Camellias

Spring always reminds me of Dad and his camellias.  Papa had over 200 hundred camellias when we moved from Atlanta to Monroe.  A lot of them were in cedar tubs.  These were the cedar tubs with eight sides and two metal bands around them, depending on the size of the tub.  I believe the metal was brass.  Every Sunday when the camellias were blooming, Dad would pick camellias for each of his girls and all of our Sunday School teachers.  He would put florist wire through the stems, and then wrap the wire with florist tape.  We would proudly wear our camellias and our teachers were thrilled to receive their flowers.  When the tea olive (osmanthus fragrans) was blooming, we would get tiny bouquets pinned to our dresses.

Dad loved to work with his camellias.  I can still see him, sitting in the backyard, grafting and air-layering the camellias.  He grew many seedlings that  over the years became quite large.  There ended up being about a 20 x 20, 40 x 40? foot area in the backyard with large camellias that Dad had grown from seedlings. 

Of course, his favorite place to get camellias was from Nuccio's in Altadena, Ca.  If you are ever in the Pasadena area, it is a must see.  Cliff took me there twice while we were in California for his prostate cancer treatment at Loma Linda.  Julius Nuccio was kind enough to take us 'behind the scene', to see their operation.

Finding Family

Today was such a special day!  I heard from a cousin on Mother's side of the family.  She found my blog while doing her family tree research.  Nancy's grandmother,  Esther Marion Pollard, and my great-grandmother, Lura Tanner, were cousins.   Nancy lives in Seattle with her family, and I would never have known that we have 'family' there if she had not contacted me.  It is so exciting to find out about our Pollard family!  I've been learning a lot about the Iles, Rutledges, and Tanners, from Nancy's family tree.

Verse from Barbara and Ricky

Our friend Barbara, really Dotsy's best friend growing up, (but I claim her too) wrote a beautiful comment.  If you haven't read the comment under "Bible verses and letter from Neal", please do.  She and Ricky also love the Book of Ruth, especially Ruth 1:16.  Barbara is one of the sweetest people one could ever know.   Thank you, Barbara.

Bible verses from Dotsy

Dotsy sent these verses:

1 Peter 1: 24-25   All mortals are like grass; all their splendor like the flower of the field; the grass withers, the flower fails; but the word of the Lord endures forever. 

1 Corinthians 13:4  Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one.

Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, nor quick to take offence.

Bible verses, and Letter from Neal

When Mom moved out here to Texas, about 6 years ago, she wanted to join a Church. We asked our friends Kim and Gwen where they went to Church and Sunday School. Kim told me she had been to every Church around and she found a home at First Baptist Pittsburg. Gwen told us that she and Elmer had been members there  a very long time. Both Kim and Gwen invited us to join their Sunday School Class, The Friendship Class, taught by Bo Pilgrim. We've been members ever since. It is truly a class of Christian friends. 

Friends and family sent some of their favorite Bible verses to share.  I have found that these verses are full of comfort for all of us.

Anne sent these:

"This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm  118:24

"Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me."  John 14:1

"I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."  Phillippians 4:13

"I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord which made Heaven and Earth." Psalm 1221:1,2

Lara sent this:

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.  So don't try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1:3-4,  The Message

From Neal and Linda:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1

Neal also wrote Mom a letter that I want to share with everyone.  It brings home  how we never know how we will affect someone.  Neal wrote:

"Our acquaintance has not been one of great length, but it feels that you have been in my life forever.  You have completed a picture that I have carried with me since my mother died when I was five.  There were many very loving 'stand-in' moms for me.  My spotted mare, along with a couple of ole dogs that I had at the time of her death, the colored lady, who worked for my mother and whom I loved, took me as her tenth kid, and, the neighbors who cared about me, all were good stand-ins for a MAMA, but something was missing.  Not being able to remember much about my mother, I created a picture in my mind of how I thought MY MAMA would look and what she would be like, but without a face.  You have completed that picture, A REAL SOUTHERN LADY, fun and outgoing, with a sweet loving spirit, with enthusiasm for life, and a face of soft kindness and compassion for everyone she meets.  Now I know, that is the way My Mama would have been.  Thanks be to God for your coming into my life to help me complete my picture of MAMA.  'May the wind always be at your back and that you shall always be held in the palm of God's hand.'

Neal O'Quinn

February 10, 2009

This is from Nancy:

"Romans 8:18 is one of my favorite verses.  It has carried us through many rough times and is carrying us once again: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us. "

Nancy and Larry are always in our prayers for, his full recovery.  They have never lost  faith, with all of Larry's cancer treatments. Their faith has sustained them.

Betty and Jim love Psalm 100, 1-5, as does Elaine:

 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

 Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his;  we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;  give thanks to him and praise his name.

 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Catherine said one of her favorite verses is :  John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

I love this verse from Psalms 55:22

"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you;  he will never let the righteous fall."  When I was going through radiation treatment, the men's roundtable at the church sent this.

Some of  Mother's favorite verses are  from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease;  where there are tongues, they will be stilled;  where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love."

Elaine told me that the book of Ruth is one of her favorite books of the Bible.  Ruth was Elaine's Mom's name.  She also loves the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.

I hope to add more Bible verses.  Please send them to me, or you can add them as comments.  Love,  Ann

Peaches gets her Pilot's License

When Peaches was at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, in Lafayette,  a program was being offered to encourage students to learn to fly.  This was called the Civilian Pilot Training Program started in 1938.  It's purpose was to train a pool of potential military pilots that the country would soon need.  This program operated at 1,132 colleges and universities.  I've posted a link to the National Museum of the USAF if you would like more information.  Mom was one of two girls accepted in her class, I believe the other girl dropped out.  I'll have more of Mom's adventures, later!

Saturday Night Pizza!

Here are two of my favorite pizza dough recipes:

the first one is from Arthur Schwartz  "Naples at Table"

1 envelope dried yeast

1 cup warm water

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup warm water

In a 2 cup glass measure, with a table fork, dissolve the yeast in the 1 cup of warm water.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the flour, cover with a clean dishtowel and let stand until the mixture foams up to about double - to 2 cups - about 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine 3 1/2 cups of the flour with the salt.  Stir in the yeast mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of warm water.  Stir until the dough masses together.  Gather the dough into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Adding just enough flour to keep dough from sticking.  Knead about 10 to 12 minutes, until smooth, silken, and slightly damp on the surface.  Dust the dough lightly with flour and place in a bowl to rise, covered with a clean dishcloth, for about 1 hour, or until it is slightly more than doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough, divide into 4 parts. Let rise, covered.  Roll out, top with favorite ingredients. bake in oven preheated to 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes.  Be sure to place your pizza stone in a COLD oven. Refrigerate or freeze remaining balls in plastic bags.

Here is my second favorite recipe for pizza dough:  Go to Sam's, and they will sell you a case of pizza dough.  It keeps in the freezer all nicely wrapped.  Each ball of dough will make 5 small thin crust pizzas!!!

Happy Birthday, Catherine

Today is Catherine's birthday! Happy Birthday!!!  Catherine was born in 1971, at St. Mary's Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois.  She was the most beautiful baby in the nursery.  Peaches was there, and so was Catherine's other grandmother: Catherine O'Shaughnessy Herbstritt.  Peaches and Grandma Kay were both claiming that Catherine looked like their side of the family.   The nurses used Catherine as the 'demo' baby to show new mothers how to bath and dress their newborns.  

Peaches was very busy in 1971.  She had four grandchildren born that year.  OB's youngest son was born in January, Catherine in February, Tim in August, and Parrish in September.   Catherine and Tim were born in Illinois, and the rest were Georgia babies.  

February is also a month filled with other family birthdays:  Lara on the 1st,  Lea on the 12th, and, Lauren on the 18th.  Happy Birthday to all.

Recipe and Pictures

The 'girls' were over Saturday and what to serve???  Strawberries dipped in chocolate.  Mom's famous ham and cheese puffs. And, of course, Mimosa's.   Somehow,  the Hors d'oeuvres'  taste better when Peaches makes them, is it the hand that makes them?  That puts a special touch on them?                                                                                                The recipe is from one of Peaches' cookbooks, appropriately enough,  

  Hors d'oeuvres'  by the Mimosa Garden Club of Atlanta.

Deviled Ham Spread

1 can deviled ham          1 8 oz package of cream cheese      Bread

Cut crusts off bread. Cut slices with cookie cutter(use different shape cutter if desired).  Spread deviled ham on bread.  Then spread with whipped cream cheese.  Bake at 375 until brown.