Our trip to Texas, April 30 - May 5, 2009

We started planning our trip to Austin, TX last fall and planned to go in the spring when the blue bonnets were blooming. We arrived at our son's home on Friday afternoon after traveling two days through AL, MS, LA and TX. On the way out there, we took a scenic route instead of I-10 through Mobile and Houston. We traveled in some places in LA & TX that we had never been before. Had good weather for our trip.



We were eager to see Ron and Cindy's new home. It's beautiful and they live on top of one of the hills that surround the city of Austin. They moved into their home last summer. Their two daughters are both in college and live away from home so it's just Ron, Cindy and their 4 big dogs and 3 cats living there. The dogs love the big back yard to run and play. They also love the "doggie door" so they can come inside when it gets too hot to stay outside. In the photo here, you can Ron and Cindy taking Saki, Max, Lily, and Penny for a walk in the neighborhood.



Early in the morning you can see white tail deer roaming the neighborhood looking for handouts. They don't run away when you walk outdoors. Ron is careful to plant flowers that deer won't eat. We sat outside and had a cup of coffee and watched the deer and they watched us!



We toured the Lady Bird Wildlife Center on Saturday morning. So many flowers were blooming. The Center is located on one of the hilltops overlooking the city.


After visiting the wildflower center, we drove down hill to Lake Austin to meet granddaughter Liz and her friend Chad. Ally was home from college and with us on the trip. We had good Mexican food at a place on the water called "Hula Hut". It's a popular place for boats to pull in for lunch. Jim and I look around and decided we were the only people there over 50.


We had a full day and after watching their big screen TV for awhile, we went to bed early.


Sunday we went on another tour. This time to the LBJ Library. It's located near the Univ. of TX and is a huge museum. We enjoyed seeing the things we remembered from when LBJ was President of the US. Ally grew up in Austin and had never been to the LBJ Library. She really enjoyed the exhibits. We got home mid afternoon and Ron grilled ribs for us. After dinner we decided to go to Target to get a few items. When you live on a hill in Austin, you don't just run down to the corner drug store or gas station. It's a major trip to go to a store, or at least it felt that way to us. The narrow winding roads up to the top of the hill would take a little getting used to for me!


Cindy is a CPA and her office is moving to a new office building not far from where they live so she won't have to leave Glen Lake area to go to work. She had no idea the firm was going to be sold and moving when they bought their house last summer. It will be very convenient for her. Ron had some major surgery on his nose last fall to have a growth removed and decided to leave his job for awhile to recover and then look for something later. He is enjoying staying at home and getting the new house organized and takes care of the animals.


We left Austin around noon on Monday and headed back toward Ala. Stopped overnight in Lafayette, LA, in Cajun country. The next day we traveled through LA and MS, arriving at Mobile around 1 pm. Neither of us had ever been to Bellingrath Gardens and we planned to do that on Tuesday afternoon. The scenic boat cruise had been canceled so we spent the afternoon just walking about in the gardens. Roses were in full bloom. The home is located on the bank of the Fowl River which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. It's like walking in a tropical paradise with so many big trees and tropical plants growing.

We left Bellingrath and drove by Bayou La Batre, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina which destroyed so many of the big shrimp boats. Several were being repaired in the big boat building places along the bayou.


We left Mobile late in the afternoon and drove east through Pensacola, north to Crestview, FL and stopped to eat (rather late) at a great seafood place in Florala, AL.


We arrived back in Elba late Tuesday night, tired but happy for having spent time with our son and family. We just don't get to see them as much as we would like. We hope to return for Lizzie's graduation from Univ. of Texas in December. She is getting a degree in Marine Biology.


Footnote: We had tons of laundry to do on Wednesday and got started early. The first thing that happened was the Maytag washer would not spin out the last rinse water. I removed the clothes and wrung out the water by hand. Then I placed a few in the dryer, and the tub wouldn't turn. Both the washer and dryer "died" while we were away from home. We managed to keep the dryer and just buy a new belt for it. Had to buy a new washing machine as the repairman said it was simply worn out from being used once or twice every day for the 17 years we owned it. So you know where our "Stimulus" check went - to buy a new washing machine. Thank you Obama. We went right out and spent our money as you told us to do to help the economy.

Bathroom finished; follow up on April1 blog

I love my new bathroom! It's very large and has a big open space in the center. My favorite is the Whirlpool Jacuzzi bathtub. And of course the big walk-in closest, my very own.

We chose light yellow for the wall with white trim. The closets are 5'x7'; so large you can almost put a bed in them! The Rubbermaid closet organizer is fantastic, once you figure out how to install them. Now I am able to have all my clothes in one closet, and not scattered all over the house.

The project was started on Jan. 28, the day of James' surgery, and completed on April 17th. I think this was a good investment (besides the pleasure of having all the things we wanted in a bathroom). We added about 210 sq ft to the size of the liveable area of our home, plus we now have 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths. This project cost us about $23,000. It does not look added on as we were able to match the bricks.

I can't wait for the granddaughters to visit us and use our new shower and jacuzzi.

Tiger Town Progress Report - Phase 2

Later I will enter another progress report, and more photos.

Exciting times here in our little town.

"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.