Do you feel as if life is traveling way too fast?
Does it feel like everything is going to hell in a hand basket?
Me too.

But I have some other things going on in my life.

We put my dad into a nursing home. My mom lives over an hour away. She is 90 years old. She still drives. (yea, I know)

My youngest is getting married-evil Pintrest!

My husband just had eye surgery. Home bound for 3 weeks. Need I say more?

My middle child just informed the family they are moving to another state with my newest grandson. Insensitive!

Gak, Gak, Gak.

Although I am somewhat tired, I feel energized by the future but there is this:

We have idiots in DC running the country.

We are watching all of our Christian values in the public square be squashed.

We are being yelled at from the right and the right. Americans are stupid. Americans don't care about the crisis in the Middle East. Americans are just trying to live their pretty little lives.

S.T.O.P.

Does my life look easy? Does my life look so comfy that I am uncaring? Does my life look like yours?

If you are on the critical side of Americans.

S.T.O.P

Why should I listen to anyone who isn't fighting the good fight? Why should I appreciate anyone who thinks Americans are stupid? I have lived from coast to coast and tip to tip of America. I have found one common thread. Educated or not, Americans are not fools. They may be fooled, but sooner or later, after work, after cooking, after taking care of children, after cleaning yards, houses, pets, carpooling, watching ball games, coaching games; after all we do to keep our lives going in an orderly process they get it. You don't like us cause you don't have to. Too bad for you.

Goodnight America
I love you

Clearing the Forest. Photo Credit: A drawing by Rowland Robinson...

squidoo.com

More info from my research about William Dunbar the Scot who went on the expedition to discover what the Ouachita River was all about.

It isn't really exciting unless you know these people really existed. They really worried about how they were ruled. Not much different than today. We tend to think it was all settled and no one has ever had the struggle with government like we have. Not true. Our lives are always on the balance as to how to live as free men in territories-physical and mental- that are hostile to reason.

You gotta love it.

Copyright (c) 2009 Tulane University School of Law
The Tulane European and Civil Law Forum

The Bicentennial of the Digest of 1808 - Collected Papers: The de la Vergne Volume and the Digest of 1808

2009

24 Tul. Eur. & Civ. L.F. 31

Author

John W. Cairns*

Excerpt

I. Introduction

A. The de la Vergne Volume

It has long been recognised that a version of the law applied in the Spanish overseas colonies was in force in Louisiana at the time of its cession to the U.S.A. in 1803. 1 As one correspondent told Thomas Jefferson in 1803, "the province is governed entirely by the laws of Spain, and ordinances formed expressly for the colony". 2 This has led some students of Louisiana's legal history to see the Digest of the Civil Laws Now in Force in the Territory of Orleans of 1808, understood as based on the French Code civil, as marking a puzzling change in the law, even if it did contain some Spanish material. 3

In 1938, Pierre de la Vergne informed Professor Ferdinand F. Stone of the Tulane Law School that his family possessed a volume of the Digest with manuscript notes associated with Louis Casimir Elisabeth Moreau Lislet (1766-1832). This had been passed down through the de la Vergne family from Hugues de la Vergne (1785-1843), an associate of Moreau Lislet. 4 A refugee from St. Domingue, Moreau had been appointed in 1806 with James Brown, a Virginia-born Kentucky lawyer, "to compile and prepare ... a Civil Code for the use of this territory". 5 Next, in 1941, Professor Mitchell Franklin, also of the Tulane Law School, made the scholarly world aware that the de la Vergne family possessed what he described as "an unpublished manuscript in which Moreau Lislet gave, in ...

Camp Meme 2011 from Scotland to the Wachita

Mémoire sur le district du Ouachita dans la province de la Louisianne, [1803]

Circa 1803
1.0 Volume(s), 1 volume, 43 p.

Mss.917.6.Ex7

Ok, you might be wondering what on earth I have done now.

I am gathering information for Camp Meme 2011.

I am gathering info on George Hunter and William Dunbar who made journals of their journey up the 'Washita River' towards Hot Springs.

I can't wait to have copies of their real journals. Of course it will be great learning how they wrote on the boat etc.

I am so excited I can hardly wait.

Day 3 Camp Meme 2010

Day 3 has been a hard day for camp Meme.

Laundry had to be done, (Boys seem to attract dirt and stains.) I had to go into the office to work on immediate insurance issues and Obi had to go to a funeral.

But today we had a Mexican dinner with all kinds of great food.

When kids tell you they looooove a certain food, maybe you should check with their parent.

Pesto and Guacamole are both green, but totally different foods!

We went to the OBU library to get our books. They love the drawing books.
Our choice of a reading book is
"Yankee Batboy."

It looks like "Cousin It!"




Ah, it is Mi.

Reading time before bed.

Camp Meme Day 1 by Official Counting

Day 1 - official counting

Wy at the Ganster Museum in Hot Springs.

Mi and Judea in the lobby of the Fordyce Bath House

Taking a break at the Arlington Hotel

Climbling the rocks at the park.

I see rock climbing in someones future.

Wy and Obi look at the Baseball pictures at the Convention Center

A picnic and a concert at Wetherington Park

Maw & Paw enjoy the music.

OFFICIAL DAY 2

Working on the pupet theatre.

Eating at the caf. One of their greatest treats!

Camp Meme 2010 begins

Camp Meme 2010 begins.

1st things 1st.

We must have Meme's scrumptious Mac & Cheese
Plus Miss Tanya's Blue Ribbon Sweet Ice Tea.
I do love how those boys can enjoy food.

New Year's Eve Day

Very pretty day. It was actually cloudy yesterday, but today is a bright and glorious day. So I used a happy picture.

I tooled around the house doing odds and ends, like fixing one of the many 'guns' in our house. This was after I cleaned out the closet. Threw away a lot of stuff. I know, I know it is the Christmas Miracle my family has been waiting for.

Got a call from Sharon Cosh about my immediate boss, Tricia Wempe giving birth the night before to a little girl, 13 days ahead of schedule. Ran right over to the hospital and took these pictures. 30 minutes, yes 30 minutes was how long her labor lasted. That is just so unfair.

Here is big sister Angelma holding baby sister Michaella. They are sticking with the Angel theme. Aren't they just adorable.

Went to the office to download these pictures so I could send them to the school staff, faculty, and students where we work. I especially wanted the internationals who we work with to know where their erstwhile leader will be for the next 3 months! Yikes. I gotta lotta work ahead of me.

Went grocery shopping- afraid it was going to snow, you know how us Southerners are about snow. We love it we just can't drive in it.

Fixed dinner of Chicken Fried Steak, Green Bean Casserole, Rice, Biscuits, & a fresh salad.

What was I thinking? I have enough food in my fridge, as my Granny Mary used to say, "for a log rolling." Just had to cook! didn't get a picture though!

Finished the Hoops & Yoyo paper Christmas Toy I started 2 weeks ago. It is all made of Card stock and glue. The instructions would blow most engineers minds. I lost the stockings that are supposed to go on the fireplace, because someone who was helping me cut them out lost them. You know who you are!

Finished the curtain I wanted to make for the kitchen door. Always felt a little odd, with that not covered.

Put the black eyed peas on to soak over night.

Watched TV and participated in New Years Eve

revelry.

A Southerner Speaks

This letter was shared with me by a fellow Southerner.

To:

Dr. Dan Jones, Chancellor
University of Mississippi
P.O. Box 1848
Oxford, MS 38677

Dear Chancellor:


In my previous letter to you, I mistakenly thought that your concern over playing"From Dixie with Love" was that use of the melody of Dixie might be offensive to non-Southerners. I have since learned that, in fact, your nose was out of joint because you could not bend a group of students to your will and muzzle the politically incorrect words they substituted for one line of the song.

In the beginning, God took Nothing and made Something out of it-ex nihilo. You, Sir, have almost replicated that feat! Until you called attention to it nationwide, hardly anyone was aware that students were inserting the words, "The South shall rise again" into "From Dixie with Love." I certainly was not aware.

Even so, no serious minded person can possibly think that the quotation, "The South shall rise again," even remotely suggests taking up arms against our beloved America. One has but to watch the Emmys, Grammies, Oscars, and the the CMA awards, and 'as any fool kin plainly see' (Al Capp, "Li'l Abner"), The South abides as the repository where patriotism for our nation is most deeply ingrained and celebrated. Phil Harris's popular song of the 40's, possibly the original source of the quote you so despise, facetiously stated that "all the Yankee bands were playing Dixieland so save your Confederate money, boys-The South shall rise again." Back then, it brought amused smiles, not recriminations or even raised eyebrows.

Indeed, the South shall rise, must rise, and has risen in many other areas. Assuredly, the South needs to rise economically from poverty for many to prosperity for all. In industry and entrepreneurship, strides have been made in recent years. WorldCom was a leader in communications, the preferred carrier for government telecommunication, until mistakes in judgment brought it down. Of the "baby Bells" created in the breaking up of AT&T, it was BellSouth that eventually resumed the name AT&T. The South should and shall rise in the field of communications.

Automotive manufacturing thrives in Mississippi and Tennessee, while languishing in Detroit. The South shall rise and has risen in manufacturing.

The idea for Federal Express was born on the campus of Ole Miss and now thrives in Memphis, the greatest delivery service in the world. Coca Cola, an American icon, was first bottled in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by the Biedenharn family. The South rose and shall continue to rise in entrepreneurship.

The South produces more writers than any other section of the country. The Faulkner brothers, Tennessee Williams, Stark Young, John Grisham, Greg Ihles, Thomas Harris, Euroda Welty, young Amy Vincent, just starting and already published twice--and the list goes on and on. The South rose and shall continue to rise in literature.

Besides the gift of Dixieland jazz, we also gave the world Elvis, B.B. King, Charlie Pride, Faith Hill, Leontyne Price, Van Cliburn, and oh yes! Let us not forget our very own Luther Snavely! The South has risen and shall always rise in the field of music.

The South shall and did rise in political prominence. Four of the last six Presidents of the United States were natives of The South, and whatever you may think of their leadership, they have led the free world for 24 of the last 32 years; i.e., 75% of the time. The South rose and shall continue to rise in national and world leadership.

And so I ask you, Chancellor Jones, in just exactly what area would you prefer that The South not rise?

Organizing my jewelry

Fixing my jewelry. I have what my mom calls costume jewelry. I probably organize it once every 4 years.

I have to get the little bins out and clean them, throw away the old broken stuff. Then look at everything with a critical eye and start again.

I just couldn't keep my necklaces from tangling. I had these little hangers I had used for hanging unused scarfs so I got rid of my scarfs and hung the necklaces.
Now I have them all neat. I just hope I don't get them tangled again.

Twinkies

We do not have 'Dress the same Day' day at our office.

-Erin Flippin and Gray Prichard-

Yet we do have two student workers who are 'married,' ok not really, but they do look the same and they did dress the same, and they look so darling.

I think they should live in the Village, cause this is what they do.
We really work our workers. Just ask them. Never a dull moment.

Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich

Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich

One thing I love is a BLT. You gotta have crisp bacon, fresh lettuce, a home grown tomato, white soft bread and good mayonnaise. There is just nothing like it. I don't cut it in half, because you have to hold it together like an envelope to keep everything from spilling out and the soft bread is great for that. Funny that something so simple can be so fantastic.

"Help" the Movie

You gotta love the movie "Help" with the Beatles. It is just too fun.

The end of the move credits.

In the Alps the group plays a song and has fun skiing.

The bad guys get caught up in their own scheme.

The Beatles play a song.

In the castle they play cards.

On the ice curling stone that blows up.

Paul meets the high priest.

On one note, I just couldn't help notice that the religious implications that permeated the UK were not surprising to the film makers in 1965. Are we heading down this pathway? I agree with Ringo. "I don't subscribe to your religion."

Favorite time of year

This is my favorite time of the year. Fall in Arkansas especially south Arkansas is just beautiful. The weather gets cooler on a slow curve. Some of the states north of here have long springs into summer. We have rain, rain, rain and cool weather in the spring, then boom it is 90 degrees. But the fall has beautiful days, OK some rainy days right now, but it is the time when you can light a fire in the fireplace in the evening and enjoy it. And when it is midday it can be sunny and crisp. Wow fall is just beautiful, and the sky turns this unbelievable color of vibrant blue, orange and pink. You gotta love it.

Three things to love

These are three things that mean a lot to me.

1. Poppin' Fresh - When I first heard his giggle I knew he was the man for me. Because he sits on my sink I see him every day. He reminds me to giggle and be joyous. Sometimes life is weighty, and a positive outlook can keep you going when you don't really want to.
2. Murphy Oil Soap - This product it is an oxymoron. Soap on wood? Ash Soap is still a strange idea. But I really love it because you can use it on Marker Boards. Yes it can be diluted and made into a great Marker Board cleaner. It dissolves the marks, and it puts a film back on the board. Talk about fun! It is so stealthy. he he!
3. Expect a Miracle - This is one of the things I want to always remember. I do expect a miracle, because God is the miracle maker. How can He not be? Just look at our planet, the anomaly of the universe. It is because I know who He is not just what He does that I ask.

Things you keep

There are some things in life you hold on to. Maybe it is a letter from a former boyfriend, or a dress you loved how you looked in it. I keep things I loved seeing my kids use. This little doll high chair has been in at least 5 states as we traveled around. It is falling apart, yet I can't get rid of it. I will be having a 25 cent sale this Saturday, but I can't give this up. A lot of things I can get out of the house, Whew, but for some reason this is just too tender in my heart. Now I am gonna cry, so I guess I had better get off the blog.

Good Night Mickey in the Night Kitchen

The end of summer

Life is always so busy, that is why you have to grab time with those you love when you can.

Mi in Sunday School at Emmet. He thought he was too old for Thomas the Train, but he found out differently.

Watering the garden always turns out to be more fun if you can play in the water.

Mi wrote two letters on his own to police men and we delivered them. So excited, yet shy and his comment, "They didn't give me any stickers!"


We enjoyed our last swim at the village pool. At 86 degrees we thought we were in the north pole.

Eating and sewing on the back porch after having hot dogs, homemade potato salad and slaw. Such a traditional menu for our crowd, yet it was just right.

You have to enjoy the last watermelon of the summer.

Hooray for having a good time with family. Isn't that what it is all about?

Oh, and dogs, don't forget the dogs.

Good bye summer!

Thanks for being there.

The Big Cheese

In our International Education Department we try to do things that are educational and fun. We realize that international students sometimes don't understand our cultural expressions, so I put our names on all the scarecrows.

We have three staff, four student workers plus our boss

THE BIG CHEESE!

We don't know if the internationals know what "The Big Cheese" means but that is part of the learning. We should try to translate this saying into different languages just for fun.

Come by and say hello.

Students Students Students

At the International Education Dept we often have students who fly hundreds of miles with just their clothes. Don't get me wrong, some can afford to get new items to dress up their dorms, but you can't fit knick knacks, lamps or baskets in a suitcase. So when an international leaves to go back home they often leave things for the next crew. Here we have three going thru boxes of items left by a former International Student to dress up their rooms. I put out an email to the internationals and in two hours it was all gone.

We also have student workers who work in our department. I make a list of things to get done during the semester. We have jobs that are housekeeping, running errands, paperwork, and fun things like actual designing and executing bulletin boards. One of the main jobs is for the workers to keep their boxes cleaned and tidy. One of our workers loves to decorate the boxes with cute name tags.

And one of our workers is a prankster. This "was" a ball made of rubber bands. But alas someone in our department dismantled it. Wasn't me!