Thanksgiving activities

Front row: Judy, Nerissa, Nell, Caroline, Liz, Ally
Back row:  Guy, Bill, Jim, Chad, Ron, Andrew

Thanksgiving Day meal was at noon when we met with the Westbrook family at Shady Grove Primitive Baptist Church out in the country near Zion Chapel.

Pictured here are those members of our family plus two friends (Chad and Andrew).  Two of our family were unable to be with us: Cindy (Ron's wife) and Bill's middle daughter, Katie, a student at College of Charleston, who had to work.

My sister Judy and her husband Guy also spent Thanksgiving with us, along with their dog Ollie.



Front row: Janna, Ben, Sharon, Betty, Emma,Linda, Bow
Back row:  Phillip, Ed, Tom, Chip Curtis, Chip, Janet

  My cousin, Linda Westbrook, always invites us to come to their Thanksgiving meal.  Here she is shown with those of her family attending:  Missing from their family were Kathy and Bobby who went to Pensacola to see Timmy and family, and Bill and Lorie from NC.


Four of our 5 granddaughters had fun being together for a couple of days. Liz  graduated from Univ. of Texas and has a job with a scientific journal publishing company in Austin,  Ally is a senior at the University of North Texas, graduating with a degree in Ecology on May 14, 2012.  The next two are sisters; Caroline a sophomore at West Florence, SC and Nerissa, who will be graduating
summa cum laude  with a BS in Nursing from
Clemson University on Dec. 22, 2011.  Katie (not pictured) is a Jr at College of Charleston and has a part time job working as Innkeeper for Ashley Place, a B&B in an old antebellum home.  She had to work on Wed., Thurs., and Friday so she didn't get to come.  We will see her Christmas in SC.


Brothers Bill and Ronnie don't see each other very often since Bill lives in Florence, SC and Ron lives in Austin, TX.  They are pictured here inside the church eating Thanksgiving dinner.

Thursday night our family gathered at my brother Perry's cabin on a little pond inside the city limits on Beaver Dam creek and had a big bonfire and roasted marshmallows.  It got too cold and we had to come home around 7:30 p.m.  The evening was spent playing cards, watching ball games, and just having fun visiting.

Friday we had another thanksgiving dinner at our house for our kids and Judy and Guy.  We had turkey and ham, dressing, veggies, pumpkin pie and much more.

After lunch we gathered in the living room for my 77th birthday.  I got a lot of nice gifts and they took photos of me as I opened each gift.  Everybody but Judy and Guy left early Sat. morning to head home before the big traffic jam on Sunday.  Judy and Guy headed to Sarasota, FL Sunday morning.  It was sad when the last car pulled out.  

My Book Club

Reading books has always been my favorite pasttime. I like reading all kinds of books and can't wait to read Best Sellers (which aren't always my favorites).  When I was growing up in the 40s, during WWII, books were not always available.  I remember receiving "At the Back of the North Wind" when I was in the 5th or 6th grade.  I had wanted one of the Bobsey Twins books or a Nancy Drew mystery.  Mother ordered it from Sears Roebuck and they substituted the North Wind book.  I read it but it was not my favorite.  She felt bad that I did not get the books I wanted that Christmas.

When I was in the 6th grade, our little country school  started a library.  It was housed in my classroom and I was in charge of it.  I checked out books for people to read.  I got to read the new books first!  My favorite was "Doctor Doolittle" and I wrote a play from that story and our class presented it.  I read every book in the library that year.

In the early 50's, The bookmobile stopped in our community. This was great in the summer when we wanted books to read.  We didn't have TV to occupy our time back then. Nobody had TV.  Had not even heard about TV!

So it's fitting that I belong to a book club.  We meet once a month and review the book we selected for that month.  We meet at a local coffeehouse where we can purchase a cup of latte or delicious coffee to drink while we discuss the book of the month.  It's a come if you can sort of club.  We don't count anybody absent.  Many of our group travel and can't always be there.  Last month one member was on a cruise in Europe and another in Ireland.  They usually attend if they are at home.

My Kindle

Our book selection for Nov. was "Hotel at the corner of Bitter and Sweet" -  and a good book it was.  While it was fiction, it was based on real facts.  It portrayed the situation during WWII when the Japanese were interned in camps in the northwest.  I learned so much from reading this book.  One of my favorites this year was a book published several years ago, "The Power of One".  And most recently, "Sarah's Key".

I am usually reading more than one book at the time.  I keep one by my bed and sometimes read if I go to bed early (do this a lot in the winter).  I have a Kindle and love to read when we're on trips.  It has a little night light that really magnifies the print when needed.  I usually order used books from Amazon for about 1/3 the price of regular books, and order paperbacks.  We don't have room to put any more books on our shelves so I read them and pass them on to others to read.  We all do that in our book club.  Plus we give the librarian our book list when we make a new one (about twice a year) and she makes sure at least one copy of our selected books is in the library.

We read "Water for Elephants" last spring and when the movie was released, our book club members car-pooled to a nearby theater (don't have one here in Elba) for a matinée showing of the movie.  It was so much fun watching the characters come to life.  Some were not at all as we had imagined but the movie followed the story, until the ending and they changed that!

A Gift for a Little Princess

The reigning Little Miss Elba, Chanlyn Free,  is a beautiful 11-year-old neighbor girl.  She will be riding on a float in the National Peanut Festival parade in Dothan tomorrow morning, along with other "queens", including my nephew's daughter Bethany Wilson,  who is Miss Elba this year.

Little "Miss Elba" and her baby sister Lindley

 Chanlyn's mother asked me to help her come up with something for Chanlyn to cover her legs while riding on the float, to help her keep warm.  I made her a beautiful (and elegant) lap robe out of off white fleece material which I lined with white, stiped satin. I found the fabric at a fabric discount store and the entire project cost less than $13!

It was worth all the time and effort when Chanlyn sat in my den with the laprobe over her knees, and those beautiful blue eyes flashing with excitement.  She couldn't believe I made it.

 She is shown here with the big afghan covering her legs.  It's supposed to be very, very cold in the  morning when the parade follows  a path in downtown Dothan.  Her mother was taking her shopping for some white mittens and ear muffs.  She will be wearing her great-grandmother's white fur cape over her bright aqua heirloom dress (under which she will be wearing insulated underwear).

We will be watching the parade on TV in the  morning and can't wait to see her as the City of Elba float passes down the street.

Digging a well for water

Today we went to my brother Perry's place on Beaver Dam Creek  near the Elba By-Pass bridge to watch him as he operated a primitive well-digging rig which he called a "sludge bucket".

It will be interesting to see if this really works and if he does strike water and can install a pump.  More later.

If you look real close (click to enlarge photo) you will see the by-pass bridge at the top right of the photo.