Take this home

“Here, Grandpa, I advise you to take this home.” The advice came from Riley Lane, 4, and “this” was a small portion of hydrangea blossom picked up from the trail at Middleton Place. Middleton is an old rice plantation outside Charleston, SC. It is a National Historic Landmark preserved in its 18th century state.

Lanes before house at Middleton

It’s a grand place for families to visit. We spent an entire afternoon there, soaking in the beauty. drinking in the history, learning new things and enjoying each others’ company. We talked to animals like water buffalo, goats, horses and cows. We talked with a blacksmith about metal working in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We had experience shucking and grinding corn.

After a mid-afternoon supper, we helped milk Rio, an 18-year-old Jersey cow. Supper itself was something of a Southern country experience for the grown-ups. The girls settled for chicken fingers and fruit.

We then spent some time expatiating the grounds, touring the gardens, and (as the girls said) “venturing off into the wilderness.” Along the way, we visited an old mill on the Ashley River, next to some of the rice paddies where Middleton grew “Carolina Gold,” a strain of rice prized through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.  Near the paddies was a terraced lawn perfect for rolling in the grass.

Jenna, Heather and Riley tumbling in grass

Earlier in the day we had the opportunity to see how to cook outdoors over open fires (much like we do in Boy Scouts. At the blacksmith shop, Jenna asked about the bellows and got something of an historical account of how bellows evolved between the 18th and mid 19th centuries. In the process, we learned several things about working metal and a few things about colonial supply and demand.

Then we had the opportunity to shuck corn using a 150-year-old machine and we ground the grain by using stones we had to turn by hand. Nearby was a clothier dressed in leather breeches, and out in the common area, Middleton Place occasionally a drummer and fife player would perform and then explain the role that drummers and fife players assumed in battle during the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

Riley and Jenna at corn mill

We visited Liza’s House to see how plantation slaves lived at Middleton. On one wall of Liza’s house is a registry of several hundred slaves who had been listed as Middleton’s “property” and the prices paid for them. It is as sobering as “The Wall” on the mall in Washington.

Riley shows her prowess at milking a cow 14 years her senior

Caprock overnight

Sometimes even a simple overnight camp out can be a challenge.

Aiden Faulkner, Grandpa Randy, Davis Hindson at Caprock Canyon July 21, 2009

Grandson Davis Hindson spent July with us, and we had plotted an overnight camp out at Caprock Canyons State Park just for the boys. So we loaded Davis, Aiden, Grandpa and Jake into the Element right after lunch on Monday, July 20. The trip to the canyon was interrupted only by a half hour construction delay south of Floydada.

We registered for a camp site, and enjoyed the drive into the park, taking in red cliffs over the green vegetation. When we reached the Little Red campground, someone else already occupied our favorite site; so we had to do a little scouting around. We found a fine place and proceeded to set up camp.

By the time we had the tent up we were feeling the 104 degree temperature. We could tell by impressions in the campsite sand and by the nearby creek beds that it had rained recently. We built four lizard catchers and set out to see what we might find. Jake almost caught one, but the little guys were just to active and too fast.

I spent a fair amount of time examining crystals in the soil and studying the flora. On one slope I found what I had thought was peyote cactus (Lophophora), because its form and habit resembled a photo I had seen in the 60s. I now doubt that conclusion, but the plant was in blossom and was interesting.

As the afternoon wore on, we all became somewhat enervated, and vainly sought relief from the heat in the shade. At night we all slept on top of our sleeping bags.

We had gone to bed without putting the rain fly on the tent, but lightning some time after midnight inspired Jake and me to put the rain fly in place, despite the warming effect it had on the inside of the tent.

Turned out to be a good thing. It wasn’t long before the thunderstorms came blowing and crashing through the canyon. The storm had more wind than rain, but enough moisture to get many things wet. And there was enough wind to blow around anything that wasn’t tied down.

Aiden and I went to Honey Flat to fill our water jugs, and then we had breakfast before breaking camp and looking for more lizards. We found more horseflies than we did lizards. Next year we may go earlier in the season!

The blessing of friends

My daddy was fond of saying “friends are your most valuable possessions.” I always had trouble thinking of friends as possessions, but I understood the principle. This week (April 6-10), I gained a new appreciation of my daddy’s aphorism.

One of our students secured a summer internship with the Today Show in New York. His plan was to fly to New York on Easter weekend and look for an apartment. He asked if I knew anything about housing in New York.

Enter Sandi. Sandi Bachom. A classmate at Harbor High whom I have not seen in more than 45 years. 

Sandi Bachom, NHHS grad, producer, filmmaker, digital activist

Sandi lives in New York and clearly loves New York and New Yorkers. She wanders streets, subways and Times Square filming the life of New York, measuring its pulse, capturing its atman.

We are at this point in life e-mail buddies and Facebook Friends who share much history. Could she help Bruce? I asked.

Within an hour she had word out to a number of girl friends in her circle, explaining the situation and the need. The outcome? Bruce is sharing an apartment with an older woman for the summer. He is only a couple blocks from NBC. 

Praise the Lord for friends.

December to remember

The pace was torrid, but the saga was glorious. Jenni graduated from Tech. Ben and Amy got married, and we had children, grandchildren and siblings and such from coast to coast visiting. All this in one weekend, Dec. 12-14.

Dianne and Linda came in Thursday so that they could attend all the honors ceremonies for Jenni on Friday. Laura and Atarah had their own saga of flight cancellations, re-routing and delays, but they made it in Friday night. Driving in separate cars from California were Jake, Ani and Isaiah (car 1) and Dick and Jim (truck 1). Heather, David, Jenna and Riley flew in from the East. All arrived Thursday. Roxanne and Davis flew in Southwest on Friday.

Because Jenni graduated cum laude, we had two honors ceremonies Friday afternoon. The College of Education ceremony at the Allen Theatre was followed immediately by a more personal one in the College of Human Sciences. Jenni and Grandpa Randy both participated in the graduation ceremonies Saturday morning, and then all retired to a reception hosted by Grandma Nancy.

On Sunday, most everyone drove to Fort Worth where Ben, Amy and Emily had already rehearsed the wedding. The gathering time music had an Irish flair, while the reception music afterward was a little country. Some combination of Best Man Jacob Willard Reddick Groomsman James Lynch Reddick, and Usher Kenneth Faulkner prepared the getaway car with appropriate surprises.

The couple (and Emily) returned to Lubbock for a few days prior to a year-end honeymoon.

Photos here by Roxanne Reddick. (For other photos, see the December Page.)

David, Riley, Linda, Dianne, Davis, Jenna

Jake and Ani

Laura and Davis hanging out.

Jenna at Wedding

Riley in car seat

Wild Wings dinner party: David, Kenneth, Atarah, Jenni, Heather, Laura and Isaiah

Emily and Aiden (background) couple's car

Roxanne at graduation reception

Amy's family on chapel steps at newlywed sendoff

Still in our thoughts & prayers

You’re still in our thoughts and prayers.

Randy,

You’re mentioning things I wouldn’t even think about – a ghost over your good eye – Life is full of adjustments – some minor some very major – and you seem to be handling all very well.

Love,

Lane and Dianne

Fall Photos

Here’s a few fall photos from 2008, taken at local parks and the soccer complex. It’s a great season for fun.

iPhone number!

Hey everyone! I just got a new iPhone!   My number is 1 (707) 267 4794.  I get free At&t mobile to mobile, but I don’t know if anyone else uses ATT for their cells.  Anyway, call me up ^_^;

Love,

-Elijah

Say Hello to My Little Friend…

Abel, left, has a new friend, Honey.

Wait, we’ve added one more to the bunch. Honey is a (approximately) 3 year old chihuahua. Abel is tolerating all 4 pounds of her. She on the other hand bears her teeth and snarls when he looks at her wrong.

The vet explained there is nothing to worry about – Like all married couples they will work it out.

Life Lately

Aiden shows his crabby friend,

I am done with my course work!!! Yea!!! Now all I have left is to complete my student teaching semester and I will graduate this December! I am so excited. I am planning on getting a summer job to save money for this upcoming semester of poverty.

Lilly and I got to tour her school this Saturday. She got accepted to a new all girls college preparatory school that opens this fall. She is so excited. I think that she was feeling a little anxiety (which should be expected with any move to middle school) – but at our tour she quickly buddied up with the only other girl that was accepted from her current school. I felt reassured too as the superintendent of our district explained that not only did they have the opportunity to select the cream of the crop from the applicant students, but in teachers as well. The school is small, but undergoing renovations and when it is complete, it will be equipped with the latest technology in the district.

At the tour Lilly and the rest of the new student body got to vote on the school’s colors. She voted on the combination of hot pink, black, and silver. Where else but at an all girl’s school?

Aiden is ready for summer! He often inquires about how many days are left in school. He looks forward to spending more time with his Grandma. He often declares how much he misses her. He decided to give her flowers for her birthday – “but you know, the fresh kind that you get at the market.” He also thought jewlery was an appropriate gift for a Grandma – I opted for the first suggestion. He is so insightful.

He is continuing to improve at soccer, though he has told his coach to call him Link. The first time we enrolled him in soccer he had his coaches, other parents, and the referees all convinced that his name was Link. A parent even corrected me once when I addressed him as Aiden. (I guess she didn’t know that I was Mom?? -Whatever) Anyways, the team that he has been playing with for the last year has another Aiden. In fact the two Aiden’s have the same middle name – so at times its confusing.

I have missed some of the games and practices this season because of my intensive school schedule. I was a little surprised when I took Aiden to soccer practice on Friday and heard his coach referring to him as Link. Whatever – he responds to it and the other Aiden doesn’t so I guess problem solved.

Aiden and Lilly have adopted hermit crabs. The four have been named: Clair (aka, Mr. Crabbs) Sushi, Sammy and Meany Me. Yes, it is Meany not Mini. Aiden explained that this crab is mean because it pinches hard. Aiden has been quite upset with me because I won’t by a milk snake or a tarantula. I am so mean. His life is so incomplete. I know because he tells me daily.

Kenneth is excited that I will have more time and energy to contribute to the house work. Who does he think that he married. 

Love,

Jenni

Some family history

Dianne and Linda have come and gone now. It was a wonderful three-day visit full of exhausting, but rewarding work. Nancy and I began preparations a couple weeks ago, pulling out documents, letters, photos that had been collected during more than thirty years of on and off research. By the time we had it all out, we were stunned. More than 500 photos going back more than a century. But that was not the best part.

Among the typescripts (hundreds of pages) that I have just begun to scan, were transcriptions of letters home from “boys” written in the fall of 1861 through most of 1862 bearing return addresses of places like “Paw Paw Tunnel, Virginia” and “Fort Murray” and “Huttonville” and “Phillippi” in Virginia. Yes, Civil War. Letters home. More2cum.

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