Five Weeks Later -

This photo on the left was made July 27th and entered on my blog, along with a message that I was starting on a weight loss program (of my own) and that I would have my picture made at this same place once a month. I had sorta forgotten what I said and today someone who reads my blog reminded me. So... I am posting a photo on the right, made this morning in my "working in the yard" outfit. And I might add 11 lbs. less. I noticed that my pants were not so tight in the waist this morning. I am 4 lbs from my first goal of 15 lbs by October 3rd - our 54th anniversary.

A trip to the Dr. for my annual check-up and lab work was the main reason I set up my weight loss plan. I needed to lower my blood sugar (and I have it in a good range now), lower my cholesterol (HDL had actually increased but the bad one was too high), and get rid of my big stomach! The only medicine I take is Plavix and that's because I can't tolerate aspirin and having had 2 mini-strokes, I must take Plavix.

Here's my plan and I've been doing this faithfully since July 27: Walk at least 30 minutes a day. I go walking at 6:15 a.m. almost every day with my neighbors, at least 5 days a week. Eat healthy foods - no junk food.
A friend was wanting to lose weight and she and I are in this together. In the beginning for the first 2 weeks, I followed the WW program on my own. I was eating the right foods but the
portions were too big. My friend had been on the South Beach Diet and recommended I try that. The first 2 weeks on the diet were very restrictive. I missed fruits and my oatmeal and cereal.

I made it thru Phase 1 and now I am adding back foods that are allowed on Phase 2. I haven't missed bread, pasta and other high carb foods. I have plenty to eat and have not been hungry and this is the 5th week I've been on my healthy food plan. I have lost 11 pounds since July 27. It has come off slowly: 1/2 lb at the time mostly. And some days I gain 1/2.

Papa and Mama Smith

I have such good memories of my mother's parents, Oswald Cole and Bessie Jewel Mayberry Smith. I was the first grandchild and mother had brothers and sisters younger and still living at home when I was growing up. I was "special" when I went to visit them.


First I will talk about Papa Smith or "Bunch" as he was called. I never asked him how he got that name. I wish I knew. He was a very smart man and loved to read. He was a farmer most of his life and grew cotton and corn mostly. He was called the "watermelon king" in and around Elba. He always had a ripe melon to celebrate July 4th. In the 1940's, he farmed with a mule and never used a tractor. He always grew enough food in their garden to eat in the summer and they canned enough for the winter. Then he would gather the extra vegetables and take to others. He was a very devout Christian man and loved to read the Bible and go to church. He had a big leather suitcase he kept Bibles and religious books in and would stand on the sidewalk on Saturdays near Stokes Haire's drug store in Elba and sell his Bibles and books. Papa Smith had several brothers and sisters and he was very close to his youngest brother, Drayden, who had Smith Bros. store in Elba. Since Papa Smith didn't own a car, Uncle Drayden would provide transportation for him when he needed to go someplace that he couldn't walk to or in bad weather. He never got angry and always had something good to say about people. One thing that stands out in my mind was when I was 9 or 10, I was visiting them and went with him to take cotton to the gin, using the mule and wagon to get there. He gave me a quarter to spend at the 5&10 store and I bought a Captain Marvel funny book. He lectured to me all the way home about the "evils" of those books and gave me some religious books to read when I went home. I didn't see anything wrong with my funny book and kept reading them! He loved to go fox hunting and had a horn he blew to call his dogs. I learned something about him when I began to study the geneaology of our Smith ancestors. That his ancestors were Quakers, coming from NC to AL. I really think that influenced his upbringing and why he was such a devout, pious man. He never wanted material possessions; just food and a roof over his head. He liked to move around a lot and they lived in several homes when I was growing up. The last several years of his life he took care of Mama Smith who became an invalid due to several health problems. He was a great cook and only cooked and ate healthy foods. No junk food in his house! He had a heart attack when they were visiting my parents one Sunday and he never recovered from that. Died of kidney failure 21 Oct. 1956 at Opp Mizelle Memorial Hospital. I truly loved Papa Smith. He made me feel so special.




Mama Smith was always "old" to me. Maybe it was the way she dressed and she never went anywhere. Always stayed at home and cooked and took care of the house. She was a very quiet lady, with a soft voice. She wasn't very talented; not a very good cook and couldn't sew.I do remember her chocolate cakes with the thin chocolate icing. She just went about her daily life of looking after people. There was always an old person staying with them; somebody who needed a place to live and somebody to take care of them. I remember "Aunt Lou" and "Aunt Pink". They both died when I was young. It was many years later before I knew their relationship to our family. Mama Smith liked to play board games and dominoes with me. Our favorite was "Uncle Wiggly". She would play it over and over. She would let me read her daily journal that she recorded events of each day; who came to visit, the weather, etc. I wonder what ever happened to her big stack of journals. She was 90 years old when she died 30 Dec 1976, after spending several years in the Elba Nursing Home. She went there soon after it opened in the 1960's and really liked living there. In the summer she and other residents would gather in the big dining room and shell peas and butterbeans for lunch. I can't imagine that going on in the nursing home today.

The Gilmers Have Two Eagles

Our sons, Ronnie and Bill, both earned their Eagle Badges in Boy Scouting while in high school. They both spent their summers working at the District Scout Camp Dierks near Broken Bow, OK until they started to college. They are both great cooks and learned these skills on camping trips. I've never forget the day Ron was given his Eagle award at our church in Paris, TX. The boys and I went to Sunday school and Jim was coming later to church to take part in the ceremony. We kept waiting for Jim and finally decided he wasn't coming. Poor Jim! He was at home searching for his car keys and guess where they were! In my purse.... I had picked them up by mistake and didn't realize I had them. After that day, we always have a  spare set of keys at home. So that's why Jim isn't in this photo: Nell Gilmer, Ron Gilmer, Scoutmaster Lawrence Wade, Dr. Jim Semple and Ronnie, receiving his Eagle Scout Award in Paris, TX in 1970


I looked for a photo of Bill getting his Eagle award but this was a time when we made slides instead of photos and I would have to look through a lot of slides to find him getting his Eagle. For his Eagle project, Bill did some work at the church. I don't remember all the details of that project.


But do I ever remember Ron's project. When we moved to Paris in 1967, we were fascinated with living in the Southwest and all the history of the area. I learned that the founder of the Chisholm (Chisum) Trail was buried in Paris, Tx and started searching for his grave. I found it in an overgrown family cemetery at the edge of town. I suggested Ron get some help and clean this historic cemetery for his Eagle project. Again my photos are all on slides and I don't have one to post here. It's been over 35 years since he did this project. I wonder if you can find that cemetery now. There is a Texas historical marker at the cemetery with this inscription: " BURIAL SITE OF JOHN S. CHISUM (1824-1884) CATTLE BARON WHO MOVED HERDS FROM EAST TO WEST TEXAS AND INTO NEW MEXICO AND FOUNDED ONE OF THE GREATEST CATTLE SPREADS IN THE WEST."



Jim and I have both worked with boy scouts; I was a Den Mother and Jim was an Asst. Scoutmaster. Our son James was also in Boy Scouts when he was younger.

Labor Day picnic to visit 370 year old Live Oak tree

Today, Labor Day 2007, we took a picnic lunch
with us and traveled to Geneva, AL to see a 370
year old live oak tree in Robert Fowler Memorial Park on the Choctawhatchee River banks. It was a cloudy, below 100 degree day and standing under the giant oak, you could feel several degrees cooler.

We ate our lunch at a picnic table in the park and watched people fishing in the river and a swamp nearby. I saw an alligator sunning in the swamp!
By this time I was ready to leave. We were too close to the swampy area.


A plaque, placed on the site by the Ala. Forestry Comm. in 1987 recognized that this tree was there in 1776 when the Constitution of the US was signed. The town of Geneva was located along the river in the area near the tree until floods forced the town to relocate and a levee built between the town and the river.


James and I are standing at a point where the Choctawhatchee River joins the Pea River coming down from Elba and they flow to the Gulf of Mexico.
An old timer at this site told us that he has fished here at this point all his life and has caught fresh water and salt water fish here. You can see some fishermen in this photo. One of them caught a big mullet (salt water fish) while we were there. It was quiet and peaceful here and we enjoyed our visit to see the Big Oak Tree and the two rivers.

Animal Friends at Whispering Pines Farm

                                  
Today I saw a lovebug on the car windshield. Now I'm bracing for an invasion sometime in Sept. In May and Sept. we had so many sticking to our white doors at the farm that we would have to brush them away to get inside. But that's not all we had at the farm. To begin with, when we first moved there in 1996, we lived in a mobile home while we remodeled our house beside the lake. That summer we encountered an invasion of fire ants inside our house. To escape them, our cat slept on top of the house at night!

Thick pine trees surrounded us and deer would come out of the woods to the edge of the water to drink. You could wake up in the morning and see them come out of the woods to drink the cool water, often bringing their babies along. One day I saw some big black squirrels with big, long bushy tails come out of the woods to get some water. I had never seen squirrels like these and learned that they were called fox squirrels. They stayed in the tall pine trees. A little red fox had a den in the woods and would walk along the fence to hunt for food. He would cross the yard several feet from our house and stop and look our way and then go on.


In the spring we had the biggest turtles you can imagine sunning on old logs in the water. Once a beaver tried to establish a home and we frightened him away just by shooting into the air and he became frightened and fled. We put some carp in the lake to eat the algae and we loved throwing food to them when company was around, and they would jump up for the food and roll around in the water like dolphins. Wild turkeys liked to strut about in an open area at the edge of the thick pine forest. A big blue herron claimed a stake at one end of the lake and the red-wing blackbirds and kingfishers would fuss at him. And then there were those pests of the lawn and garden - the armadillos. We used a wooden trap to try to catch them. At night you could hear owls in the trees. We had so many birds I lost count. I loved hearing formations of geese flying overhead in October, with some stopping to stay a few days on their way south.

We had a wooden deck and screened porch on the back of the house and little green and brown anoles (lizards) sunned there almost year round. It was fun to watch those little guys "show their money" by puffing up their red throats. Once a friend was visiting and we were watching the little green lizards on the screen of the porch. He laughed and asked if we ever thought we'd be sitting and watching lizards play when we retired!

Our only pet was P.J., a large gray-striped cat. He kept stray dogs abay and warned us if a snake was around. He loved hunting in the woods and kept down the rat population in the area.
Mostly he loved to sleep on a shelf by the kitchen window during the day since he prowled at night.


We sold the farm and moved to Elba in November 2003. We had to work so hard to maintain it that we didn't have time to do anything else, and we were getting older. It was fun creating a beautiful place.

Old Salem Museum and other museums and Gardens

One of my favorite places - Old Salem, located in Winston-Salem, NC. This historic district depicts the history of the Moravians who lived in Salem.
I served as a Docent there in the 1980s when we lived near there. In the photo above, you can see a pile of wood. This is where you can see blocks of wood being made into shingles. No, I didn't make wooden shingles! I helped start the first group of docents to assist with the daily operations of the museum and gardens. We were not the "costumed" voluteers, but worked behind the scenes most of the time. I loved holiday times at Old Salem. Christmas meant busloads of tourists coming to experience the Moravian Christmas customs. They would start at the visitor center to learn about the Moravian people. Then tour guides would lead them through the historic village. At Winkler bakery they could observe costumed volunteers baking sugar cakes and other pastries (and have samples). I loved the parties our docent group had occasionally. We would get to sample all the Moravian dishes and at Christmas enjoy wassail and other delicious dishes. Check out their website: http://www.oldsalem.org/ At Christmas, I still hang our big Moravian star on our front porch and usually some of our family in NC will send us a sugarcake or the delicious thin, spicy Moravian cookies. I also have some tin wall sconces on our wall from Old Salem.


This photo is a street in Old Salem, looking north towards downtown Winston-Salem, separated by I-40. Many of the restored homes are privately owned and people live in them. Salem College is at the edge of the historic district and a Moravian church is located here also. We used to go there for the Moravian Lovefeasts on special occasions. They served large Moravian buns and hot coffee (which was more milk than coffee and flavored and sweet). Once we attended Easter sunrise service in the park in front of the church. I remember how cold it was.

Behind the Moravian church, is God's Acre, a cemetery where the Salem Moravians are buried. The Easter sunrise service is concluded here in the cemetery.

The Moravians were living here in the early 1700s and helped both sides of the Amer. Revolution by furnishing troops with food as they passed by. They did not believe in fighting so they did not participate in the war.

I also was a docent at some other museums in Winston-Salem, including Reynolda House Museum of American Art. This was the home of R.J. Reynolds, located near Wake Forest. I attended art education classes at Wake Forest in order to be a docent here. I learned so much and enjoyed giving tours of the home. It was exciting to meet some of the contemporary artists occasionally. And we had special luncheons in the dining room of the stately old Reynolds home.  This is a lovely place with beautiful gardens. I will always remember the pretty rose garden.  You can check this place out at http://www.reynoldahouse.org/

I enjoyed volunteering at a completely different kind of art museum, SECCA or Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. This was also located near Wake Forest. While working here as a docent, I got to meet Maya Angelou (who was living in W/S at the time) and Martha Stewart came to a luncheon one day and was promoting her first book "Entertaining With Martha Stewart". I was not too impressed with her. She was so plain and wore denim to our "fancy" luncheon. But her career took off after that and now look at her: still plain looking and doesn't dress up. Maybe that's how she got to where she is. I minored in art in college and contemporary art was always my favorite. I especially liked doing batiks. Check out SCCEA at http://www.secca.org/

We lived in Winston-Salem for about 7 years and saw a lot of changes take place during this time. Jim worked for Bali, owned by Hanes, and both became a part of Sara Lee Corp. while we were there. We laughed and said Sara Lee sells bras, mens underwear, and croissants at the Hanes company store!

We moved to Haleyville in N. Ala. in the winter of 1985 and I worked with a group to plan something for Winston Co. Bicentennial, and helped research and write a play which is now an outdoor drama, "Free State pf Winston". Someday I plan to start writing about the places we have lived and post photos. We had different experiences in all of them, and such good memories.

School's Over! They've Graduated

James gradutated from Cavanaugh High School in Crystal, MN in 1979, receiving a diploma (Special Education). Schools for mentally challenged persons in that state were so far advanced at that time. He loved going to school, and had many friends there. He rode a bus and never missed a day due to snow. The roads were cleared before time for the bus to come. They had a graduation dinner I'll never forget, prepared by the Food Service Class at the Technical school. I remember the big ice carving on the table. Graduation day was special too as they marched into the auditorium and crossed the stage to receive their diploma. James has very limited academic skills but has lots of social skills, thanks to good schools in GA, TX and MN. He was in the very first special class in Decatur, GA in the early 1960's.

        
Bill, our youngest son, graduated from Paris High School, and East Texas State University, Commerce, TX in 1980 with a BA in Fine Arts.

We moved to Minneapolis when Bill was a college freshman, leaving him in Texas. Jim traveled to Texas on business often and would visit him. It was hard leaving him behind when we moved.

Bill began his career working on a TV show called "PM Magazine" at a TV Station in Sherman, TX. He continued working for TV programs at Miami, FL; Columbus, OH; St. Paul, MN; and, Pittsburgh, PA. He left Pittsburg and moved to Florence, SC in 1992 where he still lives with his 3 daughters. He met his wife, Barbara, at ETSU when she was a Rotary Exchange student from London. Several years later, in 1987, they got married in Pittsburgh, PA and she came to the US to live. She died in 1996 and he has raised their 3 little girls, now 12, 16, 18. The oldest is in college at Clemson University, SC.

Ronnie graduated from Paris High School, Paris, TX and Stephen F. Austin University in l981 with a BS degree in Math and Computer Science. He began his college career in the band at Kilgore Jr College in Tyler, TX. He had a hard time deciding what he wanted to major in and spent some semesters working as a boat captain taking workers to oil rigs out in the Gulf. He met his wife Cindy and decided to go back to college and we credit her for helping him make that decision. He graduated with honors and for the past several years has worked for LIM, a computer software company in Austin, TX and is now CIO. He and Cindy have 2 daughters, both in college now. Ronnie is an outdoors guy and loves going to his hunting lease in West Texas.