Saturday, September 3, 2011

#1 Small Town in America

Heck, even people in WV think Lewisburg is a cool town

#1 Lewisburg, WV (pop. 3,830)


Arts in Appalachia
A small town is usually lucky if there's a decent one-screen movie theater, maybe a community dance troupe. But a Carnegie Hall? This speck on the map in the Greenbrier River Valley lays claim to one of only four in the world. The 1902 building now serves as Lewisburg's creative control tower, attracting an unlikely band of artistic characters, back-to-the-land types, and retirees.


Jeanne and Michael Christie embody Lewisburg's blend. The duo run the Davenport House B&B, where guests can bottle-feed one of the property's baby lambs after taking coffee and breakfast on their private patio. Michael is a painter whose work has shown in New York City's Hoorn-Ashby gallery, and Jeanne is the former director of front-office operations at the Greenbrier hotel, 10 miles down the road.


"You know, you always think of the ideal American town, where the kids are safe, the streets are clean. We have that, but we also have Wynton Marsalis coming through," says Jeanne, who'd just finished a morning of shearing sheep.


No Progress on the Health Front

I had entirely too much salt last month. I went on salt overload on my birthday and it took 2 1/2 weeks to loose that weight. I couldn't walk or move I was so swollen and at one point I thought I would go in the hospital but I toughed it out.

Then when I lost the weight and the pain was over (I have learned that too much salt in my system makes me ache like a giant toothache all over my body) my nephew called and wanted to take me to dinner. I tried to steer him to a more healthy choice but like everyone else in the family he knows what I used to like and he didn't understand (like everyone else) that I don't make those food choices anymore. He insisted on Golden Corral and I relented. I was good though I only had 2 heaping plates of food.

If I would have stopped there I would have been fine but my uncle called the next day and they wanted me to join them for a late birthday dinner. I went to their house and ate more salt filled food and went back on salt overload until about last Monday.

I went to Sis's to swim on Wednesday. I thought it would be harmless. She had invited people over for dinner that I hadn't seen in years and once again I had a salt filled meal and I didn't get to swim either. So now I am on salt overload again.

I hope no one wants to see me for awhile. They are killing me!

Back to the drawing board.

I am fishing more. I'm not catching anything but I am an eternal optimist and I am sure I can learn to feed myself from the rivers and lakes of West Virginia. Right now fishing is all the exercise that I can manage.

It is too hot for that right now too. Please let the heat be over soon, then I can get out (like I did last week) and enjoy the great outdoors for a couple of months until it is too cold to go outside and I am stuck inside watching movies.

I have learned to dub my movies from VCR to DVD. I will be posting some on future blogs. I have some adorable greyhound footage that I think is interesting.

Friday, September 2, 2011

I'm Standing Halfway Up the Side of a Mountain...

........looking at one of my childhood homes. It is only about a quarter of a mile from the house my parents built back 1972. I think we lived in the green house from the 1st. grade to the 5th. grade. It is brown now. There used to be 2 giant evergreen trees in front of the porch- now they're gone, The porch is open now, it used to be enclosed and I can see the spot where I got sick and puked up chicken chow mein. I haven't eaten chow mein to this day.

I remember the angle under the porch. It is still there. One side is higher than the other and we used to crawl under there and play. Billy crawled all the way under there once and set a fire. He almost set the house on fire and mommy had to crawl under there as far as she could and throw dirt at the flames to smother them.

Sherri and i used to play along the side between our two houses. We would play Monelito and Danny. They would rescue us from jail. The jail was an old storm grate on my side of the fence

We had our first dog here, a beagle. Cleopatra Floppyears Brennan was tied to her doghouse and she used to pull it all over the neighborhood following us around. She used to ride in the boat on the way to the campground and her ears would blow in the wind. That's how she got the middle name Floppyears. Then there was Ringo. They picked her up op a rainy night and a couple of months later she had puppies for us. She was killed on the road in front of my little sister, Rhonda. We had one puppy left and we named him Duke...aka....Dukiebird

i remember when they tore the garage down out back. They went inside and took out all the supports and then they just pushed it over as pretty as you please. I remember one of the big boys offering me candy to show him my panties - I did it

We learned to ride our bikes in the alley out back. I was jealous because daddy took the time to teach Billy, but he left Rhonda and I to learn on our own. It's the same alley where Rhonda buried herself under leaves in the middle of the road and my mom had to race screaming from the house to get her before a car came and ran over her. (thankfully, it wasn't a busy alley)

The Flynn's lived on one end. They grew grapes and chestnuts. We weren't allowed to play in their yard but every year they would fill up Big Gulp cups full of chestnuts and give one to each of the kids. There was an empty house next to us and I used to sit in the apple tree and read books for hours. Seamans' moved into the house behind us - they were like a Brady Bunch family. The mom and dad had gotten married with several kids from each marriage plus their kid they made together. When they moved out the Clarks' moved in. They gave out Clark bars every Halloween and their son, Greg, was killed in a car wreck on the straight stretch before Justice Addition when he was 17. (I think)

Mike and Kim Cook lived in the house next to them. Kim would play with me at home but she was too cool to talk to me at school. Mrs. Glenn lived on the other end of the Alley and her granddaughters, Kelly and Trisha used to play with us when they came down. In front of her was Hobe and Monte. We used to have to bum rides to school with them when we missed the bus. My mom wouldn't get our of bed, she said it was our responsibility to get to the bus on time or find our own way. Hobe and Monte's daughter, Sissy, had to go to work anyway so we weren't too late for school.

Ricky Irvin lived on the end and he had the best yard but we weren't allowed to play that far down the alley. Sometimes we would sneak down there and play king of the mountain or something but usually Ricky came to our house and played. All the kids in the neighborhood did because we weren't allowed to go to other people's houses usually. Ricky was my first crush. After David Cassidy that is. I remember singing "I Think I Love You," on the front porch over and over.

Star Market was the store after Ricky's house. We would ask for a nickel everytime we ran to the store, and we DID run, then we would load up on penny candy or whatever we could get for a nickel. I don't think I EVER saved it so I could get something better. One time I lost $20 on the way to the store and I came back and announced to my parents that they needed to give me more money. They freaked because I was so careless and made me look for it for what seemed like hours before they relented and gave me the money to buy the groceries again. I had to learn the value of money so I wouldn't lose it again they said.,

I remember my mom teaching me to tell time and tie my shoes in that house. This is where we played "paddle machine" when my aunt was the babysitter. Basically it is a kid's version of an Indian gauntlet and probably nearly as painful That is also the house where we had the greatest Christmas ever! It was magical in every way and all children should have at least one Christmas like that,

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Put a Mousetrap on It

I am sitting in a house where snooze alarms have been going off for the past hour. Maybe if they woul go ahead and sleep the last hour, they wouldn't need to keep pressing that button.

Remember the promos when Ally McBeal first started coming on? When she took out that machine gun from underneath her pillow and blew away that alarm clock, I knew it was the show for me.

I think I will put a mousetrap on top their alarm clocks tomorrow...that will put an end to that snooze button

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Last Time I Got ID'ed

The last time I got ID'ed,I was 42 years old and it was my birthday. I offered to kiss that girl!

I was one of those young looking women that got carded everywhere I went. I was getting carded long after my friends stopped being carded much to their chagrin.

Back when I turned 18 it was legal for 18 year olds to drink. Now when I card someone over 21 and they complain about it, I tell them they can blame people like me. I was one of those crazed 18 year old drinkers that made them change the law back to 21 about 5 years after they passed it in the first place. We caused too much trouble for the rest of the drinking public.

One time when I was 35 and I was just starting to be able to buy contraband without being carded I went into a store to buy cigarettes for my boss. The kid carded me and I started to thank him profusely because I was starting to get out of the habit of getting carded. I don't know what was up the manager's butt that day but she heard me laughing and thanking the cashier for carding me. She marched out of the office and hatefully announced, "I want you to know, we card anyone under 30."

My good mood was not to be spoiled. I told her that, "hey, 30 is still fine by me since I am way past that day too!"

Sunday, August 28, 2011

The Pot is Brewing...

It's starting to boil.

Soon it will boil over.

There is nothing I can do to stop it.