Christiansen's Comments Hinds county Gazette, May 12 2011

Well, it has been a while since I was last here. Hope your Easter was pleasant and your mothers day magnificent…..Easter and Mother’s Day was that the only holidays we have had recently?…seems to me we have a lot more holidays and special days then we use to. It could be that it seems that way because the stores promote them for sooooooooooo long before they actually get here.




Whit and I have been together a pretty good bit lately. As you know may know, Whit’s grandfather, Lewis Montgomery passed away recently.  Years ago, Lewis confronted me saying “don’t you ever write about me.” I looked him in the eye and with out smiling, I said very firmly, , “ Lewis you were born and raised in Hinds County, you have to take your turn being written about….just like everybody else.” Lewis grinned and no more was ever said about that….and we were buddies.



Saturday was May Day in Edwards, lots of activity down town, Whit and I strolled down to watch the parade….the band, horses , motor cycles , and politicians…….on the way back to the house, we stopped at a stand on the corner and bought a plate of barbecued ribs and a side of spaghetti.. Whit ate spaghetti and chewed on a rib bone. We had a grand time!

Square from bridge

Oh! The back porch…is my new favorite place in this house! I don’t remember if I told you, about me calling myself redecorating the back porch a year or so ago. I poured a fabulous concrete counter top and painted the walls and ceiling…. That made the screens look awful… The screen was so dirty… I tried cleaning them, nothing worked…the screen was so disgusting.…I ripped it off ! When the screen was gone, the door come across as just silly. So I took it off too. Well, possums, came in and ate cat food right out of the bag, birds flew in and out at will and ate cat food out of the cat’s dish…..and all of that dust, dirt and grime that was being caught in the screen? Well it was now coming straight on to the porch, directly through the back door, and in to the kitchen.

Possum behind concrete leaf, on back porch.

Enter Doug Turner…He made new screens that, by removing a couple of screws, can be taken out and hosed off…He hung a new door too, it is magnificent…The whole back porch is better now, then when it was new. It looks more original then the original 1920 porch….really it does…everybody who has seen it says so. Really they do.

Back Porch

Next Doug is going to work on some rotted boards round the sun porch. That is, when he is finished out at the Coker House. There is going to be a ceremony, a dedication of the newly rebuilt, historic Coker house. The Coker house figured prominently in the Battle of Champion Hill.

Doug sees after the Coker House, cuts the grass etc, he and wife Kay Windham Turner, live across the highway from it and Kay grew up in the Coker house.….so this week Doug is hard at it getting the Coker House spiffed up and ready for visitors. But he will be back….I know he will, because he left his saw horses.

Coker House before restoration

I will be back too

Love to all

Christiansen's Comments for Hinds county Gazette 09/30/2010

Good Morning! Good Morning!

 I will not be keeping you long today for sure, my kitchen is tore up!…I do not know what is the matter with me, I am calling myself cleaning, but I have made biggest mess out there.

I have visitors coming mid October, my only living aunt, daddy’s baby sister, and a cousin are coming from Colorado for a few days. My Auntie, , is the only somebody I would go to this much trouble for. Her generation’s standard for a clean house is much higher then mine are today. There was a time I kept a much cleaner house then I do now….Waxed floors on my hands and knees, washed windows at least once a week….Oh! and my oven I was especially proud of it, it was soooooooooo clean, it sparkled…the trick to a sparkling oven is after it is cleaned with the oven cleaner…you mix vinegar in water , dip a clean rag in the vinegar water…wring it out, and wipe out the entire oven….it sparkles!



My oven on this stove has never been cleaned….when something spills in the oven I pour salt on it to keep it from smoking and move on. When the oven cools down, I do sweep the salt out. I am in the process of cleaning the cupboards now….then I am going to clean the stove and oven. My cupboards have not been cleaned in years…and I am not trying to get them super clean….just hoping to get the grime back to 2008 levels. The stove, I am going to take a crack at “sparkle”…but will settle for a look that says, “This stove is just about to need a good cleaning.”



This Friday, October 1 , is the start of Raymond’s fall pilgrimage, it begins with a stroll through the historic Raymond Cemetery at 6:30. Actors, local citizens, play parts of people who are buried there. This is a engaging and informative event. But let me say this…I know there are some of you folks, who are not history enthusiasts….but you do not have to be a history scholar to enjoy the stroll. It is like a very entertaining play, but when an act comes to a close…. a curtain does not come down….. the audience moves….Great fun!!!!



Go a bit early and look around the Raymond Military Park….just off of highway 18... loads of fun for kids there are cannons and a scenic walking trail….

You all, Come on out to rural Hinds county…Not only do we have the Military Park…over here near Edwards, off of Highway 467, the old Coker House, it served as a hospital during the Civil war., has been restored ….it shares an entrance with Cal-Maine. We have places to eat in all our little communities…..

                                                           Coker house before Restoration


Need more info about the pilgrimage and it‘s many events…some events are free and some do have a fee…go to http://www.friendsofraymond.org/

Love to all

call if you need me