Lunch with Jones Girls

 

Thanksgiving morning, Laura and Astrid met Faith and did the Turkey Trot. Proud of the turkey trotters! Laura was first in the walkers. She’s a clipper 😉 

Got to enjoy lunch with the Jones’ girls Wednesday. Neighbor’s Mill was busy but still very efficient. The food is always good. Ada talked nonstop. Sweet Greta only answered my questions to her. I loved my time with them. Clay was on the clock at Walmart. 

Ada showed me her two tooth gap. I asked if the tooth fairy left money. She said—only two dollars. Guess she thought losing a tooth was worth a lot.

Christmas Bouquet

Thank you God for all that grows, thank you for the sky's rainbows. Thank you for the stars that shine, thank you for precious friends of mine. Thank you for the moon and sun, thank you God for all you've done!

We took a Christmas bouquet to Pop yesterday. We picked up my Jones’ girls at Harrison and they went with us to the cemetery.

I saw Helen’s stone. Hopefully we’ll get ashes to put there.

Ada has been upset by Aunt Helen’s death. This is the first person that she actually knew well that has passed away. Fleta gave me Helen’s cane. My sister had shrunk. The cane was very short. I gifted it to Ada.

Laura stopped twice on the way there and I walked around. I rubbed Voltaren on my knee before we left. I made the trip fine. 

 

Life Goes On

I am finishing the baby blanket I’m working on now. I may try the above next. I don’t have a written pattern but I have this picture. 

Today Laura and I will go to Alpena and she’ll fix a bouquet for her Dad. She chose Christmas flowers this time. Well stop at Erin’s as I have eggs for her. Erin’s children are out of school all week as are Eric and Laura. I usually got Thursday and Friday off and sometimes Wednesday. Never a week. Times change.

Fleta’s grandson got a new truck. It’s new to him. I recall the excitement of having a new vehicle. It wears off as you have to make those payments.

 

Days Go By

 

Getting ready for older age. I had a carport put near my side door. Logan will move the other one for an animal shelter.

I finished a girl blanket. It’s the granny stitch. I have physical therapy at 9:00.

Rainy Monday

My Erin is 46 today. In 1979, this was the day after Thanksgiving. Erin was born about daylight! I cooked Thanksgiving dinner that year for Larry's Mom and sister. I’m am blessed to have two great daughters. Hope my Erin doesn’t have to cook today. 

The picture is from her wedding shower, 20 years have past. 
 

Timber

Sister had a dead tree near her house. Carroll Coop came and trimmed limbs but still she had a dead tree. Son George took the rest down today. You can see Helen’s house up the road.  I’ve walked every inch of this old farmstead barefooted.

In November 1966, we celebrated my niece Cheryl being one year old. Yesterday she turned 60. Fleta took the photo so she’s not in it. I was a sophomore in High School. I remember Cheryl’s  Mom made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  It was a stacked cake not a sheet one. I have brush rollers in my hair tied up with an head scarf and only Helen’s legs show. Brenda Gail can’t wait as she’s trying the cake.  Everyone here has passed, excepting Cheryl’s two siblings, Barbara and me. 

L to R—Willis, Hazel, Gilbert, Debbie, Brenda Gail, Gary, me, Richard, Clayton, Barbara holding Cheryl, Helen’s legs, and Gertrude— all Powells 🩶

Laura shared some peanut brittle with me. It’s made by the monks at Subiaco Monastery. They make beer and wine too. The brittle was outstanding. 

Abbey Brittle has been made and sold by the monks of Subiaco Abbey since 1995. In the beginning, various members tried to establish the production process for peanut brittle. After many attempts, Br. Thomas Moster, OSB, now deceased, and a close friend of the monks, Mrs. Jo Kastner, took on the project. The recipe is from Arkansas and features all-natural products combining peanuts, sugar, corn syrup and baking soda. Due to immense popularity of  the brittle, it’s now trademarked with its own logo.    

Astrid dug her little hill of potatoes. They look tasty.

 

Pig Trail

This hi-way is called “the pig trail”. It’s the road we used to have to take to get to Fayetteville and north Arkansas.  This is showing the fall foliage. When Laura was at the University this was her route. Now, a new route starts at Alma, Arkansas and this treacherous drive is eliminated.

The road was built in the 1930’s under President Roosevelt by the Civilian Conservation Corp. it wasn’t paved until the 1950’s. It’s popular now as a motorbike route because of its scenery. It runs along the Mulberry River. It’s still a dangerous road. 
 

New Book

Yesterday I checked out Philippa Gregory’s new book! It’s about Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn. I couldn’t  help thinking of the Henry’s Hermits song from 1965! Probably before your time.

I'm Henry the eighth, I am

Henry the eighth, I am, I am

I got married to the widow next door

She's been married seven times before

And every one was an Henry 

She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam 

I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry

Henry the eighth, I am

I have read a few chapters. It’s about the traitor of Anne, one of the ladies in her Court. I love this author💚

Rearranging Rocks

I moved my fire pit. It was under my Oak tree and too small as I mainly burn limbs. I fixed a little corner to cook a steak. It’s not pretty as I did not have enough pavers to go around it. I found rocks and completed it. I’ve already thrown limbs in it. Larry would say— poor man has poor ways. I used my old geometry knowledge to make the circle. It was a big job for an old woman. Fire Ants were under every brick. They are vicious. 

Above is my old pit. I had to scoop up and remove the ash pile. I took it to the big ditch because it had nails and screws in with the ash.

 

Baby Blanket

I finished a boy baby blanket. It was continual counting. Not my favorite type. 

 I have two pair of new glasses coming. I have a skinny head. I guess few brains. Glasses are often too wide and slip down my nose. One ear is way lower than the other. I have an deformity of the head.

Ginkgo Tree

💛Ginkgo tree at University of Arkansas for Medical Scienes with Sweet Sigrid Eugenia Marie💛

Why can’t I just enjoy the pretty colors in the leaves without having to know all about a tree? I am obsessed about plants, trees—I want to know more about everything. Sigrid shared the yellow leaved tree with me. It’s a Ginkgo tree. The leaves turn golden in the  fall. it’s called the Maidenhair tree. 

The deep red leaved tree is a Bradford Pear. It’s pretty but an invasive species. Originally introduced for ornamental purposes, it spreads by seed, outcompeting native plants and disrupting ecosystems. The trees have a weak structure that causes them to break easily, and the flowers have an unpleasant odor.  The tree that comes up from the seeds develop huge thorns. 

The third tree is a Sawtooth Oak. It’s a fast growing oak and bears large acorns for wildlife to forage. My two came from Larry’s friend, Tommy Spencer.

My yellow leaved tree is a Maple and the one in the pasture is a sycamore.  The last tree is a Sweetgum. Sycamores, Sweet Gums and Walnut trees aren’t good yard trees.

Bradford Pear

Sawtooth Oak

Sycamore 

Maple

 Sweetgum

Weekend

Ingrid’s reason for coming home before thanksgiving was to attend a big wedding. She and Justin made it back home to Foley, Al. I think it’s an 8 hour drive.

The sisters are much alike in looks, but still different. Ingrid said their expressions are often the same,

These are two brothers they grew up with. The young man by Sig asked her to a dance once. She was mad at him and said no. Two years later she asked him. He remembered and say NO. They really liked each other a lot, but no stopped it all. Now, it’s all past and they are free to care as friends again.

My only Sister came Saturday. She brought T-bone steaks. She left early Sunday because she still works a regular job. She knows me deep, and still she cares for me. She was carrying one of Helen’s old purses and brought me Helen’s old cane. 

We have found a mystery. Our Grandmother Powell may have been married before Grandpa. This article was in the Berryville paper in our county in 1909. I think they really never married. Maybe her father stopped the event. We’re going to check for a marriage license for this month and year—1909 December. In April of 1910, she’s with her parents and it says single. She is still teaching at Blackoak School. She married Grandpa in April 1911. The article is strange as it’s signed a friend! Weird.

Carrion Crow Mountain

I live in Bradley Cove. I am surrounded on east, west, north, and south by Crow Mountain.

Crow Mountain is old but still beautiful!

Trees on a Carrion Crow Mountain are turning many shades of fall. Our Mountain is named Carrion Crow for the black vulture not the Natives. The name may be related to the Indian myth of creation where a carrion crow (Turkey buzzard) carves the land. It’s a plateau mountain with farming all across its top. The area was a winter refuge for Hernando de Soto's expedition in 1541-1542 after a battle with the Tula Indians. The expedition left behind carvings called petroglyphs on our Mountain. It’s debated, but they may have been carved by the clergy who traveled with De Soto. The picture I posted here of a petroglyph panel on Carrion Crow Mountain, Pope County, Arkansas, a site on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

Celebrating Early

 

L to right: Ingrid, Eric, Laura, Sigrid, Astrid

The Christensen’s celebrated Thanksgiving early because Ingie came home to attend a wedding.  They took a few pictures. Logan Roberts missed the photo shoot. He was still on the job working, but he made it in time to eat🧡

Ingrid and Justin

Sigrid and Logan