I aremember when home-made buttermilk had flecks of butter

Today is Monday April 23, 2012. Birthdays for the week are: Apr.23: Mark Massey, Curtis Eaves, Deck Jones, Sarah Samford Jackson and Joseph Blazes Person born 1992.

Apr. 24: Steven Perry and Cynthia Ann (Cindy) Mc-Lendon McCracken (my niece).

Apr. 25: Kathy Mahan, Beverly Chambliss, Jennifer Ihlo and Lisa McAdams.

Apr. 26: Tem Morrison and Jan Ihlo. It was the birthday of Helene Schmidt, Viva Lea Eaves, Roosevelt Griffin, W.C. Bell and Carl Littleton.

Apr. 27: Jimmy Powell and Sue Ann Beckham. It was the birthday of Velma Owens.

Apr. 28: Terry Carriker, Letitia Poindexter and Judy Williams Winger. It was the birthday of Mildred McCary and Juanita Shillings.

Apr. 29: Our friend Willie Nelson, born 1933, Chuck Brittain, Charles Paul Hughes, Kandi Conner and Bonita Collard. It was the birthday of Yondall Barr.

Apr.30: Ava Nell Lane Christian, Danny Windham and Rusty Watlington. It was the birthday of Joe Barton and Mae Ola McClelland Lands who died in 2001.

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Dixie and I send a special birthday card to our mutual friend Ava Nell Lane Christian on her April 30 birthday. She graduated here in 1953 and played drums in the Roughrider band. She was a popular member of the senior class and many of the organizations. She and Odelle Lane Harrison were the only children of their parents. Odelle lives in Nacogdoches near one of her daughters.

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I received a letter from a friend last week and she enclosed a small package of zinnia seed. I will plant them in a flower pot and have zinnia plants to grow in pots and flower beds. What a nice little gift and I appreciate it.

Lee Gayle Payne Lunsford enclosed a package of flower seed in letters she sent to me.

This is another idea that you can do for an older person.

We miss Lee Gayle and Chuck since they moved to Houston to be near their children.

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Lula Bowlin calls me often from her assisted living apartment in Shreveport. She is enjoying her life there as her two daughters live nearby. Lula drives her car and gets around Shreveport just fine.

When she lived in Center, she and I attended the horse races at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City. Virgie Duke Taylor often went with us. Virgie received cancer treatments for several years and she loved the horse races.

When she felt like going, she called Lula and Lula called me and said, “Let’s go, Virgie feels like going to the races today.” We always went on Saturdays, and I had a Press Pass that enabled us to drive and park right next to the Grand Stand. I also had three Press Passes that got our entrance to the stands.

A funny thing that Virgie and I did when we went to the “voting” windows to place our bets, we would go to the $50 window and each of us would stand on each side of a man making a bet to hear which one he was betting on. We pretended to be studying our program while bending toward him.

Then we would go to the $2 window and bet on the man’s $50 horse a time or two.

However, we lost each time.

Our First National Bank Travel Club went to the races several times by chartered bus.

After the casino boats moved into Shreveport and Bossier City, it seems the races were not that popular any more.

I still like to watch the Kentucky Derby. My mother did too but the part she liked best was when “My Old Kentucky Home” was played and sang.

She was born in Grand Rivers, Kentucky and lived there as a child. Mama always wanted to go back and visit but never did.

Allen Tribble (Marie’s husband) was from Kentucky too, and he often brought Mama a souvenir when he and Marie visited his home town in Kentucky, even if it was just a rock.

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My father Bartow McLendon and John C. Rogers Sr., who owned John C. Rogers drug store, were friends. Papa was a year older than Mr. Rogers.

The two were close friends in church, civic school and social affairs.

They enjoyed their close friendship into their old age.

Mr. Rogers, who also served as our Representative to Austin for over 20 years was a diabetic.

Papa often told us about how careful his friend had to be with his food. Mr. Rogers took Papa into his kitchen one day and showed him how he had to weigh every bit he ate and keep a record for it. There were no modern- day remedies available in those days. But Mr. Rogers, being a druggist, knew how to handle it.

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What is the danger of soot in chimneys? Is it safe to leave it alone to burn itself out? I don’t know. I know the names of several chimney sweepers.

( ... it catches fire! ...)

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Can you remember when real home-made buttermilk had little flecks of butter in the milk? That’s one thing that made it so good. Cornbread broken up into a cold glass of buttermilk made a tasty meal. And wasn’t “crackling” corn bread good too?

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On pet peeves: Bobbie McDaniel wrote one of her pet peeves is “people driving on the left passing lane when not passing or turning. This is against the law.” Bobbie added, “if you pass them on the right-hand you are breaking the law too.”

Bobbie and her husband Felix were the first managers of Huxley Bay Marina and Restaurant. Our Texas Press women held a number of meetings there. Bobbie called me at my newspaper job if, and when, a famous person was scheduled to be there, so that I could come and make pictures. She left a picture at Dixie’s Resale Shop last week of her and Bob Lilly. He was holding two big bass which were caught in Toledo Bend.

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Bobbie and I enjoyed a good friendship that has held on into the present time.

An added note from Bobbie about the left-lane drivers. She said that about a month ago on the Shreveport news, they reported that 50 tickets in a 30-minute period were issued for this kind of illegal driving.

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It’s blackberry picking time. They get ripe before the dewberries. They are smaller but real tasty. As children, we liked them in a bowl with milk and sugar. They are good frozen so that they can be eaten in the winter. They make good berry pies too.

A.J. Procell said his mayhaw crop was short and over. The wild hogs ate most of the berries. He told me on the phone that he lost 63 mayhaw trees so far from the dry weather, and trees are still dying.

He has six large fig trees, and he will be selling figs in July. His phone number is in the Joaquin phone book.

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Ava Nell Lane Christian wrote about several of her pet peeves. One is people chewing gum and talking at the same time. Another is people throwing gum on the ground which ends up on your shoes.

Ava has an outstanding southern accent and people in other sections of the nation comment on it when she travels. This is annoying to her since she says they “talk funny to her too.”

We all know people talk funny who are not from Texas. Don’t y’all think that’s right?

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I enjoy talking to my cousin Jack Barron on the phone. As you know Jack and I are the only ones left of our 47 seniors in our 1929 class.

He is holding out fine and has sitters around the clock. We enjoy talking about our mutual kinfolks and things that happened during our school days. We discuss our old age ailments too.

Jack’s paternal grandfather was E.H. Barron, a carpenter and contractor for many of the homes and buildings in Center. E.H. had a brother, Press Barron, and his children were Fred and Nora. I remember all of them.

Jack told me in our phone talk last week that there were two blessings that we should be thankful for. “Number one is that we cannot see into the future, and number two is that no one can read our minds!”

Those are good thoughts.

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Mattie