Celebrating two birthdays the same day

 On July 15 we celebrated two birthdays.  Bill turned 53 and Jim advanced to 77.

Katie put "131" numbers on the cake. It should have been 130 but we didn't have a "0".

Also attending were Alice and Jerry Thrasher from Charlotte, NC.
We actually had several parties that weekend, beginning Friday and ending at noon on Sunday.

Bill had Friday off and he and Jim played golf.  They went back Sat. morning to play golf again and included Mark.

We had chocolate layer cake and a pound cake with coconut icing.

Bill and Jim had made "wish lists" and they got a lot of nice birthday presents.

Front row: Nerissa, Nell, Caroline Gilmer; back row: Mark Vahle, Bill Gilmer & Jim Gilmer

The Merry Month of May was busy!

Alphonso and Dennis win medals

May was a very busy month for us. When I learned that two
of our son James' bowling buddies would be competing in the Ala
State Special Olympics at Troy Univ, I got busy and made a
banner for them to carry in the Parade of Athletes at the stadium at
Troy University. Jim and I attended the ceremony and they were
excited to see us there in the stands. They went on to win a first
place (Gold) medal at the state level.

James bowled with these guys for 12 years every Friday.  They were two of his best friends.

We celebrated Cindy's birthday which was May 29th.  Liz and Chad invited us to their house for a cookout.  He grilled "beer can" chicken and and beef brisket and it was so good.

Liz made some really good dishes to go with the meat and I made a banana pudding from scratch (at Cindy's request).  We also had birthday cake.  I took the photo on the right.  Suzi, Cindy's sister came from LaMarque for the occasion.

 Ronnie took us for a long ride up and own Lake Austin which is down the side of the hill from where they live in West Austin. The lake was a busy place on Sat., Memorial Day weekend. 

  

Back again! Took a 3 month leave

My last post was April 17.  So much has happened since that date.

April 25-29  Charleston, SC - We went to Charleston to be with our son Bill and his girls for a week at Isle of Palms.  Joining us there were Julie and Alan Taylor and their daughter Caitlin and son Sam from London.   Julie's brother Robert and his wife Jennifer also came from Salt Lake City, Utah.    It was a fun time.  We stayed in a 2 story old house near the ocean.  Lots of fun sight-seeing, walking on the beach with the younger set surfing every day.

 Alan's birthday was during this time and we went to a nice seafood restaurant called Boathouse for dinner one evening (photos were taken there).

On Friday, April 29, I got up at 5 a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding to see Kate and William get married.  The Brits slept in and the American got up to watch the wedding!!  It was beautiful, even if I had to turn the sound down so low I could hardly hear what was being said!  We left to come home later that day.  Everybody else left the next day to go to the airport to fly home to Utah and U.K.

Bill and Caroline drove  back home to Florence, SC.

Note:  Julie and Robert were brothers of Bill's wife Barbara who passed away in 1996 when Caroline was just a year old.  They make frequent trips to the US to see Bill and the girls, who in turn go to London to see them, and Grandmother Mary Bailey who died last year.

This photo was made in front of the oldest building at College of Charleston when Katie took us on a tour of her school.
 

Caitlin Taylor, Caroline, Katie, Nell & Jim, Jennifer & Robert Land, Julie, Sam & Alan Taylor

Coming Soon:  
May 26-31 - trip to Austin, TX to visit Ronnie, Cindy and family
June 9-14 - went to my great niece Jessica's wedding in Suffolk VA
July 14-18 - off to Florence, SC to celebrate Jim's and Bill's birthdays on July 15

Leaving a Legacy of Roses

 I fell like Johnny Appleseed sometimes.  I plant roses instead of apples.
I like to propagate (root) flowers, especially antique roses.  The pink rose shown here is a Chinquapin rose (also known as a Chestnut Rose or Burr Rose).  The leaves are very small and the rose will soon be filled with blooms.  This is what I found out about this antique rose:
Bright pink, satiny double flowers with soft creamy yellow stamens on an un-rose-like shrub having flakey brown bark, stout thorns which protrude from just below the leaves in pairs, and hairy leaves. The hips are like small chestnuts in their husks, turning from green to russet brown as they age. The plant is angular and stiff in habit. This rose is also known as the 'Chinquapin Rose' and 'Burr Rose'. William Roxburgh, assistant surgeon to the East India Company, came across this rose in a garden in Canton, China, where it had been grown for generations as 'Hoi-tong-hong'. He sent it to the Calcutta Botanic Garden after which it reached England and then quickly on to America. It still exists in many old Southern gardens today.

 The next rose is an antique climbing rose with many "wicked" thorns and it's like kudzu in that the canes grow very fast and you have to train it to run along a fence.  I got my starter for this rose from a 90 year old friend in Albany, GA when lived there.  She got it from her great grandmother in Savannah, GA many years ago.  We traced this rose back over 200 years.   I rooted dozens of this rose and have given them away to friends and now they are blooming all over Georgia and Alabama!

They would bloom all summer if you would dead head the dead rose blooms, but who wants to spend all day doing that?  Not me.   I just enjoy them for about 2 weeks around Easter every spring.  Then there will be fewer, scattered blooms the rest of the summer.

This morning I gathered some roses and put them in a big glass vase and placed in the vestibule of the church for others to enjoy.  I like to cut them and give them to friends.  I tell people to stick one of the limbs in soil and it will root in a short time.

Planting roses goes along with my motto:  "Live so that when you are gone it will have mattered".   People can look at their roses and remember me??


This 17th century poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick  begins:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying

Our Victory Garden

Jim looking over the garden plot

We decided to plant a small garden in our back yard in a flower bed.  Last year we planted tomatoes, peppers and squash in about 1/3 of the flower bed.  This year we have enlarged it to almost 2/3 of the flower bed.  I relocated many of the bulbs, day lilies, and perennials to other places in the yard.  You can see some of the day lilies in the photo here, on the left side.

We started our veggies from seed in the greenhouse this winter.  Seeds are very expensive and the packets only contain a few seeds.  Last Monday when it was warm outside, we planted 12 tomato plants next to the greenhouse, and put pine straw around them to protect them until they get bigger and stronger.  We left space to plant some more tomatoes in a few weeks.  They are growing in the potting shed right now (greenhouse is too hot now).

Set out some hot pepper plants, 2 zuchinni squash plants and 4 mounds (4 plants in each group) of cucumbers.   Earlier I set out sweet GA onions around the perimeter of the garden.

Most people wait until Good Friday to plant their gardens.  But that is so late this year - April 22nd.  Last night we had to cover out plants since the temperature dropped to almost freezing.  Maybe we should have waited until Good Friday.

This garden will supply us with a lot of good vegetables, or at least it did last year and was much smaller.  I only wish we had room for some row crops, i.e., sweet corn, peas and butterbeans.  I'll just keep buying those at the farmer's market.   I can't wait for the first ripe tomato to appear in the garden.

Growing Older is Mandatory. Growing Up in Optional.

When I was growing up I dreamed of going to college.  My father was a farmer and my mother was busy raising 7 children.  She told us that if we wanted to go to college, we would have to make good grades and get a scholarship.  We  followed her advice and all 6 girls graduated from college; some with advanced degrees. Our brother took enough college classes to earn a PhD - but most of them had to do with his work at Michelin and didn't apply toward a degree.  I'm convinced he can do anything!


It took me a little longer than most to obtain my degree.  I started to Troy State Teachers College (now Troy University, Troy,AL) in 1952 and attended 5 quarters, before getting married in Oct. 1953.  In 1975 I received my Assoc. of Arts degree from Paris Jr College, TX and in 1976, I graduated with Honors with a  B.S. degree from East Texas State Univ. in Commerce, TX (now Texas A&M at Commerce).


Our sons Ron and Bill were in high school and college while I was completing my college work.  I often had classes with some of their friends.  I remember in a history class they were talking about past history, and I had a strange feeling, since I had lived through those days. I'm sure they must have wondered that that "old lady" was doing in the class room.   I liked chemistry in high school, and was so shocked the first day of chemistry class in college to learn that there so many new elements discovered? after I studied chemistry in 1950 when there were only 52 elements to learn!! I read the following article today that reflects some of my thoughts as a student.  

"The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.
I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being..

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze..

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.
 She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'
 'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me..

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'
 
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ' We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody! Can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets..'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.'

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those months ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give.. God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

'Good friends are like stars...... .....You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.'

Springtime in Elba, AL

Lady Banks rose 

Bridal wreath in back yard

Springtime means two things:  pretty flowers and lots of pollen in the air.