Learned at church this morning that Wayne Gooding passed away. Wayne was an auctioneer in the area when we started the antique store and I attended many of his auctions. Wayne was also the grandfather Chris Lambert who goes a long way toward holding our church together. Our sympathy to his family and friends.
Since this week end is Memorial Day weekend and since I still connect Memorial Day with decorating the graves of loved ones, I took off Wednesday evening to do just that. Started in Plymouth with the graves of Small and Dot Burdett. Moved on to the Argyle Cemetery where my grandmother and grandfather on my mom’s side plus my great grandmother are buried. There are also a lot of relatives there that I am not sure just how they are related but my first cousin’s son, Tod Hilton is working on that. On to Colchester where my grandparent’s on my father’s side are buried as well as an uncle and aunts, my parents, my brother and my niece. On to Macomb were my first cousin and her husband are buried as well as a lot of mom’s relatives.
Went to HyVee after the cemeteries to eat but changed my mind when I got there. The gentleman behind the counter said they no longer had specials. I asked the price of two different choices as was told that each was 9.95. Love to eat but was not sure I wanted to spend 9.95 on a plate lunch when they did not have what I had wanted. Came home and cooked in my own kitchen. It is often better to do that anyway as I eat more healthy foods when I cook. Ice cream is considered a healthy food isn’t it?
Thursday had a long time friend of Ben’s, Kevin Mainland, do a bunch of electrical work for me. Got a new light in the kitchen. Do you know that if you do not get the plastic cover on a “cloud light” just right that they fall to the floor and break? Also got the lens put back in the bathroom fan, new lights shining on the house, new security light behind the garage and two door bells that actually work. Went outside to see that the lights on the house were directed as I wanted and as I went out the door, one went off. The breaker was tripped and would not stay on so Kevin will be back this week! Think that my home and surrounding buildings are probably a wiring night mare as we have added a lot of circuits and increased the service to 200 amps which still flicker when the well pump operates-but I digress!
Bruce Morton stopped by the store this week and told me he had just given a program on Forgottonia for a group. I asked more questions and he said he is willing to give presentations in the area. If your group would be interested in hearing and seeing wonderful photographs of places in Forgottonia, you may want to contact Bruce.
Saturday there were storms predicted for our area but thankfully they missed us. Not so for a whole lot of the country. I feel blessed to live right where I live as the storms seem to go both north and south of the Plymouth area.
Brenda Bennett, a former student at Central, stopped by the store on Saturday. It was so nice to see her again. Since I taught with her father, went to school with her uncle, know her aunt and one of her sisters was married to one of my cousins, I feel like she is family.
Sunday was the driving marathon as usual on Memorial weekend Sunday. After church, took off for Missouri. Decided to go through Hannibal to avoid the bridge at Louisiana, Mo. Later found out that was a good idea. The road from Hannibal to Louisiana has so many sharp turns that I swear that I will not take it again but I always forget. Ben’s mother’s parents are buried in Oak Grove cemetery near Elsberry, MO. The flowers which I put on their graves last year were still there. The cemetery looked wonderful-neatly mowed and had new trees planted in several places. The next cemetery is the one in Elsberry. A bit weird to put a flower on your own grave but makes one glad that one is able to do that. Our stone is next to and matches the one for Ben’s parents. Two of his aunts are also buried in same row. It is a lovely cemetery and even has a pond in it. Found a turtle trying to cross the road once and put him in the pond to try to save his life. On to Foley, MO where Ben’s father’s parents are buried. While there I always put flowers on two other graves-one of a young woman who died just before her wedding day and that of a young boy who has some of his toys in the marker for his grave. No one else ever puts flowers on any of these graves so am glad that I can do so. It is sad to me that ours seems to be the last generation to “decorate the graves” of our loved ones. I was cutting across country to get home when I found that there was a bridge out about a mile north of Berry and that there was no way around it. Turned around and headed toward Quincy and cut north on the Plainville blacktop which comes out at the Quincy airport. That is the reason I was glad that I headed to Missouri through Hannibal and not through Louisiana as I would have had to turn around and take another route and would have had trouble getting all the graves done. Often I think that God is “looking out for me”.
Hopefully you had a good week and that God is looking out for you too. Scatter Kindness!