Just Like a Man!!

A cousin, distant though she is, has been after me for quite some time to write another book. 

And so, I finally got started.

I wrote and I wrote and I wrote ......with the intention of using kdpAmazon (publish on Kindle, first) then turn it into a print book.

I was familiar with MS Word ....I knew everything I should do.....or so I thought.

The things I didn't know, I researched and found out how to do it, how to fix it, how to redo it!

I even created my own cover and copyright page and Acknowledgments and Table of Contents. I fought with the adding a page number to the first story.........but not to the Acknowledgments. Thought I'd never get that figured out and fixed. And then I added a blank page, and well, that just about screwed up the whole darned thing!

And, oh my goodness, trying to get the page numbers to align ....perfectly....to the right. That was something else.

Came the time to upload said manuscript to kdpAmazon and to review my "work of art." First thing I noticed was ....."you have seven errors."  What!  How in the world? This thing was just about perfect (that's why beauty is in the "eye of the beholder.")

I went to the "Preview your work"....and first thing I noticed was that those perfectly aligned page numbers weren't in any line at all!  They were all over the place. 

And then, I started checking out my seven errors. Mercy! 

About that time, I found a phone number and made a call to a very nice young man at CreateSpace (they're a book publishing company that let's one publish their own books).

He suggested I sign up for a CreateSpace account (which I already had) and read the instructions.

Let me just say.......I now know how a man feels when they've put something together the wrong way.....and have to start over!

"Tales from the Porch" is back on the drawing board....and it's being reworked. I think this might be what daddy used to mean when he'd say.....
"I think you better lick that cow over again!"

An Author and her books......is a real delight....

in Delight, Arkansas, that is!!

On September 30, my friend Mary Cooke (who writes as Mary Lou Cheatham) will be at the Delight Music Festival Super Signing with many other authors.

Delight, the hometown of Music Legend Glen Campbell (who passed away recently) is a small town in southwest Arkansas (population less that 300) near Murfreesboro and the Crater of Diamonds State Park.....where you can go dig for diamonds!!

This is the third annual Super Signing at the Delight Music Fest and it is being sponsored by the Delight Branch Library. Writers from Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas will be at the signing, with their books. 

Mary Lou will have 'Secret Promise,' 'The Dream Bucket,' 'Manuela Blayne,'  'Miss Loretta Larson,' as well as 'Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek,' the novel that she invited me to coauthor with her. Mary Lou's books are based on the area in which I now live and where she grew up in and around a town called Taylorsburg.

If you happen to be in Arkansas this weekend - I'm sure Mary Lou would love to see a friendly, familiar face. What a delightful way to spend a weekend - in Delight, AR!

Mary Lou's writings can also be found on either of her blogs: https://maryloucheathamauthor.blogspot.com/ or https://collardpatch.blogspot.com/

When You Think You've Seen Everything.....

We are at a lovely RV Park in Arlington, TX.....one with lots of shade trees.

And, just like in Emporia, we were sitting at the table this morning, and thank goodness I was facing the right direction. Of course, either direction provided a view....but my view turned out to be the most interesting.

There is a small travel trailer parked next to us with a young couple who had been in and out the trailer door at least a dozen times (and so had their dog.)

They busy themselves around the outside of the trailer - back and forth to their pickup. I look up, occasionally, and see them. Then.....

Suddenly the young man goes to the back of the trailer, and opens a small window. (I'm assuming it's the bedroom.) He puts a bucket under the window, but he DOES NOT turn it upside down. At this point, I'm really paying attention!

He tries to step on the top of the bucket (yes, the opening) and his foot slips in. Not to be deterred, he does it again and successfully stands on the rim of the top of the bucket....without turning the bucket over and without his foot slipping in, again. (That, to me, is a major feat.)  He opens the small window and he, with a modicum of effort, climbs in the small window.

The young woman stands outside... by the door to the trailer and keeps yelling, "open the door, open the door."  (Our window isn't open but she's talking loudly enough I can hear.)

He looks out the window and says something back to her. She picks up a dog food bowl that is sitting outside, near the front door, and takes it back to the window and he reaches out and gets the bowl.

She then asks....."Are you coming back out?" I don't know what he said, but he did come back out.

The same way he went in!

Yep, he did.....he climbed back out the window.....just like it was the right thing to do.

Just when you think you've seen everything..............(and they got in their pickup and drove away.)

There's Always A Story.......

Okay, we are in an RV Park in Emporia, KS .....at the last exit before we have to get on the Turnpike. It's the same park where we stopped, in the Spring, It's where we saw "The Bounty Hunter" (no, not the REAL Bounty Hunter.)
We're sitting, with laptops on the table, looking out the window at the comings and going (there's not much). A SUV enters the campground - not pulling a camper - and drives around several times. Perhaps they are searching for someone.
Finally, it (SUV) backs into a spot across and down from us, and a woman gets out. Soon after she backs in several work trucks pull in and begin to park at campers already in spots.
Maybe she's with one of them.She gets a pink baby stroller out of the car but we're unable to see her put the baby in the stroller. Off she goes, taking the stroller and the baby, for a walk.......but she doesn't stop at any of the campers. Okay, now this has become a mystery. Why.....is a woman with a baby.....and no camper....backed into a spot in an RV campground.
It's probably time for us to do our nightly exercise. What? You didn't know we took nightly walks. Sometimes, they are just necessary. No, I'm not nosey. I'm a writer! This just may be a story. And, of course, we walk in the direction where we'll just HAVE to meet her!
Here she comes. "May we see your baby?" we ask. It's not a baby! It's a two-year-old cat in the pink baby stroller.
She has driven, cross country, from Georgia to California......to "sew with a friend" and she's on her way back home. She sleeps, in her car or in a pup tent, and her cat travels with her. She oftens sleeps.....in Roadside Parks. Hmmm, not me.
And then, we heard the story about the trip she took to Pennsylvania and the accident and how the cat got lost. Okay, it was now time to have a reason to go back into our RV!
I think we need to make regular trips to this RV Park.......there's always a story......

A Meal Without Meat.......

We southerners don't care for "sweet cornbread" .....that's a northern thing. The only exception to that, as far as I was concerned, was when I was still consulting. I had a client in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and we would often go out to eat at a local restaurant. A favorite appetizer was Cornbread served in a small black skillet with a sweet honey topping and it was oh, so good!!

I awoke one morning hungry for a southern meal of veggies and cornbread. And even though I once had a boss who would say "a meal without meat is a meal incomplete"......I don't have to have meat, and I often don't.

Early one morning, while fixing my breakfast, I put a pot of Purple Hull Peas on to cook......and the aroma of those peas permeated the house and brought back memories of my Granny's kitchen and the wonderful meals that filled the dinner table and our bellies.

I knew that just peas and cornbread wouldn't be enough to satisfy this hunger, so I began to think about cooking a small pot of butterbeans and making a Corn Casserole 

An online Facebook group to which I belong had recently posted a recipe that included a box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix, two cans of Cream Style Corn, one egg and a stick of melted butter. I mixed and baked as directed and it was absolutely delicious!

My peas, butterbeans, corn casserole and cornbread and a glass of sweet ice tea.....made my day complete!!  (A perfect southern meal.)

A Man Worth Remembering.....

Celebrating Dick Peterson and others like him on this Memorial Day.....

He fought in WWII and he'll be 100 on August 10th..........Dick Peterson is definitely a man worth remembering. After interviewing him earlier this year, I wrote the following article for my "From the Front Porch" column, in our Taylorsville Post.

He was born in Broadland, SD in August, 1917 and just 4 months later his mother died during the Spanish Flu Epidemic. His father made the decision for his Aunt Clara (his father’s youngest sister) to take him and his two older sisters. The aunt, who later learned she was expecting a baby, decided it would be in the best interest of everyone if she kept his sisters, and he went to live with her sister, Mathilda. On April Fool’s Day in 1919 – when he was almost 8 months old, he went to live with Aunt Tillie and Uncle John who had two grown daughters.

He remembered that he always called her Aunt Tillie – never mom – even though she had taken him in when he was just a baby. Aunt Tillie wasn’t warm and loving, but she and Uncle John provided a good life.

His father remarried and had another family and he saw him only a few times during his growing up years.

Richard “Dick” Peterson will be 100 years old on August 10, 2017. His wife, Phyllis, with whom he’d been married 72 years passed away in December 2013. She had been his high school sweetheart……a Freshman when he’d been a Senior. He graduated and went to Iowa State University but continued to date Phyllis. In his words, “she was the pick of the litter and so was I.”

Dick is busy. He lives alone in a townhouse in Johnston, Iowa where he still drives. He was President of the Men’s Garden Club for 10 years and his yard is immaculate and beautiful, and he’s the one who does the planting and maintenance! The Gazebo in the Garden Clubs of America park was built, in his honor, and has a plaque with his name.

Dick is a wiry little man with a wonderful sense of humor even though he has Macular Degeneration and receives injections in his eyes. His townhouse has a basement and he amazed me with his agility as he hurried down the carpeted stairs. (He arrived at the bottom and I had barely begun my descent.)

I had gone to visit with him and to see his WWII "Memorabilia Room" - but I received a tour of his home and saw so much more. In his finished basement was a very neat room with a work bench and tools. In another room under lights, with timers, were plants that he was "wintering" and awaiting the coming of Spring so he could plant them in his beds. My favorite room held a table with notebooks of Family Data and hundreds of pages, typed by one of his sons, of "Richard's Ramblings" and his poetry. The walls held family photos .....of him with Aunt Tillie's family, of his father and his family, and the only photo that he had of his mother.

Dick and Phyllis got married in August, 1940 and in August, 1941 he was “ordered” to active duty at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. He had received his Commission at Iowa State as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers Reserve.

Just as we all remember “where we were” when historical events happened, in the world…..Dick remembers that he and Phyllis were in St. Louis, MO at the movies when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Dick was at Normandy, and on Omaha Beach, and on Utah Beach. I want to know what valiant effort was recognized by the Bronze Medal he received. I want to know more about the WWII Memorabilia Room…..and I hope I’m here to help celebrate number 100….in August!!

Dick Peterson…..a man worth remembering!

Probed and Investigated

There are so many Telemarketers these days....I don't usually answer the phone if the number doesn't look familiar. However, having said that.....my son-in-law is in Alabama for a meeting and this was an Alabama number calling....so I did.

I KNEW it was a Telemarketer as soon as I said "Hello"...because there was a delay.

After a couple of "hellos" (I shoulda' hung up), he said..."May I speak to Sarah Gorrell"...and I said...."What is this about?"

He said...."This is a Probe and an Investigation."

"Well"....thought I....."this could be good. It might even be the makings for a story or even some good gossip...depending on who the Probe and Investigation is about."

And, if it 'twas about me...I certainly wanted to know why I was being Investigated...and no darned body is going to "Probe" me without my knowledge.

So, I says...."How can I help you?"

And, this foreign voice says...."we notice you won a prize and we noticed that you are just now claiming it"

Now, I know how people in Alabama sound (just like me). I know they've had immigrants flood their southern state...but I just doubted one was doing a "Probe and Investigation" on me and I doubted I'd won a prize....'cause I knew I wasn't trying to claim anything!

I hung up.  I'm so glad I finally learned how to block numbers on this Smart Phone!!!

Happy to report...I'm not being "probed."

"Under dressed"

I’m not sure how long her white hair was -  she had it piled (I assume) atop her head under the “spiffy” little beige beret type hat, that had a short little bill. On the back, she had placed a rather large white silk flower that was edged in pink. I’m assuming it was to help keep her hat and hair, in place.

She wore some fancy black “jeggings” (she really needed a longer top to cover her fanny), but the jeggings had pockets that were adorned with jewels. I think she wanted those pockets to show and she was tiny so it really didn’t seem to matter.

Sticking out from under the jeggings, on her feet, were sheer black panty hose which she had encased in beige high heeled shoes. On top, covering her black top, she wore a short beige sweater that was trimmed in fur. Was it real fur? I'm no expert!

Her cheeks were deeply rouged in pink blush and when I got closer I noticed that when she painted her lips (with the same pink color) she didn’t quite stay within her lip lines. Her eyes were covered with huge black-rimmed sunglasses that had an amber tint.

The “writer” in me knew this was a story, so I had to speak to her! I commented on how pretty she looked (I was really stretching it a bit), and I asked if she was on her way to a party. She replied….”No, I had a coffee party this morning.” I realized that either her husband hadn’t gone…..or he wasn’t as “clothes conscious” as she was. In fact, in my mind, they were sort of a “mis-match.” However, she did tell me they’d “been together” 45 years!

Later, as we sat there waiting for our clothes to finish (we had gone to a Laundromat) the young man who owned the place stopped and said….”Isn’t this a great place to people watch?” I responded with….”You mean like that couple?” (as I motioned toward the older couple). He replied…….”She always dresses like she’s in a pageant.”

It was the first time I’d had someone make me feel “underdressed” at a Laundromat!
#jeggings #laundromat #peoplewatching 

It was more than just a tree.......

By the old house – the house that we call “Granny’s House” – even though my parents also lived there after Granny passed away, stood an old Water Oak Tree.  Several years ago, on a very stormy and windy night lightning struck the old tree and several of the huge limbs fell across our driveway.

Joey Robinson, sweet neighbor that he was, came with his chain saw in the middle of the raging storm and cut the big limbs, and daughter Gale and I helped get the driveway cleared. Normally, the branches could have stayed until daylight but husband Bob had recently been diagnosed with cancer and we never knew if, or when, we’d be making a trip to the ER.

Later, Bob wanted to cut the rest of the tree down, but I begged (on behalf of the tree) to “let’s see if it will continue living.”  And continue living, it did!

We all know that everything is “in God’s time”….and I think God must have decided that the old Water Oak had lived long enough.

                                                                                                                                                             

During a recent storm, I’m not sure if lightning struck again or if the heavy winds took their toll, but most of the rest of the old tree fell. Once again, it was across the driveway. This time, there was no saving what was left. My son-in-law, Dan, cleared the driveway and cut down most of the remainder of the old tree.  

I’m sorry I wasn’t there to say goodbye, to a memory. Once, when the Southern Pine “Today” newspaper published instructions on how to measure a tree to find the age – granddaughter Olivia and I went through the steps. The old tree was at least 110 years old. I knew it HAD to be old – I’m over ¾ of a century and it had been standing there for as long as I could remember.

If the old tree could have talked, the stories I’m sure it would have told! Many children – grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews and friends had played under that old tree. We dug in the dirt with spoons and made pies in dishes (that Granny let us have). We used it as a hiding place while cousins searched for us. We sat under it in the heat of summer. 

Mistletoe grew in the top of the old tree and squirrels chased up and down the trunk .into the holes they had begun to call home. The acorns that fell from the limbs were tiny but plentiful and covered the ground, like fine carpet, that crunched under one’s feet.

It was more than just a tree – it was a part of my childhood and of my adult memories and when I sit, on my Front Porch, I’ll miss that old tree with its big roots. I’ll miss the sight of the mistletoe, in the winter. It was the only tree, in my yard, with that parasite.

I’ll remember, so many years ago, little cousins digging in the dirt under that old tree. I’ll remember that cousins shared secrets, under the old tree. I’ll remember that pictures were taken under the old tree. I’ll remember that the old tree with it’s branches and leaves shaded so many family members over the years. I’ll wonder how many stories it had stored in its limbs and branches.

It was more than just a tree.....and I'm sorry I never took a photograph of the tree that was a part of my family history.

It's a Freebie!!!

Ever so often.....we (Mary Cooke and I) get in a "giving" mood.

Mary - who writes as Mary Lou Cheatham called and asked me....."how do you feel about giving something away?" She caught me on a day when I was in a Benevolent Mood! I asked, "what do you have in mind?"  And she said....."let's create some interest in our book.....let's give away some Kindle downloads of Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek!"

"We really need to get people to write reviews," said Mary Lou "and .....well.....they have to read it first!"

So, it was said and so it was decided.....

We'd do a giveaway.....

People like to get "something for nothing"  ....and when that "something" is a good book,,,,,like Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek........it brings a smile to so many faces.

So, from today through Thursday (3/20 - 3/23)....download to your Kindle. Did you know you can also download a FREE Kindle app to your laptop ....or your iPad.

Download Free Book to your Kindle.....or the App on your Laptop or iPad.

We ask that you leave a review, on Amazon, after reading our book.
You don't have to write much....just "I liked it"...."I didn't like it"  ....or more if you have more to say.

We are judged by the NUMBER of reviews...so please, please, please....after you've read it....write something!!

You Were Family

Strange how the death of someone, not in our immediate family, can affect us.

Charlie wasn't in my family - not really - but in a sense, he was. He was married to a distant cousin and he was the youngest brother of an uncle. I know that seems strange. If he was my uncle's brother....why wasn't he related? Uncle James was married to Aunt Alice....my dad's sister. Charlie was a brother to Uncle James.

They were both Methodist ministers and were both the sons of a Methodist minister. 

Our Walker family was close. Aunt Alice and Uncle James were like a second set of parents to me. Their 3 kids were like brothers and sisters to me. So, Uncle James and Charlie's parents were always called "Grandpa and Granny Nick," by me. And Uncle James brothers and sisters included me, as if I was family.

Of the seven children in their family (Grandpa and Granny Nick) five had Alzheimer's! Today, Charlie, the youngest son "finished his journey" here on earth. 

I have to explain that a cousin, by marriage on another side of the house, uses this term for someone dying....and I think it's beautiful. So, I've also begun to use the term "finished his journey" to explain when someone dies. Thank you Dora Hawkins Blakeney!!

Charlie was the last person with whom my husband, Bob, played golf before Bob was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. I hope there are golf clubs, in heaven, and they get to play another round!

Alzheimer's confuses me. We've always heard that keeping the mind active will help to prevent Alzheimer's Disease. However, some of the people who have been affected by this debilitating disease are those who have had the most active minds. Charlie was one of those people. He was a District Superintendent, in the Methodist Church. He had served at many churches and knew his Bible from front to back. Why, then, would he be affected? 

He and Dimple, who was a distant cousin, on my Walker side of the family had been married almost 60 years. They were a beautiful couple and they had a beautiful family. 

I lost a husband, so I can imagine exactly how Dimple feels, tonight. You've suddenly become conflicted. You're so thankful that your loved one is no longer suffering.....but now, you suffer because that part of you is gone. 

Alzheimer's has often been called "the long goodbye".....because suddenly that loved one looks at us with eyes of wonder. Who are you? Who am I?

Charlie (called Nick, by many) will be missed by so many people. People within his family. People to whom he ministered. People in his churches. People.

I grieve for those of us who will miss him....but most of all....I grieve for Dimple. I know how it's going to be. Her family will be there for her.....but she'll still feel alone. Because a part of her is now missing.

RIP, Charlie.....you made a difference in so many lives. You weren't family.....but you were!!

If you've not had an opportunity to read the latest book in 'The Covington Chronicles' ......co-authors Mary Lou Cheatham and Sarah Walker Gorrell encourage you to do so.

Both writers are extremely happy that awesomegang.com is featuring our book, today.

Remember, it's available on Amazon.com in either print or for download to your Kindle.
#travelersinpaintedwagonsoncohaycreek  #kindle  #awesomegang.com  #gypsies