Katie's Graduation Gift

I just completed making our granddaughter Katie a memory book for high school graduation. I made her older sister Nerissa one when she graduated and Katie asked if I was going to make her one also. They just don't know how long this project takes!

First, you look for just the right scrapbook and several refills. Last fall I found a pretty green leather one (her school color) and planned to get started. Christmas and then our son's illness and death in February delayed the project.

Then two weeks ago I decided to work on the project and to this day I have not found that large scrapbook. Jim and I have searched the house over several times and James isn't here to blame him for misplacing it! So.... I went out and bought one at our local Dollar General store and it's black, not the pretty green. The only other color was red.

Today I finished Katie's School Memory Book and I know she is going to like it. The first page is a copy of her graduation announcement and her beautiful senior picture. Then there's some blank pages for her graduation momentos.

Then I put photos from my files under headings such as "When I was Little, Sisters are Forever, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, Grandma Camp, On the farm with Grandpa and Grandma, School Days from St Anthony's (K-8) and West Florence (SC) grades 9-12. When I didn't have duplicate photos, I scanned originals and printed them. It's a thick scrapbook and recalls her life from infancy to high school graduate.

Another interesting project I completed recently is a 16x20 poster I found at Target, and it has spaces for school pictures K-12. It was so much fun putting this together. I thought of it as a kind of metamorphis as I watched little Katie grow up right in front of my eyes! Katie's mother died when she was in kindergarten and I spent a lot of time with her throughout that year, traveling back and forth from Elba, AL to Florence, SC. It was a difficult year for Katie the year her mother died.

She asked me in Feb. if she could have a graduation luncheon and I told her definitely; That her sisters and I would plan one for her. I have been shopping for decorations, balloons, paper products, etc. that I will take to SC when we go there on June 4 th. She wants her dad to make some of his good barbecue. Graduation is at 10 a.m. (over 400 students). She is so happy to get an "honor's cord" to wear with her gown. She is in the top 30 and that's remarkable since she has to study hard and took all accelerated courses. Katie loves life and is definitely not the studious type, but wants to make good grades. We're so proud of her. She was 6 on Aug 29, just in time to start in the first grade. She has always been the youngest person in her class and had to work hard to keep up. Cheers for Katie - she did it, and made good grades.

She has been accepted at several SC colleges but chose to go to College of Charleston (SC). We went to the campus with her in March to check it out. She's thinking of getting a major in Tourism. Since they can't have cars on campus, we are getting her a Schwinn beach bike for graduation. I never saw so many bikes as were on campus when we were there.

Katie is our #4 granddaughter to go off to college; 2 in Texas and 1 in SC. One more to go and she, Caroline, will be in the 8th grade next year. I just realized that Jim and I will be 80 when Caroline graduates from high school. She asked a couple of years ago when Nerissa graduated if I thought we'd be able to come to her graduation. She must think we are really old!! Maybe I should start working on her scrap book right away, just in case....

Playground/Tiger Town update

Update of blog of April 24, 2009 
Things are really moving along at Elba's Tiger Town park. While we were gone to Texas last week, the workers put a new roof on the old high school facade. It really looks nice. This week they are installing a new ceiling and paneling on the right and left interior. There will be solar lights in the ceiling that will burn all night to light up the school. A concrete amphitheater will be attached to the back of the facade, to see 200 children. The sign "Elba High School" will be put back up on top of the building when it is finished. A courtyard filled with flowering trees, etc will be on each side of the school bldg., between the restrooms and pavilion on each side.

Restrooms will be in the building shown here. Wheelchair accessible water fountains will be outside the restrooms. The part of the restrooms facing the street will have bricks from the old school going part of the way up the wall.

The area will have a picket fence enclosing it from the street so children can't run away from parents when they go to the rest room. And maybe keep animals out of the park.

The foundation for the pavilion has been poured. It hasn't been framed yet. The roof will match the style of the restrooms and the school facade. Black roofing will be used. The back side of the old school will have an amphitheater,  with restrooms on one side and a large picnic pavilion on the other side.

I couldn't wait to show you how much they have accomplished since my last post. More in a week or two. Paul Catrett from Opp is the contractor and a very nice person, who is married to my good friend Lois English's daughter, Cara. He is very interested in building something everybody will be proud of. I'm glad he got the bid.

This is the old high school classroom wing behind the playground. It houses 8 two-bedroom luxury apartments and on this end will be 2 efficiency one-bedroom apartments.

My Southern Heirloom Garden

A few years ago the old birthplace home of a former Ala Governor, James E. Folsom "Big Jim", was moved from the country to downtown Elba, with plans to restore it. It's still sitting there waiting for someone to "save it". A large granite marker is in the front yard. 

In the meantime, the Woodmen of the World Lodge 1932 members took on a community project of  planting a front yard garden, putting plants in it that would have been growing here in the early 1900's when Folsom was a child living there. I volunteered to chair this committee and designed the garden.  I have so many old varieties of plants growing there now, "pass alongs" from friends and old houses in the country.

Last week I worked in the flower garden, getting it ready for a tour on May 15th during Farm-City week tour, an annual event in Coffee County where people from Ft Rucker are invited to meet with farm and city people for lunch and tour certain areas of the county. This year they are having lunch at the Smith's Red Barn in Elba and then they'll be taken on a tour of the area.

First off, the area in front of the old Folsom home has a black plastic barricade in front of the wrought iron fence, placed there while a new sidewalk is being installed. The guests won't be able to come inside the fence to see the flowers up close. That's good because you know what happened last week while we were on a trip to Texas - the city workers cut the grass behind the house and the levee, and brought their weed eater inside the fenced front yard, and cut down all the flowers except some big bushes and roses on the fence. Gone are my beautiful day lilies, black eyed Susans, coreopsis, shasta daisies, hibiscus, etc. etc. I was horrified Friday when I went to take a look to see what was blooming. I was more than angry and those who know me won't believe I was angry as I can always rationalize behaviors when people do things I don't like. But not this time.....

The antique pale pink climbing roses are in full bloom and I just pray that they will still have some blooms on them come Friday. The chinquapin rose in the corner of the fence has lots of buds so maybe those sweet little roses will be opened up and they can see those. That's all I will have to show- just roses.  I had prepared a brochure to hand out to the guests, listing the 51 plant varieties they would have seen if they had not been cut down!

The nice wrought iron fence was welded and installed by the welding class at Elba High School in 2005. It's great for holding up the long canes of the climbing roses.

The Folsom House was put on the endangered list of Places in peril in Ala 2009. So far nobody has come forth to help restore it. I thought perhaps the Folsom family might be interested. Jim Folsom's son, Jim Jr. is currently Lt Gov of Alabama. You would think he would like to have is grandparent's home restored.

In the meantime, I'll keep tending the old Southern Heirloom garden. I will put up a sign for workers "please do not cut anything in the front yard". And also talk to the caretaker "boss" tomorrow so  maybe this won't happen again.

By the way, the old home is on the Ala. Historical list, placed there in 1976 by the brother of Big Jim Folsom, while it was still located about 15 miles from Elba in the country.

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.