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Fun

Kidnapped…and Very Surprised!

Posted on January 5, 2019January 5, 2019 by Easin' Along

Right on cue, the doorbell rang at 6:00 pm on January 3^rd. I opened the door and five attractive, well-dressed ladies marched inside, all wearing Mardi Gras masks. Immediately they assembled at the bottom of the steps and began at once to sing. January 4^th is Helen’s birthday (one of those “zero” birthdays). She had no idea this was coming and that’s what makes our friends such a delight.

Last week I posted about our annual meatloaf dinner which was a fun-filled evening as usual. The next day I got a call from a member of the group and learned that plans were well underway for the ladies to kidnap Helen and whisk her away to dinner at a downtown restaurant. I was so thrilled for her that I could barely contain myself. January 4^th is a horrible date for a birthday. It falls too close to Christmas when no one wants to shop and everyone is partied out…except this bunch.

When the singing began, Helen came out from her she-shed study with a smile so large, I was afraid her face would crack. Hurriedly, I grabbed my camera to capture the moment, but the flash didn’t sync very well and things came out a bit blurred. Nevertheless, I posted it anyway thinking that the moment, and the masks, gave out an artsy feel.

The masks have been around for a while. I think they found them on one of their annual girl’s trips to Hilton Head and seem to come out on rare special occasions. I thought this was a place for them, especially since this occasion featured a kidnapping. Those masks are very realistic, and it is sometimes difficult to determine where the masks end and faces begin. Here is a group shot. The honoree is somewhere in the middle. Cuteness reigns supreme!

Champagne from a bottle with screw-off cork (loved it) flowed, with birthday cards read aloud. I retired to the man cave but kept creeping back to the center of activity as the champagne helped bring the laughter to increasing levels of volume with each humorous card reading. Helen received a gift of a handful of quarters. It seems that her reputation as a casino aficionado has spread. I’m sure they will be a source of good luck.

The doorbell rang again. I opened it to greet Roy, a sharply-dressed young man who owns and operates The Southern Gentleman, a personal concierge service. Roy was the designated driver for this evening, but he also provides a variety of services to numerous clients around our city. Click here for a link to The Southern Gentleman website.

Roy gathered the champagne and helped the entire birthday party into his impressive SUV. Everyone gave out a smile to the camera and before I could ask what was for dinner, the doors closed and everyone was off. I think Helen gave me a “Goodbye, Honey”, but I couldn’t be sure. Oh, well…it’s her night, I’ll find a baked potato somewhere and basketball on the tube.

Pictures from the evening began arriving by text. One showed Helen checking out a pair of ice skates beside the downtown ice rink. I hoped they were just props, we had enough knee trouble last year. Another picture arrived showing the partygoers gathered around the bar at Emelia’s, a favorite downtown restaurant. Everyone appeared to be in good shape. The last picture I received featured Helen in front of a menu. I’m not certain if it came from Emelia, but I agree with the sentiment.

Late in the evening, Roy returned with Helen and one of the celebrants who came to pick up her car. Roy had completed his assignment well and said he had almost as much fun as they did. By that time, I was ready for bed, but not Helen. She was wound pretty tight so I got to hear about each course of the dinner and a thorough discussion of each dessert. It all sounded lovely, and certainly better than a plain baked potato. I managed to slip away as she counted her quarters.

The next day is her actual birthday: happy birthday and all my best to you, Love. I doubt that I will top this event so I’ll simply close with a big thank you to our friends once again.

We look forward to 2019 with each of them as, together, we go Easin’ Along.

Footnote: On her actual birthday, it was my turn to kidnap her and take her to our favorite Mexican restaurant. She was treated to a great dessert, a huge hat, and “Happy Birthday” in Spanish. Ole!

Fun

A Red Hat Tops the Annual Meatloaf Dinner

Posted on December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 by Easin' Along

I’ve written about this party before. For at least ten years (and probably more), Helen (adorable wife) and I have gathered with a group of dear friends from our former neighborhood in our home for a traditional meal of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I make the meatloaf and, without bragging, I do a pretty good job. One of our guests brings the mashed potatoes, and they’re equally as good.

This event is always a highlight of the season for Helen and me. Our time with our friends is special and goes back over forty years when we all lived a few doors from each other and watched our children grow up together. The ladies take a trip to Hilton Head every year and no one would dare miss it. The guys have fished, hiked, camped, and drank together for many moons. Now we share pictures of our grandchildren and share some memories along with a few laughs from “the good old days.” The only difference is that we don’t stay up as late as we used to. Nevertheless, those memories meld together and stir in the mind like a well-seasoned, slowly cooked gumbo.

Helen worked hard and had the house decorated and the table set in plenty of time to take a few deep breaths before everyone arrived. She even hung a wreath she made nearly fifty years ago when we were living in Germany. She sent the wreath to a favorite aunt back home in Tennessee and her aunt hung it on her front door every year after that. Sadly, Aunt Anne passed away this year and Helen’s cousins returned the wreath to its creator. She hung it over a kitchen window.

When our guests arrived, we took the party to the annex for cocktails. (We’ll have more about the annex in future posts.) Things started pretty lively with Helen leading the conversation. The night sky was clear but the temperatures were cold. The heat in the annex was a bit lacking but everyone was having a grand time and hung in there until it was time to pull the meatloaf out of the oven. Before we left for the house, I persuaded the ladies to pose for a group picture which turned out well.

Once the serving line opened up, things moved smoothly on to the dinner table. Helen’s snow village served as low-level lighting for the dining area. I just wanted to show off the addition of the campers to her village because camping has been a big part of our year and the snow village needed a trailer park.

Dinner went well and the delightful conversation lingered long into the evening. I even had a few takers for seconds on meatloaf and one request for the recipe. The recipe is one that I found many years ago in an old magazine and I have not changed one ingredient in all of the years I have made it. I only went back through the serving line once so that I had room for dessert.

After dinner, it was time for the Red Hat Award which goes to the male who has had a significant accomplishment or persevered through a tough event over the past year. Bob, last year’s recipient was on hand to present this year’s award which went to yours truly. The award was for a successful hip replacement although my struggle was not nearly so difficult as that of the past two recipients. I also suppose that the award was for achieving three years as the author of Easin’ Along. Bob placed a notepad and pencil inside the hatband. I am honored and saying so is understating my true feelings.

In addition to the Red Hat Award, Bob handed out candy canes to everyone who needed a cane in the recent past. Almost everyone in attendance received one—Helen and I included. Helen posed with Ralph for a great picture as both have had joint replacements. Great idea, Bob!

Time spent with friends and family is time spent well. We love this gathering and hope to continue it well into the future. Making meatloaf is easy. Making friends is a treasure. Helen and I wish all our friends both here and online a Blessed 2019. We hope to see you somewhere on the road less traveled as we’re…Easin’ Along.

Fundamentals

Spreading a Little Cheer Beneath a Mountain Fog

Posted on December 21, 2018December 20, 2018 by Easin' Along

Twenty years ago, our church began a tradition of adopting families in a small, rural Appalachian community, and providing them with gifts to brighten up the Christmas season. In previous years, Helen (adorable wife) and I have adopted families and shopped for them, but three years ago (post-retirement) I volunteered to deliver the gifts to the Community Center which serves as the collection point. On Monday of this week, our volunteers gathered at the church for another year of spreading cheer.

I arrived at the church to find it already abuzz with activity. Stacks of wrapped boxes and brightly colored gift bags sat in SUVs ready for the trip. I placed gifts for two families in Freddie (my car) and joined the group inside for last minute instructions from Margaret, our volunteer leader and organizer, and a prayer led by Mark, our associate pastor. Minutes later, the convoy moved out.

The Clearfork Community Center sits in the tiny Appalachian town of Eagan, Tennessee. Eagan is a former coal mining community tucked into the Clearfork Valley a few miles below the Tennessee and Kentucky border. Our church has always referred to the area as Roses Creek. I don’t know where that name comes from unless it is the name of one of the small creeks that flow into the Clearfork River running alongside the community center. Hopefully, a reader will tell me.

We left Knoxville in heavy fog to begin an hour and a half drive traveling 75 miles north on I-75. We planned to cross the Cumberland Mountains in Campbell County and meet up at the state line in Jellico where all nine cars would form a convoy to Roses Creek. The fog persisted until I punched through it at the mountaintop, around 2,000 feet above sea level. The bright sunshine illuminated the dense fog covering the valley floor and I couldn’t restrain myself from taking pictures from Freddie’s front seat at 70 miles per hour (photo above). I was the fifth of nine cars when I arrived at the rendezvous point.

Within about five minutes the rest of our group arrived, and we began snaking our way up, over, and around the mountain to our destination. Once again, we found ourselves beneath the fog that filled the valley. We proceeded slowly for the last 20 miles and followed a creek for most of the drive. In some respects, this is an area forgotten by time. We passed several abandoned homes and small country stores that I assumed sprang up at a time when coal was king. Coal mining continues in the region, but the coal industry offers few jobs now, and there are even fewer young men willing to brave the dangers of coal mine work.

I remembered a few landmarks from previous trips and, after about thirty minutes, they came into view and we were turning onto the gravel drive leading to the Community Center. Everyone began unloading packages. Margaret had organized the families by name and number and we completed the unloading and assembly process rather quickly. The director of the Center was on hand to greet us. She was truly grateful for our support as well as excited about the joy that would come from the recipients. I’m not certain when the families would receive the gifts. None were present when we were there.

I spent a few minutes walking around the community center. Mounted on the entry hall wall was a large picture depicting mining activity during the 1920s. Other pictures told the story of the people who had formed the community around the same time. From the time Helen and I began adopting Roses Creek families, I’ve always felt a kinship to the people of this region. My father grew up here with two brothers raised by a single Mom. He left after serving in World War II when the GI Bill made college affordable.

The center itself once house the Eagan School, but a former nun named Margaret Cirillo came to the area around 1960 to assist Appalachian families and secured a grant to convert the school into an institute for the benefit of the job-starved residents of the Clearfork Valley. Margaret has devoted her life to the people of Appalachia. A YouTube Video tells her story and I have posted a link to that video that is viewable by clicking here. Margaret was not there to greet us, but I hope to have the opportunity to meet her sometime in the future.

The director prepared cookies and sandwiches for our group and we enjoyed them before the return to Knoxville. By the time we said our goodbyes, the sun had penetrated the fog with just enough light to reach the floor of the Clearfork Valley. Looking to my right as I drove away from the center, I spotted a small clapboard house below the road. A chimney poked through a tarpaper-covered roof, billowing smoke. Stacks of split firewood surrounded the house. I guessed that the owner gave up on coal long ago…probably for reasons having nothing to do with heat.

I drove on feeling extremely blessed for the life I have — Merry Christmas to all, especially to those in Roses Creek. We’re Easin’ Along…