I'm Late For Important Dates.... Life :-)

I missed my brother-in-law's, Rich's, birthday on the 12th.... Happy Belated Birthday, Rich! I missed the wedding anniversary of my niece Marcy and her husband Ralph on the 21rst... Happy Belated Anniversary wishes to a wonderful couple. I missed my nephew Jared's birthday on the 24th.... Happy Belated Birthday, Jared! I'm early in wishing Tom, Frank's brother, a Happy Birthday tomorrow :-)... Happy Birthday Tom!

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Life.... :-)

We visited our daughter last week. We left on Saturday the 19th and stayed at F. D. Roosevelt State Park that night. It came down a heavy downpour right as we neared the park. Fortunately it was only a light rain during setup of our travel trailer.... leveling, hooking up water and electricity. We managed to get in a walk and a shower between rain showers. It rained hard most of the night.

Sunday morning the rain let up and we were able to break camp and head towards Woodstock Georgia where our daughter lives. We were in more rain showers. It was misting rain when we set up the trailer at Victoria Campground, Allatoona Lake, Georgia. It rained hard most of Sunday night.

Monday we decided to go visit Sonja and not bring her back to camp being there was so much rain. We called her to tell her that we were on our way. She told us bad news... her dog Otis, a Boston Terrier, had died that morning and she needed to make arrangements. Sonja had Otis since he was a few weeks old, he turned eleven people years last April.

We picked Sonja up and took her to Arby's for lunch. Not that she felt much like eating, but it got her away from her apartment for a while. It poured rain while we were in Arby's. We stayed there for over an hour because of the rain. Then we went into Wal Mart.... it was still raining. We walked around for a while and left... it was still raining.

By now there are reports of a lot of flooding. We asked Sonja the best way to get back to the campground without having to cross a flooded area. She told us and we took that route back to camp. A tree had fallen over the road, but it was quickly cleared away. It rained hard most of Monday night.

Tuesday we stayed in camp. It was cloudy most of the day. One of the campground host said it had rain seventeen and a half inches of rain at the campground... but we don't know how many days that covered. We think three.

Part of the campground was flooded. This picnic table eventually went out of sight into the water.

This camp site is under water. The road I was standing on eventually had water over it.

Some of the interstates and main highways were closed at one time. There were deaths. This was a flood much like what we had here in Albany in 1994... they call them 500 year floods. It takes a while to heal from such flooding.

Tuesday was mostly cloudy. Wednesday it started clearing. We brought Sonja back to the camp site and had a nice visit.

Thursday and Friday we visited more. There were reports that heavy rain might come again by Saturday evening. We decided to come home a day early. Just in case major highways were to be closed again.

Our timing was awful for this trip. We were on edge a lot. We did enjoy our visit with Sonja and her boyfriend, Bryan... and their dog, Houdini. I'll show you pictures of Houdini another time.

Sonja still has not found employment. Could you please keep her in your prayers.

I'll try reading your blogs over the next few days.

Happy Birthday...

... To Me :-)

Thank y'all for your kind words, good wishes and prayers. I still have the headache. It is less severe if I forgo the computer. So I still am not able to visit each of your blogs.

My mother tells me it was extremely hot when I was born. The hospital was but a house made into a hospital. There was no air conditioning.... just a metal fan blowing the hot air around. Mama's kidneys failed. At one time my Daddy was told that Mama and I were dead. I often wonder how that mix-up happened. Somehow Mama and me survived. I became number four of 5 Zs :-)

August's flower is the gladiola.



The gladiola is one of those rare plants that is most commonly referred to by a variant of its botanical/Latin name gladiolus.

The common names for the gladiola are glad, corn-flag, corn iris, and sword-lily. The term corn-flag and corn iris refer to the fact that they are unwelcome pests in corn and grain fields. The name sword-lily is a reference to their Latin name.

The Latin term gladiolus is rich in meaning. The Roman sword was a gladius and a diminutive sword was a gladiolus. Linnaeus is attributed with naming the gladiolus and it is suggested that he borrowed from Pliny’s writings which referred to the plant’s sword-shaped leaves. The same word is the root for the word gladiator who was a soldier who “lived or died by the sword.” It seems natural that a plant that shares its name with warriors would be a symbol for ‘strength of character.’

Like many flowers that figure in Greek mythology, the gladiola is said to have sprung up from the blood of a person who died violently. When Hyacinthus was killed by Apollo’s reckless discus toss, Ovid said that the flowers that sprang up from his body were hyacinths. However, some argue that Ovid was wrong and that the blossoms were actually gladiolas.

The gladiola represents strength of character, sincerity, and generosity.

Thanks to Mildred at Nalley Valley I will have more glads next year.

I plan on having a nice quiet birthday at home.... doing laundry. A nice chicken soup is for dinner. I have such a great sweetheart.

One Last Birthday for March - Faithful Fridays With Joy

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March is one of our family's busiest months for birthdays. Today is Sonja's birthday. I cannot believe she is 39 years old... it seems like only yesterday that I gave birth to her.

Sonja doesn't want me posting pictures of her, so I will respect her wishes.
Sonja is the oldest of our two children.

Sonja was quick to learn to talk. She had a wide vocabulary by time she was one year old. She writes wonderful stories and poems. She always made good grades in school and took honor classes.

She is a great fisherwoman, but hates to eat fish. When she was little she used to love to eat fish. When we went into Burger King she would order a fish sandwich... never a hamburger. Then for some reason she not only decided she hated fish, but her brother did too. Many of her dates with one of her boyfriend in high school was fishing at Lake Chesdin.

When she was about five years old she loved to draw on her wall. I finally got her to draw on paper bags. One time she drew a tarantula. Frank was in his 'I cannot stand spider stage' and didn't appreciate that drawing hanging on the fridge. There was a year or so that she refused to wear any color but purple. Good thing I liked purple :-)

Sonja has a compassion for children and those that have the mind of a child. She has a love for the elderly too. Sonja is a 'people person'. She has her shy moments though. Sonja is a lover of animals and has two Boston Terriers, Otis and Stella. She used to have three (the offspring of the other two), but Lucy became sick and died.

Sonja and I have butted heads over the years, especially in her teen years... which I guess has happened with many other mothers and their children. We have had good times together too. We had fun hiking on trails... one time having a foot race on a trail. We worked on many school and church projects together that were fun.

We worked together for a while at the Family Dollar Store I worked at in Virginia. The manager of the store was having the same problem I had when I moved down here (see Color - My Employment) of not finding good employees. Both my children worked with me for a while. The district manager said that was too much family in one store, so Sonja was transferred to one of the stores in Richmond. The district manager always praised to me of Sonja's work ethic. Of course that made me proud of her.

When we moved from Virginia to Georgia Sonja stayed in the Richmond area where she worked at a respite camp. Later on she moved to Sharon Pennsylvania where she worked as a nurse's aide in a nursing home. Then she made the decision to move to the Albany Georgia area. She worked in a couple of different nursing homes here and just finally burned out. Then she moved to the Canton / Woodstock Georgia area where she worked in a veterinarian's office for a while... again she burned out. She just becomes too involved with her patients.. whether human or dog or cat.

Sonja still cannot find a job. The economy just seems to get worse and worse here in Georgia. Not too many days go by that you don't hear of a store or a plant closing.

Sonja was a wonderful child for the most part ;-) and she is a wonderful woman. Happy Birthday Sonja!

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Please join me and others for Faithful Fridays With Joy. Just click on the button below to go to Joy's (Doodlebug) post.

My prayers have been answered many times while I have raised my daughter. Being a mother does not end when your child leaves home. There is still guidance needed. There are still times to console. I pray often to have the right words to say to my daughter and do the right things for her. HE has walked beside me every step of the way and sometimes has carried me through rough times. I will admit that there have been times that I have ignored HIM and made mistakes. You would think after the first time of not listening that I would learn... but I am still a child of God and like a child I sometimes make the same mistakes over and over. I am forgiven each time by my Heavenly Father for my mistakes. I am not always as forgiving with my own daughter.

I am thankful that I was entrusted with such a great soul as my daughter to raise and to love.

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Of all the haunting moments of motherhood, few rank with hearing your own words come out of your daughter's mouth. -- Victoria Secunda

Another Birthday - Pictures

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Today we went over to Frank's sister's home to celebrate Mrs. Goff's birthday. When people call me Mrs. Goff I look around for my mother-in-law :-D Her birthday is on the 17th and she will be 81 years young. Mrs. Goff is still going full steam. Today she played on the floor with her three great-grandchildren.

I'm glad that Frank felt like going. It meant I didn't have to cook. Frank's sister & her sister-in-law made kabobs and fried rice. I can't make fried rice like Nette does. She told me that later in the week that she is going to make a batch up just for Frank and me. I think now we will have an exchange going of her fried rice and our fudge :-D I can't call it my fudge any more... Frank does most of the work in making it.

Today it is about 60°, cloudy and damp. There is a light mist out and just cold enough for it to soak all the way to the bone. Rain is coming later.

We have lots of yellow and gray pollen about. Our car is covered in it. I need to hose it down or better yet.. run it through a car wash.

I have a few pictures for y'all. They are best viewed larger, so right click on a picture to open link in a new window or tab.

This isn't the greatest picture, but I like how it shows the bee's wings. You can see right through them... so delicate.





The bees that I saw were male. They all had white or yellow on the face. They don't sting, but they sure do buzz around a lot like they had a stinger. The females don't have a marking on their face and they do sting.

The bees are carpenter bees. The females bore into wood to make their nest. They like the azaleas. They go inside the blossoms, but like the sweet nectar around the base of the blossoms best.




We don't have much grass growing right now, but we do have plenty of weeds/wild flowers... depending on your point of view :-D

I think this is Creeping Woodsorrel. The blooms are such a bright yellow. The little dots you see is pollen.



I think this is Narrowleaf (Garden) Vetch. We have a good bit of it in the yard.



The Dogwood Trees are looking beautiful. I wish Frank felt like going for a ride in the countryside. This time of year dogwood and redbud trees dot wooded areas and it is so beautiful to see. Both trees are beautiful in yards, but I really like to see them in the woods.



When after the Winter alarmin',
The Spring steps in so charmin',
So fresh and arch
In the middle of March,
Wid her hand St. Patrick's arm on...
-- Alfred Percival Graves

Brother's Birthday

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Today my brother, Zarone, celebrates another birthday. I live in Albany Georgia and he lives in Spanaway Washington. We live so far apart, yet share a special bond. He is 17 months older than me. He guided me through my hard teen years. I was awkward and shy and had a hard time with homework.

I don't think anyone could ask for a better brother. When we were children he made up games for us to play. He could take a piece of cardboard and create a board game in no time at all. He always spent time with me and my sister. Sometimes that time was spent beating our dolls up, but you know how brothers can be.

Sometimes when we were children we fought and argued. Mama discovered that the worst punishment for me was to sit us opposite each other. I could not look at my brother without laughing. Him grinning or wiggling his ears didn't help.

I can remember being about four years old rocking in a chair with him in front of the warm fireplace. It was such a comfortable feeling.

Here is a picture of Zarone and me taken last June when Frank I went on our long vacation. You can see why I had such a hard time sitting opposite him :-)


Zarone and I shared a bed when we were very small and even a bathtub. We've sat side-by-side many a time.... sometimes giving each other's arm a hard nudge after whatever shot that was they gave us in school. We've laughed together and cried together. We are more than siblings... we are a brother and a sister.

Happy Birthday Zarone!

In case you missed the story of our names; go here.

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Update on Frank --

Yesterday the doctor 'milked' the drain tube and fluid is flowing again. So a good thing the doctor left the drain in. The doctor showed me how to 'milk' the drain. I wish my hands were 20 years younger... they worked a lot better back then. Poor Frank today. The tube gets taped to his body to keep the bulb from pulling on the stitch that hold the tube in Frank's body. Today I needed to change that tape. My hands would not work today. I spilled the solution that I used to clean around the tube at Frank's body..... not once, but twice. I could barely cut the tape. He has to lie on the bed for me to do change this out... which entails removing the old tape... a lot of tape. A piece of gauze tape is placed on his body. Then I have to butterfly a piece of tape around the tube and stick that to the tape on his body.... more tape holding the butterfly on to the other tape... sounds easy, but not for me. It is torture for him to lie on the bed. We are hoping that the drain comes out next Tuesday.

My Mama told me a few weeks ago that hoping is just a another word for praying. I think she is right.

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I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. -- Maya Angelou