"Hello. Yes, this is she."

How many times have I answered the phone and when someone asks to speak to Nell (or Mary), I always answer with "this is she" and in the meantime I'm wondering who is calling me. For this reason I usually give them my name when I call. I wish people would do that for me. Maybe we will get called ID.

Last night I had a phone call from a man from California. He spoke so fast and with an accent that not only did I not understand his name, but I couldn't figure out the town where he lived, 32 miles north of San Francisco. He is president of his Kiwanis Club in Petaluma, CA. He and his wife were coming to Ft Rucker to their son's Warrant Officer graduation and he wanted to visit the Elba Kiwanis Club. He got my name and phone number from Kiwanis International before he came to Ala. Petaluma, CA is just north of San Francisco. 

He read about our club in the Kiwanis Magazine about 2 years ago when there was an article and photo of our club building a playground in the little town of Elba. He was so impressed with our undertaking that he wanted to see our playground. He was so excited to learn that Elba is just west of Enterprise and he started making plans to come.

He called me at 1 pm today after he and his wife had lunch at the Dairy Queen in Elba and I met them and we went to see the playground. His name is Del Avants and his wife is Nan - a very nice couple who grew up in the town where they now live (just as I am doing; returning to my roots). They live in Petaluma, CA, in the Napa Sonoma Valley wine country. I checked out the town on Google and there are almost 200 wineries in that area. I guess that is akin to growing peanuts and cotton in Coffee County for a living.

They talked about the recession in California and so many homes for sale and people out of work.

One of the "joys" of living in a small town is that you don't have as much ripple and effect when businesses close, people get laid off, etc. You wouldn't know the economy is so bad if you didn't watch TV. People are busy building homes, new stores opening, roads being built, etc. The price of groceries keeps going up as does the price of gasoline. We notice that occurring here.

I gave them a tour of Elba and they loved the variety of homes. They aren't all stucco as in their area on the coast. With their son and his family living in Ft Rucker, they have been watching the weather recently and so terrified for them when they see tornado watches and warnings. I told them I watch their weather in California and see the terrible fires occurring and glad I don't have family living there.

They spent about 2 hours in Elba and we had fun comparing our towns and lifestyles. As they were getting ready to leave, they gave me a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Remick Ridge Vineyards, produced by none other than Tom Smothers (remember the Smothers Brothers on TV) in the Sonoma Valley near Glen Ellen, CA. I was sorry I didn't have any boiled peanuts to give to them! I'll make them some peanut brittle and send later. They asked what peanuts look like when they are growing and I explained the process. (I wanted to say, "why don't you ask Jeeves or Google"? That's where I get lots of my questions answered.)

http://cliwines.com/remick_ridge.html Go here to learn more about Smothers Winery.

In the 1970s, comedian Dick Smothers launched Smothers Brothers Wines from the brothers' Santa Cruz vineyards. Brother Tom later purchased 50 hillside acres in Kenwood to plant cabernet sauvignon, and when Dick sold his interest, Tom renamed the brand to Remick Ridge Vineyards and hired winemaker Richard Arrowood to overhaul it. Tom and his wife, Marcy, live on the Remick Ridge estate and own the Wine Room in Kenwood, where Remick Ridge and four other wineries offer tastings.

My latest landscaping project

In October 2007, I completed a 10 week Master Gardening Class at the Coffee County Extension Service building in New Brockton, and after a certain number of volunteer house, I received my "Certified Master Gardening" name tag and certificate. I've already written about all of this.

Today I am writing about a project I am heading up, landscaping for the latest habitat for humanity home being built in Elba. This is a project of the Elba Rotary Club which my husband is a member of. There are 5 people on our habitat house landscaping committee. We worked out a plan and are now planting, getting ready for dedication day on May 3rd.

Our job is to draw the plan and suggest things to plant; not to do the actual work or supply the plants. This project is a little different. First we wanted to put a cedar split rail fence along the sidewalk to separate the little porch from the nearby street in front of the house.

We got the posts from Lowe's and got someone working at the house to saw the posts to make them shorter. I taught the two teens who will be living in the home how to use post hole diggers to dig holes for the fence posts. They worked to get the rails inside the holes in the posts. Now they are so proud of the fence they built. Next they got lessons on how to plant shrubs. They pushed the wheelbarrow to the back of the house to get some good topsoil for the holes.

Today was a second workday. They brought a friend today to help put mulch around the plants in the front yard. Also planted several more plants. They, along with their mother, will be moving into the home in May. I can't wait to see all the flowers blooming inside the fence this summer. They are so proud of their new home. More pictures of the deserving family and scenes from inside their new home later.

Easter Sunday and a visit to see Aunt Ida

We had beautiful Easter weather today. A bit chilly early but warmer after the sun was up for awhile. We went to church and it was nice to have a full house. We had so many families there with their children and grandchildren from out of town.


The altar rail was wrapped with Easter lilies and the big dark brown wooden cross at the front left side of the church was covered with fresh flowers that the children brought down front while the organist played Easter music.


The choir presented a short cantata of 4 beautiful songs and then our pastor delivered a nice Easter sermon. The highlight of the service was at the end when the choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus. What a beautiful service. Jim loves to sing in the choir.


My heart was saddened because James was not sitting next to me. This is my first Easter (in 52 years) that he has not been at my side. I took a lot of kleenex to church with me, and I used a most of them. I'm glad my friend June was sitting next to me. Once she reached over and held me in her arms for a few minutes. How reassuring! I was fine when church was over and I took the two beautiful lilies we had placed in the church in memory of James and Jim's mother, and gave one to June and sent the other to a sick friend.


We went to the Elba Country Club and had a good Easter meal and then we left to drive to Brewton to visit my Aunt Ida (mother's sister). After a two hour drive, we arrived at her pretty home and she was waiting for us. She will turn 90 in December. She spent the day alone since her caretaker has the day off every Sunday. She loves to watch the church her daughter attends in Mobile and then some other favorites. Her own church friends stop by for short visits after church. She will be having shoulder surgery in a week or two to help relieve the pain so she can sit for longer periods of time. She wants to be able to go back to church again. Her caretaker was taking her to church once a month since Uncle Tommy died 2 years ago.

She's a very independent person and takes care of herself with a lady named Evelyn helping out 3 days a week. Her son lives in Destin and is a frequent visitor to check on her and her daughter lives in Mobile and is always checking on her and visiting often. This keeps Aunt Ida happy, especially that she can live in her own home for as long as she can.


One day last summer, my cousin and I went to Brewton and took Aunt Ida out for lunch. The lunch hour lasted a long time as so many stopped by to give her a hug and speak to her. She taught school for almost 40 years and everybody knows her. What a great lady!


Back to today's visit.... we planned to stay for an hour, but were there 3 hours instead. She wanted me to dig up some plants from her beautiful flower garden and bring them home with me. Then we began talking and spent over 2 hours talking about her past and all our relatives, etc. Jim and I had so much fun and learned a lot of things we didn't know about my great grandparents, William Cole and Barbara Mays Smith.


We left around 5 pm to come back home. It was a time well spent. We hope to visit her again after she recovers from her shoulder surgery and is back home again after spend 20 days recovering in the Brewton nursing home.

Charleston, SC, in the spring

On March 21st, our granddaughter Katie from Florence, SC invited us to join her and her dad (Bill) in Charleston, SC for "Acceptance Day" for high school seniors who have been accepted to the College of Charleston. She is 99.99% certain that this is where she wants to go to school for the next 4 years. Here you see us standing in front of the oldest building on campus, built in the 1790. Many of the older homes - such as the one pictured below have been remodeled inside and are used as dorms for upper classmen.

Katie signed up for the newest dorm, pictured below. We got to tour the dorms rooms and they are so small! Most of the dorms are coed while many of the upper classmen love living in the old homes on campus. Very few cars on campus as it is expensive to rent a parking place. Freshmen are not allowed to have a car. Everybody rides a bike.

Many of the old buildings are converted to classrooms and maintain the historic part of the campus, along with the old live oak trees and small yards.

Here you see Katie getting acquainted with the school mascot, a cougar. Basketball is the main sport and they have a new arena on campus. After a barbecue lunch at the school, Jim, Bill and I toured the old historic district while Katie was busy with her Acceptance Day schedule.

Katie and are I pictured here in the Market Square, when vendors have booths nearly year round. We ate some good seafood near the market place, a hangout for students and faculty. The old cobblestone streets are bad for your feet.

We look forward to many more trips to Charleston to visit Katie

during the next 4 years.

My Topsy Turvy World

There was a heavy frost when we got up this morning. It's April and almost Easter and we shouldn't be having winter weather! I'm glad we still have the heat on. The sun came up and it would have been a nice day except for the cold wind that blew all day. 


Work is progressing on our new bathroom addition. The plumber came today and added the faucets, installed the "high rise" commode (all old people need one of these) and started working on installing the glass sides and glass door of the corner walk-in shower. He'll be back tomorrow.


The builder worked on putting up tile around the whirlpool jacuzzi yesterday and had to stop to try to find some bull nose tile for the edge. He tiled the area for the plumber to install the roman bath faucets on top of the short wall.


We left at 1 p.m. to go to nearby town of Opp to get our teeth cleaned at our friend Chuck Burgess' dental office. He has 2 dental hygienists now and the new one cleaned my teeth and almost pulled them out while working on them. When she started lowering the chair and putting me in a "lying down" position, I explained to her that I get dizzy in that position. Being as she isn't very tall, she said she had to do that so she could see inside my mouth better. Well I tolerated this for the time she was working on my mouth and when she had finished and Chuck's son Walter (recently graduated and joined his dad's practice) came to check for cavities, etc., I was beginning to feel dizzy to the point of almost being nauseated.


She let my chair back up and I noticed I couldn't read the print on a poster on the wall - everything was blurred, even with my glasses on. I told her I needed to sit there for a few minutes. I walked back to the receptionist's desk and had difficulty writing a check (also shocked at the amount of cleaning for two people; they seem to raise their prices every 6 mo. when we go back). I was finished before Jim so I sat in the waiting room and felt sicker and sicker. When he came into the waiting room, I held to his arm and we walked outside. I had difficulty walking to the car.


We went to a nearby grocery store for a few items, and I was unable to stand up to go to the store. Instead, we went about a block to our Doctor's office, and went inside and told them what was happening and they took me to a room immediately and checked for signs of a stroke (I've had two mini-strokes but they were different). We decided that this was due to some fluid that was backed up behind my ear drum and I have been using a steroid nasal spray for almost a week to clear that up. My blood pressure was high but it always is when I go to the Dr. They told me to come home and rest and that's what I have done for the last 6 hours - wasted an entire evening!


I'm glad I'm over the dizziness and will be able to go to Dothan in the morning for a 6-month check up with my cardiologist. I almost had to have a pace maker last September but that all worked out and my heart rate is close to normal. Maybe walking on the treadmill and getting my heart rate up for about 30 minutes several times a week has helped get me back on track.


I'm very positive that tomorrow I will not be dizzy and will have a "normal" day and can be more productive.
Now you know why I titled this post "Topsy Turvy World".

Building a new bathroom

On Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, the day of our son James' gall bladder surgery, the construction crew were at our house removing bricks from the wall of our back master bedroom to make way for adding a large room to include a new bathroom and two large walk-in closets.

A large plastic cloth was attached to the bare wall where the bricks were removed. Work was suspended the following week due to our son's death on Monday, Feb. 2. The following week they were back. First they had to get an area ready to pour the cement foundation. Then once that dried, the walls began to go up. Next the roof was tied into the existing roof.

Then the soffits were built to match our 1950s home. Windows from our bedroom wall were used for the new room, on two walls.
Then the workers put the whirlpool tub and shower base inside before framing up the room.Things really began to get dusty when the sheet rock was nailed to the walls.

While we were on a trip to SC, the workers did the finishing work to the seams of the sheet rock and sprayed
 the ceiling. This week they have been putting up the trim around the windows and crown molding. Double folding doors were added to the two closets.

As of today, April 1, they have put a final coat of dreamy yellow Valspar eggshell paint over the primer coat of paint on the walls. Next they will glue the vinyl 16" tiles to the floor. This will be done tomorrow.

What's left to do? Install the commode, put walls and door on corner shower, place ceramic tile over the whirlpool tub for about 2 ft above the tub, install the vanity, mirror, faucets, lights, and shelving in closets. I can hardly wait to have my own closet again, and a big one at that.

Since there were windows removed from the back wall of the bedroom, the opening was covered and paneling put over the holes. The bedroom walls will be painted and new, wider brown molding put in the bedroom.

I'm projecting the project will be completed and we will have the room furnished, etc by April 15th. Maybe we'll plan a "Bathroom Reception or Tour" when this project is completed!

March came in like a lion and went out like a lion!

I've been so busy the past few weeks that I haven't had time to write. This photo of Jim and me was taken yesterday, right after church.

We were so happy to see the sun shining after two days of really bad weather. Two mornings in a row we woke up to sirens sounding off, warning us of approaching tornados coming toward our town. We had company, Jim's brother Larry and his wife Suzi, were visiting us from Virginia Beach, VA. They were unable to come when our son died on Feb. 2nd and wanted to come for a visit. We had planned a trip to Mobile to the flowers festival and to tour Bellingrath Gardens. With the approaching bad weather, we decided to stay in Elba over the week-end and that was a good decision.

We had lots of time to visit and reflect about the lives of Jim's and Larry's mom, who died in September and our son's death in February. There were so many memories of their lives that we recalled. We took a trip to the cemetery for them to see the monument for our plot.

They went to church with us on Sunday, and on Saturday when the rain stopped for a spell, they went to Lowe's with us to pick out some things for our new bathroom.

We have been gone (SC) or had company for the past 2 weeks and have let things "pile up". But it's so nice to sometimes to just let things go and move along. That's what we have been doing.

Tomorrow we will get back on track. The carpenters, brick mason and painter will be back to continue to work on our new room we are adding to our house. We told them not to come while we had company - and now they've gone home. Back to the old grind...........