Christiansen's Comments

First Published Hinds County Gazette
 May 23 2013

  Saturday I attended two parties, a crawfish boil out at Montgomery Lake to celebrate Julian Gibbens birthday.  Julian turned 100 on Friday May, 17.  One hundred!!!!

And he still has his mind! Still writes letters…still enjoys telling stories…remarkable! (When I consider  living to 100…All I can think about is…that equates to having to put up,  decorate and take down the Christmas tree 31 more times!)

Julian came from a large family of Louisiana Cajuns…I guess they are Cajuns…, people in Mississippi refer to folks from Louisiana as ether Cajuns or Coon ___ (I am not allowed to say the word or write the word.  I can still taste the soap mother use to wash my mouth when I said a word she considered offensive…There were lots of them back in my day….The only person who was allowed say “hell” was the preacher.) So anyway his Louisiana relatives came up and cooked crawfish to celebrate Julian’s birthday.  

My word!  I have never seen so many crawfish!  A wading pool full! 

Whit stirring Crawfish, Julian is Whit's "Paw"

 The children were fascinated with them…Actually touching the wiggling creatures.  Crawfish are not ugly exactly…but I have to wonder who was the first somebody who had the nerve to eat one?

 I don’t think that coon___  nickname is necessarily derogatory ….I am thinking it is like us rural folks in Mississippi being called “rednecks”.  The good ole Mississippi country boys don’t seemed to be insulted by being called “red neck”. 

100 Balloons!  Photo P.A. Mckey

 

 

 

 Later Saturday afternoon, I went from a party celebrating a long life, to celebrating a little girl who is not yet born. I attended a baby shower for Mary Frances Hilbun, Mary Frances was not in attendance…I guess she was, but Mary Frances will not be born until July.

Mary Frances is the daughter of Marrianna and Jamie Hilbun, the granddaughter of my friends Dave and Suzanne Harpole.

.

The shower was given by some of Marrianna’s young lady friends ….Us old ladies have wondered “who is going to do the parties when we get to old to do them”…… let me tell you we can stop fretting…. this younger generation knows how to do a party…the food, flowers and table were absolutely beautiful. 

And I learned something from them….you do not have to make everything from scratch ….stand over a hot stove for hours…The cupcakes were exquisite…and tasted sooooooooooo yummy!  They were bought, not from a fancy dancy bakery…but from a local grocery store!

Miss Mary Frances received many beautiful gifts….or so I was told…us older attendees, stayed seated at a table in the breakfast room, as the gifts were being opened, ….we were just plum dumb giddy … we were at a party!! We were enjoying being waited on!!! We never shut up…talking loud and laughing….If we were not so darn loveable we probably would never get invited to another party.  

We old ladies were unsure who we could pass the party, Bible School, etc baton to….Actually I am not sure we were looking….we were hanging on to it with a white knuckle grip…They had to come peel it out of our hands.

 The young ladies have proven they can do it.   They learned from the best!

Call if you need me

P.S. I received a note from Julian yesterday May, 29, 2013
informing  me there were no Cajuns at his party. 

Hinds County Gazette May 16 2013

There is so much going on in May, we can not possibly get to everything we should.  But Thursday evening, I did get to the Southern Cultural Heritage Center in Vicksburg to take Nancy Mitchell’s art class. Nancy led us through painting, Vincent Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers.

Gordon Cotton

Another friend Jim Biedenbach
Photo Nancy Mitchell

 My friend Gordon Cotton had taken the course a couple of months ago... Gordon is enormously creative for sure…but I must admit I was flabbergasted; he actually turned out a quite respectable interpretation of the painting.  Not wanting to be bested by Gordon I signed up for Nancy’s May class.  I am afraid Gordon bested me. But it was great fun! Next time Nancy will have us painting sailboats… hope I do well. Adam and his family have taken up sailing, I can take my painting of sailboats to them for a happy, when I go visit later this summer.

Grand daughter Julia
Photo MK Christiansen

Son Adam
Photo MK Christiansen

 And I did attend Commemoration of the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Raymond Saturday.  The day’s events began in Raymond at St. Marks Episcopal Church.  The guest speaker was Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice William L. Waller Jr.  Judge Waller spoke to an attentive, over flowing crowd. 

St. Marks Episcopal Church Raymond Mississippi

 Judge William L.Waller Jr.

                                                                Photo Mary Adams Kuhn

The program was followed by the Boys Scouts burning American flags on the lawn at St, Marks….I had forgotten there was a formal procedure to retire of wore and tattered flags, in a respectful, dignified and honorable manner. The ceremony was impressive, and heart warming.

Boy Scouts
Photo Friends of Raymond

After the flag ceremony, the attending crowd was treated to lunch in the garden of St. Mark’s….The food was scrumptious and beautifully presented. Of course that is the Southern way.

The group then moved to the Raymond Military Park for the cannon dedication, and to recognize cannon sponsors.   The Cannons on the Battlefield were sponsored by individuals, and organizations from Mississippi, and all over these United States of America.  Many sponsors traveled to Raymond just to attend Saturday’s events.

After the Historical Marker Dedication at Dillon’s Stand on Old Port Gibson Road, Brenda and Charles Davis treated the out of town guests to an afternoon of rest and relaxation at their home, The Dupree House.  The guests enjoyed a tour of the house, and an afternoon of visiting on the porches of the Davis home. What a fitting way to end a day, of course it is the southern way. I was thrilled to be included!

Call if you need me

As I am writing this Monday, May 13, 2013…I have a fire going! It is in the 40s!! This is not the weather we are familiar with for May. We here in Mississippi by mid May ordinarily have begun to whine about the escalating heat and humidity.

 Christiansen's Comments

Carolyn Mckey recently moved from her home in Utica to Riggs Manor in Raymond, in the preparation for the move they came across a drawer that held newspaper articles, clipped and saved by her late husband W.C. "Dub" McKey, among the clippings was one of mine from September 29, 1994.  Peggy McKey, Carolyn’s Daughter in-law brought the clipping to me.

This is that column….

That column survived for nearly 20 years in that drawer.  Just think how many spring cleanings and fall cleaning that yellowing piece paper survived in that drawer.  I can not think of a greater honor, for a writer to then to be clipped, and saved.

 I never have called myself a writer before, because I am not sure what has to happen before you can call yourself a writer,  but now that I know I was clipped and saved at least once….I shall always believe that qualifies me to say  “I am a writer”.

Thanks Dub!!!

Love to all

Call if you need me

 First published in

 Hinds County Gazette

May 9 2013