November 30, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. The Weather.

I once told my friend Clausen that the weather forecast in Mississippi is almost always correct. He disagreed. He was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, which has about the same topography as Jackson and he said that the weatherman is often wrong. But I am always surprised when my phone tells me one thing and the reality is another. Today my phone told me I was going to have rain all day, with a severe storm in the early evening. So far I have seen nothing unusual, just 73 and sunny. This evening on the TV, an alert was sounded. We are having a tornado watch this evening. And we are supposed to have heavy rain and hail later this evening. I do not even hear high wind at the moment so perhaps the storm will miss us here just outside Jackson. The instructions are to go to the lowest part of the house. And for sure, get indoors. I do not wish to go to the lowest part of the house. I intend to crawl into bed and stay there until the morning. I have placed a flashlight beside my bed just in case we have no power. Once again, I was wrong and Clausen was right. The forecast is not correct 100% of the time. But mostly, I can make my plans around the forecast I find on my phone. Last week were supposed to have three days of rain. We got none but we did get heavy wind in the middle of the night. I now have a foot of leaves both front and back even though they were cleaned up on Monday. My trees are almost bare after all the wind. But no rain at all. I have a feeling that we will get no storm this evening. I will go to bed early, just in case. The best place to be in heavy rain and hail is in bed. The sounds are fantastic. After doing a few chores, that is what I intend to do.

November 29, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Getting Old.

I am soon going to turn 82. One of the pleasures of getting old is to watch the younger generation succeed and thrive and then cheer as their children get along with their lives. This summer, Gill and I talked about how sad we felt that Alan never got to experience the success of his sons and his wife. He would be so pleased. And my Father never got to see the grown up grandchildren and of their great success. At least he knew the children had children as Dave and Irene's children were born when he died. My Mother would have loved talking with her great-grandchildren about the English language. She was a wordsmith and as we have one English major in college and one with a PhD is English. She would be proud. But all those folks died too soon. One of my pleasures is keeping track of the children of my friends. The children of the Elys, Mitchells and Wus have always been part of my life. Ion fact we call us "The Other Mothers". And those children now have children and are all doing well with their lives. It is one of the great pleasures of getting old. My Mississippi friends have children at the time in their life when they are selecting a path for their life. I enjoy talking with them about their choices and I talk with my friends about the choices they are making. I often hear people complaining about their ailments as if those maladies were the most important part of their life. But not me. I am delighted to be 82 and to enjoy watching the next generations take their part in the world. And I only wish my relatives and friends had lived as long as I am living. Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, I am grateful for being old.

November 28, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Thanksgiving 2019.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. You don't need to figure anything out. The day takes care of itself. First the parade, followed by the dog show. Next an early dinner of turkey and all the trimmings and finally football. For me I was lucky to be invited to the home of Linda Creath for the Thanksgiving feast along with the other Creath family. That meant around the table were two old ladies, three of the next generation and three grandchildren. We were missing Kate. We were a merry group. The food was delicious as always. My only contribution was to cheer. And to top it off, Christina brought me a meal when she drove me home, so I could eat leftover turkey dinner tomorrow. My cup runneth over. The day after thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas. The same for Christina. But she had three busy weekends coming up so she and the girls decorated their tree and the house two weeks ago. And the outside lights were installed at the same time. Tomorrow she will turn on the outside lights as well as the tree lights. Christmas will be officially just down the road. I on the other hand have had my outside lights glowing brightly for three weeks. My lights are all white so are not so obviously Christmas. And I like them so I keep them going from five to midnight. This year I have decided to be lazy. I am not putting up any Christmas decorations this year. I leave December 18 for Christmas so I will keep the boxes in the closet. I am not sure what that says about me. I am busily writing Christmas cards so I am not a total Scrooge. Christmas 2019 has been pleasant. But this is the first Thanksgiving without Ken. We were all trying not to remember the empty chair at the table. Instead, as always, we counted out blessings.

November 27, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. An Unexpected Excursion.

Kashina was upset when she walked in the door. She could not find her driver's license. She had stopped at the bank to cash her cheque from work and the license was not in her purse. Her plan was to go shopping with her sisters the day after Thanksgiving. So she was stuck. She went through her purse and car twice, to no avail. She thought she left it in the pocket of her work pants. But her home is in Crystal Springs, a 45 minuted drive down highway 55. Ken and I discovered Crystal Springs when we went looking for a fountain. After we bought our fountain, we were hungry and stopped at a service station that also sold fried chicken. The chicken was delicious even though we sat in the truck to eat. Ever since then, we joked that we needed to return to Crystal Springs for chicken. But we never did. I suggested to Kashina that we drive to her house to retrieve her license...and then eat fried chicken for lunch. The day was beautiful. 65 and sunny. It would solve Kashina's problem. So off we went. We drove straight to her home and sure enough, her license was in her pocket. Then we drove around the little town and finally stopped to order lunch. The little place does a booming business. People were pouring out with bags and boxes of chicken. But we had to wait because a new batch of chicken had just been put to cook. We paid so when we returned we only needed to pick up the food. Instead of waiting, we drove to the park so I could walk. I walked for fifteen minutes, then drove around the park itself when the Christmas decorations were being installed. The whole park loop was full of fancy decorations. Businesses and families put up their own decorations along with the town decorations. Starting tomorrow, for $5. a car can drive around after dark to see the many decorations. It was a big deal for a little town. I would love to see it myself. We went back for the chicken, then returned to the park and sat in the shade to eat the delicious lunch. It was worth the trip. Coming home, we drove back roads, which I like. Both of us agreed that we had enjoyed our unexpected excursion. And helped Kashina out of her difficulties. Everyone won today.

November 26, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. William Faulkner.

I spent two delightful hours in the presence of William Faulkner. At least I felt that I was with him. For 30 minutes, PBS showed a tour of the Faulkner family home in Oxford, the one owned and lived in by Maud, the grandmother. The home is still owned and lived in by relatives so it is not open to the public. Lots of original furniture is still in the house along with all the paintings. The show was filmed recently so it was up to date. Next up was a ninety minutes biography filmed in 1979, giving the life story or William. He may be the most famous writer from Mississippi but it was not until late in his life that he was able to make a decent living. And the good folks of Oxford did not think he was wonderful until he died. He was actually more famous in France than in the US and certainly Oxford. His writing is dense and you must keep a dictionary beside you when reading Faulkner. He once was complimenting Hemingways's writing and commented that when you read Hemingway you do not need a dictionary. Talk about damning with faint praise. He wrote in Hollywood whenever he needed money. Finally, although he was under contract, he came back home to Oxford. Ever since his death, his reputation has grown. Anyone studying Souther writers will study Faulkner. The same for American literature. I am just reading an essay about John Ruskin. During his life time, he was famous and had great notoriety. Now most of his books are out of print and almost no one reads him. William Faulkner was not a bit famous during his life but now people flock to tour his home, Rowanoak, in Oxford. And even though reading him requires effort, his books are worth the effort. I keep urging myself to read more Faulkner. My reading speed has decreased so perhaps reading him will be easier. But I know that for two hours last week I seemed to be in the presence of William Faulkner. I loved every minute, thanks to PBS.

November 25, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Messy.

Gladys travelled with us to real estate meetings. She worked in the Potomac office. She was short and a bit round, with a big bosom. To avoid making a mess on her clothes, she wore a fancy bib at meals. They were fancy and once she put them on, she appeared to just be wearing a dress. Ken and I noted her bibs and congratulated her on her good sense. Many years ago, Ken remembered Gladys and her bibs. In 2014, Ken was diagnosed with Parkinsons. His main problem was balance and stability but he also had a tremor in both arms. Also his left arm could not be raised up. As he was left handed and could not eat with his left hand, he was forced to0 eat with his right, which made him spill a lot of food. He was also fastidious with his clothes. His solution was to order lots of bibs and wear one at every meal. He would order a type of bib and not like them so he would order more. Eventually we hat lots and lots of bibs. We always kept on in the car for when we went to a restaurant. He did not care if the bib was fancy or not. He always word a bib. Last Thursday my BSF group went out to lunch together. I belong to a lively, interesting group so we had fun. I ate a chicken sandwich and a broccoli. After I finished eating, I looked down at my black vest to discover remnants of my food all down my chest. I brushed off my front but while I was doing it, my friend who was sitting beside me reached over and continued to clean me up. When I watcher her, it was clear that I had lettuce and other remnants of my lunch all across my vest. I just laughed and thanked her for her help. But on the way home, I did wonder that it might be time for me to use a big. But I decided against it. I do not really care if I have spots on my shirt. I actually can not see them, even with my reading glasses. I will just be more careful not to spill.

November 24, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Molly's Birthday.

Today was Molly's 12th birthday. She selected the restaurant Fine & Dandy to celebrate. We always order a milk shake as an appetizer, following Ken's pattern, which is why she selected it. Keshina brought balloons and a gift. My gift to her filled the whole center of the round table. There were 6 big Christmas bags full. Ken always kept boxes of chocolate in the pantry. Every time Molly came to visit, she would go to what she called "Ken's Stash," and helped herself. The pantry is down to one box so I gave her big boxes of candy bars, for a total of 7, all different. She giggled as she knew the gift was ridiculous. As Christina commented, "Ken would have been delighted." Molly was delighted too. I gave her the option of keeping them all at her house or leaving a few boxes in my pantry so she would have treats when she visited. She took them all home to start. I will see what she will do. The bars would be safe with me as I do not eat milk chocolate. She does have two big boxes on dark chocolate which I do eat so I suspect they will stay at her home. Molly was thrilled with her celebration. After a bit of a quiet time at home, they will have another celebration with Christina's mother. Molly recalled her 7th birthday when we were all at the Hard Rock Resort south of Playa Del Carman. She went through the celebration in great detail. Todays birthday celebration was more sedate but still pleasant. And she now has enough chocolate for the whole year.