Momma Loved Fishing

[I wrote this some years ago and recently unearthed it in a sorting exercise. I'm trying to stay ahead of Cheryl who has all the signs of entering a hard core cleaning frenzy. Once it hits in full force, her tools of choice are a bull dozer and dump truck.]

“I’ve got one! I’ve got one! I’ve got one!” Momma blurted out in a hushed squeal that was half giggle. Her cork was bobbing up and down in the water. She was bobbing up and down on the shore. You would think she had won a lottery. It was instead her first fish. Every catch was her first fish all over again. It was the same joy as the little girl who once stood on the bank next to her father and pulled a small perch out of the black, south Georgia waters.

More often than not she would scare the little critter away before she set the hook. Having lost a great prize, her whole being drooped in disappointment. Disappointment merged with disgust as she held the pole higher and saw she had lost her bait. If Dad was nearby, “Ellis, would you bait this for me?” When I got older I might get the privilege, sort of payback time for all the pickles she had given me off her hamburgers. Otherwise, she approached the messy task like she was changing a diaper, tense, neat, careful. Threading a worm on a hook was serious and dirty business that just had to be done if you were going to catch a fish. And catching fish was serious business. Mom was always serious about having fun.

Virginia Visit

We just got home from a visit to see Alethea, Justin, Camdyn, and Charlie.

Late Summer

The late summer has been quite busy. We went to our annual faculty retreat at Fall Creek Falls in the first week of August. During the second week we participated in the new student orientation retreat. Classes started two weeks ago. Cheryl and I did have a nice outing to the Olympic Whitewater Center on the Ocoee one evening.




Justin brought Camdyn and Charlie down for a visit on Sunday evening. They left this morning. They love riding on the tractor, especially "pushing down trees." Charlie and I had an early breakfast outside this morning.







We had a Covenant Life Group from the church over for a cookout this evening.

Chickens

Camdyn and Charlie, here is a movie of our chickens.

Silence

Yesterday we took Camdyn and Charlie to meet their father and Pa (Justin's father) in Virginia. We miss them greatly. The silence is deafening.

Ryan & Andrea's wedding

On Thursday we drove to Atlanta with Camdyn and Charlie for my nephew Ryan's wedding rehearsal and dinner. I officiated the ceremony on Friday. Alethea drove over from Memphis on Thursday evening and Karisa flew down on Friday morning. It was a wonderful time.
Charlie kept saying he wanted to dance with the "Princes." We might rename Andrea.



My brother Jimmy and his wife, Iris.

My sister Shirley and her husband, Mike, parents of the groom.

My sister Darlene (sitting) is holding her grand-daughter, Kathryn. Her husband, Thurman (standing next to her), is holding Natalia. Their son, Jonathan, is standing next to his wife, Jennifer. Darlene and Thurman were just wrapping-up four weeks with their two grand-daughters. Christina and her husband, Ronnie, live in Texas and were unable to make it to the wedding.

Kathryn (seen here) and Natalia are adorable.

Confession: we did participate in one non-liturgical, motion-to-music event.

Cheryl, Kathryn, Karisa, Camdyn, and Mike "cut a rug." Actually, we all got to see another side of Mike. Line dancing, disco, hip-hop; he can do it all.

Both of my daughters are quite photogenic (down rite pretty) but Karisa (here) is hard to get to cooperate; she often makes faces at the camera. Alethea is hard to catch; she's often looking downward, talking to Charlie or Camdyn or trying to catch them.

Karisa is great with children (so is Johnmark, but he was unable to come to the wedding). However, Charlie struggles to connect with her. She looks and sounds too much like his mother and he doesn't like the confusion.

Cousins

My brother danced with my sister Shirley at the reception.

The pride and joy (with Christina) of James and Ernestine Johns who I suspect were looking down with great joy from on high.

Observations

We came home today, exhausted. I observed the campground began to change Thursday evening; the tents and pop-ups rolled in. It appears more of the working middle class show up for the weekends while the mostly retired middle class can afford the nicer trailers and the time to stay for extended periods.

At any rate, we had a great time.

Camping Anyone?

Things have changed over the decades of my life. When I was a child it seemed everyone used tents. Then pop-ups and small campers came along. Now the campers are luxury chalets on wheels. We are in Townsend for the week. There are only two tents in our camping area and two pop-ups. The rest are those big trailers. Other things have changed too: wireless wi-fi throughout the campground and cable TV hook-ups at every site. The wilderness this ain't.

Sunday: arrived and set up.
Monday: Rained all day.
Tuesday: Hiked to a waterfall, Pigeon Forge gocarts etc, swam in the pool (river is too high for tubing).
Wednesday: Dollywood
Tomorrow: Cades Cove.

Weekend Wedding

What a weekend! Cheryl got home from South America Friday morning after an all-night flight; I picked Karisa up at the Chattanooga airport at 1:00 P.M. We drove to Franklin Springs, Georgia for the rehearsal dinner for Josh (Cheryl's nephew) and Bethany's wedding. I MC'ed the event. On Saturday we drove to Greenville to visit Cheryl's mother in the nursing home (comments later) and drove back to Franklin Springs for the wedding (I had a small part). We got back to Cleveland after midnight. Karisa caught a flight a little after six this morning. I went to church and preached. Cheryl is on her way to Memphis to watch Charlie and Camdyn for a few days (Justin is at Annual Conference and Alethea is working).

Cheryl, with her sisters, Ruth and Glenda, after the wedding.



Seth Mycho (Ruth's son) was the Best Man at the wedding.



Karisa and Joshuah at the rehearsal dinner.



Josh and Bethany, her mother in the forefront and Josh's Grand-pa Baker in the background.