Travels with Fred – Page 2 – Just another blog.

4 MISSISSIPPI

26 March 2025

They should rename the town of Brandon Wisteriaville. It’s all over the place and it’s all in bloom. It perfumes the air, crowds out other vegetation, and simply becomes something beautiful to behold. It even smells purple.

It was an interesting day. I got over to Archie and Tanis’ about 10:30 this morning after coffee and grapefruit with Jean and Roger. I try to time it so Jean and Roger are awake and I get a free cup of coffee.

It was decided I would take my brother shopping for a couple of pairs of sketchers so he could simply slide them on and not have to bend over to tie his shoe laces. Also, I was under orders to pick up a couple of pairs of shorts. It was off to Belk we went.

After measuring his foot, I thought he was a 10, one customer service person thought it was 9 1/2 and a second customer service person said 9. That was just the introduction as to what would become.

Archie tried the 9 1/2 and they were too big. Then he tried the 9’s and they were too tight. Back to the 9 1/2 – too big, back to the 9’s – too tight. Finally I found a pair of 9’s that fit him just right. While he was in the dressing room with the shorts, I found a second pair that looked like they would fit and got those in addition to house shoes.

He thought his waist size was 32. The 32’s didn’t fit. We went to 34. They didn’t fit. Finally, 36’s fit and we got two pairs. I was exhausted. The service personnel were excellent and very patient with us.

We returned to his home, picked up Tanis, and my nephew Billy and headed to Burgers, Blues, and Barbecue for lunch. I ordered the red beans and rice and it was outstanding! Atop the red beans was a section of old time country sausage I grew up with as a kid. I grew up with home ground sausage or country sausage usually gotten locally. Both were far cries from Jimmy Dean sausage.

After lunch, I dropped Billy back at the house and Tanis, Archie and I headed to Pulaski by way old highway 80 and Morton.

The house of our grandmother on our mother’s side still looked pretty good. Next stop was the Morton Cemetery to look over the graves of our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.

From there we headed to Pulaski to the Searcy Cemetery. I viewed my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents graves as well as my Aunt and Uncle Risher. For the first time, it registered with me that my Dad had an older brother who died soon after childbirth. I knew of the brother but the date had not registered before.

Next was a short trip to my grandparents’ place on my Dad’s side. We called it the Old Place. The original land was 120 acres with 30 acres where the house sat and 90 acres across the road that was farmed.

Dad told me the Choctaws use to come through once a year and camp down by the river and harvest cane. The stuff that grows by creeks and rivers is the only native bamboo in the U.S. and goes by the scientific name of Arundinaria gigantea. They would split the cane and weave baskets. When they left, they always left a few baskets for my grandparents.

As I walked up to the Old Place which was overgrown, I saw a stand of iris blooming. These were undoubtedly planted by my grandmother almost 100 years ago.

The first thing I look for is the magnolia tree planted by my grandparents (or great grandparents). I spent many hours in the branches of that tree. If you started playing among the branches in the spring, you got incredibly dirty from the bark and moss. By summer, we kids had pretty much rubbed all that off and had smooth limbs to play on and grandmother wouldn’t make us take a bath before we came into the house.

Sadly, the Old Place is looking, well, old. Time has ravaged it and it breaks my heart that my dad worked so hard to restore it. You can see the dogtrot in the center. This house holds many wonderful memories.

Grandmother, on cold winter days, would put her heavy metal irons near the fire place to warm them up and then wrap them and put them under the covers to warm the bed for us kids. Also, sleeping on a feather bed is a feat.

Through the dogtrot and at the end of the porch was a long set of stairs to the ground below. We would sit on those stairs and eat grandad’s watermelons he had cooled in the dogtrot. Of course, we had seed spitting contests (I always lost).

I’ll head to Brandon around 10:30 tomorrow morning and see what Ashley has cooked up for me to do. I will be in Pulaski by 3 pm to visit with my cousin Charles, his wife, Minnie Jean and perhaps my cousin Regina.

Stay tuned!

3 MISSISSIPPI

25 March 2025

Spring has certainly sprung here in Mississippi. I can tell the trees have leafed out more in the three days I’ve been here. Pastures are looking green as well as lawns. The long, brown months are over.

One year I picked up a friend from Mississippi at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and the first words uttered after our greeting was “It’s so green down here.” He had flown in during the winter months when everything that is not evergreen is dead or hibernating in Mississippi.

Ashley Paige McKay. She’s the spitting image of our Mother.

The Reverend Doctor William Watson (Billy)

These two and Carolyn were dynamos this day!

There are several plants that pop up in the spring as early indicators of the season. One is wild mustard. Another is buttercups.

This is the genus *Ranunculus* and I think the species is laxicaulis. You can’t see the leaves in this photo but the numerous stamens and pistils are evident.

Another is the common blue violet.

Viola sororia. I used to collect this when I was a graduate student at Ole Miss in the Flora of Mississippi course.

Very common in fields and lawns this time of year is false garlic.

Nodoscorum bivalve. In my day, this was Allium bivalve. You can dig up the bulbs and they and the entire plant give off a garlic odor. It’s considered edible.

Spring in Mississippi is beautiful. Strangely, I’ve only seen a few red buds and dogwoods in bloom. Maybe it’s a little early.

I spent the day with Archie, Tanis, my niece Ashley, my nephew Billy, Archie’s ex, Carolyn, and the health care lady, Maya. I managed to get two smoke detectors installed even though it wiped me out. I’m afraid I wasn’t much use to Ashley and Billy. I left at 4 pm and came to Jean and Rogers and immediately got into bed.

I’m not sure what is on tap for tomorrow. I get my orders from Ashley. It was good to see Archie with a good appetite.

Stay tuned!

2 MISSISSIPPI

24 March 2025

Sand Hill, Pisgah, Gulde, Shiloh, Kalem, Forkville. More of these small community names that are coming back to me. I remember going to Gulde (we pronounced it Gooly) for a church function (yes, I once went to church). The Shiloh is not the Shiloh of the Battle of Shiloh fame. There are probably 20 Shiloh’s in the state of Mississippi

Most of these places are little holes in the road (Kalem) but several are larger communities whose school systems were consolidated with a larger system, like Morton or Forest. They are part of my memories as a kid. It helped I had a grandmother who loved to drive the back roads and visit distant relatives (genetically, not distance wise) and I learned a lot sitting in the passenger seat as she constantly speeded up and slowed down as she drove and explained the relationships.

Today was shopping day. Ashley, Archie’s daughter, came to visit and Archie, Tanis and I headed out to see about getting a land line installed. First stop was an AT&T store. We quickly found out that the stores no longer works with the company to establish/re-establish land lines. They were kind enough to get us started with the customer service phone line and after a few false starts, we got Archie and Tanis a new land line. Of course, there is not physical phone line any more, it’s through the modem/internet system.

The next problem was finding a phone for the land line. Everyone sells cell phones these days but very few stores sell land line phones. We finally found a store and I set up the system and I’m waiting for the batteries to charge to set up the phone.

Also needed this day was a new suit case for me. When I checked in at Fort Lauderdale yesterday morning, the attendant at baggage check noticed I had not zipped my bag all the way. I was lacking an inch. For a reason. The zipper, once past a certain point, would not unzip. He zipped it all the way which meant when I got to Roger and Jean’s, I spent 15 minutes trying to get my suitcase open.

We stopped at Belks and I found a Samsonite that I liked. It was 60% off and if I applied for a Belks card, it was another 25% off. I saved $331. Of course, the regular price was outrageous and it really was only worth $50 at the most but they gotta make a living somehow.

The 25% off was good all day at Belk so I bought some shoes and some cologne and two sets of shoes for Tanis that also were on sale in addition to the 25% off.

We bought so many things, we must have saved a million dollars. And spent two million.

Ashley was busy at the house while we were gone. Once back, we rested from our shopping spree and then headed to Genna Benna’s for dinner. Tanis’ son, Billy, came in from Texas and joined us at the restaurant.

Tomorrow, Tanis, Billy, Ashley and I are gonna work together on some things.

Stay tuned!

1 MISSISSIPPI

24 March 2025

Three am came awfully early yesterday morning. Uber was on time to pick me up at 4:15 and we got to the airport in plenty of time. What was a surprise was the really, really long line out the door for the Delta sky priority line. However, the staff handled it well and checked the line for a 5:30 am departure while mine was 6:30.

I felt like I walked 5 miles in the Atlanta airport only to find out the connecting flight to Jackson was delayed. I got tickled when the flight attendant kept telling everyone on the PA system we would soon be landing in Jacksonville, Mississippi.

I made it to Budget Rent-A-Car, made the deal and headed to my cousin’s in Leesburg.

Traveling with guidance by my iPad, I passed all these communities I’ve known all my life like Fanin, Rheobeth, etc. I was lost because there all new roads – 4 lane, well-paved, and pretty traffic free.

Jean and Roger were home when I walked in. We did a quick catch-up and I headed to my brother’s in Brandon. I knew that way over the old roads.

I visited with Archie and Tanis and then we headed to Shaggy’s on the Rez for some seafood.

I took them back home and headed to Jean’s to beat the rain and the darkness. I don’t want to be out at night and driving.

Today I meet my niece and we are going to try to tie up some legal ends with my brother and sister-in-law and get some other things accomplished to make it easier on them.

Mississippi is scheduled for 60-70 mph winds and thunderstorms. Welcome to spring.

Stay tuned!

Everything Fred – Part 490

22 March 2025

I spent the morning packing my suitcase for the trip tomorrow. I got worried about the weight but it was around 40 lbs if my scales are accurate. Packing for a week takes a lot of thought, particularly when you are in spring weather and it’s cold at night and warm during the day. In a worse case scenario, I could purchase what I need in Jackson.

Of course, the Jackson newspaper reported that Sunday there would be 60-70 mph winds and storms. Fortunately, they arrive in the afternoon and I arrive in the morning. There’s a stop in Atlanta and then to Jackson.

Yesterday evening, Jim, Holley and I caught up over dinner at Kaluz in Plantation. This was a new experience for me and the yellowtail snapper I had was outstanding. I forget how good that fish tastes and I don’t order it enough.

Today, I’m washing clothes, finishing packing my shoulder bag full of charge cords, and closing up the house for the week.

My flight leaves at 6:30 am and my Uber arrives at 4:30 am. That means I’ll get up about 3:30 am. No sleep for me tonight. I’ll lie awake and overthink things.

Today, John and I are treating Joel to a birthday lunch at Season’s 52. It’s not quite as good food as the first time I ate there back in the 80’s but it’ll do.

On the trip, I’ll be staying with my cousin Jean and her husband Roger and visiting my niece, nephews, brother and sister-in-law. On the 27th, I’ll visit with my other side of the family cousins in Frogtown. Yes, that’s a name and no, it’s not incorporated. Let’s just say it’s a subdivision of Pulaski, MS.

Stay tuned!

John Knox Village – Part 2

21 March 2025

Several people have asked me if I plan to move to John Knox Village. I’m in the process of digesting all of the material given to me by Jackie and Dave and Peter as well as the material I’ve researched. The answer is, I don’t know but I’m leaning that way.

I’ve had to face a reality I thought was a ways off yet but the chemotherapy for breast cancer still lingers albeit not as bad just after the last session. I am clumsier than usual due to the neuropathy that doesn’t seem to go away. My balance isn’t great and if I were stopped by the police and given a roadside sobriety test, I probably would fail because I can’t do the toe to heel walk. My nervous system, particularly in my hands and arms, seems to stutter at different times.

Doing the yard chores: raking leaves, hosing the patio and pool deck, skimming the pool, cleaning the filter, spraying for weeds, picking up palm fronds and branches, and soon, dropping mangoes, is all getting a little bit much.

Putting new linen on the bed is harder and harder. Who ever thought tossing something into the garbage can, missing the can and having to pick up the thing off the floor would be such an ordeal?

I’ve fainted twice, once inside the house, once outside (this one required three days in the hospital), fell once outside and twice inside. I think I see a pattern here.

Cleaning the house is a major effort which now takes several days – when I get in the mood to clean things I’ve put off for too long. In the Coast Guard, we used to swab the decks, wax floors, and sweep with no ill effects. I now wear a back brace when I vacuum and mop the floors.

Yes, I can get someone to do all of these things, for a price, but I would still spend time cleaning the pool in-between pool cleanings by a professional, either cleaning the house before the housecleaner comes or after when they don’t clean something I forgot to mention, and still picking up yard waste even with a weekly service.

I don’t think it’s going to get any better. Many independent living facilities require you to pass a health exam to get into their facility. In other words, if you can’t walk through the door under your own power, they won’t take you.

The largest single selling feature to John Knox Village is the 70 acres on which it sits with paths all over the place, shade trees, small lakes, and plenty of open space. It really does have a village feel to it.

I’ve never felt tied to one place. As someone whose parents moved sometimes twice a year, I never got the feel of a “home” in which I grew up and set down roots. The closest to that was my Grandparents houses in Morton and Pulaski. Both have now been sold.

I’ve lived everywhere in my life: numerous towns in Mississippi, Fort Rucker, Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Havre de Grace, MD, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Miles City, Montana, San Antonio that I have no problem adapting to a new place. The 40 years I’ve lived in Florida and the 30 years I’ve lived in my current house is the longest I’ve lived anywhere.

As most of you know, I’m an introvert and don’t play well with others. Another selling point to JKV is that I can be as introverted as I want, still use the facilities, and continue to live as I have in my current home. My greatest worry is having noisy neighbors above, below, and to the sides of me. That an yapping dogs which I have in stereo at my current location.

If I do move into JKV, I’ll miss my neighborhood and the people I seen come and go. I’ve built some good friendships in this neighborhood with people who are willing to do anything to help you.

If I do move in JKV, I will have to sell the house and it’s not a good time to do that. I need to meet with the folks at JKV and see what my buy in will cost me. Based on their web site, I am financially able to go into either a one bedroom or two bedroom unit. Their fees will eventually go up but so will my electric bill, water bill, cable bill, etc. so that’s a wash.

The good news is if I do move to JKV, Jackie and Dave promise to help me negotiate my way into the place and help me make friends.

I’ll keep you posted.

Stay tuned!

Everything Fred – Part 489

20 March 2025

Note: for a perspective on John Knox Village, scroll down after this blog entry.

Movie night was great. As I was waiting for Chris and Tucker, Katy was in the yard with the twins. We got to talking and the twins began jumping from the porch to the ground (about 6 inches) and had a ball. We were joined by Nicole and it was a regular neighborhood get together. I caught up with both of them and they caught up with me.

The movie was My Cousin Vinny. We had both seen it but we agreed it was long ago. Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei are excellent in the movie and I loved Fred Gwynne in the roll of judge. You still can’t help but think of Gwynne and his role in the Adam’s Family. Ralph Maccio played the aggrieved party.

Tucker was great last night. I work with him about the commands “Stay”, “Sit” and “Come.” Chris wants him to be exposed to me with him and the commands.

Chris, rightly so, took me to task for not walking. I promised I would do it this morning and I managed 1.4 miles. After all the walking at John Knox Village, I felt in good shape for this morning’s walk.

The walk took me by my favorite yard for flowers and I wasn’t disappointed. There’s always something new.

This is a member of the Brassicaceae family (think mustard greens). Like so many plants, it’s not native but is now used for horticultural purposes in the U.S.

There are four petals and six stamens, usually with 2 short and 4 long. The flower petals are said to be cruciform (like a cross). Most native Brassicaceae in the U.S. are spring flowers.

Remember, scroll down to see my trip to John Knox Village.

Stay tuned!

John Knox Village

20 March 2025

Yesterday, Nancy, Michel and I toured John Knox Village with the expert tour guides (and golf friends with Nancy and Michel) Jackie and Dave. I don’t think we could have gotten as good a tour from the marketing team. They are long time residents and have been on several boards, committees, and events chairs for years. It was really nice to see them and get a tour of their apartment in Cassels Tower.

If I make a mistake in what I heard, hopefully Michel and Nancy will let me know and I can make corrections.

John Knox Village sits on 70 acres and has 1000 residents either in towers or villas (triplexes).

The Village has independent living (towers and villas), assisted living (Gardens West), Seaside Cove Skilled Nursing and Memory Support, Trustbridge Hospice, and Woodbridge Skilled Nursing and Rehab.

Cassels Tower in the Center, Westlake Tower on the left.

Amenities include an aquatic complex with lap pool and regular pool, fitness center, two auditoriums, five restaurants (Bayer’s Poolside Pub, The Pearl Restaurant, Seaglass Restaurant, Westlake Eatery, and BV’s Coffee and Wine Bar), a cultural center, art center, learning center, tech learning center and theater.

There are nine living spaces in The Village: Cassels Tower, East Lake Towers, Heritage Tower, Lakeside Villas, N.E. Garden Villas, S. Garden Villas, Village Towers, and Westlake Tower (The Terrace and the Vue). In the Villas, there are two, two bedroom units and one, one bedroom. The towers have a combination of one and two bedrooms.

John Knox requires you to buy into to your residence. When you pass, the property reverts to John Knox. You pay a monthly fee (based on the number of persons) which includes electricity, cable, internet, phone service if you want a landline, and a $360 per month allotment for food.

One thing that intrigued me was if you go into assisted living or memory care, the only increase is to your food portion of the monthly fees since they figure you’ll need more prescribed nutritional care.

There are a 24 hour EMT and Wellness Nurse on the property. The grounds are meticulously maintained and the overall effect is of a village that you walk to anywhere, anytime. They do have staff that provide transportation and buses. The Village also has a fleet of cars to carry members to doctors’ appointments.

The one “complaint” Jackie and Dave had is that there are too many things available to do they have to be careful from overdoing.

The Village is very gay friendly with an LGBTQ+ organization and is considered to be approximately 32% gay. It’s also pet friendly.

According to their website, buy in ranges from $213,000-$762,400. For a second person, add $30,000.

Monthly fees range from $3,571-$6,061. For a second person, add $2,258. The monthly fees are subject to change to reflect the cost of service increases.

To become a member of John Knox Village, you must be 62 and pass health and financial assessments. You can select either Plan A or Plan C. Plan A is an all inclusive contract that “provides for your future healthcare needs by providing unlimited access to assisted living, supportive memory care and skilled nursing care included in the Monthly Service Fee.”

Plan C provides use of “amenities in Plan A without healthcare benefit. You pay for healthcare services as needed and will be charged the prevailing rate less a resident discount.”

Plan B is a hybrid of Plan A and C.

I’m not easily impressed but I was impressed with the facilities. Thanks to Jackie and Dave, not only for the tour but also for lunch. We got to meet Peter, a friend of theirs who could give us an additional perspective.

Cancer Update – Part 96

19 March 2025

My last “official” cancer update was in May of 2024. I guess it’s time for another since I visited my oncologist today.

It was all good news. The staff got me in early and Dr. Velez was only 15 minutes late getting to me. He gave me the most thorough examination to date and in particular, examined my breasts, searching for lumps and other signs my cancer had returned.

He palpated my abdomen, my chest, my lungs, listened to my lungs and heart, checked my ankles for swelling, and checked my lymph nodes near my neck. He also listened to my carotids.

He pronounced himself satisfied and said he saw no reason I had not been cured of my breast cancer. I will only see him every 6 months for 5 years and then once a year.

I told him about the new cardiologist and he was satisfied that he could read the reports from Dr. Siev from yesterday.

I don’t ever get out of there without a blood draw. He’ll send off a Signatera test to check for circulating cancer cells and then for the usual blood tests: Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, Iron Binding Capacity, Transferrin, B₁₂, Ferritin, and CBC with Auto Differential.

In the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, my eGFR was 60 when normal is >=60. I find that a little low and would like to be more in the midrange of normal. eGFR is a measure of function of the kidneys.

My transferrin was barely low at 199. Strangely, my B₁₂ was almost too high. The CBC test showed monocytes higher than they should be which could be a sign of infection, inflammation, stress, blood disorders, and even due to medications. I certainly take enough of those.

I got out of there by 2 pm and headed to Walgreens to pick up a prescription. After that, since I didn’t eat lunch, I stopped at Mickey D’s and got a quarter pounder with fries and a Coke. The fries were right out of the frier and were great except for the heavy hand with the salt. When I went after the burger, I realized it too was too salty. That’s the best way to sell more Cokes, I guess. My blood pressure probably spiked after that meal.

All in all, it was a good news day. Hopefully, for the rest of the week, it’ll still be good news days.

Stay tuned!

Everything Fred – Part 488

18 March 2025

I didn’t post yesterday. Things got too busy. More on that later.

Chicago will have to give up its title for Windy City. I think Fort Lauderdale can take that crown these days. We’ve had about two weeks of constant windy weather. There’s almost always a dead palm frond to pick up from around the pool.

The palms around the pool are Cabada palms and they shed their fronds unlike some palm trees that keep them on until they rot away. I like the self-shedding types since I don’t have to pay anyone to saw them off.

I’m beginning to get organized for my trip to Mississippi. I hate packing and tend to put it off until the last minute and thus overpack. The biggest pain is getting the medications ready for a week away from home. Regardless, this will be my first trip in quite a while.

I waited to post yesterday until I completed my cardiology appointment with a new cardiologist. My other one retired. Can’t say I blame him. The new one is Ethan Siev at Hollywood Memorial. It’s a very busy office with numerous physicians in that one office on the 6th floor but I was taken back early and Nurse Nancy took my information.

I’ve learned to print out all of that stuff even though it’s online. They ask you anyway. I think I like the new guy and will continue with him. I have two doctors associated with Hollywood Memorial, the cardiologist and the endocrinologist. Everyone else is Holy Cross.

Dr. Siev wants me to have another echocardiogram (it’s time) and gave me the option of doing it with Holy Cross where the others were done or have it done in office with him. I’ve opted to go with him. He can read Holy Cross reports but cannot see the images.

He also scheduled my next appointment 6 months from now and also scheduled me for a CT scan to determine my coronary calcium score. The only time it’s been done was in 2016 and it was high. He wants to see how much it has increased.

It was around 4:30 when I got back home and I started a home made beef stew (cooler weather on the way here). I got a phone call from Judith that Chris was in the emergency room at Hollywood Memorial and needed his phone charger. That makes two times I was there yesterday.

The entrance to the valet at the emergency room is misleading and, of course, I entered the wrong way. The valets were not in a hurry so it took time to give him the key fob and get the ticket. Then, the check-in for visitors took a lot of time. Finally, I got sent back to see Chris – and he wasn’t there.

Christina, his nurse, came in and told me that had trouble getting a vein for an IV and she was headed there to do it. She told me he would be back after a CAT scan – within 10 minutes. I hooked up his phone to the charger. True to her word, Chris came back in shortly. I visited a while and then headed back home – after another long wait with the valet.

I was wiped out so I ate some warm beef stew and went to bed. I dropped off to sleep immediately.

I’ll check on Judith and Chris later today but I also have another doctor’s appointment with the oncologist at 1:15 this afternoon. I slept late this morning and may even nap before the appointment.

Stay tuned!