How About a Recipe

The following is absolutely the best butter cookie anyone will ever make.  That's the truth.  I've tried others all along, just to see - not the same.

A friend from church, Peggy Weaver, brought these cookies to me when Kate was born - a plate of them.  I had to have the recipe and she very gladly gave it to me - had been in the family for some time and she'd made them always for her children and grandchildren.

So - here we are.

1 lb. (4 sticks) real butter( I use Land O Lakes, salted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
4 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
dash ginger (optional)

400 degrees - 10-12 minutes

For cookies of any kind, I never ever use my mixer.  I find that it beats the dough too fine and they go flat when cooking.  Bring the butter to room temp so it's soft - and cream sugar and butter - mixing together by hand.  Stir in one egg and the vanilla.  Mix as well as you can with your hand.   Stir in the flour and baking powder.   I realize this is a bit difficult - especially for my arthritic hands.

I get all of the dough into a good ball or even a log of dough.  I use Saran wrap or wax paper to do this so that my hand prints won't be in it and the surface will be smooth.  Wrap it up and place in refrigerator and let get hard.  This dough can be sliced from,  just as it is - that's the easy part - or - you can take portions of it - and let get a bit softer and roll out to use cookie cutters.

Keep an eye on them in the oven - some people like the edges to get rather brown - others like the cookies softer than that - so you determine your own time.

I think I've said this before.  I love the new nonstick alum foil - I put that over my cookie sheet and bake the cookies - no cleaning of those awkward cookie sheets.  I don't like washing cookie sheets or muffin tins.

I HOPE YOU CAN SEE AND READ THESE

This morning I received this email from Mary Ann, who had received it from our cousin, Suzanne.

Hillarious old ads from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's.  Unbelievable.

It's amazing what our culture and the trends of the time are able to sell us.  and scary.

For 30 days test Camels in your T-Zone???? (T for Throat, T for Taste)

Next, this one has to be from the 30's.  

Get thin with sanitized tape worms???  I'd say!

Be sure to read this heading,

"Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere".

Wow!

I remember Daddy getting a carton of cigarettes for Christmas from my grandmother.

Crazy stuff!

If you don't know, this next one is really a cigarette ad, too.

These next two deal with more delicate issues.

It was hard for me to read the small print to see what it was talking about,

but I figured it out.

They've got to be nuts regarding this use for Lysol!

And where this next ad would be, I have no idea - certainly not in an old Better Homes and Gardens.

The Other Recipe

I have another recipe to share.  It's the salad I had with yesterday's meal.

I've decided that until I can think of something random to talk about - or even something with substance - I'll just share some of my favorite recipes.  I have quite a few.

With the casserole I had English Peas and Frozen Cherry Salad and rolls.  Dessert was the Peanut Butter Pie.

So - the Frozen Cherry Salad is as good as a dessert - but if you serve it on a piece of lettuce and with the main meal - well - you've got a fruit salad "of sorts".  That's the way it was introduced to me.  It's very easy and folks love it.

FROZEN CHERRY SALAD
1 (21 OZ) can cherry pie filling
1 (15 oz) can crushed pineapple
1 (14 oz) can condensed milk
1 (12 oz) carton cool whip
2 Tblsp. lemon juice (optional)

Mix all - freeze in loaf pan - slice and garnish with pecans.

Here are my additional comments.  I've never used the lemon juice, but it might be nice to cut through the "sweet".  I might try that next time.  Also, I prefer to mix in some chopped pecans - which I've done, but not lately - I have family members who don't like nuts.  I also prefer to spoon it into paper lined muffin tins - and freeze.  When it's frozen, remove paper & serve on pieces of lettuce - maybe a dollop of mayo just for looks.  But a lot of folks don't like mayonnaise.  Remember to take out a few minutes prior to serving, so it won't be so frozen.  Needs to be soft, but firm - with some frozen remaining.  


This is very good and very easy - Open cans, pour in bowl, stir and freeze.  Yummy.

Recipes

Okay - I've got something to post.

Both of these are absolutely delicious - at least, I think so. 

Two Recipes - tomorrow's lunch.

First.

PAT NIXON'S HOT CHICKEN SALAD
This is basically a super duper chicken casserole.
I've had this since 1974.  My note in my recipe file says:  "Deb Davidson & Jan Tilghman served this to Debbie Benedict & me for supper.  summer 1974.  Few weeks before we graduated from Auburn University."

Combine these ingredients:
4 cups cold, cut up, cooked chicken
2 cups chopped celery
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped
Small to Medium Jar of diced pimentos
(or can chop a red pepper - half of one)
2 Tblsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 tsp. salt
2 Tblsp. finely chopped onion

Place combined Ingredients in a large casserole dish.  Cover with foil or plastic wrap.  Let stand overnight in refrigerator.

Before baking, top with 2/3 cup finely chopped almods, toasted; 1 cup sharp grated cheese; 1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 25 to 30 to 40 minutes.  Until  heated through.  Serves 8. 
(Bring to room temperature before baking.)

Second

PEANUT BUTTER PIE
(given to me by Sue Paulk who is a friend of mine, and...I worked for her in her frame shop for 3 years.  Today she became a grandmother.  Today is Ellie's birthday - so April 24th is the day both Sue and I became grandmothers for the first time.  2005 and 2010.)

Make a Graham Cracker Crust/according to directions on box.
(I don't like the premade purchased kind)

Filling:  Whip 1 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1/4 cup sugar. Set aside, probably in refrig.
Mix 1 cup of confectioner sugar and 1 cup of all natural peanut butter and 8 oz. cream cheese, softened ahead of time. Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture.  Pour into cooled crust.  Chill in refrigerator until firm.

No Words of My Own

Yesterday's post recommended this blog - and I still do, so don't want any reader to miss it.  It's also listed under my blogs that I read.   If you'll click on this title, Gazing Upward, you'll get to it.  She posted again today and it will soon be time for them to return to the States.

Moving on, back in my world.....

Not much to say, so let me look into Of First Importance  to see today's quote.

Oh, that is exactly what I've had on my mind these days - how God brings us to obedience to Him.

Here it is:

"The Father is intimately involved in our lives so that our circumstances train us in godliness.  The Son has set us free from both the penalty and the power of sin so that we now live under the reign of grace.  The Spirit gives us a new attitude toward sin and a new power to change.


The combined forces of the Trinity are at work in our lives to set us free and make us holy."
- Tim Chester YOU CAN CHANGE  (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2010), 53.

I Strongly Recommend This Blog

Friday, as Ann and I were driving to Huntsville, she began telling me about a blog she is following.

Last night I was at her house and she showed it to me.

I think I have this story straight.  Ann knows of her through another girl Ann knew at Auburn.

The blog address is www.scottkelleyandcarter.blogspot.com,

This young mother, who has already written, in the blog world, about her 5 miscarriages, her son who was finally conceived and carried full term and delivered healthy, is now writing about how God has taken them through the adoption process to be parents of a precious little Chinese girl.

They finally met and picked up their  little girl just last week, on the 11th or 12th.
She is 18 months.  They knew of her before her first birthday, but there are so many stages to the adoption process, so they have just all now been united.   It's an amazing story and takes the reader into their private world, into the Chinese culture, and into the young life of a little girl who was left by her mother in a place to be found by a passerby, then taken to an orphanage where she lived for 6 months, and then placed in a foster village where she lived until she was able to meet her new American parents.


I highly recommend going to this post.  The writer is also that, a writer - professional writer - so she has other places on her blog which are very encouraging - things she has written out of her experiences with life and what God has revealed to her in His word.

Speaking of April

I just posted about the green and sun and warmth of this April Season.  That post is below... random thoughts.  Recently when Charlie and I drove to Pensacola and Point Clear we stopped in Evergreen at Mary Ann's house for a bathroom break.  Look at these gorgeous images taken from her yard.  Her dogwood is draped in spanish moss.  And her Azaleas are typical for the deep lower south.  Just a prelim for what we would see in Pensacola and Point Clear and Fairhope.

We Are Very Much In April

I've gotten used to the leaves on the trees.

The daffodils have come and gone.

My paperwhites didn't bloom very well, because they need separating.

The irises are about to burst open.  Some already have.

And the weeds - they are taking over.  I can't keep up with them.

But - it's great to be outside again.  Just a few weeks ago we were complaining about the cold weather and the rain.

Now we need a little rain to moisten things.  But I'm not sure I want to give up a pretty day.

I'm grateful for the green on the trees and the green grass and the sun beating down.  I love it.  Even if we are all sneezing and scratching our eyes and some even wheezing.

This afternoon - this Saturday afternoon - I had my two "in-town" grandsons, Luke and Andrew, outside with me, while Charlie was grilling hamburgers.  Everyone else had kitchen duty.... I guess.  Ellie soon joined us and Ann took Andrew back inside, for his bath.

I suggested to Ellie and Luke that we check under the Magnolia limbs for our little hiding place.   It was there, but they're getting too tall, so I clipped a few limbs to clear out a better space.....under the limbs.

I have everyone home right now except for the Moores.  Kate had to have a break from the Auburn scene, where she is studying intensely for a final in Business Finance.    Not her thing.  Wouldn't be mine, either.  But she is forging ahead, preparing for her 2 year internship at WakeForest, as an RUF Intern.  There's talk of Sarah moving to New Orleans - a job offer.   Things are changing.

But this is my post on this Saturday evening.

Does the Reader Enjoy Old Pictures?

Well, I do enjoy old pictures...a lot!

And again, I have access to these, so, in yesterday's post I showed my "house" pictures.  That post came out of my dream and then actually running across these pictures.

But here are a few more I love.  They are of Daddy from being very little in his childhood world in Troy to being a young man and then to being married with children and a job .  The final picture is how I remember my Daddy - always conducting someone or some group in singing or making music with instruments.  Getting it right.

Here we go.

This first picture - it has to be in Troy - but I love looking at the scenes around Daddy.  The lady in the background, walking "down the street".  I try to recognize that house - because I know most of the old houses on Murphree Street where Daddy lived - but perhaps they were on College Street visiting someone.  Or going to church where Grandmother was a member of the Baptist Church.  Granddaddy was a member of the Methodist Church which was around the corner.  I don't know.  Daddy is very dressed up - perhaps it was a Sunday or even Easter.  The lady in the back is so dressed. I love the hat.  And it looks like she is carrying a small purse.  I also love the way Daddy's little hands are doing as he poses.  It makes me wonder who is taking the picture.

Next is Daddy and his older brother Thomas, with their Aunt Allie Carroll.

She was the older sister of my grandmother.  They were very close and lived across the street from one another.  This is definitely in Allie Carroll's yard.   That's part of her house in the background.  And that is the same outfit Daddy had on in the first picture.  I'm thinking Easter and at the very least, Sunday.

Daddy was born in 1913 and he looks to be about 2 1/2 or 3?  So - maybe 1915 or 1916.  Mother wasn't even born.  

Next picture - Daddy in his yard in Troy - again posing for someone.

A young man now and again, very dressed.  I like this look too.

Reminds me of clothes in the movie, The Great Gatsby.

You can see that all around Daddy in these pictures and his house from yesterday - there were pretty yards and nice houses and landscaping.

Well - to contrast - not so in Mother's world as she grew up in Evergreen - only an hour or so from Troy.

In this picture, I don't recognize it as my grandparents' house - but I think they must be visiting family members in Evergreen - who lived "out" from the small town.  Like my granddaddy's parents maybe - or an aunt perhaps.  But isn't she cute?  With her doll?  Stuff like this blows my mind.  A person's life.  In a safe family, and both my parents had that - probably not the same financially, but the same in security and safety and love - what matters.  And watching how God orchestrates each of their lives and brings them together and the generations that grow out of them - and the choices - and decisions - and God meeting them at a point and their saying yes to Him and all that that means - Both Daddy and Mother reached a point in their lives coming to the understanding that He could give each of them spiritual life and they did say yes.  They wanted it and wanted His sanctification.  They desired yieldedness and His shaping them into His image.  They wanted to "die to self".  Anyway - this is Mother as a little bitty girl.

With her mother, Ella.  Again - not the most beautiful, pristeen landscaping around them.

But a lot of fun and a lot of love.  I know that for a fact.  It was fun and lot of laughter being in the Northcutt family.

And with her daddy, Elbert

That so has a farm look.  I'm guessing Elbert's parents' home.  And as dressed as they are, perhaps a Sunday.  Don't we tend to take pictures when we're dressed up - of the children, especially.

I love the little wagon Mother is in.  I wish I had it now.

And I love that Elbert is about to carve sugar cane.  I can tell that's what that is.  

I love to chew on Sugar Cane.  Get that juice out of it.

I haven't done that since I was a child.

Back to Daddy.  so - Troy meets Evergreen.

Daddy stayed in  Evergreen.  He had the job and stayed there his whole career, until the very last few years - and it was back to Troy.  That was a default situation and it had to do with the turbulent sixties and with all the racial tension - the music program no longer was priority.  So Daddy scrambled and rode out his last 5 years in Troy until retirement.  But Evergreen had become home and they returned. 

Daddy married Mother in 1947 and gained 2 brothers in law and soon another brother in law when Mary married.  It was a fun life and a lot of hilarity and gatherings and simplicity.  

We all have a memory that defines, perhaps, our parents - each of them.

this picture is Daddy.  His arms raised, the baton, the sleeves rolled up - the firm hands - the concentration.  Sitting on the tall stool to see each member.  His ears, listening, hearing, for any bad note - a wrong sound - is someone flat?  If he heard a mistake that baton came down.  Tapping, stopping the music.  He would weed out the mistake and correct it.  If you were in his choral group or band - you didn't want the mistake to be yours.  It wasn't that he would be mad, just impatient - hard to get it that we didn't all have the perfect rhythm and ear that he had.  And I certainly didn't.  

Well - I need to add a "grownup" picture of Mother.  Here's one I love.  Again, the arms.  It's younger than the above picture of Daddy.  I know that it's 1953 -  But she's laughing and I love the look on her face and the mood.  I could probably say for certain that she's in conversation with either her sisters or a group of ladies.  The baby buggy, well, it's a group of moms and they are together on a pretty afternoon or morning and enjoying the laughter and fellowship of moms who were at home with their babies.  Or, again, Mom's hair is very combed and her dress is neatly ironed.  Maybe, again, Sunday?  But I don't think in 1953 women wore sandals to church.  so - probably my first hunch is right.  Years later when Mother would look at these old pictures, she'd get so tickled about how dressed up she'd be in some of the young pictures - just on an ordinary day.  Our world has become incredibly casual here in 2010.  Hasn't it?

The Homes I Dream About

I dreamed about Troy, Alabama last night.  The downtown area had been restored, and updated.  I've dreamed this scene before - same images.  Isn't that crazy?  And in last night's dream,  moving north up Three Notch Street, about 2 blocks from the town square, where one would turn left onto Murphree Street, I saw that workers were demolishing my grandmother's house and my Aunt Allie Carroll's house.  In the dream, at first I was horrified, but my emotions quickly went to acceptance, because in real life my sister and I hate seeing the ruin of those two houses.  I think I felt glad that I would no longer have to see the houses continue to fade.  Someone does live in my Grandmother's house - but I'm not at all pleased with what they are doing with it.  It could be a beautiful old home.

We don't return to Troy very often - the town where my dad was born and raised. We being Mary Ann and I.  But last year we did attend a funeral there - visiting old places - and aghast at the demise of everything.

And then today as I rummaged in my Art Studio for something for Sarah,  I became distracted by some old pictures I found - and then, hurrah - I have a scanner and I can talk about these places.  A lot of them I already have.  Now I have pictures.

I'll begin in Troy - where Daddy was born.

Here is an old black and white - taken during WWII - and I know that because standing on the steps - and the reader probably can't see them - are my grandparents with servicemen whom my parents told me they housed, voluntarily, for some reason or another.  It had something to do with furlough, etc.  

and then a later picture, maybe in the 70's or 80's

It was to this house my parents moved in 1971 when my Dad began to work in the Troy School System until his retirement.  Daddy was 58 when they moved back into his old home.  I came home to this house when I was at Auburn University.

Next picture is a structure behind Grandmother and Granddaddy's house.

It's an observatory - built by my granddaddy and my uncle, Halbert - Daddy's oldest brother.

Inside was a huge telescope, also built by the two of them.  They were big time into astronomy and looking at the stars and the moon.  Naturally Mary Ann and I loved going in that building when we were small and visiting our grandparents.  It was a nice diversion during the visit.

In this picture are Granddaddy and Halbert - probably in the 40's.

Last year, when Mary Ann and I were in Troy, we were able to see through a large, tall privacy fence, through a "peek hole", and look into Grandmother's back yard.  All the structures, Halbert's workshop/art studio, the separate garage, and the quaint brick wall dividing parts of the back yard, all had been torn down and replaced with a very tacky, very aqua, not very well landscaped, swimming pool.  I wish I didn't have that image in my head.

The next picture is my aunt, Mary, with Mary Ann - but in the background is my grandmother's house - Ella's house - Ella and Elbert.  I wrote about this house in a much older post about how we would play under it and call it "under the house".  Mother told me that she did that also, as a child.  This is the house Mother grew up in.  When Mother and Daddy married, they built a very small house to live in.  If this picture could open up - one could see the house in the right side of the photo.  Thus, both Mary and Mary Ann, in this picture are in their own backyard.  Mary was 18 in this picture - Mary Ann was 1 - I know every inch of this yard and the home and the smaller one which isn't visible.  When Mother and Daddy built their second home, then Ella and Elbert moved into the smaller house on this lot and my aunt, Florence and uncle, Waynard moved into the larger house.  So this is the yard and the two homes I remember - the hub of our extended family - the location of years and years of family gatherings and so much laughing and a lot of drama, too.  I mean, life's just not complete with a lot of drama, is it.  Smile.

Again, same yard, me in a 50's stroller, closer to the larger house - which was Ella's at the time.

and then we moved into our new house when I was this age, 2 1/2 - my age in this picture.

And here is our house in about 1966 - It's the house I dream about the most.  I have a recurring dream that I am living in it again and feeing incredible relief - that I can handle almost anything now that I'm home, in this house.  Throughout my adult life I have dreamed that dream - and with each one, in the dream, I'm telling myself, "this time it's real - I'm not dreaming" - but I am.  It's always a dream.

Eight Pecan trees to shade us in the summer.  That's the car in which I learned to drive.  No cars for teenagers then - well - a few - I just borrowed my parents' one car.

Those dreams about home - I would like to think it has something to do with the "longing for our true home" where He's prepared a place for me - because remember - I'm not home yet - I'm a sojourner, a stranger and an alien in this world, so says 1 Peter, Chapter 1.  and other places in the bible, as well.

Next - not my home - but such a part of Charlie's memories and his mother's - the house in Florala where she grew up with her 7 siblings and her parents, of course.  This is the house where Charlie spent a lot of time - Florala isn't far from Pensacola where he lived as a little boy.  In an earlier post this week I showed a picture of Lib's wedding day - it was taken in this yard.

Here are Lib and Charlie's oldest brother, Guy Neill standing in front of her old house.  Noone lives here.  They were in Florala, though and wanted to get this picture.

and next is a side view of the house.

And then to Scottsboro.

Here is the house where Charlie and I lived from 1981 - 1994.

This is the house Ann and Laura Beth remember as their childhood home. 

We brought Laura Beth, Sarah, and Kate home to this house when they were born.

We were living in Goosepond Apartments when Ann was born.

But Kate and Sarah mostly remember the house we live in now.

This is how it looked when we first moved in.

 

wow!  so blank - a clean slate to make a yard.  and a lot of space to make a yard.

There's one house I've left out.

After Mother and Daddy moved back to Evergreen,

they bought a large old white house on Main Street.

They restored it themselves - and restored the yard.  It was an overgrown jungle when they moved in.

And they made it so white and pristeen - and manicured.  It was a haven to visit, with my girls. 

I have pictures but none scanned.

It's the house on Main Street which my girls know as their grandmother's house in Evergreen.

From that house Mother and Daddy moved to Scottsboro the last 2 years of Daddy's life.

After that Mary Ann and Mother lived together and soon they moved back to Evergreen, from Montgomery, making that home just as welcoming and "like home" as any we have retreated to.

Again - no photo.  I need to get those two for a followup post. 

Mother and Daddy are in their true home now,

Along with several aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents and greats whose lives I've been told about.

I look forward to seeing them all.

But today is April 15, 2010 and I have grass to cut and a beautiful day to enjoy.

About The Title of This Blog

Cinderella, Little Furmaid, and Sleeping Judy.

Sounds like Cinderella, Little Mermaid, and Sleeping Beauty, doesn't it?

It really is that.  I explained the title on my first post when I began this blog.  It was 2 years ago and Ellie was about to be 3.  That's how she heard the names of those princesses.  Because this blog is mostly about my favorite things and what I like to remember - and because at the time she was so young and it was precious the way she confidently called them by those names, I titled this blog with Ellie's version of
their names.  Her 3 favorite ladies, rather princesses.

I didn't want to forget how that sounded.

Yesterday Laura Beth told me that Ada was getting out of her bath and Laura Beth grabbed her Mickey Mouse towel - or some towel with a Disney Character on it.  Not the one with the 3 princesses.  So Ada requested the princess towel, saying, "I want the one with Sleeping Tutti on it".  Oh my goodness.  Well, I can't change the title of my blog now, but that's hilarious.  Sleeping Tutti!  Laura Beth has a really good friend whom everyone calls Tutti.  Ada really likes her and her 3 children.  In Sleeping Beauty she hears Sleeping Tutti.  I bet that with 3 children Tutti, at times, has wished she was Sleeping Tutti.  I bet Laura Beth wishes she was Sleeping Laura Beth.  Andrew is not sleeping so great these days, more teeth.  Ann wants to be Sleeping Ann.

Serious Post and I Haven't Proofread It.

"All these things which were to be the weapon of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit.

If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, 'O hell where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting?' it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, food, and all such things.  And we are comforted in tribulation, joyful in sorrow, glorying under abuse, abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death.

This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture:  truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in Him and are offered to us by Him from God the Father."

--John Calvin, preface for Pierre Robert Olivetan's 1534 French translation of the New Testament.

I hear the above quote, " the infinite riches that are comprised in Him" and I'm reminded of Paul's prayer for the believers in Ephesus - which can be our prayer for ourselves, for our believing friends and family -

"For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks to you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come."  Ephesians 1: 15-21

The above quote, again, is from Of First Importance, http://www.firstimportance.org/, and I'm on Sarah's laptop because my laptop is at the Apple Store having things transferred from my old computer to "it". 

Isn't that the best thing?  He will give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  He will enlighten the "eyes" of our hearts, so that we may know the hope to which He has called us. 

So that we may know what are our riches in the glorious inheritance of the saints (His redeemed).  Have you been redeemed by Him?  Have you been brought from darkness into His light?  Has life been breathed into you, eternal life, I mean.  That second birth. 

And we can know and experience the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe.
That is the same power He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.  Imagine that. 
As I've heard lately someone use this phrase, "Marinate in that knowledge/information".

Well - that's this post for the day - as, for the ten zillionth time I go to Huntsville again and again.  Not my cup of tea, but I was there 3 times last week, and have to go 3 times this week - just stuff.

Charlie's Family

I wrote in a previous post that Charlie and I drove to Pensacola where his mother lives.

And remember I wrote about how well she is doing at age 87, walking, thinking, living - very sharp mind.

I finally got some pictures - old ones - from her - and after spending all day yesterday switching out computers, saving things off the old one, installing my new printer/scanner/copier - I now have some old pictures to post from Charlie's early days.

This first one is of his whole family.  His mother is holding Charlie; his dad is holding his sister, Amanda, and in the front are his brothers, Guy Neil(oldest one) and Mike( the second born).

I'm guessing that is about 1953 - because Charlie looks to be about 1.  He was born in December 1952 - so yeah, that had to be 53.  Don't forget I've written - that Charlie is only 11 months younger than his sister Amanda.  Digest that information - and imagine his mom with them and the two older brothers who appear to be quite feisty and active in this picture.  They look like they are pretending to shoot the photographer.

Next picture - Charlie is a little older.  In this photo I'm guessing they are either visiting his grandmother in Florala where his mother grew up, or visiting his dad's mother in Columbia, Alabama, where his dad grew up.  I think he's a little older, but I love this swingset picture.  Remember, we've all been kids before we became adults.  We all have our memories.

There's a little girl behind him - probably his sister, Amanda.  Remember, they're practically the same age without being twins.

This next picture is Charlie being held by his Uncle Charles, for whom he was named.  Charles was his dad's only brother and was killed as a young adult, in a car wreck.  So sad.  He had never married.

And now this next picture I love.  I had it copied from an old faded photo that has been on Lib's dresser ever since I've been going to her house.  She told me it is the only photo from her wedding day.  A friend from Birmingham took this picture and sent this copy to Lib.  I took it to CVS and made a copy of it, enhancing the color.  So, it's not a professional restoration, but it's all I have.  The picture is taken at her Mother's house in Florala where the reception was held.

Hasn't the marketing industry taken the wedding day to new heights and taking our money as well?  My parents had no pictures of their wedding day - and now we spend insane amounts on photography, videographers, etc.  I certainly do wish I had photos of Mother's wedding day - but still - it's all gotten rather out of hand.

And this of Charlie's maternal grandparents.  Ruby Amanda Bailey Ray and Luther Gaston Ray.  Charlie called his grandparents, Mother Ray and Father Ray.  I don't think he ever actually knew his grandfather, but that's how he was referred to.  Charlie's grandmother was a Bailey and that is Ann's middle name and Andrew's middle name.

Next, this picture of Charlie's dad during WWII.  He was a , well, I don't know how to spell it.  He jumped out of planes - with a paraschoot? parashoot?  too lazy to look it up.  Part of a group referred to as "The Screaming Eagles".  It was quite a "to do".  I regret that I cannot adequately tell about it. (Laura Beth has posted a comment and in it she's given me the correct spelling - it is Parachute.  OF COURSE!  Thank you, Laura Beth.)

And finally, this classic baby portrait of Charlie and Amanda - again - imagine that they probably both have on cloth diapers.  And imagine getting the two of them ready for this portrait.  Charlie had curls as a baby boy - and there is a younger portrait of him with curls all over his head.  When he was an older child, he saw the portrait and was so humiliated by the curls, thinking he looked like a girl, that he took a crayon and scribbled all over the fine portrait his mother had had done.  Gotta smile at that one.  I've seen that portrait with the crayon scribbles all over it.  He had beautiful curly hair.

That's all.  A little Rhodes and Ray history - and memories.  I mostly talk about my family and our life in Evergreen.  Although Charlie grew up in Pensacola throughout his childhood, his family moved to Chattanooga when he was starting the 8th grade.  He graduated from high school in Chattanooga - and his parents returned to Pensacola during Charlie's college years.

Been gone a while

I realize there has been no posting.  Last week was a little "different".  I'll explain in a later post.

But Thursday Charlie and I traveled/travelled to Pensacola to visit his Mom.  She will be 87 April 19, and I have to work to keep up with her, mentally.  She is sharp as a tack!  Physically fit also - She walks vigorously with her neighbor, at least 3 times a week.  She and Charlie discussed the Masters Golf tournament and also the appointment of the new Supreme Court Justice.  At one point, right after we got there, I had already misplaced my glasses.  She told me exactly where they were.  I asked her how in the world she knew where they were.  She'd noticed where I put them down.

Friday morning we drove to Point Clear to stay at the Grand Hotel.  The DA's Association was having meetings there.  I don't usually get to go with Charlie, but this time I did.  On the way, driving through Gulf Shores, we stopped at our old favorite - Sea and Suds.  There we both got raw oysters and I got steamed shrimp.  Charlie had gumbo.  Delicious and the beach is ever faithful to draw me in - with the desire to spend whole summers there....or at least more time than I am able to spend.

We arrived at the Grand Hotel Friday Afternoon - and today we are driving home.

No pictures because this laptop is still new to me and I haven't downloaded photos yet.  Next week I will begin my "Apple Tutorials" which I signed up for at the Apple Store.  Will be going to Huntsville for that.

I'll be in Scottsboro tonight and back to my world there.

I guess all know this, but Fairhope is the most delightful area - very calm yet very artsy and creative and lots of seafood.  Lots of Live Oaks stretching their massive branches, reaching out to shade whomever and whatever.  The Azaleas are gorgeous - and there obviously is a lot of money down here, because the homes are scrumptious and unique.  No copycat architecture - so beautiful.  And Mobile Bay is mesmerizing.  So relaxing.  I'll take the Bay any day.  I do enjoy the Gulf Waters, but give me the bay also.  Very relaxing.

I've gotta go.  We're going home.

Overdue Post

If any of you have noticed - and are interested in reading random blogs - like mine -

well

Easter has come and gone,
Five Days have come and gone,

and I'm not posting.

I mentioned that my desktop was suffering badly from extreme viruses.  It got so bad - I was dependent on my daughters' laptops - Sarah went to New Orleans, but Kate was here for Easter - so there were times I had on her Apple Computer.

So here I am on this Monday following Easter - with a new laptop.

Yep.  One of those cute white apple computers.  It's a MacBook.  and....I have a new printer to go with it.  The printer has a scanner - so I don't have to go to CVS Pharmacy to scan multiple old black and whites for my posts.  But - it will be slow, my getting used to all of this.  I even signed up for a year of one on one training in the "Apple Store" - to thoroughly get to know my new baby.

Warm weather is officially here - green is on the trees - We had a beautiful Easter - Steve was right there delivering the truth about Resurrection and all of the power in that event.  The power that God exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead is the same power available to each of us who believe on Him - the power to live this life in Christ - That's in Ephesians, the 1st chapter, I think - if not, it's the second chapter.

And then we went home to eat Ham, Potato Salad, Grape Salad, Potato Casserole, Deviled Eggs, Green Beans, & Yeast Rolls & Sweet Tea.  For Dessert, Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Sugared Strawberries and Ice Cream or Cool Whip.  Yum.  Love Easter Food.

Ann has all the Easter Pictures and is sending them to me tonight.  I turned my camera over to her - she's the one with the children and dying the eggs, etc.  Plus, my very sick desktop wouldn't "read" my memory card.

Pictures on this new laptop will soon be available....this is just our first night together.  We have to get to know each other.