Summertime Picnic with Friends

Each August we are invited to the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) picnic.  This year it was held in the shady back yard of President Perry Vickers in Enterprise.  The food table was set up indoors but tables were set outside in the large carport on the back of the house.  The big shade trees provided comfort from the almost 100 degree temperature and about 99% humidity.  Plus there were several large fans circulating the air.

Three large beverage containers hit the spot while waiting for lunch to be served.  Choice of Southern Alabama sweet tea, water and lemonade.  Around 50 SAR members, spouses, friends and family were present for the enjoyable occasion.

The entre is always barbecue which they purchase from Larry's BarBQue restaurant.  The other dishes are prepared and brought to the picnic by members and spouses.  The food table was beautiful with all the picnic foods.  And you never saw such a big dessert table.  I cook Jim's favorite dessert:  Cranberry/Apple Casserole.  Others must have liked it since there was only a small serving left over.  I buy cranberries in Jan. and put them in the freezer since they are only in the grocery stores during holiday season.

Maybe I'll have some photos to publish here in a day or two.

Making Pear Preserves - a Family Tradition

My grandmothers peeled and preserved pears and my mother did the same, all from the same pear trees.
Today I gathered pears from my brother Perry's pear tree and I'm spending the afternoon peeling pears, getting them ready to make preserves. They will sit overnight covered with sugar,  and I will cook them tomorrow.

It's not an easy chore - making pear preserves.  First you gather the pears and they are so heavy you can't put many in the bucket at the time.  You have to be careful not to bruise them.  After you peel the pears you cut the pear away from the core in small slices or like apple slices.

Cover with sugar and slowly  boil for 3-4 hours

You need a pan of water for peeling pears, a pan to put the peeled pears in, and another for cooking the pears. You pour  sugar on them and let them stand for a few hours or overnight,  before preserving them by cooking them slowly for a long, long time - all afternoon.  Takes 3-4 hours, depending on how fast they cook.  I usually let them come to a boil and slowly boil so they have thick syrup and the pears become dark

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Tiger Town Playground needs a "facelift" on 7th anniversary

Tiger Town Park in 2009 when old school entrance was restored

Tiger Town playground was dedicated on September 29, 2006.  This park provides a safe place for children to come play.  It's time for a face lift and two groups have expressed an interest in helping "spruce it up". They asked me to let them know what needs to be done and I gladly made a list and send photos.  

I was very involved in getting this beautiful playground built and go by often to check on it.  It gets a lot of use, even in the hot weather this summer.  Probably the thing that needs the most attention is the ground cover.  

Tunnel Slide needs mulch

Elba United Methodist Church has a new outreach

Our church has taken on a new outreach project - "The Methodist Hour" for residents of Taylor Mill Oaks assisted living facility.  We currently have 3 church members living there.

Sunday our pastor told us of the ministry and how we could help.  I heard him say "Bake Cookies" and I knew I had found my niche.  Each Wed. someone from our church will plan to do something for an hour at Taylor Oaks.  I will be assisting a friend in helping residents plant a flower for their bedroom.

I looked over the list of things needed and signed up to make cookies.  I started today by baking a full recipe of my specialty - oatmeal cookies.  Our leader asked if I would make some for this week for her to take with her when she gots to Taylor Oaks for the kick-off meeting.

Today I made a recipe (my favorite) and baked around 10 dozen.  I will give my leader a couple of dozen for Thurs and freeze the others until they are needed.

Taylor Mill Oaks

Taylor Mill Oaks is an assisted living facility in Elba, AL. Assisted living is for seniors who cannot live entirely independently but are cabable of enjoying many activities with some daily assistance. Assisted Living Facilities such as Taylor Mill Oaks often provide personal care and health services according to an individual's needs. They typically also provide assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and eating. Daily meals, activities, transportation, and even religious services are often offered at an assisted living community.

Jim's Family Album

My husband James Emory Gilmer, Sr. has a very small family.  Just he and his half-brother Larry are the only ones left. Larry is the son of Jim's father J.T. Gilmer and his second wife Mary Alice Logan Gilmer. Our two sons Bill and Ron and their 5 girls make up the rest of his family; Larry has no children to succeed him.  No boys to carry on the Gilmer name.

Dorothy Newton Carnes Gilmer

Jim's mother died from breast cancer when he was only 8 years old and his brother Ronald was 7.  She was a lovely young lady, Dorothy Newton Carnes.  Jim only has 3 pictures of her and they are shown in the collage.  One was when she was a teenager and she is holding her nephew, Marion Griffin (Aunt Frances' son).  Another one  is a color photograph when she was 16 (shown here).  The 3rd is a snapshot taken in their back yard when Jim was about 6 years old.   Click photo to enlarge

The left section of the collage is the Carnes family, with early photos of Jim and his brothers Ronald and Larry.

The right section of the collage pictures photos of his Gilmer grandparents and his father, James Thomas (called J.T,) Gilmer.

I included these "treasures" for him in the collage and labeled the photos for future generations to know their ancestors and what they looked like.  My favorite photo is J.T. in his knickers and one of him in the 4th grade (taken from a school group photo).

Jim's favorite hobby is searching his roots.

My Succulent Garden

I decided to pot some succulents and place them on some rocks in a narrow flower bed connecting the sidewalk to the front porch.

I chose these plants because they can stand the hot, dry heat and this area is in the sun all day.  Most of these were given to me this summer and were small plants.
They are a welcome addition to our entrance to the front door.  And I don't have to water them very often.  Their fleshy leaves retain moisture and they don't wilt in the hot sun.

The pots can be lifted off the gravel and placed in our greenhouse for the winter.  I plan to have many more varieties next summer,  These plants have more than doubled their size during the past month.

The stained glass stepping stone was a gift from my sister Carolyn.  She made it for us when we lived in the country.  The big rocks came from the farm and have fossils imbedded in them (seashells).

Memories of Life in the 1930s in rural Alabama - 3rd installment

This is the 3rd  part of the Early Memories of Mrs. Averett from Enterprise, AL:

SUNDAY MEETING

On Sunday morning, everyone was scrubbed clean and we put on our Sunday dresses and went to church. Uncle Alph stood by the church organ and led the singing. I thought the organ looked so strange because it didn't look like the organ Papa bought for us in 1910. The church organ was short

and it didn't have the mirror and the tall top like our organ at home.

But the music was just as sweet as the whole little church full of people sang the gospel songs like "The Sweet Bye and Bye" and "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" and "There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood." I wasn't too sure about the one, "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, I'll Be There." They told us that we had to be good if we expected to go to Heaven. I tried to be good, but I found that I wasn't good. It was years later that I learned that the Bible tells us there is none good. No, not one.

In the summer, every church in the area had a "protracted meeting." Today, these meetings are called revivals. As children, we went to Klegg to Methodist Sunday School, and once a month on Sunday afternoon, we went to Methodist Church that met in the Klegg schoolhouse. The circuit rider

preacher had so many churches that he could not come to Klegg on Sunday morning, but he brought the same message that told us to "give our hearts to Christ" and not to sin. I can remember so well where  I sat on a long handmade bench one Sunday afternoon thinking, I am not going to sin next week. But you know, I never did reach that perfection.

As teenagers, we attended protracted meetings for several weeks in the summer. It didn't matter whether it was at a Baptist or Methodist, and occasionally a Holiness Church. At the Holiness Church, we sat in the car at night and watched the people sitting under the brush arbor. 

The Baptists at my mother's church had services all day for about a week. They carried trunks full of delicious food and served it from a table built in the church yard. For the life of me, I cannot know why we never got ptomaine poison from food that was carried there in open wagons and was left in the wagons until dinner time. But never once did I ever hear of any illness from spoiled food. We had never heard of a

refrigerator. It was only in the 30s after I was married that I got an ice box, but even then, we had to go to town to buy ice. 

If there were church services at night, the children did not go to a nursery because there weren't any. The children slept on quilts at the rear of the church. For churches which had morning and night services during the protracted meetings, it was arranged for the visitors to go to a different home every

day for lunch. Sometimes, the same ones stayed for supper before church time.

For the Baptist churches, a Baptismal Service was held at the end of the week at a nearby stream or a tiny pool just large enough to get baptized. 

Mama's church finally decided to start Sunday School in the one-room church building. To accommodate the different classes, little spaces were cut off by hanging sheets from wire strung to form rooms.

_______________________________

This ends the information from Mrs. Averett's Memories.  She continued with writing about teaching.  Since my mother and father were not teachers, I did not include that info in my blog.  But much of her life experiences were identical to that of my parents and my early life.

I could remember doing many of the same things she described in the late 30s and early 40s when I grew up on a farm in the Curtis Community in the western part of Coffee County.