Christiansen's Comments
published in Hinds County Gazette April 25 2013

John and I moved to Edwards in 1987,

 Inez Lee, was my very first Edwards friend. Back in those days Miss Inez was delivering the Clarion Ledger newspaper around Edwards.  Miss Inez was out early every morning, she had her finger on the pulse of Edwards, she was one of the first in town to know who was sick, who needed help, and who had died…Black and white she knew everybody.  Inez is one of the kindest people I have ever known. 

Miss Inez is 92 now, I saw her at the Edwards Fellowship Club last Tuesday, she had on a beautiful pink blouse, cute as a button she was, and  an absolute delight, Miss Inez kept the conversation bubbling at our table that is for sure.

Miss Inez

The very next day, Inez fell and broke her hip; she has had surgery, but physical therapy is ahead. I told you that, to ask you this, please pray for Miss Inez Physical therapy is not comfortable.

Inez was my first friend after coming to Edwards….  Doug Beard, he does not know it, but he is my NEW BEST friend.

This is not the first time Doug has been my best friend.  The spring after John died and I just finished chemo…I needed a new string trimmer, I wanted to know who I would be looking at if it needed fixing, so I went to Doug.

  Doug informed me I could buy one a lot cheaper just about anywhere, and he advised me it was heavy.  Bless him he tried hard not to sell me one.   I guess he didn’t think I was strong enough yet to handle a trimmer…  I kept insisting until I finally wore him down a bit…Doug said he would put one together, I was to come back later and he would see if I could start it.

I left there, on the way back home I called my friend Emily Dear, put her on notice that  she might have to call Doug and testify on my behalf…”You tell Doug I am well! And I am strong!”

 Later that afternoon I went back to pick up my brand new machine…Sure enough I could start it…On the first pull! But he still would not sell it to me!!! He insisted I take it home and try it…he wanted to make sure I could run the thing, before he let me pay. Doug is a man of integrity.   I still have that trimmer and it still starts easy.

I am just about to the part about why Doug is my NEW BEST friend…..

I told you about learning how to change the spark plug in my riding mower a few weeks back…well I mowed and then the crazy thing would not crank for anything…Knew it was not the battery it was brand new…One of the guys from the bottom of the hill came up declared it was a bad solenoid, but did not have time to work on it right then…. so I was going to have to wait until the next day. 

But then later that morning I was in Bolton, I spotted Doug…an idea flashed in my brain…” I shall go ask Doug about solenoids, see if he has one to fit my mower and ask him if he thinks I could change it myself.” I talk to myself a lot.

Last year Doug talked me through changing my fuel filter…..He did not actually say he thought I could install a solenoid …What he did was…he handed me two solenoids told me, one of them should fit it…explained to me where I would find the solenoid on my mower…He even took the parts out of the box…and gave me some pointers about removing the old and installing the new….placed the new solenoids down in a bag, asked if I needed to borrow any tools, and told me to bring back the one that didn’t fit....and sent me on my way.

solenoid

 It took a couple of hours but I got it installed and the mower ran!!!  And that folks is why Doug is my NEW BEST friend…

My new best friend needs prayers too…Doug has finished treatments and will be having surgery soon.

Hey I have got to go! Shelby dog has to go to see her veterinarian, Doctor Farr this morning! Doctor Farr has had  some medical issues recently also…but he is back at work…not sure wife Pam was ready for him to go back so soon….but he seems to be doing great….But you might want to put Pam on your prayer list.

Shelby

Love to all

Call if you need me

Remembering Katrina...Coloums written and Published in the Hinds County gazette in September 2005

Republished in the Hinds County Gazette September 2 2011

Remembering Katrina on this her 6th Anniversary

Sunday morning August 28 2005 Edwards Mississippi:

  Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, is in the Gulf of Mexico, 275 miles out, the storm progressing at a pace of ten miles an hour, the eye headed for the Louisiana /Mississippi gulf coast. This storm has persistent winds of 175 miles an hour; the weather channel is warning Katrina is as powerful as the august 1969 hurricane, Camille. Of course we all know, it took years for the Mississippi gulf coast to recover from Camille.

New Orleans is especially vulnerable; as it is several feet below sea level, the high waves will cause vast damage. They are also concerned that Lake Pontchartrain will not be able to hold all of the water that is on it's way.

Millions of people will be affected by Katrina. They are predicting the loss of property will be catastrophic. They are saying there are people who can not get out of Katrina’s path; some do not have the means to leave. Old people who do not drive for example…one of the reporters asked some of the folks who are leaving, to take someone with them. They are advising the people that are evacuating to go west, not to go north into Mississippi, they are saying we could feel a very angry smack from this storm even this far North, very heavy rain and high wind

After church I am going to batten down a bit around here. Get the ferns down, take the porch swing off the chains and sit them on the porch floor. I do not know what the out come of this will be. I am very concerned. The people to the east of us are even more at risk then we.
They just said, the folks in the panhandle of Florida, no matter where this storm makes land fall, are going to have high waves and winds to deal with. Those poor folks have been whacked over and over again by hurricanes; they just do not get a chance to recuperate before being whacked again.…

It is harvest time here in the south, the corn has all turned brown and is standing quite stoic, in straight rows like soldiers, waiting to be picked, the cotton is setting bolls , the soy beans are near ready. I am afraid the crops will suffer, or be lost altogether.

love to all
 call if you need me

Monday Morning 5:00 am:

Katrina is a category 4 this morning, and eye is fixing to make land fall…it looks like it is not going to hit New Orleans directly. Fox News says the power is still on in New Orleans.

Schools are closing all over Mississippi
The news folks are painting a grim picture of what it is going to be like even this far north.

Katrina came ashore at Grand Isle Louisiana.

I am going to leave you all now…go get what I can get done, while we still have power.

Love to all

This is the first column I wrote after Katrina hit and the lights came back on.

Katrina taught me more about myself then I wanted to know.

We lost our lights sometime around lunch time on Monday, not long after, we lost  running water. Thankfully we never lost phone service; folks from all over this great land were calling to see if we were safe. They were our only connection to the outside world …every call I would ask “where’s the eye?” hoping the wind and rain would soon end….the eye seemed to stay above Laurel forever. I don’t even know how long the storm lasted here, but for hours I could hear the sound of tree limbs breaking and falling to the ground… great "cracks", followed by deep "thuds"…sometime in the night it was over…the wind stopped.

After Twenty four hours of being with out water, I learned what I thought I needed…were not needs, they were frivolous wants. I learned even lights were not essential, but water was vital. At one point I told God, “If you let me have water I will not fuss about the electricity.”

We had a two of gallons drinking water on hand; the Kemp's water didn’t go out when ours did, so I was able to get 10 gallons from their house. I learned when the water is off; all you can think about is water. Thankfully, we have big galvanized wash tubs in the yard, for the dogs to drink out of and sit in to cool off.  Katrina filled the dog tubs to over flowing... that water is what we used to flush the commodes and felt fortunate to have it.

After 48 hours with out water, my hair was so oily and dirty…When I could stand it no longer; I went out to the back yard, to the dog tub, under the cedar tree, there was a dead toad floating in the water, I flipped the dead toad over the side, filled two milk jugs with the water, then went back in the house, bent over the kitchen sink and commenced to wash my hair. That head washing felt so good…I didn’t think about the water coming from Charlie dog’s spa tub or the dead toad that had been floating in it..

On after while, Wednesday night, the water came back on….Thursday morning, we had to go in to Big Town, to the Baptist Hospital, John had a scheduled procedure. In the waiting room , while waiting for John was the first time I had seen a TV since our lights went out. I could not believe the total devastation that Katrina had caused…..I cried and cried for those folks in shelters with nothing, and in some cases they did not know where their family members were…Heart breaking.

Coming back to Edwards from the hospital Thursday evening, more lights were on in Edwards my heart soared…then fell… the lights stopped just before our street…our house was dark…seemed even darker because of the street lights at the bottom of the hill were burning.

I tried to keep my promise to God…I tried not to fuss about the lights not being on, I had water, but it was hard… especially when the rest of the town began getting lights…and we still didn’t have any.

You all, I had always thought of myself as a nice person, not on the level of Gandhi or Sister Teresa, but still and all ...Pretty nice… but I just couldn’t help myself, I was hot, very tired, it was too hot to sleep, I got a be a bit cranky and demanding....at one point I caught myself telling God, “I could pray harder for those people without homes, if I had lights” I believe that was my lowest low point…. as soon as I said it, I was ashamed of myself. I was so ashamed it was a good while before I could get up the nerve to ask God for forgiveness.

My 90 year old mother lives with us, she was nearly undisturbed by her Katrina experience, except for the nights, the nights were awfully long for her. One evening we were at the kitchen table, eating saltine crackers and Vienna sausages right out of the can; the last bit of daylight was coming through window; I told mother how sorry I was she had to go through this. She quickly answered “This is not the first hard times I have seen; this reminds me of the Dust Bowl days.” Mother has lived long enough to see many hard times, the depression, crop failures, wars and rationing.

Mother

When the lights came back on (around 8 pm Saturday night) and mother got to see the first pictures from the Gulf coast and New Orleans of people suffering and all the destruction, mother with tears in her eyes pointed to the TV and said, “Those are hard Times”

The clean up has begun but it will take years… Katrina was so deadly and so destructive, for many thousands people along the gulf coast, time will be remembered in terms of “Before Katrina” and “After Katrina”

Love to all

PS  Let me say this the folks who had lights, were very generous, letting people use their laundry facilities, showers, refrigeration etc. Suzanne Harpole, over on Jackson street, almost immediately after her lights came back on, managed to get up an emergency party, Saturday evening for her friends who were  still with out power …And it was a very nice party, with real food, served on real plates, real glasses and pretty napkins….it will always be a favorite memory of mine.

Cars in line for gas....

September 27 2005
Katrina’s impressive winds caused a big oak tree, in the square, to break and fall over; parts of it landed on our famous railroad bridge causing it be damaged, enough that it had to be blocked to traffic.

Old Railroad Bridge

There have, in the past, been suggestions that our famous bridge be closed…I thought maybe this would be its demise….but last week; it was repaired and is back in service once again.

That old humped back railroad bridge, the old water tower on the square and the concrete letters spelling out Edwards, are land marks in Edwards, visitors remember them. And I am not sure it would be possible to give directions to any place in Edwards if we didn’t have them. Many directions end with the phrase, “If you get to the old bridge you have gone too far.”

Katrina injured one my favorite yard trees, the oriental persimmon. You guys are probably like john, he says “You tell me so much, you can’t possibly expect me remember it all” So you probably don’t remember me telling you, that I name my trees after people, the theory being, if I name them I will take better care of them. This tree is named Paula, after one of my walking Buddies. So anyway, I say injured, because it is still standing, Katrina just put about a 15 degree tilt on it… …the fruit is ripening right on. I don’t know what to do….I don’t want to lose Paula.

Because of Katrina blowing out the power, we lost a freezer full of food…I have a gas stove so I could have cooked it up, and did cook the big hunks of meat, but it was so hot nobody had an appetite to eat.

Pre Katrina, every time I went to the store, I bought a buggy full of food because it was on sale, calling myself saving money, and going to be ready for an emergency. I say Katrina was the cause of me losing that food…but the truth be told…much of that food was doomed from the minute it was bought. I put package after package  in the freezer; followed by more packages gather from the most recent trip to the store…The only time much of that food was touched was when I shuffled it around, to make room for the next batch coming in. Many a pot roast has died in there from freezer burn.

The emergency came…my great hoard of food was of no use to anybody. In the end, no money was saved, and I for sure was not ready for the emergency. I have unplugged the freezer…I hope I have learned my lesson.

Love to all

call if you need me

Christiansen Comments, Hinds County Gazette January 20 2011

Monday January 17 2011

It is drizzling rain this morning…it drizzled much of the day yesterday too. Drizzling rain is preferable to sleet and ice for sure…Lately there have not many days full sunshine…… it is grey and gloomy.



You all, just Soon as the holidays have passed and the tree is down…. I am eager for Spring to arrive…. my friends and acquaintances keep reminding me of how stifling hot and miserable Mississippi summers can be.



So of late Brain has had me contemplating the misery of sweltering summers verses the misery of gloomy winters…comparing them…. I have come to only one conclusion so far…..That being; no matter how hot it gets in June, July and August, I do not ever remember wanting to stay in the bed all day, curled up with my cats.



In the Summer I am out of bed at the crack of dawn… I may not accomplish any more on a scorching summer’s day, then I do on a bleak winter’s day. But I am up and dressed….and maybe all I end up doing is….going to the front porch, cold drink in hand , sitting down in the swing, and watching the grass grow…or helplessly watching the grass wither….but I am up and involved in the day.



Through the window behind me I see the Japanese magnolia budding…this time next month they will be blooming…. and then, perhaps, my winter melancholy will begin to slip away.



On a less whiney subject.

Lindsay Noble called last Friday after reading the Gazette and explained to me how Blue use to make her tamales…He said, Blue began her tamale making by boiling a whole hog’s head…and while the hog head was in the pot cooking, she went out to the barn, to gather up the corn husks to wrap the tamales in….. Well, I did not beg for that recipe…it sounded a bit like real work.



The tamale cooking has garnered up a good many comments…but nothing like the Ambrosia episode…you may or may not remember how out done the sweet, genteel ladies of the South became when I put gelatin in my ambrosia to tighten up the juices. Well, some of those very same ladies, when I filled a punch bowl halfway with ambrosia, (orange segments, coconuts and cherries) and poured 2 bottles of champagne over it and called it “punch”…. They had no objections or complaints to that adulterated ambrosia recipe …..there was nothing but, grins and lip smacking all around…



The sun is up, but not out….I am still in my pajamas ….the cats are asleep, in my not yet made bed.

         Call if you need me...I will be with them......

Hinds County Gazette, January 6 2011, Christiansen's Comments

Happy New Year!!

                  Here in the South, Black eyed peas and howl jowls, served with cornbread is the accepted menu for New Years.





How were your holidays?



This will be short today, even though the Christmas tree is down and back up to the attic ….and the decorations are packed and placed in the old foot locker at the foot of the bed, in the back bedroom…my house is not yet straight. My Christmas tree is artificial, but I use real greenery on the mantles , so there are evergreen needles stuck in rugs, all over the house and holly berries rolling around the floors. …so must get to vacuuming.

                                                             Foot Locker
                      Painted white because it was Daughter Angela's toy box.

And I have some gift cards that are burning a hole in my pocket…soon as I get up from here I am headed to out buy some lumber!



Oh! Yeah…let me tell you about my grand tamale adventure! Remember? I was making Tamales to give to my walking buddies for Christmas…..I tried different recipes and sent them around to assorted folks to critique …..the judgments were mixed , nobody declared them awful, some said they were not spicy enough, one thought they needed a bit more salt…..My pew mate, at the Edwards Presbyterian Church Maria, who is from Mexico originally, was very impressed , and she said her husband loved them….My friend Isla said they were the best she ever had eaten! Daughter Angela how ever was less impressed…she thought they needed a sauce, but she did give me an A for effort.



I like making tamales…after I got started …I couldn‘t get stopped….I made hundreds of them…gave lots and lots of them away…But Still had dozens in the freezer so the day after Christmas I had a few folks in to eat up the last of them.

                                                          Tamales!!!!!


We sometimes pine for an old fashion Christmas…but this year I realized an old fashion, non commercial Christmas is still to be had. And I did not have to go far to find it. St. Mary’s Episcopal in Bolton held two events, December 12, was lessons and Carols, Dorothy Brasfield, played the organ for the choir from Vicksburg’s Trinity Episcopal, it was wonderful…not a big choir but they sounded huge!.

Then on the 21 of December at St. Mary’s, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated, and the Chimneyville Readers Theater presented Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory adapted and narrated by James Anderson of the greater Bolton area. What a treat that was!!!! I am not alone in hoping these will become annual Christmas events at St. Mary’s.



Santa Claus once again came to Edwards to Jo Gayle’s house… 20 or 25 children came to have breakfast with him.

There was a community candle light Christmas service at the Edwards United Methodist Church.

                              Community Candle Light service at the Edwards Methodist Church
On the 18th , at St. marks in Raymond, the Raymond Methodist choirs, adult and Joy, performed The Gift…once again not a big choir but the acoustics in these old churches just a few can put out the volume….sounds like many more then you see for sure. The Edwards Presbyterian Children’s Choir went caroling the 18th. The 19th I was at Campbell Swamp for carol singing and covered dish dinner at Gordon Cottons….I look forward to this every year…mostly we sing with out instrument accompaniment….this year we did have a keyboard …but it was uncooperative at times…we just went right on singing loud and out of tune.



Garrett, my big, 6 foot tall ,21 year old, grandson build a gingerbread house, to entertain, my little friend, six month old, Whittaker. Whit was tickled by the whole thing. Whit was so tickled Garrett…. it tickle Garrett.
 And the sight of the two of them tickled me…… And that my friends will always be my favorite memory from the Christmas of 2010.

                    Whit, kicking with glee.. Garrett's hands and a bit of his mustache and beard.

Love to all





Whittaker is the son of CJ and Angie Zadrozny…..and the grandson of Lewis and Kay Montgomery

 

Christiansen Comments Hinds County Gazette November 18 2010

 I am Never first! Never! Never ever!

No matter when I set  my Christmas tree up…This year, it was in the wee hours of the morning ,Thursday the 11 of November that I brought the tree down from the attic, and put it together, That is early even for me.

Back in the day when the kids still were home and would assist in the tree’s assembly and decor (sort of) we put the tree up Thanksgiving afternoon. Then when they left home and had their own trees to deal with…I was on my own…. John had ballgames to watch, as I have no TV in the living room…he was no help. So to get the tree up and over with, I begin putting it up the first part of Thanksgiving week…now then I am up to two full weeks before Thanksgiving. Jacqueline says, I will soon be beating wal-mart.



I was so sure I was first this year…My friend Jo Gayle Reeves beat me by a hair last year. So soon as it got late enough in the morning, that I felt comfortable calling Jo Gayle, (that would be shortly after day break,) she, like me gets up very early. I called to brag….Jo Gayle answered laughing, not only did she have her tree up…she was decorating it…AND wrapping gifts. Mine was only up…I depend on the pity and kindness of my friends to come decorate my tree.



As you may or may not know, I am not from the south, but over the years I have worked hard at polishing my southern culinary skills and have more or less perfected Chicken and dumplings…. Kay Montgomery says mine taste, “just like the ones my grandmother‘s cook made. “ I don‘t know… could there be any higher praise then that? And after a few fits and starts…. I can now make quite agreeable Ambrosia.



Well, tomorrow is “Old People Club” I am baking a turkey and making Yankee dressing to take….We Yankees make our dressing with white bread, not cornbread…we will see if the gathered crowd goes to spitting and gagging. If they don’t like it, my dogs will. Peggy Ann said she would make cornbread dressing to bring to O P Club…I hope she doesn’t forget….



Next year I may try cornbread dressing. My favorite dressing is oyster. I shall make some to have for Christmas Eve this year. Yum! Me and the cats will eat it even if no one else does.



Becky Montgomery drove Peggy Ann and I to Bolton for the old time hymn singing at St. Mary’s Sunday…What a treat! I love the old hymns….we sang loud … real loud…a lesser building may have collapsed under the pressure of our voices. Lots of folks turned out…nearly a full house….Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist , Presbyterian…we were all there. James Anderson tells me they are planning a special event for every month. Looking forward to them all!

call if you need me

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

PDA s And other Ramblings

Christiansen's Comments
Published in the
Hinds county Gazette
Raymond Mississippi
September 23 2010

Mankind has been through some extraordinary revolutions, what with the, automobile, TV, rockets, crushable beer cans and plastic shopping bags…..But, I am thinking the cell phone have to rank fairly high on the graph of life changing gadgets.




Actually they are not called cell phones anymore, they are PDAs, Personal Data Assistant….a title appropriate to it’s endless talents. With the aid of an appliances… about the size of a deck of cards you can access information from anywhere in the world….dictionaries, Bibles of numerous translations, games…..land records, death records, you can visit art museums, traffic can be monitored in real time. PDAs are equipped with cameras, still and video, GPS, stop watches and even a level…..it can do just about anything…except cook …Though, I would not be surprised , if the PDA could be programmed to remotely turn on your oven….



It has been my observation that in any group of people, say for instance in waiting rooms, in restaurants, etc at least half of the people will be on their PDA, talking, texting, or surfing the web ….the younger the group the higher the percentage.



But, what I think surprises me the most is the number of men using cell phones….Once upon a time I believed men did not enjoy talking on phones. My dad, of course, talked on the phone, but until he retired, seldom answered a ringing phone….….if he answered, you knew he was home alone. My John when the phone rang….on the first ring, would begin hollering, “Is somebody going to answer that phone?”



But John took to the cell phone right away…he went and got us each a phone. But for the longest he would not turn his phone on, unless he wanted to call someone….He said, he didn’t want to run his battery down.



I have noticed in the vehicles I meet, at least 2/3 of the drivers are on their phones…just as many men as women….young and old.

I have come to believe…men just didn’t like being tethered by a cord…while women did not mind being constrained by the wire…gave us an excuse to sit down a few minutes.





PDAs have changed how we communicate in such a short time…I get very little personal mail in my mail box at the road anymore…I could not even tell you, the last time I wrote a note, stamped and put it in the mail. Email…. that was the way to go.



But then,….this is what has come about in just the last few months….I am getting and sending less and less email ….But getting and sending more and more text messages. I use test messaging a lot…it is very convenient…it takes very little time. With the smart phones our world is getting bigger and bigger…we are free!…we can go where ever we want and still be in touch with scores of our friends. You can go for days and not speak to even your best friends…and still know what they are up to….by means of Text messaging and the likes of Twitter and Facebook.



Of course there is a pretty hefty cost for the convenience…The high price of the PDA is only the beginning of the cost….To use your PDA you pay by the minute or subscribe to a packages.



In my parents lifetime it was transportation that moved at mind blurring, head scratching speed …leaping from horse and buggy…. to rockets, taking men to the moon.



My lifetime it is communication and information that gushed ahead …When I was a little girl, we had no TV in rural Nebraska until I was 12, and not everybody had phones, and phones were not like they are now, you had to go through what we called “central” gave the number to an operator, who was sitting in front of a big apparatus equipped with plugs and switches…some how, with the aid of the plugs and switches she miraculously was able to patch us through to our intended party.



When I was a little girl… mother often spent the afternoons visiting friends, the elderly, or shut ins…..I spent many hours sitting on a chairs, my hands folded in my lap, and only speaking if spoke to…..It was not a bad experience…I enjoyed listening to the conversations.



So this is what I have been pondering of late,… is money the only cost we are pay for our…for our …..new convenient forms of communicating?

Love to all…. call if you need me

PS Have you noticed ….you don’t hear as much booming music coming from the car next to you at the traffic light…..it must not be possible to talk on the phone and listen to a relentless, pavement shaking…. Boom! Boom! Boom!

Christiansen's Comments Hinds County Gazette September 16 2010

Folks have been asking me where I have been…well, I will tell you, but you may be sorry you asked, you know how I can ramble, get started and not know how to get stopped. But here goes…..


I do not scare easy… But I have come to believe I scare less easily then some, because I do not watch the news and see all of the evil that goes on…. in and around mid Mississippi. I do not imagine there is somebody hiding behind every bush, ready to pounce, intending to do me bodily harm….

But I did have two things that frighten the fire out of me.

Number 1. Driving on the interstate with all of those inconsiderate folks, who have places to go and drive as if they are very very late, weaving in and out, cutting people off, honking their horns, waving fingers in rude ways.

Number 2. The dentist…all of that drilling and scraping. Very unpleasant. I remember growing up…Friends that went and had there teeth cleaned often had a sore mouth and were bleeding, from the gums.

Well, a couple of weeks back, I begin to have a toothache…not terrible, but nagging….I chose to ignore it…. In fact that’s how I deal with most aches and pains….surprisingly that strategy seems to work for me…my aches and pains just seem to go away on their own…or maybe it moves to another spot…from my knee to my elbow…shoulder to back etc.

So anyway, I have two broken teeth…they have been broken for years…and never caused me even the slightest problem. I would probably still be waiting for the tooth to quit hurting…but I discovered a lump in my left breast. I remembered seeing an advertisement in the Gazette for a dentist in Utica…Martha Lewis, I called and got an appointment….she also has an office in Clinton, I went to Clinton…She is only in Utica Friday and Saturdays..

Now I haven’t been to the dentist many times in my life…I am guessing less then five times, they were uncomfortable occasions….I didn’t not the sound of the drill and it hurt….I had not been to a dentist since before 1979 and my teeth had never been cleaned.


On the drive to Clinton, I prepared myself for a lengthy lecture, shaming me, concerning me not tending to my teeth…one of the dental assistance took me back to an examining room for X-rays….she did not fuss at me…….But I still had to deal with Dr. Lewis….That is who was going to fuss.

While waiting for the Dr. Lewis to come pull my broken tooth ….I noticed three certificates, framed and hanging on the wall….you all! one certificate was concerning dealing with “The Challenging Patient”. I was thrilled! My dentist was certified to deal with wimpy, whinny persons like me!!…and if a dentist can get a certificate to deal with difficult people…there must be a lot of us! I breathed a sigh of relief!!

It gets even better….It was not my broken tooth that was giving me fits, as I understood it, the pain was, caused by a build up of plaque, under the gums, of a tooth very close to the broken tooth. So the solution to that was cleaning the plaque from there and all my teeth…Dr. Lewis didn’t even try to pressure me in to getting the broken tooth pulled….still lots of enamel covering the nerve.

I am here to tell you, dental procedures and tools have changed in the last 30 years! They are not poking, prodding and scrapping you with sharp, pointy steal tools…with names that sound like they came from Sears.

What my teeth were cleaned with was a device . …there was a fine mist of water, I think, maybe it agitated the build up off…I know it was not painful…and I was not bleeding when I got out of the chair. Now, I only have one great fear left…that is the interstate.

I was blessed with incredibly sturdy teeth…That is not just my opinion, Dr. Lewis said so. I can open just about anything but a tin can with them.

My teeth tended to, I went on and made an appointment for a mammogram…Then started, mowing, cleaning house, paying bills, tidied the shop, even washed my truck…I contend you can face anything if you are organized , have a clean house. …and with out a toothache

I had a mammogram, sent to see my oncologist, who sent me to my surgeon, who removed the lump…..I have clean bill of health!

That’s what I have been doing.

Call if you need me.

Hinds County Gazette, April 27, Christiansen's Comments "Knocky is Gone." ..

Sydney Knox Askew died the way he wanted to die, in his sleep, the morning of Friday April 16, at the age of 84. It came as a shock to the community…even though we knew he was having some health issues…he just that week had been to the doctor for tests….But Knocky was the Energizer Bunny…he never stopped. How could he be dead!?!




Mr. Knocky fo had an ailment that caused his bones to deteriorate, so he had been getting shorter for some years…But he kept on going. However, Knocky had begun to moved a bit slower… but never stopped. Edwards Cemetery Day he had commenced using a golf cart to direct the work being done. Then a year ago…he gave up the chairmanship of the cemetery. Just the week before Mr. Knocky died, Peggy Ann and I while strolling the streets of Edwards, saw Knocky and Roma in their beautifully manicured yard, we commented on how lovely it was…Knocky grinned, Roma said, “Knocky does it all“.



Knocky was part of a ever diminishing breed of men …who know what is good for the community… is good for him and his family….Knocky took his church, civic and community duties seriously. Knocky did not do his work to be in the spotlight…he did it, because it was his duty and responsibility



But, Knocky was a humble man…Under Knocky guidance the Edwards cemetery was transformed in to a beautiful, well care for, a final resting place….but he never took credit, he gave the praise to the guys who showed up with the heavy equipment to do the work, the people who sent memorial money to make the work and up keep possible …I said to him “But Knocky somebody has to get us organized, send out the cards and tend to the details“

His answer was, “Roma does that.”.

To hear him tell it…he did nothing. Knocky brought to mind this quote, “It is amazing what can be accomplished, if you do not care who gets the credit.”



Knocky’s funeral was at the Edwards Presbyterian Church, it was standing room only….and the lines were long at the visitation the evening before….



Reverend Whitworth began Mr. Knocky’s funeral service with this very appropriate and comforting quote from the Bible. Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death better than the day of one's birth“.

Sydney Knox Askew, was buried in his beloved Edwards Cemetery , April, 19, 2010.

Gloria Christiansen, Hinds County Gazette, Christiansen's comments

First, I do want to apologize for last week ‘s column…it did rather ramble on. Everything I said, could have been said, in many fewer words. I just could not stop myself.

Last Saturday’s cannon painting, at the battlefield in Raymond, was called off on the account of rain….I had been so looking forward to painting a cannon…I want to have my picture taken while painting a cannon, as one component of Brain’s new scheme….

Why is it, we so captivated by our family members that lived way in the past, the long gone generations,? I wasn’t too interested in my family history until everybody was gone…and left boxes and envelops full of pictures of people and places, that no one alive can positively identify.

But now, that every body is gone…I am Suddenly interested in those people. Folks of eras past, appeared to have lived enormously interesting lives. Don’t you think? I catch myself wondering. “what the occasion was that drew them together when the pictures made? …Who are all of those people? Where was that picture taken….where did they come from? where did they go…. ?

I said that…to say this: Brain went to studying on this and has come up with a theory as to why. Brain says, what makes them interesting, is not what we know about them, but what we don’t know…

Stop and think about those folks who have died…even relatively recently, when their names come up in conversation….their reputations, more often than not are associated to just a very few antidotes, incidents unique to their lives. And those a small number of stories are repeated over and over….perhaps embellished on.

Brain saw this phenomenon as an opportunity to design an interesting life for him and I, for future generations to ponder over… And has hatched a plot to make us seem quite remarkable. Brain has been giving considerable thought on just how we will go about implementing this plan….Brain says it “It will easy…A piece of cake”.

Take for instance, the picture of me painting a cannon…of course, I will put my name on the back…but that’s all….Then let their imaginations go …

Brain is convinced, to make us appear very exciting, to future generations… we will only need a few carefully selected , and strategically placed photos, in amongst the hundreds of unmarked pictures in the attic…But, not too deep in the pile …not many have the stamina to get all the way to the bottom of the box.

I have a picture of my friend Emily, on my frige, holding a great, huge, big, long, dead snake she killed…I am going to see can Photo Shop, put my head on Emmy’s body….Me holding a snake, that will go along way toward making it come across…that my life might it’s thrilling, courageous moments….Don’t you think?

And to bring people around Edwards to remember us, after Brain and I are dead and gone …Brain says, we, instead of throwing our wine bottles in the trash… we are going to bury them…all around the yard….again not to deep. I bet Brain makes me dig the holes….

Love to all…call if you need me
　
　 GloriaChristiansen@gmail.com
　

Gloria Christiansen HCG April 30 2009

Saturday morning, I went to front porch with my second cup of coffee …it was a spectacular morning, the sun was still low in the sky, it was not even bright enough yet to cast shadows. (I get up very early) The air was sweet with the honeysuckle, right now the woods are full of it. Above and beyond , and mixed with the honeysuckle there was another pleasing scent, it was a familiar, but I could not for the life of me figure out from where that wonderful smell was coming. I had nothing in my yard blooming except roses and it was not a rose scent….and it was strong.

Way on after while, it came to me what it was that was perfuming the air…. I fuss, fume and fret about it …I chop, pull and spray it….You all, its the privet hedge that also grows in the woods at the edge of my lawn! It is in full flower right now… And I knew it had a magnificent scent in the spring….but in the summertime I get so mad at it, I forget how lovely it is in the early spring.\

I went to contemplating, “Is there a life lesson to be learned from privet hedge?” “Is God trying to tell me something?” “Could it be, even the most obnoxious (folks, plants, animals, insects) may have sweet qualities, we might would notice,….. if we did not get and stay so angry, that we repeatedly over look the good?” I now have something to ponder over this week…while I do dishes, mow etc.

Later in the morning, I drove the five miles down old 80, out to the Shadows, the home of Peggy McKey, to attend a bridal shower for Marianna Harpole. Along side the road the purple fetch was blooming, the queen’s lace and the clover….. perfection!

The lane going in to Peggy’s is flanked by live oaks, for a moment you are in a tunnel of green…perfection! Then you are in front of the beautiful home, brick with white column that rise to support a second floor porch Lovely! A story book setting.….

At the front door was Marianna, she was just lovely, she was wearing a spectacular sundress, all white and she was wearing high heeled shoes, the color of ripe persimmons….Perfection!!!!.

Ordinarily Marianna is extraordinary shy and very quiet, but for this occasion she was able to overcome her shyness, and was at the door smiling and greeting the arriving guests….Marianna is a honey…she is beautiful ….She is appreciative, she is respectful , and she is gracious… the mark of a carefully raised young lady born to the South.

Love to all, call if you need me

Garbage

Hinds County Gazette

Christiansen's Comments

HCG May 29 2008
Over the years I have become somewhat, I don’t know, ashamed, isn’t quite the word I am looking for, self-conscious, might be better a bit better word, about my garbage, trash, rubbish what ever you want to call it. I just have so blooming much of it.

I feel bad about our over capacity land fills…I just hate adding to the dilemma…but I can’t help it…. everything you buy has at least three times more packaging then necessary to contain the article. I suspect the reason the packing is so expansive is so, they have more room to tell us how tasty, healthy, safe, or useful their item is…they don’t use it to give us coherent directions on how to use the apparatus that’s for sure.

Does it seem to you that the more environmentally aware we become the worse the problem gets? This is how trash was handled in Palisade Nebraska when I was growing up. First of all I don’t remember there being that much of it, there was no paper towels, plastic bags, no cling wrap…might have had been some foil, but mostly I remember waxed paper…. milk came in glass bottles when empty they were set out on the porch and fresh milk in sparking clean bottles were left in their place….water was not bought in bottles, it was fine out of the tap….Soft drinks did not come in cans but returnable bottles. Flour came in cloth bags, the cloth bags were then made in to tea towels….Grease, lard, came in metal buckets, they were reused for storage, lunch buckets, sand pails etc…Even egg shells and coffee grounds were not thrown in the trash They were placed around mother’s flowers.

Cardboard boxes, I do not recall many of those ether…when the groceries were delivered they often were in a cardboard box…If they were clean and big enough mother stored blankets and winter clothes in them. If they were real big boxes we kids went to the car bridge flatten them out, sat down on them and slide down the concrete embankment,

Food was not often dumped because of spoilage or just too much of it…something ate it. If we didn’t, the dog did…I think there might have been commercial dog food, but I as I remember our dog ate mostly table scraps….And stale bread was pitched out the back door for the birds.

There was a garbage can in the kitchen, it was neatly lined with newspaper or a big brown paper bag from the grocery store was sat down in it….no plastic bag that ties neatly…just the paper. But when it became full it was carried to the alley and placed in a 50 gallon barrel and when the barrel was full it was incinerated.
You all, I don’t even remember taking out the trash as a daily chore.

Now, if you had things that were to just big to burn in the trash barrel, old broken furniture all such as that…you took it to the city dump and pushed it out….while you were there of course, you poked around in the piles of other peoples cast offs…sort of an early form of dumpster diving….people throw away some pretty neat things….we did not call it that back then but when we took a "Find" home it was “recycling”.

There was an odor at our town dump….it was mildly disagreeable…But not bad enough to cause you to commence gagging. But that was before disposable diapers…back in the days baby dodo was flushed. About the worse I ever smelled was chicken guts and feathers and they didn’t smell all that bad until they were burnt. That’s what happened when the dump got full they burned the garbage and what did not burn they buried….and it started all over again.

Trash day when I drive down the streets of Edwards, I rarely see a pile bigger then mine except after Christmas. I have had so much trash I was too embarrassed to put it all out in one week…caught my self just putting out half…That does not work, I had three as much the next week.

I know you have all seen this, one little plastic shopping bag, handles tied in a knot, placed at the end of a drive way. …That is a week’s trash! How do they do that?

I said all of that, to say this…for years I have had a garbage goal. That being, for me to confine a week’s trash in one garbage can, and have it neatly topped with its lid.


Last week, I achieved that goal!!!!! Yeah!!!! So now I can hold my head high and look even the most hard core environmentalist in the eye.


I know you are just thrilled I shared my garbage with all of you.
Call if you need me.

About the picture..it is of this weeks garbage..I did not take a picture of last week's garbage ...the one where I was able to place the lid on the can... as you can see, I was unable to repeat last week's garbage success...but honestly this is not bad for me...I usually have much more.

Just Rambling!

HCG May 9, 2008
I won’t keep you long today. My six day trip to see the North Carolina grands has put me at least two weeks behind with my yard work. Doesn’t seem mathematically possible does it, to be more days behind, then number of days I was gone? The truth be told, I was probably at least 10 days behind when I left….Well to be perfectly honest….I have never been caught up on the outside…..there is just so much to do.

The trip was good; I drove the back roads mostly. The mountains in Tennessee were positively breathtaking the dogwoods and red buds were absolutely putting on a show. And me with out my camera! I was so out done with myself…forgetting my camera…I am almost never with out my camera.

And what I didn’t see driving those little two lane roads was refreshing too. Rarely, if ever did I see the golden arches. Folks tilling and planting their gardens and women hanging sheets on to a clothesline to dry were common sights though.
.
Those little mountain towns seemed to be stuck in another time…a time when the tempo was slower. Maybe those mountain roads with all of the curves and switchbacks have taught the mountain people a certain kind of patience that is not so familiar to the world at large.

I did drive a bit on an interstate; I have got to tell you, it is a mystery to me how there could be anyone left in these United States, who does not believe in miracles….if they drive on those things! The high speed tailgating, the weaving in and out of traffic…not unlike what you see watching a NASCAR race at Daytona. I know there are many collisions on the interstate systems in the USA…the miracle is that there is not thousands more. Folks talking on their cell phones, little old people who can barely see over the steering wheel and the trucks! Those big trucks pulling trailers filled with who knows what, driving at speeds that are significantly over the posted limits.

NASCAR races have become a great passion for American spectators….now everybody wants to be a NASCAR driver.

Well, here I go to get busy.
Call if you need me

PS Thanks for the caring calls, emails, notes and cards concerning my Tag.

(The picture at the top is not of a country road I drove on my trip...it is a Friend's drive way....I forgot to take my camera on the trip.)