Long Long Ago and Now

Seems like yesterday that our grandkids first came to the farm to be together and attend Vacation Bible School at our village church:  Elijah, Trent, Geri Ann, and Brianna.  As usual, I was helping there, so it was easy to take them along. For these preschoolers, staying at the farm for that long with each other was a big deal. I slept upstairs with them each night and we would tell stories and make sure no one became homesick. I am guessing the two boys were four or five and the two little girls were three or four. I was so proud having them attend with me.  A cherished memory was going to the local Kroger store and having those four following me like a line of little ducklings across the parking lot and into the store.  As we marched, bystanders watched and smiled at their cuteness.

That was the same year, I believe, that their big afternoon adventure at the farm was catching fish. At that time, we had two farm ponds with one at a higher level than the other though they were a long way apart.  It was planned to allow the higher pond to overflow with a wide shallow slice of running water gently flowing across the meadow and finally our side lawn and down to the lower pond.  That summer the stream of water was thick with baby fish.  The children were so delighted to be able to grab the little fish in their hands and look at them before letting them go on down to the lower pond.

After that, it became a tradition that the grandkids would come and attend VBS together. I encouraged mud pie making, catching fireflies, and other country past times. After we moved the half mile over to Woodsong from Pondside Farm, that first year here we had some adjusting to do. A favorite downstairs bedroom is completely underground and offers wonderful darkness.  We moved two queen size bedsteads into that room with barely room to walk between the beds, but the kids and I were able to sleep together there and continue telling stories and saying night time prayers. 

I think because Tara and Erin lived in our community up on Route 166 during their earliest VBS attendance, they attended from home. Leslie was still living in Carterville and went to VBS there I assume. For some reason that first year Leslie did not come down from Freeport, but later she did.  She also helped a year or so with the opening music. (At night she was as great at telling ghost stories as at music, and I had to put a stop to that when someone got too scared.)  Tara and Erin came down from Johnston City and helped too. Even Gma Shirley came from her church and helped one year when we needed more workers. When Sam and Cecelie became old enough to attend VBS, they joined the older kids. By this time, the cousins had grown very close and were adept at making up their own games and activities.  Geri Ann had to work around ball practices and games sometimes but she was always here when possible, but then she moved to Georgia.

As the kids grew up and entered high school, they would volunteer to be classroom helpers, so they continued to gather at the farm for VBS when camp and summer activities allowed. This year Trent and Elijah have completed their two years of college, but they are here to help teach. Soon to be a high school junior, Sam too is again  working  as he did in VBS at his own church. Brianna has little more than a month until she starts her college career. Once again she is working with preschoolers, and once again she gets to see the one special little girl that comes to our VBS from a nearby church each year.  They early bonded because just like Bri as a preschooler, this quiet little beauty was very shy. They understood each other intuitively.  It was so sweet to see their once-a-year friendship develop down through the years. There are other VBS kids their own age that our grandkids have stayed close to through Tweets and Facebook contact.  I like to think the children who have grown up to work in VBS are honing leadership skills that will profit themselves and others for years to come.

For the first time in decades, I am not working in VBS this year, and I don’t have to be sure to have adequate seat-belt spaces for grandkids going with me.  Their cars are parked outside.  I am enjoying hearing the piano in the living room at Woodsong though and the four here this year creating and practicing skits for opening exercises. I like hearing them debate what to do with their free day time since VBS is at night this year. While I was in bed this morning, Gerald said they got up early today and Sam scrambled eggs for the gang.

Some things haven’t changed, however. There are ten pairs of kicked-off shoes in the front hall the last I counted.  Half devoured cans of soda are left around.  Last evening after a swim in the lake, I picked up wet towels to toss in the washer/drier because I don’t like them left on carpeted floors. I enjoy it all  because of all the magical memories that started long long ago.

The Pleasure and Excitement of Summer Company

After a spate of company last weekend with the Eilers and the Archibalds here, this week has been relatively quiet.  We often do not know who might arrive during the night and be sleeping in the next morning here at Woodsong.  Gerald did know that Tara and Bryan and our three great grandsons were coming to spend a day at the farm at the end of their vacation on their way home to Georgia, and he had been making sure the lime pile and toy machinery were ready for them.  I knew Jeannie and Cecelie were coming “at the end of the week,” but wasn’t sure when they would arrive. 

I was spending the night at Katherine’s, and when Gerald woke he could see who was in the house by the cars outside. Jeannie and Cecelie had picked up Brianna over at her house, where their family has been this summer—when they aren’t at Waggoner.  Of course, Mary Ellen came over the next day.  We liked it that it worked out so several of the family got to see “the boys” who, of course, are greatly changed every time they visit with most visits several months apart.

Jeannie came prepared with food and ideas and declared she was cooking for all of us.  We declared that her egg salad sandwiches for Friday lunch were the best we had ever eaten. Since people often sleep late and are barely up for lunch or have only recently eaten the bowl of cereal or toast, which is what they usually get for breakfast here, the egg salad was a great idea.  She also fixed supper that night, but the Archibalds had needed to leave before then--knowing they would still arrive home well after midnight. 

As usual, the three little guys rode the tractor, the lawn mower, the Gator, and played hard in and out of the house.  Cecelie and Brianna enjoyed entertaining them as well as Gerald.  When I arrived home, I played peep-eye with the shy one and gradually had my turn interacting with each precious boy.  Still in the flower mode, Gerald took the boys to the fields and let them pick bouquets for their parents.  I was impressed that they made sure their dad had a bouquet as well as their mama.   Later when Maddux was yawning and a mite cranky, his mother asked him if he was getting tired.  He nodded yes and added, “From all that flower picking.”  It is always sad to see them leave and we dreaded the long trip ahead for the parents, although they are pretty accomplished at keeping the kids occupied or asleep. 

The next day Elijah arrived driving down from Illinois State, where he is taking some summer classes and working.  I think the grandkids gathered up at Trent and Brianna’s house on Friday, and on Saturday Sam and his friend Anna were here at the farm for cousin activities. They always have plans since they keep connected by phone and Facebook.

 Elijah sang for us at church on Sunday, and then he was invited to sing again that evening at the Fifth Sunday Sing, where five or six of our rural churches meet together four times a year.  I missed that since I was visiting at Katherine’s.  Earlier that day, I think it was, Jeannie had taken her kids over to Carbondale to visit her alma mater, but she had left a loin roast in the slow cooker all day, and there were delicious pulled pork sandwiches for supper when I arrived back home.

Dodging the rain when necessary, Jeannie had, of course, ridden her bicycle every day—sometimes on local country roads and sometimes going over to Harrisburg and getting on the bike trail. On  Monday she started to bike to town, and Gerald and I were relaxing at the dining room table.  Suddenly she appeared with one hand over an eye with a bloody face and knees.  Broken glasses were in the other hand, and she was saying, “I’m hurt.” We sprang into action all talking at once--grabbing clean dish towels to soak up blood and trying to figure out what to do.  Cecelie rescued the damaged bike and brought it to the house.

Their little dog Leah, who had never done such a thing before, had run in front of Jeannie’s bike on our driveway before she had a chance to do anything to prevent the bike’s fall and her face going into the gravel.  As soon as we had the blood flow somewhat stanched, she was calling her insurance company and her husband and trying to figure out what to do in order to avoid the emergency room if possible.  There were no approved places in our area for her insurance, but they kindly told here that therefore she could go anywhere with pre-approval from them. 

With a deep looking gash  on her face above her eye, we were thinking plastic surgeon, but the telephone book did not help us. Gerald’s doctor said to call the hospital for a list, but they put him on hold and we gave up on that because we wanted to get things taken care of. We did not want to spend the rest of the day in the ER, and Jeannie did not want to end up unnecessarily with that enormous expense. I tagged along with Gerald and Jeannie because I did not want to sit at home not knowing what was going on. The first urgent care place we went to was closed for lunch.  We went to another. 

The girl at the desk was so attentive and assured Jeannie that the P.A. there did that kind of thing all the time, and Jeannie went in quickly.  Not too much later, she came out after a tetanus shot and four stitches on her forehead with bandages on her head and knee. She assured us it had not hurt anything like she thought it would.  By this time, it was well past lunch time, so we went to a nearby eatery to plot her next move.  She had also talked to her eye doctor at Freeport and was hoping she could have the lenses put in a new unbroken frame, so she could wait to replace the lenses back with her own doctor.   I could not imagine that anyone could get the one lens, which had some damage in its corner, out of the frame without breaking it. 

We bravely went to Wal-Mart and no one was even at the desk in the eye center.  That seemed like a bad omen since we saw some other customers sitting closer to the intersanctum.  But when that clerk came out, we immediately felt her concern and expertise.  Within a very short time, she had found a frame among the children’s frames that fit Jeannie’s lenses exactly, and she had both lenses transferred to the new frame, which cost $9.09.  We were happy campers, indeed, and were soon back at Woodsong feeling very blessed.

Jeannie, Cecelie, and Elijah were actually on their way to Nashville, TN, to visit Leslie, whose birthday was Tuesday.  The kids had concert tickets to celebrate. After a little debate, they decided all was well enough to head to Nashville.  Jeannie loaded up her crippled bike on the back of her van and knew she would be renting a bike in Nashville.  Rick is teaching summer school as usual, and he came through last night and left his truck here and took Elijah’s car on down to Leslie and Mike’s for the rest of the week.

The dilapidated Candy Land  game is once again under the flap of the couch in the living room.  This is the same game that little Tara used to play and made sure rules were changed as we went along because even back then she wanted to win. Now it is her sons who play with Gerald, and the game is interrupted as younger boys join Aidan, who is very kind to let them join in.  I had forgotten once where I had stored (hidden) the game, but Aidan quickly went to the couch and pulled it out

Now faded bouquets have all been thrown out, the leftovers eaten up, the bloody towels soaked and bleached, and we’ve had a calm Independence Day.  I went to Katherine’s most of the day before an aide arrived, and Mary Ellen came over to the farm.  None of the beds have been touched since people left, but since Eilers will be stopping by on their way back north, I will let them deal with that.     

A Ride around the Farm

Gerald reported at lunch the other day on the beauty of the wild flowers in our Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres.  He wanted to send a bouquet of these to daughter Katherine, so he invited me to take a tour with him that afternoon to collect flowers.

We climbed into the Gator and started off first to check out the little sunflower plants in several plots around the farm.  The deer have destroyed one plot and are working on another, but Gerald has sprayed four plots with deer repellent that is supposed to keep the deer away.  We will see in another month whether we get to enjoy blossoms on these plots.  If we do, the birds will have quite a feast later when the seeds drop from the bloom center. Although we saw no deer on this particular day, we did see one circle of smashed grass where they had slept.

Gerald has planted all kinds of hay seed and native grasses on the CRP land surrounding our home—timothy, lespedeza, red top, alfalfa. Although there is some work for the farmer involved with this government program requiring planting, mowing, and sometimes careful burning, it is pleasant to think of the earth growing richer for future generations and bird life more abundant for us.  Little blue stem is particularly appealing to Gerald because unlike a dense ground cover  such as fescue, this native grass has bare spots between the plants, and the quail have room to nest and run through these little alley ways.

Soon we were over beyond our lake and were riding through lush tall grasses and abundant patches of flowers--brown-eyed Susans, Queen Anne’s lace, red and ladino clover, and plants I did not know the name of.  Gerald would grab his machete and hop off and cut tall stems to put into our large box in the back of the Gator.  I have heard of sweet clover all my life, but somehow I thought that was just a generic name for the red and white.  Now I have learned that the very tall plants with lacy leaves and little yellow blossoms are what that term refers to. The lacy leaves on the stems of partridge pea   were as pretty as blossoms to me. All these were added to the box along with some pretty heads of milkweed, which of course oozed its milky substance when Gerald cut the stems.

Although we occasionally saw the quite lovely lavender bloom of thistle plant, we didn’t collect them when Gerald chopped the thorny things down.  I was reminded of my dad paying my older siblings so much for every one of the thistles they cut from his pasture.  I think I tagged along with Rosie and Jim but was too young to make any money. 

Gerald remembered being paid for collecting pods from the milkweed plant for the war effort during World War II.  The silky seeds inside were used for life jackets. 

Infrequently we saw the brown head of the weed called sour dock, and I remembered using those seeds for coffee in the play house I created in two of the angles of the rail fence still remaining at Mount Airy Farm from my father’s childhood. I loved my mother’s stories about her and her friend Vera’s adventures, and so I tried to imitate their rail fence play house.  (One angle provided a living room area, and the next angle allowed me to have a kitchen.  I carried in a wooden box for a table and other objects for furniture.)  Gerald clipped me one stalk of dock in honor of  that childhood memory, and it looked rather nice in the middle of the arrangement I put on our dining room table, where it matched the brown cloth beneath it.

I am sure part of the reason for this ride around the farm was to distract me from the sadness of our daughter’s illness, and temporarily it did. Our box was full and running over, so I had plenty of flowers for a huge bouquet from Gerald to Katherine, which was especially pretty when he added a few tiger lilies and orange butterfly weed.  There was a bouquet for us, a couple of blooms for the kitchen table, and a huge arrangement in a bucket for the front porch. Best of all was the memories stirred up and the memories created of fields full of golden yellow blossoms swaying midst an abundance of tall warm season grasses.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) website which administers the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for the federal Department of Agriculture gives this explanation:   “In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10-15 years in length. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.”

Oh dear!! (Written June 29)

I wrote a blog three two days ago, and I liked it altho I had not had time to edit it yet.  I was going to copy it to have Gerald check the ag facts and spellings.  So started to copy it from the many-day blog entries and put it on a separate document and then print it out for him to see. Somehow someway, I not only lost the blog post completely on Word--but a crazy half light blue page that will not let me use a cursor has shown up on the long many-day original copy of the blog that I write on instead of directly on here as I am doing now.  Don't know what happened and I cannot get rid of it on Word.  If I never hlog again, you will understand that I am too frustrated until I get this problem solved.  And computer stuff bumfuzzles me, so I may never be able to solve and use Word again.  We will see what the future holds. Ha. 

June Blessings

Two yellow day lilies are drinking water from a vase on the dining room table.  Katherine’s new wheelchair has arrived although the part to allow her to drive it has not yet arrived, so she went back to the old one for a couple of days in order to travel through her home.

It has been a pleasant week for the most part.  Not only did I get a nice visit with daughter Mary Ellen on Tuesday , but the next morning when I got out of bed at l0 a.m. (after surfing and catching up on the Internet too late the night before), there was a note in the kitchen from Mary Ellen with a meat loaf made from a new recipe she told me about on Tuesday and also containers of seven-layer salad—one for us and one for Katherine.  Both were very good, and one of the nice things about people sharing food is that often it is dishes you haven’t made in a long time—such as the that special salad that is so good but takes effort to create.

On Thursday I fried a package of fish that Gerry had cleaned and put in the freezer from their recent fishing time here.  With all the donations of food lately, our grocery bill ought to go down!

Grandson Sam and friends were out a couple of days to enjoy the lake, and I liked that. It is always good to see kids having a good time.   I finally got to meet his girl friend and a couple of other friends I’d heard about but never met.  There won’t be any visits this week, however, because he is at University of Illinois band and orchestra camp. His dad took him up in time to audition today, and he made second chair in the trombone section.  I was able to see Katherine’s pleasure this afternoon as she received the text message from David telling her about it.  To me the neatest thing about this camp is that our youngest grandchild Cecelie is there also with her violin.  That two cousins from opposite ends of the state can share this musical experience is very gratifying.

Last evening Gerald and I went out to dinner at our favorite quiet restaurant to celebrate our 57^th wedding anniversary.  This morning at Bible study before worship service, we studied Job together.  It is good to find out with Job that some bad things which happen are not the result of our sin.  And it is also good to know that friends who want to comfort someone in trouble should not judge or claim to speak for God.  Job never knew why he was the recipiesnt of such tragedy, but I guess he not only understands it now but he can rejoice that for centuries humans have been blessed by his example when he assured us that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away—but we can still say, Blessed be the name of the Lord.  This example of faith when things don’t make sense is especially valuable to our family right now.

With the coming of two new night CNA workers—sisters who were going to cover for one another if needed—Katherine and I enjoyed thinking I could again limit my help to the evenings and no more night duty. That lasted six days because tonight one sister ended up in the hospital—I still do not know why.  The other sister did not know and could not be reached for a long time to come to Katherine’s in her sister’s stead.  But when she belatedly heard, she came but had to bring her children with her since she had not prior notice. So she is there now putting Katherine to bed—something I cannot do.  When she and her children leave, she is to phone me and I will drive in to town to spend the remainder of the night.  So as often happens, Katherine’s careful planning goes awry.

Busy Times

The iris blossoms were beautiful this year.  They have come and gone and I never once went out and picked one for the kitchen table.   Now the yellow day lilies line the side of the house with their cheery message.  Maybe I will find time to bring one of those in to brighten meals.

Today Mary Ellen came over to Woodsong to see her dad and me.  It had been too long since she and I had the opportunity to have a good mother-daughter time.  She has been working very hard up at Waggoner cleaning their home there and arranging with the insurance to repair the storm damage done to the house the other night after the tornado moved across the river from St. Louis. She has been down here with Brian and Trent for a couple of days now after taking Brianna down to Murray State University for orientation.  But she has worked just as hard cleaning their house down here and helping Brian, who never gets to stop this time of year. Amazingly, he has his crops all planted despite the rains. Mary Ellen left our house late, but I see a funny Facebook post lamenting farm life.  She and Brian were having hot dogs over a bon fire while Brian was spraying and she was working picking up fallen branches.  The latest post tells me they are finally back in the house, and she is getting the deer ticks off of herself.   Early in the morning she goes back to Kentucky to pick up Brianna.

Katherine too works hard just getting through her day’s appointments and agenda while struggling to not slip out of her worn-out electric wheelchair.  She worked diligently getting the correct one chosen in Spring 2012. A final step was for the salesman to come to St. Louis Rehabilitation Institute for a meeting with her and the physical therapist there.  He phoned he had a flat tire on the way up and did not make it, and then he kind of disappeared without answering phone calls.  Finally she found out the company had sold and she must begin to work with a new salesman.  This has gone on for months.  They did bring the ordered chair in the other day to her house—but adjustments still have to be made and she is being told some parts are  not yet  in.  I have spent a great deal of my time at her home the last few weeks helping out, and you would not believe how busy the days are with phone calls and text messages, people coming and going, and people wanting paper work from her despite the fact that her hands can no longer handle paper.

Actually everyone in the family seems to be working hard with little time to spare.  Gerry is recruiting for Georgia, and Tara is involved for two weeks with the softball camps there.  That means Vickie is busy taking three little boys to the swimming pool nearby every day.  Bryan has been briefly at his home office in Chicago, but he is back in Georgia now and I am sure the boys are relishing  plenty of father time in the evenings when he closes his home office.   Erin is working these same two weeks in softball camps at Texas A&M. Geri Ann will soon be in summer school, but I am pleased she has had a break to visit friends in New York.

The Eilers are winding down from their school year and facing the chores postponed till summer. At least Jeannie was able to get in 60 miles on her bicycle through the hills yesterday.  I would call that work, but she calls it bliss.   Elijah is back at school at Illinois State and sharing a small house with a roommate, which is an exciting change from dorm life although he liked that too.  Cecelie, our youngest grandchild, is ready to start high school in the fall and is now in eastern Kentucky with her church youth group working in Vacation Bible School there.  Having heard the impact this work made on her older siblings for many years, she was very pleased about getting to go.

After I came home from Katherine’s yesterday morning, I mostly spent the day just resting as I was exhausted from several nights’ care giving with only a partial night’s sleep.  I did not even have to cook our noon meal  as Vickie’s mother (Gma Shirley to that set of grandkids) had cooked and she brought me and Gerald a yummy meal when she arrived at Katherine’s house Sunday evening.  All I had to do was heat it up, so I napped until Gerald came in for lunch, and then I napped after lunch too. Gerald keeps busy mowing the every-expanding lawn and working on the lake and in his shop and on his small garden.   This time of year is very busy for farm families; so despite retirement, Gerald and I find ourselves with little spare time.  And though I sometimes worry about our children and their families being over busy, I am grateful for their work ethic and that they are living productive lives.

May Time Festivities

Flags were flying along the roadside for Memorial Day weekend as I drove into our village to attend a wedding Saturday.  It was a sweet wedding with the bride’s young adult son and daughter serving as attendants. Nephews were ushers, and bought in the bride’s mother in her wheelchair. (Someone told me a photo of the bride’s late father was there with her in the pew.) Beautiful music was provided by a sister and young friend. Another sister and family had come from the Washington, D.C. area, and cousins and an uncle had come down from northern part of the state. Her only brother, a skilled chef, was in the church kitchen preparing a sumptuous dinner for the reception after the ceremony. A brother-in-law was chosen to escort the bride, and when asked who was giving the bride away, his reply was, “Her family.”  I liked that answer because this scattered but close knit family was all there to support the couple in this village church their grandparents had attended.  I felt as if groom was being added to their family even more than she was being given away.

Our weekend treat was the unexpected visit of Gerry and Vickie, our son and wife and granddaughter Geri Ann.   I was spending Friday night at Katherine’s, but I bought barbecued pork steak from Small’s that I knew Gerry liked.  So with that simple supper, I had time to enjoy their arrival before I left. They always tell me not to cook, but I like to have them at our table.  Their goal as Gerry texted on the way up was to fish and fish and fish.  And they did.  Geri Ann, of course, was soon off to her old hometown to visit her Johnston City friends and catch up on happenings there. 

Vickie and Geri Ann had lunch and an afternoon in town with Vickie’s mother, who came onto Katherine’s where she visits and helps her on Saturday evenings. When I got back to Woodsong from the wedding and then Katherine’s house again, Gerry was out in the shop cleaning fish, but we all had a simple supper together with fresh strawberry short cake for dessert, Gerry and Vickie and her brother Louie and nephew Drew had caught plenty of fish for a fish fry at Louie’s house Sunday afternoon and also to put a supply into our freezer.  With the final washing of the fish in the kitchen sink, people went to bed with our house definitely smelling fishy, but they were a happy crew for the pleasure and success they had experienced on the lake. 

It was especially good to have Gerry and Vickie with Geri Ann sitting with us at worship on Sunday morning. We were invited to dinner at the fish fry, but I was planning on going to Katherine’s and I think Gerald was ready for a nap.  Of course, we suspected we would have fish brought to us anyhow, and we were not disappointed with the fish and shrimp and potatoes Vickie carried over. There were also small plastic bags of the same that I could take to Katherine’s, and that is what she had for supper tonight.

After Brianna’s recovery from wisdom tooth removal, she and her mother Mary Ellen were able to join Brian and Trent in their home here on Sunday, where they will be spending more and more time now that school is out.  Their urgent family goal is to get their crops planted after all this wet weather.  Mary Ellen was pitching in with the farming but she did come over to Woodsong for a brief visit and brought a Mother’s Day gift.  Unfortunately, I was at Katherine’s and missed her.  But the cousins had a get-together at Trent and Brianna’s house, and then those two came to Woodsong to stay up late Sunday night visiting with Geri Ann before their family went back to Georgia early Monday. Since Katherine’s regular aide was unable to come that night, Gerry came in and put Katherine to bed and I spent the night.  So I didn’t get to send them off, but Trent and Brianna were still here when I got back to the farm.  They didn’t stay around long, but they knew I was going to be napping shortly.

This afternoon Sam and his buddy Josh came out with their bikes in Josh's pickup, and rode over to Sarahville road and back.  They were hot and sweaty when they stopped by afterwards, but I teased they had a ways to go before they caught up with Jeannie, so I gave them no pity. Earlier I had 

reluctantly carried out the bouquet Jeannie’s family had sent me for Mother’s Day.  It had stayed lovely for over a week, but no longer. The rose petals on the dining room table had to be gathered and the cloth removed for the laundry.   So it had to go after I rescued the five remaining daisies that were still pretty enough to fill a little vase on my kitchen window sill.  The May festivities are over, but those daisies will keep me remembering the good times.

More Softball Heroines

I had meant to talk about Myra Branch in my previous blog about UGA softball.  Not only has it been fun to watch this fast-running senior  play great softball, I have found out about her inspiring success off the field.  How any student accomplished this must public service and played ball at the same time is amazing.  I hope you enjoy reading about her as much as I did.  Check this out:  http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/050613aaa.html.

Also I just saw this story that my son shared on Facebook.  Again some things are far more important than winning.  Read this story about a remarkable young lady--Rachele Fico.

Here is Gerry's Facebook comment and the link: Great article about a father and his daughter. A amazing player and more importantly, person is Rachele Fico! I also think I will make a note to remember that a player may have more than just simply softball going on in their life. I was able to meet and talk with Rachele this past summer on several occasions and she is quite an amazing person. Also, she is a bright reflection of the man that Ray Fico was. RIP Ray

WAFB NEWS

m.wafb.com

It's All Over Now--for our 2013 Team

Granddaughter Geri Ann’s freshman year is over now at University of Georgia, and so is her first year of playing college softball.  Gerald and I went down to her first college game last fall during the practice season, and he and nephew DuWayne attended some games during the regular season.  This past week as the Georgia Dawgs earned the honor to play in the Regionals, we were often glued to the television in the family room.  I am sure that 63 other sets of softball fans also spent much of the past weekend watching as those 64 teams were pared down to the 16 champions to move on to the Super Regionals this weekend.

Friday was our first game and we watched as long as we dared before we jumped in the car and hurried half way up the state for Brianna’s graduation.  Gerald phoned ahead and told Mary Ellen to save us seats because we should be there at least by the benediction.  As it turned out, we were 15 minutes early with time to go to the restroom and find our family in the crowded gym.  However we saw one huge line of traffic in the opposite southbound lane that caused us to feel fortunate to be north-bound.  We might not even have made the benediction. 

When we left Woodsong, we knew our Dawgs were ahead of San Diego State by 6-3, but at this level of play, anything can happen.  So we were making phone calls and were delighted to find out when we reached the graduation that we won 9-3, and that Geri Ann had four singles and was chosen as Player of the Game.  In these double elimination tourneys, you hope to keep in the winners’ bracket because it is tough to have to play more games and then need to defeat non-losing twice to win first place.

Since we came on home yet on Friday night, we were able to watch UGA play Arizona State in our family room on Saturday evening to decide who would go into the losers’ bracket.  (Actually I started watching the game at Katherine’s house where I was working on the coming week’s meds.  Gma Shirley came in smiling with a fountain drink for Katherine and they were watching in her family room and yelling at me when Geri Ann was up. But I hurried back home as soon as I could to watch with Gerald.) We knew that the #5 seed and the team with Dallas Escobedo as pitcher was quite a challenge. So we were pleased when our Anna Swafford had a two-out single and broke up Escobedo’s no hitter. But Escobedo’s 11 strike outs explain how we lost 2-0 and ended up in the losers’ bracket. 

That meant we had to play an elimination game later that night against San Diego State again since they had defeated San Jose in the losers’ bracket.  They came back strong from the night before, but we were able to win 3-2 thanks to Paige Wilson’s three-run homer.  I love watching this redhead sophomore from Chicago hustle and do her thing. Of course, I love watching all these Dawgs play.  Freshmen Kaylee Puailoa and Tina Iosefa came here from Samoa by way of California, and their home runs have been an exciting part of UGA’s home run record season.  And my favorite to watch may be Naija Griffin, a little sophomore who runs like a deer and can fool the other team with a hard driven hit as well as a bunt. She and senior Christine Olney made some spectacular catches out there in the field also. Freshman Samantha LaZear is another fleet footed player who beat the ball to first, stole second, and then made it to third on an error.  Catcher Katie Brown has one of the best arms in college softball, and she too helped made sure Morgan Montemayor get this second win of the tournament for UGA. 

We sat down to watch championship play on Sunday knowing if we lost that our season was over.  We also knew if we won, we would have to turn around 30 minutes later and play Arizona State a second time to win the chance to move on to Super Regionals.  Freshman pitcher Chelsea Wilkinson soared during the last part of our season and did a magnificent job for UGA, but unfortunately Arizona moved ahead 2-0 in the first inning.   Once again we faced Escobedo, and once again after that first inning  she and Morgan Montemayor, known affectionately as “Mo” were pitted against each other.   Mo was back home in Arizona for this tourney, and she and Escobedo had each led Arizona high school teams to championships.  It was fun to watch the camera pan Mo’s family in the stands, and she did us proud with three scoreless innings against this outstanding team.  Despite senior Tess Sito’s single and move to second on a bunt by Olney, we never scored.. (Tess has signed to play professional ball next year.)  So our season ended with a 40-21 record. We did not get the play that second championship game against the Sun Devils.

Arizona State will be playing Kentucky at Lexington this weekend, and I am sure we will be watching, but not with the interest we would have if Georgia had been the one to move on to Super Regionals

It is over for us, but eight other teams surviving this weekend will move onto Oklahoma City for the NAAC Nationals.  With the tornado destruction in that area of our nation, I am sure this will be a sobering experience for these players as well as the usual exhilarating time that players enjoy when they make it all the way to Oklahoma.

The Rite Circumstance for Tears and Joys

With Brianna’s other grandmother, Gma Dot, on one side of me and her mother on the other side, I was fishing for tissues and handing them out to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.”  I did pretty well until the pretty graduate in the row in front of me started crying, and then my eyes teared up so I would fit in. Ha. 

Brian and Gerald were on the other side of Mary Ellen, so I didn’t see if they teared up or not.  Afterwards even though the graduates had thrown their much decorated mortarboards into the air with great glee and then filled their front of the gymnasium with streams of colorful spray strings, these same graduates were soon in tears as classmates hugged and were greeted by their special friends.  Gerald said he had never seen so many tears—he thought commencement services were supposed to be happy.  And they are, of course, but end of an era is also often appropriately grieved.   (After my high school graduation, someone lined up “our gang” and took a photo, which I never ever saw.  Nor did that group of close friends ever again be all together at same time.  Nor will they ever be since one of us is gone. Yes, there are reasons for tears.)

Gma Dot and I could not have been prouder as we saw our sweet lovely Brianna do a great job with her valedictorian speech.  Having just moved to Lincolnwood High School district four years ago, Brianna was at a disadvantage going into a small school where most freshmen had already had nine years of schooling together.  Or as she said in her speech, she could not speak about her grandparents going to school with someone else’s grandparents, which is a wonderful possibility in close-knit communities.  Nevertheless, she made friends and loves her now alma mater with as much passion as any native-born Lincolnland Lancer.  She appreciates all that small school had to offer her and worked hard to profit from those opportunities.  I am sure Lincolnland will be proud to have her as one of their talented alumnae as she completes her education and joins the workforce.

As soon as the ceremony and the after-greetings and hugs were over, we headed over to the local KC Hall at Raymond, where dinner was served at a lovely party.  Decorated with school colors and photos and memorabilia of the six families celebrating there, the hall was festive with gobs of friends crowding in.  I hadn’t been able to see Trent in the crowded gymnasium, but I got my hug there, and part of the fun for me watching Trent and his friends enjoy themselves as well as seeing Bri socializing with friends. Of course, I also enjoyed visited with Gma Dot, who will soon return to Arizona.  Tall and as strikingly attractive as a model, Dorothy is definitely one of my more sophisticated friends.  Yet characteristically, she pulled up the sleeves of her lovely blouse and laughingly showed me the small injuries (several) inflicted on her as she helped pick up limbs of a down tree and did other grunge work while she was down here in our area helping her son Brian as he battles to get a crop planted during this wet spring.

We had planned to stay at Mary Ellen and Brian’s house, and she had a bed waiting for us.  But as the hour got later, Gerald realized we could drive back home and be in bed not too much after midnight.  He had crammed a lot of work into his day before we left for Raymond, and I was not sure he should make that long drive yet that night.  But he was confident he was up for the drive, and knowing that Mary Ellen and Brian still had party clean-up, we decided we might be doing them a favor by going on home to Southern Illinois.  We were in our own bed by 1:00 a.m. and soon this morning, I was hearing him out on the lawn mower cutting the grass on the huge lawn he has created for us.

Blooming Good

Although many of the iris buds had opened into purple shafts on Mother’s Day, the first full flower did not appear until the next day.  Two days later there were many blooms, and now iris bed is thick with more purple blooms than I want to count.   Gerald has the grass in great shape this spring, and he has the lake as free from algae as it has ever been, so looking out our lakeside windows is a visual treat.

We are enjoying accounts of our oldest great grandson playing Little League ball down in Georgia at the first of the week, and now his softball family are with the University of Georgia team in Tempe, Arizona, for the NCAA Regional tournament.  Our grandson Elijah has moved out of the dorm at the end of his sophomore year and is now attending an Inter-Varsity event in the Upper Peninsula.  Then after a brief visit back home in Freeport, he will return to Bloomington and be a first-time apartment dweller with a roommate.  His older sister Leslie is posting photos from Pennsylvania on Facebook instead of photos from Nashville.   I have no idea why she is visiting Pennsylvania.  Erin, who recently announced her engagement, has a new job and moved to Dallas.  Granddaughter Brianna will graduate from Lincolnwood High School tomorrow night and has only the summer before she is off to Murray University in Kentucky.  Sam received his driver’s license this week and is enjoyed the freedom this gives him.  It is exciting to try to keep up with our family as it is scattered throughout the nation, and I feel less land locked as I imagine their scattered activities. I admit to sadness at the time passing.  Seeing a photo of Bri on her last day of school holding a photo of her first day of school made me long to again hold that sweet angel of the past.  Nevertheless, I am happy and pleased at their growing up, and I like thinking of them busily engaged in life while Gerald and I have had to slow down.

We will be watching UGA’s first game at Tempe at 2:30 CST on Friday when we play San Diego State.   Hosted by Arizona State, the games will be on ESPNU. There are 16 regional tourneys with 64 teams competing all dreaming of going on to the Super Regional the next week and then to Oklahoma City. The 2013 NCAA Tempe Regional will feature Arizona State (45-10), Georgia (38-19), San Diego State (35-18) and San Jose State (42-15).  It is the 12^th time in the UGA program history that the Bulldogs have been selected to participate in an NCAA Regional, all under Head Coach Lu Harris-Champer.  

Iris and Celebration Time

The young dogwood tree in the front yard is through blooming.  The rosy azaleas by the front walk have been gorgeous for over a week, but I doubt if they last too much longer.  The two bouquets that I picked from their branches have graced the living and dining rooms for a week, and they needed to be replaced today.  Then the front doorbell rang, and a young delivery manI was handed me a stunning bouquet from Jeannie and the Eilers up in Freeport.   I stop and enjoy the new bouquet on the dining room table every time I walk by.  As usual Country Creations had outdone themselves with this beautiful arrangement. Mother’s Day is just one of the many spring time celebrations going on across the nation.

I think most of the area proms are over now.  Last weekend, I enjpyed them vicariously because of  the many postings by proud parents on Facebook.  Are there no homely girls anymore?  I loved seeing all the beautiful young women in their lovely dresses.  I hope they all have good memories to store away for less festive future times in their lives.  We are so blessed to live in a nation where such luxuries are available for our children as they grow up.  I hope teachers, aunts, or other mothers helped any who could not afford a luxurious dress because there are plenty out there in garage sales and thrift stores that can make young women look like the princesses they deserve to be on special occasions.  

Now finals are going on and graduations about to begin.  Gma Shirley was going to be at Katherine’s tonight, but it is her granddaughter Sarah’s graduation from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, so I will to take her place at Katherine’s house for the evening until the night aide arrives.  We have one grandchild graduating high school this year, and a couple of neices’ children are graduating.

We spent much of our week focused on the Southeastern Conference softball tourney especially after we won our first game against Louisiana.  After rain delays all day yesterday, we were sitting expectantly in front of the television at l0 this morning.  Unfortunately, University of Florida (#1 seed in the tourney) beat us 9-5.  The game began with two quick home runs on their part, and we had some moments of disbelief that the Gators might win by the mercy rule—something we have no experience with knowing how to handle.  But we rallied and it took all seven innings for Florida to go on to play for the conference championship tonight.  Next come the regional tourneys.

Our niece Vicki Glasco Escue suggested on Facebook that we share good memories of our mothers.  I 

did not have time to respond when I read her idea, but I did enjoy her memories of  my special sister-

in-law Ginger.  Later as I pondered Vicki’s request, I decided one of my favorite times with my mother 

was when my brother would come home from working Saturdays at the Jonesboro Kroger Store. Dad 

would be in the living room reading or listening to the radio, I guess.  But Jim and Mother and I would 

pile on to her bed and listen to Jim’s adventures that day at the store.  I am sure we talked of other 

things too, but Jim usually had  interesting stories or funny incidents to tell.  We would listen and bond 

and end the day with warmth and happiness.   

As it has turned out, one of the families he told us about was a large family from one of the best farms in the Mississippi bottoms.  Clyde Treece, the father,  was one of the most successful farmers; and like in many farm families, Mrs. Treece was an excellent cook who knew good meals throughout the week were important to the family’s health and happiness.   Because of the many children, my brother was impressed with their large orders.  (With just three children in our family and no large noonday meal to prepare for, my mother’s orders were small in comparison.)  We liked hearing about that abundance, and I felt like I already knew the family when I married Gerald and found one of those children had grown up and was now my sister-in-law.  Opal inherited her mother’s exceptional cooking ability, and we have enjoyed many good meals at her table.  Her mother’s delicious pies were cherished, and when the family divided personal items after her death, they had an private auction just among themselves and her rolling pin brought a top dollar.

Funny how small things are often our fondest memories.  Mothers worry about wanting to give their children the world, but experience teaches us that love and devotion go further than any material provisions.   So it is that although I have enjoyed first the bed of solid white iris in someone’s yard as I drive into town and a little further up the street a bed of all yellow iris, it is my own bed now rich with buds that I am eagerly waiting to see.  Why? Because they will be purple just like the ones my mother used to grow.  Reckon the first bloom might show up tomorrow?

Rained Out!

Fixed a frozen pizza and carried it and other stuff down to family room to watch the Georgia-Florida softball game at the University of Kentucky, and game was not on.  Gerald not around. Phone rang with family friend Jim Smiley wanting to know when/where game was on, and I told him I did not know.  Phoned Gerald who said he'd be in soon, but game was rained out in Lexington.  Rescheduled for 6:00 this evening.

Hurried home this evening from Katherine's running late and concerned about missing first part of the game. Hurriedly took down a frozen chicken pot pie that I fixed in the microwave for Gerald-- only to find the game was again rained out and he had already fixed himself something and  eaten upstairs. I ate the pot pie.

So at 10 our time (CST) in the morning, we will again be turning on the television hoping to see Georgia win over top-notch Florida.  The Southeastern Conference championship game is still scheduled for tomorrow night.  We will see what the weather is tomorrow .

A Weekend at Home--Centered on Softball

The last games of the season are happening before the World Series playoffs start for women’s college softball teams.  Every game is watched with dreams of looking good enough to go to Oklahoma City. Our attention this weekend was focused on our Georgia Dawgs (ranked 23 nation wide) going up against the Florida Gators (ranked 2/3). 

Friday was Katherine’s birthday, and she had plans to get out with an aide that afternoon. For complicated reasons, she ended up needing to spend the day in bed. She had flowers and candy and an abundance of birthday cards (still on display), but was a sad day for me because I knew how she longed to get out of the house.  

After I had visited her and left our gift and card, I hurried home with a large prepared foot-long sandwich to share with Gerald as we watched the first of game of the Georgia-Florida series on his computer system. (This was a Florida TV station, I think, that we were only able to get on the computer, but he was able to put it on a larger TV screen in his office, so the view was quite good.—certainly more satisfying than Game Tracker.) 

What a time of excitement when Georgia won over this top team 3-2.  Chelsea Wilkinson shone as she pitched a career high of 12 strikeouts in seven innings.  Catcher Katie Brown hit two game-winning doubles.  It is so much fun watching our son Gerry and his daughter Tara Archibald coach and seeing our granddaughter Geri Ann on first base—especially when we win because we realize how much these Southeastern Conference victories mean right now. We went to bed a very happy.

Because of this softball series, we did not want to schedule anything else.  That is not actually accurate for me.  I badly wanted to attend the Illinois Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association meeting on Saturday because Steve and Lisa Thompson, the new young couple who bought the farm with Bridges Wayside Store on it, was hosting at that site.  This has been a long-held dream of the Illinois Chapter, but previous owners were less inclined to share with the public. I had it figured I could skip the last part of the second softball game that started at 11 a.m. and rush down to Route 146 with my lawn chair to attend.  But the reality was that it really was not doable. There was too much to do before and after that meeting, and my energy level is not what it used to be. I did start my long-neglected leg exercises that morning, change our sheets, do three loads of laundry, and other miscellaneous tasks before the game started. Menu planning for games during meal time is always a challenge.   This game was on television in the family room, so I brought down our lunch of pork chops, baked sweet potato, green beans, and pickled beets to eat as we watched. After the game and kitchen clean up, I went to Katherine’s.  

Let me share why I wanted to return to Wayside Store.  The Bridges Wayside Store on Route 146 is the only known extant building on the 1838 Trail of Tears route through our area.  It exists today only because someone in the Bridges family had enclosed it inside a barn in the 1890s. Supposedly to keep out whiskey thieves, the store’s door was covered with tightly placed nails. That door is now used as a dining room table by a Bridges descendant up in Springfield, but it was shared a few years ago at a Trail of Tears display at our area university museum.   The nearby large family home, called the Bridges Tavern, burned in 1940, and a smaller house is built on its foundation.  Like many pioneer families on early roadways, the Bridges family opened their home for travelers passing by to spend the night.  People watered their oxen and horses as well as themselves at the spring across the road.  Other pioneer travelers camped near a spring in a back field.  The Wayside Store provided needed supplies as well as liquor.  If you want to read Theresa Leschmann’s excellent article with photos of the old log store inside the barn, check out http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/bridges-wayside-store-on-the-trail-of-tears.

Since Florida defeated us 5-0 on Saturday, I was not as jubilant as the night before as I drove in for the afternoon at Katherine’s.  Gerald dropped in to stabilize the hospital bed Katherine had acquired to replace an unsatisfactory rented one. He and Dean Newbold had picked it up and moved the bed in for her, but one lock was missing on a back leg.  While Gerald was there, he helped her find and hit the record button for Sunday’s game that was to be televised.   I visited with Katherine until the night aide arrived at l0, and then went home for a quick review of II Timothy 3, which was the Bible lesson for the next morning.

After church on Sunday, I hurried to pick up a couple pizzas to go watch with Katherine the ending of the third Georgia-Florida game, which we thought was to be on a channel they have and we don’t. She was still in bed with the aide just getting her up when I arrived, and the television not on.  I am inept with modern television sets, but I thought I could find the game since I do help her find programs.  (I admit to longing for the days when television screens were controlled by a simple on and off button.)  To my disappointment and others in our area, the game was blocked on that channel.  I hurried to Katherine’s computer and watched Game Tracker to see us defeated 5-0.  Nevertheless, there were some great plays made by Georgia.  I could not feel too bad that in this series, we had our fourth win against a ranked team. 

After Katherine was up, since the Sunday game she thought was recorded was blocked (some kind of agreement the channel screen explained), she discovered that she did have Friday’s game recorded!  So the aide and Katherine and I ate pizza and watched the winning game, which was more fun that the other one anyhow.

Before Shirley Johnson (a special friend to Katherine and our daughter-in-law’s mother that I often refer to as Gma Shirley) arrived to spend the evening before the night aide came, I went on home with left-over pizza to feed Gerald.  By this time he was busy instructing grandson Sam on the use of the new boat motor.  Sam and friend Josh and a couple of cute girls had spent the chilly and muddy  afternoon fishing down at the lake, riding the Gator, and finished off with a boat ride. 

Interestingly, during the evening, Gerald found the Sunday blocked game on another channel that appeared after he had called complaining about the game being blocked.  So we watched already knowing the outcome and disappointed, of course, that Florida won two of the three games, but justifiable proud that we had played well against one of the best teams in the nation.

A Weekend Away

It had been much too long since we visited Mary Ellen and Brian’s family in central Illinois.  When I heard that Brianna had the lead in their school’s musical, I knew I had to be there.  This news was extraordinary because Brianna had never sung in public before.  Yes, we knew she was musical since she played first chair clarinet and participated in the state band, but even though both her parents were singers, Bri had never expressed an interest in being a vocalist. Nothing like starting at the top! We drove up Friday afternoon and went straight to the school.

Lincolnwood Junior and Senior High School at Raymond (just a little south of Springfield) have an outstanding auditorium for a school its size, but there has not been a long tradition of theater there.  Mrs. Weatherford came six years ago, if I understood correctly what she said when she honored Patrick Crawford for six years’ participation in drama under her direction.  Brianna came to Lincolnwood as a freshman; and although she participated in the chorus or in small parts each year, she had never aspired to a lead role.  She doubted that she could act, but she definitely can. (I have always noted that shy students are often extremely effective on stage.  Shy is not a completely accurate way to describe our Brianna because in so many ways she is self assured and deservedly quite confident. Yet she is often quiet, never pushy, nor does she have to be in the lime light.)

Despite the lack of a good sound system or sets for quick scene changes, Mrs. Weatherford has managed to gradually increase the difficulty of the annual musical each spring,. This year’s presentation of Guys and Dolls, based on Damon Runyon’s story and characters, was the most challenging school production in her career there, and the results were most impressive. The amount of talent for a school that size was evidence of her hard work and the training she has provided the kids.

Brianna seemed a natural Sarah Brown, and the twinkle in Patrick Crawford’s eye made him an excellent Sky Masterson. Tanner Butler was quite believable as Nathan Detroit, and Alicia Benning as Miss Adelaide was as believable as anyone could be to have put up with a fourteen year engagement. Her smile was adorable, and I enjoyed the beautiful smiles of all the Hot Box girls.  They had obviously been well coached.

Despite the dinner Brian treated us to after the show, I had to have a muffin when we reached their country home and Trent greeted us with hugs and hot homemade muffins.

Gerald broke his record by going to both nights performances.  He knew I would want to see both nights as I always try to do when we visit the Freeport grandkids’ shows.   I explained to him that each performance is different, and it was just like wanting to see both games in a double header or all three games in a weekend series.  I still expected him to stay at home the second night, but he was right there to applaud with the rest of us.  Getting to meet two of Mary Ellen’s friends I’d heard her talk about was a special treat for me.

Jeannie had driven down from Freeport with Cecelie and they’d stopped by Illinois State to pick up Elijah for the Saturday performance.  So Brianna had a couple of cousins in addition to her brother Trent and her friends there that night.  When she got home from the cast party, I am sure the younger generation had another party downstairs.  I don’t know what time she got home because after we all visited and feasted on Mary Ellen’s buffet, Gerald and I headed to bed.  But since Jeannie had told her two that they would need to be back on the road at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, Cecelie was concerned because she heard Bri tell her mom she’d be home by 3:30.  Mary Ellen had to explain to us that was a standing joke between them, but Bri would be home at a decent hour.

Brian reminisced throughout the performances because his high school had also done Guys and Dolls.  He had been Nicely Nicely Johnson and his sister Vicky had been Miss Adelaide.  Watching his pleasure at those memories reinforced what I have always known:  Theater participation provides students with invaluable group bonding and gives them perks that last a lifetime.

We slept late Sunday morning and had a leisurely breakfast and then visited more before we headed into Raymond again to worship together.  It felt good to pray with others for the victims of the Boston bombers.  After church, we drove to Litchfield to the same restaurant where we’d had dinner after the Friday performance.  We lingered as long as we could before we had to be back on the highway to head home to Southern Illinois.

Baby green leaves on the trees lining the roads were accented with the white and purplish pink blooms of the occasional dogwood or redwood. Despite the chilly winds, it was a beautiful day.  Gerald was driving, and I was relaxed. My lunch soon demanded a siesta that no amount of trying could postpone.  When I awoke, we were almost home.  It was good to have been away.  It was also good to be home.