Last Days Before

December 1-7
I went to Jackson to be with Melanie and mother. Stayed the nights with Brenda Parmalee and her sweet dog MayBee.  Took care of getting Mother's affairs in order, revised the will and made sure the financial accounts had the right designations.  Park came for lunch on Friday.  During this visit I developed a deeper relationship with Brenda.

January 8-13
Left for Jackson after the Good Sam Exec Com meeting.  Mother was sleeping and not able to rouse that first evening, but she rallied and we had some good visits.  The best memory is our "Champagne Party" with Brenda, Melanie, Mother and me around her bed drinking champagne and laughing so much. It might be my last visit.  If so, it was very satisfying, very good.

Laura's and David's families went to visit Mother over MLK holiday.

February 13-18
Back to Jackson so Melanie could go out to Austin to be with Simon and the boys over President's Day holiday. Mother's is no longer able to transfer, even with help, from her bed to chair or toilet.  This is very hard for her to accept.  Every day we wonder if it will be the last.  She doesn't seem to be in pain and she has times when she is very alert.

From my FB post Feb 15:
Praying that my Jackson area friends are safe and dry. I’m in Jackson this weekend and the rising water is serious. We’re ok on this end of Grant’s Ferry. Also flooding in some areas of the Delta but I don’t have much information.

Feb 16, From my reflections on Be-A-Disciple Study, Jesus Unbound: (Mother was very much part of this discussion)

Last night we (Nathaniel, Jayna, mother, me) were visiting around mother’s bedside and our attention and conversation turned to the abstract painting that has been on her wall, wherever she has lived, for many years.  She had always said that she never tires of looking at it and often finds new and interesting images in it.  After reading Ch 6, Knowing the Truth, I reflected that the Bible can be compared to that painting. We may have looked at the painting many times and seen just to be a jumble of lines, shapes, spaces of dark and light.  But we all agreed that the longer one looks at it, rests with it, abides with it, the more images come into focus. The images were not created by the painter but through our interaction with the painting - our angle of view and the play of light. The painting hasn’t changed in any way, but as we live with it (abide with it), our understanding of it changes. And we don’t all see the same thing at the same time. As Jayna observed, it’s like finding shapes in the clouds.

Our response to the painting is a great metaphor for how I have come to understand the Bible.  The Bible hasn’t changed. My understanding of it is a constant interplay between the words, our circumstance in the moment, my background knowledge and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that illuminates the words for me. It is when I am able to open my heart (soul) and mind that the Bible can become a living instrument that points me to the Word of God - Jesus.

I left on February 18. I don't think Mother woke up to tell me good-bye.

On the evening of February 26, Ash Wednesday, Mother quietly stopped breathing and passed from this life.

Traveling South - Titusville & Merritt Island

January 29 - February 3, 2020
We arrived in Titusville and set up camp in Kevin Panik's driveway.  Thank You, Kevin.  We spent most of our days looking for birds and alligators at Merritt Island NWR.  Shared one meal, roast beef sandwiches with Kevin and his friend Eddie who parked his homemade camper in the other drive for a couple of nights.
My notes of these days consist of bird/wildlife lists for each day.
We left the morning of February 1 and stopped for the night at Santee, SC.  We need to check out Santee St. Park some time.  On the 2nd we headed to Asheville Smiths with a stop in Spartanburg for burgers at Fuddrucker's and Lady Vols game.  On the Smiths for Pizza and Superbowl.  Home on the 3rd by way of Hot Springs.

White Ibis

Anhinga

Green Heron

Wild Pig

Large flock of white pelicans

Roseate Spoonbills with Tricolor Heron in flight

Roseate Spoonbill

One of many alligators

With Kevin

Glossy Ibis & juvenile

Bald Eagle

Great Blue Heron

American Egret

Female Anhinga

Snowy Egret

Roseate Spoonbill

Snowy Egret

Our home away from home

Travelling South - Cedar Key, FL

Saturday, January 25
We arrived at Cedar Key, Shell Mound Campground, in the afternoon, but with time for a sunset walk.  I saw two birds new to my life list - Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier), which I'm sure I've seen but not identified, and American Avocets, a small flock feeding in the very shallow water of the boat ramp. 

Shell Mound Campground

American Avocets

Sunset from boat ramp trail

Sunday, January 26
Walked the Shell Mound circuit to the fishing pier where I saw lots of wading birds. Most noteable were oystercatchers.
Went into Cedar Key town for a late lunch, clam baskets, at Steamers.

Wood Storks

Camp supper 

Monday, January 27
Road trip to Crystal River Preserve, which turned out to be a disappointment.  Went on the Three Sisters Spring in the town of Crystal River. The springs are beautiful and full of manatees, too many to count! Volunteers said 140-150.  Pine warbler and Anhinga were birds of note.

Tuesday, January 28
Road trip to Lower Suwanee NWR. At the entrance to the nature drive we saw a bald eagle, but after that we saw almost no wildlife or birds. 

Returned to Cedar Key town to spend the night at the Island Hotel.  It is a charming, historic hotel that dates back to 1859 when it was built as a general store. We enjoyed our own wine and cheese cocktail hour on the balcony overlooking the main street.  We had dinner downstairs in the very crowded bar.  I had a delicious Steamed Clams in Garlic Butter sauce.

The included breakfast was in the main dining room - a full served breakfast.  The Island Hotel is more like a B&B than a hotel.

Wednesday, January 29
On the way to Titusville, we detoured by Blue Springs.  It did not disappoint.  There were lots of manatees, one big alligator and several anhingas.   We walked the trail to the source of the spring, a huge crevase at the bottom of the pool which is the mouth of a huge cavern that goes down 110 ft and is as long.  It pumps 10 million gal of water per day.

Traveling South - Three Rivers St Park

Three Rivers is on the Florida side on Lake Seminole, flat country.  The three rivers are Chattahoochee, Flint and is the source of Apalachicola River.  The large lake is supposed to be good fishing and have lots of big alligators.  In the park and all around were great swaths of downed trees, most likely from Hurricane Michael that devastated Panama City in Oct, 2018.

Traveling South - Montgomery, AL

We started our Florida camping trip this year in Montgomery, Al.  We especially liked the National Memorial to Peace and Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Civil Rights Memorial. We started on Thursday, January 23 with the Montgomery Visitor Center in the old train station.  Then briefly visited the Hank Williams Museum which features the1955 Blue Cadillac in which he died at age 30.   Hank Jr drove the same car to high school in Nashville.

Dexter Ave Baptist Church

SPLC Memorial Water Wall

Chaney, Goodman and Schwermer

Emmett Till

My small contribution counts

The Peace with Justice Memorial is an outdoor memorial garden featuring hanging obelisks to those who were lunched between 1877 and 1950.  Each county where a lynching has been documented was represented by an obelisk with the names & dates of each person etched in the metal. It is a Holy Shrine to those whose lives were so cruelly and unjustly taken.

Tragically, we know that this kind of terror is not over, will not be over until our national, state and local justice system is fair and equitable for all.  There is now not equal justice under the law.

Peace and Justice - Slavery

Memorial to every person lynched in every county in the country 

Peace and Justice Memorial

Peace and Justice - Civil Rights