Or is that ACH!... any way you put it I want this forever headache to be gone. I'm sorry for those of you coming here to see Friday Shoot Out photos... there are none. I'm not up to going through my archives. The bright computer screen... even though I have it dimmed... makes this headache worse.
I thought the toradol injection I received Monday would help... but so far not. I did have my hopes it would Monday afternoon for it eased up a bit. I have an eye exam appointment coming up in a bit more than a week... thinking it could be my eyes causing the headache.
There was good news today... today was the last day of physical therapy. I do have exercises to do at home still.
I'm not sure how long I be a bit quieter. I will post when I can and I will visit your blogs as I can.
~
Grandpa Stubbs was born Benjamin Howard Stubbs 13 June 1882 in Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia and died 24 September 1933 in Ashburn, Turner County, Georgia.
I only know what little Daddy told me of him. Daddy was almost 12 years old when he lost his Daddy to a stroke.
Daddy said that Grandpa Stubbs had a beautiful singing voice. Grandpa had been crippled for several years from a stroke before he died. He was a farmer, so my Daddy and his siblings had to do the farm work. Grandpa Stubbs had told Daddy that he was from 'Up Country'.
Grandpa Stubbs was raised around Senoia Georgia in Coweta County. He was one of ten children of Zachary Taylor Stubbs and Martha (Mattie) Whatley Stubbs. They moved to Turner County Georgia in the early 1900s.
A few years ago my double-first cousin, Clifton Swain left me a sketch of Grandpa Stubbs. The sketch is large, so Frank took a picture of the sketch and this is a scan of the picture.
On 12 September 1910 Grandpa married my Grandma, Leola Ellen Wilson. She was born Leola Ellen Wilson 15 November 1893 in Rochelle, Turner, County, Georgia and she died 05 April 1980 in Ashburn, Turner County, Georgia.
Grandma was raised in Wilcox and Turner counties Georgia one of seven children of William Thomas Wilson and Frances Elizabeth Ryle Wilson.
This is Grandma Stubbs when she was 15 years old.
This is how I mostly remember Grandma Stubbs.
Grandma and Grandpa Stubbs had eleven children together and eight of them made it to adulthood. Grandma Stubbs had a set of twins a few years after Grandpa's death. Rumors abound about her.
Daddy had a love-hate relationship with his mother. She was a hard woman and not one that showed a lot of love. She did have a sense of humor... much like my Daddy passed on to his children and grandchildren. We lean a bit towards sarcasm... one of my nieces calls it being a smarta**. I think she is right :-)
Grandma Stubbs farmed some and then she waitressed to make a living. I don't think she crocheted, but she did make a few quilts.
Grandma Stubbs dipped snuff. She would smell of it and sometimes her clothes were stained from the snuff. She always carried around a small coffee can to spit in.
She could play the organ. She would play Grandma Swain's organ when she came to visit. Mama still has Grandma Swain's organ. I think I forgot to mention the organ when I talked of Grandma Swain. Both would have to have someone else to pump the organ for them... it isn't easy to pump an organ while someone else is sitting at it.
Grandma Stubbs lived in Georgia, then Florida and then Georgia and Florida and so on... she was a traveler. Her religion was fishing. She fished whenever she could. One time she even took a cab to go fishing.
I wish I could say that Grandma Stubbs was the perfect grandma. One that baked something nice just for you when you came to visit or sent birthday and Christmas cards. This was not her though.
~ Audrey of Stage 3! Who, me? chose the subject of Reflections for this week's challenge.
I pulled photos from my archives.
Water is the first thing that came to mind for me with the subject matter. I have enjoyed gazing into a lake and admiring Reflections.
Reflections of Wood Storks
Reflections of Trees
How I love the Reflections of Clouds
Then simply the Reflections of Light
Reflections of light happen other places too. Reflections of Light dance upon the Rust.
Then there are Reflections in Mirrors. I did take this shot today. Nothing great, but I did manage to take a photo :-) This is our truck mirrors. Two mirrors... an inset mirror on the regular truck side mirror.
Then there are Reflections of Thoughts. My Reflections went back to my old walking partner, Annabelle. She passed through the gates of heaven in January of 2007. She was a sweetie that will forever remain in our hearts.
This picture was taken about a month before her death. She looked so tired.
My Reflections go to happier times when Annabelle had energy to play.
When Annabelle had Reflections... of she only knows.
Long ago I wrote a few stories down about her. I called them Annabelle Tales. I never finished her story... not sure I ever will. Go to Annabelle Tales if you would like to read about Annabelle.
~ The past couple of days our weather has been a bit cooler... this morning we tied a record low of 62°. The high was around 90° and the humidity was almost non-existent. We did not turn on the air conditioner until we got back from my physical therapy session in the late afternoon. So it was a pleasant weather day.
It was a joy to open the windows and hear the birds chirping and singing. It was even a pleasure to hear the cicadas.
I am told I am doing well with my physical therapy. I asked Chris if the surgery could be causing these awful headaches I'm having (awful enough for the computer screen to become a blur and make me nauseous). So I haven't made my rounds to all the blogs I read.
Chris said only if I was holding my arm close in... in protective mode... would I get headaches. Unless I'm doing it in my sleep I'm not doing the "protective mode" thingy.
I think it is my neck problems acting up. I'll talk with my orthopaedist on Friday and my family doctor on Monday. Chris did do a few stretches with my neck.. so far no help, but maybe it will be better tomorrow.
Yesterday morning was pleasant too. I took a mile walk while Frank mopped the floors. I had not taken this walk in a few months. Of late I get to the cut-off path and decide I'm just too tired for the last leg of the walk. I did almost do the same thing yesterday.
While on my walk I came upon some Partridge-Peas. They are also known as Showy Partridge Pea. I did not carry a camera... but I checked my archives :-)
The leaves are fern-like and they have a pretty yellow flower that measures about an inch across. In our area it blooms from June on into November.
Partridge-Pea seeds are a valuable food for bobwhite quail in the Southeastern USA. Here in SW Georgia bobwhite quail are raised on some plantations and are hunted by big names such as former Vice President Dick Cheney (he did not shoot anyone while hunting here), Bobby Cox (manager of the Atlanta Braves) and many sports figures, movie stars and businessmen.
The bobwhite quail is gaining presence in the real wild. I often hear them at my parent's old homestead. One time I actually saw a pair. I did not get great photos of them. They are fast birds even when they are not flying!
Seeds of the Partridge-Pea are also eaten by the greater and lesser prairie-chicken, ring-necked pheasant, mallard, brown thrasher, cotton rat, and field mouse.
Rabbit and deer like the foliage.
Partridge-Pea flowers attract bees, butterflies, flies,and many other insects. It is host plant to the Little Yellow, Sleepy Orange, and Cloudless Sulphur butterfly species.
Little Yellow
Cloudless Sulphur
In Georgia and Florida the Partridge-Pea is considered an important honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. It produces nectar only when growing in heavy red clay soil. Nectar is not gathered from the flower. A reddish-brown nectary (honey gland) is present near the base of each compound leaf.
Not a honey bee... I don't think, but a bee :-)
Thank y'all so much for your kind comments. I appreciate them so very much. I hope to have something for the shoot out on Friday.
~ I have talked a bit about my Grandpa Swain and now it is time to talk a bit about Grandma Swain. She was born Annie Hogan 06 December 1888 in Irwinville Georgia. Her parents are John Wesley Hogan and Clora Aurora Porter. Grandma was the eldest of 11 girls and all but one made it to adulthood. She married George William Perry Swain on 15 February 1906.
I wish I had great pictures, but the old pictures have deteriorated. This is Grandma with her hair down. She is wearing a maternity dress.
I remember being a child and watching Grandma sit on her hassock and comb her hair. Her hair was mostly black then with a bit of white. Sitting there on the hassock her hair would almost brush the floor. Grandma slept with her hair plaited into two pigtails. She would carefully unplait her hair and comb through it each morning. If she found a frizzy or broken end she would burn it. She never cut her hair. It was a sin in her eyes to cut her hair. So a match would be lit to take care of the frizzy or broken ends.
Grandma was very religious and attended church whenever she was able. She read her scriptures every morning after dressing for the day and combing her hair. If we were visiting I would sit on the arm of her chair and listen to her as she read the scriptures aloud.
She had little bits of life and death tucked into her bible. She had everyone's birthday written on a piece of paper and tucked in between the pages. Obituaries, engagements and wedding clippings were also tucked inside. A flower sometimes was pressed between the pages. I now have Grandma's bible, but all the little bits placed between the pages are gone. The cover is falling off... it is safely tucked away in an acid-free environment.
Grandma was just a perfect grandma. She always had tea cakes for us when we came to visit. She sent us birthday cards... they always had a dime taped inside. To us a dime was a lot of money. But those dimes did not come off the cards until we were adults. When I graduated high school she sent me a card with a dollar check inside. I still treasure the card.
I was so scared when I went to cash the check... I had never done such a thing before. Mama showed me where to endorse the check and I shyly went to the teller's window and cashed it. I saved the dollar and later in the year the dollar helped me... along with other cash I received as graduation gifts... to purchase a very warm coat off the clearance rack at Penney's. I think the coat was $15. Why did I need a very warm coat in Georgia? Well Frank and I married in August and Frank joined the Army in October. We were going to Virginia where the winters are much colder.
When we visited Grandma as children she would have us roll her crochet string off the cones into balls. Grandma crocheted and tatted. Sometimes she would cut pieces of the string and teach us string tricks... I'm afraid I don't remember how to do them any more... cat's cradle, Jacob's ladder, grandpa chewing tobacco and many others.
She let us look at Grandpa's stereographs. The stereoscope was similar to this one. The stereographs were fun to look at. There were pictures of many places all over the world.
I started genealogy research many years ago. I wish I had started sooner. I could probably have gotten a lot of interesting stories from Grandma.
In my research of the Hogan line I came across the following newspapers article.
The Irwin County Courier IRWINVILLE, GEORGIA, JUNE 10, 1903
Nazery Shot Hogan at Bone Lake
On last Sunday about 2:30, at Bone Pond, four miles west of here Mr. John Hogan, a prominent man of this county, received a painful, if not fatal; pistol shot wound, at the hands of Jake Nazery. This was the culmination of a trouble that has been existing between these parties for about a year. Sometime last fall Mr. Thomas Marshall stole Mr. Hogan’s fourteen year old daughter and started for Irwinville to get married. They were overtaken, however, by Mr. Hogan and his friends and the girl was taken away from young Marshall. Trouble was only prevented then by their friends. Yesterday was their first meeting since then and this old trouble was renewed, when Mr. Hogan and Marshall came to blows. Hogan had Marshall down and was administering a sever beating when Nazery, who was a friend of Marshall, ran up and drew his pistol. Mr. Hogan seeing this, let go of Marshall and knocked down Nazery, who immediately fired upon him. He shot him three times only one bullet hitting him, which struck him in the leg just below the thigh.
Don't you love the way they wrote back then. Grandma is the only girl that fits this age, so this story is of my grandma. Mama tells me that her granddaddy was a large man... over 6 feet tall.
The Hogans owned land that was next to Bone Pond. The land passed through Clora Aurora Porter Hogan's mother, Penelope Ann Prudence (nee Stanley) Porter. Bone Pond is nowadays known as Crystal Lake.
Here is the youngest photo I have of John Wesley Hogan.
I wonder how he managed to survive raising all those girls?
I did not find a marriage certificate in Irwin county for my Grandma and Thomas Marshall. I did find one in nearby Wilcox county dated 19 July 1902. It does not show them as being married. It only showed that they had applied for a license.
I would have loved to have heard what really happened from Grandma.
Here are a few more pictures I have of Grandpa and Grandma Swain.
Taken sometime in the 1940s
On the back of the original photo of the one below was stamped 1947.
As far as I know... Grandma made all her dresses. Sometimes when we went to visit she would be cutting a pattern out newspaper. She would look in a catalog and see a style she liked and would draw the pattern out on newspaper, cut and sew the dress together. It was a talent that I did not inherit :-(
Grandma liked colors of lilac and burgundy. She also liked navy blue. Dressing up meant a hat. There are tables and chairs in the background of the above photo, so it was probably a special occasion or a church social.
A picture of Grandma at one of her birthday celebrations. I want to say it was her 75th birthday, but am not sure.
Frank often catches me looking like this in photos. Where you are in deep thought.... or your mind just wandering.
When we visited and ate a meal with Grandma and our family was the only one visiting I would get to sit on the bench at the table with Grandma. She always said something to me... never ignored me.
I wish I had pictures of the bench and the chairs.... Grandpa made them and they were beautiful.
In the late 1960s all five of us Zees went to visit Grandma. We cooked supper together. Fried chicken was the main dish. While turning a piece of chicken the grease popped onto the tip my finger and burned me. Grandma told me to rub butter on it. I told her that they now said that was not the thing to do. As she crinkled her nose and broke into laughter she said that sticking my finger in my nose would stop the burning too . I told her I would just run my finger under cool water :-)
Frank did get to meet Grandma Swain. She worked her special talent on him. Grandma could rub away warts... and they wouldn't come back. It took a few sessions sometimes, but it always worked. I can still see Frank sitting there and laughing as he talked with Grandma.
Grandma passed away on 04 March 1972. Frank and I lived at Ft. Benning Georgia at the time. We made it to the visitation, but not to the funeral. So I do not know what hymns were sang. Grandma did like the song The Old Rugged Cross and she liked Tennessee Ernie Ford.
~ Thank y'all so much for your prayers. Tish was only kept overnight and is on her way home... about a four hour trip. She said she was sore, but feeling pretty good. Your continued prayers would be appreciated.
I'm sorry I missed the Friday Shoot Out. I have not felt my best this week. It will pass :-)
~ Would y'all please pray for our daughter-in-law, Tish. She will get a defibrillator tomorrow, 16th of July. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
~ This post is for me... just to put my thoughts down.
The past couple of days I've been quiet and my thoughts have wandered... This time to my Grandpa Swain. Grandpa was born George William Perry Swain on 18 February 1881. He went by Perry, but his mail was addressed to G.W. Swain.
I am into genealogy and I have tried to document Grandpa as much as I can. In one census I had a hard time finding him. The transcriber for the index had misread the initials G. W. to something else that I can't remember now. In a census or two before he married Grandma I cannot find him. He was mostly raised by his Aunt Georgia Ann Paul and she too is missing in the censuses in some years. I often wonder if the census taker just did not find them home or they had traveled to Florida or another state.
Grandpa's mother, Martha Jane Womble Swain, is said to have gone crazy and threw Grandpa in the river when he was small. I cannot find what happened to her. There is no obituary, grave or bible record of her that I can find after Grandpa's birth. My cousin checked the area mental hospitals and she was not there either.
Grandpa and Grandma married 15 February 1906. Grandma was born Annie Hogan on 06 December 1888.
This photo was taken in their early years together.
This photo was taken in their later years together.
The latter photo is how I remember my grandparents... yes, Grandpa in his stocking feet. Grandpa was about 6 feet tall and Grandma about 5 feet tall.
They had eleven children together and all but one made it to adulthood.
In August of 1961 Grandpa had had several small strokes and a deadly stroke was soon to follow. It was a hot day, 27 August 1961 and there was no air conditioning in their small home in Rebecca Georgia when the fatal stroke happened. So much of the family was gathered there. The moment he died all the clocks in the house were stopped and there was crying.... I was among those crying. I was ten years old when Grandpa passed away.
I can't remember now if it was the same day or the day before Grandpa passed. My sister and I were by Grandpa's bed with Mama. We talked with Grandpa. Grandpa told me and my sister how pretty we looked in the dresses that Mama had made us. We each got a hug and a kiss from Grandpa.
This is me in my school photo later in the year. I'm wearing the dress Mama made me. My sister's dress was the same but in a pink print. My hair wasn't that reddish and my teacher combed my hair back and not to the side like I normally combed it. School pictures meant you got a new comb which I usually lost within a few days.
I believe it was the night before Grandpa passed away me and my four siblings spent the night at Mama's sister's home, but it could have been earlier. The bedroom was large and several beds were in there. I can't remember now if all five of us were in the one bedroom... it might have been just me, my sister and three girl cousins. It was a hot August night and the windows were open. I don't remember there being a fan. I do remember mosquitoes. I had to keep the sheet pulled up.. hoping to fend off the mosquitoes. There were also fireflies flying around the room. I don't remember sleeping much that night. I do remember the room being lit up with fireflies and swatting mosquitoes... and scratching their bites.
I used to at least have one weird dream a year with my Grandpa in it. We were in an attic... one tall enough to walk upright in, which I know of no one in the family having such an attic. I am a little girl... maybe six or so. I'm playing with dolls all by myself. There is a very large trunk in the attic. It suddenly opens and there is Grandpa! I'm happy to see him. He closes the lid of the trunk and he cradles me in his arms. Then he sits upon the trunk and I sit in his lap and her starts reading a book to me. I have no idea what the book was about.
When I was in my mid twenties the dreams stopped. Now I only think of the dream sometimes... wondering if it had a meaning.
Grandpa had a dome-top steamer trunk. Mama has it now. The trunk in my dream was much larger.and did not have a dome-top. I do remember sitting in Grandpa's lap as child.. but I'm not sure he read to me.
Grandpa was a farmer, barber and cemetery groundskeeper... and probably wore a few other hats. The cemetery back then was mostly sand. Gopher tortoises dug many holes in the cemetery destroying graves. There were some old wooden markers that Grandpa and Daddy would go along and straighten. The wooden markers are gone now and a lot of the graves are lost to time.
When we would visit on a hot summers day we might get taken to the church's baptismal pool that was located in the woods... not far from the river. I remember doing this only once and it was so nice having Grandpa helping me out of the water.
When my mind wanders to Grandpa I often wonder why I can't remember more of him. There is a memory of him drinking his coffee from his saucer. The cup and saucer shook as he pour coffee into the saucer... sometimes clanking together. A memory of driving down Slappey Drive here in Albany. He never heard a road like that... one that produced a clacking sound when driven over. Slappey used to be a concrete road and the seams made the clacking sound when driven over... I've been on some interstates that sound a bit like it. Now the road is tarred and no sound of the clacking.
So I have put my thoughts down. They jump as my thought do all the time. Sometimes the thoughts get so jumbled :-)
I am not depressed or down... I am in a quiet place, a place of peace.
At Grandpa's funeral the preacher from our church sang How Great Thou Art. It was a song that I loved to hear when George Beverly Shea sang it when I was a child watching Billy Graham crusades on tv. Elvis sang this song well and so have many others.
~ I have been awful and have not visited my sister's ebay items lately. Zawanda aka Zee has some beautiful items up for sale right now. I think there is only about a day left on each item.
The first two photos were taken from my archives. The stones were taken with my Sony P-200 pocket camera. The feathers were taken with my Sony f717 slr camera.
The rest of the photos were taken this week with my Sony f717! That means my arm/shoulder is now strong enough to help hold this camera... only for short times. Maybe by the end of the month I will be back up to the Sony A700 dslr.
I know I could have used a tri-pod, but with my arm/shoulder being weak it would take a good deal of effort to set one up and as sweet and loving as Frank is I did not wish to ask him for help... he does so much already. Besides lifting the camera is probably good for my arm/shoulder :-)
Frank did help me with this shoot. He found me lots of texture! A few of them I didn't do well with the camera, so they got cut. I did leave the dead bug in even though I'm not that pleased with it :-)
A collection of STONES that belong to Frank's parents. We have our own collection now, but I forgot about them until this morning.... so I went into the archives. After tumbling they have a smooth, glossy texture.
A couple of Northern Cardinal Feathers.... soft and fluffy.
The rough texture of the back of a Window Air Conditioner.
The new leaf of an Elephant Ear Plant. The top part was just uncurling and the bottom part had uncurled. The texture and color is different from each other.
The Trunk of a Pecan Tree that is well over a hundred years old. The texture has such character. I wish I could have climbed a ladder to get a different angle, but that wasn't going to happen that day. Maybe in the future I will be able to climb a ladder and get what I really wanted to take a photo of.
A Canvas Cover that covers the burn barrel when not in use.
Wheat
A Rusty Vise. I love the look of old and rusty items.
Rough Sand Paper
Paint Brush.. I like the wood texture also.
Here is the poor dead Cicada. I just could not get this picture to happen the way I pictured it in my mind :-( _ If I didn't get it too light for your monitor you should be able to see some ridges within the wings.
This one did not come out the way I wished either. A Monkey Hologram. He is cute anyway :-)
A Teddy Bear I made many years ago. He is soft.... umm and dusty.
Our Silky Flag with Embroidered Star.
If you would like to join in go to Friday My Town Shoot Outfor more information and a list of participants.
I've been married (to the same man) since I was 18 years old. (we were married in 1969.. I'll let you do the math)
We have a daughter and a son. We will only have grandchildren if a miracle happens. Its alright if that miracle never happens.. we have grandnieces and grandnephews to play with ever once in a while.
Update: Miracles do happen! We now have a grandson and granddaughter. They are not by blood, but they are our grandchildren and never will be referred to as step-grandchildren. Update: We now have two more granddaughters. We are truely blessed!
We spent 20 years in the US Army. I say "we" because when a spouse in the service of their country their whole family is along for the ride.
I worked in retail until my back got the best of me. Now I enjoy the company of my husband. We travel when we can.
I crocheted up until a few years ago. I mostly did toys with an afghan or two thrown in. Update: I am now crocheting again! Sometimes I do a bit of embroidery.
I used to garden in the flower beds, but now I garden in flower pots. There are a few perennials in the yard that I water and dead-head... I do miss digging in the garden.
I still like to cook a little... just a little. You can find some of my recipes here.
