She smiled with glee when I told her my daughter Nell is visitingand she is going to help me learn.
If I can remember the many steps and succeed, I will be sohappy. Wish me luck.
All of us are very blessed that the hurricane turned and wewere spared. When I looked out in the front yard on the morningof Sept. 16 the yard looked the way it had the day before. Onlytwo empty plastic garbage cans had blown over.
Our grandson in Meridian had a large oak, 36 inches in diameter,fall on a portion of his house. Part of the tree has been removedbut the up-ended root portion will just have to wait until otherpeople's pressing needs are cared for. A friend recommendedhe talk to Meridian contractor Tim Allred about the house repairs.
When our son Bill said Tim is from McComb, I felt so warm and"smiley," for I was sure I had known him all his life.The family lived on Wheelock Street in McComb, facing the backof North McComb (later renamed Hughes) School. His father Cliffdied last year.
I will always have warm and loving thoughts when I think ofCliff. Ever since Bernell's health began to fail, wheneverhe would see me, he would make a point to come and talk a fewminutes and ask how things were with us. He was a good man andgood neighbor. I was deeply touched when his own Exchange Clubchose to honor him this year with their Book of Golden Deeds award,posthumously.
The love bugs are here. About a month ago, there were a goodmany around for a few days, and I thought that was just too early they are due about Labor Day.
Then they were gone. We were getting off easy. Not so, forthey are back and are a nuisance. There have been years when sometimeswe could hardly walk on the concrete without cringing as we heardthe squish, squish as they were smashed.
The tomato crop is winding down. Those on the vines are smalland are being attacked by bugs.
Sometimes there is just one or two in sight and then anotherfruit with a dozen or more.
As I cut one that I had pulled, its exterior looked strange.I am thinking that those bugs were laying eggs! The interior lookmade me feel sure I was right. Is this the work of those horriblegreen tomato worms that matured into these bugs?
Grandson Carson, who wants me to take him outside the minutehe comes to visit, really enjoyed helping me gather the tomatoes.The only thing about my being in the yard alone with him is thathe can get ahead of me and I can't keep up. He loved to pulland eat the blueberries and kept heading for the bushes afterthe last fruit was long gone.
I wonder what he is going to think when we go see the dwarfJapanese persimmon tree that I have not shown him. It has beena real disappointment with its production during its six-year-life.Its largest production was three one year. This spring it wascovered with snowy white blossoms and my hope was flying high.Lots of little fruits formed, and soon some began to fall to theground. At the count yesterday, there are seven.
If you have no liking for the big, juicy, ripe persimmons,you don't know what you are missing. Just put half of onein a bowl and add a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream or even vanilla-flavoredyogurt. It is so good. Remember, too, you're receiving agood source of your day's Vitamins C and fiber.
One of my "I Wish" things came true last week.
You may recall that three different times through the yearsI have mentioned a second refrigerator. The first one went tothe store room when we purchased one that would defrost. A fewyears later, we gave it to a family whose house burned.
Later, I bought one from someone who was getting another becausehers would not keep the ice cream frozen hard enough. In a fewyears we gave it to someone who needed one.
Later when we moved, ours opened the wrong way. We took itto the garage and bought a replacement with a changeable door.It lasted until last June, when it "gave up the ghost,"as I called it.
My wish came true last week when I popped my head in St. AndrewsThrift Store, asked again if they had gotten a refrigerator. EdCotting, one of the managers, nodded and said, "Yes, andI was going to call you."
He showed it to me, a self-defrosting one. It looks prettygood. I paid for it. I was so pleased for my wish was being granted.
That day's Enterprise-Journal had a letter asking forhelp for a family. How could I be happy with a refrigerator Icould do without when it might mean so much to them? I calledthe telephone number listed but did not get to talk to the properperson until the next afternoon. He said the family had gotteneverything to tide them over. No, they did not need mine.
The Harvest Gold (color) Frigidaire was delivered Friday. WhenEd and his co-worker, Melvin Williams, placed it against the wall,I just stood back and smiled with happiness. It was a joy to cleanit a bit and plug it in. I hope it lasts a long time. I wouldreally like to know who contributed it so I could thank them,too.
Let us all continue to give thanks that we were spared effectsof the hurricane. If you can see your way to make a contributionto the Red Cross or Salvation Army, do so. Surely, their coffersare about bare, with all these calls lately. If someone has donesomething especially nice for you or helped you out in a tryingtime, or if you just want to have a nice way of saying you lovesomeone, know that you can say it with a check.
This column covered lots of subjects, things that have beenon my mind. I ask your continued prayers for us and for our countryand for our service men and women who are overseas and in theUnited States. God bless you all.
