It’s the Second Day of Christmas and I’m expecting the delivery of my turtledoves anytime now. Boxing Day in the UK was originally about opening the alms boxes to give to the poor, but has devolved into a shopping day. It’s also St. Stephen’s Day in the Catholic church, the day that Good King Wenceslas looked out where the snow lay round about…
Last Monday was the anniversary of my daughter’s birth and we were in NYC to celebrate. After luncheon at The Community, we proceeded to the movie theatre to see “West Side Story”. (We Loved it, we cried, we marveled…you really should see it.) Then we trooped back to the apartment to sing and blow out candles; I’m Sure her wishes can come true.
We had a super time on Christmas Eve with the Jrs. After a good meal replete with mashed potatoes and gravy, we opened presents. Then it was off to the movie theatre to see “Encanto” which was encanting…(insert punny emoji)
We called the grandies on Christmas morning; beyond that it was just us, two old kids, exchanging presents, drifting through the day, content with grazing the leftovers, amicably sharing. The Day was balmy, so we walked through the woods, planning a pruning spree next month; walked around the gardens discussing plans for the 2022 upgrades; walked down to the campfire circle and envisioned a wall of forsythia between us and the neighbors’ pond… I hope your Christmas was just as heartwarming as ours…
We may or may not have visitors from Manhattan this week, depending on Covid testing. I think Emma may have gotten caught in the blizzard out there…
We drove through the fog and rain from Eville to Nashville, past trees that had been broken like twigs by that massive tornado that had roared through Kentucky just a week before. We have always lived with the threat of tornadoes and have experienced a few, but a twister staying on the ground, a mile wide, for 227 miles is mind-boggling. There was literally no escape from it. It is such a sobering sight to see the damage those Big Winds do and my heart goes out to the survivors.
We arrived in NYC Thursday evening to weather that was spring-like and I was feeling so confident that I was “safe”, wearing my mask, thrice-vaccinated, and visiting a city that is Strict about such things. Already, though, the omicron was rearing its ugly head and Grandie Emma’s school had closed a day early to avoid large gatherings. Still, I was shocked, dismayed, and disappointed Friday afternoon when Radio City Music Hall cancelled All remaining performances — we were to attend 11am Saturday.
Still, we’re together, and we just pivoted…The Jose’ fam opened their presents on Saturday morning…
It’s Luggage!
On Saturday evening, Melissa, Emma, Eliza, and I drove out to Garden City on Long Island so they could attend an “extra” Irish Dance class to prepare them for the upcoming major competition, All-Ireland’s.
You’ve seen my girls in their wigs and tans, glittering dresses and sparkly headpieces, wearing their winning sashes and hoisting their trophies, but it’s rare (especially since Covid) to see how hard they work to get there. The school that is responsible for making the grandies into champions is Doherty-Petri School of Irish Dancing. Their teachers, Lisa and Karen Petri, know how to set a high bar and help — yes, even Push — these kids to their limits. Emma and Eliza started their Irish Dancing career at another school and have only been at this one for a year. During that time, they have blossomed and grown into World-class competitors. Due to Covid precautions, parents aren’t allowed to sit in on the classes, but these kind ladies made an exception for me. I love the Rockettes, but watching these kiddos sweat and kick was love exponential.
Eliza and her buddy, Nora
Emma and her teacher, Karen
The headlines have been screaming about a “blizzard” of omicron Co-V-19 and all my confidence has eroded into a sick feeling that there is really no end to this. I truly understand that eventually “everybody” will have contracted this virus and that anti-viral treatments are becoming quite plentiful (and no, I don’t mean worm medicine or malaria pills), but the media continues to stir up panic that is hard to avoid when you are in a place that is shutting down again… I guess I’ll double-mask on the trip home.
We’ll be back at Sonnystone on Tuesday and get the rest of the presents wrapped in preparation for Christmas Eve with the Jrs.
On Monday we drove over to New Harmony to say good-bye to a relic of my past, Main Cafe.
Back in the 1990s I worked for Visiting Nurse, providing in-home care to folks in Posey County, which includes New Harmony – also Mount Vernon, Solitude, Blairsville, Wadesville, Fairview, St. Philips, and all the farms in between. Whenever possible, I planned my day to include lunch at The Main. The place has always closed at 1pm, so I had to get there by 12:30, but as I got to know the owners and servers, they’d let me stay and do some of my paperwork while they cleaned up.
The place is a throwback to the olden days, both the building and the menu. Plate lunches and breakfast all day (back then). Real mashed potatoes with real gravy. Liver and onions on Tuesdays. Perfectly griddled grilled cheese sandwiches. Coffee from a Bunn percolator. Fresh pies. The owner was the cook and the servers were her sisters and her nieces. After 39 years, she’s now 80 and has sold the place; it will shut down for renovations on December 18. Her niece, Kim, and I had become good pals back in the 90s and I’ve always enjoyed seeing her when we’ve stopped in during New Harmony Events.
Sadly, the walls were already bare, the Rotary and Optimists Club banners having been moved to a new meeting place. The place is in dire need of repairs. The owner was not present and Kim said they were training a cook for the new owners who have promised to keep the menu the same, and she made sure he used enough butter, just like her Aunt had. Kim’s mom, now 73, was there to help wait tables.
The rest of the week whizzed by…got all my Christmas shopping done and then some. As is our tradition, Casey and I have agreed to not buy each other presents this year. He usually gets me something anyway, bringing it out at the last minute; I’m ready for him with 2 good surprises, though I’m pretty sure he suspects…
We baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday and Samantha was a Super Assistant in charge of handing me a rounded tablespoon of cookie dough. This was her first real chance to eat raw cookie dough, made from scratch, and I’m proud to have been her guide.
We’re leaving this Thursday for New York, flying out of Nashville to LaGuardia. After missing our trip last year, we’re Excited to be back at Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular. We’ll have a fun-packed visit with the Jose’ Fam and I’ll share it with you as soon as I can.
It’s been a busy week here at Sonnystone Acres with a lot of dr. appointments and that Birthday on Tuesday. Slowly but surely we brought down the Christmas decorations and spread them out around the house. The weather was perfect for hanging lights on Thursday and Friday and we added a new Star… Sorry, I haven’t gotten a picture yet, but it looks good.
Yesterday we held The Official Decorating-of-the-Tree with the Jr. girls
After the tree was finished, we headed Downtown to their Christmas celebration. Nothing going on there appealed to Olivia, so we dropped her off back at her house and it was just the three of us. We had free hot chocolate, a visit with Santa’s assistant, and met the Eville version of Anna and Elsa…Lots of Fun!
I have not bought a single present and currently have no idea what I should buy…As the kids get older I feel more and more like just giving them money. The little one definitely wants toys still, and even the older ones want to open some gifts, so I may do a mix-up of presents/cash. We’ll all be happy no matter what, I’m sure…
You know how it is — every year as soon as Thanksgiving leftovers have been eaten, we all say: I can’t believe it’s Christmastime already! Thus begins the buying and the baking, decking the halls and the fa-la-la-ing. We make our lists and check them twice, and I’d better get busy!
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…
This is your intrepid girl reporter with the Latest News from Sonnystone Acres…
Melissa was in a fender-bender, nobody hurt, Eliza slept through the scary part. Her car was totaled by the insurance company. Her visit with us was planned for around the 26th and she thinks she can buy a new car and stay on that same timeline, but I want her to just breathe. Of course, I want them here Now, but I want them here safely. That’s all I know for now, but that’s just a week away…
Meet Hopper, our resident bunny…
Hopper was a wee fella* when he presented in the veggie garden and destroyed a few green beans. We covered up all the holes he was using to get in, and he learned to be quite content around and in the Peace/Bird Garden, munching on leaves, clover. He’s rather tame and will often stay eating a couple of feet away from where we’re working or sitting as if he were invisible. We’ve seen neither hide nor hair of a mama or siblings, so I believe he was pretty smart to set up camp here near our house and away from the coyotes and hawks. I probably shouldn’t name him, but name or no name, I’ll be sad if something happens to him. *He may be a gal and that’s okay, too.
We’ve added on (again) to our veggie garden, moving the fence back about four feet and adding a gate. I’m full of ideas for a shade garden that lines a gravel path leading down to the firepit. I also potted up the parsley, sage, and rosemary to make room for the tentacles of the watermelons and cantaloupe.
We’ve got a windowsill full of tomatoes, a colander of green beans, and several bell peppers from The Edible Garden…
Behind the scenes of the scintillating life that I share with you on this blog is my Real Life. In my Real Life there are many relationships and each of them takes their turn at drama. Most of my family do Not read my blog, so I’m often tempted to spill the tea about them, but really I would rather just let it all be. However, Real Life intruded just last week when I delivered my Aunt Shirley’s ashes to her son Jeff’s house. I brought her ashes up from Florida last March and she’s been sitting on a shelf, surrounded by other family pictures. She’s been inspiring me — Shirley never was one to be quiet. — but it was time to move her along, getting her verry close to her final resting spot beside her Mom & Dad.
Aunt Shirley just before setting off on the last leg of her last trip to Grayville…
At any rate, I’ve had too many dramatic scenes played out for me this year, Distracting me from Ancestry research that I started Last Year and I was beginning to think I would Never Finish! I’m here to announce that I have, at last, added my great-grandmother’s family to my ancestry blog in a 3-part series published right Here: https://allmyancestry.wordpress.com/kinkade-mcwilliams-walker/
I still need to write a 4th chapter to tie up some loose ends, but I really need to move away from the family tree for the summer. Genealogy takes up so much time that I have to make it a seasonal hobby to make room for my gardening and travel, not to mention my Living Family!!
Here’s What’s Happening in the Gardens…
We decided to stake our zucchini this year…
…so far it’s working, but it isn’t helping them get pollinated so I need to attract bees. We’re looking at Bee Houses to attract Mason Bees, but it may be too late for this year…still studying. Any suggestions?
Ellis Park starts live racing Today…another reason I have to put away the genealogy. I’m skipping Opening Day, but I’ll be there In-Person on Thursday or Friday, or both…depends on the weather.
Happy Father’s Day to all the Super Dads out there, especially my son and son-in-law, Junior Casey and Eric Jose’. Hope you’re getting Mega Love and Attention which you surely deserve!
And it’s the first day of Summer, the Longest Day of the Year, the Solstice. From Ancient times the Solstice was celebrated as Midsummer and even today the Scandinavian Folks are partying like champs, drinking vodka and dancing around the Maypoles until they are dizzy.
We were out on Wednesday to feed the Budgies!
I love watering the gardens first thing in the morning, then sitting outside in my Thoughtful Spot and/or the front porch swing. It’s a great time to Praise and Thank.
I’m bemused by the hydrangeas…we have all colors growing side-by-side, a veritable rainbow. We’ve never put any lime or whatever it is people to turn them different colors. The pink one, by the way, was a gift from my old Bunco Club when my dad died 24 years ago; we call it “Dad” and it just keeps giving.
The Edible Garden is going to be actually edible soon…
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.
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 