January 4, 2016

 
2016 is only a few days old and some folks have already celebrated their birthday for the year, one being Margie Harrell on the New Year’s Day and Kathy Parrish on January 3rd. Margie celebrated her birthday with a traditional New Year’s meal of cabbage, purple hull peas and plans to watch as many bowl games as possible. Margie loves sports, especially football and basketball. Her favorite athlete is Stephen Curry who she has been watching since his college days. He now plays for the Golden State Warriors and Margie would love to have one of his tee shirts if anyone happens to have an extra one laying around.

The lake home of Don and Sandy Hendrick was the gathering place for New Year’s Day for them and their guests: Mike and Dianne Gibson; daughter and son-in-law, Laurel and Bob Youngblood and their grandchildren, Jayla and Aiden. Sandy and Dianne had pictures made wearing New Year Eve hats since they didn’t stay up to see the New Year in. Dianne told us that Wanda Wesch, owner of “Mama Tried” is closing her shop as of January 31st.

Jay, Kaye, JJ, Chad, Chaney, Chloe and Chandler along with Reggy & Cindy Saxon with their grandkids Slade and Sydney; Mick & Mona Murry with their kids Kenzie, Kendall and Dallas; and Randall, Gina and Heath Murry traveled to Georgia, Atlanta for The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl to watch the University of Houston Cougars beat #9 Florida State, New Year’s Eve. On the way some of the family visited Duck Dynasty and the day before the game they all enjoyed visiting The College Football Hall of Fame, The Hall of Fame captures the stories and accomplishments of the players who broke records and cementing their legacy in a one-of-a-kind experience that pays homage to greats that have played and coached the game. From the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Skill Zone on their 45-yard replica field, and The Playing Field, an indoor half-football field that includes a massive 36-foot high definition video board and a regulation goal post that both kids and adults enjoyed participating in field goal attempts, pass attempts, and also admired all of the college football teams helmet on display on a gigantic wall, and also on display was University of Houston artifacts with the 1976 commemorative football when the Cougars beat U of Texas, which was extra special because Jay played on that team that won. They also enjoyed eating at one of the oldest restaurants in Atlanta, The Pitty Patts Porch Restaurant. The story is told that when Scarlett O’Hara visited Atlanta she always stayed with Aunt Pittypat. During those visits, Aunty Pitty would prepare only her best recipes. At Pittypat’s Porch, the tradition continues and the food was delicious. The drive was long but the Cougars played an awesome game and it was well worth the drive!! It was a great time had by all.

Charlotte and David Carter own His & Hers Trade Days on Hwy 59 in Burke. They recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary shopping for antiques in their new van. The following is an email I received from Charlotte about their trip: “Our intentions were to go to a primitive auction in Illinois and our little ‘treasure’ spot in Indiana. Our first stop was Blue Suede Shoes in Bryant, Arkansas, one of our favorite antique malls. We started filling our storage boxes with several ‘smalls’ there. We traveled on to see our friend, Mr. Earl a picker just a little north of Forrest City, Arkansas. We gained a few washboards and other odds and ends there. Being on a tight schedule to get further north we made it to Marion, Illinois for the night. We reviewed our wishes for the trip and listened to reports about the flooding and decided that we may need to change our plans to get back across the Mississippi River by the weekend. Every highway we were on as we got from northeast Arkansas on had water on both sides of the roads. We detoured east of Marion but before we got out of town a little shop caught David’s eye so back we went. We gathered a few items and it seemed everything we took came from a certain gentleman’s house. As it turns out the lady and her husband had been caring for an elderly gentleman who was in poor health and they were helping sell the contents of his house. She offered to let us see what they had. We followed her husband to this house up on a hill outside of Marion. A nice little home with furniture from the 1940’s – 50’s. We proceeded to get a couple of dressers, chest of drawers, bench, old pew, steel bed, and several other items. Our Transit was packed from top to bottom!

The best part of our trips are the people we meet and this nice couple will be on our list to go back to see on another trip in the near future. We then drove east to Shawneetown, IL. We found a neat little Mom & Pop restaurant called Rudy’s. We enjoyed their special of the day which was chili and grilled cheese sandwich. While there we visited a gentleman who gave us a few leads on goods on down the road. We really didn’t have room for much else but we did go through Sturgis, Kentucky and on to Marion, Kentucky (yes, another Marion). We found a quaint little shop, Our Picket Fence Antiques & Primitives. Once again we were getting caught at dark trying to get back across the Mississippi river. We only found one road closed and made it to Blytheville, Arkansas for the night. As we started home I couldn’t forget a few things Mr. Earl had at his place that caught my eye so we stopped there again. It was there I picked my favorites of the trip, a tobacco cutter and a miniature Pepsi bottle that was a lighter. David got a vice and a few blacksmith tools that he had eyed as well as a couple of shingle froes. We had a great trip but will have to go back with blinders on so we can get to an auction! “

Steve and Mary Brasher have their first grandchild, Callie Elizabeth Waterman, born December 31st and weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz., 20” long. Her parents are Justin and Sabrina; her Uncle Chris who works in PA sent her a 5’ stuffed bear. Steve works for Kahuna Engineering and works near his son Chris in PA. Steve’s wife Mary travels with him most of the time but plans to stay near “Callie Beth” and help take care of her.

Enjoyed visiting with Glen Ringo when he stopped by. Glen is a retired “bull hauler” who grew up in the Woodlake/Groveton areas. He is a member of The Clean Cut Country Band and invites anyone that likes country/gospel music and home cooked food to come to the Groveton Senior Citizen Center the 4th Saturday evening of every month. Other members of the band included: William and Steven Truss; Dennis Davis; Larry Dunn, steel guitar; Woody Bridges and Homer Simmons who both played with George Jones; Maudine Biddick and Linda Trammel. It’s free but donations are greatly appreciated.

Come see us…’round the table.