Category: Sunday Report

Posted in Sunday Report

Weekly Wrap-Up

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

It’s been a beautiful week here at the ‘stone! We decided to reschedule our cemetery trip so Casey could work with Jr to bring down one of those menacing pear trees that was fixin’ to fall on his shed. He spent every day doing prep – bringing down branches closer to the ground – and on Saturday they rented one of those cherry-picker-like things and Casey had the time of his life running it.

Meanwhile, out in the garden, the Pineapple Sage, the One We’ve Been Waiting For as we continued to water, Finally Bloomed! It was immediately loved by birds and bugs alike, and signals to me that the garden season is truly fini.

My back porch is a cozy haven for my herbs, keeping them warm as the night-time temperatures plunge. It’s a cozy haven for humans to sit and soak up some sun, as well.

The cemetery trip took a new turn when I discovered some contradictions in my research, making it all the more fun, and seriously changing my perspective of this particular branch of the family tree. Censuses have so much information, changing with each decade,but if you live in the country, it can be difficult to figure out exactly where folks lived since you’re given only the name of the township. The household numbers are in the order that they found someone home to answer their questions, and these 150-year-old records don’t use rural route numbers, either.

It turns out, though, that my Goodson antecedents had the good fortune to live in one of the most scenic areas of Indiana, especially during the fall weather. There is a historical landmark called Schooner Point near their territory that promises breathtaking views of the Big Bend of the Ohio River, so I’ve added some attractions to our little time-travel-trip. Hopefully, we’ll make it this week.

Can you believe we have to change the clocks next week? My body rhythm does not change as easily as a clock! In fact, it rebels at the audacity and sheer carelessness of “losing an hour”… Does anybody really know what time it is? (cue Chicago)

Hope it’s a Good Time in your neck of the woods!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Names and faces

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I am an old woman named after my mother…

first line of “Angel from Montgomery” by John Prine

The story was told from the time I could listen that Mom & Dad were so sure that I was a boy that they called me “Charlie” for 9 months and were at a loss for a name when I turned out to be a girl. Dad wanted name me Ruby after Mom, but she didn’t like that name. Her middle name was Christina, so they agreed that was a good moniker. They added the one-syllable “Jo” and voila! I was formally assigned the appellation.

They never called me Christina. Ever. Even when I started school, they instructed the instructors that I was Jo Mayne – sounds like ptomaine, if you want to make fun. Over the years, Mom’s explanation for not using such a pretty name varied. The first answer was that it was too long for my 17-month-older sister to say. Eventually, she confessed that the name was her Grandmother’s and that she didn’t much like her grandmother, and that they called her Teeny and she didn’t like that.

Her grandmother, my great-grandma, was Christina Caroline Kirsch, and she was also named after her mother, Caroline Christina Rudi Kirsch. Both Caroline and her husband, Nicholas, were born in Germany. The community they lived in and raised Christina included many German immigrants who brought their strong work ethic and intelligence to building their new life in Crawford County, Indiana.

Not long before my Mom died, she told me that being a grandmother made her realize that she had misjudged her granny. One big reason she disliked her was because Christina wouldn’t let her run around with her younger cousins, but kept her with her. Mom realized that she’d been shown a side of her grandma that the others didn’t know as she taught her about gardening and cooking.

Since nearly every story from my cousins who knew her related that she was “terrifying”, I guess Mom did see something the others missed. I don’t know if she realized that they also shared a birthday – no doubt why Mom was given her name- but I’m sure Christina knew and gave her special attention.

My brother and sister and I called her “Little Grandma” and I remember seeing her once as a very young child. She lived across the street from my “Big Grandma” and one day when I was playing on the porch, she came up the steps and stopped to look at me before going on in the house. It’s one of those early, hazy memories, but she had a piercing gaze – not quite terrifying, but she was pretty old by then.

I have only one picture of her, sitting on a stool next to her husband, Halleck Goodson, but that picture jumped out of the box at me a couple of months ago and demanded attention. I have done my research and don’t have any new information about her, really, so I wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell me. I think now that she is pointing me to the cemeteries in Crawford County.

Christina Kirsch Goodson, my great-grandmother (I think she looks like me!)

Decades ago, Mom and her sisters did a trip to English, IN, where their Dad’s family had lived and were buried, but nobody seemed to know anything about the Goodsons or Kirsches. I’ve got a lot of information, compiled over at All My Ancestors, and now, Thanks to my ancestor’s nudge, we’re heading up to Leavenworth and Corydon this week to check out the gravestones and get a feel for the area. These are some old ones, so I hope they’re not in too bad of shape.

There’s something missing in Christina’s story – how did she end up with Halleck, a boozing, illiterate, hillbilly 7 years her senior? I hope something clicks as we tour the hills and river bottoms where she raised my Grandma and her siblings.

The Jrs. will be by for some potato soup and apple pie around noon, so I’ve got to move on for now.

We’re blessed with Abundant Sunshine today and forecast for the next week! I hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

An Explanation

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I apologize for leading you on about posting more often, then abandoning you for over a week. I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath to hear from me. Though I have been busy with visits from friends, doctor and hair appointments, there’s a more diabolical force at work here…

Just as I was planning a new writing routine, I hit a block, my old friend Existential Angst. It’s a side effect of my mortality, sometimes scary and sometimes hopeful, depending on the trigger. When my friend’s mom died at 99, I was chuffed, thinking, yeah, I’ve got 26 years left. When another friend got a grave diagnosis at 75, my brain freaked out with unfounded fear.

One way I cope with the thoughts is at the piano – Beethoven’s Adagio can soothe the savage beast. As for Writing, the only way I can comfortably express these feelings is by putting them in Handwriting, letting the thoughts flow freely through my fingers, a bit the same as tinkling the old ivories. For several years now, I have done a bit of writing, by hand, with a pen, on paper, every morning. I don’t know if I’ll ever share those pages – some of it is good, some is awkward – but all of it is sincere and provides me with clarity to move forward, eventually.

Another way I’ve learned to live with this incurable affliction of anxiety, is to go outside, even if it’s only to sit on the swing. I was already on a crusade to stop mindlessly scrolling, so I’ve been putting the phone away except for texting/calls, and finishing up the garden chores, bringing in the sheaves and such. The weather has been more than fine, so that’s helpful. The last of the dried basil and oregano have been put in jars, and I made some pesto with the last fresh plant. My rosemary is blooming! Mint is enjoying these last warm days, and I still have morning glories and moonflower vining along the trellis.

I also went to the library and got some books – historical fiction, a mystery, and a memoir – and the feel of those in my hands was comforting. I usually read on my Kindle, but put it away in favor of my Nook so I wouldn’t be tempted to jump down any rabbit holes.

Reading is a Great Escape, so in addition to reading novels, I have spent quite a spell perusing blogs from my Word Press reader. There so many Wonderful artists writing real good for free. I am inspired by them and their ability to express their hearts in beautiful words. I’m also a little intimidated! I know we shouldn’t compare or compete, but the blogs I follow are so good that my little paragraphs seem tawdry. Thanks to all of you for putting yourselves out there – I sure needed to read what you wrote.

So that’s where I’ve been. I’m still working on the Ancestry stuff, planning a cemetery trip to Crawford and Harrison Counties, Indiana, in search of the Kirsch, Rudi, and Goodson graves. I have a little more info on my namesake, great-grandmother Christina Kirsch Goodson, but I’m mostly using my imagination! That’s what makes a good story, though, isn’t it?

I won’t promise you that I’ll post more often, but I’m really going to try, so check back!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Suddenly Autumn

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

Just as the weatherman predicted, a sweet cold front pushed our humidity and heat right out of here, arriving just as the sun passed the equator. Very welcome, indeed. We celebrated the arrival of Fall with baked bread, butternut squash, vegetable soup, and a campfire.

My friend, Luann, in town from Portland, Oregon, for her Mom’s funeral service, came by yesterday and we had a wonderful visit. We did not take any pictures, but she brought one along that she’d found amongst her mom’s albums.

I think that’s at least 25 years ago, since I seem to be awfully proud of my mustang. Yeah, we still look like that…

The new theatre season at USI starts today and Dee and I are meeting for lunch and today’s matinee of First Daughter Suite. It’s sure to be a good time.

These Sunday Reports are getting to be more of a chore than actual writing, so I’m making some changes to my writing schedule that will allow for at least two posts a week, and I hope to make it three, so stay tuned!

I’ll be back soon!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Seasonal Flux

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

Summertime here at Sonnystone is always Magical, filled with family, floating, gardening, and relaxing, doing nothing and resting afterward.

There’s a lot to savour in my memories of these past three months, but the Dog Days are still dogging right along and I am ready for this Heat and Humidity to move on. The weatherman says the feels-like-hell-alert will be over at 7pm today, and that temps will be dropping 20degrees tomorrow, so there is hope that we’ll celebrate the Solstice and welcome in the cooler air on Tuesday, thank goodness.

An old high-school friend contacted me Monday to let me know that her Mom had died. The family had been planning her 100th birthday party on the 29th, but she passed on the 13th. As I am wont to do, I’ve spent a fair amount of time Remembering those days and how much I wished that Mrs. O was my mom. I would run away from the anger at my house to hers, where she just emanated loving calmness. Being around her made me feel better, and Lord knows I needed that kind of caring in those days. I was truly Blessed to have known her. I hope I get to see my old friend, too; it’s been a while.

That’s about all to report for now, just doing the usual bird-watching and harvesting. I’ve been spending too much time staring at my phone. I’m not sure when I got this hooked, but it’s really pissing me off. I’m thinking I’ll set some sort of alarm to go off if I stare at it for longer than a certain amount of time. HaHaHa! That won’t stop me. I will just have to put it down, but first I have to decide to…

Hope you’re making good decisions in your neck of the woods.

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Out of the garden and up the Family Tree

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I harvested the last of this year’s edibles this morning…

Before
After

I need to trim the Peace/Bird Garden, especially after this week’s storms, but we’re still inundated with droves of hummingbirds, so there’s rarely a moment to sneak out and work there. We’ve got another streak of humidity and heat this week, but forecast says we’ll cool off in time for the Equinox, as it should.

With summer chores winding down and Autumn projects still weeks away, I’ve turned back to my genealogy research, compelled by a picture of my maternal great-grandmother and grandfather. While I’ve compiled a tree for Mom’s family, I don’t have access to any records or pictures, only one, taken late in their lives. They were from Crawford County, Indiana, the home of the whitecaps, precursors of the KKK, who were active during the days my greats were younger. I’ve always been afraid that I’d find out one of my ancestors was involved with that kind of hate, and would prefer to not know. Just a perfunctory search of newspapers of the time gave me information that proved that at least one of them was Not…

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vincennes-commercial-halleck-needs-t/205817518

Turns out there’s this article from 1889, telling the story of how the whitecaps had pulled a young “wayward” woman from her bed, tied her and her lover to a tree and whipped them with 40 lashes. I should explain that this hate group didn’t just lynch black people, they were “moral police” who did these things to anyone who broke the commandments.

After the whippings, the mob gave a warning to four other men and a woman, telling them the same thing would happen to them if they continued to “cut their capers”. Haven’t heard that phrase, but it seems a little light for a threat. The article also goes on to print an “opposing view”…

Anyway, one of those men who was warned was my great-grandpa Halleck Goodson, and another was my great-great-grandpa, North Goodson. !! I confess to a bit of relief – I had already suspected he was a scoundrel.

That incident happened a year or so before he married, so I’m looking at my great-grandmother’s story with new eyes. There’s plenty of research to be done — my favorite part of genealogy! I’ll let you know when I get that published over on Family Stories.

We’re going to take advantage of this last week of summer to float around the pool. Hope you’re staying cool in your neck of the woods.

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Another week done gone

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

We marked the 45th birthday of my boy-child on Thursday, but the poor wee fella just got a bit of cash and a hug. He’s not one for parties, so I don’t feel too negligent. We got a photo, a rare glimpse of him without a hat, and he looks so much like my Dad! Not that he looks old enough to be my dad, but he looks like my Daddy looked in his 40s –you know what I mean…

Both handsome and smart, he’s a true mensch.

Harvest has started with the first gathering of basil and oregano, drying in my hanging rack. Today I’ll cut back another basil to put in water until it’s their turn to dry, and cut back the next oregano to hang instead of drying flat.

It’s dang miserable out there, but I’ve still put off bringing in the whole garden, just because I hate to see the season end. Well, I don’t mind losing this hellish heat and humidity, but cooler temps are a ways off, so it seems premature to put it all away. We’ve had a good season, with dozens of tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. The peppers have been slow, and the squash up and died long ago, so I’ve learned a thing or two. Like most gardeners, I’ve already started to plan for next year’s garden, hopeful, as always.

We used to celebrate Michael’s birthday every Labor Day week-end at Ellis Park, but the track has closed before the holiday for several years, so these days we don’t do much. I think I’ll give the Jrs. a call and see if they want to have some brunch tomorrow.

Hope you’re enjoying the holiday in your neck of the woods!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Hummingbirds and Gershwin

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

We’ve been keeping hummingbird feeders filled for 30-some-odd years now, but retirement has given us plenty of time to study them. Right now, our feeders are constantly bombarded with dozens of the flying jewels, kamikazi-ing each other and fighting, buzzing and squeaking, and devouring the sugar-water.

One of many videos from our bird cam…

It’ started a couple of weeks ago, when the males from up north got the signal to start heading down to Central America. By now, many of the females and young ones have started on their way, all of them requiring astronomical amounts of energy/nectar. Though we see dozens at one time, morning and evening, these fascinating birds don’t flock together – each one travels alone. Somehow they find their way there and back. We’re well-marked as a stagecoach stop enroute, and I’m serving up their favorite sugar-water.

Casey’s been sealing the blacktop on our driveway, so I’ve been kind of stuck here at the house, taking care of the gardens, but trimming and harvesting a few edibles hasn’t filled my days.

I have an old, falling-apart book of piano tunes called, “That’s entertainment” that I’d picked up somewhere and never really looked at. It’s chock-full of songs from Old musicals or movies, including “If I only had a brain”, “Get Happy”, and lots of Cole Porter and even a version of “Rhapsody in Blue”- just the piano part that goes “da-da-da-daaa, da-da-da-da-dadadadadada” – beautiful chords that always pluck my heartstrings. I haven’t got it perfected yet, maybe never will, but it brings me such joy to play piano, that I was immediately cheered…and challenged…

Next week is filled with appointments, something I usually don’t like, but I’m ready to get out of here! In fact, I’ve been fantasizing about going back down to DisneyWorld one more time before our Annual Pass expires in October. Am I being Inspired by the hummingbirds to head south for The Mouse? Is that what those chirpy sounds are conveying?

Look out for the hummingbirds in your neck of the woods!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

Forty-seven years!!!

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

To celebrate our wedding anniversary yesterday, we spent the day hanging out, looking back at 47 years of good times, mostly, with a theme of “we could never have imagined (fill in the blank) back then – from tech to grown kids to grown grandkids – so much has changed, especially us. As we each evolved individually, our relationship grew stronger and we each made an effort to accommodate the other’s differences. We’re quite comfortable and content, but still growing even now. I could never have imagined how sweet this feels. Here’s hoping we have many more anniversaries!

Instead of going out to eat, I fixed a lovely steak, mashed some taters, cooked up the last of the green beans, and sliced tomatoes. We topped it off with pecan pie and were properly stuffed by the end of the day.

The garden is still keeping us fed, but it’s on its last lap. There’s a good dozen or so tomatoes still ripening, only 3 bell peppers on the vine, and four butternut squash.

I grow my herbs in pots. Basil is my favorite, and I have asian, red rubin, lemon, tower, and sweet varieties. I harvest/repot only the sweet and it was time to bring them down to size.

Here in Eville, it’s Back-to-school-time, which I consider a great opportunity for changing routines, adding new goals, re-setting my energy expenditures, making some plans…

I’ll be dreaming up fresh schemes out on the front porch swing…

Stay cool in your neck of the woods!

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report, The Gardens of Sonnystone...

Drenched

Posted on by Jo Mayne Casey

I was so heartened to see the sun this morning! After three dark days of severe storms, I was whining that I’d never seen such torrential rains in all my born days, and now I am validated to find that I never had. Eville received about 4.5 inches of rain – or up to 6 inches in some areas – over the last 3 days, which broke a century-old daily rainfall record yesterday. This morning another downpour moved through, dropping 3/4 inch!

I moved most of the containers in from the garden after the first day of monsoon.

As you would expect, this will delay some fruiting in the Edible Garden, but their foliage is dandy.

The only visible damage from the onslaught is in the Peace/Bird Garden, where the hollyhocks broke over.

Many flower petals are on the ground, but the the phlox shines on.

The storms have moved on now, and the sun is serving up a sweltering, sweaty, heatwave as the mud dries. We’ll be opening up the pool area and staying as cool as we can.

You stay cool over at your place, dear reader!

Peace