Wordless Wednesday – Around the Compound

I’ll have to say a few words I can’t go wordless.

Ever.

I wanted to share some pictures of what’s been going on around here at my house.  I’ve said before we call it “The Compound” because my brother and his family lives across the street and my parents live next door to me.

Now that Mom can’t cook anymore, my brother and I usually take turns cooking meals, but we usually all gather at my house to eat.  This time Jonathan came with his family for a visit and it was sure good to see them.  They are doing so good and we are so proud of them.

Here is a four generation picture of my Dad, Jonathan my nephew, John my brother, and Skylar my great-nephew.

4 generations of HiggInbothams

What dinner time looks like around here these days:

dinner time 2

The men gather together and the girls get together.  We don’t do this on purpose it just seems to happen this way.

Since this past weekend was mother’s day, we went in with John and Addie and got my Mom a bird house.  She loves them.

Moms mothers day present

She was totally surprised.

Mom's surprised

Myself, with my Mom and my brother John on Mother’s Day.

Susie Mom and John Mothers Day 12 May 2013

Knucklehead had a kickball tournament on Saturday.  They didn’t win, but it was fun anyway.

the pink dominators Michael as catcher Michael kicking the ball

All the really fun things are over with and now there’s work ahead, because when its summer around here, it’s work, work, work.

Got the pool opened.  Still a little cool to get in, but it won’t be long.

Pool opened

My roses are growing and blooming.

my roses yellow rose of mt vernon

And so our my chickens.  Did I show you my new coop we spent several weekends working on?  It houses my new babies.

new coop feeding time chicks are getting big

John and Justin got the garden’s planted.  Notice the chickens?  Anywhere there is fresh turned up dirt, the chickens are right there looking for worms and bugs.

chicks digging for bugs John and Justin in garden JT taking a break freshly planted peas and potatoes

Now that the coop is done, we are working on adding an outdoor area for the chickens, once they get a little bit bigger, they will free range with the others.

bugs bugs bugs

I took this picture of Justin and he was like, “Momma, get that camera outta my face!”

Dang Mom move the camera outta my face

But then he was like, “Hold up, let me rock this out.”

Ok hold up let me pose

Michael played with the chickens while the work was going on.

michael with brownie Weirdest chickens ever

I love this picture of Brownie.

Brownie

And this sucker bit the dust, and will no longer be chasing my chickens.  He’s now a warning to his partners in crime.

cant eat my chickens

That pretty much wraps up a weekend around the compound, in a not so Wordless Wednesday, but I couldn’t help myself.

Susie

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Happy Mother’s Day!

I took this picture of my Momma last year, but I love it.

Mary Helen Parks Higginbotham

She is a wonderful, wonderful woman and words can’t even begin to express how much I love her.  I see her daily struggle with Alzheimer’s and it saddens me to no end.  If I could have one wish granted it would be to take this horrible disease away from my mother.  She has never expressed one worry about her herself throughout this whole ordeal.  She worries about being a burden and what she is doing to us.  I tell her and I mean it, she will never be a burden.  EVER.  We love her and we will see this through with her, together as a family.

These two boys, are the apple of my eye.  I love them to the moon and back and I am so thankful God chose me to be their mother.

Justin Cole and Michael Cunningham

Yesterday I called my Dad and asked him to think about a special memory of his mother and to ask my mother to do the same.  When I called back later in the day, they had some stories for me to share with you.

Dad told me that when he was about 5 or 6 years old, his momma played on the women’s Independence Basketball Team as a guard and they always played at the North Heights Gym in Texarkana. He loved to go and watch her play. This is one of his favorite memories of her. This is a picture of my Dad with his Mother, Edna Harris Higginbotham at an anniversary party for my Mom and Dad. It was their 25th anniversary. This year will be their 49th anniversary.

Rufus Higginbotham and Edna Harris Higginbotham

Here is a picture of Dad and Memaw from the way back files.

Edna Harris Higginbotham and Rufus Higginbotham

Mom told me that one day when she was a little girl she and her mother were walking down the street in downtown Texarkana and as they got closer and closer they could hear the radio playing over the loud-speaker at Hawkins Feed Store, and they heard the announcement that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. My grandmother grabbed my mother’s hand and they ran all the way home. Not long after that, my grandfather volunteered for the Army and ended up in Japan fighting. They lived with my great-grandfather Parks at the time in what my mother calls “The Big House”, on Walnut Street in downtown Texarkana. Granddad Parks took in women to live in the house whose men were away at ar, and my mother remembers all the good times she had with all the women in the house. After the war was over she and my grandmother went to Fort Chaffee to pick up my grandfather, and he was so skinny and worn down they walked right by him and didn’t even recognize him until he called out to them.

Here is a picture of my grandmother and grandfather Parks.

Bill and Mary Parks

This is the house they lived in during the war, and until my Granddad Parks died in 1966.  My mother always lived here until she went to college.  She had a room in the big house with her grandparents, and my grandparents lived in the little apartment house to the side of the big house.  This house is at 406 Walnut.  A group of lawyers have it now and they have restored it beautifully.  They gave my mom and I tour of it one time.

The Big House, 406 Walnut, Texarkana Arkansas

This is a picture of my mom and grandmother, probably at about the time of the war.

Mary and Mary Helen Parks

One of my favorite memories of my mother and I (I have many though) is the time she, Addie and I went to Bethany, Missouri and found out all about her maternal grandmother’s family that she had never met.  Her grandmother died giving birth to her father so she had never known her.  Her name was Helen Roleke Parks and her father was the mayor of Bethany for 32 years!  Addie took this picture of Mom and I standing by a street sign for a road they named for him.

My Mom and I in Bethany Missouri by a street named after my 2nd great grandfather

Well, that’s our walk down Mother Memory Lane, I hope you will take the time out today to think of your favorite memories and preserve them for future generations.  Had I not asked my father and mother for their memories to do this post, I would never have known my grandmother Higginbotham played basketball!

Susie

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Tombstone Tuesday – Dr. Josiah McGee Bland

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This is a photo of Dr. Josiah McGee Bland’s headstone from way back in the day. Dr. Bland is the great-great-grandfather of Nedra Harris Turney, through her mother, Katherine D. McJunkins Harris. Nedra’s cousin, Helen Marie McAdams had the photo above.

In the photo below you can see the difference in the cemetery, and how much it has grown, around his grave.

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What a difference time makes.

This is a close up of his headstone.

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Dr. Bland served in CO E. 4th ARK INF for the CSA.

This is Dr. Josiah McGee Bland.

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He was born 19 Jan 1842 and he died on 14 Feb 1891. He is buried in Saratoga Cemetery, in Saratoga, Arkansas.

This is how Dr. Bland is related to Nedra.

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If you would like to know more, or connect with Nedra, feel free to contact me and I will put you in touch.

Susie

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