Grandmother's Memoirs, Oklahoma culture

One Voice of the Oklahoma Prairie, Conclusion

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Kenny, Emma Lee's eldest son, playing the guitar sometime around 1967. Terry, her younger son, can be seen on the far left.

Mom was born March 16, 1891 near Ashland, Kansas. Her parents were William Tecumseh Sherman Crouch and Atlanta Bell Kitchen Crouch.  The both came from the areas near Ashland and Grayson Kentucky.  Grandpa homesteaded in Kansas where mom was born; they lived in a dug out.  Later they moved to Lahoma, Oklahoma where mom and Papa were married, then after that moved to Tuttle, Oklahoma where Papa farmed.  After farming in Tuttle, then moved to Bethany, Oklahoma (near Okla. City), to Waukomis, OK near Enid, OK on Highway 81 then back to Tuttle when Terry was a year old (1944). Mom moved to Fayetteville, AR helped cook in a girls dormitory, then she and Robert moved to Okla. City worked in O’Mealy’s cafeteria. Later she moved to Tulsa to help my brother Charles in a restaurant, then when Charles moved to Arkansas Mom and Robert moved back to Tuttle, OK. (Editors note: I count ten separate locations where “Mom” [Bessie] called home at one point or another.)

Mom was a real sweet person, she always wanted to do nice things for people.  She loved to study and read the Bible. Every Saturday she prepared dinner for someone; her food was so good and attractive.  Mom could always write the sweetest notes for all occasions. She lived to the age of 84 – died November 30, 1975 as she was taking a bath, getting ready to go to church.  She had a heart attack on Sunday morning.  On the Friday night before she died, she felt her days were numbered, so she got up in the night and wrote the instructions for her funeral.

I remember at one time in 1987 there were six of us in our 60s.  J.C. 69, Catherine 68, Charles 66, Emma Lee 64, Mary Elizabeth 63, Willa May 60; imagine having that many children in ten years!

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Homestead and Garden

2011 Ranch Hand Guide: #3. Some People Grin and Bear It. Other People Smile and Change It.

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I love my life out here on the ranch, but it is not without its hardships and disappointments.  Everyone has his or her burdens to bear, but the key to putting them behind you is what Rule #3 is all about: choice and attitude.

The Seed

During college a friend of mine once commented on my “always up” attitude.  He alluded to the fact that because my happiness always seemed so extreme that my sad times that he never saw probably had to be really, well, sad.  I think he must have just come from one of those freshman psychology courses and wanted to be the first to diagnose me.  It gave me reason for pause, and I waited for those “really sad times” to present themselves.  They never did.

Germination

Last summer I attended a luncheon with a group of ladies.  The hostess began our luncheon by reading “Complaining,” an excerpt from Wouldn’t Take Nothing’ For My Journey Now by Maya Angelou.  Every person listened intently as the final part of the passage was read:

“Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of that plowing that person was grumbling about. So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”

Complaining.  That’s what this rule is about.  When I got home I quickly created a little tile with our picture and this excerpt written on it.  I put it in my underwear drawer, so when I am getting dressed in the morning, I feel that tile.  It reminds me to be grateful for waking up to another day.

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Oklahoma culture

Silent Sunday: 1/23/11 ~ A City Celebrates, History Reminds Us, and Animal Rights v. Cowboys in 1911

What's fun about having some time on the front row at a OKC Thunder game? Seeing Rumble rev up the crowd! ~ photo by Nancy Potts

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Oklahoma culture, Red Dirt Rambler, Travel

Red Dirt Ramblers Stop #4 ~ Vintage Inn B&B, Alva, OK

Vintage Inn Formal Den ~ Photo by Bed & Breakfast Finder, Vintage Inn Link.

Kelly’s perspective ~

So, there we were, see…extremely full from dinner, exhausted from driving all over the state and still had one little eleven mile trip to go.  Julie’s friends were so incredibly nice to us; they really were like ambassadors to the Alva area.  They actually let us follow them down the road from Bulington to Alva and on to the Vintage Inn Bed & Breakfast. They then showed us where to park, helped us find our way inside, and then gave us a personal tour! Brenda was evidently a Realtor and had shown the house several times in the past.  She and Mike led us through the grand entry, showed us the dining room and kitchen, and then up the beautiful staircase we went to the second floor level of rooms…and then on up to the third floor level!  I’ve included two photos from their link above, but there are more if you’d like to check out their site; their bedrooms are each unique, cozy and now are furnished with large flat-screen television sets.  They also have wireless internet access, which helped us that evening because I had a post to edit!

Vintage Inn Foyer, Bed & Breakfast Finder Site - Vintage Inn Link. Ask either Lori or Sherri to tell you about how they refinished the plaster sculpting pattern on the beautiful Victorian ceiling.

What I appreciated about our personal tour provided by Brenda and Mike was the chance to hear voices of the community speak with pride about the Inn.  Every time we turned a corner, another story emerged.  Thank you, Brenda, for setting such a lovely context within which Julie and I could venture forth!

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Faith

Simple Sabbath: Apostle’s Creed, Lots of “isms,” and the WHY, not the HOW

What is the Bible? What’s it for?

The Bible is God’s revelation to man. Okay, so?

What is He revealing?

To begin with, the Bible reveals how the world was made, how it was ruined, how it was rescued and how it will be made new. The Bible reveals God’s Word. Every mountain and every molecule is the word of God. He spoke and it is!

Ultimately His Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Bible reveals Truth and the Truth is God’s glory; His glory is the redemption of man through Jesus Christ. And that’s the Truth, believe it or not.

Ooooohhh wow, deep stuff.  (sarcastic tone  for effect).  Well, yes.

From the Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

This history of the Apostle’s Creed is a worthy lesson. We will not cover it here, but we will contemplate the “first truth”; From Genesis 1 the Creed submits: “God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Here are four musings from Genesis 1 in this Simple Sabbath post:
1.    God’s creation is good. He said so;
2.    God is one and has created from Himself;
3.    God creates everything by His word;
4.    We love His creation because we love Him and are created to enjoy Him forever.

1. A Good Creation:  The Bible reveals Spirit and matter existing with integrity and in unity (it is coordinated, so to speak). The material world is good. There is a marvelous unity in creation. Genesis teaches that the Spirit is present “moving over the surface” or hovering. View this presence as His love and care for creation.
Though Plato has the entire western world distrusting all things material, and would prefer that we ponder the next reality, we reject his posit (dualism – just say no.)  It’s a wonderful world; God created it and said, “It is good.”

Listen, that first miracle wasn’t random. That water to wine thing at Cana was appointed by the Divine. Jesus was dropping his calling card. More than a rescued social event, Jesus sets the stage for the Kingdom of God. He fills those water cisterns with joy…that’s right, joy! … right here and right now.

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.