The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Good music was heard at Old Time Fiddlers




Howdy folks! How are things going your way? It seems time is going so fast that it almost makes my head spin. Then maybe it is just spinning due to health issues. I was walking though my yard and I started staggering as if I had been drinking.

Sunday was Old Time Fiddlers, and we had a rather small crowd but we really had some good music as Warren and Judy Waldron and James Hurst entertained everyone. Warren plays several different instruments. It is a delight to sit and listen to the music. Thanks, Hursel Miller, for getting pizza for everyone.

Sunday afternoon, my grandson C.J. and Shannon Gray stopped by for a visit. This is the first time they’ve been here for quite sometime. C.J. and Shannon live over in northern Kentucky. My great-granddaughter Harlow was at Shannon’s mom’s house, and I missed seeing Harlow.

My daughter Kay and her husband Clarence Gray spent a week at their home in Destin, Fla., then my granddaughter Jodi and her fiancé Carl joined them for a few days also.

I would like to go back to Florida again, just not in the summer time, especially when we are having weather as hot as Florida. There’s only one place that I really want to go, and everyone knows where that is, and that is to head for the mountains.

I really don’t understand why my heart still has such a tie to that little place called Roxana and surrounding areas as I really have no family anymore, except for my niece Sue and Mart Hall.

Each time I am there I always drive through Roxana and sometimes drive past Mill Branch School where I spent a happy childhood going to school there. I have good memories of Daddy, as there wasn’t a man that would work any harder than Dad, and he was as honest as the days are long.

I will say one thing, my childhood formed the person that I am today. It taught me to take care of myself and not to depend on anyone when I can do for myself. Most of all it taught me not to take anything from anyone.

I went from a child to a mother and wife. I made so many mistakes trying to learn how to cook that I have to laugh as I think back at different things. Jack and I would raise a big garden, and I learned how to can by doing things I had seen Mommy do.

My life was a little easier than Mommy’s as I did have a washing machine but no dryer, and I hung our clothes out on the line for many years. Actually I never had an automatic washer and dryer until we bought this house 45 years ago. That was the first thing Jack bought for me.

Again, I will say I am proud of who I am today. I can stand on my own two feet, and don’t have to ask anyone can I go or do you mind if I go. As long as my heath is good I do as I please.

Sometimes I get asked the question, don’t you get lonely? That makes me laugh, as you can be more lonely by having someone sitting in the room with you, that is pouting like a two year old child that doesn’t get its way.

Southern Ohio

I will take being alone and being happy any day. Maybe being alone is not for everyone, but it is for me.

My son Keith Ballard is a lot of help to me. He works so much so we really don’t see each other that much, though we are in the same house.

I don’t know about everyone else, but the news of those children being trapped in the cave in Thailand is so heartbreaking. Can you imagine what those parents and families are going through? I used to want to go to Mammoth Cave, but there’s no way I will ever go in any cave.

When the kids were little Jack and I took Keith, Kay and Angie someplace in Tennessee. I think it was called Sweet Water. They had a cave and you could ride in a glass bottom boat. Angie mentioned it the other day. I don’t have any idea if it still exists, and I don’t think I want to find out.

My daughter Anna, her daughters Sarah, Jessica, and Katelyn and some Girl Scouts spent a few days in New York. Anna said she like the Statue of Liberty more than anything. Anna drove somewhere up north, and then caught a charter bus, as Anna didn’t want to drive all the way to New York.

Les and Pat Wagner are beginning to get produce from their garden. I know Les has got a huge cabbage, as he showed a picture on the computer. Pat is still having a few health issues. I really hope she gets to feeling good before too long, as I know she misses being able to head for the mountains also.

Johnny and Ann Calihan are doing all right, except the family had a bad scare with the little twin preemie, Claire. She had to be rushed to Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, and she is doing all right now. Olivia, the other preemie, is still in the hospital, but she will be home in a few days. Please keep these precious babies and their family in your prayers.

Ashley, Eric, and Sue spend every minute they can at the hospital. Ann got to go hold the babies for a while.

Carcassonne Community Center will host its monthly square dance on Saturday, July 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. Music by Sunrise Ridge. Admission: Adults, $5; students 6-18, $3; children under 6, free with paying adult. Concessions, special meal, and souvenirs are available for purchase. Carcassonne is known as the home of the longest-running community sponsored square dance in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Come and be part of history!

Pam Walker of The Mountain Eagle had problems with her air conditioning. Of course it was the hottest time we’ve had and I am glad she got it fixed.

Please be careful when you are mowing your grass, and don’t throw the grass out in the road. That is dangerous for motorcycle riders. I passed someone the other day and the road was a mess where they had mowed. I wanted to stop and say something, and had there not been a car behind me, I would have stopped. I fussed with Keith for doing the same thing. That is so dangerous to do.

As usual that old clock on the wall is catching up with me, and I need to get this on its way.

Until next time, Rose Ballard, 9110 Lawrenceburg Rd., Harrison, Ohio 45030. Email: Bluegrassmama4@aol.com.



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