Genes will tell.......

I took Carol on a little trip a few years back. We returned to the places where ; Mom,Dad, Virginia, amd me had lived. I took her back to Williamson, W. Virginia. It was Wednesday night, and the faithful were meeting for Prayer Meeting. Someone said, "That's Hassel's boy," and the car was surrounded. I had not been there since I was five or six. Someone said that I looked just like my father.
Well , it seems that Skip's oldest daughter looks a lot like her Gandmother. Of course , I had seen the resemblance when they were younger, but now as young ladies, the resemblence is even more so. Uncle Henry had not seen her until the funeral. He was quite taken with how much she resembled his dead sister.

Illumenation

The Apostle Paul wrote;"Now I see through a glass darkly...... now I know in part:but then shall I know even as also I am known. Even the definition of faith is ambigous at best; Faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence not found." Jesus said that His ways were made to confuse those who used logic, because there is no logic. Paul says we travel by faith. So the picture reminds me of revelation, a little at a time. Not that you could see far, but perhaps far enough. My father used to illustrate faith in an anology, car headlights. You can't see the journey's end by your headlights on your car. You can only see segments of the road ahead. Sunday School dismissed.

The burial went well. Virginia said that all went well. Carol will call later this afternon to get all of the particulars.

On Dad's tombstone I had written; Philippians 3:13....This one thing I do, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Indeed, his entire life was for that sole purpose. He preached out of conviction. That's why he could tell members of the Kouts Christian Church, I wil teach, so you can put my salary into a building fund. Not only did he teach school , he had to go to school, and he also helped work on the building, he led by example.

And, when we lived at home, we were recruited into His service. We taught Sunday School, we graded papers, we followed after him.

When dating Carol, I had to explain that our date nights would have to be Friday nights. Saturday night was for studying my Sunday School lesson. I hd been teaching Sunday School since high school.

Friday night, visitation, and Euology

Bill Thomas did a good job. He hit the right notes in his sermon. Mom was going home. She like Paul could say that she had fought the good fight and there was a reward for her on the other side. Death was not the end, it was the start of a new life. The services were well attended. I would say close to 80 people showed up, of course, this included family. Both sides of the family. Tom, and Virginia, her two boys, Mica, Dan's oldest son, was there. Charles' two girls and his son attended, and Debby had her daughters, and there and Evan, Karen's son one of them the youngest attended. Mom brought Charles' side of the family together, they were astranged before the marriage, but Mom brought them together.

At 84, unless you are a politician,you don't get this much of a crowd. Services today at graveside in Lexington will be presided over by Dan. I'm sure , he will do a good job.

Yesterday, we picked up flowers, and took them back to the nursing home. We left off anything which might resemble a funeral, and left just cheery flowers. Thus we closed the last chapter in Mom's life at Garden Terrace.

Mom died Tuesday......

Mom died on Tuesday. Towards the end, she could not speak, but while awake, she recognized people. She would smile, laugh, but words evaded her. Only at the end did she sink into an unconscience state.
Tonight: visitation, funeral,; Saturday, she is being flown to Lexington, and buried next to Dad in Lexington.
Virginia, Carol, Tom, and others will list some of our fondest memories of Mom. My memory was how she made wherever we were home. I told her this before she lost her conscience mind. Alzheimer's is a horrible disease. It robs you of your personality.
I hope all goes well at the visitation. I wonder if Andy Hagney will show up. I wonder if he will be able to show up.
Tom is here, as are the boys. We will not be able to make the graveside ceremony. Jim Williams of Firestone fame called to convey his condolences. I am glad to her from him.

Picrures

I've shown this picture before, but it is one of my favorite pictures I have of Marilyn. I saw this picture hanging on the wall at Chubbies Diner. I asked the woman at the cash register where she had found this picture, and she said that her boss has found it, and had it framed. I guess, the picture was advertizing some product. What, we don't know, nor do we care. She could have been advertizing hats.
There has been a study out that depressed women have more sex than happy women. They say that the act of being close to someone helps them feel more secure. I posted this in Authors. I thought it was a hoot. So, I never met any truely depressed women while I was dating.
Women do not have to be down out gorgeous to be attractive. Well, there are few of us who meet that criteria anyway, but a well cultivated mind is much more interesting than say a woman without one. I have not met many who were totally brainless. They generally have had some notion of what they like, or dislike, but a woman who has really a mind of her own, might be more sexy than one who has nothing much on her mind.

The Liars' Bench

This is not the actual bench, it is a picture of another bench in another Commonwealth. My Grandfather would congregate down by the square in Harlan, Kentucky, and hold court on the passing parade of life. My Grandma named the bench,but I doubt if you could have found the title, "Liar's Bench" anywhere on it.

I was thirteen when Grandpa decided that I was perhaps old enough to join the old men on the bench. I was unaware then of the privledge this represented.

Grandpa formed a tooth pick from a match, and worked it around in his mouth as he eyed the traffic. I watched,not quite sure of what he was thinking. Then, he looked up, and he said," You know, we are looked upon as poor, but look at the cars whizzing about. They are practically brand new, and in good shape too."

True, the cars we saw were practically new, but I knew, but did not voice the opinion, that they may be new, but they were parked in front of hovels.

Grandpa's name was Vernon as well. We called him V.C., I became Big Vernon, no one thought of calling me V.W., and my cousin became little Vernon.

Abndoned places

This picture was taken of a place which used to house workers. You can see where they used to work in the reflection of one of the glass panes. They no longer work there, nor are the buildings used for what they were intended. They stand in mute testimony as to what was and is no more. I don't know this for a fact, but since Rt. 66 has been replaced by Rt 55, I will bet that this is standing by an abandoned roadway. This is doubly sad.

I detest abandoned houses, or stores , or anything which has been left to fend for itself. In my time, I have witnessed many such structures lie in ruin due to neglect. Here in Wyandotte County, we had Indian Springs. A shopping Center which was as good as in any in the Metro , but because of perceived crime, it was allowed to go down hill. People abandoned it. They stopped going to the stores, to the movie theaters, they said,"It's not safe." Of course, there are many unsafe areas in the area, and true, this was not the most dangerous place on earth, and with a little surveylance, it could have been saved.

People i know.....

This is Kathy, she works for Dr. Van, my foot doctor, just stopping by to say hello. She went silver on me, now she is back to being a blond. Oh well, women can change. She is a delightful woman.
I need to take more pictures. I like this. I have more to come, but they will have to be in other blogs. It seems I can only send these pics one at a time.
We got a surprise this morning, snow, and more than the weather man said we would get. From the accounts I hear on the radio neither were a lot of people driving to work this morning, lots of accidents.
Yesterday, someone demolished my mail box. I mean, I looked out and there it was in a thousand little pieces on the ground. How they did it is beyond me. I will have to take a picture of it, and post it here.

My Art

When i was 5, that's as far back as I can go in my memory. I drew a picture, natural of my father in the shower. I left nothing to the immagination. i do believe that would have been all right had I not decided to show my masterpiece to my mother who was conducting a Ladies Aide meeting. That sort of put a damper on my art. Although extinguished for a time, my love of art never totally died out. In my old age, I have taken it up again.

The picture you see was copied from the TV . It was from the movie,"I robot". Obviously a shower scene, but this time, the back is discretly to the on looker. LOL.

She came back.......

I had been pleading with her since she left to come back, and I suppose I wore her down. All is well now. Unless , I do something to piss her off again. But , for the moment, it is good.

This morning was a repeat breakfast. It was biscuits, gravy sausage, and scrambled eggs, and coffee, and applebutter . It was really good.

Last night we had chinese. I haven't had that in a while, and we will probably have it again tonight. Our fortune cookies gave us some numbers to play in the Lottery. I believe we will play those numbers. There were a lot of twos in them, and we seem to do well with twos, I don't know why?

I've been going to chat in Yahoo, and for the third day, we got booted out by interlopers. Rude crude sons of bitches. I have asked Wine if we could move that chat room over to Yuku, or perhaps just form a group in Yuku, and call it kitchen chat. There will be no voice, but hell, there isn't much voice in Yahoo. I'll ak Don about that.

More later.....

One of the Most interesting women I have known

She is an Artist, a Naturalist,hair stylist, and she can get any plant to bloom. She can have the birds and the bees pollenate her flowers, she is at harmony with nature. You culd almost call her one with nature. Just a reminder. That is all this picture is. Just a reminding memory.
We are getting rain, and the rain is to turn to sleet, and that I do not care for, but, Spring is coming, or so they tell me. I revel in the Spring. I love the cool days, the gradual warming, the trees budding, new life appearing as if by magic. No wonder the Greeks looked upon this time of year as a renewal, and celebrated Asthar, what we call Easter now. It is funny, the Pagans had this all to themselves until the Christians took it over. This was not the only Pagan holiday ruined by Christians. Holloween, and All Saints day, was Pagan first. The idea that there was a thin veil separating those who were alive from the dead, was a Pagan idea, the Chritians took it as well.
I've known a few Pagans, and they only accept Mother Earth. They do not believe in sacrafices, or unholy communion with Satin, no, they cherish the earth and her boundifulness.
We are coming into Easter , and there will nary be a Pagan to speak forth of the wonderful things that are to come. The flowers, and the trees, and the animals. Even the Groundhog, he or she whichever sex, is sure to not only see its shadow, but to eat your shrubs. Every year, we have at lleast two wild bunnies. I suppose they eat clover, although there is little of that around. But each year, I look forward to seeing a bunny or two. Squirrels, we have tons of those things, but when they are young, even they are cute.