What are these called?.....

Not sure what these thingymagiggies are called but got a few shots of Grant fooling around with them. They're not even his...a friend left them here!

Isn't he growing up? My!!

Rosie's Skunk Run-In!

Back in April, poor Rosie (12-year-old mixed breed mostly Chow) had a run-in with a skunk! We were leaving the windows open at night, and two nights in a row, I was awakened by an overpowering stinch of skunk--just completely filled the entire house! It was awful! Well, the second night just so happened I'd left Rosie outside, and she got sprayed! Not having any tomato juice, I read online that a mixture of peroxide and dish detergent would do the trick. Site said to leave it on for 30 minutes. I thought 30 is good, 60 would be better, right? Wrong! It bleached her fur! Took her to the groomer's for a trim and this is the result!

That's Grant's Chima with Rosie and Olivia. He's a Husky/Pit Bull mix. A very sweet, obedient, albeit mischievous puppy!

Maddyson Kerley. An adorable great-neice! This is my nephew Adam's baby girl. Maddyson and her first cousin, Jackson. Jackson is my nephew Alan's adorable little boy.

My sissy Suzy proudly holding her grandchildren!

Mindy's Recent Production

My neice, Mindy, is a serious performer! We love to go to her productions! This is from her most recent performance of Cats. That's Olivia on the far left and Mindy's sister, Aimee, in the middle. Yay Mindy! You were just fabulous darlink!!

Gathering at Aimee and Brian's

We all gathered at Brian and Aimee (Jim's) new home in Huntersville last weekend. Oh! The babies are so cute! They are at such a delightfully fun age! They were, of course, the center of attention! And I remember so well when it was Alan, Adam, Mindy and Aimee--I'm getting so old! Now they are the parents! Won't be long (I'm in NO rush) before the next set--Olivia, Meghan, Patrick and Grant are adding to the family tree. But they've got a while! Really felt Mama's presence at this gathering. She'd be so proud of her great grandchildren!

This is Jackson Kerley below. He's Alan and Carrie's.

Another of Jackson...could just eat him up!!

Below--this is Kara (Adam's wife) with Maddyson. Kara's pregnant with number two--due in October, I believe. Now Kara makes being pregnant and mothering a toddler look easy and fun!

Maddyson is the spittin' image of her daddy, Adam. Need to dig up some photos of him from this age.

Maddyson's fake smile below!!

Brian and Aimee's stairs provided great entertainment for the babies. I just snapped away...

Below--this is Brian Vaughan--Aimee's husband. He's a policeman with Huntersville. He just recently got a canine police dog. Hmmm...for some reason I didn't get any shots of him. Must have been too dark by the time Brian let him out for a bit of exercise. He's so smart!

Below--in-laws and pals, Kara and Brian!

Below--my oldest nephew, Alan Kerley.

I guess the two tallest members of the family...Alan and Patrick (Mel's). Alan's got a few inches on Patrick but he may not have reached his peak yet as he's just 18. We'll see!

Below: All the men grandchildren. From left: Grant, Adam, Patrick and Alan. They're all first cousins. Man--what a handsome foursome!

I've got an old photo of the four of them, oh, 'bout ten years ago at a picnic up at Price Lake I need to dig up.....I remember that Alan and Adam were about Grant and Patrick's ages then and the little boys just thought their older cousins were just the best!

Below--Mel and Suzy.

We sure enjoyed having Grant and Marina join us! Marina's just getting more and more at home with this crazy and wild family of mine!

Below--Patrick Hunter Johnson...going off to college this fall....hard to believe!!

Maddyson and Jackson put a little show on for us dancing and gyrating to some music....

so cute!!!

Below--after most everybody had gone on home, Jim did a little science experiment for us. He put---shoot--I'm getting so old, I can't remember sh-t!! What was it? Not Tums, some little mint of some kind in a liter of soda and wa-lah---volcano!

Great fun! Great food! Great sharing! I just love my family!! Thanks Brian and Aimee for having us! And your house is just lovely! Just perfect for you guys!

Photo of the Day--Jim, My Brother

My very handsome, very young brother Jim. This was taken at the beach probably about 1968, maybe as late as 1970? Suzy needs to help me date this. Jim is 10 years older than me and as stated previously he and Suzy were from our mother's first marriage to their father, Earl Trivette. I honestly never think of them as half siblings. When Mel and I came along they were there and they loved Mel and I like we were their own children. I think Mel and I were so fortunate to have had them. They always seemed to have time for us and really took up the slack when Mama and Daddy were unable to be the parents we needed them to be. What gifts we received from them both! Jim taught me so much! He taught us both to swim like fish. He was the lifeguard at Oakwoods Country Club for two summers and how I wanted to please him! I'd swim lap after lap just to get some praise from him. I remember so well how he was such a hero to me. So handsome, so smart! All the teen girls back then--late sixties that hung out at the pool just worshiped him. He also, later when he attended Western and joined the gymnastics team taught both Mel and I to tumble, do splits, backbends, and walk overs. Man--wish my body would do those bendy positions now! He also exposed us to science and nature. He loved snakes and insects and many times would catch a garter snake for us to play with. He took us to the movies ALL the time--frequently the drive-in--you know the one that was over on highway 115!? I remember one time he must have taken us to a scary one becasue I spent the evening in the passenger floorboard crying and wanting to go home!!

Jim tells me how excited they were when I was born. He developed his love of kids with Mel and I. He tells me sometimes Mama would make him get me to sleep for a nap and how he'd lay there with me until I fell asleep and how he'd have to ever so slowly slip his arm from around me and ever so gently creep from the bed. He would have been 10-12 years old! I can't imagine having asked Grant to do that at that age!

Love these photos of him. BTW--that's Suzy doing the rabbit ears on the second shot. How they teased each other! How very, very different they are/were!!! Jim shy, quiet, introspective and Suzy outgoing, loud, never met a stranger in her life, extrovert!! Naturally they clashed ALOT when they were young! We've been told a story about how Suzy kept beating Jim up and always came out on top of their squirmishes until finally Daddy got so sick of it that ....hmmm....forgetting exactly how this went.....let me call Suzy..... Man, did she ever set me straight! She says that what happened was that Suzy was always physically getting the better of Jim becasue he wouldn't fight back, he just took it. Mama and Daddy got so tired of the fighting and I guess figured to put a stop to it, Jim should give her what for! They made him hit her and show her she couldn't beat up on him. Suzy says that it was like a vampire getting his first sip of blood and Jim was brutal and ruthless with her from then on. BUT, big but here, Suzy deserved most of it. She says she used to file her nails to a point to she could scratch him better! She told me too about how they chased each other to grab the other one and beat up on each other and on two different occasions broke a glass storm door as they chased each other--Jim cutting his leg and Suzy her wrist--says she still has the scar! Glad I don't remember any of this! They were both so good to me and Mel! They just hated each other! They outgrew it and get along great today.

So very tan, so very young and healthy. He must have some Native American or some such in his line as he's a bit dark-skinned and tans easily. Jim's always been rather shy and extremely humble about his good looks. He has no idea how very attracted women are to him!

I don't know why the rest of us didn't get his intelligence! Suzy, Mel and I are just average smart but Jim surpasses us all--man, can he ever remember facts, trivia, etc. He ALWAYS beats us no matter what game we play. He begs us to play Trivial Pursuit with him but who wants to when we all know who's going to win? Sometimes we'll give in but make sure he's practically on a team by himself! And I proudly tell you that, btw, Jim's a member of mensa!! It's like I think I might have just a bit of the genes that he got? Surely a bit?!!

I love you Jim. And know how very much I appreciate how you nurtured me and helped me feel loved when I was growing up!

Photo of the Day--An Oldie

Wow!!! This was taken so long ago! It was 1979 and we were gathered at Jim's when he was living in Wilkesboro, when he was living on James Street--down from Wilkes Farm and Garden, in the cutest little cabin.

To identify.... that's Dawn (Gardner, my aunt, my mother's sister) holding Adam (Kerley--my nephew, Suzy's son), then from the left, that's Mel, my sister with her Basset, Mitzi, then Jody Gardner (Dawn's son), then me, Kris Gardner (Dawn's), Suzy, my sister, Mindy (Jim's daughter), Alan, Suzy's son. Then the back row from the left: Richard (Dick) Fluke, my grandmother Mindy Lovette, Peg Fluke (these are Jim's in-laws), then their daughter Nancy, then Rod Kerley (Suzy's husband) and last is Becky, then Jim's wife. And off the the right are my parents Smith and Gladys.

No one's aged a bit...we all are just as young as we feel!! And I feel fabulous!!

Rambling and Ruminating...My Parents....

One of my favorite photos of my mother--Gladys Irene Lovette Hudson. Wasn't she pretty? Mama was born the first of six children February 8, 1929 to Austin Henry and Minda Eulala Higgins Lovette. She had four sisters and one brother. She married at 18 to James Earl Trivette and had my (half) brother Jim and sister Suzy. They divorced, gosh--guess about 1954?? Then she married my father in 1957 and I was born in 1958 and Mel in 1960.

Mama left us in 1990--been so long ago now but I still miss her so much. I don't think a day goes by even today that I don't think of her. She, as I guess all mothers do, had a profound effect on my life. How I wanted to please her!

This photo was taken by my brother Jim at a cookout at my aunt and uncle's Alton and Madge Absher (Mama's sister) about 1974. Best I can calculate, she'd be about 45 years old in this photo. It's a rare good picture of her--few were taken back then and if it weren't for Jim taking a photography class and acquiring a camera in college we wouldn't have any, period! This is also rare because she looks so good--happy--like life was good and she was content--also rare. I have a copy of this photo at my desk and I like to think Mama's here with me seeing and loving me and my children. She never even met Grant but she sure loved Olivia. And fortunately Livvie was five when Mama died so she does have memories of her--Mama keeping her while I worked and giving her a piece or two of her costume jewelry which tickled little Livvie.

How do I miss her? Let me count the ways....anytime I'm gardening how I'd love to be able to ask her what I should plant where--she had so much knowledge here. She loved wild flowers and worked very hard in her wild flower garden and she and Daddy spent many a happy weekend scouring the mountain sides hunting for those elusive blooms. And cooking--man, could she ever cook those simple southern, country meals! Sewing, knitting and any type needle work--Mama was a paragon of talent in this area. She won many ribbons for her work. Science--especially astronomy--this fascinated her and she studied it and watched every special on TV. She was an avid reader and could easily read three or more books a week. She was an exceptional, what was called back then, secretary. She typed at least 80 wpm and was a whiz at dictation. Grammar, punctuation, spelling--expert. I ALWAYS had her edit every paper I ever did.

In so many ways and every day, I miss my mother.

Another memory from Mama's last years--Olivia sticking her gum up her nose!!--seems like Mama had given her gum and Olivia didn't want me to know (?) and to hide it she put it up her nose? Days go by and while I'd noticed her nose was stopped up and just assumed it was a cold--just happened to see something in her nose while she was lying down and thought it looked odd and asked the stinker about it and she confessed her mischievousness! Did Dr. Gulden ever have a time grabbing hold of it!!

A fairly good pic of my father, Smith Richardson Hudson, taken about 1974 or so. He was the baby of eight children and was born February 12, 1933. So he'd be about 40 here. Daddy died so young--he was 54. It's taken me most of the last twenty years to come to a place of forgiveness for him (and him for me, posthumously, of course) and LOTS of introspection, examination, and analysis. Daddy had the disease of alcoholism and it affected every aspect of his life. It was an evolution, a coming together of several different forces at work in me--Al-Anon, family of origin work, a spiritual journey, journaling, maturing, finding compassion, understanding the disease concept of addictions, etc. for me to be able to say: my father was a good man with a bad disease. He never set out to be a bad father nor to hurt us in any way. Instead, he was gripped by his disease and it dominated every thing in his life.

Many years ago, at least ten, something unknown to me now, motivated me to do some work on forgiving my father and I composed a list of his qualities/attributes/assets. It was cathartic and a huge first step in the process that ultimately got me where I can think of him with fondness and not bitterness. He was kind and (overly) generous. He was a great story-teller and joke teller. He loved nature of all kinds but was also an avid hunter and fisherman. Loved sunsets. He was a gifted artist like his mother and late in his life did some good water colors. He was also a gifted dentist--there are still many a folk in Wilkes walking around with crown and bridge work my daddy did in the sixties! He had a very tender heart--I remember many times watching shows like The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie--gosh, even Bonanza and he and I both would be crying! He had SO much potential. Imagine taking four children--two of which were babies, packing up and moving to Chapel Hill and going for four years to dental school--what an accomplishment! And they had NO money, living like paupers but ironically Mama always said the Chapel Hill years were her happiest years. So he had drive, ambition, courage, tenacity and obviously smarts about him. Potential crushed by his disease. Daddy, blessedly, had three years of sobriety and my memories from those precious years, I cling to. It's the five years after that lead up to his death that haunt me. And the reason I had to do a lot of hard work spiritually to feel he'd forgiven me for treating him so miserably. I was so angry at him! I was sick--as sick as him and had no professional support at the time--just doing the only thing I knew to do--try to manipulate him into quitting drinking. I've forgiven myself and know he forgives me too. A good man. A good man with a bad disease. Simple.

Photo of the Day--Kim and Mel

Me and my sissy...taken Thanksgiving 2005. I like this picture!

Photo of the Day--Mel and John

These were taken this past Christmas (07). That's my younger sister Mel and her beau John Corneck. We love Yankee John!! We tease him that's he's just a Yankee redneck and he agrees!

Photo of the Day--Mindy and Aimee

My nieces--Mindy Hudson on the left and Aimee Hudson Vaughan on the right. They are my brother Jim's daughters. Let's see, Mindy's 30 and Aimee should be 28 if I've got my dates right. Beautiful young women! Mindy lives in Greensboro where she is able to do lots of musical productions--she got her degree in Musical Theatre from Lees McRae and is one very talented singer and dancer! We love to go see her perform! And Aimee is married to Brian Vaughan, a policeman in Huntersville. Aimee got her degree in Biology (I think) from Western Carolina and just recently completed the nursing program and is working in the neo-natal unit at Carolina Medical. They are both huge dog lovers--Aimee has two pound puppies and Mindy has Toby, also a pound puppy. This photo was taken Thanksgiving 2007 at my house.

Photo of the Day--Suzy

'Kay--little background is necessary here to fully appreciate these photos that tell a little story.... on the right is my older sister Suzy. We're at the beach (Sunset) and it's June 2002. That's her future daughter-in-law Carrie Reid (now Kerley) on the left. You must also know that Suzy is NOT a drinker--period. She very rarely partakes and then just tea-totals. Well, this particular evening some of us were bravely taking shots of vodka. As a family, we are not big drinkers--we'll have it at holidays and cook-outs but nobody drinks very much. I came across these photos while working on putting photos in albums---had to go back to 2000. I had completely forgotten about this hilarious adventure!!

So here's what it looks like was happening to me: Suzy, "the big drinker"--NOT, says "yeah, I'll have one of those shots." So Carrie obliges. They tell her how to do the lemon first, etc. And she looks so nonchalant, so confident about doing this. Heh--little did she know!

Note: these are poor quality photos--they're a "photo of a photo" as they were taken before I was using a digital camera exclusively.

Now we have Suzy's other future daughter-in-law, Kara Felise (now Kerley) making sure Carrie does this right and that Suzy gets a proper dose! OMG--this just cracks me up!!

I must have missed the actual taking the shot photo! But think she's taken it here, looks like anyway. That grimace!! That's Adam Johnson in the background.

OMG!!! If you know Suzy, you can just hear her coughing, sputtering, gagging and carrying on!!! And Carrie's expression!! I just can't help but just crack up laughing every time I look at this. She can barely get her breath here! She, I'm sure had NEVER taken a shot of alcohol in her life and had NO idea! Oh! How I love my sissy! There ain't nobody like her!

So here she is still in the throes of the alcohol burning and setting her on fire and high-five-ing with Brian (my niece Aimee's husband) Vaughan. This is just priceless!! Hey--family--let's do this again!!

Also--as a side note: Need to post some recent photos of Suzy. She's lost another person in weight! Yeah--you go Suzy!! She's off all her meds for diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol and is able to exercise now.