Occasionally I note that other people are not as obsessed with the British Royal Family as I am; in fact, many don’t even like them… (The Family are like a soap opera for me — I don’t like all of the characters, but they’re essential for the plot.) It is Clear, however, that World-wide most Everybody feels kindly toward HM The Queen. It has been quite emotional for me seeing her on the balcony Three Times! From the Trooping of the Colour on Day 1 to today’s Platinum Pageant, the Brits have put on a spectacular show to celebrate her 70 years on the throne. Last night’s Party at the Palace was so so good — I was dancing one minute and crying the next. Did you happen to see the clip of her having tea with Paddington Bear? Now we know what she keeps in her purse!!
Now that the Jubilee has wound down, I’m about all royaled-out. Back in the gardens, we’re enjoying the Perfect weather and so are the crops.
We decided to wait to put up the pool until it gets hot again — probably next week — and in the meantime started a new project down at the firepit. Here’s what it looks like now…from the back of the Edible Garden…
We’re putting up more privacy fence at the bottom so I don’t have to look at the neighbor’s solar panels. We’ll also add some larger shrubs to enclose the sitting area… I have a vision…
The cottage garden is growing and the black-eyed Susans in the Peace Garden are about to explode. We’ve put out three hummingbird feeders and they’re all staying busy…wish I could get a shot of them, but I never seem to be handy with the camera at the right time…
Hope you’re enjoying a lovely day wherever your area!
It was not the first Shannon’s School of Dance Recital for me last night… Melissa was practically a charter member of the school, back when they would have their recitals at the old St. Joseph School gym; it was founded in 1974. Even in the old-school days, they always had the Best costumes! Olivia brought us into the New Era where they rent out a big venue downtown and fill it up with parents, grandparents, cousins, and friends of the dancers, who range in age from 3 to 18 and while it’s impressive, it’s tooo dang long. We are those people who leave early, if we’re lucky enough to have our dancer perform in the first half. Samantha’s dance was to “By the Sea” and she was center stage. I love this little sailor!
I may make it over to the cemeteries tomorrow, but we’re kind of plan-less this weekend…which makes me a little cranky. I’m going to pull up the spinach and plant a couple of rows of green beans in that bed. There is another empty bed that I’m going to fill with green beans, as well — we’re trying to time the harvest to when the New Yorkers visit in early August. We have had so much rain that my bell peppers are showing the stress, but they have plenty of time to pull out of it.
We definitely had the best week-end day for our activities; today is gloomy and cool, better suited for Good Friday. My preferred plant place opened up on Wednesday and I stocked up on herbs… I may have to repot them before we travel… The Predictors say it will be chilly until Thursday, so we’ve got All of our pots in the laundry room.
We managed to cross everything off of our to-do list last week, moving around perennials and shrubs, so I’ve spent little time on the London Plans. This week, however, I’m free to pore over the maps and websites.
Last week I spent some time staring at the campfire and contemplating. Something inside me kept saying “I’m done” in a loop. I’d been feeling my age lately and this year’s Camp Sonnystone really brought it home as I cope with my grandies growing up in what seems the blink of an eye. But there’s no reason to think that I’m done, not at all; with so many good times to look forward to and our health still strong, I couldn’t justify that sort of morbid thinking. So I examined it more closely, listened more intently.
This blog means so much to me; it is the Chronicle of my Life. Including the defunct blog, for the last 16 years it has witnessed the birth of all my grandchildren and my evolution as a JoJo. Through two organist jobs, two nursing jobs, Christmases, Birthdays, Camps, and plenty of Disney Trips we’ve watched the grandies grow. But there were also lots of topics; I did interviews, reviewed every “Best Motion Picture” Oscar winner, went through my CD collection with comments, occasionally talked politics, often talked about Peace. There were some deaths, as well: Aunts Thelma, Almeda, and Shirley; Uncle Jr; my friends, NuNu, Lois, Chuck, and Beaver. I’ve taken you on lots of trips with us, kept you apprised of what’s growing in the garden, what birds are at the feeder, and sometimes just blathered.
Even though I upgraded my WP account, I have now very nearly filled up all the allotted media space for Sonnystone and for the garden blog, Growing Every Season, which I started around the same time. At first I thought I would do a whole lot of work to download and delete old posts, but I kept putting it off. The next upgrade costs quite a bit more money and is more for a monetized blog. I believe the voice that was saying “I’m done” meant that I’m done with this particular blog and the obligation that I feel to keep it going.
To give The News a proper send-off, I compiled a video of photos. In order to not make it an hour long, I concentrated on just the people, then had to pare it down more to mostly grandies growing up. The music that I chose is poignant; Over the Rainbow and Wonderful World by Iz, the wonderful Hawaiian artist. He speaks in one part, almost unintelligible, but he’s using two Hawaiian words: “kuleana” has multiple meanings, including “land divisions”, but represents your space or spirit; “pono” which means “to make correct” or “to make good”. So what he means is that kuleana pono is an “automatic plan”, that if you make your space, your spirit good, “stuff” is just waiting to come to you, waiting until you are ready.
It makes me kind of anxious to think of not blogging every week, so I remind myself that I’ll still be keeping up the ancestry blog, and our trips will still be recorded over at the travel blog. The fact is I need to let go and open my mind up to new things, especially regarding my writing. By letting go, I will open up my spirit for some of that “stuff” that has just been waiting until I’m ready.
Thank-you for following along with me. I have truly enjoyed your company. Now I’m taking one long look back, then turning out the light, closing the door behind me.
We’ve been having a blast, you can be sure. The New Yorkers will be here one more week, so if you are a friend of mine or of Melissa, living near, give us a yell and come on by.
I’ll catch you up with a full report next week! For now, here’s us, sweaty but smiley, at Ellis Park last Friday…
They’re almost here! As I write this they are 1 hour and 20 minutes away!!! We’ve spent the day finishing prep and I seriously Forgot to blog this morning…
The Jose’s are just in time for fresh green beans, an abundance of squash and zucchini, tomatoes of all kinds, bell peppers, cucumbers–all the crops seem to have turned for their visit!
They probably will be gone by the time this canteloupe ripens, but isn’t the sling charming?
The Garden is waiting expectantly for little hands helping harvest…
The New Yorkers will be in town for two weeks and we have a lot of time after August 1 for anyone who wants to visit. Just send one of us a message and we’ll add another plate to the table.
America is beautiful, just as the song says. As we travel to see the multitude of Wonders that make up the USA we are struck with awe; when we return we are more appreciative of the beauty in our own neck of the woods. I believe if you love this “country”, you should love this Earth, this lovely land of which we are stewards. I don’t think we’re doing all that well, “Murrica, but as individuals we must continue to care for this blessing and teach our children and grandchildren to do the same.
Enough Preaching! Have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!
I suffered through another rainy, gloomy week and we’re now rewarded with sunny skies and oppressive humidity; it’s almost summer, finally, and as I sweat through my shirt I wonder why I longed for it.
Samantha went with us to the New Harmony Antiques Show yesterday.
I found some old sheet music, well-preserved, to buy and discovered we hadn’t brought cash with us, just enough for some drinks and treats. The prices at the show seemed very high, just like everything else lately, but I wonder how much they sold. It was a paltry showing of vendors, but the crowd was good.
10 years ago on the night before the last day of school (I was still working as a school nurse), May 25, 2011 to be exact, a straight-line wind blew in from the southwest and tore off the tops of the very old, very tall trees that were standing in its path.
We had just mowed and straightened the yard and porch that evening and I was taking my after-supper-nap – not to be confused with the rest-up-for-bed nap – when Casey woke me up to tell me that there was something coming our way. I’d slept through the first siren, but the second went off shortly after I woke. It looked bad outside, black skies, pouring rain that was coming down sideways as it was hurled by the wind, and I took shelter (with Wink) in our guest bathroom…even Casey came back and stood in the doorway with us as we listened to the rumbling and howling of the wind. I was seriously freaking out when I heard the sound of cracking trees and the whooshing of falling branches over the room where I’d just been laying…
When it passed, we surveyed the damage… Step into the WayBack Machine and let’s revisit 2011…
it’s been a tough several days…i’ve gone from dazed and confused to feeling trampled underfoot (tee-hee). anyway, now i know what i’ll be doing with my summer:
Before and After…Above 5/22/2011 Below 5/26/201111
AA
i feel the loss of those 2 trees acutely, but it’s so stupid to complain about it…manymany people have it a lot worse…still…i’m bummed. definitely keeping busy, though.
we’re definitely making progress…here’s a view from 5/26:
here’s the way it looks today:
of course, i use the term “we” loosely–you can bet that casey will not stop until this is cleaned up. i’m not safe with a chainsaw, but i can handle a lopper and a rake. we’re hauling the branches down to the woods (where, surprise, there’s a whole bunch of trees down) and starting a new hedgerow. it’s all okay…
except for the fact that i forgot it was thursday and missed a vbs meeting, it’s been a very productive day. you see, all the gardens are fine and happy…it was only the front (west) of the house that was affected by the storm. much like facebook, where you can lurk all day, i know that a lot of people have been driving by the house…first looking at the damage, then marveling at how fast casey is clearing it away. honestly, watching the man wears me out…i’ve had to take all his naps for him…
one week after The Trees Fell…
all that’s left is to actually drop the trees, and the tree guys that we called the day after the storm Promised they’d be out this week. i’m in no hurry, though; in fact, i hope they wait and let us take a day off tomorrow. and wink, the first one out of the room when we heard the trees falling, claims he never was afraid…
It’s clear I was bummed by this event, but I’m here to say it again: I was Terrifically Bummed. The only thing that made me feel better was the idea that I would screen in the porch, which we did in 2012. All’s well that ends well.
We’re headed into a week of scattered thunderstorms…May all of Our Trees stay upright…
We got a late start to our Cemetery Loop Trip yesterday because it was so cold in the morning. We finally set out at about noon and modified the map to only include the Kinkade-Maynes and I’ll get over to Grayville another time. It was both fruitful and disappointing.
We went first to Lick Prairie Cemetery where my 3x great-grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Mayne, is buried alongside his last wife, Phoebe. (my actual 3x great-grandmother is buried near Springfield, Ohio). This pretty little cemetery even has a full list of “residents” with a code to help you find their spot.
As we drove up the road towards Parkersburg, we drove through West Salem, a village where my great-grandmother’s family lived. I’d gotten the address where Grandmother lived with her Aunt Hattie in 1900 and I hoped to find something there, but what could be old enough is certainly falling down, or the house may have been where a large church parking lot now covers a block. We did see this, though:
Yes, that’s a hog on the front porch…
Next stop was Oak Hill Cemetery in Parkersburg, IL where I hoped to find my 2xgreat-grandmother, Analiza McWilliams Kinkade, and 2x great grandfather, Alexander Kinkade. I did find my 3x great-grandparents, Joseph and Mary Ann (Walker) Kinkade…
The last time I visited Oak Hill cemetery was with my great-grandmother Mayne when I was a kid and I can picture her standing in front of her mother’s tombstone crying. My memories turned out to be useless. Whilst searching around (I love cemeteries) there was another couple and two kids running around and we struck up a conversation. Turns out the fella is a Kinkade! They are retired military, living up the road in a town called Oreo, out decorating graves with their two grand-daughters. He’s from the line of Albert Kinkade, though, and I’ve never been able to make a connection to that family, though I’m sure we all go back to the Scottish Clan Kinkade. We never did find Analiza…
We moved along the road to Marion Church Cemetery, one where I feel right at home; my 2x great grandmother, Emma Eliza Mayne, donated the land for it (and the church). You have to traverse three miles of gravel road to get to this cemetery, but the church is still in use and they take excellent care of it. Emma and her husband, Leander Mayne, are there, as well as my grandfather, Robert A. Mayne, Sr. There’s also Uncles Chester and Herbert, both of whom died in 1880s, and their stones are in bad need of cleaning. I need to do that some day.
Guess who was also visiting the Marion Church cemetery? The Kincade couple that we met up at Parkersburg. The gentleman is also related to the Blood Family who are buried there; (great) Grandad’s sister, Nellie Mayne, had married Frank Blood back in the 1890s and they had two children that my 2x great-grandmother Emma helped raise. We are all truly connected, eh?
I told the lady that I hadn’t found Analiza and she called her sister, who works at the County Clerk’s office and she checked some records and said that Analiza (who died in 1877, age 31) was back in the Oldest Section alongside her parents, my 3x greats, George and Catherine McWilliams. I wasn’t even thinking to look for them and had focused on the Kinkades. I didn’t do my homework well, either, as I should have known that Alexander Kinkade is buried in Bethel Cemetery alongside his second wife, Josephine. Definitely another trip is in order, and I’ll bring some tombstone cleaner with me.
I was not happy with the temperatures falling back into the 40s this week. Spring is such a tease. It’s nice to turn the page of the calendar to June and start the final stretch of the Vernal Season.
The News from Sonnystone Acres 