Visitor Today

 The Northern Flicker was here to say hi to me this morning.  This bird is of the woodpecker family and I figure we were a stopover for migration.  They eat from the ground and trees which is unusual for a woodpecker.  I did not get good photos as the fog was dense.  Still, I enjoyed watching them.  I moved a chair near the glass door and sat there for a long time observing them.

 Laura brought me a good pumpkin muffin this morning that I enjoyed with my coffee.  That muffin and the Flicker will probably be the highlight of my day.  I am pretty boring.

More Books to read

Have you ever heard of Georgia Tann.  She was a human trafficker from about 1924 until her death in 1950.  She operated through a home she called “Tennessee Children’s Home”.  Her business was selling babies.

I have read two books about the home recently.  Both were good reads. One book tells of lives of some of these children and the other book is a novel based on one families ordeal.  

 Before and After is an investigation of lives that were affected by Ms. Tann.

The book below is a fiction book based on fact, Before we were Yours!

Momma is 99 today!

If Mom were here, she would be 99 today, but she passed in 1992.  I asked her once where she and Dad went on dates.   She said to church. This photo of them was taken before they married in front of the school at Denver, AR.  Daddy had to ride a horse from Coin, AR to Denver to see Momma and the only place they could go was to church.  I don't know if they met there or walked there.  Mom lived in Denver and if it was okay with her parents, Dad could have left his horse at her house and they could have walked to various church events.

Momma taught her family how to love and how to give.  She gave all.  If I had a school function and had to rise early.  She woke up and got me up.  Maybe 4:30.  How in the world did she do it.  When I went to college she sent me $5.00 a week from her grocery money.  It came in form of a check.  I looked forward to the cash.  She usually had only one pair of shoes and 2 or 3 dresses.  She never complained.  How lucky can one be to have a Momma to show you how you should live!

When Home Health started coming to her house, she tried to give the workers things.  They were not supposed to take things from their clients, but some did.  One lady went home with a twin mattress on top of her car.  The workers were usually quiet poor.  Momma did not believe and having "stuff" just lying around--give it away--was the motto she lived by.  Keep it clean was how she wanted it.  Wash it, dry it and repeat.

When she was old--my age today.  Night time was a ritual.  Water in a pint jar, bedside toilet close, Vaseline for her nose as it was dry,  hankie, big towel she slept with between her legs (no diapers for her)!  She went to bed at dark and got up at light.  Anything that was just a bit dirty was washed, dryed, and repeat the next day.

Momma was a "house" person.  She might venture out to the yard and sit in the swing with Dad but she was not a wanderer like me.  The floor was swept daily and mopped regularly.  When I went up after Daddy passed and I tried to go once a month, she would say "would you mop my kitchen"?  I did.  She could see the dirt she said.  Would you move the couch and vacuum there?  I did.  Would you sweep under my bed?  I did.

I am not a lot like her, but she taught me how to love my family and I got that part!

Book Woman

Book Review—The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson
I have been reading this fiction book, but the story is based on real people that did exist and real events in our US history.  Eleanor Roosevelt helped start a program within the WPA.  Pack horse book Librarians road a route and loaned books to people in secluded areas of kentucky.  Most of the librarians were women and they earned $28.00 a month.

The Pack Horse Library Project was headed by Ellen Woodward at a federal level.  The project ran between 1935 and 1943.   “Book women" were hired by the WPA and worked for around $28 a month delivering books in the Appalachians via horseback or on mules.  They delivered both to individual homes and to schoolhouses.  The WPA paid for the salaries of the supervisors and book carriers; all books were donated to the program.

The other unusual fact about the book was it’s main character was a “blue” woman.  I had never heard of blue people except on my old Sister’s Blog.  (Sister passed in November of 2014.)  These blue skinned people were descendants of Martin Fugate of France.  The blue gene was recessive and if two carried the gene, their children could be born blue.

About blue people from Wikipedia
Martin Fugate and Elizabeth Smith who had married and settled near Hazard, Kentucky around 1800, were both carriers of the recessive methemoglobinemia (met-H) gene, as was a nearby clan with whom the Fugates descendants intermarried. As a result, many descendants of the Fugates were born with met-H.

Descendants with the disease gene continued to live in the areas around Troublesome Creek and Ball Creek into the 20th century, eventually coming to the attention of the nurse Ruth Pendergrass and the hematologist Madison Cawein III, who made a detailed study of their condition and ancestry.

Cawein treated the family with methylene blue, which eased their symptoms and reduced the blue coloring of their skin.  He eventually published his research in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1964.

As travel became easier in the 20th century, and families spread out over wider areas, the prevalence of the recessive gene in the local population reduced, and with it the probability of inheriting the disease.

Benjamin Stacy, born in 1975, is the last known descendant of the Fugates to have been born exhibiting the characteristic blue color of the disease and lost his blue skin tone as he grew older.

It has been speculated that some other American sufferers of inherited methemoglobinemia may also have had Fugate ancestors, but searches for direct links have so far proved inconclusive.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

 I

 Places to go and things to do.  Pop and I  sit at home.  Laura,Sigrid and Ingrid went to Little Rock to watch Wicked.  Astrid was helping with a baby shower and could tag along.  Greta and family went to the Lady Backs game.  It was an exciting game.  We beat Missouri.

49 Years

 Being married 49 years is the hardest thing Larry and I have ever done.  We both had to work at it.  Wasn’t easy but we have kept going.  I hope we live to hit 50. Only death Can stop us, now.

Princess Elsa

 My Astrid can double for Elsa in Frozen.

Frozen Princess

Our own Princess Elsa from Frozen.

My sweet eldest Granddaughter Astrid goes to college full time (made all A’s again), works at St. Mary’s Fitness Center, and babysits occasionally. One of her “kids”, Isla, had a birthday party. Astrid attended dressed as Elsa. Isla knew who she was but most of the little girls thought the frozen princess was there. I asked where she got her frozen dress, “my Momma made it,” she replied. Two smart ladies.

Ada Cheers Lady Backs

 Ada attended her first Razorback game today.

Movies Today

One old lady and the little women went to the movies again!  Guess what we watched.  I cried several times.  You can’t hold back the tide really hit home and it will ebb no matter what you do.

Some Christmas Pictures to Remember

Merry Merry

Wishing you these gifts this Christmas--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.