Drive up banking in the winter – when you make the passenger get out and knock the ice off the card slide
Let me first start by stating the obvious – IT IS COLD OUTSIDE! Yes it was -16F when I woke up. No that IS the actual TEMPERATURE you don’t wanna know the wind chill – somewhere in the -30sF. I don’t plan to go out until afternoon when we are supposed to warm up to about oF. Okay formalities taken care of I’ll start on my post now.
Due to work I didn’t go down to see the folks (mine and his) until after Christmas. It worked out just fine. Aaron and Sara came down later and stayed after us as they wanted to celebrate New Year’s with their friends here. Ahh I remember when we actually stayed up in dressy clothes and partied with others. Now just staying up is the challenge. Funny as I get older I get more like a baby routine keeps me from being grumpy.
Any way here are a few photos from the trip. Not much as I only had my phone.
We visited my parents for a few days. Here’s Mike and my folks outside a Mexican restaurant in their town. Yes we had to show our support for the Tennessee Volunteers – all graduates of the University of Tennessee ya know. Dad is a golden grad and got his 50 years since graduation pin.Mom’s kitty Sylvester – I have two black cats, Mom has one, Aaron has one, and my bff Patricia has two – do you have a black kitty?The house shoes my parents gave Mike – yes they are slippers!That’s Greeneville Tennessee the town to where I grew up out in the county. I’m setting a novel (urban fantasy with a rural setting) centered right on the corner where that church is.The view of the Smoky Mountains from my in-laws neighborhood. As you can see there was snow on the mountain but it was still nice enough in the valley to go golfing.Jellico Mountain area of Kentucky on the drive home. The roads were clear the whole way just a long drive.The snow just started as we hit downtown Chicago.Back home to typical Wisconsin Winter views.
Okay tomorrow and Thursday I work so hopefully I’ll get another post in the pipeline for those days – maybe about the great YWriter and a postcard from the past… or maybe swamp tour or Colonial Williamsburg… or maybe not… Until next time!
This is the final post from my visit to the Cherokee National Forest. This photos are actually not in the forest but of roads and properties just outside the forest. One is an abandoned farm that is for sale. There was proof that it was once loved with the irises and other decorative flowers still coming up in the weeds.
This view does capture images of my growing up – a country road, a barn off to the side, and mountains rising in the background.Followed the lane on up the mountain toward the edge of the park.Waited on a wild turkey family to cross the road. DIdn’t get the camera fast enough to get the little chicks.This is the abandoned home we found it was for sale with the acreage.It had been a working farm at one time.Gate to the side yard.The one car garage on the road – couldn’t you just see a 1930s truck parked in there.Then it was time to head off the mountain. The view down the road toward town from the garage.
Here’s a few photos of beautiful flowers in the Cherokee National Forest. Enjoy!
A Rose tells the story of an abandoned house once being a beloved home with a tended yard.Queen Anne’s Lace – now a wildflower was brought to the new world as a garden flower. As a kid I enjoyed cutting one putting it in water with food coloring watching the bloom change colors as it took up the water.Wild miniature daises.Not sure what this is… locust I think very sweet smelling and on a tree.More of this unknown…
Next photo post – the abandoned homestead that was for sale as a Preferred Property just on edge of the National Forest.
Last week when I was in Tennessee for the Hicks Family Reunion I also did some research for the book that is my current project. It is set in my home town of Greeneville and is an urban fantasy type with a rural setting. I wanted to refresh my memory of the Cherokee National Forest where it is in Greene county. I have an important event to set there. After we picked up the key for the hall where the reunion was to be held Mom and I drove back through the forest. Here are some pictures of that drive.
Road to the National Forest. Loved the sky!French Broad RiverBlack Bear Proof Trash CansProtected forestOld stone drinking fountain. I remember these from my childhood trips.Picnic areaCobblestone bridge to picnic area from main roadCreek the cobblestone bridge went over.Hwy 107 Houston Valley Road in Greene County TN inside the Cherokee National Forest.As we were leaving a storm was rolling in.The storm coming over a ridge
There will be two more posts from this trip – mountain flowers and areas just outside the National Forest. Until Next Time!
It was the last Sunday in July again, time for Mom put on her program for the annual Hicks Family Reunion. I went down to assist. This year she was doing her grandmother’s line. That’s our claim to the Hicks family.
It all started with David C. Hicks and Sarah Dennis Hicks. They married in Cocke County, Tennessee in 1830. David met Sarah when he crossed the mountain from Virginia on his way to buy a farm and set up housekeeping in Middle Tennessee. He must have been a non-inheriting son to be moving like that. He was born 10 Apr 1804 in Albemarle County, Virginia and died 09 Oct 1850 in Cocke County, Tennessee. All I know is that his father was David James (or possibly James David) Hicks born in 1774 in Virginia. David C.’s mother was Jemima Tennal (spelling according to their marriage record also spelled Tinnell in family Bibles). They married in 1770 in Albemarle County, Virginia. It is very probably that David James’s father fought in the Revolutionary War given his age and location, but on what side we don’t know.
Sarah Dennis was born about 1812 in June in Cocke County, Tennessee and died 8 Mar 1898 in Cocke, Tennessee. Her parents came to Tennessee to live on her maternal grandfather’s land grant for service in the Revolutionary War. He was Hugh Creighton (B 1730 Ireland, D.1804 New Jersey where his son Patrick lived) and served in the Revolutionary War. He already had a farm in South Carolina so he gave (or they purchased) his land grant in Tennessee to his daughter Anne and her husband John Dennis. The name Creighton with various spellings was carried forth in the Hicks family in his honor to this day. Anne and John had at least three children one of which was the first Joel Dennis. He married Margaret Henry (which makes this line from my maternal grandfather related to the line of my maternal grandmother truly kissing cousins) and they were the parents of the Sarah Dennis that founded the Tennessee Hicks line from which I am descended ( the post about Joel Dennis from the Civil War was his son, Sarah’s brother)
Sarah and David C. had 8 children. Their youngest was David Crockett Hicks ( his father’s middle initial is C. but we don’t know what it stood for, he was however a constituent of the famous David Crockett of Alamo fame) who is my great great grandfather. Crockett was a character about whom tales are still told. He had a temper and was lazy. He was born 27 Jul 1852 Cocke, TN and died 16 Aug 1943 Sevier, TN. He married a Margaret Jane Denton (from whom I have another Revolutionary War ancestor) in about 1873. The courthouse burned in Cocke County so the exact date has been lost. She however was born 18 Jun 1854 Cocke, Tennessee and died 04 Jan 1949 Sevier, Tennessee. Here’s a photo of them and their living adult children.
Back L to R: Bon Dalls, Dibrelle Augusta, Ollie Belle, Crayton Dennis, Mark Clyde, Bessie Paralee, Crayton Dennis Front L to R: Sarah, Fred Ashberry, Margaret Henry Hicks, David Crockett Hicks, Minnesota, and Jerome. Their son Joel David Hicks died before this photo was taken.
The reunion consists of the descendants from those in the picture. In their later years Crockett and Margaret moved about living with their children as Crockett never owned land or made a homestead. Each living child (Dibrelle was killed soon after this photo but that’s a story for another post) took turns keeping crochety old Crockett and quiet Margaret. My great grandmother was Ollie Belle (b 16 Jan 1888 Cocke,TN d 25 Oct 1975 Blount,TN) and if you were being disagreeable she’d call you Crockett.
She married Milas Lavator Rolen (b 22 Jun 1880 Sevier, TN d 28 Dec 1936 Sevier, TN) on 12 May 1907 in Sevier, TN. Here they are on their wedding day.
He was a sheriff for a few years then went to the US Marshals and became a Revenuer. They had 7 children. Here they are with their family.
back row L to R Herbert, Bennie Zue, George Ann, Milas Lavator Jr., John Hollis, Sammie Sue. Front row L to R Lavator, George Ann, Ollie Belle
My grandfather was John Hollis Rolen (b. 23 Nov 1909 Sevierville, TN d. 08 Feb 1975 Sevierville, TN). He did many things in his life and some day I’ll share his security clearance form for WWII in a post that outlines many things he did some we didn’t know. However most of my mother’s life and all of mine he was an engineer for the 3M Company. Yes the post-it and Scotch Tape people. He married Johnnie Mae Temple (b 23 May 1913 Sevier, TN d. 11 Feb 2007 Sevier, TN). Here’s a photo of them just shortly after they married. They married 08 Apr 1939 in Alcoa, Blount, Tennessee.
Johnnie Mae Temple Rolen and John Hollis Rolen.
They had two children. My mom Sylvia came first then John Hollis Jr. Unfortunately Junior died of a heart defect shortly after being born. Mom made it and is still going strong. She married my dad Sidney Bright. Here they are on their wedding day.
Well they had me! That’s how I wound up being at the Dandridge Tennessee Senior Center on the last Sunday in June this year for the Hicks Reunion. Mom traced down all the descendants from Ollie Belle. She worked on it for the full year! It took three volumes. She not only got a data on everyone but also did a small personal biography of each person and a photo page. Really hard work and excellent results. Here’s my copy of all three volumes.
Turn out was good. Ollie Belle Hicks Rolen, Sarah Hicks Rolen Baxter, and Bessie Parlee Hicks Williams decendants were represented. Here’s this year’s group shot.
Descendants of David Crockett Hicks and Margret Jane Denton.
The next reunion with be year after next. That’ll give mom time to relax and work on the Williams line from Bessie Parlee Hicks.
Statue of Andrew Johnson across the street from his tailor shop.
I grew up in Greene County Tennessee. The main town is Greeneville and their claim to history is being the home of Andrew Johnson the 17th President of the United States and the only impeached President until Bill Clinton. Both were aquitted at their trial, to be impeached is to be brought to trial while sitting in the office of President. Andrew went to fight for the President’s right to appoint and dismiss his cabinet at will (that’s it in a nut shell okay? much more political stuff going on) – Bill went because he’s a womanizer. Really which would you want to be known for going to trial about? LOL!
My family’s path crosses with Andrew’s several times on several branches. The biggest one was when he was governor of Tennessee he helped my 4th great grandmother Sarah Busick Bright secure her widow pension due her from her husband’s service in the Revolutionary War. That’s what brought Sarah and James Bright to Tennessee from Maryland – his Revolutionary War Land Grant for service.
Also I’ve got Andrew’s signature on several files as Vice President granting leave to Union Soldiers from Tennessee to attend funerals of family members. Don’t raise an eyebrow at that. Yes Tennessee did secede but East Tennessee where my roots are and Andrew was from – was staunchly Union. I’ve got less than 10 documented Confederates to over 100 documented Union service members in my family tree. Andrew looked after the loyalist there from the time he was military governor through his Vice Presidency and his Presidency.
Andrew settled in Greeneville when he was about 18 and opened a very successful tailor shop. He married a local girl who taught him the basic 3 Rs Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. She supported his political bid. One interesting note was they were married by Abraham Lincoln’s second cousin. Thus the Lincoln connection went back to when Andrew was young knowing Lincoln’s cousin and father. Eliza read to Andrew as he’d sew and gave him her love of reading. His famous oratory skills were credited to his reading and hearing her read the great orators over and over.
In Greeneville the original tailor shop still stands inside a National Park building built around it to preserve it. His house across the street was always closed when I lived there but has since been restored and opened to the public. In 1851 which would have been while he was a Representative to the US Congress he built a large home that is now a National Park and is open for touring. A duplicate of it was built just up the hill from the original and is visible from the Nathaniel Greene Museum but is currently a private residence. I am curious how the layout inside was modernized.
Also a replica of Andrew’s birthplace in North Carolina was built just across from his first Greeneville house and kitty-cornered from his tailor shop. BUT DON’T be confused he wasn’t born in Greeneville he moved there. However when he returned after his tumultuous presidency the 1851 house held bitter memories of his son that had committed suicide. So he bought a farm out of town to make a home.
He’s the only President who went back to Congress in an elected position. After several failed bids he narrowly won the seat and returned as the Senator from Tennessee in January 1875. He was returning to Washington when he stopped by his daughter’s house in Elizabethton Tennessee to see her and spend the night. It was there he suffered a stroke and died.
Needless to say growing up near all these places we made many field trips here to see the President’s house and tailor shop. Other things like the museum at Tusculum College, the Nathanael Greene Museum, the Early Home of Johnson, the replica birthplace, and the statue all came long after I was gone.
So enjoy this photo post of the current Greeneville sights of Andrew Johnson. Oh and yes it is GreenEville being named for Nathaniel GreenE.
The street view of the Johnson’s early home in GreenevilleView of the early home from the yard of the house.Interior of the early home.Replica of the North Carolina birthplace of Andrew Johnson.The exterior of the building built around the Johnson Tailor shop. The addition to the building service as the visitor center for the National Park locations in Greeneville.The home he built in 1851 and returned to after his Presidency. Despite not being very popular (the South didn’t like he remained loyal the North thought his restruction policies were too gentle on rebellious states) He did receive a welcome home parade and banners. The home proved too sad for he and his wife due to memories of their son Robert (who committed suicide) growing up there.Nathanael (yes that’s how he spelled it) Greene Museum in Greeneville has a fine collection of things including material from Johnson’s time as a political figure in Greeneville. Also if you stand in their parking lot and look up the hill to the residential area you’ll spot the private home that is a replica of Andrew’s 1851 home.
A special thanks to Diatribe and Ovations blog for reminding me of this skunk story. It always makes me cringe and laugh.
First let me set the scene, it was in my early days of working for this company. I was in one of three cubes in a large room that was once a waiting room like area for 4 offices. We were administration support for the production team leaders in the offices. Office doors never closed, we all got along and liked each other. It was like a big processing family with shouting and laughing back and forth. The radio played in the background as keys clicked and copiers whirled with the sounds of great people doing a good job. You know a good work environment like that couldn’t last and with layoffs it was decimated leaving those of us that remained over worked and separated. However in this golden era of enough work for everyone and camaraderie too boot is where the skunk story sets.
So in walks the young and newest production team leader. He’s not his usual self but quiet and withdrawn. He hangs up his coat in his office and gets to work. Everyone has a bad morning and we all figure it’s his. We leave him to his coffee and morning e-mails for an attitude adjustment what ever is needed.
It’s not long before people start asking one another “Do you smell a SKUNK?” Now this is odd because we are all in the center of a large shielded building. We processed radioactive waste and the office area has no windows or outside walls. Add to it that it is in an accessed controlled area that is fenced in and wild life is kept out. I know I walked the fence line regularly as part of my job. So needless to say it was odd to smell a wild animal.
Sheepishly from the unusually quiet office came the answer. “It’s my coat. I’ll take it outside.” He quietly walks the aisle between the cubicles holding out the offending barn coat. Yep, we all got a good strong whiff it was the coat. I’m sure every office from our quad to the door got a good whiff of that coat! As it warmed up it got more pungent.
Now we are all curious – how did his coat come to smell like a skunk? Needless to say all 6 of us were waiting for his return. Once he came back, clothes changed to scrubs (we wore scrubs under the canaries yellow protective gear and respirator to keep from risking contamination on street clothes) we all stuck our heads out to hear the answer. It was up to Oscar, the senior team leader, to ask the embarrassed young man what happened.
It all started with his new hunting dog. He’d been working with the dog and had gotten very close to it. So much so the dog went wild when it was about time for him to get home. So his wife, who was home with the new baby, had taken to letting the dog out about half hour before he got home so the excitement of doggie anticipation didn’t wake the napping infant. (The production shift changed at 3pm). Usually when he got home the dog would run circles about the yard in joy and greet him once he was out of the truck, having mastered the rules of stay back from the auto gate and running truck. Only that previous afternoon was different. As he drove down the road to his house the dog didn’t greet him at the fence and run the length of it barking welcome to the truck. As he pulled into the driveway, no dog in view. He was worried. He loved that new dog. Then suddenly from around the back of the house there came the dog tearing toward the truck with all he’s got. “Oh he was off doing doggie stuff at the woods and missed hearing me. Now he’s making up for it!” the young man thought. Well, before he could get out of the stopped truck, the dog jumped into his lap through the open door. “Aww it’s okay boy! You don’t have to run the fence welcoming me!” Then it hit him. The dog had just been sprayed by a skunk. Now it was all over him and the dog was rubbing his burning eyes on the truck passenger seat!
That was when he began the mantra of “I love my dog, I love my dog.” His eyes started watering from the smell! He got out and got sick as the stench was too great. Seems that the dog wasn’t the only one getting the tomato juice bath that night. The coat was washed and dried so many times and the truck sat with door wide open and fans blowing on the wet upholstery from a good vinegar and baking soda scrub. The dog was at the vet being shaved and treated for its eyes were chemically burned from the spray. This poor guy rode to work in snowy weather with his windows down sitting on garbage bags placed over the wet drivers seat. He’d parked his truck in the far lot and left it open to air out more. Now the offending coat hung on the open driver door and the clothes aired out in the bed of the vehicle. All told the infamous “skunk dog welcome” as it came to be known in the office cost the guy a bundle in vet bills, truck cleaning bills, and new winter coat. Yes at times his new mantra of “I love my dog, I LOVE MY DOG” became audible as he dealt with the incident.
Now whenever I hear a skunk story I remember the skunk dog welcome and how it took some time for our enclosed office to shed the smell. Until next time peeps.
Image from Card Cow and used from their embed on your website service.
I love books. I’ve always loved books. Trips to the library were great when I was a kid. My first memories of the library in Greeneville were the old one. The one that was the Carnegie Library. My mom read me the whole Wizard of Oz series out loud. I loved it. I carried on the tradition with Harry Potter until Aaron was old enough to read those on his own and didn’t want to wait the chapter a day that we did.
The children’s library was down in the basement. One Summer I remember I got an outline of the library for the summer reading club. As I read a book I got a brick sticker in my library. The goal was to build your own library on paper without Andrew having to give a penny. I was so proud when mine was finished!
Later built the library that is in use today. They had contest to guess what the new library would look like. I painted a picture of what I thought it would look like based on our police station, town hall and such. Turned out I was RIGHT! down to the decorative rail around the crown of the roof. I was again so proud!
Many of the books I read from there have become life long friends. My Side of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George was a favorite that I shared with Aaron. I fell for the love literary writing of Gene Wolfe in his Shadow of the Torturer. I found Gothic romance in Victoria Holt’s books and later matured to enjoy the historical fiction of Eleanor Hibbert’s other pen names. Some books – the titles are long gone from my memory as are the authors to which I owe thanks but their stories, their stories are dear treasured friends.
It wasn’t just the fiction section I loved. I remember getting books about King Tut’s treasures, the old west, Hollywood back in the Studio Heyday, NASA’s space exploration, and so much more. It was all there all free and ALL interesting. I knew how to research before I left high school just because if I wanted to know something I had full faith the library could tell me.
I fully supported libraries every where I went from then to today. I worked in our high school library my senior year. I volunteered full time for two years in Aaron’s elementary school’s library. I still can get lost in a library for hours just browsing. I love them!
Now don’t think that my bibliotheca amor negated my also loving bookstores. I bought and buy books at least weekly. Some old favorites are held together by rubber bands. Seems that some books are great guests you pass on to the next reader’s party and others become treasured family members of your shelves. I can’t tell you how many times I read Gone With The Wind or Jane Eyre in my younger days. Rest You Merry by Charlotte MacLeod has become a personal holiday tradition to read.
When I was driving a lot I got into audiobooks. I love them even more today. I listen when I’m in the car, cleaning the house, doing research, beading, walking the dog, on the bike, and so on. I love them. I prefer the spoken word over music most of the time now. I just can’t get enough of stories, fiction or nonfiction, comic book, printed, or audio – tell me something, tell me something new, tell me something interesting – take me places I can never go, introduce me to people I could never meet, let me be someone else in a new world for awhile. That’s what happens when I read or listen to a story. I’m no longer bored with every day life chores. Audio books have their place but nothing is the same as curling up with a book and immersing yourself in the story, history, life, – the power of the written word. Which is why I aspire to be a writer I’d guess.
So now the question in the title. I say I’m a biblophile – a book lover. Mike claims that no I’m a biblomaniac – crazy over books. We used to playfully argue the point. Really it doesn’t matter – I’m happy. I enjoy books in any form but I think honestly my deepest love still goes back to words on paper – don’t need electricty or programs or players or viewers. Just a bit of light -the sun supplies that daily here- and the willingness to be transported without going anywhere.
Here’s the trip south. Chicago doesn’t have traffic early on Sunday mornings. This was about 7:30 am. There’s the WIllis tower (formerly the Sears tower) in the center. It’s rare to see the interstate so empty.
Mike drove most of the 13 hours to my parents. I drove the 9 hours to Montgomery Alabama from my parents. Needless to say last week doing the trip there and back plus the driving about to cemeteries and peoples homes – I spent a lot of time in the car. No matter how great the audio books are or how many channels we got on Sirius, it gets boring being the passenger or driver. I must acknowledge as a passenger I did more than my share of sleeping. Still when I got bored I picked up my camera when a passenger and at stops to share the experience with you. Here’s the photo gallery of 44 hours on the road.
Every community has its landmarks. Some stick around for a long time, even beyond the thing that caused them to be landmarks. I grew up in Greene County, Tennessee with such landmarks in my neck of the woods as the twin barns (now gone), dead man’s curve (no longer has much traffic due to by-pass), red gate (never seen a red gate any where near there), the broom factory (it’s not been there for almost 100 years), tin top, and a few others. All of which I know exactly where they are but if you haven’t lived there a while and learned the jargon you’d be as confused as hell by the directions from Mosheim “go out 11E toward Greeneville stay on it through dead man’s curve keep follerin’ it past the broom factory and make yer right between the twin barns.”
Every time I’ve moved into a new community I’ve had to learn the local landmarks and jargon. The South seems to have more and more colorful ones than any other area I’ve lived. They are the basis for directions from the locals. Something that was much more important back in the days before everyone had a GPS. I’ve been in new towns following sketched directions on a paper towel looking for the two clowns so I could turn left all before the days of GPS.
Kenosha has a few but with the system of streets and avenues being numbered you don’t need them so much. Streets here run East West or as I remember it they go Splash into the lake S for street ya see. The higher the number the further North from the Illinois boarder you are. Avenues on the other hand go North South Along the lake, A for Avenue ya see. The higher the number the further west away from the lake you are. Got it? Simple if an address is 7563 19th Avenue (don’t know who that is just made it up) That place is between 75th and 76th Street on 19th Avenue. Given this system Kenosha doesn’t do much landmark directions but there are a few things that people reference.
The first is the Hob Knob. It was established in 1954 in the supper club style of the 50s. It’s kitchy by today’s standards but fun. Sitting right on the shore of Lake Michigan the views are unsurpassed. I’ve only eaten there once years ago. I don’t remember much about the food but I do remember the decoration made me expect to see Frank Sanatra lead in the Brat Pack telling them this was hip little dinner club just North of Chicago he was talking about.
I snapped this picture as we drove by in the Mustang. Yes the top was down and I was enjoying myself. I always like the big Cosmo painted on the side of the building. It just lets you know what you are in for when you go inside. Dining there again but this time calling to be sure we get seats that face the lake is on our Kenosha bucket list. Last time we had seats that faced the street but we walked in and took what’s available. I really need to go by there at night when the neon is all lit up and snap some more shots.
Next up is a place on my Kenosha Bucketlist. It’s been on the Food Channel as a great road trip stop. Yes I’m speaking of none other than Kenosha’s cheese royalty the Mars Cheese Castle! It’s been recently rebuilt to look more castle like. However they kept their iconic sign. Being next to the interstate where they get most of their business I’m told, it’s good to keep the logo.
I’ve lamented that I have been delinquent in going into the Cheese Castle. I mean I’ve been in and to the Brat Stop many times. (subject of another post but let me say it’s not a place you stop for misbehaving kids but a bratwurst place). I’ve taken the exit from I-94 where it sits to head home as I did on the evening I snapped this photo. But I’ve never gone into the place. The locals tell me not to worry, it’s a tourist trap being the first big cheese place just north of Chicago. It’s more known in the community for the iconic sign. Well that I’ve seen so maybe that’s good enough.
It seems that landmarks in Kenosha are food related. There are more I’ll cover in the future there’s the afore mentioned Brat Stop, Sunnyside Wine Shop and Bar, Frank’s Diner, Capt Mike’s (gourmet mac’n’cheese), D’Angleos and several more. Let me know what are your local landmarks and how are they used? What were the landmarks of your childhood? I’m thinking now when I go back to visit I’ll have to get photos of tin top, broom factory, and others too.
Mary Louise Eklund 