Recently in personal Category

Wow. It has been three years. It seems forever, but also just yesterday when Mama was taken away. It somehow makes it that much harder that it is one week from her birthday. I miss her so much.

I've been going through old letters she sent (I promise not to continue to post them), and found the following one she sent me when I turned 25. It is VERY self-indulgent on my part to post, but Mama's not around to say such nice things about me anymore, so thought I'd put it out there anyway.

Here it is:

My dear Joe,

It seems impossible that you are to be 25 Saturday! How proud we were of that tiny bit of love--Dr.  Henry's "pea mite." Since then you have been my "raison d'etre." It has been our pleasure to see you mature--and with many uncompromising traits. Just thank you for being you, for showing tender love and true caring for your family. For whatever we have done, over protectiveness included, it was done in the name of love.

Have a happy birthday and please know that I love you with all my heart.

Mama

October 27

I Miss her so much. She really was such a wonderful person. If half the things in her letter to me were accurate, I'd be delighted. But it all came from having such a loving and caring family. Mama, you were the greatest!

Mama would have been 86 years old today. I miss her so much. She brought a lot of good into the world, including all 6 of us. Below is  part of a letter she wrote a few years ago just after her birthday. I wish I had inherited her letter-writing abilities (or at least took the time she always managed to find to write)...

Dear Joe,

It's 11:15 and can you believe that I have a few minutes to call my own! (It's because I've left the kitchen porch "as is" for the time being.)

It's so pretty here--the redbuds are in bloom, all the white bushes and the daffodils, plus the hyacinths are so pretty.

Billy Milstead just stood and looked around and remarked, "Everywhere you look you see pretty!" He also talked about so many pines in general everywhere else, but hardwoods surrounding us.

You want believe this, but it is now nearly two o'clock as I've had to stop at least a dozen times for some incidental thing, but for Papa it can't wait! For instance, "The mail came. Reckon my medicine is there?" A walk to the mailbox, of course I must get the scissors to clip the end of each piece of mail--mostly junk, but it must be taken care of!

I must stop now as I need to get ready to take Papa for a drive after he finishes lunch.

I love you,
Mama

February 26

Happy Birthday to the person that made me the person I am today (at least the good parts!)

Had to search through some old boxes for a book I needed to complete a project this afternoon. No luck with the book, of course, but did manage to come across a nice letter. Really reminded me of Mama. People do not send letters like this anymore. She managed to share a tidbit that might help me with our backyard, tell a cute story about racoons, remind me about Ms. Florence Mooring, inform me that my shoes (hastily forgotten on my previous visit) would arrive with my sister and that my niece had found a job. Oh, and she shared information about my dad. Oh, how I miss her.

Here is the letter:

Dear Joe,

Just today I went through a stock of papers and this backyard with fountain just happened to be among them. I thought you might get some ideas.

Guess what? Today I noticed some movement of the trumpet vine that remains on the side porch. Slowly, very slowly, there emerged three very small raccoons--getting off the roof onto the downspout. The mother was very patient. The coons were very cautious. I decided to call Florence and see if she could bring Ashley to see them. While I waited for them, I watched them climb down to the porch, explore everything on it, and then disappear before Ashley got here. How sad! I did fix her some cookies to take with her.

Did you hear more movement than usual when you were here? I don't know how, but I believe they've been in the attic.

Julia will bring your shoes when she comes for her doctor's appointment. I'm sure Stacy will be with her. She, too, has an appointment, I think. I understand that she has been accepted as Special Education instructor at the high school in Thomasville. She also interviewed in Grove Hill, but this will be easier for her--no travel.

I plan to go see Papa tomorrow. I went yesterday and things are about the same.

July 27

I love you,

Mama

Wow! 2009 has been a pretty great year, overall. I've gotten to work on some fun projects, meet some interesting new people, reconnect with others and basically have a lot of fun.

Some of the projects I've spent a great deal of time on in the last few years are finally starting to show some real progress: notably the Alabama Scenic Byways Program. The 10 year anniversary of the creation of the program is this spring and we now have 10 scenic byways in our state, including the brand new nationally recognized Coastal Connection, named a National Scenic Byway in October of this year. I'm really proud to have played a small part in seeing that project move forward! (Even got interviewed on the radio about it--not a big fan of hearing my own voice, much to the shock of anyone who has been in a car with me--but it turned out to be less painful than I thought.)

Other projects include the following:

Some fun work on the Lower Cahaba River. We've installed signs in several locations pointing out the many attractions in a four county region (Bibb, Dallas, Hale and Perry Counties). A website  has been developed to highlight the attractions and to bring the many resources together into one location--www.lowercahaba.com.


I continued to work on the Alabamafrontporches.com website and some brochures to go along with it. The most exciting part of this in 2009 has been the great Ghost Stories work done by Linda Vice and some filmmakers. (I did a brochure to go along with the videos.)

And, of course, the fun trips friend Ben Burford and I went on down into the Black Belt to take photos, eat the food and see the area from the eyes of a tourist.

Christmas 2009 in Octagon. Got to see my very photogenic great niece along with my sister and her grandmother Julia.

Thanks to one of my sisters for sending this photo of Mama (front row second from left). Linden High School, Linden, Alabama.

Ann and I have been on the go the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, we went to San Destin for a work-related trip and then headed to Santa Rosa the following weekend with Ann's mom for a short vacation planned well before we knew we were heading to Paris or to San Destin just the week before (the last trip was actually one of the items we "won" at a silent auction for Alzheimer's of Central Alabama). Anyway, it was a great trip and very relaxing. Here's one of the photos I took. I'm trying to use the photo I uploaded onto Flickr earlier, so we'll see how that works:

Friend Ben Burford's hilarious--and painstakingly detailed--new book about Chevy 6--and a two disc music cd with loads of classics.

http://blog.al.com/aharvey/2009/10/chevy_6.html

By Alec Harvey -- The Birmingham News

Where were you the night of April 27, 1974? How about Jan. 7, 1989? Or Oct. 3, 2008?

Ben Burford can tell you where he was on those dates, plus about 2,655 others.

It's all chronicled in "Chevy 6 - 35rpm," a year-by-year look at the first 35 years of one of Birmingham's most popular party bands.

Made a surprisingly quick and tasty dinner last night.

Had a green tomato that I soaked in buttermilk before coating with a combination of Italian breadcrumbs, cornmeal and flour. I then re-dipped in buttermilk lightly and added a crust of panko breadcrumbs.

I chopped and seeded a fresh tomato (really beautiful one, at that) and combined it with a handful of chopped fresh basil, a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. (I let this sit for about an hour to develop flavor)

I added a handful of fresh arugula to a plate and drizzled it with sherry vinegar and the extraordinary Italian olive oil that our Parisian friends shared with us on our recent trip. I sliced some fresh mozzarella and added one slice to the top of the arugula.

Heated about an inch of canola oil (olive oil would be great, but didn't have any) to high and added the green tomato slices. Cooked until nice and brown, about 8 minutes or so (turning a time or two).

Pulled out, drained briefly and immediately placed on top of the cheese. Another slice of cheese and then a final tomato slice. Topped with the chopped fresh tomatoes and basil. Very, very good!

What a great time! More on the trip in the coming week, but I've posted some photos to flickr. Just visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/joewatts/. I really need to add a link to flickr on my blog.

We saw lots, ate lots, walked LOTS and LOTS and took lots of photos. Between the two of us, we took 1200 photos (don't worry, I won't post them all!).

So very good. More photos to follow later!

What a wonderful thing. So much sadness in the world and in our family these last few years, it is a good thing to have a beautiful baby girl to come in and brighten the world.

My niece, Dawn, just had a baby girl!

Marcella Renee Dailey
Date of Birth: June 21, 2009
Time of Birth: 5:04 p.m.
Weight:  8 pounds 5 ounces
Length: 20 1/4"

Top picture: new Mom Dawn with Marcella (that, by the way, was my mother's first name, though she was always called Inez, or more frequently, Mama!).

Bottom picture: Morgan, my very first great niece (and yes, she is great) with Marcee.

Well, I didn't go. I was here working the whole time.

But sisters Julia and Madeline went with my adorable grand niece Morgan. Here they are not looking at all worse for the travels after stopping by to pick up a car.

Had a great workshop at Camp McDowell earlier this week. Your Town Alabama's 10th year of workshops. Met some great folks and reconnected with lots more.

Not much to say, but did make several tasty dishes last weekend. Here are two (Shrimp and Grits with Fried Green Tomatoes and Copper River Salmon with Fried Corn Salsa)