Happy Birthday Week Benjamin Riggs

Last Thursday afternoon we started our journey north.  Across the barren lands...oh wait, we were just going to Springdale, Arkansas to take Riggs home.  For a moment I forgot myself.  Riggs had been with us for two weeks!  Wow!  That's quite a bit of time for a boy turning 8 years old.  Riggs had spent an enchanting day with us a couple of months ago when we had visited a miniature farm and bought some sheep.  He had then helped us build the sheep pen.  Riggs is an animal lover.  His dad, our third son Ben, called at the beginning of May and said Riggs wanted to come and spend a couple of weeks with us when he got out of school.  Of course Pappy said, "Yes!"  I was still in school and in fact getting moved out of our building and getting ready for summer school in another building.  So Riggs spent most of his time with Pappy.  Ben called me and said, "Mom, Riggs has really looked forward to spending his 'Birthday Week' with you guys." 



When Riggs turned 5 he got to pick out a puppy.  Ken & I took him to a Jack Russell Breeder.
We still keep Underdog for him at our house!

 Seems he's heard stories about how Ken & I handled birthdays with our children.  We had four darlings and when birthdays seemed to be going "out the roof" with all of their friends, I decided to do a week of birthday.  They got a "treat" or small gift everyday for a week, they found it beside their plate at breakfast.  They did none of their chores during the week, another family member picked it up for them.  The birthday honoree got to plan their special birthday dinner with me and then of course there would be birthday cake and ice cream.  This worked very well for my family, I still enjoy it for myself!  It also worked well for Riggs.  He got a small prize every morning, and actually had 2 birthday cakes with ice cream here. 

Riggs helps to make birthday cupcakes for his cousin & sister!

His Uncle Jonathan came over with a bag of toys and his children.  On Wednesday evening, after Prayer Meeting, the church also gave him and 2 other members a Surprise Birthday Party.  Riggs thought he had hit a gold mine.  When he got home his mom had made a special Thor Hammer Cake and there were more cards and presents!  Benjamin Riggs Evans is a wonderful, vivacious person.  He delighted us for two weeks and we miss him already!!!  But he's coming back for Mammy & Pappy Camp along with 7 of his cousins second week of July!  Wahoo!!!

May 29, A Very Special Day!!!

Tafta, me, Ken & Joe

Today is sweet baby Joe's 29th birthday, it is also Tafta and Matt's 7th wedding anniversary.  What a pleasure Joe & Tafta have always been to me!  Even when I was carrying Joe and sick as I could be, he was wanted.  I knew the fourth child, the sixth member of our family would complete us until they all grew up to get married and started having children of their own. 

Some things I didn't know was that he would marry a wonderful girl, Casondra, and have 2 beautiful girls, Sadee & Sophee.   I also didn't know Tafta would bless our lives with Matthew Rogers and 2 wonderful girls, Audrey Jane & Ava.

When I first got pregnant with Joe & I mean morning one, Ken said to me, "Well, he'll be born May 28th."  I said, "We'll see."  Thinking that man is crazy.  I still had prenatal vitamins left over from Ben and I was so very sick.  I couldn't get to the Dr., because of the severe nausea.  Best diet I ever went on.  When I finally called the Dr. that had delivered the other three, he jumped all over me...I was at that time six months pregnant and he was going to be out of the country when the baby was due to be delivered.  He sent me immediately to another doctor.  This doctor told me he didn't believe I was pregnant.  I wasn't showing at all.  I told him I knew I was because I was so very sick and the baby was already kicking.  He was emphatic that sometimes women want to be pregnant so much that they can give themselves all the symptoms.  I thought well if you don't get the show on the road, I might deliver my symptom at home.  But I kept that comment to myself.  He called in his technician to do an ultrasound.  This was the first one I'd ever had. 

Sure enough there was our boy sucking his thumb.  You could almost see him grinning!  The technician ran out of the room and in came the doctor, "Well, I see you are pregnant!"  Again I kept my mouth shut.  Amazing...  He set my due date for May 21, because the baby was big.  Ken said, "Wrong, May 28."  He knows his math but he forgot about midnight...anyway.  Joe weighed in at 9 lbs 15 oz, May 29, 1982.  He came so fast that the doctor that delivered him did so in cut off jeans and a t-shirt.  That fits Joe.  He has been a delight ever since...a wonderful baby, a delightful child, a courageous man.  On this Memorial Day Weekend, I salute you Joe!

Joe & Cas as he departs for Iraq.

While Joe was training for his "stint" in Iraq, Tafta married Matthew Steven Rogers.  I remember right before their wedding, we called Joe and sang "Happy Birthday" to his answering machine.  Then it was on with the wedding.  It was  beautiful...there was a gorgeous bride and a handsome groom.  Her brother Ben married them because Tafta wanted her Daddy to give her away & sit by me.  That was a trip.  The part I always wanted to do was sing "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, Ken & I did that too!  Well the wedding turned out with a hitching!  And all is right with the world...I love you guys and wish you many more years of married bliss...

Tafta, Ava, Matt, & Audrey

Who is Caren Delet' Murphy?

I get asked this quite a bit.  My answer...I dunno...I love a good Urban Legend!  And that is exactly how this story started out.  I taught Speech and Drama for years and if you do a good job with that your trunk must be full of good stories.  Mine is!  I saved this particular story in the deep recesses of my brain and I bring it out EVERY Halloween.  I love it and who knows it MIGHT be TRUE!!!  Mama & Daddy would know best.  Here's the story I tell to my dear class.

Us older 5:  (front) me, Charlotte, Frank Jr.
(back)  Lenora, dog Daddy won at fair, Caren

There were 7 children born to Frank & Juanita Murphy:  Charlotte Ann, Caren Delet', Debbie Lynn, Lenora Kaye, Frank Jr., Elizabeth Faye and Sandy Elaine.  We grew up in the country...and I mean the country.  The only people that lived on the road I grew up on was us and our grandmother.  At one end of our road there was a turn around spot and at the other end there was a graveyard.  When I was growing up, our family tended to that graveyard.  I've spent many hours raking and mowing the graveyard.  Quite a bit of our family is buried there, the dead ones that is.  Anyway, we ran and we romped all over that road and those woods.  We also played on the railroad tracks between our house and our school, Swartz Elementary.  Lenora even skipped school one time because she walked to school on the tracks and played too much along the way...or something like that.   Back to my original story.  My dear sister, Caren, was a little over a year older than me and a little under a year younger than Charlotte.  She also enjoyed walking to and from school, but not as much as Lenora and me.

All the Murphy Girls:  Elizabeth and Sandy (front)
Mama, Lenora, me, Charlotte and Caren (back)
Just a few days before that fateful October day...

 One day however, she missed the bus and decided to walk home.  It started raining.  It was one of those deep, dark, damp, chill you to your bones rain.  Caren was a little frail thing anyway and if she had called Mama or Daddy they would gladly have come and picked her up, but she CHOSE to walk home in the rain.  Well being frail and sickly, sure enough Caren caught pneumonia and she only lived a week after that fateful day.
A couple of years after Caren's untimely departure, on a Sunday afternoon, my parents were taking a nap when a cute young man knocked on our door.  I answered, as was my habit when cute young men knocked on my door.  Anyway, he asked for Caren.  I thought he meant my friend Karen Jinks, who lived just a few country roads down.  I told him he had turned off the main highway too soon.  He needed to go back and get off on Morgan Hare Road.  He argued, "No I dropped her off here just yesterday."  I told him I thought I knew who lived here and Karen lived a few roads on down the line.  He then saw our 8 x 10 school pictures hanging on the wall, all 7 of us there in a row.  He pointed to dear Caren and said emphatically, "HER!"  I stumbled, I stuttered, I fumbled, and then said, "Caren is ddddeeeaad."  I got him out of the house quickly so as not to disturb my mom and dad.  They would have been deeply disturbed.  He spoke of Caren as if he had just seen her.  He told me how he had seen her walking home the day before in the rain.  He had picked her up and gave her a ride home.  He swore he had dropped her off at our front door.  She was so cold that he had given her his black leather jacket and she had told him he could come the next day and pick it up.  So here he was.  I swore back at him that my Caren was indeed dead.  To prove it I got in his car and rode back to Springhill Cemetery where there we both got a surprise.  Indeed he saw Caren Delet' Murphy's grave, but I saw hanging there on her tombstone his black leather jacket.

Caren today...perhaps...

Many of my friends have seen or heard from Caren since this time.  Some don't seem to remember her.  All I can say is the memory of dearly departed is so sorrowful sometime we do the best we can...
The journey is but a wisp of wind, enjoy it while you are here!

Send Mama to the Rescue!



My earlier blog, "Is That You Mama?", reminded me of another story I heard one time.  It goes like this.
Seems an older woman called her daughter one afternoon to check in on her and the family.  The young woman was in tears.  The older woman asked, "Baby, what in the world is wrong with you?"  "Oh Mama", the younger woman explained, "The house is mess, the children are running around like wild heathens, and that crazy husband of mine just called to say he's bringing his boss home for supper!"  The older woman felt the young woman's pain and responded, "Don't worry anymore.  Go pack the kids an overnight bag and you go take a soothing bath.  I'll come and on my way over I'll pick up some Chinese take-out.  When I get there, I'll help you clean up the house and then I'll bring the children to spend the night with me.  It will all be OK."  The young woman was extremely relieved, as any of us would be, and she exclaimed, "Oh Mama, thank you so much!  Richard is going to owe you big time!"  She heard a silent pause on the other end of the line...Then the older woman asked, "Richard?"  Then she repeated the number she had dialed.  The older woman sorrowfully said, "Oh honey, I think I've got the wrong number."  The younger one now in deeper anxiousness said, "Wait a minute, does that mean you're not coming?!" 

Moral:  Sometimes any mama will do...Just please send Mama to the rescue...This journey can be too crazy to take alone!

Is That You Mama?

The last six week period, following i-LEAP & LEAP is a good time for projects.  As I told you in an earlier blog, "Things That Make You Go Hmm", our Science teacher sent the kiddos on a virtual scavenger hunt.  The project was worth MEGA points and it was due yesterday.  Its due date was brought to my attention yesterday morning when one of my honor students came begging to get in my room to see if she'd left it there.  She had not.  She found it though when I gave her my keys and let her look in the science room...hmm...
The best search happened yesterday afternoon.  We have a 7 period day, with a break between 5th and 6th period.  On that break I usually make my way  to the office (bathroom break, snack, cola, conversation, copy machine...).  It was there that I witnessed hilarity at its finest.  Sarena, one of the seventh grade girls, was on the phone with her mother explaining exactly where she left her project at home, on the stereo.  She explained how it was due TODAY and that she needed her to bring it to school immediately.  She was on the phone pleading for several minutes when she heard "her mama" say "We don't have a stereo on our four-wheeler."  Don't ask about the four-wheeler.  But it was then that Sarena realized she had just poured her heart out and pleaded to a wrong number.  Poor kid.  She called again.  This time her grandmother answered.  I thought the kid was going to ask for birth date and social security number.  She did ask her something, then I heard her say, "Aw, this is my MaMaw!  Can I talk to mama?"  She got her project there in time...Sometimes the journey takes us up the wrong road, but we'll get there eventually.

7th graders are not the only ones apparently that lose projects.  You can google "lost projects" and find a whole list of different web sites for a whole bunch of lost stuff.  Wow!

Test Scores are in, Let's Get on with the Ride!

If you are a tried and true reader of my blog...ahem...then you remember or have read "Come Smile with Me a While"  as well as "Testing the Football Version".  Well I have something to smile about...testing is over, scores are in for another year, and we lived through it!  I didn't even have to coach an inning of football, but I was ready.  Some of the kiddos knocked it out of the park, I guess that's baseball.  Some scored a touchdown.  Some got their body slammed.  Some got the wind knocked out of their sails.  I REALLY try to put this all in perspective.  It's just ONE test on ONE day and there are so MANY factors that weigh in on this monster.  Coach Freddie Hallman, whom I respect a whole heapa bunch, use to tell me "Mrs. Evans, we prepare best we can.  We hit the field hard and alert, but on any given night any given team could beat anybody."

Coach Freddie Hallman & wife Jodie
Freddie knows football!

 I think that describes this testing stuff too.  We  prepared the BEST we could.  I gave it 100% and so did the children I teach.  I require it of them.  I expect it of them.  Even the ones who fell back a few yards or got yellow flagged or  a penalty, I felt did the best they could in that moment.  Some of the darlings brought a lot of "baggage" with them that fateful morning.  It's hard to run hard when you're carrying a bunch of unnecessary weight.   Some ran straight in for a TOUCHDOWN!  One sweetheart told me she was praying for an Advanced, she's never made one.  And what do you know, she made her very first one this year in MATH!  I'm extremely proud for her.  I'm also proud of my students that leaped from an Unsatisfactory to a Basic this year.  Just as I celebrate with them, I hurt with those that had a setback.  But that's all it is, a temporary setback.  In basketball, when you foul someone and the ref blows his whistle and calls your number, you put your hand up and get back in the game.  We will put our hands up, study our successes (to repeat them), study or defeats (to delete them) and get back in the game.  THAT'S HOW WE ROLL!!!

Bring on Your A Game!

I always hear the latest quip when it's yesterday's news.  But I heard one today that made my laughter jump straight out and holler!  State test scores came out for our 8th graders.  Our Principal called each 8th grade student into his office and delivered their scores to them and gave them their options:  congratulations or summer school.  Our 7th graders witnessed for the first time the tears in the halls, the emotions felt by their peers, good and bad.  My third hour class entered my room very somber.  I thought it was a good time to deliver my "Remember This Mood" speech.  I was expounding on the importance of delivering your "A Game" every time you come to school, when an innocent interrupted me with, "Mrs. Evans, what does the A in A Game stand for?"  Get ready here comes the zinger!  One of her classmates looked at her, rolled her eyes and said, "Girl, if that's your A Game you better bring the rest of the alphabet!"

Oh yeah, both girls are in this picture!  They are BETA kids, the smart ones!!!

 I whooped and hollered.  I love it!  So here comes my A Game and a whole can of Alphabet Soup!  That sweet sarcasm is why I can teach Jr. High & keep on rolling.  The journey is SWEET!!!

Flowers Picked by a Child

Sometimes silk flowers have to do...Sadee's smile
is more beautiful than the most beautiful flower.

I have several friends and family members that have GREEN thumbs...monster ones.  They can grow anything beautifully.  I can grow children beautifully.  I believe it is a gift from God above for either to flourish at the hand of mere mortals.  The thought of all those beautiful roses, daises, zinnias and other hearty spring flowers and the fact that I have had and have some of my grandchildren with me this weekend and still yet, sparked a thought.  I don't believe a flower, any type, should stay in a bed.  No flower was ever so beautiful as when picked by a child and handed to his/her mother.  Sadee picked a flower at my house and gave it to her mother when she was here Sunday.  Sure it's going to die, but it's going to die in the bed also.  The memory and the smile brought to mind of both mother and child will live for a LONG time.  My friend, Joanna, hosted a flower potting the Saturday before Mother's Day for children in her "church" community for years.  Poor children, rich children and all those in between would come and pot a flower for their mother as a present for Mother's Day.  She also would provide a snack for each.  Another friend of mine, Carroll, grows beds and beds and beds of day lilies.  He has been seen all over Grayson, Columbia, Monroe, and West Monroe delivering his day lilies to nursing homes, the sick at home,  and hospital patients.  We love to drive by his house when they are in full bloom, but I tell you for sure they seem to be in FULLER bloom in the vase as he walks in those hospital rooms.  He and his beautiful wife have even shared flowers for my classroom during summer school.  Some of those children feel so gloomy, the bright yellow flowers brighten every face.  For those of you that love a flower garden, here's an idea.  Host a garden party  where you invite local children to cut a small bouquet of flowers for their mothers.  You could serve a cup of lemonade and sugar cookies.  Yes it is true, those flower gardens brighten your spot of the world but think of the light you could bring to your whole community and even beyond.  Pass it on!

Things That Make You Go Hmm...

Hmm...You've heard about things that make you go "Hmm"  before, right?  Things like, "If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?" hmm...Yesterday our Science teacher shared one with me that actually made me go HMMMM!!!  At the end of the school year it's a good time to give the children a project to complete.  In 7th grade math we build tetrahedrons and measure and measure and measure some more and then we tie them together and make different tetrahedral kites.  In 7th grade science she gives the kiddos a Scavenger Hunt.  They complete this hunt by using several different sources:  their science text books, different science magazines, and of course the Internet, etc.  In order to give the children plenty of access to the Internet, she spends several hours during the project with them in the computer lab.  She monitors them closely and listens as they discuss with their partners where they think they should go for these different answers.  One of the questions on the "hunt" was:  Name the first three astronauts who walked on the moon.  She overheard one of the little darlings saying to her partner, "Well, we know one of their names was Houston.  Because remember he said to him, 'Houston, we have a problem.'"  When she told me this story all I could muster up was HMMM...State test scores come in next week...HMMM...

My Feet are Still, but My Spirit Dances!

google.com

Today Google unveiled an animated dancing logo in honor of Martha Graham's 117th birthday.  In case you don't know who that is according to Wikepedia "she was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture."  This Google logo is one of the most beautiful things I think I've ever seen. I don't know what the artist was trying to depict, but I know how it made me feel.  Unleashed...free...my spirit soared.  I'm only 53 years old, and sometimes I sit in my chair, feeling old, but my spirit dances without me even leaving my chair.  That reminds me of scripture, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."  That of course is out of context, but it can apply.  I remember when I was in first grade, my mom had made me a beautiful full skirted dress.  At recess I danced all over the playground.  I did not really care who watched, who laughed, who pointed, who tattled to Charlotte or my teacher.  I just danced.   There's a song that says, "When you get the chance to sit it out or dance...I hope you dance..."  I love that. 



May we always sing, dance, and  SOAR

One of my favorite feelings comes in dreams when I am soaring above crowds of people or just through trees...I never fall...I can just take off running, twirling, gliding and the next thing I know I'm soaring.  Not too high because I'm afraid of heights.  But that feeling is the same one I get when I'm twirling around the classroom or the dance floor or my first grade playground WAY BACK WHEN.  Thanks Google.  I gave my class a test today, but as I monitored the test, my spirit danced all day...

Sadee's First Tea Party!

We were all invited to wear our best dress!

Sadee twirled and she danced as she welcomed each guest!

Kate, Mammy and Audrey Jane decked out in pearls,

As Sadee and Cas served each of the girls.

Sugar and spice, we stacked all the cubes

Then put it in our tea, and stirred it well too.

We toted those cubes and showed off our grace,

And delighted all with our pretty little face.

Say "Cheese" and please come again,

There's nothing like a tea party with eight of your friends!

To His Mother

Mama Von with Kendalyn, Kate, Bethany, Audrey, Ava, Sadee, Sophee & Anne-Claire

To His Mother

Author Unknown

"Mother-in-Law" they say, and yet.
Somehow I simply can't forget
Twas you who watched his baby ways
Who taught him his first hymn of praise,
Who smiled on him with loving pride
When he first toddled by your side.
"Mother-in-Law" but oh, twas you
Who taught him to be kind and true,
When he was tired, almost asleep,
Twas to your arms he use to creep.
And when he bruised his tiny knee,
Twas you who kissed it tenderly.
"Mother-in-Law" they say and yet
Somehow I never shall forget
How very much I owe
To you, who taught him how to grow.
You trained your son to look above,
You made of him the man I Love
and so I think of that today.
Ah! Then with thankful heart I'll say
'Our Mother'

I am thankful today that my husband loves his mother and mine as his very own.  My daughter, my friend, has grown to be one of the best mothers I've ever known.  Her daughters are truly blessed.   I am also thankful for each of my daughter-in-laws for which I prayed years before they met my sons.  God has so richly blessed me with wonderful mothers in my life!

A Special Day...

Audrey and Mother, the Queen Bees...

I love having a special day to think on Mothers. But really, I celebrate just about every day for some reason or other...(I love a good celebration...)This Sunday, May 8, I will be in church watching mothers being pinned for most children, oldest mother, youngest mother,etc.  If they gave a rose or some prize for  "Really You?"  I'd probably get that award.  I love my children and my grandchildren, but they were not my plan.  I decided early in my life I would not have children.  I didn't like children.  They reminded me of the munchkin land which reminded me of flying monkeys.  My mother had six beautiful, smart, wonderful children so why try to compete with that?  That's what I thought.  Then I met Ken.  All my plans change, that man is cute.  And so are my children and grandchildren.  I LOVE THEM and I'm glad God had other plans than the ones I had made.  My mother was an EXCELLENT mother.  She sews beautifully (but since fb & blogging take so much time, she's way too busy), she cooks very well, and knows just how to comfort or soothe a crying baby or grown child.  She always made sure we did our best in all we did and was there to support us in any way possible growing up. I love my MAMA!

Sully Mac, Kate, Stacy, Jonathan, Kendalyn & Joshua

Sunday, I'll also be thinking of my beautiful daughter-in-law Stacy Love Newman Evans.  She is married to my firstborn, Jonathan.  It is her birthday.  Stacy is the mother of four of my beautiful grandchildren, 10, 7, 6 and 1 year olds.  She is a WORKING mom and that does not just include a job.  She has been a wonderful example to me and most everyone that knows her on how to take care of the elderly loved ones in our lives.  Stacy aided both her grand mothers until their deaths.  She has coached her daughter in t-ball and now coaches one of her sons.  As I mentioned earlier with my mom, Stacy Girl can cook very well and does so for her family and friends.  She is known for sending dishes or soups to others if they are sick or just as a "pick me up".  As a matter of fact when I was really sick one time, she sent me a whole pot of the best potato soup in the world.  These two ladies wear me out.  They make me tired just typing about their lives!  Maybe I need a mother to live with me and tend to me...I don't know if I ever got it all down just right, this "Mothering" thing, but it's been a WONDERFUL journey and I am so glad God knows the way I should go!  Happy Mother's Day to all my children.  You have made me what I am, so deal with it!

TOTALLY BLESSED & a little crazy!

I Refuse to be Bored

Boredom has always meant trouble for me.  I don't just go to sleep when I get bored.  I don't just drift off into a daydream.  In fact daydreaming is something I NEVER NEVER engage in.  I simply don't do it!  My husband dreams enough for both of us.  When I get bored, I get into mischief.  That's a shame but I choose not to help myself.  For example, one year I had first hour as my planning period.  UH OH!  That smells like trouble.  I usually already had everything copied on the day before.  I had the room ready.  There was nothing else to do.  I stole the Principal's intercom telephone and called myself to the office.  Following the announcement I quickly put the phone in my desk drawer.  The teacher next door put her head in my door, I appear to be studying my lesson plans or some such.  She says, "Did you just hear that announcement?"  Of course I did not.  "Well...", she continues, "You just got called to the office and it sounded like you."  Ummm, then I'd better go.  I went.  I reported to the secretary.  She gazed at me.  She had not heard the announcement.  As I'm returning to my room, at least three children see me in the hall and say, "Mrs. Evans, you're wanted in the office."  "So I hear, but when I got there they didn't want me.  What am I to do?", I question.  They are very puzzled.  One or two even said,"It sounded like you."  UMM... I make it to my room.  I recall myself.  The same teacher shows up...I'm studying again.  She shakes her head very puzzled.  Finally the principal shows up.  "Do you have my phone?"   I deny all.  He gets half-way to the office and I call him to the office.  He returns to my room.  "Did you just call me to the office?"  "No but if you got called to the office, why are you here?  Is this the office?  Have I been promoted?  Yeah Me!  Will there be a celebration cake at lunch?"  He shakes his head.  He gets halfway to the office.  I recall him.  He returns, puts his hand out and I return his phone.  I never had first period off again.  Sometimes the journey is puzzling but never boring...

Fried Chicken, Pass the Gravy!



Ken loves my fried chicken!





Hey everybody, I fried some chicken up tonight!  Yea, that's right, good ole southern, country fried chicken...with the skin on and everything.  Ain't one good thing about it health wise except it's good to those taste buds!  My husband has been craving some Debbie-made fried chicken for a while.  Usually when I get home from work, that man has supper planned.  But tonight when I rolled in, he was still out there working.   I called him and said, "Hey baby, I'm home."  He said, "I'm sorry, I'm still out here working and I've planned nothing for supper."  Well, I didn't want nothing!  So, it's on like a chicken bone!  To the store I carried myself.  Got a whole fryer, bought it, brought it home, cut it up and now it's chicken on to fry!  Frying up some chicken brings back a whole lot of good memories for me. 



My Day's Fowled Up!

When I was growing up, it was my absolute favorite thing my mama could serve us for lunch or supper.  She'd serve up some pork-n-beans and mashed potatoes with some of the best fried chicken (maybe straight from our hen house) you ever ate.  The straight from the hen house brings back memories of Daddy wringing their necks, dipping them in boiling water, and then some plucking went down.  I'm a real good chicken plucker...Chickens saw me coming and shuddered...

Mama always left the chicken butt in place.  We of course were not allowed to say that, but I took great pleasure in telling my younger sister, Elizabeth, that she was eating the part of the chicken that went over the fence last.  She would yell, I would shrug my shoulders as if wondering what the problem could be.  Mama would threaten...I would giggle. 
Well, none of that happened at my house this evening.  I fried the chicken; I prepared the cream potatoes; I wrapped the green beans in bacon and baked them; I made some gravy.  We ate and that chicken I swear was finger licken' good!



Move over, my chicken is "finger licken'" !



                





Sisters and Tea Parties



The Sisters, A gift from Sandy
The Tea Set, A gift from Aunt Jane

Sandy Elaine gave me the Sisters in the above photo a few summers ago.  I love the beach and she knows it.  The girls come from a series of Kathy Andrews Fincher and it's called "Mama Says...Take Care of Your Sister".  On the bottom of the sculpture is the following:


Mama  smiles...her younger daughter loves to follow in the wake of her older sister.

Mama prays...no matter how deep the sea of life, her daughters will reach out for each other.

Following this there is a scripture notation:  Romans 12: 10

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another.

Oh that this would be my thought this day toward all my sisters, family and those in Christ.

The tea set was passed on to me from MaMa Evans via Aunt Jane.  At Mammy and Pappy Camp, Ken served our darling grandchildren ice water using the service while I told them the story of Queen Esther.  What a wonderful memory that is for me.

 This Easter, Sadee Ann asked me if I could make hot chocolate for all the cousins for breakfast.  I did.  I broke out the tea set, made hot cocoa in the tea pot and served them in the tea cups.  She was thrilled.  She is hosting her first tea party for her birthday this next Saturday.  Ken and I bought her a "grown-up" tea set for her party.  As she was showing it all to her Dad, he said she rolled out the demitasse cups so very carefully, then the sugar bowl, then the creamer, finally when she uncovered her teapot, she said, "Impressed, uh?"    I don't know if he was, but I am!  She'll be four and we will all be in our best dresses as she serves at Merci Beau Coup in Natchitoches, Saturday morning...her first Tea Party...Her journey has only just begun...




Sadee Ann is "beating up" something special for her guests, as Anne-Claire looks on...