Easter Sunday March 23, 2008

L TO R: Nerissa, Katie, Caroline, Nell, Jim, James, and Bill Gilmer

We took a trip to NC and SC during Easter and it was very cold. I'm glad we added jackets as an after thought when we were packing spring clothes.

We had fun visiting with relatives and seeing our granddaughters for the first time in almost 3 months. They were in England during Christmas holidays. One is in college, one is a Jr. high school and one in the 6th grade. They are sweet and beautiful young ladies and are very smart. In this photo they are hugging each other as the older sister is getting ready to head back to Clemson, a long drive. She wasn't happy about leaving her family behind since she had been with them for 10 days during spring break from school.

Nerissa, Katie, Caroline

Palm Sunday at our church today

Elba United Methodist Church http://www.elbaumc.org/

Today we attended Palm Sunday services, morning and evening, at Elba United Methodist Church were we are members. It was a nice sunny day and flowers are blooming everywhere.

As we stood to sing "Hosanna", the little children started coming down the aisles of the church waving palm branches and placed them at the base of the large cross on the left side of the front of the sancuary. The dark black cross has been in the church since the beginning of lent, and is draped with a bright purple length of cloth. On Easter Sunday, the children will again march down the aisles of the church and place fresh bouquets of flowers at the cross, completely covering the front part of the cross. Easter lilies will be placed along the railing in front of the altar. I am posting a picture for last year of the lilies. We won't be here for Easter this year since we plan to visit Jim's mother in NC on Thurs and Fri, and on to SC to our son Bill's Fri. afternoon for the week-end. We will attend the catholic Easter mass on Sunday with Bill and family.

One of my favorite Easter's was in 1986 when we were living in Haleyville, AL (Winston Co. in north Ala, near the Bankhead Forest). We bought a large house in the country near the forest and there was a small lake on the east side of the house. We had only been there about 4 months. Several of my family came to visit us that Easter. We decided to have an Easter sunrise service near the small lake, under the big oak trees with azaleas and bulbs blooming all around. I invited nearby neighbors (many I had not met) to come share with us and have breakfast. Several showed up, either walking or riding bikes, and some came in cars.

We had met a retired Methodist minister earlier and invited him to come and be our speaker. He was confined to a wheelchair and he and his wife joined us for the service. Rev. Gus Buttram lived in the Bankhead forest and had a camp meeting facility there where people came every summer. His sister lived nearby and helped cook meals there. They became our best friends. Gus had a brother in California that used to play Mr. Haney on Green Acres (Pat Buttram). We never got to meet him.

Back to our sunrise service- my nephews Andrew and Alex, made a cross our of some lumber and planted it in the ground. Andrew insisted that we drape the cross in purple, a royal color. I managed to find some purple cloth for him to use. They gathered fresh flowers and placed at the foot of the cross. We sang some Easter songs and then Mr. Gus read the Bible and talked about Jesus' rising from the dead, etc. What a beautiful service. It was cold and we really appreciated the hot coffee and homemade biscuits with ham and sausage after the service. My sisters prepared the food and we had a table in the garage where we served breakfast. This is a good way to get to know your neighbors.

After lunch we all gathered around the little pond and were soaking up the warm sun and some of the kids fishing and running about. Our neighbor's son passed by on his way to visit his parents (next farm over) and asked his mother about the new neighbors. He said they were lying ourdoors, all over the place. She had been at the breakfast and explained to him that they were visiting the Gilmers, and not all were living there!

Trip to Auburn University

Lucy Luck, Nell Gilmer, Jane Jesson

Today I traveled to Auburn University Conference Center with two of my DAR friends. We attended the National Defense Luncheon at the Alabama State DAR annual conference. I have been going to the Ala. state meetings every year since 1997. It's fun to renew old acquaintances that you only see once a year.

My first visit to Auburn University (it was called Auburn Polytecnic Institute or API back then) was in July 1949 when I went to a 4-H summer conference for county winners. I don't remember why I was selected to go. There were 3 of us 4-H members who rode to Auburn with the Extension Agent for the 3-day event. I had never been on a college campus although Troy State Teachers College was only 36 miles from home. I never had an occasion to visit a college campus. When we arrived at Auburn, we stayed in a dorm on the quadrangle. I remember going to the dining hall and to an auditorium and I really don't remember any other buildings on campus. You can see the clock tower in the picture here, behind the chemistry building. One day we went to a picnic and swimming at Lake Chewacla. I remember thinking that it was rather crowded in the small dorm room with twin beds and small closets. There was no air conditioning and I remember how hot it was in the dorm room at night. I don't remember if there was even a fan.

One evening we walked across the campus to a reception at the home of the college president. I wonder if they still invite students to come to their home?

The college is so big now that it must really be intimidating to incoming Freshmen. Lots of new buildings. But some of the old buildings are still there and are beautiful. One such building is Samford Hall with the big clock tower. This was across the street from the convention center where we were today.

It's Fertilizer Weather

Today I spent some time fertilizing 36 trees at the new Elba playground. The man at the nursery told me what to buy; a time release nursery fertilizer: 14,7,7. What he didn't tell me was that the price has almost doubled since the last time I bought it. A small bag is now $15! And I had to buy two to have enough for all the trees.

All my life I've know about the virtues of fertilizer. And all the different kinds, etc. When I was growing up we had organic fertilizer, not the synthetic kind that runs off the soil and poisons lakes and streams.

Daddy used cow manure, horse manure, chicken manure, rotten sawdust, to count a few. They used to make compost heaps, adding lime to layers to make the materials go through a heat. Now I go to the nursery or farm coop store and actually buy cow manure in a yellow bag. I was reluctant to do this a few years ago but found it is a great thing for roses.

Daddy used guano (nitrogen) to put into the soil when he planted peanuts. My job was to open up the big bags and take buckets of fertilizer to dump into the big "hopper" which was in front of the planter. Then when the corn was about knee high, we had to carry bags on our shoulder, hanging in front of us and filled with soda (ammonia sulfate) - tiny white pellets that made the corn grow. It's no wonder we didn't die from over exposure to all those chemicals since we handled them with our hands.

Daddy's vegetable garden thrived on the animal manure spread over the area and turned under with a plow or disk. When we first moved back to the farm, our neighbor gave us a load of chicken house fertilizer and it was fine until it rained and the sun came out and that was the worse odor I've ever smelled - hot ammonia scent filled the air. It finally went away. No more of that!

Jim put too much nitrogen on his pea patch one time and the vines grew like kudzu. I don't think he had many peas; all leaves. And then the Japanese beetles discovered them and had a good meal, eating the leaves and leaving the pea stalks sticking up into the air.

Planting a community flower garden

Yesterday I helped some members of the Magnolia Garden Club in Elba prepare and plant a flower garden in one of the old flower beds left on the site after the old school was demolished in 2006 to make way for the new playground. They chose the smaller flower bed in the background, nearest the playground.


First the flower bed had to be cleaned out and debris and weeds and grass removed from inside the planted to a depth of about 20 inches. After this was completed by volunteers, a load of good topsoil was donated and delivered to the site on March 3, 2008.

Several garden club members met at the site on Friday, March 7 to begin spreading the topsoil and leveling it inside the planter. Then a white Natchez crepe myrtle tree was planted in the center of the flower bed. As a certified Master Gardener, I was the advisor to the group and furnished the tree that I had propagated in the summer of 2006. I also furnished some yellow coreopsis plants to put in the center of the flowerbed underneath the tree. They will plant lantana shrubs in the outer part of the circle and let them casdade over the brick on the outside.   Below is a photo of the new playground and the 36 trees planted.

Mama Wilson, My Mentor

Mama Wilson (Fannie Malissa)

My grandmother Wilson (Fannie Melissa Grimes) taught me so many things. She was the fourth child in a family of 14 brothers and sisters. She was born on Dec. 2, 1883 and was 83 when she died on Jan. 20, 1966. She married James Arthur Wilson on Feb. 9, 1908 at her home in Curtis community. She spent her entire life in the Curtis community as did many of her brothers and sisters. She was only 20 when her father died of typhoid fever in 1903 at age 47. Her mother lived to be 92 and died when I was in high school. I remember her very well and used to visit her often. Someday I will write what I remember about her.


We lived with Mama and Papa Wilson when I was growing up. She taught me how to sew on her old treadle sewing machine. First I had to learn to sew by hand with a needle and thread. I was always loosing my needle (and I still have this problem). I made doll clothes from scraps Mama would give me. Then one day she allowed me to sew on the sewing machine and I felt I was really grown up (around age 7 or 8). Mama was a good seamstress and sewed for ladies in Opp and Elba. This was during WWII and many things were rationed. Mama would take apart men's suits and make the ladies nice suits from the wool fabric. She helped me cut out dresses from chicken feed sacks and then showed me how to sew them. Often she made her own patterns. I was always so proud of my "home made" dresses and wore them with pride.


Mama Wilson was a tall lady and large frame. She was bigger than Papa Wilson. She always looked so pretty when she got dressed up and wore makeup - on special days. Mostly I remember how hard she worked on the farm, getting up early in the morning. She was the best cook and I would love to have one of her light biscuits and her bread pudding. Everything she cooked was so good. Her food had a cajun flavor - lots of pepper and tomatoes. When i was young, she would cook smoked link sausage (fry them until they were well done) and make red eye gravy and serve them with hot biscuits and whipped cream! I remember her little blue ceramic crock pot (bowl) she always made the whipped cream in, using a rotary beater.


We wanted a goat real bad to pull our little wagon. Daddy gave in and we got a billy goat from a neighbor. (Later learned they gave it to us because he was so mean.) He kept getting out of the pen and we would have to chase him and put him back inside. One day Mama Wilson was outside in the yard, bending over doing something and our Billy goat spotted her and ran to her and butted her with his horns. That was the end of our Billy. He moved on someplace else.


I didn't see Mama Wilson very often after I left home for college at age 17. She was close to 69 years old by this time, and seemed very old to me. Most of my memories of her are when she was much younger. I remember when she always baked sweet potatoes and opossum for her brothers and other neighbors to enjoy once a year in the fall. She lost her sense of smell and taste when she aged. I remember when she rubbed Watkin's vanilla flavoring on my brother and cousin when they were little boys and got stung by honey bees at one of our bee hives. She thought she was using Watkins linament. I guess they both had alcohol in them and soothed the skin where they were stung.


I always smile when I think about Mama Wilson. She had the sweetest smile and twinkling eyes. And I loved her so much.

James Lawrence Wilson - my dad when he was 3

I love this photo of our dad when he was a little boy, 3 years old. It must have been taken in the spring or summer since he is barefoot and there are leaves on the bush behind him. Notice the clean-swept yard. And it was probably Sunday since he has on a "dressy" white shirt.


James Lawrence Wilson was born November 23, 1914. His parents were James Arthur Wilson and Fannie Melissa Grimes. He was 4 years old when his sister, Mattie Lena was born. She was named for her Aunt Mattie Wilson Danley (Papa Wilson's sister) and Aunt Lena (Uncle Frank Wilson's wife). I guess daddy was named for Papa Wilson (James) but I don't know anybody in the family that was named Lawrence. Maybe they just liked that name. In olden days children were usually named after someone.


My daddy could do anything he set his mind to do. He was a first class "shade tree" mechanic. He continued to work on cars until he died at age 67 from cancer. He was a farmer, carpenter, mechanic, and pretty good cook after our mother died at age 48 in 1963. He married again to Frances Mock Watson from Opp in the summer of 1967.


Daddy could make delicious peanut brittle, using an old iron skillet. He was pretty good at making jelly, jam, and preserves. And of course frying fish outdoors in a big fryer. I don't remember him ever cooking when I was living at home. I do remember that he would buy a burlap (croker) sack of fresh oysters and shuck them for us to eat with crackers. We would sit outside under the big pecan tree and he would open the oysters with his pocket knife and place them on a board near the ground. Chris, Sue and I would "lap them up". I couldn't swallow one of those slimy things now, even if I was starving!


On Sunday mornings I remember trudging to Pond Creekin the "back 40" with him, before daylight sometimes, to check his "trot lines" to see if he had caught any mudcats. And usually he would have several of those ugly, dark slimy fish with whiskers. We would bring them back home and he would skin them and we'd have them for breakfast. All of this took place before time to get dressed to go to Sunday School at 10 a.m. Other times we would get salt fish from a truck that would stop by selling them. You had to soak them first to remove some of the pickling salt before you fried them. I would love to have some salt fish again and my favorite, even to this day, the strong, dark meat mullet from the gulf or bay. Maybe it's time to go to Ft Walton, FL and eat some good mullet (which Jim does NOT like).


Other Sat. or Sun. mornings, he would shoot the squirrels in the pecan trees (stealing our pecans) and skin them and Mama Wilson would fry them (like chicken) and make gravy and biscuits to eat with them. I remember that we would eat anything that our daddy ate. I don't remember mother eating squirrels and oysters.


Other things we ate were quail, rabbits, opossums (a yearly ritual for Mama Wilson to cook for her brothers) and I don't remember what else. Once I grew up and left home, I never had these "delicious meals" again.


When I grew up and got married and moved away, it was always so special to come home and eat "good food". Daddy planted things late in the summer to have at Thanksgiving, i.e., peas and tomatoes. He always planted too much so he could share with his neighbors, even picking the vegetables for them and taking them to friends and neighbors.


I miss his pear and fig preserves which he cooked until they were dark and almost candied and his peanut brittle made with cane syrup. And his watermelons and sweet corn. And corn bread made from extra fine cornmeal, water and salt and cooked in pones in a black skillet with lots of hot oil, until there was a crust around the bread and soft inside. Sometimes we would eat the cornbread with buttermilk for supper at night.