NAME DROPPING

Okay time for some name dropping. In my quest for early family info I need to get in touch with Mrs. Margaret Rizzo, who in 1951 lived in New York, or Mrs. Fay Thomas who lived in Asheville,NC in 1951. Any family of a Mr. and Mrs. Garvin West of Madison county NC could also be helpful. Maybe someone will run across this blog with some information that might help.
I am headed for the county courthouse next week to see what I can dig up,this might be very interesting.Who knows I may even write a book.
I have a feeling I have a very interesting family history,once when my dad was asked some questions,his reply was "be careful when you look up your family tree a monkey might shit in your face". My dad was a comical man,but it was obvious he didn't want to be pinned down to answer questions.

One thing I am proud about,when I found my grandfathers obit yesterday. He was a lifelong member and Deacon at the same church I belong to now.
He was very outspoken and involved in community events and routinely wrote things in the local paper. That is another project for me in the future!! He died in 1951,he would have been 100 years old the year I was born if he had of lived another 3 years.

Today has been a busy day,it started with baking and some early icing then picked up g-son from pre-school. He was starved when we got home and could hardly wait for lunch to get ready,poor little guy,I think he is going through a growth spurt.
After lunch we played outside for awhile until he was ready for a nap. While he napped I planted some moon vine plants and looked for a pot for another plant but couldn't find one. If you have ever had a moon flower you will agree these are unique,they only bloom by the light of the moon (hence the name) and they have a wonderfully sweet fragrance.
Clouds have moved in and it is hot and muggy outside,feels more like July than May.
#2 son came to borrow the truck to pick up more lattice for his porch project at his house, daughter came by for a minute to see g-son. D-in-love picked him up and they went grocery shopping.
After supper of fresh green beans ,corn on the cob ,fried squash and sweet potatoes hubbie and I decided it wasn't going to rain after all so we carried water to all our plants and pots.
We finished work at church and when we came outside the sky was very dark and we heard thunder and saw distant lightening on the way home.
There is severe storms around us and we finally got a shower of rain,maybe just enough to settle the dust,but I'm sure not complaining , the storms were dropping 1-2 inches of rain an hour and hail. I'll take a shower!!! Who knows tomorrow it may be our turn for the storms. We sat out on the front porch while it rained and enjoyed the cool air that came with the rain.
I finished my icing and wrapped and labeled everything.
It is still 68 degrees at 11:30 tonight,uhhh. We usually don't turn on our air conditioner until later and we have to. We both work outside so much that the air conditioning just makes you suffer more when you're outside. I like to sweat,I think you are healthier when you sweat a lot,it gets rid of toxins in our bodies. When I was younger and felt like I was getting sick,I would put on insulated cover-alls,no matter the season and go to the barn and shovel out stalls until I was drenched with sweat. I never got sick!!
If I tried that now the results from all that shoveling probably would be worse than the sickness!!!!!
I've found nothing about this aging process that appeals to me yet!!
I am thanking God tonight for sparing our farm the storms tonight and giving me the good news I got from my lab work today, it was all perfectly normal!!!! Glory to God!!!
Good Night and God Bless.

TUBBIE THE TERRAPIN

Sometimes having a long driveway in the country proves to be a lot like the stop and go of a busy city street.Mr. Quail takes the right-of -way as the bushes on the other side of the drive must look better for hiding.This morningTubby Terrapin was in no hurry to get across the gravely driveway.As I got out of the van to hurry him along I expected him to draw into his shell,but instead he just looked at me and even when I coaxed him along with a little push he walked on as if to say,"okay,okay lady I'll get out of your way!"
Another of God's miraculous painting jobs don't you think!
This is me as I wait for customers that were few and far between again today at market.
I am grateful for the items I did sell and very thankful that I wasn't like some of my neighbors who didn't sell anything.


Taking a pretzel break doesn't speed up the clock at all.











I crocheted tops on some towels and visited with neighbors until closing time.This is my jewelery making neighbor Janet,she's fun and her antics make the days pass much more easily during the week when business is so slow.









After running some in town errands I stopped by the library and looked back in the archives of the local newspaper and found the obit for dad's former wife. There is a daughter listed and several sisters.So I'm hoping I can come up with locating at least one of them. I did find out that a lot of what I had been told about where she was from was not true and was surprised to find that she was from a couple counties away right here in WNC.
Going through those old papers was very interesting to me, if I'm ever looking for something to do that would sure fill the time.
It was 5:30 when I finished errands and finally got home. We unloaded the van,ate a salad then I went on a walk while hubbie mowed grass.
The next to last Survivor show was on tonight and after watching that we went to work at church. Next week on Thursday night we can go to work early,I'm not getting involved in another TV show!!
Thankful to be a Jesus follower!!
Good Night and God Bless.

CEMETERY VISIT

Today started off on a beautiful note,bird singing note that is. It is always so nice to wake up and hear birds having their joyous morning conversations.
After breakfast and weight lifting I did a late load of laundry and sorted through more old pics.
After lunch I made a trip to the cemetery where most of dad's family is buried. I can't remember ever looking up those graves before,but when I walked up the steps from the road into the cemetery I walked straight to his families grave sites. That truly gave me an erily strange feeling and as I took pictures of the head stones of each one I was overcome with emotions that I can't explain. I fought tears the whole time I was there and I kept scolding myself as I did not know any of these people,they were all dead long before I was even thought of. I am not an emotional person so this reaction is very odd for me.
Anyway I found the grave of one of my dad's wives,she died at the age of 39 in 1951. Now I know her name at least. My dad must have liked younger women. He was born in 1901 ,so he would have been 50 years old at the time of this lady's death and he married my mom in 1952 and she was 36. He must have been quite the charmer. 5 of dad's brother's and sister's were buried here in a semi-circle around his mom and dad and another of his dad's wives.
In all the old cemeteries I have visited what surprises me most is all the very young children's graves. This family did not escape this as right next to my grandmother was this little stone with a small rock square in front of it.
Someone in the family must have been a rock mason because 2 other graves from the mid twenties had amazing rock structures,but the later ones did not.
Both these siblings were born before my dad but met with early fates.
Homer who I heard dad speak of many times was 28 when he dove into a shallow pool of water and broke his neck.
Winnifred died in childbirth of her first child,who is still alive today. Being that these 2 are the only graves with this elaborate rockwork I wonder if my cousin knows who did it and why only these 2,I'll definitely be asking.I have never seen work like this in any cemetery I've been to.
They died only 3 years apart but the rockwork sure looks different between them.More mysteries!!! And no the picture isn't crooked,one side of the structure on the left is sinking into the ground.
I'm probably going to find more questions than I find answers in this endeaver. But after the overwhelming feelings I had today there's no stopping now.
As for the rest of my day I came home and went to work in my shop. I sewed 3 full length aprons and 1 child's tool apron.It is so much faster to sew things now that I don't have to spend so much time finding cloth.
When hubbie came home from work we had a nice visit from #2 son, I had already got to visit with #1 son earlier. I love living close so I can see the kids often.
After supper hubbie and I planted our garden all but the later pumpkins and squash.We got all our plants set out,hubbie's specialty is tomatoes,that's them with lime mixed into the soil around them. I pretty much set out and planted everything else while he worked with his babies. But we usually have wonderful tomatoes so I'm not complaining!Our potatoes have done well,that's them on the right in raised rows.These are my unique herb beds and I filled these with basil and cilantro this year. Gotta love livin on a farm!!!!!
Sorry this is such a morbid post but it's part of the history that I want to leave for future generations.
I have my cakes iced and all the weekly paperwork done tonight,it is midnight and the temperature is still a balmy 63 degrees. They say tomorrow is going to be a scorcher.
Market day tomorrow so I'm off to bed.
Thanking God for my blessings today and everyday.
Good Night and God Bless.

HOW HEALTHY IS A HORSE ANYWAY???

Up early to be at the doc's office by 9:00,it's a 20 minute drive if you don't get behind some one who don't know how to drive a very curvy road. It's a very scenic drive so I always look forward to the drive back up the mountain. The drive takes you along the upper part of the Rocky Broad River. It runs along the road all the way down the mountain and then turns down and joins another part to head on into Lake Lure.But I don't go that far,only just a little past the turn is my doc's office.
I had to drink some tea on the way down,I just can't function without something in my stomach in the mornings.
I was declared healthy as a horse,pending any problems in my blood work,so I have to keep praying that is okay as well.
Since my blood pressure was 115/74 she thinks the red yeast rice and c-q-10 I've been taking have lowered my cholesterol as well so she said to go back taking glucosomine to help with the pain and stiffness in my knees and hips. She also said that it would slow down the progression of the arthritis which would be wonderful.
It is really a dreary day as the rain continues to drizzle and the fog and clouds hang low to hold the temps down in the 50's,downright cool! I wish it would go ahead and give us a good rain since it's so yucky anyway.
I made a couple of Avon stops on my way home and treated myself to a stop at a local resale shop,but didn't find anything except a lantern for g-son.
After lunch I started laundry and housework,my arm where they took blood is sore and it happens to be my right arm so things are going a bit slower than usual.
My veins are very hard to find and she has to used a blood pressure cuff to pump them up as well as a pressure ball in my hand. They always leave me with a sore arm and sometimes a big bruise. I have no bruise this time,just a little red spot. Good job Cindy!!
I finished cleaning about the time hubbie got in from work. Daughter came by to re-pack to change from one pet sitting job to the other.
I went through some more pictures for a while this evening and now I have one more place to go through and I can at least categorize things.
I found pictures of a young lady that is my half-sister,maybe, being that my dad was married 3 times,and my mom was his 3rd wife,she wouldn't or couldn't give much info on this subject.
I know Margaret used to send me gifts when I was young and I was told it was from my half-sister. But when I got older and ask about her my mom acted like she knew nothing on the subject and my dad would say it was a very painful memory for him because her mother died a slow painful death from cancer.
I hadn't thought about it much until I ran across these pictures. And unfortunately everyone that could shed light on this is now dead.However when my dad was in the hospital dying he went back to the time in his life during a previous marriage to a woman he called Bird. I remember one of my older cousins saying this woman was the true love of my dad's life.So was this Margaret's mom??
I know my dad lived for quite awhile in Oklahoma,
where his brother had a large ranch and was a prominent Judge, Pryor,Oklahoma is supposed to have been named after him.
Their ranch was across the river from Roy Roger's ranch and now all that property is under water from a large power dam that was built in later years. At least that's what I've been told.
After dad left there,he moved around quite a bit looking for work, I remember him saying he and another brother traveled looking for work during the Great Depression and what ever the job was for,(welder,electrician,etc) that's what they were and evidently they got away with it because he worked for years before he came back here to farm.
Finding any information without a last name will be almost impossible,I found another letter with a return name and address on it, it was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. and the Mrs was her sister so I'll try to look her up but there again,don't know which wife that was.
I'm guessing by the age of this young woman,she had to be in his first marriage. But why didn't she ever come around or why didn't he want to see her throughout the rest of his life?
Okay enough to wonder about for one day!!
I baked cakes tonight, I have a couple nice orders for this week anyway and a lady called and is sending me a check to mail her a caramel cake. She said she didn't care if it was in pieces when it got there.
I'm glad today is behind me, I always hate going to the doctor for anything,so I am very thankful I got the news I got this morning. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, I can breath now!!!!
Thanking God for my health and praying for the young girls family that was in the accident yesterday,as she passed away from her injuries today, God bless her family.I pray that they know You and turn to You for comfort in this tragic situation.
Good Night and God Bless.

MONDAY IS MONDAY GOOD AND BAD

I should have known the day after such a restful day as yesterday would be crazy busy!
I started out delivering Avon, some of my customers are elderly widow women and those stops are always hard for me because they talk and talk and don't I have the heart to leave after just a quick drop off. This morning I spent almost 45 minutes at 1 stop,duh, that puts a spin on my morning for sure! Not that I don't enjoy talking also but I have my deliveries scheduled around break and lunch times at some of the business stops and only have a small window of time change. I had to skip 1 book drop off this morning and push it into Thursday after market.
I still got home around 1:00 ,ate a quick lunch,gathered some paperwork and we headed to the lawyers office for our meeting about owner financing hubbie's old house. We had g-son today and I expected him to go to sleep on the way there,but he went to sleep as soon as we started the meeting anyway.
We won't be going the owner financing route, not with all the pitfalls lurking there.
We left there and went to hubbie's brother's house,told him what we found out and he agreed we shouldn't go that way.
The main pitfall in this would be if we have to foreclose, after the foreclosure trial we have to actually buy the property back off the courthouse steps, that's crazy!! Since January 1st of this year several law changes in this area have put many additional risk into this loan process,especially in NC. If Congress passes a certain bill that is now before them owner financing will be a thing of the past everywhere as it states in this bill that to finance realestate you will have to have a mortgage lenders license.Another Obama idea,me thinks!!!!
D-in-love met us at home to pick up g-son so he could see his dad a few minutes before he had to go to work. Thankfully the new job is working out and the shift work doesn't seem to bother him.
It started raining while we were at br-in-laws and is still raining lightly while I was outside feeding dogs,brrrrr it is cold and damp.
Saw this picture on a local news site and thought that was some determined Dogwood tree growing inside that silo. Perfect example of how determination to survive can be a very beautiful thing.
After a light supper I got started organizing all my photos,this is something I've been needing to do for years and am determined to get some kind of organized records and storage method for all these photos,especially the very old ones.
Tomorrow will have a yucky start because I have my yearly bloodwork and physical in the morning. I will definitely be saying a prayer tonight!
On a sad note,it has happened again,this time of year I have always held my breath, because it seems that every year just before graduation time there is always an accident in which a local high school student is badly hurt or killed right before graduation.
This afternoon in Southern Buncombe county a 16 year old student drove head-on into a service truck and was thought to be DOA ,but after finding a slight pulse they flew her to the hospital,where she is fighting for her life tonight. Praying for her and her family tonight.By the look of her car you can see why they thought the worse. I'm sure God has a plan for this young lady one way or the other. Maybe it is a good sign that she even survived such a collision as this. No one knows now why she crossed that yellow line into oncoming traffic.
Praying tonight for the accident victim and feeling very grateful for the burden lifted today.
Good Night and God Bless.

MOTHER'S DAY MEMORIES

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOTHERS EVERYWHERE !!!!!!!

Please join me on a little trip down memory lane on this Mother's Day 2010..
MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER VINNIE
Sorry I couldn't find a picture of my paternal grandmother ,her name was Susan.
THIS IS MY MOTHER GOLDIE AT THE AGE OF 2 YEARS
THIS IS MY MOM (FAR LEFT) WITH HER 4 SISTERS (MY AUNTS) GERTIE MAE, CARRIE LEE, HATTIE AND MARY IN 1949 MY MOM AND DAD ON THEIR WEDDING DAY 1952
WITH MY UNCLE JAY (dad's oldest brother,on left) AND AUNT HATTIE and HER HUSBAND ANDERSON HOLMES,(on right). MOM AND ME ,HER FIRST BORN
IN EARLY 1955 ( I was born on July 31,1954) MOM WITH ALL 3 KIDS 1962 MOM AND ME 1970 MOM WITH HER 1ST GRANDCHILD , MY #1 SON CHRISTMAS 1981MY MOM WITH HER 3 GRANDCHILDREN ON HER BIRTHDAY AUGUST 8,1987. (notice daughter is the shirtless one in this picture,hahaha!!!)
ME WITH MY FAVORITE 2 MEN ON MY WEDDING DAY
DECEMBER 21,1979 ME WITH MY FIRST BORN, #1 SON IN 1982,( he was born on October 16, 1981)ME AND MY 3 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER IN 1988
ME WITH 2 OF MY BOVINE BABIES IN SUMMER OF 1988ME WITH MY 3 KIDS IN 1990 ME WITH MY 4 KIDS ON DECEMBER 10,2005
ME WITH MY 1ST GRANDSON , OCTOBER 16,2006
God has seen fit to give me a wonderful life and I am very very grateful to Him for all my blessings.
This has been a wonderful Mother's Day for me.
The weather has been cool todayonly60 and windy.
The winds died down enough to have a fire in the outside fire pit this evening to top off a very relaxing and enjoyable day for me.
I thank my wonderful kids for the gifts and hope for many many more mother's days to come.
Most of all thank you Lord for making all this possible.
Good Night and God Bless.

WHAT'S BLOOMING NOW !!

Another really nice day, a little windy,in fact a lot windy, but the temperatures stayed in the mid 70's all day. We are suppose to get to 42 tonight.
Busy market day for a change today and saw a lot of our snowbird residents for the first time today.
After supply stops at Aldi and Walmart I went by one of my market neighbor's greenhouse to get some " German Johnson" tomato plants. I bought a couple of these last year and we loved the taste,haven't been able to find them this year. Joel found me 2 that he had left and of course I can't go to a greenhouse full of plants,in fact about 6 greenhouses full of plants,and only come away with 2 tomato plants. Now we have a whole other flat of plants to set out to go along with the 2 flats we already had,oh boy!!!
Not confident enough to set them all out yet though. We were going to plant the garden this evening but that thought must have been hiding in our heads! It is after 10 pm and I just remembered it!!!This Rhododendron outside my sewing shop is beautiful this year.These corn flowers are pretty this year,seems like the colors are brighter in every thing that blooms this year. Maybe that dose of cold snowy weather was just what they neededI was glad to see this azalea finally bloom,it is one we had to move last fall to make room for the new sunroom and because of its size I worried that it might not make it. It is late blooming and the blooms are smaller than usual but it evidently likes its new location behind this row of iris.
All is not well today in the Gulf Of Mexico with the oil spill. BP made a huge dome to lower over the leaking well and stop the oil from spilling into the ocean but it failed. When they lowered the dome down the 1 mile to the leak site it filled with gaseous ice crystals and became buoyant so they now are trying to figure out how to make it work,uhhh doesn't sound good to me!!
Meanwhile they are still trying to burn some of the oil off,which doesn't seem like a good idea to me,look at that black smoke!!
Some experts are saying this is already a worse spill than the one in Alaska. Actually on one knows exactly how much oil is coming out of that well.Here are 2 different projection maps and neither paint a good scenario.
This could even eventually effect me personally if they don't get it stopped,it gets into the Gulf Stream,goes around the tip of Florida and heads up the east coast. Our vacation might be in jeopardy! And wouldn't you know I didn't buy the money back insurance thinking we weren't going in hurricane season, so what could happen????
With all the money these companies have made I cannot believe they were not prepared for such a disaster as this one!!
Sitting here typing I can hear the wind really howling outside,the temp is now 54 degrees at 11:00.
Thankful tonight for God's grace and forgiveness as I strive to be a better person everyday.
Good Night and God Bless.