Ella Marie

When Sarah and I came up over Labor Day weekend to visit with Ella and her parents, I brought along some clothes that I had kept from my children. On Sunday, when we were getting ready for church, Sabrina brought Ella out in a dress that Sarah had worn when she was a baby twenty-nine years ago.

I'm amazed at the generosity of friends who have given clothes to Ella...hand-me-downs maybe, but they are worn so little before they grow out of them that they look new. I don't think that they will need to buy any clothes in the next two years.

Ella and I went to Charlottesville today to have lunch with her mommy. Of course, everyone oohed and aahed over the pretty baby. We're not at all proud
We're ready for Halloween already. Before I came up I say the CUTEST costumes at Cracker Barrel. The smallest size was 9 months, so I didn't buy anything, but I was surely tempted. I went to K-Mart after I got here to get some things, and I found this bib. It works perfectly for this year. The fun begins.

Gas is 1.79 in Staunton, Virginia. How about that. 

Monday musings, or something like that

I read an interesting quote this morning that came in my e-mail from Steve Goodier.

The only thing that separates any one of us from excellence is fear,
and the opposite of fear is faith. I am careful not to confuse
excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection
is God's business. -- Michael J. Fox

I particularly like the last sentence. Perfection is God's business. Isn't that a wonderful thought. We'll certainly never attain perfection on our own. But Paul wrote in Philippians, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ."
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Bet, at Dappled Things refers to an interesting article in Business Week that addresses the freshness of items in our pantries. According to this article, I should probably throw out all my cake mixes and some of my canned goods. Since I live alone now, I don't cook like I used to, but when I go to the store, sometimes I just can't pass up a bargain. If I buy it and don't use it, it really isn't a bargain is it.
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My friend Tammy, Kentucky Gal finds herself in a tough spot. Her husband's plant voted to go on strike, and they are crushed. This morning in her blog she said that the two of them would be out job hunting today. Stop by and leave a thought of encouragement for her.
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Melangehas a beautiful post today - a photo of a rose in sepia tones. It is lovely as is the writing.
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Yesterday Ella wore a dress to church that belonged to my daughter Sarah when she was an infant. I haven't uploaded it to my computer yet, but I'll post it when I do. She hasn't quite got the idea of smiling when she sees the camera yet.

Later...

The many faces of Samson

Oh, it has been a cold and rainy day here in Virginia. I had planned to drive from Waynesboro to Yorktown today to visit my brother and sister-in-law and their sons. I started out, but before I got to the interstate, I turned around and came back home.

I've watched a lot of football today and read lots of blogs, and I didn't think that I'd post anything today, but I remembered a photo that my daughter sent me in e-mail yesterday. I've posted photos of Tucker and Samson before on this blog, but this one of Samson is exceptional.


Sarah works at a large human resourse company here, and one of her managers picked up a camera one day and started taking photos. She realized that she loved photography and has done some lovely work. She has just retired from her job and is hoping to do more and more photography.

One Saturday she went to Sarah's house to photograph Tucker and Samson. Samson turned out to be the ham, and this is one of the pieces that she did for Sarah. To see more of her work, go here.

Moses, Sam, and Butternut

After leaving my cousin's home in north Florida, I drove to north Georgia to stay for a few days with my friend Eunice. Eunice is a friend from Bradenton who five years ago built a home in north Georgia where she spends her summers. I've visited there several times before, but I looked forward to these few days before leaving for Virginia. The sourwood trees had already changed color when I arrived there so I got my first glimpse of fall.I know that Friday is Ark Day for cat bloggers, so I'll add a cat here. Meet Moses. Moses is fourteen years old and came to live with Eunice on Christmas Eve many years ago. She rescued him from being euthanized. He was living his last day on earth unless he was adopted that day. The people at the shelter called him Groucho because of his black "moustache", but Eunice changed his name to Moses since she had rescued him, just as Moses in the Old Testament was rescued from the bullrushes.
Over the past few years Moses has been ill, and it was thought a couple of times that he would need to be put down, but he lives on. He loves the summer home in north Georgia. There is a wonderful screen porch that he can spend his carefree days on, or he has a wonderful comfy spot on Eunice's bed where he spends a lot of his time.
This is Sam. Sam came to live in the neighborhood a couple of years ago. Evidently abused, he would not let anyone touch him. Kathy and Norm, Eunice's neighbors, began feeding him. When they were away, Eunice would take care of him. Her food was better than Kathy and Norm's. She really spoiled him. Last year Kathy and Norm decided to get a dog, and they tried their best to get Sam to come into their house, but nothing doing. They ended up adopting a dog who is their companion inside. Sam moved to Eunice's and there he stays. She spoils him rotten. The closest she can get to touching him is when Sam nuzzles her hand whenever she's giving him a treat.
Just down the road lives Butternut. At least he eats there in the morning and night. He lives with a young man and his daughter. The young man's wife died in an accident some time ago, and the dad is trying his best to work and raise his daughter. The dog doesn't receive much attention there, so guess where he has ended up. You guessed it...on Eunice's front porch. Sam and Butternut spend their time there, waiting for the magic hour when Eunice walks out the front door to give them a treat. She feeds Sam regularly too. When Eunice comes back to Bradenton later in October, the rest of the neighborhood will take care of the dogs. They're good that way.
Moses will make another trip to Florida where he will spend the winter and spring with Eunice, waiting for the next trip to Georgia where he'll be able to enjoy that wonderful screen porch with his wonderful mom.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin

I thought I'd bring you back for one more look at my cousin's cabin. I hope there aren't any P*TA people out there viewing this who will find it objectionable. Those deer do have beautiful eyes, though, don't they. It's getting to be that season, isn't it. These heads are mounted near the front door as you enter.In the kitchen above the window these tins can be seen. I love those Cracker Jacks.
They've carefully constructed a split-rail fence along the property. These aren't seen too much any more.
After an hour or so of visiting with my cousin and walking around her property, I made my way down the road on my way to Georgia. I love coming to this spot to see what's new (or old) at the cabin, but most of all, to visit my cousin. She and her husband have done so much to preserve a little bit of the past in her county.
If you ever drive down I-75, take the first exit, go to Jennings. The city hall is on the left just after you cross U.S. 41. Stop in and ask for Sharon. Tell her Beverly sent you. She'll give you a warm southern welcome. She might even leave the office and take you for a tour of her place. 

Hi, from Virginia

Hi, my name is Ella. My grandma came all the way from Florida to take care of me this month. My mommy went back to work on Monday, and I'm all alone with my grandma during the day. I take a nice long nap in the morning, but after I eat lunch at noon, we go for a walk down the street where I live.My grandma is so excited to see the leaves that are changing colors and falling to the ground. She came to Virginia last year in October, but it was hot and the leaves would not change their colors for her. So, while we're out walking, she stops and looks and takes pictures of the pretty leaves.
She even takes pictures of the leaves that fall to the ground. She's just glad that she doesn't have to rake them up. My daddy raked three big bags full last Saturday. When we got back to the house, my grandma laid me on the changing table and took off my clothes because it was hot outside. I love to lie on the changing table and look outside and all around.
. Today is my two month birthday On Friday my grandma will take me to the pediatrician for my two month checkup, and you know what that means...shots. I have to get a shot for RSV every month during the fall and winter to help me not get sick.

Every morning and every evening my mommy and daddy have to do physical therapy on me. They thump my chest and my back to try to keep my lungs clear. Every time that I eat I have to take enzymes to help my food digest. My daddy prays every day that the scientists will find a way to fix my gene that caused me to have cystic fibrosis.

On the 17th, I get to go with my grandma to meet my mommy for an appointment with the CF specialist in Charlottesville at the university hospital. They will poke and prod and x-ray to see how I'm doing. I'll be sure to let you know.

My grandma is tired at night after she has taken care of me all day. She says that she should have gone to the gym to build up her muscles before she came up here.

She's going to show you some pictures from Georgia, but she wanted you to see how much I've grown. I'll come back another time and see you again. 

Do you have an anchor?

I received this in an e-mail this morning from Steve Goodier.

"Though I have never seen it, I'm told that the Niagara River has acouple of interesting signs upstream of the famous falls. There is one by the side of the river visible to daredevil boaters that reads,"Do you have an anchor?" Then just downstream is a second sign tha tsays, "Do you know how to use it?""Do you have an anchor?"

I have found that a solid anchor is indispensable to one who intends to live life fully. To have an anchor is to be centered and well-grounded. It is to have a vitalspiritual base."Do you know how to use it?" For no amount of faith is enough if it is not used. We all come to what has been described as the "Red Sea place" in ourlives. That is the place where there is no way back and no way around. We have to go through.You know the places I mean. We find ourselves up against a critical loss, an irreversible setback or a course of action that cannot be changed. There is no way back and no way around. We have to go through.

Even a small ship can weather major storms if it has an anchor. But it is likely to be tossed about and even capsized if the anchor is not used. What will you do when you get to the next "Red Sea place" in yourlife? Do you have an anchor? Do you know how to use it?"

What or who is your anchor? I find mine in my faith in God and Jesus Christ. The last words from an old gospel song speak what I believe.

Though the angry surges roll
On my tempest driven soul,
I am peaceful, for I know,
Wildly though the winds may blow,
I’ve an anchor safe and sure,
That can evermore endure.

Refrain

And it holds, my anchor holds:
Blow your wildest, then, O gale,
On my bark so small and frail;
By His grace I shall not fail,
For my anchor holds, my anchor holds.

Mighty tides about me sweep,
Perils lurk within the deep,
Angry clouds o’ershade the sky,
And the tempest rises high;
Still I stand the tempest’s shock,
For my anchor grips the rock.

Refrain

I can feel the anchor fast
As I meet each sudden blast,
And the cable, though unseen,
Bears the heavy strain between;
Through the storm I safely ride,
Till the turning of the tide.

Refrain

Troubles almost ’whelm the soul;
Griefs like billows o’er me roll;
Tempters seek to lure astray;
Storms obscure the light of day:
But in Christ I can be bold,
I’ve an anchor that shall hold.

Refrain

A walk around the outside

Come in and sit a spell. Do you remember those days? If you're anywhere near my age, you surely remember having to walk down the path. Whenever we went to my grandma and grandpa's house, we had to take that trip. It was a two-seater, but I don't think anyone ever shared the space. Sharon and her husband built this one out back of the cabin to add to the authenticity. It is NOT a working outhouse, however. I'm sure that there are still some somewhere. When I lived in Haiti, it was common to have to use an outhouse when in the country. It never bothered me, but some of the missionary women who had been raised in the city and then come to Haiti had a bit of a hard time.These kettles and pitchers and whatnot are on the steps going up to the screen porch on the back of the cabin. The screen porch is the latest thing that they've added.
This is the view from the front porch.
And who does not remember all of the buildings and birdhouses that had this famous sign on it? See Rock City. When our children were young, we went to Chattanooga and indeed did see Rock City. In the yard you notice a well. Sharon's husband brought home a piece of drainage pipe from a job and has bricked around it. They have a bucket, but they're looking for a piece of old rope to attach it to.
This is such a delightful place, and my cousin has thoroughly enjoyed the building and furnishing of it. I made the comment to her that her property tax had probably gone up. She said, "Yes, they tried to, but I went to the county and "pitched me a Sharon fit, and they backed down some." She's the city clerk for Jennings, so I guess she has a little clout. Good for her! 

More of the cabin

Yesterday I showed you the kitchen in my cousin's cabin. As we walk around the room, we see this cabinet which contains many of the things that Sharon has collected. Whenever she and her husband go somewhere and see something that suits their fancy, they get it if it is within reason. One of her favorite collections is Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and paraphernalia. This wall and the adjacent wall contain all sorts of Raggedy's.
As you go from the kitchen into the living room and look toward the stairs, this quilt hangs. There are several quilts in the cabin. When I asked Sharon if she had made this one, she said, "No, I don't like to work on anything that takes too long. I want to do it and get it done." However, when her mother, my aunt, was suffering from cancer, the daughters would gather at her house, and they would spend time quilting.
Once my friend Lorette and I stopped by her house. Lorette had been looking for just the right quilt for her house, thinking she'd have to spend big bucks for one. When she saw all of Sharon's quilts, she said to her, "Where did you get all these quilts? Did you make them?"
"No," my cousin said, "I find some at Big Lots, some at WalMart." Lorette was a bit flabbergasted. She was thinking, I'm sure, that any quilt worth anything would surely cost lots. I think she learned a bit of a lesson that day.

A trip back in time

When I planned my trip to Virginia to spend the month with my granddaughter, Ella, I left a few days before I needed to be there so that I could stop along the way. My first stop was the Lacoochee reunion, where I had a chance to visit with my cousin whom I hadn't seen for quite a while. After leaving Lacoochee, I drove up to north Florida where I visited another cousin who lives in Jennings. Jennings is a little town just south of the Georgia border. My cousin and her husband have lived there most of their married life. They started out in a little Jim Walter home, and as they needed more room, they added on. Her house is filled with her many talents. Quilts, paintings, antiques. It's just so much fun to go there and see her collections, but most of all, to visit her.

Outside, away from the house stands this cabin. It had originally stood on some land that her husband owned and worked, and he had it moved to their property. It is a fully working house, electricity, plumbing, television, everything that one might need.

I love her kitchen. Can't you remember a kitchen like that, with a curtain to cover the pots and pans? The red accents bring it to life.


It was around four when I was there, and as we were in the kitchen, I was particularly struck by her table with the pitcher, the scales, and Aunt Jemima there, with the sun shining through the panes of glass on them.

I'll share a little more of this interesting cabin tomorrow...also some pictures of my lovely granddaughter. And, of course, I want to finish my exciting biography...yawn.

Thank you all for your comments on my last post. I've been keeping up with you all, even though I hadn't posted.

Going to Lacoochee

Every year Lacoochee has a reunion. People who lived there come back each year for a giant pot luck in Dade City. I'm on my way there tomorrow to visit with a cousin. After that, I'll be going up to north Florida to visit some more cousins, and then on to north Georgia to stay with a friend for a few days.

After that, I'll be driving to Waynesboro, and I'll be there for a month. Taking care of Ella will be my primary focus, although on the weekends I will take some side trips. My brother-in-law and his family are in Chesapeake, so I'm sure I'll go over there one weekend.

I'll be offline most of next week...not sure how I'll survive, but I'll be seeing you once I get to Waynesboro.

Who am I now?

Back in July, I wrote a post regarding role and identity, entitled A Note from Becki. I thought I had it all figured out.

As you know, I just had my 65th birthday, and in that birth month, Medicare kicked in. I had put off a couple of appointments for September, so that I could use this wonderful system. I went first to the dermatologist's office, handed the girl my Medicare card and my insurance card. She copied them and then said to me, "Who are you going to be now?"

When I got married, I never changed my name on my Social Security card. When I started teaching, just after I got married, my married name went on my files, as well as on my insurance.

So now I have a Medicare card with my maiden name, my husband's SSN-D. My insurance card is identified by mine....

I went to the retina specialist on Monday...red lights again,.."Who are you going to be?" The insurance lady suggested I call BC/BS to fix something there...they said, "Well, we can't do anything."

I called Medicare. Don't you hate those menus at the beginning? I finally said, "I need to talk to somebody." At least Chantelle was kind (better than the insurance lady). She didn't think there would be a problem since the policy number is forwarded.

Oh well, we'll see. After I come back from Virginia, I'll have to decide which name I'm going to use. For now, I'm back to my maiden name...for Medicare's sake anyway.

Life is wonderful.

More birthday stuff

The photograph below is one that was taken In Lacoochee. My two friends, Wayne and Melanie, and I spent a lot of our time playing war. With wooden guns we were going to take care of keeping America free for democracy. After the war was over, my mother and daddy moved to Bradenton.My mother and daddy both worked out of the home. My mother worked at a drug store downtown Bradenton, and I spent a lot of time there. Because we lived inside the city limits, I wasn't eligible to ride the school bus, so I would go with my mother every morning to the drug store, eat my breakfast there, and then walk to school. I sat at the lunch counter with many notables in town. I don't know if you have a Beall's Outlet where you live or not, but the original Beall's Department Store was downtown, and old Mr. Beall ate at the drug store where my mother worked.

As I said before, I was in Brownies and Girl Scouts, and for my ninth birthday, I had a big party. All the troop was there, along with some neighborhood friends. I'm the one in the hat. My Girl Scout leader is to the right.
About the time I turned 9, I became a latch-key kid. My parents both worked on Saturday, and they decided that I was old enough to stay home by myself on Saturdays. I'd sleep in, then get up and listen to the radio (no, we didn't have a TV yet; we didn't even have any stations in Florida). It was during this time that I began to gain weight and by the time I was in sixth grade, I had become a fatty, or obese, as we correctly call it today. I guess a lot of my eating was out of boredom. On Saturday afternoons, however, I would the bus into town, and go see the western that was showing. There was usually a double feature and a serial. It cost all of 9 cents to get in. Mother would give me 15 cents, enough for a ticket and a candy bar. I look at high schoolers these days and think how young they look. Yet, when I look back on our days, we thought we so grown up. Looking at the picture above, I'm reminded of the many dresses I made; in fact, I made most of the clothes that I wore. My mother had always sewn for me. When I was little, she made dresses out of flowered or patterned feed sacks. I'm sure that some of you can identify with that.
After high school, I went on to university and graduated with a degree in elementary education. My goad was to be a missionary and teach missionary kids. I went to Cincinnati and taught in a Christian school for two years, then worked in the public schools for three. During that time I got my Master's degree from Miami University in Ohio, and then I was off to Haiti.

I will save Haiti for another post. All of my pictures are slides, and I need to figure out how to scan them and save them. Also, I don't have any pictures of my father here. I have some hilarious ones of him when he was young. That will also be a post for another day.

Thanks again for your kind comments. Today is also my blog birthday. When I was looking back at my first post, I saw that I had first posted on September 20.

September 19, 1941

My friends know how I love cats, even though I don't have one at my house right now. The inside of the card says, "As long as we can keep our chests and stomachs from doing the same thing." Hopefully that won't happen. Speaking of cats, I read that every life needs nine cats.

Thank you for your well wishes. I'm going to do some more photos soon, maybe tomorrow, but I have a few other tasks at hand before I do that.

If you'd like to know what important events happened on your birthday, or what famous person or celebrity was born on your birthday, go to wikipedia. I found out that George Washington gave his farewell address on this date. Cass Elliott and I share the same birthday, even the same year. Wow, I'm impressed.

I can't believe I'm 65. Oh, yes, I can.

September 19, 1941. Our country was about to enter World War II. My mother and daddy were living in Lacoochee, Florida, a little town which owed its livelihood to the Cummer Cypress Lumber Mill. My mother had come to Lacoochee to live with her sister, and my daddy lived in Trilby, a small community a couple of miles away. Mother and Daddy were married eight years when I was born. They had lost a son, who was stillborn before me. My father worked in the lumber mill. When the United States entered the war, and all the men went to volunteer to serve, he went along too, but he was classified 4-F and couldn't go. Part of his service consisted of guarding German prisoners of war who were brought to the States to be imprisoned. If you google prisoner of war camps, you will find interesting reading about the activities of the prisoners. I know that being a prisoner was punishment, but their lives were not horrible.
Lacoochee was a company town. The lumber company built housing for the employees, and there was a commissary where employees could shop for things that they needed. There was a hotel, and my mother became the manager of that while my daddy worked at the mill.
After the war was over, my parents left Lacoochee and moved to Bradenton, and that is where I grew up. You'll notice in the above picture that my curls are gone. I gave my mother such fits about brushing my hair, that she took me to the barber shop and had him cut my hair short. I didn't have ringlets any longer, but my hair still had curl and was nice and wavy.

I lived in the same house from the time I was four until I went away to college at 17. I graduated from high school with friends that I had been in school with since kindergarten. Today we still see each other and get together for lunch from time to time. In a couple of years there will be that 50 year reunion. I remember remarking on Judy's blog that I used to think only old people graduated from high school that long ago.
One of the special times in Bradenton growing up was being in Brownies and Girl Scouts. Our Brownie troop flew up to Girl Scouts, and we stayed together through high school. During high school some of the girls went on to become Mariner Scouts. I dropped out at that point.

I'll continue this exciting story tomorrow...I know you can hardly wait. :-) 

Working on my birthday blog

I'm working on my birthday blog, but Blogger isn't uploading my photos right now..Will try later.

Saturday stuff

Some of you know from previous posts that my son graduated from Penn State, home of the Nittany Lions and Joe Paterno. During the football season I join the faithful alumni in Sarasota to watch the football games. Last week's game was forgettable as far as the Penn State team was concerned. Notre Dame beat them handily.

Today they played a division-AA, which is to say, they should have won, and they did. There are some great freshman and sophomore players playing and getting good experience. Next week will be another story when they travel to Columbus to play Ohio State.

Michigan handed it to Notre Dame. Who would have thought? And now, Florida is getting beaten by Tennessee, and Clemson is leading Florida State.

On my way to Sarasota, the sun was shining brightly, and as I looked ahead, there was a distinct line across the road. As I crossed the line, the rain was coming down, and it was the smell of a fresh rain on a summer day. I don't remember that smell for some time. We've been having lots of rain here in my area. When it rains for two or three hours, intersections near my house are covered with water. It's a good thing we haven't had a hurricane.

A friend sent these pictures to me in an e-mail. I thought I'd share them with you.

That one might strike a chord...
...and then I'm sure many of you can identify with this sign.

Thank you

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your comments about Ella and all of us. You are all so very kind and thoughtful.

Attention, attention!

I have a birthday coming up...Tuesday, the 19th. And I noticed that my first blog entry was September 20.

This is one of those milestone birthdays. I'm now a card-carrying senior citizen. I used my Medicare card for the first time at the dermatologist's office this month, and it will be used a couple of times in the next week.

My daughter doesn't blog, so I may have to do my own tribute...pictures and all that stuff. I'll work on it this weekend while I should be getting ready for my trip to Virginia. I'm going to leave on the 23rd, stopping by a Lacoochee reunion, visiting a friend in north Georgia for a few days, and then going on to Waynesboro where I'll be for the month of October. During the month of October I'll be taking care of granddaughter Ella since Mom is going back to work October 2.

I read this comic strip this morning and thought it fit the occasion nicely (or not.)


Does the period go inside our outside the parenthesis? Judy, can you answer that one for me? By the way, Judy has some funny cartoons on her site today.

And in honor of getting older, I leave you with the comment I found on Hoss's blog by Bonnie..."Overheard at the Incontinence helpline--Can you hold?"

Ella's appointment

 

Ella had an appointment with the cystic fibrosis specialist yesterday. My daughter-in-law said that they spent four hours at the doctor's office, meeting with the nurse, the doctor, the respiratory therapist, and nutritionist. She had her oxygen level tested and was weighed and measured, had a throat culture and two x-rays.

What a day for a baby! and her mother! It was a very hard day for my daughter-in-law as she pretty much saw Ella's future laid out before her. She did find out that her body is producing some of the enzymes naturally but not enough to take her off the enzymes. She'll be tested again in a year to see if the level has dropped which may be the case.

They are beginning to perform chest Pt on Ella twice a day. There are six different positios and they have to "thump" her for three minutes in each position. The respiratory therapist said to plan about a half hour for each session.

As I said after we had heard her diagnosis, this blog won't be just about Ella and CF, but it is so heavy on our hearts. When you read and look at pictures of Ella and the parents, pray for them or send good thoughts their way. Thanks.