SHE'S WALKING!! 9-11-2010

LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2010

The weather this weekend couldn't have been any better. All I wanted to do was be outside. Eden, Baker, Beau and Nicky were having the annual dove hunt at the farm, Leslie had a class reunion in Aberdeen, John had his dove hunt in the Delta and Abby had Skyler to keep her occupied. I hung out with Caroline and spent a good bit of time enjoying my new favorite past-time, bike riding.

When I was in Washington I injured my foot walking too much without enough cushion and probably caused a stress fracture. As a result I can't go on my daily walks, but I can ride a bike. I got Caroline a baby seat installed on the back of my bike and spent a little time on Saturday getting used to it. She seemed to like it, but fell asleep after the first ten minutes.

From C riding the bike

Caroline spent Saturday night and most of Sunday with her Bevvy, so Abby, Skyler and I went to early church, then I laid by the pool and read Eat, Pray, Love. In the evening I took the bikes to campus and Leslie, Caroline and I rode about ten miles around town. Then Monday we drove out to Sardis and walked the nature trail, then drove to John Kyle and rode bikes around the park.

Needless to say, I got nothing done in my garden, but thanks to the yard mowing fairy, Bruce, my grass has been neatly mowed every week since March. Some of the best money I ever spent.

WOOFSTOCK 2010

Leslie, Caroline and I attended Woofstock, a fundraiser for the new animal shelter. There were bands, food, dogs (lots of dogs) and a jumper thingy.

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CAROLINE AND CHARLIE - 8/28/2010

Caroline and Charlie had a play date. It was actually a jewelry party but, as usual, they thought it was all about them.

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MEET THE REBELS DAY 2010

Caroline and I went to meet the Rebels Day at the indoor practice facility. She actually went to meet the cheerleaders and Charlie.

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CAROLINE AND OLIVIA AT BEVVY'S - 8-14-2010

Caroline and Olivia are on the move in most of these so they're a bit blurry. Caroline is just shy of 13 months and Olivia is almost 15 months.

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MORE DC PICTURES

These are pictures I took my last day. The Marine Corp band playing on the Capitol steps, a plaza in between Congressional Office buildings and other random shots.

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BARTHOLDI PARK GARDENS

Bartholdi is across the street from the National Conservatory and is part of the National Gardens.

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MARY LIVINGSTON RIPLEY GARDEN

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DOWNTOWN DC GARDEN

This urban garden was located in the triangle-shaped median between Maryland Avenue, Independence Avenue and 6th Street, and directly across the street from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I spoke with a lady who was there tending her plot (or rather I fired off questions to her and she answered them) and she said that when the space was set aside as a community garden people reserved a plot on a first come first served basis. There is a strict set of guidelines under which it is governed. Everything must be organic, no trees or large bushes and if the plot is not well-maintained then you lose it and it goes to the next person on the list. She said there is a long waiting list. As you can see there was a bit of everything, from squash to peanuts. I found it fascinating and delightful!

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THE ENID A HAUPT GARDEN

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NATIONAL GARDEN - 8-1-2010

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NATIONAL CONSERVATORY - 8-1-2010

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WASHINGTON DC TRIP

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I went to DC for a workshop for work. The workshop didn't start until Monday, August 2 but I left on Saturday to give me a couple of days to see some things. Primarily the DC public gardens. These are the only pictures that aren't of gardens.

ABBY, JOSHUA, NICKY AND HANNAH

Hannah and Joshua got to stay after the birthday party and spend a view days (not long enough) with us. They are great kids and we all had a good time.

CAROLINE'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!

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MONDAY, JULY 5, 2010

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JULY 4TH IN THE GROVE

We had a really fun 4th of July. We went to the Grove and listened to some music and visited with family and friends. After dark we walked over to the baseball field for the fireworks. Caroline was scared at first and started to cry, but we put her ear plugs in and she snuggled up to me and fell asleep.

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4TH OF JULY PARADE 2010

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MARY TURNED 80 - JUNE 18, 2010

On June 19 we gave Mary an 80th birthday party at the Shelaine in Aberdeen. About 100 people came by and I think she had a really good time.

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FAMILY VACATION 2010

We took a true family vacation this year. We spent a week in Hot Springs and everyone was there. Eden and me, Leslie, John and Caroline, Baker, Beau and his girlfriend, Allie, Abby and her boyfriend, Skyler, Nicky, Mama and Daddy. We had a wonderful time. The weather was extremely hot. I think record-setting highs for Hot Springs, but we still loved it. Although the condo we stayed in was not clean when we got there (we cleaned it ourselves) and the air conditioner gave us some minor problems, it was very nice and comfortable and right on the water. We did lots of boating, eating and spent time together . I especially loved the Garvin Gardens, although I didn't get to spend enough time there. We took Nicky and Caroline up on the mountain on our way out the last day and collected some of the hot spring water from a fountain downtown to take back with us. It really was a perfect vacation, only not long enough.

GI AND HER GARDEN BUGGY

MEMORIAL DAY 2010

Charlie came to visit today. He and Caroline had a great time playing and it was also his first time in the pool!

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LAST DAY AT MOTHER GOOSE - 5/28/2010

Caroline has been at Mother Goose since January 4th and they have taken wonderful care of her and she has been very happy. Now school is out and she will be staying home with her Mommy this summer so she said goodbye to Miss Laura, Miss Earline and Miss Stella today. We will miss them! Charlie wore a special shirt for the occasion.

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DOUBLE DECKER - APRIL 24, 2010

Double Decker this year was on a sunny spring day, unlike in many years past. It was so nice that we were able to get in the pool later in the day.

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SKYLER - APRIL 23, 2010

Skyler came up to visit us and we celebrated his birthday.

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NICKY'S CONFIRMATION AND BAPTISM - APRIL 11, 2010

Nicky was baptized and confirmed today. The whole family was able to be there and go up with him during the ceremony. It was a very special day.

EASTER PICTURES AT ROWAN OAK

Leslie, Caroline and I spent part of a glorious spring day taking pictures of Caroline at Rowan Oak.

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LAURA GOT MARRIED - MARCH 13, 2010

Laura married a really sweet man, Mark Thompson and Leslie, Abby, Caroline and I were able to be in attendance. It was a very sweet and beautiful wedding.

From Lauara's Wedding

SKYLER - MARCH 6, 2010

Abby finally got to visit Skyler at his home in Columbia, MS and meet his Nana, Jane. He had a featured role in his high school production of Grease so we were delighted to get to be there for that.

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GRANNY'S BIRTHDAY - 2/20/2010

Mama's birthday was on Saturday this year so we did a day trip to Arkansas to take her her present, Caroline. I think she liked it.

From Granny's Birthday

VALENTINES DAY 2010 - CAROLINE AND CHARLIE

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FEBRUARY 5, 2010

CAROLINE AND HER FRIENDS IN THE BYE BYE BUGGY AT DAYCARE

From Caroline in the Bye Bye Buggy

50TH BIRTHDAY!!! - JANUARY 26, 2010

I GOT SOME OF THE MOST FABULOUS PRESENTS, THE PRETTIEST CAKE EVER AND MY FAVORITE PEOPLE WITH ME. I WAS QUEEN FOR A DAY!!!

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JANUARY 4, 2010

Since she was born Caroline has stayed at home with either her Mommy or her Granny. Today she will start daycare. She is in for a surprise. Hopefully, she will do well. I'm not too sure about her Granny.

WINTER 2009

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CHRISTMAS EVE 2009

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A DAY WITH DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE - 12/ 21/09

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Church and Charlie

Today went to church and Caroline sat through the whole service as if she was taking in everything Warren was saying. Later that day her main man came by for a pre-Christmas visit.

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POLAR EXPRESS DAY 12/17/2009

Each year I try and go to Leslie's class and read to them at least once. One of my favorites to read is the Polar Express during Christmas. Leslie makes apple cider and the mothers bring cookies. The kids all wear their p.j.s and I make bell necklaces for them to wear so they can ring their bells too.

This year Mama and Caroline went with me so it was very special.

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DECEMBER 12, 2009

We're in full swing around our house getting ready for Christmas. It will be much more fun this year trying to see everything through Caroline's eyes. She won't care as much about getting presents as we will about giving them. If we can keep that in mind we'll be much better off. We are enjoying the decorating though and so is she.


Caroline has already had more than her share of pictures made in her Christmas attire.

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And she's been to see Santa.

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OLE MISS V. TENNESSEE 11-14-09

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BENJAMIN AND EVELYN 11-7-09

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Today was a day of much celebration and was an absolutely beautiful fall day. At 8:45 a.m. both Caroline and her Daddy were Baptized. There were many friends and family members present and five generations represented on my side of the family. As Warren pointed out, Caroline had 5 Grandparents, 6 Great Grandparents, one Great Great Grandmother and numerous Aunts, Uncles and Cousins on hand for this very special day. Caroline was her usual sunny self and seemed to bask in the glow of adoration.

We celebrated too Grandma's 90th birthday, which is impossible to believe. She still carries herself and behaves like a much younger woman.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009

Granny, Caroline and I went to visit Leslie's classroom. We took the kids a Halloween Cookie and read them the story, The Halloweener, about a Dachsund whose mother dressed him up as a big hot dog for Halloween and how the other dogs made fun of him, but in the end he saved the day.

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They seemed to enjoy it, but the main attraction was of course, Divine Miss Caroline Sunshine.

After we finished at the school we took Caroline to visit her BFF, Charlie. She couldn't wait to see him and had to hold him since he's the only person she knows that is littler than her.

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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE - HALLOWEEN HIPPY GIRL

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OLE MISS V. ARKANSAS 10/24/09

OLE MISS 30
ARKANSAS 17

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10-23-09

Caroline had her first tiny bites of cereal this morning. She did really well to be 3 months old and for her first time. She seemed to liked it. Of course, she likes everything.

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SIP AND SEE - OCTOBER 18, 2009

On Sunday we had Caroline's Sip and See at Judy's home in Tupelo. As we knew it would, the house looked like it came right out of Southern Living. Everything was just perfect and Judy (a/k/a Aunt Goddess) made it look effortless. About 50 ladies stopped by to meet Caroline and she loved every minute of it (except for the big flower).



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CAROLINE IN THE GROVE ON GAME DAY-OCTOBER 17, 2009

OLE MISS v. UAB

Caroline was three months old Saturday and Abby and I took her on her first Game Day trip to the Grove. It was very breezy and quite cool, but she had a ball and stayed toasty warm. She and Miss Betsy hit it off instantly.

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OCTOBER 10, 2009

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CHARLES MCBRYDE WILKERSON - BORN 10/6/09

CAROLINE'S NEW BFF

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OUR LITTLE FLOWER - 10/5/09

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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE IS READY FOR HALLOWEEN

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JUST HAVING FUN - 10/27/09

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CAROLINE'S FIRST PARTY-SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

Caroline went to a baby shower today for her friend Charles McBryde Wilkerson, who will be born in the next few weeks. She is very excited! After the shower she went to check out Charlie's nursery and then visited her Great Grandmother Katherine. It was an exhausting but fun day.

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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

OLE MISS 52
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 6


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SHOWER FOR SALLIE AND CHARLIE - SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE SEPTEMBER 6, 2009

CAROLINE IS GETTING PSYCHED FOR GAME DAY:

OLE MISS - 45
MEMPHIS - 14


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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

SHE IS SUCH A HAPPY GIRL!


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SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

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HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY BEAU! SEPTEMBER 1, 2009 -

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2009 - PICNIC IN THE GROVE

The weather was so gorgeous this weekend we had to be outside. After church we decided to take Caroline on her first picnic in the Grove. This was move-in weekend at Ole Miss so it was quite busy, but not too bad actually, and kind of exciting. We strolled all around campus. I'm trying to get Nicky more acquainted with the campus so that he can get back and forth from the stadium on his own. We did that route and even went up into the stadium and found our seats. It was pretty cool as they were putting the new turf on the field.

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BENJAMIN AND EVELYN'S PARTY - AUGUST 22, 2009

THE MAGNOLIAS, ABERDEN, MISSISSIPPI

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AUGUST 22, 2009

We had such a busy weekend! On Saturday Caroline and I rode over to Batesville to do a little shopping. Actually we ran in and out of one store looking for something in particular, which we did not find. It was a bit difficult as I had to time it just right so that no other customers were in the store. The flu outbreak is so bad that we will barely let anyone look at her that hasn't been Germ-X'd from head to toe. God help 'em if they try and touch her!

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DIVINE MISS CAROLINE SUNSHINE - ONE MONTH OLD

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Caroline turned one month old this week. On one hand it's hard to believe she's been here for a month already. On the other it's hard to believe we've ever been without her. She's truly the light of my life right now. I haven't missed a day seeing her and don't plan on missing one if I can help it. She changes everyday. One day I couldn't tell whether she could actually see me. The next day I knew she was looking right at me.

I'm amazed at how we go stupid when we're with a baby we love (and some of us with a baby we don't even know). We say words we wouldn't dare let come out of our mouths any other time, in silly voices, and don't care who hears. Also, one tiny smile, whether it's intentional or just gas, will make us just giddy. Then we argue over exactly who made her smile.

Other Grandmothers have told me that being a Grandmother is a feeling that's hard to describe, and that is so true. We love our children and enjoyed them as babies, but were usually so busy and tired that we couldn't step back and really enjoy them. With a Grandchild we aren't responsible for them 24 hours a day. We can go to their house and keep them while thier parents go out. We can sit and hold them for 4 hours straight, just so we can love on, kiss, smell and stare at them. We don't have to worry whether or not what we are doing might be spoiling them because that's our job. And then we can hand them back over and go home, crawl in our beds and sleep through the night. It's awesome.

CAROLINE - AUGUST 17, 2009

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AUGUST 11, 2009

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HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY BAKER! AUGUST 10, 2009 -

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BAKER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY AUGUST 8, 2009

Baker's 25th birthday is August 10th but we celebrated on Saturday the 8th. The whole family was there, with the exception of Eden, who was working. We had great food, lots of visiting and a really good time, but got no pictures of anyone other than Caroline (and me, but I'm just a prop). She sat in the garden and then went swimming with her GiGi.


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AUGUST 4, 2009

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CAROLINE 8-2-09 HER FIRST WALK

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PHOTOS FROM MY GARDEN - 8/2/09

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CAROLINE AND HER GIGI - 7/31/09

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CAROLINE - 7/30/09

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CAROLINE AND OLIVIA KATE - 7/30/09

These are photos of Caroline with her cousin Olivia Kate, who is ten weeks old.


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CAROLINE - 7-27-09

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CAROLINE - 7-25-09

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CAROLINE - 7-23-09

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MORE CAROLINE

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SHE IS HERE!!

Caroline Elizabeth Butts was born Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 9:25 a.m. She weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces and she is the perfect mix of her Mommy and Daddy. She is beautiful. Here are a few pictures and of course more will come later. They came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and other than being a little sleep deprived everyone is doing great!

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THE GARDEN JULY 6, 2009

Pictures:


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MORE GARDEN PICTURES

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GRAVEL HILL CEMETERY - APRIL 25, 2009

We went to Oklahoma and came back to Benton in the same day, so needless to say we were pretty worn out.

The last couple of times I had been to Benton I had tried to get out to Gravel Hill but something had always come up. Gravel Hill was a Baptist church and cemetery I had been to many times in my early childhood, and where many members of the Ashcraft family were buried. I don't think anyone else was too enthused about it but Saturday, Mama, Daddy, Laura and I drove out there and got to spend a good bit of time poking around, taking pictures and gathering information for future genealogy research.

OKLAHOMA AND AUNT PAT'S MEMORIAL - APRIL 24, 2009

On Friday, April 23, I traveled to Mama & Daddy's. I arrived around 9 PM and didn't have time to do much except go to bed, considering we were leaving for Oklahoma early the next morning to attend Pat's Memorial Service. We got on the road fairly close to the time we planned to and had a fairly uneventful trip, thank goodness. We did take a short detour through Ft. Smith to see some of the houses Mama, Daddy and I had lived in when it was just the three of us, almost 50 years ago (impossible!!!). Our final destination was Tulsa, but we stopped off in Muskogee to see Pat and Gina's home. It was a beautiful spot that was in the country but still close to town and sat on the edge of a bluff with an unbelievable view. It was a very peaceful place.

The memorial service was very unique and special and was a true celebration of Pat's life and her profound affect on the lives of the people who knew and loved her. I had never attended a service quite like it, but felt extremely honored to have been able to be a participant.

APRIL 17-19, 2009

What a busy weekend! Friday afternoon I had several hours in the garden and I finally feel like I'm making progress. I've now planted broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, sugar snap peas and blackberries. My jalepeno, banana and bell peppers should be in this week and I hope to get those and my watermelon, cantaloupe and strawberries in the ground before the weekend. Abby planted close to 90 gladiola bulbs last weekend and I still have more to plant. I have a row of daylilies and I've planted seeds for wildflowers and lavender. And my roses, of course. I still have several different kinds of flower seeds to plant once I re-line my coco baskets, along with some potato vine and purslane.

Saturday threatened rain all day so I was hesitant to get started on anything outside. I had no choice but to do the dreaded housework and laundry. Saturday afternoon I attended Brian and Leah Herndon's wedding at the Church of Christ here in Oxford and got to visit with many Aberdeen friends. Afterward Mike and Mona, Mike and Marie, Gus and Judy and Eden and I met for dinner and it was such fun. The Caysons had to get back to Starkville, the Jones to Tupelo and the Mills had an early flight to DC on Sunday so we had to say our goodbyes fairly early. Eden and I headed to City Grocery to meet up with the Herndon wedding crowd. By then it was pouring rain, but it didn't spoil our night. We had a great time.

Leslie and I both love to ride around and explore country roads, so since Nicky and Eden had gone to the farm and Abby had company, on Sunday afternoon we set out to see what we could see. I discovered while researching my family that Daddy's Maternal Grandfather, Eugene Riley Jones had been born in Sardis, MS and Mama's Maternal GGG Grandfather, A A Edmonson had moved his family to Saline Co. Arkansas from Coffeyville, MS. We headed to Panola County to Sardis initially, but we ran into wind, rain and finally hail. The sky looked much clearer the other way so we turned around and headed toward Yalobusa County. We took a detour by Enid Lake first(Leslie had never been there).

From Enid we took Hwy. 51 North, then cut through to Scoby to hit Hwy. 330 to Coffeyville. We passed this old cemetery somewhere near Scoby. There was no sign or marker of any kind. Some of the graves were way back in the woods and many of the monuments were on the ground. I'm sure I'll end up with a good case of poisen ivy because it was everywhere, but I couldn't resist traipsing through the neglected graves. Although several of the graves were well tended and cared for, I had never seen so many graves that appeared to be abandoned and forgotten. Some of the markers were very ornate and finely crafted and others were very roughly inscribed as you can see. It made me very curious.




I wanted to walk through some of the old cemeteries in Coffeyville to see if I could find any Edmonson graves. We stopped at the main cemetery in town, but never saw the name Edmonson. There was a very impressive Bryant famly plot, with some of the biggest monuments and markers I've ever seen. They were obviously a very important family in Coffeyville. I did notice that one of the Bryant men buried there was a Circuit Judge in Arkansas, which I found to be a little coincidental(he had every school he ever attended and every job he ever had on his tombstone . . . it was massive!). He was from Coffeyville and became a Circuit Judge in Arkansas; my mama's people went to Arkansas from Coffeyville; there's a town in Arkansas named Bryant . . . never mind. Anyway, it started to rain again so we had to cut our visit short. I've noticed that everytime I try to visit cemeteries looking for family graves it starts to rain. Leslie says it's a sign! Of what, she didn't know. I'll have to ponder that one.

We drove around Coffeyville for a bit and saw a quaint little town. I also located the Yalobusha County Courthouse. I hope to visit there on a week day sometime to do a little Edmonson research.

I'd never been to downtown Water Valley, so we drove over there. It's also a pretty little town with many nice homes and gardens.

I didn't make much headway in the genealogy department, but it's always a delight to spend a day with Leslie. I'm looking forward to our Sardis Sunday.

NICKY'S BIG DAY

On Wednesday, April 15, 2009, Nicky got his top braces put on. We weren't quite sure how he would react, but I was so proud of him and, frankly amazed. He was very nervous while it was happening, but he did exactly what he was instructed to do, and never complained or let out a whimper. After we were finished I expected to have to take the rest of the day off to take him home where he would want to lay around and eat ice cream, but he wanted some lunch and was ready to go back to school. He, Sallie and I had a nice, soft pasta bar lunch at the University Club,then I took him to school and I went back to work. He loves to talk about his braces, but so far he hasn't complained once. That boy is just full of surprises.

IN THE BEGINNING . . .

SPRING 2009




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It was so pretty this afternoon that I wanted to be out in the garden. I didn't have enough time to really get started on anything, so I just decided to take pictures. These will be my "before" pictures. Still so much to be done . . .

PATRICIA ANN ASHCRAFT

JANUARY 2, 1935 - APRIL 16, 2009

EASTER 2009

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I was able to get in the garden for about an hour before getting ready for early church and got my blackberry vines planted along the east fence line. I was feeling very satisfied with my day so far until I put on my new "Easter Dress" and the zipper got hung two inches short of zipping all the way up. It wouldn't go up or down. The zipper was located on the left side and was extremely hard to get to by myself. I yanked and pulled and cussed until I worked up a sweat, and then I asked Abby to try. No luck. I got a pair of needle-nose pliers to pull with and snatched the zipper pull off. By this time I was running late and nearly to tears with frustration. I wanted to take the dress off and put something else on, but it's one of those that won't fit over your head unless you unzip it, so I put on a sweater and went to church. Since we were running late and it was Easter Sunday, there wasn't a parking place to be found within 3 blocks of the church, so I parked in front of the Federal Building. Thankfully the sun was shining, but what you couldn't tell from the car was that the wind was whipping around at 40 miles an hour.

My dress was a chiffon-y Marilyn Monroe Seven Year Itch kind of dress. Earlier I thought it was so pretty the way it swirled around, but now I was fighting to keep it from blowing above my head on the way into church and couldn't wait to get it off and back to the store. First, I had to figure out how to get it off. That gave me something to contemplate during church. Abby's hair was being blown to Kingdom Come and she was thoroughly disgusted by the time we got inside. Leslie and John had managed to save us a bit of room next to them, so we were able to sit pretty quickly. I believe if we hadn't we would have turned right around and gone back home.

The church was packed and there were babies everywhere. The couple sitting next to Leslie had a young baby girl that was in touching proximity, and a baby girl was also baptised. At the peak of Warren's sermon he raised his voice for emphasis and set off all the babies at one time. Because of claustrophobia, hormones and all the babies, poor Leslie stayed in tears through most of the service. All I could do was hand her a tissue. That service seemed to go on forever.

After church Abby and I trekked back to the car. The four of us went out to the cemetery afterward for our Easter visit to Bella's grave. Flowers were strewn everywhere because of the wind, but we had taken Bella's off a few days before. We put them back on and hoped they would stay.

I'm not a big azalea fan, but on the way home I saw some of the most beautiful red azaleas. Lee had told me about some he had seen a few days ago and I bet these were the ones so I took a picture of them to show him. (They were the same ones.)

We were heading to the Aberdeen Lock and Dam to have Easter dinner at Blue Bluff with Mary and Ferrell and Peter and Jan Lee, so we had to hustle to get everything done and leave by noon. but first I had to get that *%#* dress off. I started to get out the scissors but Abby thought she could help me pull it over my head. We got if off. It ripped, but I really didn't care. I dug the price tag out of the trash, then taped it and the zipper pull to the receipt and threw it all in a bag to take back on Monday.

We left on time and would have made Blue Bluff by 1:30 as planned but Abby wanted to drive and it took us a wee bit longer. We were the last ones there, but she did a fine job and we got there in one piece.

Leslie and John were having Easter at John's Grandmother Mize's and Baker and Hollie were having Easter with her Grandparents. Eden and Nicky had stayed at the farm the night before and had gone to Sunrise Service with Mary and Ferrel. Beau had been to a party for Mary Lee on Saturday night in Aberdeen, then had gotten up and gone to church at First Methodist there. I was proud of him. John Dewey came to lunch with us and brought Bones, his dog. I was a little intimidated by Bones ( a Pit Bull) until I got to know him and found out what a sweetie he is.

It was windy and threatening rain, but we had some good food and a nice visit. Abby hid eggs for Nicky a couple of times and then the three of us took a walk on the Nature Trail. I wanted to go by Union Cemetery in Wren before it rained, so we left about 3:30. I wanted Mary to go with me so she could tell me what relative was what, but she opted for a nap instead, so Eden, Abby, Nicky and I went to check it out.

The cemetery is so pretty and peaceful, and full of Bakers! There's even a concrete panel on the gatepost, which is a memorial to Eden's Grandpa Sam Baker. Eden's Baker Great-Great Grandparents, Great Grandparents, and Grandparents are buried there and Mary and Ferrell already have their headstones set. We decided it would probably be a good idea to pick out our spots and maybe put in some sort of marker.

It started raining so Eden and Nicky headed back to the farm and Abby and I headed home. It poured down rain on us the whole way back to Oxford. Aside from the dress fiasco, it was a good Easter.

HAPPY EASTER

EASTER SUNDAY REFLECTION

ON EASTER morning, we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, which is more than just a return to life; it is a new, stronger, never-ending life. We emerge from Lent as new people, transformed by our time in the wilderness and by the work we did there. We partake of Christ’s eternal life because we have chosen to make room for it in ourselves. Enjoy the freedom you feel in your clearing. Celebrate its ongoing transformation into a garden, and know that God guards and tends this garden with you today and every day from now on.

PATRICIA ANN ASHCRAFT

PAT ASHCRAFT

Pat is Daddy's oldest sister. She was born on January 2, 1935. In my early childhood she lived in California, but at some point moved back to Arkansas and lived in Little Rock. She stayed there for several years and then moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where she lives now.

Pat is one of the people in my life that has made a distinct impression and with whom I feel a special connection. I can't really explain why. I guess the obvious reason is because she's family, but I think the main reason, is that she has that Ashcraft imprint. When I look at her I can see my Grandparents, and Daddy and me. She gets her build from the Jones' side and favors Grandma in that way, but she has the Ashcraft face and mannerisms. The face is strong and a bit stern, but the smile and laugh are quick and easy. I have seen her and Daddy both make a certain face. They cock their mouth to the side and raise their eyebrows. It usually happens when someone says something they might not quite agree with or they find questionable, or if they're asked a question they might not particularly want to answer. It's a funny face and I've seen it many, many times. It's usually followed by a humorous remark or sarcasm.

I remember one time, when I was a little kid, just because she wanted to, Pat picked me up and took me out to eat, just the two of us. She wanted to talk to me about me and tell me about her. It was while she was still living in California and she was probably only visiting for a few days, but she used part of that time to visit with me.

Although I think Pat is very sure of her beliefs, and most of the time very open in her expression of them, she's a very thoughtful person as well, and sensitive to other people's beliefs. She's also a huge animal lover and is probably one of those people who gets more joy from animals than she does from most people. I have a distinct memory of visiting her at her home in Little Rock and of her two big happy dogs and one little bitty one.

Several years ago Pat had heart problems, then a few years after that, she was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer has slowly taken over her body. Today she is in intensive care hanging on to life by an IV. The medicine is keeping her blood pressure just high enough to let her say goodbye to and spend precious time with her loved ones who could make it to her ICU bedside.

Mama and Daddy are there and say yesterday was a good day. Some friends were able to sneak her little dog, Sasha, in to see her. She never had children so I'm certain she has a deep love for her dog. As far as I'm concerned, she got some of the best medicine that she could be given. There is nothing like a dog's love to give you a bit of peace and comfort when you need it most.

Today will be a hard day. The hospital can't keep her in ICU and must move her to a hospice room. Once in hospice nothing can be used to prolong her life. She is awake and aware of what is happening and says she is ready. The doctor has explained that she will become drowsy and probably fall into a coma and then it will be only a short time. Thankfully, she is capable of saying when it's time to go and that decision won't have to be made by those who love her, but they will be there with her as she drifts peacefully into a better place.

A DAY ON THE FARM

(DOUBLE CLICK TO ENLARGE THE SLIDE SHOW)


Spring is finally here! Eden and I both took off all week for Spring Break. I stayed here in Oxford to get some things done and Eden and Nicky went to the farm. To celebrate Spring, I decided to take Abby and go spend Friday night and Saturday at the farm. She wasn't thrilled with the idea, and moaned and groaned and tried to come up with other things that she wanted to do. But I wasn't budging and once she realized it, she asked if Hannah could go too since it was "going to be sooooo boring!"

We got to Prairie around 7 pm. Nicky was there when we got there, but headed out soon after with Little Reuben to Little Reuben's aunt's house. Eden had his usual Eden-style meal prepared. Steaks, beans, salad, crab meat and ice cream.

After supper we were going to watch TV, but for some reason the television wouldn't change channels. Instead of the usual 5 channels, there was only one. I figured Abby and Hannah would have a nervous breakdown. They, however, showed much resourcefulness and fetched the Sweeney Todd Soundtrack and proceeded to put on a performance. They have both seen the movie numerous times, had been to the play at the Ford Center and knew every word to every song. They sang and danced for hours. It was very entertaining and I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Nicky got in around 10:30 and we headed to bed. The bunkhouse walls are far from soundproof and I had forgotten to bring my sound machine. I could hear every sound on the Prairie. Buster and Duke couldn't decide if they wanted in or out so they would scratch on the door until someone got up to open it for them, usually me. Big Henry had tied up with a skunk earlier, so he wasn't allowed inside, and he wasn't happy about it. He barked and howled a little extra to punish us. And the bed squeaked and Eden snored. All in all it was a miserable night and I was glad to see daylight.

The next morning Nicky wanted to go to a kid something or other at Southside Baptist Church with Little Reuben. He was supposed to ride a bus they sent out, but missed it so we had to take him. On the way we stopped to visit with Murphee Evans and took a tour of the swanky guest digs he has built in the back of his new shop. When we left Murph's we dropped Nicky off at the church and walked through the church cemetary. We then made the downtown rounds of the Co-op, Mattox Feed Mill, Lann Hardware, the antique store and I had to check out Em's children's store and the flower shop. I got to see and visit with lots of folks.

Mary and Ferrel brought soup and cornbread for lunch and visited for a while. The kids rode horses and the girls learned to drive everything on the place; the 1950 8-N tractor, the old blue Datsun pick-up, also known as Eden's Gator. Then they drove 150 miles in the Van, through the pastures and around the field roads. They had all the windows down and the radio blaring. You would have thought they were riding the strip at Ft. Walton Beach. It took me back to the days when Leslie and Kristie Summerford did the same thing when they first learned to drive and weren't yet legal.

I went down to the farm house and got up in the attic. I found all Leslie's dresses that her Grandmommy Pope made her when she was a baby and toddler, that I thought were long gone. They are still in perfect shape for Caroline and by Leslie's reaction when she saw them you would have thought they were hundred dollar dresses. I also found Baker and Beau's crib bedding and it looked great too. I didn't know I still had any of it and have already bought nursery bedding, but Beverly hasn't gotten any yet and I'm thrilled that she can use it. I found a redheaded Cabbage Patch Doll that came from I don't know where. Leslie's Lolly Lee was blond and Baker's Bert and Beau's Abe were as bald as cue balls. Anyway, I brought her home, along with various other baby and doll clothes, strollers and such that I'm sure will be used and played with many more times. I also found boxes of old, old pictures of Eden's family members, old letters, genealogy records, scrapbooks and tons of other stuff that had mysteriously ended up in our attic when Grandmother Baker died and her house was cleaned out. I didn't have a clue who most of the people in the pictures were, but I called Mary and she came back out and we went through them all. It's a Treasure Trove of family history that I now have in my possession in Oxford.

I got everything loaded up that I wanted to take back to Oxford and then we headed home. I had intended to leave around 3:30 or 4:00 but it was closer to 6:00. We were worn out. It had been a full day, but it was a good day. After a supper of left over tacos and a soak in the hot tub, I was ready for my bed.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND THE TRAIL RIDE FROM HELL

If you'll look at the reflection in my front door you can see that this picture was taken on the one day that we've had snow this year.

A few weeks after that, on Saturday, March 7 to be exact, Eden and I went on a 6 hour trail ride for Holley's birthday. We rode on Weyerhauser land right off the Hatley-Detroit Road in Monroe County, MS near the Alabama line. The weather was beautiful and it started out pleasantly enough, except that Eden brought a 2 year old filly, Jill, to ride. She had been ridden maybe twice, so we couldn't go anywhere near them.

There were about 40 other riders, along with two wagons, one pulling the grill that we cooked our lunch on. About 15 minutes into the ride, the grill fell off. I think they finally hooked it back on the wagon with someone's ponytail holder. We were good to go.

I got up on the horse that had been picked out for me to ride (Clay), just as someone jabbed a hypodermic needle into his shoulder. He needed to be sedated so he would behave. Clay was used to cowboying with his 9 year old owner. Needless to say, since I hadn't been on a horse in 15 years, I didn't really want to run like the wind right off the bat. He did fine for me as long as we went where he wanted to go and at his pace. Otherwise, he would try and buck me off. Eventually Holley and I traded horses. Hers wasn't spunky enough for her so she took Clay and I got the only stud horse in the whole bunch. I never did know his name, but he discovered the Filly that Eden was riding and wanted to "be with" her. Eden and I had to do a forced separation of the two. Eventually someone riding in the wagon asked if she could ride my horse for a while so I willingly got in the wagon.

The wagon riders consisted of two or three kids and about 5 or 6 girls (mostly blonds) in their twenties and a twenty-something year old driver, who seemed to me (for lack of a better word) like a nutjob. One little boy in the wagon was cocking and shooting his BB gun over and over and this was making me a little nervous. The horses pulling the wagon were two huge Belgin Mares and I could just see a BB hitting one of their wide rear ends. He wasn't my kid so I tried to mind my own business and not think about it. We plugged along the gravel roads up and down hills. That is until the driver seemed to fall asleep at the wheel and drove us into a ditch. We had fallen behind the horseriders so there was no one around to help us. The other adults in the wagon had no clue about how to get them to go. So I had to get them out of the ditch, which consisted of standing up and slapping them on those huge rear ends with the reigns, all the while screaming at the top of my lungs, "GIT UP GIRLS!!", "HAW-HAW!!", and other cowboy talk such as that. Literally, it felt like something out of Bonanza. I was able to get them out of the ditch and they tolerated my driving for awhile. After about a half hour my neck, shoulders and arms were on fire so I had to have some relief. I decided it was time for lunch, so we stopped to eat.

The wagon driver was also the cook. Since he was out of commission others of us managed to get the grill started and the hamburger patties and smoked sausage cooked. When we got ready to eat we had about 100 hamburger patties and sausages and 24 buns. And nothing else. Someone had left the rest of the bags with the other food and supplies at home. We ate out of our hands with our hands.

I wanted to take some pictures while we were stopped and started looking for my camera. I remembered that I had wrapped the camera strap around the saddle horn of the horse that I had traded to Holley. I found her and the horse, but there was no camera ($250.00). Imagine that. So no pictures.

When we got started again someone else wanted to ride in the wagon so I took their horse, Lilly. Lilly was a dream horse! She did just what I asked her to, when I asked her to. I got so caught up in riding Lilly that I lost track of time. It started to get dark so I went to look for Eden and couldn't find him. I located Baker and he told me that Eden's horse had started limping so he decided to head back to the trailer. Eden's sense of direction is not so good, so I decided to go look for him. I should've gotten Baker to go with me, but something about being on Lilly made me a little over-confident, so I headed off on my own. In the dark. On Weyerhauser land. I had been on Weyerhauser land before, but had forgotten how it all looks the same. The only way I could really tell if I was going the way I had come was to look for horse poop. Eventually I concluded that ours weren't the first horses to ride these roads and some of the poop wasn't our horses'. I got lost. Lilly loved to run so we ran and ran. In the dark. I just figured we could get "unlost" faster if we ran. Eventually we almost ran into Baker and his horse. He was out looking for me. His sense of direction turned out to be pretty good and we ran and ran some more and found our way back to the other riders pretty quickly, but we still didn't find Eden. (At some point during all the running my glasses fell off my head ( $300.00), and of course I didn't find them in the dark. Lost my sunglasses too ($25.00).)

Eden never goes anywhere without his phone. Unfortunately, the cell phone reception wasn't too good back in the boonies and we couldn't get him on the phone.

We finally got back to the place where we started. I was near the point of hysteria and in tears. I was tired and my whole body hurt. I lost my camera, lost my glasses, lost my sunglasses, lost my husband. I could just picture Eden somewhere in a ditch with a big hoof print in his head. I should've known better, but I wasn't in my right mind. Baker got on someone's Gator and headed to a main road to try and get Eden on the phone. He came back, said they had found him and were going to get him. He had somehow gotten to a black top road and was headed in the direction that he thought Hatley was in??? By the time he got there, I had the truck warmed and was ready to go.

Once I could walk upright and sit down again, I could see the humor, and will chalk it up to another life experience. However, considering that ride cost me almost $600.00 and turned me into a blubbering idiot, it will probably be a cold day in hell before I go on another. I'd Rather Be in the Garden.