History hidden in the attic - until now

 Arkansas sky from Highway 64 headed west from Beebe, DH, photographer, PL's camera

 

            Late-January and the Christmas things are back upstairs. Oh, wait. There’s still a plastic bin of stuff in the back bedroom. Out of sight, out of mind.

            I decided that for every trip I made up, I’d bring something old down and go through it. Oh my goodness, what a find.

            Myriad out-sized calendars from the Missouri Department of Forestry that had photos taken by Mom’s nephew/my cousin, Mark. A Grand Canyon calendar from the 70s, a Norman Rockwell calendar from the 80s. I kept the latter two and cut out all Mark’s pictures with dates and captions from the others.

I found historical (to me) documents of events both known and unknown. A plat of Couchwood Subdivision, developed from our land that Dad sold; a legal folder of neighbor Snodgrass' suit over Dad's allotting of acreage--Ted Boswell, attorney—this I didn’t know.

I re-taped Dad's birth certificate, which looked to have been cut down the center, in the process, learning his mother’s middle name—Allen. Here was Mom's lifetime teaching certificate and a WSCS or UMW award, a school picture of Mom’s first grade in 1971-72. If you were in this picture, I’ll give it to you.

There were letters from Tom Couch to another Couch I never heard of, a letter from Tennessee cousin Melissa with ancestry information about Mom’s mother Flossie's folks.

Promotion and Vacation Bible School certificates of our late sister Martha's. She died in a vehicle accident in 1967. In 1949, Salem Methodist Church’s pastor was J. R. Martin, Frank Kane was superintendent of Sunday School, and our aunt, Mrs. Holmes Aston was VBS “principal.”

By 1950, the pastor was Wesley Reutz. In 1951, it was Kenneth M. Goode. By 1953, the certificates were full-size with no ‘pastor’ line. Aunt Evelyn (Aston) had moved to superintendent, and Pauline Weger was the teacher. She was also long-time church pianist.

 The old (70s) Benton Couriers need to be recycled since the historical society/library has them stored on microfilm. And the quilting pattern book from 1975? Does anyone want it?

Interesting headlines in two Arkansas Methodist newspapers in late 1974. On the week before Christian Education Sunday, 4 church leaders answered the question, “Has the Sunday School ‘had its day’?”

In early October that same year, the headline was: ‘Belief crisis’ faces nation,….” What is the old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”? BFF Dot will take those.

The last item I found is actually personal. It’s a program from a concert in 1985 by the five-year-old Arkansas Chamber Singers, of which I am a charter member. By 1985, the founding director, Barbara Levy, had gone, and Dr. Rosella Duerksen was director. Don’t remember those names? How about this name? Pat Paulus? Oh, that was me.

My, how things change. LOL

Curses on the causes of Alzheimer's

 

                First, it was Virginia Russell, one of the most educated, intelligent, civic-minded women in Bryant. Why her? I asked at the time of her death. Since then, a high school classmate, who spent her entire career as an executive secretary at the Pentagon, contracted lewy bodies. Next, a relative has been diagnosed with onset dementia. And I just heard that another classmate (’54) is now a resident of a nursing home in Hot Springs.

Then Robin Williams. And now Miller Williams, who (in my opinion) should have been Arkansas’s poet laureate, if not the national laureate.

Why them and not me? Or Dot? Or Freeda? Or Bill? Or a million others?

            So I went online to the Mayo Clinic website. Here is what I found:

Scientists believe that for most people, Alzheimer's disease results from a combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that affect the brain over time.

Although the causes of Alzheimer's are not yet fully understood, its effect on the brain is clear. Alzheimer's disease damages and kills brain cells. A brain affected by Alzheimer's disease has many fewer cells and many fewer connections among surviving cells than does a healthy brain.

As more and more brain cells die, Alzheimer's leads to significant brain shrinkage. When doctors examine Alzheimer's brain tissue under the microscope, they see two types of abnormalities that are considered hallmarks of the disease:

PLAQUES. These clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid may damage and destroy brain cells in several ways, including interfering with cell-to-cell communication. Although the ultimate cause of brain-cell death in Alzheimer's isn't known, the collection of beta-amyloid on the outside of brain cells is a prime suspect.

TANGLES. Brain cells depend on an internal support and transport system to carry nutrients and other essential materials throughout their long extensions. This system requires the normal structure and functioning of a protein called tau.

In Alzheimer's, threads of tau protein twist into abnormal tangles inside brain cells, leading to failure of the transport system. This failure is also strongly implicated in the decline and death of brain cells.

Here are three poems of Miller Williams from his book, Some Jazz a While: Collected Poems published in 1999 by University of Illinois Press.

  IT’S HARD TO THINK THE BRAIN 

 a ball of ropey dough

should have invented pain

or come to know

 

how there are things we lend

a fragile credence to

and hope to comprehend

but never do.

 

AND THEN I HEADED ON BACK HOME 

I went to New York and went to the poet’s address,

four flights up in a building with clean windows.

He asked what I wanted. He didn’t open the door.

I told him I liked his poems and came to say so.

He said if that’s true I thank you very much.

I told him his milk was out there getting warm.

 

               
TRYING TO REMEMBER 

You know in the muddy pond the fish is there. 
It bumps the bait and late in the long shadows
it nudges a brief circle over the surface. 
Give it up. It will die in the dark water.

##PL

Best and Worst of 2014 – Part Two

 

 

 

 

FIRST AND ONLY TIME – JULY

Travis and “Junior” refinished the original (1932) hardwood floors. They sanded 1/16^th an inch down, filled in the cracks with “mud,” applied a Golden Oak stain. They also replaced some long-rotted boards. Since there is only one door into the back part of the house—and they were working in that room—I’d had to figure out a way to access the bath- and bedrooms. I wrote about it earlier: climb thru the back bedroom (off the back porch) window.

FIRST AND ONLY TIME – AUGUST

Plumber LaRue saw to the moving of the appliances from the kitchen to a space on the back porch. Robert and Clayton (from Hot Springs, but hired by Mullins) pulled the linoleum from the kitchen/ breakfast room. Eddie dug out and replaced rotted wood by the dishwasher. Beige vinyl tiles laid. Appliances moved back inside. Electrician called because of a (what looked like) gnawed-on wire behind the dishwasher. He did his work, plus I hired him to replace two ceiling fans and install a motion light at a later date.

BEST USE OF PEAR CROP – SEPTEMBER

            Sent word that the pears were up for grabs since my two chest freezers were full from previous year’s harvest.s Linda and Anna Elizabeth, Jim and Versie, Gara and others answered the offer and hauled away buckets/ laundry baskets full—all for pear preserves. I still had to gather several buckets full to keep from letting them completely rot on the ground.

BEST AND WORST – OCTOBER

            Two Bests: One: Son Gordon from Florida home for high school class reunion. Two: BFF Dot and I spent the last week in Eureka Springs at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow.

            Worst: Poet and long-time friend Lew Taylor (Stillwater OK) died. I hadn’t seen him since April 2012 at Lucidity. God rest his soul.

MOST TIRING NOVEMBER DAY:

Tuesday (4^th): At the local election site from 7:00 a.m. till 8:00 p.m. A constant flow of voters until a little after 11:00 when it tapered off.

MOST LUCRATIVE NOVEMBER DAY:

Saturday (15^th): Sold eight books (“A Journey of Choice’) and several pieces of satin glass at the Salem UMC bazaar.

THE SECOND BEST DECEMBER EVENT:

           I hugged MISS HAITI, aka Hermani Pierre. She was the fiancée of one of (brother) Bill’s colleagues, Greg. They were invited by the host (Bill) to drop in and “meet the family at the Couch gathering.” Hermani, a gorgeous, Dolly Parton-esque Haitian, turned 29 on Christmas, so she was regaled with “Happy Birthday” by 20 or so attendees. 

THE VERY BEST DECEMBER EVENT:

          Youngest daughter and her long-time companion married. My directions set by the bride were: 1. Don’t wear black. (I wore winter white.) 2. Provide taxi service for the older friends who couldn’t/ wouldn’t drive to the Hot Springs’ ANrlington. (Linda and Bettye—Cordell forgot). The bride was beautiful and ecstatic, as were her family and friends. Many a tear flowed—tears of gratitude and love.

          Now, on to 2015. May it also contain many BESTs and very few WORSTs.          PL

Best and Worst of 2014 - Part One

 

       “Best” and “Worst” aren’t exactly the best words but until I need different ones, I’ll stick to those. Facebook’s algorithms have put together a year’s perspective for each of its millions of members. Not the most esoteric piece of work, but for some, they’re good enough to share with friends.
       Perhaps my overview of 2014 will clarify the question, “What did you accomplish this year, huh?” But first, I’ll have to locate my journals. Wouldn’t it be nice to snap one’s fingers, say “January journal, come here!”
       Maybe I should begin with my store of 1300 emails. After all, they are right here in the computer.

BEST JANUARY SURPRISE:

The address on the envelope was shaky---no return address. The only one I knew who wrote like was Mom, and she’d died in 2006 at age 93. I ripped it open, found a spring-like card with this pen-written message:

Jan 2014

OF LIDDY [“A Journey of Choice,” my first novel]

“Most enjoyable reading--Especially liked references I could relate: Aunt Med, the sassafras grove and day lilies (in your yard), snuff, Grandmother, old 'talk'--
        Learned a new word: soughing--had to use the dictionary at least three times. You're amazing I don't know how you do it (write)--
        Leaves me with a sense of pride and admiration.”
[signed] Bill - your brother

WORST JANUARY NEWS

Billy Joe, grandson/ward, driving home from north Florida, hit a slick spot, hydroplaned and spun into a guardrail, totaling his Honda Civic. Neither he nor his friend were hurt physically, and with the help of Billy’s uncle, Friend’s father and other friends from HSU, they were able to get back home. Scary. I heard him say just last week that he’d never again drive to Orlando (Harry Potter World). Whew! I thought, but his next sentence was: “I’ll fly.”

FIRST TIME-LAST TIME- FEBRUARY:

Car trip from here to Panama City Beach, FL, with Linda H. to join two other sisters, each with another person along. Too long a drive (two hours past where Son #1 lives). Never again.

NEITHER FIRST NOR LAST TIME -- APRIL:

I spent two weeks as a resident at the Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs. Three of those days, I drove over to the annual Lucidity Poetry Retreat.

FIRST AND ONLY TIME -- MAY:

The electric company guys stopped by to inform me that two of the three ancient red oaks needed to be cut, that the company would do that job free, but I’d be responsible for everything else. They cut, leaving a gap of sky light unseen by any living person. Son #2 Eric and his/ our friend Jim hauled several loads off to Hot Springs and Springhill. Dennis and his neighbor Jerry hauled off several more loads--also to Springhill. Remaining was an enormous brush pile set to dry and be burned later.

FIRST AND ONLY TIME – JUNE

Carpets in three bedrooms and the hall were pulled up and replaced. Robert and Clayton (from Hot Springs, but working for Mullins) did a superb job. Now the celery carpets match the celery paneling Dad put up many years ago.

To be continued. I’m too wordy/ talky to get an entire year’s important events into a sensible-sized post.

Looking back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allow me to mimic journalistic bigs and re-live a year through some of the poems I wrote that had not--at the time--seen the black of printer’s ink or the forums of the Internet.

JANUARY. “this New Year’s morning/ just like all the others/ at least at daybreak”

“New Year’s afternoon/ opening the fridge/ to heat my coffee”

“on Epiphany/ an epiphany: my book’s/ theme is desertion"

“light snow/ highlighting bare branches/ of hardwoods”

            FEBRUARY.  “Two red/ pickups scream past/ my homestead, and then/ the wheeah, wheeah of the small/fire truck.”

            “February 9^th/ sparrow lounges in birdbath/ between wind gusts”

“another winter predawn~/ from the south window, crescent/ moon through bare branches”

            MARCH. “paying bills~/ aroma of King Alfred/ daffodils.”

“Behind/ the upper glass/ of door appeared a face/ of white. His eyes were marble-blue, / a-slant.// He saw/ me ‘see’ him; did/ not move or duck below/ the glass or scurry off the screen, / this cat.”

            APRIL. “A lone/goose honks as it/ flies over; its voice dies/ out gradually, like the sound of/ sirens.”

            MAY. “the church meeting/ I freeze while my neighbor/ fans herself”

“rooster/ adding to early morning/ birdsong”

            “mid-May/ after a rain-filled fortnight/ 48 degrees”

 “wind-blown rain/ forcing me off the porch swing/ Memorial Day”

            JUNE.  “the white cat/ grooming himself/ in my flowerbed”

“last day of June/ 80 degrees/ at seven a.m. / a slight breeze from the north added/ to that made by moving swing”

            JULY. “first, fireworks, then/ thunder...the cats/ find a hidey hole”

            “behind Mother’s fern/ I sit in the porch swing/ in my gown tail/ early traffic past the house/ cares nothing of it”

 “my back to the woods/ turning, the only movement/ a black butterfly”

            AUGUST. “eating just the heart/ the long-cut watermelon/ that takes up fridge space”

“Earthquake, / landslide, typhoon/ stories all appearing/ on the same page of today’s state/ paper.”

“the lightning bug/ flying onto the porch/ from the rain—it lights”

SEPTEMBER. “standing in line/ at the Dairy King ... Gourmet/ Foods deliveryman”

“impatient / to follow me ... her claw/caught in the screen”

“first day of fall/ the haiku journal full/ of spring poems”

            OCTOBER. “kittens/ using the birdbath stand/ as a climbing wall”

“upturned flowerpot/ mother cat swishing her tail/ so kittens can play.”

“brown and yellow leaves/ carpeting the yard, floating/ in the birdbath”

NOVEMBER. “the daily rains end/ a slough becomes a river/ the ditch, a slough”

“birds on the train rails/ ignoring the sign that says/ Do Not Stop On Tracks”

“Ides of November/ finding a lone white circlet/ of spirea bloom”

            “Thanksgiving Friday/ after the first frost, the cat/ licks the birdbath ice”

DECEMBER. “from across the room/ I see one cat on a chair/ but two sets of ears”

“mid-December/ the japonica’s/ pink buds"

            “what do I see/ on the New Year’s calendar? / wind-ruffled bluebird”

            May 2015 be a memorable year for you.