Monday, April 12, 2010

Too, too long!!!
























































It's been too, too long since I've posted, and my oldest dear daughter recently reminded me of this. Let's see - where do I start??? Do I go back and talk about Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years???? Very special times, especially 'cause my Philly-living girl came home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many good times with family! We hosted the Homeschool Christmas dinner - I think there were about 50 or so folks in attendance. We also had our Sunday school class over after Christmas (not quite as many, but still a good time!).
Super Bowl party at the Sartain's house! I'm thinking there were about 80 or so students and various adults in attendance. We had four TV's going and lots of great food.
We just returned from a trip to Kentucky and a combined visiting relatives/field trip/reunion with classmates kind of jammed-packed four days. We first went to Columbus-Belmont State Park in Kentucky; where the Confederates thought to out-smart the Yankees by stretching a huge chain and anchor across the Mississippi to keep them out of the deep South. Didn't work & the rest, as they say, is history! Got some great pictures and learned a lot. The museum is closed during the week, but I called and they opened up especially for our "school" group!
Susan and Lillian, Larry's aunts and our favorite traveling companions, went with us. They were amazed that we saw four major rivers - the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Tennessee and the Cumberland. We spent the better part of Friday with relatives - my favorite cousin Doris and my aunt, uncle and cousins in Dycusburg. We went by the farm where Doris and my father were raised, and by the farm where Mother lived as well. Visited Mother's grave and other relatives at the cemetary there. We went to "old" Kuttawa and I tried to remember where some of the buildings had been before they flooded the town in 1966 to form Barkley Lake. Had a wonderful visit with my aunt, uncle and 3 of their kids (and some grandkids & great-grandkids). I hadn't seen them in several years and it was good to catch up.

We drove around Paducah and saw Nobel Park, my old house where I lived for 20 years on Oaks Road, saw my high school, my old church and toured Paducah. I had forgotten how pretty it is with all the dogwood and redbud trees in bloom. We went to Metropolis, Illinois - the home of Superman! Quaint old river town. Then toured Fort Massac State Park where a reproduction of the Revolutionary War fort has been constructed. Lillian managed to get in a little antiquing in Paducah. The downtown has been partially restored and there are neat shops, galleries and cafes up and down Broadway. The floodwall has been beautifully painted with murals depicting Paducah's history - from the Indians through the building of the nuclear plant and the atomic age. We finally found the statue of Chief Paduke (I think he sold Paducah to the Clark boys for about $5).
Best of all, we were able to eat Fiesta Burgers at Bob's Drive-In! Yum!!! If you've ever had one, you won't forget it! I'm craving one right now!!!
One of the highlights of the trip for me was a dinner planned by my old friend (not that she's old - we've just known each other since 1st grade) Debi Walker Crouch. She managed to get together about 7 of us at Logan's Steakhouse. David Forbis came and brought his lovely wife, Nancy LaRue was there, Minnie Duncan, Debi, Donna Ramage, and Twyla McGuins! Our high school choir teacher, Donna Green Seltzer, was able to drop by. We had a great time talking about old times and hoping for a class reunion. We laughed, guffawed and just had a wonderful time. My throat was sore we talked so much. I think the others did most of the talking and I mainly listened. (ha)
I'll try to do better in keeping this up. I know I left out lots of stuff, but keep watching; I'll do better. Baseball season has started, so look for some baseball pictures!!