Horsey Girl

Last week my friend, Pam, asked me if Savannah liked horses. I told her she LOVES horses. Her favorite gift last Christmas was the Barbie-sized horse she got from Santa. Pam said she knew a woman whose daughter had collected horses as a young girl, but had outgrown them. She gave them to Pam because her granddaughter is very into horses...and riding. But she, too, is a little too old for them. So Pam thought Savannah would like to have them.

We brought the grand kids home with us after Thanksgiving dinner with the Yorks and they were going to spend the night so mommy and daddy could get up at 0 dark thirty for the Black Friday sales event (not this Nanny!). So I told Savannah about this girls' horse collection and how it came to be passed down to her. She was thrilled!! As she looked into the bag and brought out horse after horse...after horse (there were 12 of them), her face lit up and her eyes glowed like it was Christmas morning.

When it came time to go to bed, she asked if she could sleep with one of them. Since we share a bed when they stay over, I told her it was okay as long as he didn't kick as much in his sleep as she does in hers. Later, when I went to go to bed, this is what I found. Not only was Mr. horse on my side of the bed...she had him covered up to his neck. Seeing a horse head in my bed cracked me up and all I could think of was the Godfather movie. Have I done something to dishonor the Corleone family??

Remembering Aunt Leona

Most of you reading this know by now that we lost our Aunt Leona last week. Many of you may have aunts or uncles that you are particularly close to, but this lady was a very big and very special part of my life. If you were blessed enough to be raised in a traditional household, you had parents that were there for every important day and event in your life. You kinda expect that -- may even take it for granted. Since Aunt Leona never married and had a family of her own (she always said she wasn't an old maid -- she was an unclaimed treasure), we didn't have to share her time and affection with anyone else. So she, too, was there for every big and little part of my life.

She was there, of course, when I was born. And she had funny stories that she told and retold about when she babysat my older sister and me when my younger brother was born. Most of the stories cast a light on me as being the instigator of some sort of mischief...but I guess all was forgiven because she laughed every time she told the stories.

As I said, she was always there. And not just there...but involved and enjoying. I can clearly remember her being at my confirmation, attending graduations, and my wedding. Even after we moved to Georgia, she visited often and so she was here for Jodi and Jeremy's wedding as well as the birth of our first grandchild.

She always liked to stay busy, travel, visit, see new places, etc. In July of 2001, she and mom were coming for a visit and I planned a trip for us to take them to the Georgia coast. So they would know what to expect and how to pack, I sent them not just the information on where we were going (Savannah, Jekyll Island, St. Simons, etc.) but a complete itinerary. I sent it in the form of a letter from the "Happy Times Travel Agency" and made it all sound very grand. She got such a kick out of that and talked about it many times over the years. She'd say how cute that letter was and what a great time we had on the trip.

She enjoyed everything and loved to laugh. Here she is just days before her 89th birthday, sporting a tee shirt that she got for Christmas that says, "Born in America -- a long, long time ago." She also enjoyed gambling -- and was a winner. She would send people scratch-off lottery tickets in their birthday cards. She would give each of us a ticket on Christmas morning. But she was the only one who won anything. She also liked her whiskey and water...at 5:00p.m. on the dot. She said she liked visiting here from Illinois because 5:00 came an hour earlier down here.

We will especially miss her this Christmas because she's been coming down here to spend the holidays with us for the past several years. Just last year -- at the age of nearly 95 (her birthday was New Year's Eve) her driver dropped her off at the airport and then she found out her flight was being cancelled due to bad weather. She got herself to a nearby motel, called me and said, "I'll see you tomorrow." Then she had a nice dinner and a good night's rest and got herself back to the airport on time very early the next morning and caught her flight. She would usually come a few days before Christmas and go back some time after the first of the year, so we've celebrated her birthday with her many times. Here she is in 2006. We went to a New Year's Eve party at Jodi and Jeremy's and Savannah thought the birthday girl should wear her tiara.

She celebrated her 80th birthday in the hospital having by-pass surgery. My sister had planned to spend several days with her while she was in the hospital, and she took a lot of reading material because she knew that afterwards she would only be able to visit with her for a few minutes every couple of hours. But by the second day, the nurses told her to just go on in. Leona was sitting in the chair, chatting and entertaining everyone who went in. And for the next 16 years she drove herself to the rehab center at the hospital several days a week. She viewed it not only as her own fitness club, but a social gathering, too, and she knew everybody who went there. That is, until this past August. At about that time her eyesight was getting bad and she had to give up driving. She moved from her apartment into an independent living facility in her home town of Streator. She was also getting a little unsteady on her legs, so she gave up golf at that time, too. The local paper did an article about her and it was on the front page. When I called to tell her I had seen it and several friends had sent me the clipping, she said, "I always thought you had to murder somebody to get your picture on the front page of the paper!"

Even though she may have been "unclaimed" by one special person...she was loved, appreciated, and enjoyed by more people than any other person I've ever known. I've been very blessed to have her in my life for so long.

They Know Stuff

Jodi is doing a fantastic job of home schooling the kids. Besides their reading, riting and 'rithmatic at home, she has them enrolled in a Tuesday morning class called Classic Conversations which is great for expanding their learning experiences. Add to all that vacations and field trips (which are interchangeable) with trips to museums, aquariums, zoos, caves, etc. and it's amazing to watch their minds soak up everything around them like little sponges.

I went to their house to babysit yesterday afternoon and they amazed and tickled me several times. When I first got there, they were playing in the sand box and hollered for me to come join them. As I approached, Emery proudly displayed a pail full of sand with lots more piled on top and coming to a point. He said, "Look, Nanny...it's Mount Basooovious!" Then they went on playing and making sand castles -- each better than the others' according to the builders. Pretty soon the conversation turned to "trash talking" about what each of them was going to do to the other person's castle. I told them not to start fighting. Emery assured me it wasn't a fight..."It's the Battle of Hastings, Nanny."

We were going to make a pizza for dinner and when Savannah went into the pantry to get the crust, she showed me a large outline of a world map on the back of the door. She said, "Look, Nanny. That big part with the "C" is China. And down here is the Bay of Bengal. Madagascar is way over here." Then Emery chimed in with pointing out where the Pacific Ocean is.

Later, still, we were playing and she forgot something for a minute. She dismissively waved her hand and said, "Oh. I have short term memory loss." I could relate to that, but don't have a fix for it. :)

They are also honing their public speaking skills and building their confidence by asking Jodi to make movies on her camera of them doing presentations on everything from art, to cooking, to just giving out general information.

I think I should take them to New York. If we could find -- and ride in --the Cash Cab, I might be one rich Nanny!!

Pag Man

Emery has lived the last 3 of his 4 years under the assumption that he can do anything his big sister can do. Once he knew how to walk and talk, he saw himself as her equal. So now that she is deeply entrenched in first grade of home school, he's eager to learn, too. She's reading -- so he wants to read. He will look closely at letters and sound them out to try to make words.

The other day he was wearing his GAP sweatshirt. He looked down and started "reading" what his shirt said. Apparently he can read letters upside down -- but not backwards. From his point of view...and reading from left to right...he started sounding them out. He made a good strong "P" sound -- then got the short "A" right -- and then sounded out the "G". Softly sounding them out again and then putting them together, he proudly announced, "Pag!"

Here's Your Sign....

Saw this clever sign in a restaurant last week:

"Buy one dinner for the price of two and get the second one free."

Wonder how many folks ask for that special?

Quilt As Desired...Number Four

My friend, Amelia, who had the flooded property I talked about in the last post, celebrated her birthday with the Babes last week. As for the previous 3 Babes' birthdays, I gave her a scrappy pieced quilt top that she can finish however she chooses. This one is called, "Prairie Vine" and I saw it in a magazine about 2 years ago and fell in love with it immediately. Actually, this is just the center of the quilt. The one in the magazine called for a wide, pale border on which a vine with 140 small leaves were appliqued onto it. I made this quilt for myself quite some time ago and I have the leaves basted onto freezer paper and ready to be applied...but I have yet to put the vine on and start stitching the leaves down. I knew there would be no time for me to do this as a border on her quilt. So I just made the center -- which I still love -- and she can finish it off with whatever kind of border she wants, or add more blocks, or anything else she might like. She liked it that way, too. Happy Birthday, Amelia!

Water, Water Everywhere

By now you've probably heard about the flooding in the Atlanta area. Here's how it was for us.

On Tuesday, the 15th, we got a little rain...less than 1/2". Our assistant pastor called and wanted to know if Jerry would be available the next day to help a lady in the parish who had to move some of her belongings from a storage facility in Decatur to her home here in Covington. He said he'd be glad to help. I went with him. So that was Wednesday, the 16th. I checked before we left home and it looked like there were a few green spots showing up on the radar, but I thought we would probably be able to get there, load up, and get back without too much trouble. With all of our drought years over the past decade or so, we're used to seeing blips on the radar that dry up before they get here. There was our open pick-up truck and one other -- also open -- and we loaded most of her things. It started raining lightly just as we were finishing packing. On the way home -- almost ALL the way home -- it rained as hard as it possibly could. Everything got pretty well soaked. I felt awful for her. I'm not sure how much of it she was able to save. She did have a fairly new mattress and box spring that had to go to the dump the next day. The person with the other truck went back the next day and helped her get the rest of it...but it rained that day as well. Still -- she was very grateful for the help.

Each of those days we got a little over an inch of rain at our house, but on the west and north sides of Atlanta they were getting much more than that. On Saturday morning we had planned to get up early and go encourage Jodi and Savannah as they participated in a one-mile fun run at their church. Since lightning is the only weather that will postpone a race, they ran in the rain. And we got there just in time to see them come it. We got another inch 1.1" at our house that day, but the deluges continued on the other side of Atlanta.

The system that was bringing all the rain was still around and we got just a 1/4" on Sunday. But by Monday afternoon things were getting serious. Some of the rivers and creeks in our area were under flash flood watches and warnings due to the run-off coming down from the north of Atlanta where there had already been flooding. Then on Monday afternoon we got about 3-1/2" of rain in about 90 minutes. Now we were one of the counties in serious trouble, too.

On Tuesday morning, Jerry and I were headed over to Covington. When we got to the bridge over the Yellow River -- about 4 miles from our house -- we were shocked to see how high the water was under the bridge. I asked him to turn and go down my friend, Amelia's, road. She lives just a short way beyond the river. Her house, as well as her father's and one of her daughters', are all on the left side of her road and well back and up the hill. On the right side of the road is usually a beautiful lake that is also their property. There is an earthen dam between the river and their lake. When we turned onto her road, we were surprised to see that the water was already over the road and rising. It was nearing the top of the earthen dam. And as we stood there with her and some of her family, we watched it rise over that dam and just keep coming. We were there about 10:30 in the morning and she said that when they left for work about 7:30, there was no water on the road. This little gazebo is on a walkway that goes from the shore of their lake to a small cottage on an island. Usually the gazebo is 5 feet above the water. Later in the afternoon, she said, the water was flowing through this gazebo and half of the walkway had been washed away. She said the lowest parts of the fence along side the road were under water, as well. She estimated that the water level inside the cabin was probably about 4 feet. She told us that in the 33 years she has lived in that house, she has never seen it like this.

Still, she and her family realize how blessed they were to still have their homes and each other. There are so many in our area that have lost so much more than that. It was amazing to see the power of nature close up and it is heartbreaking to see what it can do. But our thoughts and prayers are with so many of our neighbors as they begin the struggle to rebuild their lives.