Looking at Boats

My brother Keith and Mom, Wendy, Luke and I all went together to Beaufort to look over a particular trawler that Keith wanted to inspect. He is looking for a boat that would be suitable for living aboard for awhile. I think that sounds like a great life, for a while anyway. I had also considered the possibility of owning and living on a boat some years ago. I eventually decided on the Airstream Camper/Trailer instead of getting a boat.

The boat we looked at was a used one with some obvious wear and it was in need of many improvements. It was large by my standards.....forty feet long. It had a galley and a head and it could easily sleep six. It was dry docked so we had to find a ladder to get into it. It was a little precarious trying to get Mom and Luke up so high, but we made it without injury.

On our outing we stopped to eat at the locally famous "Sanitary Seafood Restaurant" which now seats 600. We all had fried seafood and it was good.....fish, oysters, scallops, shrimp with hush puppies and sweet tea. The restaurant is on the water with a dock around it just outside the big windows. The sun was so bright reflected off the water. We watched boats as they passed and read the names and ports of origin. The weather was perfect. We left home at 10 and got back around 5:30. Daniel and Daddy were fine when we got back. They had found something to eat and had entertained themselves in our absence.

We'll have to get out like that again soon. Keith is still searching for the right boat. Maybe we can help him decide on the right one.

Friendship Original Freewill Baptist Church

This is the church of my Great Grandfather Allen Taft Smith. I have a picture of him in a large crowd standing on the bank of the river at a baptismal ceremony held by his church. His son, my Granddaddy Smith, and my Grandmama Lena Rivers Pollock Smith are buried there. It is a pretty place. Aunt Vera Mae Smith Collins and her infant son Darrell are buried here, too. My Aunt Vera was not extravagant in her demonstrations of love, but she was consistent and dependable and you knew what you could expect of her. I remember the little things that she did. She never forgot a birthday. She gave me sixteen pennies taped to the inside of a birthday card for my sixteenth birthday. They were arranged in the shape of the number "16". She was very meticulous when it came to preparing collards. When she washed them she would inspect the leaves carefully and tear out any part of the leaf that had been bitten off by a caterpillar.

I remember that she loved to spend time with me and my little brother Keith. Grandma said that she had a special feeling for little boys because of the one she lost. She talked to us alot and told us things that she thought were important. She explained that the exclamations, "Gah", "Gosh", "Golly" were really derived from the exclamation "God!" and that even those words might be in a sense be a form of taking the name of God in vain. Anything she told us or shared with us was done in a loving way. She didn't belittle or embarrass anyone in the way she corrected. She was sweet and good. She died suddenly and young, at fifty something. It was a terrible loss for so many of us.

Grandma told me about the big dinners that she remembered going to under the oaks at Friendship Church. They had long tables covered with cakes and fried chicken and biscuits and corn and green beans and all of the good things grown by the people of the neighborhood.

The cemetary and church are at Davenport's Crossroads at the intersection of SR 1002 and Highway 41 a little north of Trenton. Stop in for a visit there some Sunday. The people there will welcome you. Tell them I told you so.

They both help

They both help
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

This is the old cradle that has held all the babies in our family for a hundred years. Grandma Smith's cousins, Ed and Myra McDaniel gave it to her when she began her family. It originally had rockers, but when my mom needed it for her babies Granddaddy Smith took off the rockers and put wheels on it so mom could easily pull it from room to room. By the time I got to use it for Sarah (1982-1983) it had two or three of the spindles missing. I don't know how long they had been gone. I wanted to repair it long ago, but didn't get around to doing it then, nor did I do it when Stella and Daniel needed a cradle (1992 and 1993). Still all my children slept in it. My mom made it safe by making a soft bumper pad to go around the inside edges. Finally when Wendy and I were expecting Luke, I did get to work on the old cradle. I took it apart and had new spindles made by a local man, Mr Rawls, who lives on Pole Pocosin Rd. He made the replacements out of poplar. They were from the heartwood which is green in color. You can see two of them, one at each end of the cradle, in this picture. This picture shows mom and dad helping me to get it all back together. If you ever have to take it apart again, do color code or number the pieces so it goes together more easily.

I also repainted it all white again when we were finished with it. We only have need of it for 4 or 5 months and then the babies become too active.

Using the cradle for all of our babies is a tradition and we hope you will use it, too, as you begin your families. It is just a little piece of furniture that we treasure and it has a special place in our family history. The rocking chair that grandaddy and grandmama Heath gave to mom for rocking her babies and the little red rocker that they gave to mom for her children are the other special pieces of furniture that have a special meaning to us. More treasures that come to mind are great great granddaddy James Mack Pollock's little religious instruction book for young christians. Then there's the little darning basket which was the only thing granddaddy Heath had that had belonged to his parents (they died when he was 4). Aunt Mary Elizabeth gave me that and I love her for it. Also there is William Washington Pollock's bull horn that he used for calling his hounds and Great granddaddy Smith's gold pocket watch, and there are a few others that I can't remember right now.

I think that grandma Smith's old foot powered National Sewing Machine (purchased in 1916 according to the receipt in the drawer) is a treasure. Other things are becoming treasures because of the thoughts and feeling they bring forth. Mom's sewing machine would be hard to part with because I have seen her spend so many hours making clothes for herself and us. She has used it to hem pants for me and still does. She altered Sarah's wedding gown and made new bedding for the cradle when Luke came. I remember the "yenyenyenyenyenyen" sound that it made all these decades.

I treasure Dad's bear tooth, bear claw and rattlesnake rattle necklaces/truck ornaments. I will discover lots of other treasures as time goes on. These objects are most valuable because of the memories they evoke. They remind of us a story from the history of our family or they just give us a feeling when we look at them. I keep Grandma Smith's old linens and lace just because I saw her handle them with love and care. I remember the way she looked at them and that they evoked powerful memories for her. I haven't located the old socks that were made from the cotton on her daddy's farm and dyed with indigo that they also grew, but I can still see her handling them and I can still hear her speak of them as she carefully lifted them out of the old trunk and slowly unfolded them.

Happy Birthday in the Smith House

There's my young good-looking dad in the rear in front of the window. Aunt Naomi is almost hidden by grandma's hair. Aunt Daphne in on the far right and Aunt Vera is on the far left. Grandma and Granddaddy are in the center. It must have been Granddaddy's birthday. No one remembers what was in the box unless you can tell me? It looks like it was a real happy day.

All my grandparents together in the big house

In the rear are my dad's parents, Will and Lena Rivers Smith, and in the front are my mom's parents, Columbus and Annie Laura Heath. This picture was taken in the big house, The Curtis Place, or the McDaniel Plantation, as it was earlier called. Mom and all her brothers and sisters called that big house 'home'. They all moved there from a one room house, all 12 souls, when mama was about 5 or 6. The house was already old at that time as it was built around 1840. It was a good and sturdy old house though. My mom's family lived there at least until mom finished high school. I like this picture very much because it has both sets of my grandparents in the living room of the house that I eventually bought and restored. By the time I got it the house had fallen into disrepair and had been vacant for a decade. The windows were rotted and most of the glass had fallen out. There were large holes in the plaster walls. It was a mess. But that is another chapter......

My mom's family and my dad's family lived less than a mile from each other and the two families were good neighbors to each other and the families worked together to get their crops in. My dad's family owned a farm and a house. He says that he never got enough to eat until he left home to join the army. He tells us that mom's family had more and better food than what he remembers his family having. Mom's family were tenant farmers, living in a house and working land that belonged to someone else. Mom says they always had plenty to eat even though it might not be what they wanted. Grandma cooked biscuits every day and they were good biscuits. She told me when she was in her eighties that her mom had made big biscuits while hers were smaller. "I think I make a pretty biscuit", she said. They were distinctly hers and they weren't just pretty, they were good, too. Granddaddy taught us how to hollow them out in the middle with a spoon or finger and pour honey into the hole, just enough so that when you squeeze the biscuit the honey would rise to the top of the hole but not run out and make it messy. They were good.

My mom and dad, you see, were neighbors and they grew up knowing each other, working and playing together. I think that's sweet.

Also in the picture is a little girl. I have been told that it is probably my Aunt Naomi's daughter, Jo Ann.

Kite cam....Neil is in the picture

Kite cam....Neil is in the picture
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

Keith came home on Saturday and brought his kite and camera with him. He taped the camera to the kite and launched it. I have lots of pictures. This is a group of us watching the kite cam video. We had a great time. Wish you could have been here with us. Also Granddaddy and Gary and Rhiannon made a kite out of plastic and string and dog fennel weed stalks. Dad used to make kites with us when we were little. At times he would fly them completely out of sight! Once the string broke and we had fun following the string for a half mile to find the kite. Dad told us on Saturday that he and his Dad used to make kites together from newspaper. The glue they used was made from egg whites and water and he said he thought he remembered rubbing beeswax on the paper to make it stronger.
We have many good memories. And we keep creating new ones.

My Boy, Daniel

Daniel smiles
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

Here is Daniel all grown up. I can't keep up with all the words he can say now. He doesn't mispronounce anything any more. He is into guns and dogs and hunting and granddaddy and beef and trucks and some other things. I think he is pretty cool.

Lizard and Rhiannon

Lizard and Rhiannon
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

Rhiannon was the second initiate of the day. She is visiting with us for three weeks. She is my niece and she lives in Germany. We don't see her often enough, but at least she was initiated into the Sisterhood of the Lizard. Her life is forever changed. What will her boyfriend, Daniel, think of this when he finds out?

Ask an Ag Agent

Ask an Ag Agent
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

I keep running into people who have never hung a lizard from their earlobe. We've been doing it for our whole lives and it is just a coming of age rite around here. Some girls never enter the Sisterhood of the Lizard and some guys never become Brothers of the Lizard, but once you have been initiated you'll never be the same. The major effect of having been bitten by the lizard is that whenever you encounter a lizard and you happen to be in the company of the uninitiated, you will be compelled to chase and catch the lizard. If you catch it you will strongly encourage your acquaintences to take the bite. Other changes my also occur in the personality of the bitten, but these are not as well defined. Never attempt this alone, it is a meant to be done in the presence of others.

Here you see Stella with the lizard hanging from her ear. Franky, her brother-in-law, is trying to get the lizard to release. Some lizards release quickly while others are very reluctant to give up their grip. This one was reluctant and he held so tightly that it left a mark on Stella's ear. See her holding her hand over her heart?

Colored Ladies

Our current house is directly in front of the Jones County Fairgrounds. We haven't had a county fair since @ 1977 or thereabout. I have the fondest memories of going with my family to the county fair when I was young and then going with friends when I was in Junior High and High School. Cotton candy, bright lights, loud motors, mocking calls of the carnies, diesel fumes, exotic hoochie coochie dancers, bicycle drawings, snaggle tooth contests, beauty queens and champion livestock....all kinds of delights. Gosh, If I had know that the county fair was destined to disappear from my neighborhood forever I think I would have looked at it differently.

The old door pictured here was about 50 paces from the back door of where we now live. It is one of the doors of the public restrooms which stood near the entrance of the fairgrounds. I remember very well the separate water fountains and restrooms labeled Colored Ladies, White Ladies, Colored Men, White Men. In 2006 these old facilities were demolished, but as you see, not before I was able to get a picture of the door labeled, "Colored Ladies". The letters were bleeding through layers of paint that had been applied over the years in an attempt to erase evidence of a past that evoked shock to some, anger to others, shame to a few and pain to many. In my childhood I saw these things but didn't understand what I was seeing. Society was changing at a quickening pace so that by the time I began to understand my world it would transform itself again and I still find myself trying to catch up with it.

Daddy lifted me to the stage one evening to enter me in the snaggle tooth contest. I was reluctant to be thrust into the lights, but I also expected to win because my daddy couldn't be wrong. I had to be the most snaggle toothed child in the county. But I wasn't. I think the consolation prize was a piece of gum. Some years later I did win the yellow banana bike and I have considered myself a lucky person ever since that day.

We were a farm family and we only had one night a year to enjoy the sights and sounds of the fair. The very best part though was after all the fun and excitement, on the way home, daddy would stop the station wagon at the millpond across the water from the fairgrounds and we would sit for a moment and watch the lights of the rides....the ferris wheel, the zipper, the bullet, the scrambler, the tilt a whirl, the merry go round.... reflected off the water of the pond. It was magical.

I have seen the lights of Las Vegas, New York City, the aurora borealis and the fireworks on the fourth of July, but the feelings evoked by these do not compare with the feeling of being safe and tired with my mom and my dad and my brothers all together in the station wagon sitting quietly looking across the water of the millpond at the lights of the county fair. The knowledge that it was the biggest event of the year and that it would be a long time before it would be back again made it a very special night. And now it is gone.

Daniel's First Words....

Well, little Daniel, it's time to talk about your first word, son. These pictures show you on your birthday, 0 years old, you eating your favorite....noodles on the back porch and you lying asleep on the floor in the doorway between the hall and the back room of the old house.
The first dates I have written for you on the crumpled yellow paper are 11/24 & 26/1994 and it is not about a word you said but about another great accomplishment. It says "Began walking long distances (4-5 yards)". You were one year and one month old at that time. Then on 12/04/1994 you were able to say something like "dog" and "thank you"Noted beside these words it says that you have been refining these words for 1 to 2 months. I know they must have sounded more like "da" and "dot doo". So that would mean you started talking around the same time as you started walking. On Christmas day 1994 you could say "uh oh" when you were near something that you knew you weren't suppose to touch. On 1/08/95 you could day the chihuahua's name "Tump". The next day I wrote down that you said "Eat, eat, eat". On January 19th you called "Sarah woman" and Stella then said "old woman". Not all your
words were pronounced correctly, of course, and on Feb. 3 you said "fiss" for fish and "dop" for stop. On March 3 you said "Mama mama", "Eat eat eat". That meant you were hungry and mama had to get you something. Oh and don't think you weren't talking between the dates that I have written, you were, but I didn't write things down all the time. On May 15 I recorded "dog", "no", "thank you", "no no". You would call many vehicles "big truck" or "bih tuk" but you hardly ever called a car that. If it really was a big truck you said it louder and with more emphasis. You could make motor sounds too, and ask the question "what that?" or "who that?". Also on May 15 Stella set up a tea party on the bottom bunk and you joined her and pretended to drink tea.
On May 27 you said "too" for "shoes". You pronounced Sarah and Stella the same way, "ehwa" or "dehwah" I heard Stella answer you one time, "I not 'dehwah'" She thought you were saying Sarah. In June sometimes you would just make some talky noise like "blah blah blah Boo Boo blah blah" while looking at an insect bite. You also liked to play a game where I would shake my hair and get it over my eyes and you would push it out of my eyes. In June I heard you say "hot!" and you could imitate "mimi". You started saying "mine!" and "uh huh"

In July you said "mimi" on your own and "ae piss" for "apples" and "poo poo" was the word for "doo doo". In August you asked me "what's that daddy?" and then you answered "doggy". You could tell Stella, " 'mon della" which meant "come on Stella" and I heard you say "see boach" for "see boat".

Jump forward to March 1996 and you said, "Doats 'side dark" meaning the "goats are outside in the dark". "Dat's Lolly book" (grandma Laura's book). You were hungry and standing in front of the refridgerator and said "hmmm, I know" and then you opened it to get what it was that you knew you wanted. You told Stella "Don't sing that, NO, Barney" ---"Don't sing that Barney Song!!" Also you told someone, "you not baa tub" meaning "you're not in the bathtub".

In April of 1996....Once you were proud of yourself... " I dot top....yeah!" (I got the milk jug lid off all by myself) .I asked you 'where's your cup?' and you answered "In mama bed.....I dit it". ( I'll get it ) Describing a toy...."It funny, funny bunny rabbit, funny hat". Also in April "that my bed", "I help my ma", but it sounded more like "ae' my beh" and "I hep my ma". Also, "I fall down" , "an oo elp me?" (can you help me?), "hey mama watch this". We must have had a string of lights up for something in April and you said "a light in trees...hmmmm", "a light on house too....hmmmm". In that same month you saw some missing bricks under the house and said "a hole". That month I also heard you say, "that mommy room" and "daddy look, that my hand". April was a big talking month for you....."Tim, I want go, I want go Tim", "Tim dawn de work", "della in mama bed, I dit in mama bed too", "I want hot dog".

At the end of April, Stella didn't want help turning her shirt around from backwards. She said, " I'm four, I'm four, I'm not a baby anymore" I wrote this on your word page, Daniel because it was cute and new and Stella's word sheet had long been put away in a safe place.

Finally in May I could ask you, "who's that?" while pointing at you and you could answer "dahnool" instead of "nahnool". On May 8th you had a fever and I held you and you went to sleep for the first time in my arms since your were a tiny baby. I liked the way it felt to hold your sweet warm body in my arms while you slept. You never were very cuddly, so it was an extra special event to hold you close for so long.

Later in May...."I 'oant 'awnt a do it"...."I don't want to do it". " I 'awnt put in tuh"==I want to put in the tub (candy)". I had to tell you "no Daniel!" and you asked. "why?...Why daddy? .. .Why?" You could be contrary at times....lots of times!

Of course for much of this time you were calling granddaddy "Ha Daddy" and I heard you say to him once, "I had it First!"

June 26, 1996 I asked you, "Do you need to pee pee in the potty?" and you answered, "Uh uh, I'm already pee pee in the potty" Not long after that I asked you to tell what you had done today and you answered, "Pee pee Pot, come home, P(l)ay toys!"

In July of 1996, "I want nuther hot dog din (again)", "you hair putty (perty) you". "Daddy you a doctor.....I a firetruck, OK?"

In August you saw me looking in the hall closet and asked, "Daddy, what you looking for?......" And Stella was still saying "bigoshuwa pudding" for "butterscotch pudding".

It sure has been fun watching you grow up my young man. I won't stop admiring you.....never....never.....I'm so proud of you.

smile all

smile all
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

Combining families has gone better than anyone should expect ....Jason and Michael in the rear, Stella and Angela in the middle and Daniel in the front. This one was taken in Grandma and Granddaddy's pool. We have all had alot of fun there. Granddaddy threatened to stock the pool with fish and to stop keeping the water treated and clear (it's alot of work if noone's swimming). The children conspired to swim alot to keep the fish out. So far this has worked. We don't know what next summer holds.

airstream and suburban in the desert... wow

airstream and suburban in the desert wow
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

This picture evokes the best of memories. This was taken about 6 or 7 years ago somewhere in the southwestern US. There is something about the west, I don't know what it is, but I like it and I knew I would. We drove all the way to California and back, my dad and mom and Daniel and Stella. This trip had been in the making since I was in the second grade at Trenton Elementary School. My teacher, Mrs Tiny Hammond talked to us about her trip out west, the desert, the cacti, the mountains, the Mexican children begging for chicle (gum), the sands and the Sequoia trees. My teacher's description of her experiences started my interest in seeing the West for myself, and about 35 years later it became a reality. Thank you Mrs Tiny. Thank you mom and dad. Thank you Daniel and Stella. It was the perfect trip--full of anticipation, expectancy, adventure, mishaps, discovery. This trip exceeded my expectations and my expectations were high. It would be impossible to repeat it. It couldn't have been done earlier. The time was just right and it will never come again. I thank God for orchestrating our lives so that we could make this trip together, the five of us. Look for more pictures to be added later.

They are posing

They are posing
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

We couldn't leave well enough alone. So we sent Michael off to Virgina Tech to make him even better. This is one time when we went up there to get him for a break. We had to wait around for him to play his trumpet at a military ceremony. Then we brought him home. Doesn't he have a pretty mom?

Neil and Wendy on the Dock with Gulls

a posed picture
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

Neil and Wendy.....oh look, Neil's airwalks are new and that shirt was a favorite. Wendy's looking good, too. Wendy was a bit pregnant that day. Oh and what a good mother she turns out to be. Every baby should be so fortunate. Oh yeah and a great wife and friend, too. She can talk about just about any subject and is often very reasonable. She doesn't nag either. Some men just get lucky?

Tigger kisses Luke

tigger kisses Luke
Originally uploaded by crowdive.

Luke was happy to kiss his Tigger toy last night. He did it several times at my urging and was quite happy with himself (and with Tigger). Uncle Matt gave this Pooh Original Tigger to Luke when Luke visited him at Princeton near the last of February. If you don't recognize Tigger....this is the original Tigger before Disney altered him. We think this one is more appealing and so does Luke. Obviously.