Sunday, October 31, 2010

Christiansen Comments.. Hinds County Gazette ..October, 28, 2010

Good Morning!

 The weather here in Mid-Mississippi has been ideal, apart from for the lack of rain. Perfect weather for my Old Auntie and Cousin Alice’s visit to Mississippi. I keep telling everybody Old Auntie is 85, but I have begun to question that…..Alice and I could not always keep up with her…. We had a wonderful visit, caught up on lots of family members I have not seen in 50 years.


                                   Aunt Aryth and Cousin Alice

Let me stop right here and apologize for the confusion I unwittingly caused about the date of the Fall Edwards Cemetery Day. I quote, from my column, dated August 26 2010. “Well, as usual our Fall calendars are filling up fast….Last week I mentioned the Fall Pilgrimage in Raymond, October 1 through 16. Edwards semi annual Cemetery day is October 16. And the Methodists are having a rummage sale that week end too”

I am so sorry….Cemetery day took place in September. But in my defense, I was unaware there had been a change until way on after while….but, even after I announced the wrong date, no one called my attention to it, so I could correct it. Therefore I have concluded that the change was made after I wrote about it in the Gazette published August 26. Well…… there is another possibility, the folks in charge of making schedule changes for cemetery cleanup, do not read my scribbles, and they were unaware I had made such a hefty blunder.

                                   The Edwards Cemetary


October 16 was the date on the 2010 community Birthday calendar. Which by the way, is put out by the nice Baptist Ladies each year for our convenience. AND Some of the profits are used each year to feed us Edwards old people, a lovely, tasty fall luncheon…..always with grand entertainment. …I go to the mail box everyday looking for my invitation…It should be coming soon! The Baptist Ladies are very kind they do not call us “ old people” they have dubbed it the “Keenager Luncheon.”



Back to the Edwards Cemetery Day, date fiasco …I am told there has been another change to the 2011 Fall cemetery date. I do not know what that date is though…..the 2011 community calendar has Saturday September 17.




I didn’t get as many calls about the Methodist Rummage sale, but I did get a few. I announced in that same column they were going to have a rummage sale the same day as Cemetery day, …The rummage sale didn’t happen ether…I don’t know why…Again I am so sorry. I did hear, it has been rescheduled…did not hear a date though….



However “The friends of Raymond” annual Fall pilgrimage, I mentioned in that same August 26 column, went off without a hitch.



I have got to go….On this beautiful Fall day, the front porch is calling me…in particular the Swing, He is waiting on me….He can’t swing with out me.

Love to all,

call if you need me

Monday, October 11, 2010

Christiansen Comments, Hinds County Gazette, October 7 2010

My old House is expecting company....

I was debating as to whether or not to even sit down here this morning, as I told you last week I have very important company coming to visit a few days,in mid-October, and I have lots to do before they get here.




For those of you who moved and now live far away and may have forgotten, Summer time in Mississippi is brutal, this year was especially hot and miserable. During Mississippi Summers ….when it comes to chores around the house, watering the plants confined to pots, keeping the grass mowed, roses dead headed… all such as that…. you are fortunate if you can maintain status quo, let alone take on any projects.



But, has cooled down now, so I have been preparing for my company, the kitchen has been degreased, the mildew has been scrubbed from the front porch…mostly. Saturday, I moved to the back steps…. In the late 80’s when we moved here to 201, we had new steps built to the back porch…to replace the wobbly., rickety ones with the loose and rotting treads….as I recall they were to be a stop gap measure , an emergency build, to be temporary, just until we could sort out what we really wanted to do…..Well, here it is some 20 plus years later and those hastily built steps are still in service at the back door….



I do have to mend them now and again…..I did that Saturday, the boards were loose and there was a significant, possibly dangerous, tilt to the treads…way more then necessary to drain the rainwater off ..for sure. Foot placement was getting tricky…some steps were solid in the middle…some were solid only on one end or the other. They are all sound from end to end now!



There is something so comforting about old houses…even though they can be quite drafty, they still have a cozy feel and they are so friendly….they love to have folks come to visit.







But old houses are work…lots of work. Recently, I heard Allan Huffman say as he was gazing toward his beautiful antebellum home, Holly Grove, “I was hoping to get it fully restored, before I had to start repairing it.”

Now John and I we never quite got around to restoration….the repairs kept us busy.



You all, my ambition is no longer renovation…I have just two objectives left for this old house. 1. Keep it reasonably safe for guests and 2. dry enough to sleep comfortably….… Time and energy are fast fading.



This 90 year old house I live in, He does not seem to mind a few scuffs and dings, He is a happy house, He does not seem to mind that his floors are worn, where folks have walked, children have played and my dogs have laid. He does not seem to worry that his windows and pipes sometimes rattle or his floors creak…For nearly 100 years, he has squared his shoulders and stood up to the elements and protected his people. And House knows he was here before I was born and he will be here long after I die….



But, I know this old house is very fond of me…When ever I come through one of his doors….He gives me a big hug and in his voice, rattles, creaks and squeaks says to me, “you are safe, you are home” . I get the idea on occasion, I need to down size…..But if this old house has his way, 201 will be my address until Jesus comes to take me Home.

Love to all


Call if you need me

Monday, October 4, 2010

Christiansen Comments, Hinds County Gazette....

Here is an oldie.....

HCG January, 20, 2005


There are many things in this world I take for granted, for one, airplanes weighing many tons, can ignore gravity, and fly…. faster then the speed of sound too!!

But, you all, my poor Brain knows it is impossible for planes fly. Brain also knows TV is impossible, if pictures can come through the air, he wants to know why he can’t see them coming in the house. And he wonders how they keep from getting tangled up, what with all of the TV and radio stations, and satellites out there sending different pictures and sounds.

Brain and I watch Mr. Wizard reruns and the science channel, sometimes I even think I comprehend the impossible. But soon after watching I forget and evidently Brain does not have the capability to retain all such as that ether and he too… almost immediately forgets the formulas, and again convinces me achievements such as flying and TV are not possible.

Brain and I, do not have any trouble with things that float…I can make a toy boat that will float…but I could, not even in the fifth grade, when at the height of my paper airplane construction skills, make a plane that could fly across the class room and sail out the open window. Some of the boys could, but eventually theirs too would fall the two stories to the ground.

Brain has stumbled on yet another thing he is having trouble grasping,( he has many). I am convinced I could have been quite brilliant if I had not had to deal with Brain. Brain has me thinking on stuff that doesn’t come to a hill of beans.

In the grocery store the other Day as I lifted a bag, of oranges from a vast mound, Brain chirped up, “Where does all of this stuff come from?” I could not help myself, I began to think….trying to satisfy Brain….but the more I thought about it, the more muddled I became.

I have no doubt every grocery store in America has great piles of oranges similar to the one I was facing. How many grocery stores do you reckon we have in just Mississippi? How many pounds of oranges do you think it would take to stock just Mississippi stores? Then think all of the other 49 states, their grocery stores and mega marts, they too are stocked with oranges. New York City alone with the millions of people living there, you could easily believe they alone would suck up a whole year’s crop of oranges in a matter of days.

And that isn’t all, there still has to be enormous heaps of oranges somewhere that they are turning in to juice and marmalade. I know California and Florida have lots of oranges groves….but boggles the mind doesn’t it? 365 days a year there are oranges in every store in America …I know some produce comes from other countries…but still an all.

Folks all around me we poking broccoli, carrots, and cabbages into bags. But we are often told, “Americans do not eat right!” Well! I am here to tell you somebody is eating this stuff? Have you ever gone in to a grocery late in the evening, the great masses of fruits and vegetables have dwindled to a few broken bags.



I can not imagine how many acres of wheat it takes to keep our all American stores stocked in flour, bread, pie crusts, pasta and frozen biscuits.... 365 days a year.
Now cotton I can see where we might be able to grow enough of it to satisfy the needs of the malls. We buy a pair of socks, we wear them over and over…once we eat that bunch of broccoli it is gone.

Brain is a worry...he is never satisfied....I wish Brain would leave me alone....just let me be in my little world of ignorance.



Love to all, call if you need me.