27 November 2019
It’s been a busy but productive day. I made it down for coffee after 7 am, had a bagel for breakfast and then Jimmie and I decided to go for a walk. Then the rains came. We decided to wait until it let up and then Stephen suggested that when he went for more bagels for the rest of the week, we walk in Guilford Courthouse Battlefield Park, a national historical site.
I had walked there before with them and even if it rained on us, we’d be sheltered somewhat by the trees. We then walked a short trail sans rain and then drove through another park I had not been to – Country Park. Both parks were virtually empty and we pretty much had the places to ourselves.
After returning home, Jimmie and I started to get things ready for tomorrow. We worked on the cornbread dressing and the cranberry sauce. By 1 pm, the dressing was cooking the the cranberry sauce was cooling and the pumpkin pie was baking. All that’s left tomorrow is putting the turkey on at noon and warming the dressing.
Stephen treated for dinner which I much appreciated and then I started to fade and after returning home, I headed up to get ready for bed. It had been a good day all around, weather not withstanding.
After the blog yesterday, I got to thinking about family names. Not in the sense of first and last but of what family members called each other. By the way, I think I misspelled my great grandmother’s name in the last blog. It is Laura McEuen, I think, not McEwen.
Anyway, that got me to thinking. I mentioned the idea of death’s occurring in three’s and I remembered it was Uncle George Searcy who was the third person to die in that trio. Uncle George was no relation to the Searcy family on my side. He was a pilot with Eddie Richenbacher’s squadron during WWI and we kids were always told we couldn’t set of fireworks because Uncle George suffered from shell shock – today we call it post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A part of me thinks it was simply our parents not wanting us to shoot off fireworks.
I digress. On the Agnew side of the family (my mother’s side) my great grandfather was James B. Agnew, Sr. We called him Pawpaw. That isn’t so unusual but we called my great grandmother “Other Mama”. Where that came from I have no idea.
Ayurvedic medicines for buying levitra in canada ED will strengthen penile muscles, nerves and veins so that the users can have many options. This is not just the phallo-centric fantasy in Ian Fleming stories. levitra overnight delivery Effect of sexual disorder on a relationship Sex and sexuality is no longer a buy cialis professional taboo topic. To put it scientifically, during sexual acts the body produces nitric oxide in the penis which further pfizer viagra facilitates the production of cyclic guanine monophosphate.My grandmother (mother’s mother) was named Ruby Lee Agnew. When I was little, I couldn’t pronounce Rub. The only thing I could get out was Ru-Ru. That was her name to me until the day she died. My grandfather (mother’s father) was Hollie William Agnew. No one in the family called him Hollie except Ruby. Everyone else called him Datee. I have no idea where that came from.
My great aunt was Velma Agnew Shepherd. No one called her Velma. She was always Aunt Sister. When the Viet Nam war was going on, she and Uncle Shep (again the nickname) had a tenant living below them in Jackson, Ms. It turned out he was a recruiter for the Coast Guard. She put him on me since I was draft eligible and was # 19 in the national lottery and # 2 in the county rolls and they were drafting the first 7.
I went down and interviewed with him and I asked him how he knew about me. He told me if I enlisted, he would tell me. Much later, as I was signing the papers and being sworn in, he asked me if I wanted to know who gave him my name. I’d forgotten about that but said sure. He said my great aunt Mrs. Shepherd. I promptly told him I didn’t have any aunt by the name of Shepherd. He looked at me quite funny and asked was I sure. I said I knew all my aunts and uncles and I begin to think he was crazy. He then said, “you know, the one who lives in Jackson. I rent the apartment from them.” Still not a clue. Then he finally said “Velma Shepherd” and it dawned on me it was Aunt Sister.
Another example is my great aunt Deliah. We pronounced it Deelee. However, she referred to herself as Aunt Neak. I loved her (her husband was Uncle George) but after Uncle George died, I learned to not let her kiss me. She had a habit of kissing everyone on the lips and with the boys in the family, slipping them the tongue.
My great aunt in Alabama was Ernestine Johnson, another Agnew sister. To me, she was Aunt Teeny. Again, no idea where that came from other than that’s what she called herself.
There was one great uncle – Uncle James, and two more great aunts – Aunt Alice and Aunt Edna Lee. We did called Aunt Edna Aunt Eddy but Aunt Alice was stuck with her real name as well as Uncle James.
As I write this, I realize all these pet family names were on my mother’s side of the family. I’ve always realized my mother’s side of the family was, shall we say, unique to the extreme, but I wonder if anyone else’s family had pet names used instead of their real names? Or is it just the Agnew’s or is it all southern families? I don’t know of a single pet name for members on my dad’s side of the family.
Tomorrow is over-eating day. On Friday, I plan to head to the southern end of Shenandoah National Park to get a photo at Rocky Top. More on that in the next blog. Happy Thanksgiving!
