It's Good to be Back Home Again!

When we left Greensboro, NC this morning it was raining and 69 degrees and when we got home (Elba) it was 102 degrees and the heat index was 105!!

We left home on June 4th and traveled over 2200 miles in 2 weeks. Starting tomorrow I will post some of the events that took place and places we visited.

June 4-8 was spent in Florence, SC at our son Bill's home.

June 8-10 we visited my sister Alice and her husband Jerry in their new home in Charlotte, NC.

Then on Thurs, June 11 we traveled to Greensboro, NC to spend a few days with my sister Susan and her husband Bob.

Sunday, June 14, all 6 of us sisters were in Emporia, VA to celebrate our great nephew Jake Estienne's high school graduation by having a luncheon for him.

June 14-16 five of us sisters were together in Nanticoke, MD on the Eastern shore of Maryland at our sister Christine's house.

June 16 - on our way back to NC we stopped in Virginia Beach to help Larry and Suzi Gilmer celebrate their 25th anniversary.

June 17 - drove for 11 hours to get back home from Greensboro, NC.

Had a great time and I can't wait to post some pictures and tell about our trip.

Getting ready for a trip is hard work!

We've been planning a trip to SC for a long time to see our granddaughter Katie graduate from high school on June 6th at 10 am.

Today was the day to start packing and putting suitcases, etc. etc. in the car. We plan to be gone for several days (how about 2 weeks) and moving about in SC, NC, VA and eastern shore of MD.
So we need a variety of clothing for casual, formal, hot weather, cool weather, and swim wear.

Just learned that it will be raining all day tomorrow so we packed the car tonight to avoid getting wet in the morning.

Our car not only has suitcases, but a big framed mirror for Nerissa's dresser, a box of helium for filling balloons at Katie's party Sat., presents for Katie, party decorations, lots of books to share with my sisters (and receive some in return), a bag of shoes for all occasions, and I don't know what else. Jim did the packing of the car.

Our road trips are fun. I usually pack a lot of sandwiches, fruit, cheese and crackers, etc. and we ice down some canned drinks. Usually we find a shady picnic area along the way and eat and people watch. You see a variety of people at rest areas on the interstate.

We should arrive at our destination early in the evening and unpack our suitcases before going to see Bill and the girls - except they won't all be at home tomorrow night when we get there. Graduation brings on lots of parties and dinners and Katie has one tomorrow night.

We spent the day watering all my pot plants, flowers in the potting shed, as well as plants indoors. Stopping the newspaper, holding the mail at the post office, going to the bank, getting someone to mow the lawn while we're gone (almost 2 acres), and all the other things you have to do when you go away.

Is it really worth all this work? Definitely YES!

Graduation Class of 1952

My graduation class from Elba High School (AL), May 1952. I am on the front row, 7th from right.


There were 61 seniors in our graduation class, and now there are 40 left.


There were 2 surviving teachers until yesterday, when Mr. R. S. Jones, the Ag Teacher, died. He was 92. The teacher on the front row wearing the striped dress on the right, Carolyn English Brunson, is still living and in a rehab center. She was just out of college and this was her 2nd year to teach (business subjects). She let me take typing during my study hall since I didn't have a class period left. I never fail to thank her for teaching me to type!


Martin Boutwell, front row and in a wheelchair, died young. I never knew what was wrong with him. He had a great sense of humor. His friends pushed him about the campus to classes. There was no handcapped ramp at school and I remember his friends lifting him (he was a big fellow) and his chair, and sitting him down on the porch so he could get inside. Same thing when it was time to go home. I don't remember anyone else attending school in a wheel chair.


I remember the graduation gowns were made of heavy cotton and weighted you down. I bought a new pair of white shoes with high heels to march down the aisle. I was short and didn't want my gown to come to the floor. We rented our caps and gowns and had to pack them up the night of graduation so they could be returned to the rental company. Unlike today when you get a think polyester gown that you can keep. I still have mine from college.


My class will be having a 57th class reunion on Friday, Aug. 7th. I am mailing out postcards with the 1952 photo on one side. For the reunion, I will have this photo made into a large poster and people will be given an opportunity to find their picture. I wonder how many of my classmates still have a copy of this photo. I have kept this copy in an old scrapbook for 57 years and I treasure it. I have all the classmates names on the back of the photo so I will have an advantage over them at the reunion when I can point out their pictures to them!!


I'm excited about getting our classmates together. Our last gathering was in June 2007 for our 55th reunion. I'm on the 2nd row from the top, on the right.

Sewing is expensive these days

Gone are the days when you would buy a pattern and some cloth and make an outfit to wear and save a lot of money. But not any more....


Let's begin with patterns. I was shocked last summer when I took Caroline to buy a pattern to make a blouse; $7.95 for a pattern to make a blouse!! No way I said. We came home and looked through my big collection of patterns and by using parts of two patterns we achieved the design she wanted to make. She likes to wear her top and is pictured here wearing it in a pre-Easter photo before the family left to go on a cruise over spring break at Easter.


I went online recently and googled McCall Pattern Company to look at patterns, thinking I might make a dress for myself. I was so surprised that patterns cost even more than last year. And you only get one design where you used to get about 6 or 8 different designs in one pattern envelope. Not anymore!


I thought about all of this yesterday when I was cleaning some shelves in our storage building and putting things in boxes to take to a yard sale next week that our local AARP group is having June 5-6. Money raised will be for our nursing home project of providing personal care items for elderly patients who have no family to take care of them. I donated 3 boxes of patterns that I have collected over several years. Maybe somebody still sews and can use theses. I don't sew much anymore. Maybe sell them for five cents each - or give them away.



I have made several bridal gowns in my lifetime for family and friends and I looked at the cost of bridal gown patterns and this one was $110. I guess that could still be a savings but the cost of the fabric would be over $200. It's much simpler these days to buy a gown off the rack and forget the hassle and trouble to make one. 


I made my cousin's wedding dress several years ago. She and her mother came to Atlanta and we went to a cotton mill outlet nearby and bought beautiful lace fabric and lining. I made a "muslin" to fit the pattern to her size and after she left to go back home, I cut out the dress and sewed on it at night using my old sewing machine that had been converted to electric. I worked during the day (plus had 3 little boys to take care of in the evenings) so I didn't get around to working on the dress until they had all gone to bed. When it was finished, I mailed it to her. She looked lovely in it. Others have worn the same dress, including one of her sisters.


I made a wedding dress for our neighbor in Paris, TX. She couldn't afford to buy one already made and wanted a pretty church wedding. She had 8 bridesmaids and I made a couple of their dresses also. The bridesmaids had 2" wide pink ribbon sashes around their waists. I was at the church helping them get dressed when one girl discovered she had misplaced her ribbon and began to panic. I simply cut off some ribbon from each of the other 7 and stapled them together and she wore that around her waist and nobody knew what happened! She called it a miracle.


My sister Carolyn was teaching school in FL when she got married. She wanted me to make her wedding dress. I found a small piece of some beautiful French lace for the bodice at an outlet where I also purchased the other bridal fabric. I matched her measurements to a pattern and sewed up a sample of the top, including the balloon type sleeves and sent it to her to try on. She returned it to me with the adjustments to be made. Then I got busy and made her dress and mailed it to her from "Paris" (Texas, that is), where we were living at the time. I wanted to get a label to sew in her dress "A Paris Original" but didn't have time to order one.


I also made our daughter-in-law Cindy's wedding dress when she and Ronnie got married in 1978 in LaMarque, TX. Her dress was made of cotton eyelet fabric and she wore a big brim hat. I lined the dress and all that fabric made the long dress so heavy. Again, I used her measurements and chose a pattern that size. I made a sample out of some scrap fabric and sent it to her to try on. She looked so pretty with her summer bridal dress at their afternoon ceremony.


Maybe I'll be asked to make a bridal gown for one of my 5 granddaughters someday (if I'm still able to sew). I'll keep my sewing machine oiled, just in case!  Or maybe I'll just give them money to buy one!!

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.