MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOG BUDDIES

As of yesterday, this blog is 2 years old! My how time does fly! What a wonderful experience it has been to meet so many wonderful people from all over the world via this blog!! 2010 has been a hectic year around here and I haven't been able to post or visit other blogs as much as I'd like but I so appreciate each and every one of you and want to wish you all a Blessed Christmas Season!!
We have been doing a little remodeling at both of our homes and do to our age and aches, it hasn't been easy but is still rewarding and worth the effort. My step-mom Jeanette is at home and doing great and Daddy is much better now that he's back in his comfort zone.
We are trying to scale down our animal population so we can spend more time at the mountain house as we both love being there. Eric has been selling off some of the cattle. I prayed for and found three wonderful homes for Sadie, Jake and Patch. It was a sad day to see them go but you just cannot travel with three small dogs and Jake and Patch did not like being in a car and Sadie did not do well at all at the boarding kennel and the cost was outrageous to board three dogs.
Eric's brother-in-law up the road can tend to the chickens, Max and the cattle for us but the little dogs were another matter.
I'm beginning to understand that life is about change and adaption to the change. We decided to take this year off from decorating for Christmas. I'm not being a scrooge I just don't have the energy to put it up and take it down. It's gift cards and a quite Christmas in the mountain house for us. We know we are really blessed and just want to attend a Christmas Eve service and give thanks to God for the birth of his son!
LOVE TO ALL~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CAROL

" ANGELS ON THE BLUFF " Natchez 2010

Last weekend we went to Natchez to attend the famous Angels on The Bluff program held every November. This was the 11th year and I had tried and failed for 4 years to get tickets. The tickets go on sale August 1st and sell out the first few days. This year, I stuck a post it on the wall and called the first day !!! It is held in the magnificent Natchez City Cemetery. Local amateur actors portray famous people buried there and they were so good I sometimes forgot is was actors not the real person !!!! :)

The cemetery we were told contains 50,000 grave but only 15,000 markers. It had grown from the original 10 acres to well over 100.

I am a member of the Mississippi Southern Belle Bloggers. One of the other members is Christine Wright of Natchez. Christine has the blog Christine's Home and Travel Adventures

That's Christine with her beautiful smile holding her camera. Next to her is her good friend DebJani Som also displaying a beautiful smile. We all met at the visitors center to ride the school bus ( my kids called it the cheese wagon)to the cemetery.

Eric and I were all smiles about reliving our childhood experience! HA! That's Christine's hubby John sitting behind us. His hand that is~~~~~~~

First up was ~~ "The Empty Tomb"-- Alfred Bernard White was a popular baseball player for the Catholic High School in 1923. His untimely and tragic death is told by his father, Clay White, (portrayed by Sam Jones)After attending a game across the river in Ferriday,Louisiana, Bernard fell overboard from the ferry and his body was never found. He was an only child and his parents placed an empty tomb for him in their plot.

Mr. Jones kept us spellbound with his portrayal of a grieving father.

I shot this photo while walking~~~~ could those be spirit orbs all in this picture??

Madame Marguerite Justine Belhomme Marchand Benoist Mezeix " The Milliner of Natchez" You may have already seen her beautiful hats in the Henry Norman photographs but did you know this French lady and her husband were charged with secretly delivering letters to the Confederate authorities during the occupation of Natchez in 1863? She was portrayed by a family descendant. Her photo is at the top!! Sorry I deleted it during editing!

Reverend Ashley Vaughn came to Natchez in 1835 and edited the 1st Baptist newspaper. by 1836 he was the president of the Convention of the Baptist denomination of Mississippi. He went on to pastor the 1st Baptist Church of Natchez. the current pastor, Rev. Doug Broome did a wonderful job of portraying Rev. Vaughn!

After Rev. Broome finished, lights came on behind us and we turned around to see 13 year old Allison Forbes. She was wonderful with her rendition of Amazing Grace!! On a funny note, after the tour , John admitted to us that he had seen her standing in the dark shadows and thought she was a ghost but was not going to admit to seeing her!! :)
Next we have Ralph Jennings doing a dramatic portrayal of Samuel Henry Clay Owen. The prominent African American who was president of Natchez College for many years. The historic institution was supported originally African American Baptists of Mississippi and gained a fine reputation under Professor Owen's direction.

One of the many huge Live Oak trees located in the cemetery~~~~

As we walked along one of the drives we were startled by the presence of these "unknown" soldiers" standing beside the plot of the "unknown soldiers ". Later we were treated to a hearty laugh when DebJani said to Christine; " I thought they were going to speak" and Christine replied back; " they can't, they don't know who they are" !


This was really a chilling site in the dark~~~~~~~~~~~

My favorite~~~~~ ~~~~~ Mr. and Mrs. John Fleming" of The Towers in Natchez.

The Towers antebellum home on the left.

James Wesley Forde and Ginger Hyland, present owners of The Towers did an excellent job of entertaining us with the history of this supposed haunted house and it's original owners..........click on The Towers

The Towers is now a B&B and is open for tours Jan-Oct...........

Both of them are veteran actors of The Natchez Little Theater~~~~~~~

What a ball we had listening to local Attorney Rusty Jenkins portray his great-great Uncle 1900s Attorney Charles Ferriday Byrnes! He was one of the most colorful characters in Natchez history. He and his wife, Roane Fleming Byrnes(from the Towers family) resided in the beautiful home Ravennaside and lavishly entertained Natchez society. One of the funny stories Rusty told about his uncle~~~~

Mr. Byrnes it seems was a man who LOVED to drink the hard stuff. His wife was often told by other ladies that he had "no manners" One day he was drunk and his wife took all his clothes ( except for his shoes and hat) and locked him in a room to sleep it off. He decided to don his hat and shoes and climb out the window! He walks down the street where he came upon a group of ladies on a front porch. He tipped his hat and said; Ladies ! A lady in the group reported in haste to his wife that he was down the street! The wife says it cannot be him, he has no clothes to which was replied; "I KNOW " ! Oh my gosh says the wife, what did he do? Tipped his hat and said; Ladies, to which the wife replied; and you always say he has No Manners!

The final portrayal was of the famous 1960s Jazz singer Marian Montgomery(1934-2002) born Maud Runnells in Natchez~~~~


We enjoyed some wonderful music as Diana Glaze sang some of Marian's songs and told about her life~~~~

As you can see~~~ we were having a really good time!


I'm not sure the why they had a bonfire at the end but the smoke made for a spooky picture of Eric, me, Christine and John !


After our bus ride back to pick up our cars, we headed down to Natchez Under The Hill on Silver Street on the banks of the Mississippi River. Here you see the Ilse of Capri Casino



Across the street from the casino is a wonderful place to eat~~ Magnolia Grill




The 5 of us enjoyed a fabulous meal before promising to do it again next year! They portray different people each year so can't wait to see who we meet next!!



Thank you all so much for the thoughts and prayers for my family! We hope that my step-mom will get to come home next week!! Have a great rest of the weekend!! XOXO

" RAIN "

We are finally getting rain !! We have not seen rain in 2 months! Our pond has NEVER been this low!


It has been a very busy time for the last month. I feel overwhelmed at times. My step-mother Jeanette, had a triple heart by-pass 4 weeks ago. She did real good through the surgery but had many complications afterward. She is still not back home and will probably be in rehab for a couple more weeks. My Dad who will be 83 in January, suffers from severe COPD and cannot stay by himself, also spent a week in the hospital. My 2 brothers, sister and I have been sharing his care. My younger brother came down from Arkansas yesterday to stay with him. So I'm heading out in the morning to Townsend to spend a few days in my little mountain get-a-way.
Until things get back to normal around here(if they ever do) I'll be scarce on the web. Please keep my family in your prays ?? XOXO

" Before & After "

We went to Townsend on Sunday as our closing was on Monday morning. It was an exciting day to get the keys and start doing a few things to make it "ours". As soon as we got there and got started to work, our neighbors began showing up on their golf carts to welcome us! We were shocked at how many of the full time residents are from right here in South Mississippi~~~

There is a lot going on in Big Valley Resort! On Tuesday nights they have a Pot Luck dinner @ the Club House which used to be an old barn and afterwards they split into groups and play cards, domino's and bingo. They have a non-denominational church service on Sunday morning. There is a library there(not that I don't have enough reading material for my life time). On holidays like July 4th, Memorial Day and Labor Day they have Golf Cart Parades and cook outs~~~~

We met some awesome people and just hated to leave............

I got a few things done and wanted to show you some before and after shots. There is still a lot to do and we'll take the truck next time so Eric can take all his tools. We'll be painting and putting up bead board and chair rail along with some curtain rods and curtains.

The fall colors weren't at peak but were really looking pretty~~~

BE SURE TO CLICK ON PICTURES

Mornings on the back porch were really Smoky~~~

BEFORE ~~~~~ This was the living room minus the TV looking from the front door ~~~~

AFTER ~~~

BEFORE ~~~ from dining room toward front door


AFTER ~~~~~


Before~~~~ dining area


AFTER ~~~~


BEFORE ~~~~ front bedroom~~~~



AFTER ~~~ need to hang rod for curtains that go over sheers~~



BEFORE ~~~~~ back bedroom ~~~~


AFTER~~~~~~~~


BEFORE ~~~~ kitchen






AFTER~~~ how do you like my vintage Tupperware Canisters from EBay? They will keep staples fresh longer!




Another After~~~~



BEFORE ~~~~~~~ back porch ~~~~



AFTER~~~~~~~ put the swing in the store room till Spring----



ANOTHER AFTER VIEW ~~~~~




This is a prize possession I found at an Antique place in Maryville by Tennessee's First Poet Laureate( 1971-1994) Richard M."PEK" Gunn called "Frettin "~~~~~~ It has the state seal and is signed...........


It also came with a signed 1st Edition of his book " Tales of Tumblin Creek" you see laying on the desk~~~~~~~




I'll leave you with a shot of some color from below the deck~~~~

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE !!!! XOXO