Saturdays in South Georgia

 I was just beginning my Saturday morning...doing the normal things that I seem to do every Saturday morning...laundry, straightening the kitchen, mowing grass.  The phone rang and I was surprised to hear GW on the other end of the line.  He had taken the boys fishing at a local pond.  The fish were really biting and he didn't have a large enough cooler or any ice.  So I grabbed the cooler from the back porch, jumped in my pick-up truck and headed by Twice the Ice on my way out to the pond.

There is a back-story to this tale.  Local legend has it that the best bass pond in the county is located about 5 miles out of town on the Sylvester Highway.  I should correct myself...it is not a legend because the Jenkins family has proved that it is true!  Many years ago, one of Jack Jenkins' cousins, Rex, believed it so much that he bought the farm where the pond was located just to have fishing rights.  That might be the "legend" part of this story, but you will never hear a Jenkins admit it.  Anyway, our family has spent many hours on the banks of this pond proving the truth of this legend.  

As a pulled into the drive leading to the pond, I could see GW and the boys out on the dam having fun.  When I pulled across the spillway, Luca and Jack came running to tell me that I had to bring the cooler right away.  They already had two nice bass and GW had just caught another one.  We transferred the fish to the big cooler with the proper amount of "ohing" and "ahing" and before you knew it, I had a rod in my hand and was joining in the fun.  For those of you who have never fished a local pond, I will tell you that one can spend many hours on the bank trying to catch "the big one" with no luck.  No amount of wishing, hoping, or changing of lures will produce any results.  However, when you stand on the bank at just the right time and hold your mouth just right, you can pull in fish one after another.  This morning was just one of those times!  GW caught a few more bass and then I caught a nice one, too.  The boys were ecstatic.  Each time we caught a fish, Luca had to grab the cellphone and take a photo while Jack posed with the proud fisherman.  We spent about 3 hours casting, reeling in, and repeating the process.  I hooked a really big bass, but I was using Luca's lightweight Zebco rod and lost my fish just when I got him to the bank.  He literally too "hook, line, and sinker"!  Everyone was getting hungry so we decided to head for home, but not before one more cast.  Low and behold, I felt a huge tug on my line and reeled in the catch of the day.  I started yelling for GW to come and help me when he caught sight of my catch breaking the water.  He had caught a Speckled Perch and dropped him by the cooler as he ran to help me.  I don't know who was more excited...I was yelling and struggling while GW looked like he was going in the water after that bass.  Well, turns out that I caught the biggest fish of the day.  GW caught the most so we were both happy.

I couldn't help but wish that Steve had been with us on this little adventure.  Papa Steamer (as the boys call him) would have been proud!  I could almost hear him reciting his first rule of fishing which is emblazoned on a little sign that hangs over my refrigerator:

I left GW at his house cleaning fish.  I'm sure there will be a fish fry in our future!  We had no need to stretch the truth about this fishing trip.  I didn't measure or weigh my catch, but I think it just about equaled Steve's trophy catch that hangs on the wall in our living room.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  I'll let you be the judge.  Needless to say, the grass still needs mowing, but that can wait until another day.  Fishing is more important!

 

 

 

 

 

Fatwood

 It's January...almost February.  It's supposed to be cold.  However, here in the sunny south, "cold" is relative.  We have been enjoying weather in the upper 60's for the past few days.  So when the temperature took a dip this morning, it was a surprise.  It was 48 degrees this morning...springtime for my Ohio relatives...but with the wind blowing 20 mph, this transplant found it hard to get warm!  I was able to leave work a little early and decided that the thermostat had fallen into the "fire-in-the-fireplace" zone.  The torrential rain over the past few days had soaked my green firewood, so I knew that I would need a very hot fire to get things started.  The answer...fatwood!  If you haven't grown up in the south or at least lived there a long time, you are probably wondering what I am talking about.  It goes by many different names - fatwood, fat lighter, lighter wood, rich lighter, pine knot, lighter knot, heart pine, and lighter'd are a few more names for this magical substance.  It comes from wood that is left in the ground after a tree has fallen or has been cut.  The resin-impregnated heartwood becomes hard and rot-resistant over time.  Other parts of the wood, such as the joints where limbs intersect the trunk, can also turn into fatwood.  Most pine trees can produce fatwood, but in the southeastern United States the wood is commonly associated with the longleaf yellow pine.  It's easy to spot because the wood becomes very hard and turns translucent because of the resin or "pine tar".  It also has the unmistakable fragrance of the inside of a cedar chest!  The reason it is so valuable (just try purchasing it online from Orvis or L. L. Bean) is because you can start a fire from the greenest, wettest wood with just a few small sticks of this stuff.  It is highly flammable...easy to light with one match.  If you want to get technical about it, just look at what Wikipedia says about it:

Coniferous tree sap is a viscous liquid, that contains terpene, a volatile hydrocarbon. Over time the evaporation of the terpene changes the state of the sap; it slowly gets thicker until it hardens into resin. New fatwood leaks the sticky sap, while in aged fatwood the sap has hardened and is no longer sticky. At every stage of the aging process, fatwood will burn readily.

Want to know how "volatile" it is?  Old-timers used to grind up fatwood and make gunpowder out of it.  Well, for my purposes of starting a fire with wet wood, it works just fine!  There was only one problem this afternoon.  I was out of small pieces of fatwood.  When Steve was living, he knew lots of farmers that were clearing land.  Most would run up on two or three lighter'd stumps while clearing a field.  Steve was always glad to take these stumps off of their hands.  He had a large pile next to his shop in our yard.  He had to "man handle" the large pieces when they came from the field to get them into manageable pieces.  He would sit down at the shop with a hatchet, a 5-gallon plastic bucket, a pair of work gloves and an old stump/chopping block.  He would chip away at the large pieces to get "kindling" sized pieces.  You don't need big pieces for several reasons, the most important being you don't want your chimney to get coated with oily soot.  I was the "chaser" - chasing down every valuable splinter that flew off the chopping block as Steve whaled away and depositing it in the plastic bucket.  Steve kept his "stash" behind the workbench and would present his friends with a small bundle of the fragrant wood for their birthday or Christmas.  Boy, was that a huge digression!  Back to today.  I had some large pieces left down by the shop, so I gathered my tools and whaled away.  Before too long, I had a nice bundle to put in the coal hod on the hearth.  The extra benefit to this wood is that you don't need air freshener when you bring it in the house.  The smell permeates the whole house in a jiffy.  I had a great time doing this little chore and more than once I shed a tear as I remembered the wonderful times that Steve & I had "down at the shop".  But I wouldn't trade this experience or the memories for anything!  And for those of you who have no idea what fatwood looks like...

 And the result of using this miraculous substance...

 

As a friend of mine used to say...I'm toasty warm and deliciously wonderful.  Good night, all!

Who needs a gym membership when you have a fireplace?

 I have always loved a fire, especially when it is in your living room, right next to your comfy chair in a brick fireplace with a raised hearth!  Having a large stack of books on the end table is icing on the cake.  I guess my love of fireplaces goes back to my childhood at the 3 Bears' House in Cedar Mountain, North Carolina.  When I was growing up, my family spent the whole summer at the cabin.  It was a rustic place with the sun shining through the spaces in the batten & board siding, shaded by majestic Carolina Hemlock trees.  The stone fireplace in the living room was made from the rocks that had been drilled and blasted out of the ground when the spring was made...that's "spring" as in a hole in the ground from which comes the sweetest and coldest water you can imagine, as opposed to "spring" as in the season following winter.  The fireplace was built by my grandfather, Solomon Alexander Jones, who used rudimentary tools in all of his construction jobs.  It is the focal point of the living room, which measures about 30 by 50 feet.  The beams across the ceiling of the room are poplar logs, complete with bark, which were cut from the woods surrounding the house.  Evenings would find us gathered around the fireplace enjoying the warmth that would take the chill off of the mountain evening.  Our family would usually be joined by aunts, uncles and cousins who would come to enjoy the fire and the company.  Since we didn't have a television (or a telephone, for that matter) the "elders" would entertain us with stories from their childhoods.  Tales of wild hogs, moonshine, square-dancing, farming and bear hunting would keep the kids wide-eyed for hours. So when Steve and I built our house in 1984, a fireplace was at the top of my list.

So I know you are wondering what a fireplace has to do with a gym membership.  It's simple.  In order to have a fire in the fireplace, you must have wood to burn.  The wood has to be purchased or cut from your own property, hauled to the house and stacked in the woodpile.  Last Saturday, that was my project.  I usually purchase my wood from a kindly old gentleman who has a shop on the side of the highway just south of Coolidge, Ga...about 8 miles from my house.  The afternoon was cold and gray.  However, the 45 minutes it took me to unload the wood and stack it on my patio were just as effective as an afternoon at the gym.  Cardio, weight training, cross-training were all included.  The best thing about this activity is that at the end, you not only have an increased heart-rate and some calories expended, you have enough fuel for a winter of cozy fires.  That's what I call a win-win!  

And now back to our regularly scheduled program

 Before I was so rudely interrupted by the happenings in Washington D.C. the other day, I was talking about making some positive changes in my life.  I was inspired to do this because of the Kilted Coaches.  They believe in fitness...both body and mind.  The "body" part is the diet and exercise program.  I am doing well with both of those by bicycling every morning and eating right.  The "mind" part is a little harder.  I began by scheduling myself in a way that I hadn't done since Steve's death.  Going to bed at a certain time, getting up at a certain time, exercising at a certain time, journaling every day, eating at certain times, etc.  They also believe in setting goals that fit into a vision for your life.  They have a catchy acronym for their goals setting process called S.M.A.R.T.  Each letter stands for a characteristic of your goals:

S = Specific.  Your goals should be specific enough for you to be clear on exactly what you are trying to achieve.

M = Measurable.  If you expect to be successful, you have to be able to measure your progress and quantify your results.

A = Achievable.  Make sure that the goal you set for yourself is something that you can achieve or you are doomed to failure before you even start.

R = Realistic.  This goes along with achievable.  Make sure that your goal fits in to the reality of your life.

T = Timed.  Set a time limit to achieve your goal to keep you focused and motivated.  This can always be adjusted.

Following these guidelines makes the goal-setting process a whole lot easier and the goal-reaching process a lot less stressful.  It was amazing to me that just by scheduling my day to include a time for each action that would help me attain my goal of mental & physical fitness, I could energize my life and actually be excited about fitness in a way I never had been able to before.  The last guideline - Timed - is something that I haven't talked about yet.  My short-term goal is to lose at least 20 more pounds by the end of April, 2021.  My long-term goal is to maintain my goal weight.  In order to do that, I will have to be SMART and stick to my scheduling/eating/exercising regime.  Right now, I don't want to put a time limit on that.  I hope this becomes my lifestyle.  Only time will tell.

Don't ever say...things couldn't get any worse!

 I had intended to write about my life-style changes today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  After watching enough of the happenings in Washington D.C. yesterday to make me sick (which only took about 10 minutes) I decided that I need to write just a little about the current situation in our country today.  A few points for background and a frame of reference:

1.    I am a Christian and have been all my life.  I don't go around grabbing people by the lapels and spouting scripture.  I try to live my everyday life by Christian principles that were taught to me by my mother, father and grandparents. 
2. I am educated.  I took full advantage of the educational system through elementary school, high school, college and graduate school.  Being a librarian, I firmly believe in life-long learning and have practiced that through 45 years in the profession.  I continue to learn every day.
   
3. I am a historian/genealogist.  I believe the past has much to teach us and that we are fools if we ignore it.  I also believe that "family" is important and that it stretches beyond blood relatives.
4.  I am independent and strong-willed.  Anyone who knew my mother, Vera, knows that she passed this trait along to me and my brother and that we have done the same thing for our children.

Many years ago, I joined the Facebook community.  It was about the time that my daughter married her first husband.  My reason was purely selfish.  Maggie and her friends were sharing photos and events on Facebook and I didn't want to miss out on anything.  I continue to use Facebook as a way to keep up with friends and family members who live too far away for regular visits.  I have reconnected with long-time friends over the years and have found it to be a rewarding experience...most of the time.  In the past few years, the "attitude" of Facebook has changed and the isolation of the quarantine because of COVID last year took it to a whole new level.  The national news outlets have also changed drastically.  You don't get the facts anymore, you get the broadcaster's opinion.  You can't just listen to a speech from the president and draw your own conclusions.  You have to be told afterward by a news commentator what the president meant when he spoke and how you should believe.

About 3 weeks into the "national lock-down" last year, I stopped watching the national news each night.  It was just too depressing to watch.  I also began to censor what I was reading on Facebook.  The meanness, nastiness and unkindness in many of my friends' posts did a real number on my psyche.  The isolation of the pandemic was bad enough.  Being a "people" person, I thrive on interaction with those around me.  Living alone after Steve's death made it imperative that I continue to interact with everyone around me so that I didn't become a hermit.  But the restrictions of the pandemic made that impossible and the negativity of social media and the news sent me into a tailspin.  So, I quit watching any news and only read uplifting and neutral posts from Facebook.  I immersed myself in good books...what else would a librarian do...and was able to weather the isolation with the help of some excellent characters and stories in the "Outlander" series of books.

Fast forward to this week.  The happenings in Washington yesterday brought out the worst in Facebook posts and the news.  I can no longer escape to the pages of a book because Diana Gabaldon writing fast enough.  I have realized something about the opinions expressed on social media.  It has taken me almost 70 years to form my philosophy of life.  It has taken you however many years old you are to form your philosophy of life.  My 10 minute sound-bite on Facebook is not going to make you change your philosophy and your 10 minute sound-bite isn't going to change mine!  So let's stop the bickering and get back to uncomplicated interaction with our friends and neighbors.   I am making a conscious effort, starting today, to live by the philosophy expressed by L. R. Knost (noted children's author and child-advocate) in this quote:

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.  All things break and all things can be mended.  Not with time, as they say, but with intention.  So go; love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.  The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.

Will you join me?  I hope so!

 

New Year...New Plan...New Me!

What can I say...it's been waaaaay too long since I have added anything to this blog.  I have no excuses...only a bit of background information.  Since 2005, my life has been a train wreck, a dumpster fire, and a goat rodeo all rolled into one.  It started with an almost life-ending automobile accident and proceeded through my husband's cancer diagnosis and eventual death at 56 yrs. old, my son-in-law's unexpected death at 31 yrs. old, my cousin/sister's death at 56 yrs. old, my mother's death and two aunts deaths in the same year (Mother was 102 and the aunts were each 100), and my retirement...all during a 5 year span!  To say the least, I had to do a lot of adjusting, coping, grieving, reinventing, suffering...well, just insert your own emotion here.  I think I have been through just about all of them.  I have tried to keep myself busy over the past 15 years in an attempt to adjust to everything that had changed in my life.  Fast forward to the last 9 months.  The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting quarantine threw me into an isolation that I did not handle well.  I had no place to hide, nothing to take my mind off my life, and too much time to think and be alone.  So, being the headstrong...well, downright stubborn...person that I am, I finally got tired of my pity party and made up my mind to do something about it.  I started a diet and was determined to lose the weight that had piled on during those 15 years.  Luckily, my daughter was doing the same thing so we partnered for support.  It has gone very well since August, 2020.  I have lost 20 pounds and am roughly halfway to my goal.  HOORAY!!

With all of that time on my hands, I began to get very serious about my genealogy.  I have always been interested in family and grew up with a very strong oral tradition of stories from my relatives.  History and a good mystery really interest me, so genealogy was a natural.  Fortunately, my public library has Ancestry online, so I began to fill in some gaps.  I have a strong Scottish/Irish heritage and expanded my research several centuries back.  At the same time, I began reading and watching the "Outlander" series.  I watched first and then began to devour the books.  I was propelled by several similarities between my own family heritage and Jamie Fraser's.  Let's face it, who wouldn't want to be related to that fabulous Scot!  Having read all 8 of the published books (and waiting not too patiently for the 9th book) and watched the TV series at least twice, I decided to take my research to the next level.  I have booked a trip to Scotland for me and my daughter.  We will spend 9 days in Scotland in June, traveling through Edinburgh, Pitlochry, Inverness and the Isle of Skye.  We will be visiting many of the areas from the Outlander books and I am totally pumped!  

Never settling for so-so, I decided that as part of my plan to lose weight and get in shape, I would find a fitness plan to push me.  I'm not one for the gym...the hours are never quite suited to my schedule and it's just not my thing.  I was looking online for something when these 2 Scottish fitness experts popped up on my Facebook page one day.  I guess the algorithm kicked in to my searches for travel in Scotland and my Outlander fetish.   These guys are great.  They are called the Kilted Coaches and they do all of their workouts wearing kilts!  I don't know about you, but I love a man in a kilt...think Sean Connery!  Anyway, they have an online fitness program, complete with exercises, food, and support.  So I signed up!  Yesterday was my first day and I began to think that I had made a mistake.  My 70 year-old body had written a check that it couldn't cash!  The exercises were a bit intense to say the least. Combined with the fact that I have had several injuries (broken collar bone, broken ankle and broken elbow which still has pins and plates) and I haven't exercised in years, I realized that I would have to start slower.  So this morning, I got on my stationery bike and peddled for 30 minutes.  I doubled my heart rate and stayed in the fat burning zone for 28 of the 30 minutes.  I hope my legs will get me to the shower!

Another thing that I realized through all of this was that over the last 15 years I had been in limbo.  My life before all of these events had been fairly well ordered.  I had work, church, wife/mother/daughter duties and those kept my life running along by a schedule.  All of a sudden, my husband was gone, my children were married and off on their own, my mother was gone and my working life changed dramatically.  I was just floating along like a boat without a rudder.  I had no exact time schedule and no one depending on me.  Bottom line...I got lazy.  The Kilted Coaches talked about setting goals in their introductory session.  So my goal is two-fold...lose weight/get in shape and get back to a routine schedule.  No more eating supper at 9:00, no more staying up until 2:00am, no more laying in bed until I won't tell you what time!  Nope!  I have scheduled a bedtime (11:00-11:30pm), I plan to wake up every morning no later than 7:00am, exercise for 30 minutes, journal for a few minutes, shower and get ready to conquer the world...or at least the patrons at the public library!  We'll see how it goes.  Don't worry, I'll keep you posted.  An just for accountability, here's my goal...

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

As a young child I  had a unique outlook on life.  Since each experience was new to me, I lived in a constant state of surprise and amazement.  As I became a young adult, I seemed to be so sure of everything.  There was no gray area in my way of thinking...it was all black or white, yes or no.  But as I became an adult and assumed the accompanying responsibility, the subtleties of life brought on feelings of doubt and second-guessing.  It became harder to judge situations as right or wrong and easier to see both sides of any story.  Having reached maturity (that's a euphemism for getting old) I seemed to have reverted to those childhood feelings of surprise and amazement.  However, I am not amazed at the "newness" of things...I am amazed at how things just seem to work out.  Paul puts it like this in Romans:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

The operative words in this statement are according to His purpose.  My life experience has shown me that God has His own timetable and lately, that doesn't seem to be the same as my timetable!  And let's don't even talk about His purpose, because my plan isn't even on the same page.  However, if I calm down, let go and look for God's plan...well, that's where the amazement happens!
This was made evident to me this evening as I read a Facebook post by my fabulous son, GW.  He was the subject of an Alumni Spotlight article on the Cook Street School of Culinary Arts webpage.  This story begins when GW was a senior in high school.  As he thought about what he wanted to do with his life and the education that would be necessary to attain his goals, he decided that military service would be the best route.  He could serve his country, make a living and earn money to pay for his education.  He passed all the tests with flying colors and the recruiter said his scores were so high that he could be a nuclear physicist if he wanted.  However, there was one small problem...he had a slight hearing loss in his left ear and the Air Force wouldn't admit him.  Not even our senator and good friend, Saxby Chambliss, could pull the strings necessary for GW to get in.  He was very disappointed.  He ended up getting a Soccer scholarship to Middle Georgia College and then transferring to Valdosta State University, where he earned his degree in Criminal Justice.  He wanted to go on to graduate school immediately, but wasn't sure if he wanted a graduate degree in Criminal Justice or Public Administration.  In the midst of his deliberations, Christmas happened.  I usually give the kids money and let them purchase what they want, but I like to have at least one gift wrapped and under the tree to make Christmas morning more fun.  I looked all over town for a large cooking pot for GW, because he had borrowed mine while at VSU.  I couldn't find one in any of the stores.  As I searched the shelves at Lowe's for something else, I found a cookbook published by the company that makes Webber grills.  It had recipes and instructions to cook everything on a charcoal grill.  Since grilling had been one of Steve's favorite pastimes, I bought the book for GW.  And as they say...the rest is history!  He began cooking out of the book for his friends and found that he really enjoyed it.  In a few months, he told me that he had decided where he wanted to go to graduate school.  He wanted to earn a culinary degree.  He found Cook Street in Denver, Colorado, and excelled in his classes.  He did a 3 month internship in Italy after graduation, but when he returned home, he couldn't find the job he really wanted.  He worked in Chicago, taught cooking classes at the Arts Center and worked for a time at Park Regency Nursing Facility.  Nothing really suited him and he was truly disheartened, when by chance (or most probably, by God's plan) he found the job at Sweet Grass Dairy.  A year and a half later, he couldn't be happier.  To be highlighted in the alumni spotlight for his Alma Mater is icing on the cake...excuse the pun!  So here I am on a Tuesday night, amazed at the plan of God and that I (and my family) are a part of that plan.  If you would like to read the article about GW, you can find it at the Cook Street webpage.

P.S.  For my family...take note of the distinctive "Stinson mouth" that GW displays...the family trait of biting your tongue when you are hard at work!

Evidence that cooking is in his blood...he was assisting
the caterer at Angie's wedding at age 10.