Christiansen's Comments...Hinds County Gazette May 26 2011

 “What did you say you were doing?????”


My answer: “I am going to Raymond to help entertain Yankees.”

Question: “Why you? And what are Yankees doing in Raymond?”



Well, I don’t think it is a long story, but with me you never know. So here goes…. as I understand it,

The tale begins with Doctor Clark Stewart, Clark is a periodontist, Clark grew up in Raymond, after a bit of time away, he came back to Raymond to raise his family, giving them the small town experience he had growing up.



So anyway, several years ago, Clark was attending a conference in Jackson, where Doctor Bob Levine, an oral surgeon/periodontist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was speaking. In the course of conversation Clark learned that Bob has a passion for history. Clark invited Bob to come to Raymond, somehow Clark was able to get Raymond Mayor Isla Tullos and civil war historian, Parker Hills, involved with Bob. The Mayor and Parker took Bob on a ride around the area, pointing out the points of interest.





Parker is a retired general, who now is a tour leader with Battlefield focus Tours. Parker is a well qualify guide…. I was told, and I am quoting a source who wants to remain anonymous , “Parker knows everything there is to know about the battles of the civil war. He can even point to the exact spot Grant’s horse Pooped.”. I hope I do not have to go to jail to protect my source.

Parker Hills

Because of the efforts of many ….beginning with Clark… Bob has been back to Mississippi several times and is a generous donor to The Raymond Battlefield, plus Bob a cannon sponsor.



For this trip and tour with Parker Hills, to Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill and Vicksburg, Bob and his wife were joined by several other people from Yankee Land and Memphis, they were mostly from the dental profession accept, a pilot and Ray. Ray is a retired psychiatrist. You all, I caught my self being very self conscious of what I said when I was with in ear shot of Ray…then I was offered a glass of wine and got over that, and asked “So tell me Ray, is this group is so messed up it needs a psychiatrist to travel with them?’’ didn’t get an answer…Patient doctor confidentiality no doubt.



Other members of the South’s team called on to entertain the Yankees were Bob Chun, Brenda and Charles Davis, Mayor Tullos, and of course Clark and Ruth Stewart. It was great fun, Thursday we met at the Mayor’s home on the Square for light refreshments before motoring on to Jackson to Cherchale’s to meet up with members of the tour group who’s plane had been delayed. Bob Cherchale went all out to make the Yanks feel at home.

Isla and Tilly

Friday evening we met at the Clark's home for light refreshments….Has Clark ever got the man room! He doesn’t just have a few stuff deer heads…he has whole animals stuffed and mounted to the walls….they are mounted in such a way they appear to be climbing down a rock wall.



Then way on after while we left the Stewart's and we caravaned to Learned, to Gibbes Grocery for dinner….We didn’t leave the restaurant until almost 11 o’clock. So obviously a grand time was had by all!

I know I wasn’t invited because of my vast knowledge of events surrounding the Civil War. I learned everything I know about the Civil War from my friend, Gordon Cotton and Parker Hills….But!!!! don’t ask me any dates… Or specific places…or names…. best not ask me any questions.



So any way…I believe, I was invited in case an interpreter was required. You know my field expertise … I can translate Yankee!



I do hope this band of Yankees comes back to Mississippi soon…I want to have them to my house for a party on the porch!



If you can…Adopt a Yankee…they are so much fun. But you can’t have these Yankees…they belong to Raymond.

Love to all


My deepest sympathies go out to the family of Dick Kilby, indeed the entire city of Raymond. Raymond has lost a friend.



Dick Kilby
getting ready to unload Cannon


Call if you need me

Christiansen Comments Hinds County Gazette November 04 2010

Get your running shoes on! It has begun!

…I am talking about the holiday season. The Holidays run from Halloween through Super Bowl Sunday now. Not that many years ago, The Holidays began on Thanksgiving and ended, for many, early afternoon, very early afternoon, December 25. I have seen trees on the curb Christmas afternoon…Not just the real trees that may have become a fire hazard…but I have even seen artificial trees still fully decked out on the curd. I guess folks just get tired of them…so tired of them, they can not stand the sight of that tree even one more minute…so off it goes to the trash.




I was out and about Friday gathering up a few things to get me through the weekend, You all, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise were all mingle and scrambled together in the aisles of stores. Not only that, there were great batches of people everywhere…I was quite puzzled…then I saw an advertisement on the TV. Last Friday was to be the new “Black Friday”. Black Friday traditionally has been the Friday after Thanksgiving. We shall see if this New Black Friday thing catches on…I guess, there is no reason why it shouldn’t….we are easy…. We follow where ever Retail leads.



We abandon whole malls and shopping centers…Metro mall, Jackson Mall, Meadowbrook to name just a few….to follow….where we are led. We ran out north, to County Line Road, to shop til we dropped at Northpark, But the new has wore off Northpark…So, now then, we are choosing to ignore, Northpark in favor of “The Renaissance” and the other new shopping destination out on Lakeland drive. I have forgotten what it’s name is….it will come to me.



There is nothing wrong with commerce…the American economy needs us to buy and consume…Americans need the jobs. I just wish more of the jobs were in the manufacture of the merchandise we are buying. Remember Back in the day when Wal-mart proudly advertised they sold “made in America” products? My friend Isla maintains if Wal-Mart, would go back to Sam Walton’s way of doing business…our economic woes could end…if we manufactured what we purchased we could all be working.



Dogwood! That is the name of the mall on Lakeland! I knew it would come to me.

Gibbes Grocery Learned Mississippi  (Gibbs Grocery) 601 885 6833

Saturday night a great bunch of us traveled to Learned to pass out Halloween candy to the trick or treaters from Margret Sue’s front porch, she was working next door at Gibbes Grocery, but she had refreshments laid out for us…Some of the men were fussing because they were missing the ball games…. Margret Sue turned on her TV and settled them comfortably in her living room….Gibbes was very busy, so Margret Sue even arranged for their steaks to be delivered to them at her house…. so they didn’t have to miss even one down of the ball game…Now that is hospitality!

Margaret Sue Dozier on her front porch Halloween 2010  Learned Mississippi

I just love going to Learned for Halloween…I don’t think there were quite as many kids this year as last though.



Sunday morning I was telling daughter Angela about trick or treat in learned.. I was telling her I didn’t think kids are excited about Halloween as they use to be…she too had noticed. “But kids get candy all the time now…we didn’t have candy around when we were kids.” I paused didn’t say anything, she went on… “On Halloween we ran from house to house fast as we could, to get as much candy as we could carry, then we ran home, got another bag and took up where we left off…We didn’t have candy in the house when we were growing up.”



Well, they say confession is good for the soul…I didn’t want to but, I had to tell her, “ Angela there was always candy in the house when you were growing up….it was hid…and I never shared…it was usually Snicker bars.” I waited for her to fuss…she never uttered a word about me not sharing. Which, thinking on it later…lead me to believe she hid candy from Garrett.



There are times in many women’s lives that Chocolate is a necessity…like air and water….we have to have it…God knows, we would share anything we had with our children,….except our secret stash of chocolate, but I believe he forgives us.



love to all, call if you need me

Gloria ChristiansenChristiansen's Comments, Hinds County Gazette

Isla and Peggy


Friends of Terry dinner theater


Christiansen's Comments
Hinds County Gazette
October 1, 2009


I do not watch the news or listen to talk radio…there is nothing wrong with doing ether…I used to be a news junkie…And John always listened to Mississippi talk radio on his way to and from work, he would come home all riled up. One time he stayed in a stew for weeks over the state of the public schools in Mississippi,,,… and how much money was being wasted, seems some of the superintendents in some of the districts were being paid enormous amounts of money…and not much to show for it .....education wise.

Of course all of that has been rectified by now…Soon as those folks in charge became aware there might be reason for concern…they flew in to action and resolved the problem…Right? ..because that was years ago….They have… haven’t they? Of course they have…they promised to do so when we elected them.

I forget now where I was going with that…..So let me tell you about, Peggy Ann, Isla and I driving over to Terry Mississippi, last Saturday evening for The Friends of Terry, Dinner Theater at the depot. During the ride down Midway Road…we were lost conversation…about clouds, sunshine…we hadn‘t seen the sun in days and reminiscing about Porter Herb Farm that was once in the area.

On after while, we found ourselves, not exactly lost, but a bit discombobulated…Until Peggy remembered she had a GPS on board…we were not satisfied with what it was telling us , about that time… we, spotted a man, up the road, mowing his grass….after a bit of contemplating, whether or not we should interrupt his work…you know how temperamental lawn mowers can be …sometimes after being shut down they refuse to crank back up….but after just a few words of deliberation…we decided he looked perfectly capable of fixing the machine if it needed it….so we asked him for directions, he set us right and off to Terry we went…..we did not look back….

The dinner theater was so much fun! The food was delicious, it was roasted pork loin, some of the best green beans I ever ate….real bacon don’t you know. ….a roll that tasted homemade and strawberry shortcake for dessert…Oh! yeah and rice… flawlessly seasoned.. The food was cooked, and served by the members of The Friends of Terry, some of the ladies and gentlemen after serving and clearing plates, pouring tea and coffee, pulled off their aprons and stepped in to costumes and took part in the play.

The Play, Lilly, The Felon’s Daughter, is one of those villain plays, where the audience gets to participate by hissing, booing and throwing peanuts. I do not believe, I am revealing anything to you, that the cast was not already aware of, when I say….…“Hollywood need not send talent scouts to Terry Mississippi“…On the other hand Foodnetwork would not be wasting their time by coming down for a look.

But, It was grand fun and oh! sooooo entertaining, the cast was having so much fun…they infected the audience with their enthusiasm. Sitting in the back of the depot watching all the silly carrying on, taking place on that makeshift stag…I could have been in Mayberry, with Andy, Opie, Barney Aunt Bea and all the rest of the town.

The likes of which that happened in Terry Mississippi last weekend, and what will be happening in Raymond this weekend, with their Pilgrimage…That is the real America.

The members of Friends of Terry, and the rag tag cast…every one a volunteer were not looking for fame or fortune…They come together for a cause. The profits generated by the dinner theaters are used for the restoration and up keep of the depot, a train engine, a box car and a soon to be on sight caboose.
　
Trough their generous gifts of time and labor have achieved something far greater…then fame or fortune.

"To affect the quality of the day – that is the highest of arts." Henry David Thoreau.
Thank you, all of you, for affecting the quality of my day.

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

"The week that was..."

One of the bullet holes...


Cookies



Edwards Ministerial Alliance and C.U.T.E. combined meeting

Front Porch at Gibbs Grocery Learned. Mississippi

Steak Night at Gibbs

King Edward Hotel

Downtown Jackson Mississippi

Christiansen's Comments

Hinds County Gazette

September 17 2009

The tempo of life in Mississippi is picking up speed now….What with football season beginning, and so many of our community events are planned to take place in the cooler months…So from now until New years, we will have lots of events to chose from…we for sure can’t get to them all.

Then after New Years it dies back a bit until Spring. The coming of Springs brings another eruption of activity …and our calendars are once again get so full, we have to go to writing in the margins, with arrows looping around and pointing to dates, just to keep up with where we are suppose to be and what we are suppose to have in our hands when we get there.

I said that to say…I have had a full week last week, my first full week since last Spring…I’ll get the calendar and we will just take it day by day…want to?

Monday was Labor Day: I drove to Madison and had lunch with daughter and did a smidgen of shopping…bought some new towels…Lost my camera in the mall, when I discovered it an hour or so later we returned to the mall and it was right where I left it…

Tuesday: Remember back about a year ago, Dave Montgomery’s house, over on Montgomery drive, was broke into? Dave was home at the time, after an exchange of words, the intruder ran out, but he shot back in to the house? Well the intruder’s trial was Tuesday. ..I went to the trial.
The court house in Raymond is closed for renovation…so for the time being court is being held out at the penal farm….quite depressing what with the fences and the razor wire. Tuesday morning they picked the jury…I didn’t go for that part. The trial was to begin at 1’oclock..it was delayed for a short time…Something about the jurors lunch.

When the proceeding began to proceed, Dave could not go in the court room, because he was a witness, but I could and did. The judge was familiar face, Judge Breland Hilburn.

I sat down on the back row…sort of the back row…the court room is quite makeshift….but serviceable for sure. Anyway two young people came in and sat down on my bench…they were law students…an assignment from one of their professors was to observe 10 hours of trials, the month of September…trials with evidence.

This I found most astounding…They told me, they were are having a very difficult time finding trials to monitor. Now you would think with all the criminal activity reported on the local news shows…those young law students would have countless court cases from which to pick. .

What I learned was this, it is not that cases are not being dealt with…fewer cases are going to jury trials…, more and more defendants are choosing to plea bargain and plead guilty. Which in the end, was what happened in the case involving Dave …The young man plead guilty to 2 counts…which could net him 45 years in jail…..he is not but 20 years old. Very sad…..

Wednesday : I was in the MEA clinic…they were handing out face masks to those with coughs and sniffles…flu season is here.

Thursday; Morning I spent baking cookies for the families of Knox McGee Thomason, of Atlanta, and Elizabeth Camille Hale of Raymond. Knox McGee was born September 1, Elizabeth Camille was born September 9, I have to tell you ..I think Knox McGee is the coolest name ever! Lynn and Davis named him Knox after one of my favorite people, Knox “Knocky” Askew, the McGee is a family name on his great grandmother Cannada‘s side.

The time between cookies going in the oven and coming out …I spent on face book ….up loading pictures of my cookie baking….and seeing what my friends were up to…..I must say…the people I hang out with on Facebook post lots of stuff about their dogs….I guess it’s that birds of a feather thing.

Thursday evening: Tuesday, while in Raymond, I stopped in city hall to say hello to Isla and Brenda…Well! You all! Isla had an extra ticket to a Mississippi Heritage Trust event to be held Thursday, at the old train station, the event was to call attention to the 10 most endangered historic places in Mississippi …one of them being the Ebenezer A.M.E. Church, Raymond. http://www.mississippiheritage.com/

(Oh my word this is getting long…you can stop reading any time you like…it will not hurt my feelings…really it won‘t. But I am no quitter!!!… so I shall push on…..)

One component of that Heritage event was a tour of the King Edward Hotel, presently, being restored . Isla asked me did I want to go…I was so excited………the person she first invited was unable to go…I could not believe my good fortune! And I don’t mind being second choice, not at all…

I have long be fascinated by the King Edward…the stories I have heard of the events that took place there back in the day…Weddings, coming out parties and all such as that.

From the time we came to Mississippi in 1979, every few years a new scheme to save the King Edward was trotted out, we would get our hopes up and nothing would happen, until now. It is beautiful! It is going to a 136 room hotel, there will be apartments, and for those of us who are always looking for dinning opportunities there will be a coffee shop and a dinning room…December is the target date to open…I can’t wait!

Friday: I went to the grocery store. Friday evening, I met Isla and Suzanne Harpole in Learned for dinner at Gibbs Grocery, Friday night is steak night. You all it was packed, we had to wait for a place to sit… We didn’t mind waiting…I for sure didn’t have anything better to do then soak in the atmosphere. It is in an old store…the paint fell off years ago….the inside does not appear to have evolved a great deal over the years …same old counters and tables…

You don’t necessary eat at your own table. There may be two individual tables…Most squeeze around two long tables …I am thinking the tables where sit down to eat, are where back in the day, they placed bolts of fabric to be cut, they are quite long. And there is no air-conditioning aside from the front door standing open. But it is not hot…there are fans. Dinning at Gibbs is a grand experience!

Saturday: There are two newly formed groups in Edwards, C.U.T.E (Community United to Transform Edwards..or something close to that) And a Black /White Ministerial Alliance. Rev. Dean Rydbeck, pastor at the Edwards Presbyterian Church, asked if I would help serve lunch for the joint meeting…I recruited Suzanne Harpole to assist and off we went.

It was a pleasant meeting of about 20 sincere folks, whose purpose seems to be the opening up communication in Edwards…Between Black, White, our city government…all groups. The emphasis is on pray…if your plate is full, but you would still like to take part….place these groups on your prayer list.
Love to all
　
　
GloriaChristiansen@gmail.com