winds coming from the west. I think they are about as tall as they will get, reaching to the same height as my house and as tall as the sturdy hickory tree where squirrels find their food supply. And incidentally these brazen squirrels bring the nuts to my front steps where they sun themselves and have picnics where I walk, leaving the broken hulls for me to sweep away.

Also on the north end are the rusty red leaves of the crape myrtle. The leaves are not as bright a red as the blooms in August, but still a lovely sight in fall. Not a pretty sight is the redbud tree which is covered with dead seed pods and brown leaves. This tree I bought in Mt.Airy,Ga. and carried home in the trunk of my car many years ago. Just beyond the redbud are the sourwood trees with their pendulous blooms in summer and long lance like leaves. The bees use them to help them in their honey making time. Now, they are a slowly fading red.

Down lower to the ground I can see the last yellow daisy and the many blossoms of the chrysanthmum pacifica. A delightful yellow and last of the perennials to bloom before we have a hard freeze. I see far down the hill the gravel road leading out of the property past the well house and the old red barn.

The view to the south allows me to look down on the burfordi holly and reminds me that I must get the privet hedge cut from the middle of this glossy leaved bush. The "Miss Huff" Lantana is still blooming away. I can count on seeing those multicolored blooms until a hard freeze. This year I have two plants, one on each side of the stone steps leading down to the front lawn and beyond. They put out their branches in early summer and by mid-summer they are on a real growth spurt and starting to put on those yellow-orange-pink-blooms which bring on the butterflies and bees until cold weather sends them elsewhere. On one side they have spread ten feet long and at least 8 feet wide. A real mood booster for the gardener.

So, back and forth I walked, looking at first one scene and then the next with a side glance to the east which was no threat for the scenes to the south and north.
Not a bad walk in my bedroom slippers with a heating pad to my shoulders. Having a constant review of the plants I have nurtured for years, I am entertained with every step and affirmed by my gardening efforts.

A Change of Pace

For all of my gardeners out there, I cut my last yellow heirloom tomato for breakfast this morning with a poached egg, toast and fried apples). I had picked it green as a frost was predicted and I knew it would ripen indoors. I still have a few small red tomatoes sitting on my window sill along with the few kiwi I picked a week ago.

Reading is always a stolen pleasure for me. I stay so busy with other things that reading gets pushed to the side, unless I am studying for a lesson, etc. I have been reading a very interesting book which was published a long time ago around 1980.
It is not the first book I have read by Catherine Marshall LeSourd. On my shelf I have a copy of Christy. This one was based on her Mother and her teaching experiences. It was given to me by one of my student's parents the year I taught their daughter in first grade.

The book I am thinking of now was written for Catherine's daughter when she was preparing for her marriage. She had asked her mother for advise in the coming change taking place in her life. This book was Catherine's response. The title is "Meeting God At Every Turn".

I have picked up on one of the things that Catherine did over the years. I like the idea and I want to give it a try. Her Bible study was more structured than mine so I want to try to adopt her strategy. She got up early before the rest of the family for Bible and prayer time. She had always kept a journal (an idea I like) and she started a prayer journal. Each day she would write down what was foremost in her mind and concern at that time, and specific prayer request that day. When she had an answer for that prayer she would note that also and the date. In reviewing her journal she saw how her prayers were answered. She marveled at how events and people worked together to answer her prayers. This is one of the promises given to us in our Bible. Romans 8:28 - "all things work together for good for those who trust the Lord". Thus, a prayer offered may bring an answer in many different forms, and from many different people. I found that an intriguing idea.

I have seen this in my own life and it will be a new adventure to try recording this in a Prayer Journal. The one sure way for me to keep myself on track is to tell someone else what I am planning. So, now it has been told ! A big commitment and I am committed to it.

In The Treetops

This week-end I have had two house guests, my daughter/son-in-law's two pet dogs. One is part chow with the turned back, twisty fluffy tail. The other a Pomeranian with the same type tail. Two very different dogs in temperament, but they are friends by circumstance. Cujo the small dog has been in the family for many years. He was a comfort after they lost a much loved sheltie named Bruno. As Cujo aged they thought it wise to have a companion so they found a rescue dog in much need of love and attention. She was nursed back to health with medical help and human love. I recall conversations about what to name this new pet. I heard, "Girl" first, then it was Rocky. Why Rocky?, well she looked like Rocky Marciano, the boxer.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, when it was sunny and mild, I decided to have a visit to the deck at the top level. I invited the dogs to come along, but only Rocky accepted. The sun being in the southern sky late in October, most of the deck was in shade. The plastic deck chairs were turned around and leaning against the wall of the house, in order to prevent dust, etc. from collecting in the seats. I took my chair over to the southern end of the deck where I could sit in the sun. By turning the chair to the north, I could enjoy the sun on my back.

It was a pleasant place to be. The warmth of the sun on my back, the gentle intermittent breeze on my face and occasional distant roar of an airplane all made for a lazy feeling. Rocky's behavior was one of exploration by observation. She went to various railings to stick her head out to the east, south and north. I could almost read her mind. "It looks different from up here", "I wonder if I could just step down there", "oh, if only I could get that yellow butterfly over the hill", "I will try this other spot", "nope, still too far away", "maybe if I just lie down and rest it will help".

The most interesting thing about being up high and in the open is being able to see the tops of the trees from this angle. The dogwood at the top of the pathway is leaning toward the house, not close or dangerously, just to show it is seeking more sun. I can see how crowded the camellia is making it for both the dogwood and the holly bush, also the gardenia and the azalea. There is much competition for rain and soil. I am looking out at the English Ivy which I foolishly started 15 years ago. It has made it up the hill and went beyond my expectations. It just naturally wants to climb and every tree on the hillside knows it. I make a mental note to find time to cut back this beautiful but damaging vine.

As my mind is wandering over the tops of the trees, a plane flying low brings me back to my task at hand. I had brought out my lesson for next Thursday to read and digest before our circle meeting. We are studying Revelations and the lesson is on the symbols of strength which various nations have used over the centuries. In this last book of the Christian Bible it is vividly comparing these symbols to the most powerful yet mildest symbol, the lamb. Quite a contrast with much food for thought.

Rocky is scratching at the door, his signal that his reverie is over and he is ready to leave this strange observation post. So, gathering up my materials and replacing the chair, I reluctantly leave this sanctuary for enclosed spaces.

The Top Drawer

The furniture in my bedroom was purchased in 1939 by my oldest sister and her husband. They used it every day of their married life, for 42 years. They both died in 1981, six months apart. The furniture was made from solid maple and once had a mellow,golden tone. Since my sister Katrine was an artist, she had a tendency to surround herself with color. She painted this furniture gray and gray it is today. A number of years ago I researched having it refinished to the original hues. But the timing never seemed quite right. So, now it is still gray but worn around the tops of the two posters at the bottom of the bed. That is where hands over the years have used it for guidance, while walking in the dark.

There is a chest of drawers with this furniture and it holds some of my garments. In the top, short, drawer however, it holds a myriad of objects having not much to do with clothing. It is not opened very often and when I do open it - as I did this morning - I am reminded of many things.

The first thing that caught my eye was a picture of the first quilt I ever made. It was made without me knowing one thing about quilting. It fit snugly in a little dolly cradle which I had purchased for Ann Hunter Keaton, my second husband's grandchild. Along with it was a picture of a quilt that I commissioned to be made many years ago by Lydia Organ. Lydia was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Harlan, Ky. She and I became acquainted when I drove her home to Harlan from Lexington, Ky. She had been staying with Katrine during her last days in St. Joseph's hospital. It was a cold, snowy, December day, just a few days before Christmas in 1981. It was a bad day to be driving, but we both wanted to get back to home base. I think my driving in a little blue Ford pinto - with manual shift - on those roads made a better Christian out of Lydia. It was on that trip that we talked about making a quilt for me. I wanted it be interesting, with primary colors.

Over about a year's time Lydia did make the quilt and she used the "around the world" pattern. The back is just as pretty as the front as she quilted around each block which was set "on point". She made the entire quilt by hand using material she had on hand. Quilters always have material on hand! Each time I went to visit I would pay Lydia more for the quilt. The total price was $ 250.00. I dearly love this quilt. It is not quite large enough to cover the bed as far down as I would like, but that does not matter. It may have been the last quilt that Lydia made as she became ill later that year, and died of colon cancer.

Next my eye fell on a beautiful Christmas tree ornament made by my daughter-in-law, Jayne. She used to do that as a hobby and it is very intensive close work which is tiring on the eyes. I do not put up a tree at Christmas anymore but this elegant ornament draws me in to inspect it each time I see it.

I had placed some small boxes in the drawer. The first one I opened had two small metal pins from the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower. I was one of those "I Like Ike" people back then. Ike was a popular hero at the end of the war in 1946.

I had other little boxes in the drawer. I had forgotten what was in them so I opened the first one and the contents sparkled and "spoke" to me. What I saw was a rich blue and silver necklace, which my daughter Bonnie had made for me. It is the sort of jewelry you want to wear to a party. Since I had no party on for today I decided to put it on anyway and also the earrings she made to go with it. Now why would I do such a thing! Maybe because I do not go to many parties anymore which call for elegance. But after a shower and a new attitude, it seems like a fine thing to do. I know this will be a day of staying indoors as we are having storms and a tornado warning is upon us. If a storm does come by, blow my house down, and I am lucky enough to wake up like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I will soon be feeling very elegant in my blue and silver neckace and earrings.

Comfort Foods of Yore

I have just reread a book by the late humorist, Lewis Grizzard, of Atlanta. I used to have all of his books but must have shared them out over the years. This book is entitled "If Love Were Oil I'd Be About a Quart Low". He tells of how his mother would comfort him by making fresh squeezed orange juice for him when he was feeling low.

This started my chain of thinking about my own mother doing things to comfort us. Yes, fresh squeezed orange juice is what I think about too. I well remember that, what my sister Ruth remembers is biscuits and gravy at breakfast. Today my breakfast is cream of rice in memory of my mother. With ten to feed she would do what was easiest and quickest for all. Fresh squeezed orange juice was not on that list but white rice was. I liked the taste of it with sugar and milk. I still do but it takes too long for me in the mornings with only one to feed (me). So, the new product I found is cream of rice and it suits me just fine.

When I was sick and could not handle regular food she would give me canned tomatoes with saltine crackers. That does wonders for you when you are recovering from the flu and it is just acidic and salty enough to satisfy. I remember the time in my teens when I had a good old fashioned case of flu. I recall the doctor coming in to see me. I had been put in a separate area in a wide hallway upstairs - possibly to quarantine me from my siblings. I do not believe flu shots were available or I would have surely not been sick. This was around 1941.

With so many to feed, it meant there were many clothes to wash. This required a day long effort, with all the beds, towels, etc. By then my mother had an electric washing machine, before that, well the old scrub board had to do the job. She still had to feed us on laundry day so a huge pot of beef, vegetable soup filled the bill. But to comfort us on these days she actually had time to make pies. One lemon and one chocolate. I well remember peeking under the meringue to see which one was lemon.

While my mother could handle the activity of washing and cooking, it drove her up the wall to stand and iron. So, a little lady named Mrs. Elmore would come on ironing day and our clothes were turned over to her. I think she liked to talk too as I recall an old inside family joke "and Pascal said well.......". Pascal was Mrs. Elmore's husband. Apparently he had a limited vocabulary as she always ended her stories with that phrase "and Pascal said well...".

After my father was diagnosed with diabetes our meals took on a more balanced nature.
The deserts disappeared. If we wanted our accustomed sweet at the end of a meal she suggested we put jam on our bread. She had a formula for a balanced meal- something sour, something sweet, something red, something green.something hot, something cold. It is not a bad idea. For Sunday meals she used a drip-drop roaster. The food all went into that and when we came home from church the Sunday dinner was almost ready. I suppose it could be called the forerunner of our crock pots of today, except the crock pots are electric.

My mother did not lecture. Her advise was given calmly and succinctly. She said what she had to say and you were free to take it or suffer the consequences. This in it's way is a comfort. No excess verbiage to cloud the issue. Probably she developed this tactic as she had no time for anything else. We knew she valued us and showed it in many ways, comfort foods was just one aspect of her parenting.

Passing Through

Early morning is my favorite time of day. It is quiet and free from distractions. When Bonnie and Bruce were very young I would waken one hour before they were up. That was what I called my golden hour. At that point in my life I was not rushing out to work, or as now, eager to get out and walk early. The time was taken up with usually writing letters or writing in my journal. I have a stack of them going back to the day I married on August 15, 1949. There are skips in the years however as it can be very busy when children are young, and sick, or just needing attention.

Today I am focusing on this fall day in October,the 12th, 2010. I awakened early and after a few daily tasks - I used a few minutes on the computer to say good morning to Bonnie, Bruce, Jim and Ruth. Drinking grapefruit juice as a quick pick me up is a daily must have. Then on with the shoes and jacket to walk up to the mail box, 1,000 feet on a gravel road. After placing a letter in the box to go out, I was pulled to the vineyard and began counting my steps as I went down between the first and second rows. After 53 steps I lost count as the grapes still hanging on the Higgins vines looked so inviting. I had to pick one to taste. It was a nice reward so I did it again on other vines.

Looking to the second vine on my right, the praying mantis eggcase that I had tied on a high horizontal branch looked different. I stopped to investigate and saw that it had indeed hatched. I had thought it was a "dud" but apparently it did send out some of it's progeny. I have yet to see them, but they must be about somewhere.

Going further I began to notice the patterns on the leaves. Some still as green as could be but most of them had turned yellow. They were not without blemish however, as some looked lacy from caterpillars eating into them. Most just had spots turning brown. A few in one general area had brown lines which looked to be drawn with an ink pen. They resembled the going up and down again in a pattern. Perhaps some errant snail found his way up there and did the decorating. Actually there must be a scientific reason for these markings.

Coming back toward the gravel road I counted the vines in the first row, 14. On the second row I counted 8. In the third row only two of Bob's vines. Then there are the vines running north to south alongside the gravel road. That will be a lot of pruning, if I get to all of them. Some of the less desirable vines will go down as being dispensible when the men come with their chain saws.

A walk-a-bout would not be complete here without a visit to the raised beds. Walking across the centipede grass I collectd quite a few of the seeds from the grass. They showed up as sand on my white shoes. I saw something new today, it was a black capped chicadee ( I think). I do not ever remember seeing birds in that garden. He was flying into the tomato cages but did not stay. Some of his friends were flying about also. I once again decided to leave the green tomatoes on the plants as I can see the last rain has made them larger. There is plenty of time to gather them later before any frost. They can ripen indoors quite nicely.

The stone mountain daisies have sent out an evangelist into the blackberry bed. It is blooming brightly announcing it's intention of permanent residence. I may have to help it find another home come next spring. That bed was made for blackberries, not daisies.

Another sign of fall is the seed pods on the redbud trees. They hang brown and ugly until winter winds tear them loose to find fertile ground in which to send their roots. I tell myself that the centipede grass Jim started here was a good choice for it never needs fertilizer and is sure to crowd out all weeds brave enough to enter it's domain. I have never had to fuss over that grass, it is well suited for the south and knows how to take care of itself !

This has been a nice morning pass through of the lake property, all is well, fall is doing what fall does best, close down the summer.

The Changing Seasons

My neighbor across the road always calls me when the mail carrier comes down our road. I am so far from the road/mail box that I would never know when to go to check it. She has a good view of the road which is very close to her house. I appreciate these calls as it saves me unnecessary trips. Today she called before 11:00 which is early for our mail to arrive. Recently it came at 5:30 in the evening.

I planned to walk up and get in some exercise but I chickened out and hopped in my handy dandy golf cart. I did have a lot of mail and put in under my leg to prevent it from blowing away. The vineyard looked inviting so I rode down, not looking for anything in particular. I rode up to the bluebird house that my brother Gene had made for me. I have had it for a long time and it has a new door. The squirrels like to chew the 1.5 inch opening and gnaw it into a larger hole so they can winter over in the box. I do not want to have to replace this door again so I disengaged the large nail which holds it closed. It did indeed have a nest in it so I had to clean it out and left the door hanging open. The squirrels can just nest in the hardwood trees which are plentiful here.

Backing down from that end of the vineyard I noted which vines we will cut this winter. I really hate to part with any of them but those in the shade will not produce in that location so they may as well go. I saw other vines which had been cut years ago but sprang back up and are now a mass of vines and weeds. I wondered if they were trained might they produce the black grapes so many people like to use for jelly and wine. We have plenty of the pink Higgins and only two of the dark black almost seedless grape vines. My friend Bob planted them years ago. They are my favorites. I do have a grape called niagra which is showing promise. It will have green seedless grapes, much like the Thompson grapes. It was moved up in the vineyard from near the road, to give it richer ground.

While on this tour I looked for a short cut down to the kiwi vines, but they had all grown over with yellow goldenrod. I learned recently that goldenrod does not trigger allergic reactions as once thought. I had to go the long way around the pear trees to get to the kiwi. The crop this year is lean indeed. I will be lucky I think to get 30 kiwi. That is very disappointing but they had been severely pruned. One which Jim pruned is putting out growth again. It is really hard to put a good man (or kiwi vine) down. When I neglected those vines they produced heavily!

I then ventured to the raised beds with the electric fence around them. This was not a good summer for tomatoes for me. The best producer I had was a volunteer. It is now loaded with green tomatoes, but without the proper sun I have no great hopes for them to ripen. Still, it could happen.

Everywhere I rode today the purple ageratum was waving to me. Some plants just like to spread to other areas. Fortunately they like to go to areas where I am not planting other things, as along the east fence line and on the hill which is covered with ivy anyway.

One of the flowers which delights me is pink cosmos. Last year I cast some seeds around the oriental lillies out back. the seeds were varied and the only ones that grew were the pink cosmos. Now they have produced seed pods.I picked the dried ones and scattered them along the edges of the woods. Maybe some will take root and give me splashes of pink along with the goldenrod.

It is just the nature of nature to change and make us change with it. New activities, new projects, different foods and what I like most in the fall is the grapefruit season. So, there is much to look forward to even as the warmth of summer leaves and the cool winds of winter approach.

Christian Fellowship

On the first Sunday of each month we have communion at our Presbyterian church here in Gainesville. We take communion by intinction. That means we line up to take the bread and the wine ( grape juice in our church ) from the first pew in front to the back. When I was a child and until adulthood the preferred method was for an elder to prepare the juice in small glasses which held about one tablespoon . These little glasses were placed into a large silver, deep plate with a cover which had lots of openings for the glasses to rest in. The elders served the congregation as they sat in their pews. First however, they served everyone with small squares of bread or wafers, then the wine. Some churches have the participants hold the host (consecrated wafer) until the wine is served. In other churches this sacrament is called the Eucharist and real wine may be served.

The celebration of Holy Communion has always been an emotional time for me as I am remembering the many times my father served communion to me. For as long as I can remember he served as an elder in the same church, which is still alive and well back in Harlan, Ky. It took a little adjustment on my part to become comfortable taking communion by intinction.

Today my friend of long standing, Lou Germain was sitting in front of me with her husband. She was in line in front of me today and I could not resist tapping her on her shoulder when I stepped into line. She had gone before me and did not know I was there. She turned her head and smiled at me, as only she can smile. Lou is one of the true blue southern ladies of the church and she came all the way from Michigan years ago to become a true southern lady. It gave me great pleasure to take this sacred ceremony right after Lou. You see, we have a bond of long standing. We taught first graders for years in the same school, on the same hall, and right across the hall from each other.

Our friendship grew from that time we spent working together for the training of the young charges given to us each year. One day she told me that she was planning on moving to the area where I lived. I told her that if she would join the church where I worshiped we could see each other every week. Well, bless her heart, that is just what she did. She has been active in our church in the choir, teaching our circle class and engaging in many more activities.

Lou has a wonderful way of telling stories and when something is amusing she has a delightful giggle to accompany the story. Most people just "guffaw", or at least I do, but Lou has a little girl giggle and it is most pleasing. I once saw a picture of Lou and her husband when they were very young. He was in a sailor uniform from the second world war time. I could see why he fell in love with her. She was petite and pretty and no doubt had that little girl giggle.

A lot of emotions came to the fore this morning for me . Remembering past communions, past experiences with Lou and being with a body of fellow Christians. to make the morning even better, as I was leaving the sanctuary a friend came over to me and said she had something for me. It was green tea someone had given her, far more than she could use, three tins of it. So she was sharing it with me. When I got home the first thing I did when I entered the house was to put on fresh water to boil. I had a choice of tea pots and I picked up one which makes individual cups of tea. It was given to me by a hostess at Alexis Gardens at Toledo, Ohio where my sister was living. It made a fine cup of green tea which I enjoyed immediately.

The other thing that made enjoying this tea special was the tea cup I used. Years ago, my friend who had just given me the green tea, had given me a special cup. It has pretty flowers painted on it and bees flying around with the words on it "if it is to bee, it's up to me". That is a great message to adopt as a mantra. So often we think we need someone else to take the first step in a friendship.

It is said that a smile is contagious. I think that is true. Only this morning I was in the nursery when our newest member, three months old,was brought in by his mother. He was looking all around and his eyes fell on me. I smiled my biggest smile and said something soothing to him. He burst out in a huge grin and wiggled his whole body. That is another happy moment to complete my day of Christian fellowship.

Talking it Out

I have a solution for every time I misplace something, be it keys, cell phone or a book. I have found that if I tell someone about it then I seem to find it soon after. I am not sure why this works but perhaps in some deep recess of the mind an electrical impulse is triggered and you are led to where the item is. At any rate I use this method of locating lost items. I even called my sister Ruth in Ohio once to tell her I had lost something. She just laughed. But really, one morning I was ready to leave for an appointment and I could not find my keys. I was getting desperate. I called my friend Bob and told him not to leave his house until I found my keys, as I had locked myself in. Fortunately it was not necessary for after the call I found the keys and could exit the house and drive to my destination. That was when I had multiple keys made. One was kept in my purse and the other near my door.

This habit of telling someone has some merit, I believe. Here is a twist on the idea. Yesterday I made a peach cobbler to take to a church dinner. I had offered to do this and it was expected. After I had put it in the oven, I had a mental tugging of the brain and went back to look at the recipe to be sure I had put in all of the ingredients. I know it sounds really crazy, but I did look and my inner warning was correct. I had left out the leavening for the topping. Oh dear, what to do. I called my neighbor and told her what had happened. She was not much help, but while talking to her I began to wonder if I could use a slotted spoon and remove the topping which had no leavening and replace it with a new topping. I had never done that sort of thing before but I could not let my friends down on the cobbler. So, out of the oven came the cobbler. I quickly mixed a new topping of flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and butter. The trick is to add 1/4 cup of boiling water, mix and spoon it over the hot peaches. Being in a hurry I used my hands and applied the batter in blobs all over the peaches. As per the instructions I added sugar and cinnamon over the top. Then back into the over for 35 minutes, not 30 as instructed. I wanted to be sure the batter had fully baked.

Well, let me tell you that this peach cobbler was a definite favorite at the dinner. People came over to my table to tell me how wonderful it was. I just smiled and said thank you. No need to go into the saga of the missing ingredient, especially when it had been corrected.

I learn from my mistakes. The next time I follow a recipe I will be absolutely sure that I am wearing my glasses. Before I started to make this dish, I told myself I needed to go upstairs, retrieve my glasses to wear while cooking. That way I would be seeing very clearly what I needed to be doing.

Just in case you are wondering where this great recipe came from, I found it on allrecipes.com.,

The Church Fathers

This morning as I sat reading at breakfast, I was reminded of an incident many years ago in my home town church. It seems incomprehensible in this day and time that this could have happened.

A lady came into our town riding a motorcycle. The year was around 1039 or 1940. She stopped at our house of worship to join us in morning services. She was properly attired for riding a motorcycle, in jodhpurs. The ushers for this service met her at the door and seeing how she was dressed asked her to leave. Seventy years later we are dismayed that she would be barred from worshiping because of her clothing.

This same lady about two years after this incident was instrumental in saving my sister's life. She had become a friends with my mother and had stopped by our home to tell my mother good-bye. She and her husband, a doctor in this town were on their way to South America for how long I do not know but I think permanently. When she arrived at our home she soon learned that my sister Ruth, was seriously ill. She called her husband and told him he needed to come to see her right away. My father had asked that she be seen but apparently he did not emphasize the seriousness of her problem.

The good doctor did come immediately and realized that she had appendicitis. She was taken to the hospital and he removed the offending and badly infected appendix. Peritonitis had set in. Antibiotics were not commonly available then. As I recall he put powdered sulfa into the abdominal cavity. I am not certain of this but that is how soldiers with abdominal wounds were treated early in the war years of the 1940's.

The happy ending of this story is that she survived due to this lady's efforts and her husband's skills and timely intervention. Knowing my mother I believe she must have made it known to this lady that she and most of the congregation were not in agreement with what these men of the church did that Sunday morning.

The Bible speaks of repaying evil with good. I think this is what happened in this case. So much has changed since that day and ladies are not only wearing long pants in church but preaching from the pulpit in them. Thank goodness for change and good judgment by those in key positions of authority.

I Saved a Life Today

My day began with my usual 30 minute walk. Since my driveway circles my house that is where I walk. I am able to take in all the plants and trees and just enjoy the scenery. One thing I noticed as I walked was an aluminum chair which is quite old. The last time I sat in it I heard a loud complaint. The webbing was old and rotting and needed to be replaced.

I had put it where I would remember to take care of that. When I recently cleaned out one of my sheds I saw some nylon webbing I had put in there a long time ago. I had placed it near the chair on my back porch, hoping to get to that chore soon.

I was enjoying the walk so much I did not want it to end. I extended it for a bit by walking down to the raised beds and turned on a hose to water the last of season tomatoes. Coming back to the house I was thinking of how pleasant it was outside. It was like summer was reluctant to leave but fall was politely reminding summer that it was time to go.

I simply wanted to stay outdoors longer, So I got a screw driver and a pair of scissors to use on the rewebbing of the chair. I was working away and thinking of how I was repairing something that was quite old but was also still very useful. That reminded me of something my brother Gene had said about our mother. He said "she could stretch a dollar to the size of a sheet".

I cannot claim to work that miracle, but this chair is light weight, foldable and handy to set up when an extra seat is needed. It does not rust as it is aluminum. I do not see these chairs in the stores any more. I think they have been replaced by the plastic molded light weight chairs. I have some of them. They are comfortable and come in pretty colors. Also I have a teak adirondack chair which is weathered but still comfortable. It stays at this same spot as it is heavy and difficult to move. Not so this old aluminum relic.

It is not elegant or particulary pretty but still has a lot of life left in it, so why not save it for another summer. As I finished my task I think I felt something of what a surgeon must feel after a successful operation. It is good to see a failing patient brought back to life by your own efforts.

Email, Snail Mail and Family Memories

A few days ago my email program was compromised by some incoming mail and it was harmed in some way that I do not understand. Until my computer guru comes up I am using the old fashioned way of communicating with friends and family. I am using up my supply of stamps posted on the front of my refrigerator . I am also catching up on my reading .


In a recent article from my DAR magazine I was reading of a house in New Hampshire which was built in 1807. It told of the innovative features built into the kitchen. One of them reminded me of my sister's kitchen stove. This house featured a copper set kettle which set was over mortar blocks with an ash pit underneath it. It was located in the scullery where food was prepared, clothes washed and water heated. In my sister's kitchen the stove had a copper water holder built into one side. That was how she could get hot water for bathing and washing dishes. That may have been her first kitchen stove, before electric water heaters were commonly installed in houses.

My brother tells me that our mother had a water heater in her kitchen stove. Maybe that is where I remembered seeing it also. He said it was his job to keep it filled with fresh water and it took a lot of water for all of our family ! People used to use hot water to wash clothes in, but that has changed with the newer soaps.

Visiting my second oldest sister was always so much fun. Her first home was in a coal mining camp. I remember riding my bicycle out there with my friend Marian Weiler. Our mission was to visit the camp store and buy a bottle of chocolate milk. It was in a glass bottle with a metal cap. No doubt it was whole milk for it tasted so good. We may have visited with Frances but mainly we were just out riding our bikes for fun with a little reward midway in our trip.


Frances' next home was more up to date with running water but the stove with the copper water heater still served a purpose. The name of the community where she lived was called Grays Knob. It had a front porch with a swing wide enough to fit about 6 to 8 people. She lived there for many years. We were always welcomed and she made a special effort for us to have fun.

When I was around 16 I baby sat for her while she went with her husband to campaign for a political position in the county government. Philip was the youngest of her three children and I watched over him . The two older children Brownie and Mary Lynn no doubt were in school. I have a picture of Philip in his little white dress and he is just adorable.

Some of our family pictures were made at Frank's home. Frank was our name for her but her husband, Carlyle always called her Frances. When I was newly married my husband and I lived with her while we were both teaching in the county. We had a large front room upstairs. The house had many rooms both downstairs and upstairs. I used to marvel how she could handle all of the work she had to do to maintain her household. When I mentioned this to her she said, "Well I did not start out doing all of this at once, I worked up to it". I suppose that is the secret of how we all handle many jobs, we work up to them.

Frank could make wonderful peanut butter fudge. She would make it when we went camping with her. She had a little portable cooker. It was put on a picnic table and while everyone was swimming in the lake she was busy making fudge for us when we came up dripping wet. That is a priceless memory. She also made great pimento cheese spread. Grated cheese was not available in the groceries then so she grated it herself. Possibly she made her own mayonnaise, for it was a memorable treat.


Her husband Carlyle had a large garden in back of their home and she canned green beans as well as tomatoes and other vegetables he grew. My sister Ruth was so fond of her canned green beans that when she visited, Frank sent her back home to Ohio with a box of her canned green beans. Frances was the most generous person I have ever known. She and Carlyle would go camping and take any of the kids in his or her family who wanted to go. We went to Norris Lake in Tennessee. Their large tent would not hold all of us, so we slept in cars or on cots. I very well remember sleeping one night in the back seat of a car with my feet out the window.

This old picture shows Frances and Carlyle on the right with Philip peeking from behind Frances. Gene is the young man second from the left. The other couple are the Howards who were campers at the same site.


It was on one of these camping trips that I witnessed a snake swallowing a frog. I learned to respect animals in nature from my brother-in-law. He had spent a lot of his young life in hunting with his father and walking the mountains. His father had a lot of hunting dogs and I remember seeing them at his home. Carlyle learned a lot from reading his favorite books, an encyclopedia. He would have loved to surf on the computer.


Another talent of my sister was her sewing skills. She made clothes for her family and even for me and our sister Ruth. She would make duplicate dresses for us. She sewed for our mother as well. On the night before my mother's death she was fairly dancing across the room wearing a red dress that Frances had just made for her. That is a happy memory for me as it was told to me. I did not witness the scene as I was many miles away in another state.


Though some of our modern technology does go "out" from time to time, we still have our memories to remind us of the many happy times from the past.

Symbiotic Relationships

I just came in from shopping and there were two men picking grapes in the vineyard. I had told them a few days ago that they could. I do not try to keep track of who is picking but people are very careful to ask if they can. I always say yes as I want to share God's bounty.

Seeing them reminded me that the bow hunters will be here this week-end. They do call me when they are on the property, as I want to know when they are here. It is helpful to have them hunt here. We are between two parks and the deer thrive in this area right on the lake.
Keeping their population in check is a help for the neighborhood gardeners as well. I have a solar powered electric fence to keep them out of my vegetables. They pretty much graze where they want to otherwise. They come when I do not always see them, around dawn and dusk.

I have another visitor here who keeps the voles in check. I first saw him about six months ago. He is a beautiful calico cat. He just walks through and sits on the rock wall waiting for a snack to appear. After my last cats disappeared I noticed a big increase in the voles in my garden. So he is welcome indeed.

In previous years I have always had garden lizards down in my raised beds. I saw them earlier in the year but have not lately. I believe they help to rid the garden of small bugs that are not helping to improve things.

The blue birds do their part in keeping balance in nature. They have certain insects which they find tasty. They are not nesting now. In fact I dropped the door to their house out in front. I noticed a squirrel had started a nest in it. I do not want them to gnaw away at the 1 1/2 inch hole in the door.

The plants growing around here must be pruned or we would gradually be covered in vines and wild shrubs. Jim does that unless I am feeling ambitious. I noticed the purple thistle is helping to feed the butterflies as is the lantana plants. Occasionally we see humming birds on the lantana. It will bloom until we have a hard freeze .

It is nice to have these helpers and it adds interest to life out here.

Back to Reality

After having such a nice visit with family last week-end, I now find myself shifting into home alone mode. I enjoy the physical work of washing, making beds and checking out the mail. It gives me a chance to slide back into my routine and refocus on what I need to be doing the month of September.

We had our first DAR meeting of the fall on Thursday. I had to put on a new hat as the committee chair for the American Heritage Committee. I have a lot to learn. One thing is how to pass on information in a concise, understandable and interesting way. I found myself at the podium trying to encourage our members to participate in the various contests offered to them. I do not think it went well. For too many years I have presented material to six year old children. Since I have been in this group for only one year, I felt very unnecessary standing there telling them about something they have been doing for years. One good outcome is that I am learning more about how the organization works. For our next meeting I will be better prepared and hopefully it will go better, for me at least. We installed 12 new members. We are a growing organization. DAR is a service group and emphasis on the constitution is spread through the schools, media and the duties of the various committees. I am learning and that is a good thing.

What was disturbing to me was the news coming out of our southern state of Florida. For anyone to want to start burning books, no matter what book it is, is an affront to every forward thinking American. Hopefully it can all be resolved soon and the world focus on one individual who decided to make a statement which is hurtful to so many others will be history. Our country is known as a beacon of light, but not light coming from a fire burning sacred books.

Tomorrow we will be remembering a shocking and hurtful time in the history of our country. Enough senseless killing has already taken place. Too many wars have already been fought to secure our freedom. We should be about healing and not tearing down. That is the kind of reality I want to perpetuate.

Cousins Mini Reunion

The initial plans morphed into a different group, but the final edition was perfect. It was to have been my brother Bill, and his two daughters, Ann and Jane. Bill's health prevented him from making the trip but Ann and Jane came and brought a delightful friend ,Ruthie , along with them. Ann came from Alton, Ill. Jane and Ruthie from Phoenix, Arizona. Another cousin, Charlotte from Pelzer, S.C. brought her daughter Amelia with her. The Atlanta cousin, Bonnie, came laden with all kinds of wonderful foods. The cousins who flew in were met at the airport by cousin Bruce from near Atlanta. All of this took place on Saturday. On labor day Bruce came back up and brought his two sons, Reed and Grant for the afternoon and supper. Reed is a new student at Ga. Tech but left campus to see his cousins. His last reunion was when he was a baby. Grant had not met any of them and he was the youngest cousin here.

Not all of the cousins could make the trip. Since it was hastily put together and my home was limited in space and accommodations, it was not as large as it could have been. This is how it went down. On Friday Bonnie arrived first straight from her job in Atlanta. She had four totes and one huge cooler filled with foods. She got right to work slicing and dicing and put together two huge dishes to be used the next day. Also she had one casserole to be cooked later. All of the gourmet snacks and drinks kept us well fed for the week-end. Charlotte arrived with her daughter around 6:30. By 9:00 we were all ready to call it a day. Charlotte said she could not sleep on my soft beds so she found her place on a long cargo couch in the very open living room area. Amelia had her own bed upstairs and Bonnie and I shared a room and bed in the upper north west room. Not unexpectedly we all slept until 8:00 the next morning. Jane, Ann and Ruthie came the next day when Bruce picked them up at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Much was done and shared this past week-end, but here are some of the highlights. We had several big meals in the sun room and by adding a small bistro table to the end of the glass top table we got eight of us around it all quite comfortably. The weather was perfect to be in the sun room. Another day, some of us went down to the dock to swim . My neighbor, Skip had offered to take us for a boat ride on Lake Lanier. Four of us went out for an hour.

While we were gone, Jane got out the two boxes of family records. They were sent down by Jane Ellen from Abingdon, Va. Uncle Gene had collected these letters, diaries and pictures from over the years, some as far back as the 1800's. Jane had agreed to head up this endeavor to organize the family records. When we began to drift back from the lake she had a plan to present to us.

We planned how to preserve these papers for future generations. Rose took the job of going through the letters of Rose Gamp, putting them in chronological order. Bonnie offered to scan them and put it all together in printable form. Bonnie will take the diaries, glean the important events and get them in printable form. Jane will take all of the old pictures, get them in order along with helpful explanations and scan them for printable application.

Ann, Jane and Ruthie got to ride in my work horse (golf cart) up to the vineyard. It gave me a big thrill to be able to show my kiwi vines to the girls and to have them pick their own kiwi. Of course the kiwi will have to ripen for a few weeks but it was all great fun.

On two evenings we all gathered up on the deck where we could look out on the top parts of the trees. We took out extra chairs along with drinks and snacks and shared a lot of good stories and a lot of good laughs.

The one blip on the screen of this trip was when Ann, Char and Bonnie walked up to the vineyard and stepped on a yellow jackets ground nest. The yellow jackets responded in their usual way. I was not there having prudently gone to bed early, but am told that clothes began flying off in every direction. I am sure the walk back to the house was not leisurely. They put soda on their stings and then headed into town for benedryl.

Char has taken on the job of enlisting another cousin not here to help with planning for a larger reunion in a centrally located state park or perhaps a place on the Atlantic beach. Hopefully with planning ahead we can have more cousins in on the fun along with their families.

I think we all agreed that this was a great reconnection with family members that we do not often get to see. I certainly did enjoy hosting the group. It was so easy to have my daughter take over the kitchen and my son being the chauffeur for the cousins flying into Atlanta. I look forward to seeing them all again next summer, somewhere, sometime.

Glancing Back and Looking Forward

The hot summer we are having has greatly restricted my outdoor activities. Without a garden to spend time in I navigated to other interests. My big project of making a quilt was completed so I went on a wild goose chase. I was trying to find the new library branch in this northeastern end of our county. On the first trip I had a lovely drive through the farming area. There are some interesting looking farms along this road named "Jot Em Down". It wound past one of the largest "front lawns" I have ever seen. Those folks must have to mow two acres to get to their front door. Not many chicken farms along this road. They appeared to be other types of farms.

When I got to the end of that road I had passed over Keith Bridge Road, 400 highway, A.C. Smith road and that is when I just gave up and turned around. I returned the same way I had come and for the second time passed a man on a bicycle who had been heading in the same direction as me. I hope he found his destination for I did not.

The next day I tried again to find this library on Settin' Down Road. This time I went west on Browns Bridge road, past Keith Bridge road, passed over 400 again, through Coal Mountain and past highway 9. At this point I gave up again. I had thought this new branch would be closer to me than the main library which is in the town of Cumming, right next to the Senior Center. It is about 12 miles from my house. That is a long way to drive to check out a book. It is about the same distance to the library in Gainesville. That is where I used to go to get books. The fee for using a library out of your county has grown to $60 yearly which is more than I want to pay.

So, I began to pick up old books I had read before. After reading A Tale of Two Cities and Black Diamonds in my Own Back Yard, I picked up some old journals that I had written as far back as 1948. What I noticed as I read my activities from those years was first how much reading I actually had done. Mostly I read non fiction. There were gaps in my journals, sometimes just days, even years when my children were young and needing my attention.

The one I have just finished was from the years of 1994 and 95. It was pretty revealing to me to read from my own account of how much work I had done. I had a helper, Bob Huffman. Bob was a retired lawyer who liked to keep busy and earn pocket money. He was a fun person to work with. It makes me tired to think of all the things we did over the years to maintain and improve the place here. Also it amazes me that I had forgotten all of the things I did during that time and the years before. I suppose our brains can retain just so much then some facts have to recede in order for others to squeeze in ! For sure, I did not shrink from work, or from walking at the end of a busy day. I used to walk two miles each day with my neighbor Liz. Liz is living in a nursing home now and does not remember anything !

But all of that is in the past. Going forward I have many projects in mind, mostly they are solitary ventures. Reading is still high on my list but this is for in the evenings. Television is for when I am too tired to read. Another quilt is in progress, a nine patch this time, which will be tied, not hand quilted. One of my weekly regular activities is to attend the adult Bible study at my church. We usually have about 20 people and the scriptures we study varies. Right now we are studying the words of Jesus. This past Sunday it was from Mark chapter 9 verses 42 -50. Our pastor, David Beville is our teacher and he always asks for someone to read, it is voluntary but it usually seems to be me. We have a lot of quiet people who are content to listen but then there are trouble makers like me. There are parts of the Bible which are troublesome to me. Sunday we were discussing one of those things which I cannot accept conclusively. I try to reason it out but cannot get my brain around what our Bible says. It may be heresy but I cannot come to terms with heaven and hell. If hell is separation from God, then are we not in a state of hell on earth when we separate from Him from time to time. Is it now or is it later that we pay for this voluntary separation. How can we be punished when our earthly body is no longer functioning. How does your soul be punished? These are the mental gymnastics I brought up in our class. David says we cannot cut and paste the Bible. He says he wishes that God would eventually heal all of us but the Bible says otherwise. I will just have to let it rest and trust that a wise and loving God will forgive and whatever happens will just have to happen. How can I do otherwise?

Mission Accomplished

Last night I made the last stitches needed to sew the binding on my latest quilt. It is standard size and it took me around two years to make it. It has pieces of cloth in it which were given to me by my daughter Bonnie and her cousin Charlotte plus material of my own.

I have learned that when you hand quilt the whole piece will not end up quite as big as you had planned, or measured for. It shrinks a bit but not noticeably. That is why one always starts doing the hand quilting in the center and work outward.

This pattern is one I "copied" from my daughter. She had the idea and made a smaller lap quilt. I copied her technique and this is how I proceeded. By using some mathematical calculating I decided how many squares I needed for 4 inch squares plus the one inch border strip to cover a standard bed. Then I cut them from fabrics that I liked. With the squares in hand and the one inch strips all cut I began to assemble the quilt.

The first step was to sew short one inch strips on one side of all of the four inch square blocks. This takes a while but it makes the rest of the sewing go faster.

To assemble the squares for the on point arrangement, I started up in the left upper corner with one block. Since it had the side strips sewn on I simply placed it at the left upper corner. For the next row I sewed two blocks together . Then I sewed a strip of the one inch fabric at the top of these two. Next I sewed the first single block onto the top of it. As the rows took their place they are appearing to be slanting rows, and they are supposed to. For each succeeding row I increased the blocks by one, laying them on the bed as I worked and always sewing the one inch wide pieces on the side of all of them and the strip along the top of them. When those are sewed onto the ones waiting on the bed each block will have a one inch strip all around it. It took me several weeks to get this all sewed together as I was not working continuously on this quilt.

Once the blocks were all sewed together I began to make my "sandwich" with the backing on the floor, right side down. Then on that I placed the batting, stretching where needed as I went along. Last came the blocks I had sewn all together covering it all. In order to hold everything in place, I used one safety pin for each block and pinned all layers together. I did this all over the entire quilt.

Now the hand quilting began. Using a large wooden hoop I put it in the middle of the quilt and secured the three layers in place while I would be hand sewing "in the ditch". That is in the seam lines. This took longer than any of the other steps. I usually only worked on it in the evenings. I set up camp in the balcony area of my house where the lighting would be best. I had a short table in place to put up my feet if I wanted to do that. The television was nearby so that I could listen as I worked. Sometimes my middle finger of my right hand would become tired or hurting from pushing the thimble on the needle. That is when I got aspercream and applied it to that finger and hand.

It has been a fun thing to do and a good way to use up extra material. I occasionally had some input from visitors as to which blocks would look good together while it was laying on the bed waiting to be sewn together. So, you could call this a group effort. Whether group or individual effort, it will be a warm and fun quilt to sleep under when winter comes calling as it absolutely will do around the end of the year.

How I Met Your Mother

There is a current television show by the title of How I Met Your Mother. I have not watched this program, but assume it is a comedy. This morning I found myself thinking about my brother Gene. Recently his wife of 58 years told me how they met. I found the story interesting and revealing.



When they were both in high school in our small town of Harlan, they both happened to be in separate groups of walkers. She was with two girls and he with a couple of friends. The place where they were walking was on a high part of town called Ivy Hill. They did not know each other,even though they both were in the same high school. The group began to talk to each other when they met on this popular place to visit. After some conversation the girls walked on ahead of them. At some point later my brother apparently had a chance to talk to her privately. He said "I notice you are wearing a ring, whose ring is it"? She told him. He replied, "Well if you ever decide to take it off, let me know". She said she went home, took off the ring and told her brother to take it to the owner. Two days later Gene and Jet went on their first date to a sports event at their school. I thought it was clever of him to use this open ended approach.



My own daughter met her husband when she was a student at Emory U. in Atlanta. She had a job in a large department store where he was manager of the Sports department. He would stop by and talk to her at her counter. Sparks began to fly and after a two year courtship, they began a marriage which is still alive and well today.





My mother met my father when they were both working in the offices of the National Biscuit Company in Louisville, Ky. This was in the early 1900's and the one telephone was in his office, apparently by his desk. She was interested in knowing him better so she made excuses to go there to use the telephone. She twisted the cord and took time to untwist it. By her own admission she prolonged these phone calls in order to engage him in conversation. Apparently he was intrigued with this young lady four years his junior. They were married in November of 1909 in a Lutheran Church in Louisville, Ky. Eight children and 44 years later he was taken in death. He knew he did not have long and told my mother he did not want to die. He said he was afraid the children might need him. He took his parenting very seriously.



Rufus J. Bailey, my brother-in-law was busy teaching in a one room school house; he was unaware that he was about to meet his life partner. The year was around 1930. My sister and a friend had heard there was a new teacher in the area. They were both teachers in a school near there. Being curious the two of them walked to his school and went inside to get a look at this young man. It may be that it was at the end of the day but students were still there. He quickly dismissed them and greeted his visitors. When he learned that Katrine's father sat on the school board it must have peaked his interest. It could have been her personality of course. She was a unique person unafraid to speak her mind, also a beautiful young lady. Their courtship lasted for 8 years. They were married from 1938 until 1981. They died 6 months apart. That marriage is another long story part of which is in a book they both wrote. This book "Black Diamonds in My Own Back Yard", was about mine safety in Ky.



My sister Ruth met her husband when he visited our home with our brother. They both served in the military during World War II. Apparently he came back often as they were married in December of 1948. George loved our family. He had lost his parents early in life and our bustling family was just what the doctor ordered for him. Their marriage lasted until he was taken in death four decades later.

I met my own husband in a college classroom. It was nearing Thanksgiving and our professor asked us how we felt about changing our schedule to have a longer holiday. Everyone was speaking up and giving their opinion. I spoke up too and said " Either way is fine with me, I do not care." Then I heard an angry voice from the back of the class. "Well, it may not matter to you but some of us have a long way to travel home and it matters to us". I turned around to see who this angry person was. I saw a dark haired young man who did not look happy. I kept quiet after that. We took our holiday home and I was returning on a bus. I was headed for the back of the bus where my group of home town friends were sitting. I looked forward to reuniting with him. As I walked back I saw this young man whom I had made so angry. He was sitting all alone with an empty seat beside him. After making him so angry I could not in good conscience pass him by and go on to my friends. So, I took the empty seat and we had several hours to get acquainted. Park of the time I fell asleep. But on this trip he asked me if I would go out with him sometime. I said "yes". He replied, "do you really mean it? Some girls will say yes but they do not mean it." He had me pegged ! After a two year courtship and with graduation behind us we were married.

Interestingly enough, we never quarrelled after we were married. We had a peaceful marriage until he was taken in death due to a tragic car accident. Did this marriage come about because I did not want to be rude and pass by this young man on the bus. There is no way to know.