Gloria Ferris

Riverside Cemetery Jazz Festival

Sunday, September 18, 2011

2 pm until ????

Featuring

The Mike Jacobs Quintet

Horse and Carriage Tours of the Cemetery will be available

Free and open to the public

www.riversidecemeterycleveland.org Phone number: 216-351-4800

The Riverside Cemetery Association will hold its first annual jazz festival at the Cemetery located at 3607 Pearl Road. Thee Festival will honor renowned Cleveland jazz musicians, Roberto Ocasio, Robert Lockwood, and Robert "Skeets" Ross, all laid to rest at Riverside. The Jazz Fest will feature a New Orleans style jazz band leading a procession from the 135-year-old Chapel to a circle in the Cemetery where President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes dedicated the Cemetery in 1876. Following a brief program highlighting the lives of these three gentlemen, there will be a concert performed by The Highlighters, aka Mike Jacobs Quintet, noted for its regular Dixieland performances for Cleveland Indians home baseball games since the opening of the ballpark in 1994. The band will also perform traditional New Orleans style funeral music and lead a horse-drawn carriage throughout the cemetery.

may just have something to say about all that.

As more people opt for walkable bikeable communities with boutique commercial districts, South Euclid’s elected officials buy into an outmoded business model with the promise of it  “being green”.  You tell me how taking 144/54 acres of green space and replacing it with much less is  “being green”.  Obviously, someone is keeping South Euclid’s government occupied so they don’t see all the studies showing that those communities with parks for walking and biking are the ones where people are now settling.  I haven’t seen any studies lately on the hordes of people moving to be close to “big box retail”. I have seen a lot of news articles about the eyesores and blight left behind when “the big box” moves to the next community willing to sell its soul.

I am thankful for my friends Susan and Carla and so many others  willing to devote precious free time to combating Mitch Schneider’s latest venture to make his investors and himself rich and to make South Euclid/Cleveland Heights poorer.  Here is the link to their face book page:

 https://www.facebook.com/#!/citizensforoakwood

Here is an email I received from Susan earlier today.  I asked her if I could post it on my blog because I want her reasons for standing up against this development known.  Please sign her petition asking for sustainable land use and take the time to read what she has to say. It’s good stuff. Oh and those of you talking about “class warfare” shame on you.  We are into this together and when we allow what makes us all “rich”- the beauty of our land to be plundered- those “selling out”  for the short term are the ones who are waging class warfare. You are taking what made our area prosperous and selling us all into poverty.  

If you feel that we have enough big box retail in the Heights Hillcrest area and need not destroy precious green space to build more, you may wish to add your name to the petition linked here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-ripping-up-green-space-to-build-shopping-centers-support-sustainable-land-use?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email

Here’s the long story of why I’ve directed so much time and attention to this:

You may or may not know that I have been involved with a group called Citizens for Oakwood. We’re trying to save 144/54 acres of green space – the former Oakwood Country Club. We’d like to see it become a public park (and improve it’s ability to be a sponge for stormwater by allowing it to be a passive park). First Interstate/Legacy Capital Partners would like it to be big box retail. Of course, Jane Goodman, city council person in South Euclid where he’s begun the rezoning for big box process, promises that this will be a green infrastructure exemplar. Since South Euclid is in such a fiscally dire situation, it is clear to most that it is not a lack of retail, but rather downward (economic) pressure that is driving this. I think most adults know that we can’t buy our way to prosperity. Some are still fooled I guess. What was that Bush said about fool me once, keep right on foolin’ me – I’m feelin’ foolish?

It has raised three issues for me and for many of us.

1) Golf clubs are dying – Landerhaven was first, Oakwood is now, Acacia is next (now that it’s out of litigation). Then which golf/country club private course will fall to a developer? Seneca just sold to Metroparks. Hmmm… Which golf course will go next? While the focus will undoubtedly be on our poor relation, the City of Cleveland, you are aware, I’m sure, that poverty is creeping outward, just as population has. Now it’s also the inner ring that’s feeling the pressure. Please consider the golf courses and work with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to help these clubs to stay green space. By the time all the planners have finished their studies and identified the "value" of green swathes to our Lake, big box retail may have ruled the day and the tiny municipal governments in South Euclid and Cleveland Heights despite our efforts. I have tried to make the argument that this is more valuable to South Euclid and Cleveland Heights as open green space from a water quality and quality of life standpoint, but I don’t have the metrics. Tacit knowledge is much harder to convey in a world where everything is a transaction. South Euclid just rewrote their entire comprehensive plan to accommodate this development. They did it in two weeks with two people. For golf courses, the WRLC exemplar is Orchard Hills – admittedly "out there", but still a good example of what could be "in here".

2) The downward pressure might be lessened if these balkanized municipalities had merged years ago. I’m going to keep exploring this for our future. It would be good to fold in the value of water absorbing green space when that muni mapping becomes a part of that discussion. The idea? What if Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, University Heights and South Euclid were one suburb? What white collar efficiencies might be gained? And could those efficiencies result in some greater resiliency and redundancy in our shared green space?

3) At a forum sponsored by Future Heights on land use and Oakwood, Terry Schwarz mentioned that the metric for jobs and parkland is 1 job per acre. I realized that agricultural land has no metric. Why is this important? Because, growing food, farming in the city has no value. It may not now, but it will shortly. The day will come (sooner than later in my estimation) when refrigerated trucks from the valleys of California will not arrive in NEO. We will need to be reliant on what can be grown and raised locally. We may tear down buildings just to be able to farm. Impending doom – energy crisis? Yes. It is upon us. We may look back and say, "Boy! We sure wish we’d saved this land for growing food!" 154 acres is a substantial bit-o-farmland. I’ll be meeting with farmland and farming experts to discuss how to discover per-acre metrics for ag land so that local food can enter these planning discussions.

In an article in Ecowatch Journal, it is noted that new project efforts at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens will include this issue: "Based on existing work being done in the region and success stories in other cities, identify barriers to implementation of green infrastructure as targets for future action and develop strategies to overcome them." Funny. I asked NEORSD if there might be a land use aspect to their big stormwater plan. You know like, residents of municipalities that have retained green space would get a tiny automatic  credit. They said – no, NEORSD doesn’t get into land use. I guess NEORSD will be in these discussions though. Land use and such best management practices as downspout disconnects where appropriate (most places in NEO) are the low hanging fruit of addressing our water quality issues. Mother earth is a filter. We have abused her mightily, no doubt, but she is still there, still willing like any mother to help her children.

It may be too late for Oakwood unless we all come together to stop this madness. We’re not giving up, but South Euclid’s government seems to have. They’re in a deep hole at Cedar Center – $19 million deep. What could be another piece of Ginny Aveni’s County Greenprint – the Emerald Lace that connects our Emerald Necklace, the Cuyahoga River Valley and Lake Erie, may be paved to put up a parking lot. No pink hotel, no boutique – big box retail. We don’t plan to stop our arguments now and we hope you’ll raise your voice as well and participate in this democratic practice. We need to do everything we can to keep the bulldozers from rolling over Oakwood. At rallies for SB5 I heard the now familiar chant, "This is what democracy looks like!" Letting our elected officials know how we feel is democracy. Democracy isn’t just voting; it’s a state of being, a way of life.

My son has graduated from college and moved away to Seattle for work. There he can take public transportation, ride his bike, pay his college loan instead of a car loan and visit the wonderful parks that the city has protected. How I hope that someday he can move back to Cleveland Heights and appreciate similar amenities here – NEO – the region that woke up and got busy turning what seemed like a burden into a blessing! This  would be an even better story of how Cleveland beat Wall Street. That’s the story I want to hear when I’m passing into another world.

Currently we’re all feeling the downward pressure. It’s palpable in Cleveland and the region, in the state, in the nation. We just want our fellow citizens to look farther, longer and with an eye to water quality, air quality, quality of life. We want them to see that there is a world water crisis that will not bypass the Great Lakes. We want them to think not so much about the hardship they’re enduring, which will increase in the near term, but to consider the outcomes in the long term, however difficult that may be. We’d like to make a gift to future generations. As Ellie Strong said speaking of the "little old ladies in tennis shoes" who saved the Shaker Lakes, "to each generation there is something to save."

Susan

When I was a child, each Memorial Day began when I watched the traditional parade down the main street of my hometown looking for  my dad, uncles and aunt as they marched proudly down the street. Every parade ended at the town cemetery where my uncle sounded cadence and my dad was one of seven who reported with the 21 gun salute. Taps was played and the flag was raised from half staff. When I grew older I marched as a girl scout and then later, marched as a member of the high school marching band.

How fortunate I am to live in a neighborhood where my friend and neighbor Rick Nicholson carries on a tradition started many years ago by the Brooklyn Centre historical Society in conjunction with the Early Settlers Association of the Western Reserve at the Brooklyn Centre Burying Ground located at the end of Garden Avenue off Pearl. Each year at 11 a.m. on Memorial Day we gather by the flagpole to remember our dead who fought to keep us free and to pray for the end of war. 

This year began with our organizer, Rick Nicholson, a member of the Cleveland Grays, leading us in The Pledge of Allegiance Reverend Neal Wilds handled the Invocation but first he talked about is connection to the Civil War, his boyhood home is near the site of the Battle of Shiloh. He then moved on to the Battle of Gettysburg and the loss of 51,000 American lives lost in the battle. He said it is hard to imagine the carnage of the three day battle and the lives changed forever.  He  then related that this bloodiest of wars was the beginnings of what we now call Memorial Day  He then said a prayer asking for the end of war and a world of peace.

Reverend Bob Andrew was next and his comments included facts about the cemetery.  Brooklyn Centre Burying Ground is the resting place of many soldiers beginning with the Revolutionary War and ending with World War II. He told us that he was drafted to serve in the Korean War as a chaplain and he was stationed in Japan and did not experience combat. He recited this poem by Cadet Major Kelly Strong Air Force Junior ROTC..

Rick Jaworski who served as president of Brooklyn Centre Historical Society for many years under the tutelage of Ruth Ketteringham read General Logan’s Order #11  which is the official beginning of Memorial Day which began the tradition of decorating soldier’s graves. For years, veteran groups sold crepe paper poppies to purchase flags to be placed on graves. I wonder how those flags are purchased now. Until 1967, when the last Monday in May became the official designated day instead of the original date of May 30th and the popular Decoration Day became known officially as Memorial Day.

After comments from the people gathered around the flagpole, Joy Parrish and her friend Doc played and sang a beautiful selection of songs. She started with this song by Simon and Garfunkel and ended the set with Let there be Peace on Earth -he asked us to sing along and we did quietly and then she performed  America The Beautiful. Along the way, Doc recited Poppies in Flanders Field with additional verses he penned to add soldiers beyond World War I. Joy set the poem to music but Doc forgot to give her ALL the lyrics so we will have to wait till next year to hear he WHOLE song. What she sang was beautiful.  Doc was concerned that John McRae would be upset that he took liberties with his poem. I told him he would probably be proud.

Everyone took a few flags to place on veteran’s graves to show us all how many of those buried there fought for the freedom we enjoy today. As the flags waved in the hot breeze, we said our last prayers for peace and solemnly stood looking out over the cemetery. I love the sound of “Taps” and I cherish the times I was asked to play it for soldiers’ funerals in my hometown. But, I never heard it played on a violin until today. Doc played it with a reverence and melancholy that I thought was reserved for bugles. We then bookended the service with a second recitation of the “Pledge of Allegiance”.

I am truly blessed to live in a neighborhood that knows the meaning of “Memorial Day” and knows how to celebrate it.  Mark your calendars we will be there next year.

Every Memorial Day our friend and neighbor Rick Nicholson organizes special tribute to our armed forces and the veterans who lost their lives so that you and I would have the great freedoms we enjoy because we live in America.  There are a few short speeches, music, a flag placing ceremony and conversations with friends and neighbors.  It is a great way to start a holiday that remembers the fallen and the dead who gave their lives so we would be free.  All are welcome.

JOIN US FOR A SERVICE AT THE HISTORIC BROOKLYN CENTRE BURYING GROUND, ALSO KNOWN AS DENISON CEMETERY. TO HONOR OUR MILITARY VETERANS.

11:00 AM, MONDAY

MAY 30TH 2011

MEET AT THE BURYING GROUNDS LOCATED ON GARDEN AVENUE, NORTH OF DENISON AND EAST OF PEARL ON GARDEN AVE BEHIND ALDI’S. CONSTRUCTION ON NEW GATE ONGOING.

THIS CEMETERY HAD ITS FIRST BURIAL IN 1823 AND WAS DEEDED BROOKLYN CENTRE BURING GROUNDS IN 1835. MANY WAR VETERANS, STARTING WITH THE "REVOLUTIONARY WAR", ARE BURIED IN THIS LOCAL HISTORIC CEMETERY.

ALL WELCOME TO CONTRIBUTE. PLEASE CALL RICK NICHOLSON AT 216 398 1494 TO SCHEDULE ANY COMMENTS YOU WISH TO MAKE. MUSIC WILL BE PERFORMED BY JOY AND DOC.

I just posted : “Impressive Stanard Farm Is a Must See” on Local Food Cleveland and I decided that this farm, greenhouse, and vineyard are things to celebrate about Cleveland.  All of these ventures were met with the usual naysayers in Cleveland but my friends preservered because they knew that had “an idea whoese time has come”.  These projects by people who love Cleveland, not because they think they can “get rich quick”, but because they believe in our community and they want to create jobs and offer excellent products to their fellow inhabitants of Northeast Ohio.  These people exemplify what “eonomic development” is.

Yesterday our local Cleveland Public Branch manager Mrs. Cheryl Diamond and I visited Stanard Farm for the first time.  Summer Sprout partnered with them this year to distribute the thousands of plants destined to feed Cleveland communities this summer and fall.  Since this was my first time to ever take part in this event, I have no comparisons but it was efficient, friendly and convenient- a good experience all the way around.

When you think about it, Superior Avenue seems a strange place for a farm, but is it?  Besides this farm, Community Greenhouse Partners has moved in to 6527 Superior Avenue, the original location of St. George’s Lithuanian Church and Blue Pike Farm is just up the road a piece.  I couldn’t resist using that phrase from my youth.  My grandfather and his pals ALWAYS  used that phrase to describe how far a lost traveler’s destination was.

If you are an "urban"  explorer on foot, by bike or car, you certainly should check out Stanard Farm, the other farms in the St. Clair-Superior area as well as Chateau Hough just a neighborhood away.  

Today while skimming through Crain’s Morning Roundup, I clicked through to read the PLAIN DEALER story about the largest gift that Case Western Reserve University  has ever received. The gift came from the last local heir of the Williamson family.  The Williamson Building came to mind.  Then, I read this sentence.

The Williamson name isn’t widely known, perhaps because the family didn’t seek to put its name on buildings. Instead, they devoted their dollars and often personal time to educate minds, enrich spirits and solve social problems, said William Ginn, a retired lawyer and family friend. 

Story by Margaret Bernstein, Plain Dealer, April 29, 2011

I have no doubt that Mr. Ginn is correct in his assessment that the family valued people more than brick and mortar given their heir’s last gift to our community. Still, my interest was piqued.  Maybe it is because I know that the Williamson Building and the Cuyahoga Building were demolished to make way for 200 Public Square, first known as The Sohio Building, my employer at one time.  In fact, my signature is on the last steel beam placed in the building as are many other employees of the day.  My search began.  Here is what I found about the Williamson Building.  My connection was right!  In fact, the Williamson Building was built on the site of the Phillip Williamson homestead. What an historical record of the beginnings of the Williamson family.

Strangely enough,  this weekend as I held a postcard of the Williamson Building in my hand at the Akron Book Fair I had  a conversation with a former Clevelander about Alvie’s restaurant that was sandwiched between the Williamson  and Cuyahoga Building. I told him that Alvie’s had moved to Ontario Avenue. He didn’t remember either building or the wrought Iron clock created by Rose Iron Works in the Williamson but he did remember Schroeder’s and the name of the drugstore in the Williamson Building which I don’t.

As I write this post, I wonder what BP will give to Cleveland when “he” dies.  Cleveland has a rich legacy of philanthropic families that have endowed our community with great wealth.  We need to keep their memories and that value alive by continuing to create wealth, conserve and not spend it. Thank you Mr. Williamson from a grateful Clevelander.

Today is Earth Day. We have been celebrating this day for 41 years now.  On first Earth Day I was a student at BGSU.  My first  memory of that day isn’t much different from many spring days on campus-kite flying, sidewalk chalk art, boys playing guitars and girls with long flowing hair listening to folk songs.  There were impromptu debates on how our earth would not survive if we continued our dependence on oil and gas.  Chemically altered food would poison us and our children. Our streams and rivers would die with fish and wildlife gasping for breath.  Nuclear power was coming to a town near you and would be the death of us all. In fact, the peace sign so familiar to us all, began its career as an anti-nuclear power symbol which soon encompassed “no war” as well.   It sounds like those discussions were dark, bleak,  and desperate.

Not so, many of my college friends had plans for the solutions to all of the dire situations that could be our future.  All they had to do was graduate, have their degree, and change the world.  Many changes in our world did come to pass.  Two of the biggest  was the 1970 Clean Air Act and the 1972 Clean Water Act.  An act spurred in part by our own “crooked river, the Cuyahoga catching fire, not once but twice because of chemical sludge from the refineries and industries along its bank.  Today, a towpath trail is being designed to wind along that same river.  Fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles have returned to its banks, and when the spring air warms, sculls will again be seen skimming across its surface.

Meanwhile, our state and federal legislators are preparing to gut our laws that insure clean air and water to our citizens.  At the same time, they are considering opening our system of state parks to drilling and “fracking” for oil and gas. Fracking, a term so new that I had to add it to my dictionary. Surface mining in Old Brooklyn was recently held off by a group of determined citizens, their councilman, and the City Planning Commission.  soon, we will be protesting the largest “trash to energy” incinerator in the nation using unproven techniques  with no assurance that the technology is safe for humans within the confines of Cleveland at the Ridge Road transfer station.    

There are those who would tell you that we cannot compete if we do not relax the laws put in place 40 years ago or if we do not embrace unproven technology to pay for energy. These same people rely on our memories being short.  Now, that we can see across the river and the smokestacks are mostly silent, they believe that they can eliminate  the laws that allow us to breathe easier and make us safe from chemical poisoning.

I would say this to all of you. Now, is not the time to relax laws to  make it easier to use the same old fossil fuels and chemicals that continue to pollute our air, but rather it is the time for Cleveland to innovate the new technologies that will carry us into the 22nd century just like those who came before us made us an industrial powerhouse in the 20th century.  We should be on the cutting edge of the new technologies needed for energy that does not pollute our environment. Yes, this may be expensive in the short term, but will be well worth the benefits overall.  Consider the alternative of cheaper in the short term, but more expensive in the long term with more health costs, less quality of life, and cheaper for whom the consumer or for the owners of the corporations getting the breaks.  Take a look at your latest utility bill.  You are conserving all that you can, and still the bills are rising.  Our dependence on gasoline is increasing due to less mass transit and the price just keeps on rising. Taxes, fees continue to rise while corporations continue to say that they cannot afford to do business in Ohio.  Really, who says so?  

Forty one years later, the phrase :If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem is just as true today as it was then.  Do not let fear guide you. Stand up and tell your legislature that now is the time for new ideas and new solutions. It is not the time to prop up corporations that are dinosaurs which will only die a slower death if they are allowed to gut the clean air and water laws.  Get out, take a walk, drink the fresh air, contemplate the wonders of the earth, and  know that you can preserve them for future generations. Use your vote.

The best place for French Toast in Cleveland  is at Cafe Miami in Old Brooklyn.  This morning the editors of the soon to be published (well, maybe not SO soon) first ever Brooklyn Centre Naturalists Cookbook met to continue collecting, editing, and working on this crucial fundraiser for our neighborhood group striving to become the next certified National Wildlife Community. But the first step to a good work session is a good breakfast.

And so, we ordered our breakfasts, sipped coffee, and settled down to work.  Cafe Miami is not the breakfast place for you on a Saturday  if you want a hurry-up and get going start to your day.  Larry’s place is a more of a read the paper, “what’s your hurry” kind of diner on Saturdays. Did I tell you that I LOVE the French Toast.  It is sublime. The inside is soft and the outside has a subtle crunch to it that offsets the softness. Delicious.

Every time I step through the door of Cafe Miami I feel like I have been transported to the Deep South. Maybe, it is the Mardi Gras posters on the wall, the Jazz feel to the place, or maybe I truly am transported to a different time and place.  I kid you not there is a magical feel to this cafe.  The salt and pepper shakers, the antiques, the books that are placed around the place which Larry always encourages people to read or borrow, and much, much more has to be seen to be believed.

Just as I think I can’t wait one more minute our food begins to arrive.  Recipes and computers are put aside as we dig in while the food is still hot.  As we talk about our week, we munch on toasted English Muffins, French Toast, eggs and bacon, I suddenly realize that we better get down to business, finish eating, and get back to work.   As we say good bye to Larry, owner chef, and his waitress, Marie , I glance at the clock realizing we have only used two hours of our Saturday.  I think to myself “how can this be” we finished  proofreading that huge stack of recipes, separated them by category, ate breakfast, and I feel as refreshed as if I had been soaking up sunshine on the beach. I stop cold as I look outside and see that it I am in cold and rainy Cleveland.   I kid you not I thought that I would be stepping out into the sunshine with a hot breeze tousling my hair.  Instead, I am dodging huge raindrops and am soaked to the skin by the time I reach the car.  I am telling  you that there is something magical about this cafe.  If you don’t believe me, visit it yourself, and prove me wrong.

Since my heart attacks, strokes and cancer two years ago,  I have paid much more attention to the role vitamins play in good health. Recently due to problems with muscle weakness and muscle pain, which I believe is due to a serious side effect from the statins—crestor and Lipitor, I have been taking. I have become very aware of Vitamin C’s role in heart health.

Now, today,  I read this article on Vitamin D’s role in cancer prevention, heart health and diabetes control.  At my six month check up, my primary doctor and cardiologist both said that my vitamin levels, enzymes and cholestrol readings were at good levels.  Next time, I intend to ask questions about the meaning of that sentence “What is good?” and “how could we enhance those levels”?  Vitamin K and I are already very good friends since the control of my intake of that vitamin is vital to my INR level remaining stable.  INR readings are used to make sure that your blood level stays within an acceptable range for clotting, and too much or not enough Vitamin K can alter those readings.  Obviously, Vitamin C and D are very beneficial to the health of the human body as well as the mind and spirit.  Optimally, getting Vitamin C thru diet is an option, but the “sunshine” vitamin not so much.  How could supplementing our bodies with these vitamins hurt us? Other questions I will ask my doctors’  are: What is the role of  the enzyme COQ10 in heart health  and how can I boost my body’s quotient?

May I suggest you ask your doctor these questions as well?  Granted, we have life giving drugs that can help us when  we are gravely ill,  but shouldn’t “healthy lifestyle” questions be part of every conversation with our doctors as we strive to become healthier and less dependent on “our drug culture”? It remains a mystery to me that our vitamin levels are based on studies made in the 30’s and 40’s when our society was much more agrarian in nature and the need to supplement vitamins was probably not the same as today in a fast paced world with little time for the outdoors and well balanced meals.  If this is not an endorsement for the ”local food” economy, I am not sure where else we could find one.  If we are to become the “healthy” society we can be, it starts with our conversations with our doctors and nurse practitioners.   I’m not sure that I am comfortable with a government agency relying on studies of sixty years ago and pharma companies dependent on the drugs they sell for revenue deciding how my doctor and I should control “my health”.  Are you?      

She was exactly 11 hours and 20 minutes old.  This morning as I do every year on my daughter’s birthday I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  Although each year added creates a distance from the “main event” of the memorable Thanksgiving holiday, I mark off each memory and smile just as I did then.

Tim won a turkey from the Knights of Columbus yearly turkey raffle at Blessed Sacrament and decided that we should have his family over for the holiday meal.  He asked them all, and when he had their RSVP’s in hand he informed me that I would not have to do a thing; he would be cooking the turkey.  Thanksgiving was November 28th that year, and as all the “old wives” were telling me the first baby is ALWAYS late. My due date was December 2, 1985.

What was I thinking? Obviously I wasn’t because there I was with my little helper. Maureen. baking pies on Thanksgiving Eve.  After the pies were done, I decided that the kitchen floor needed mopping immediately.  Forget that Tim would be cooking all day Thursday and the floor would undoubtedly need mopping again.  On second thought, maybe I was guarding against a dropped turkey or some such other disaster. I should have known this task was not a good idea when Mo (Maureen) had to bend over repeatedly to pick up the mop and/or bucket as I laboriously worked from one end of the kitchen to the other.  Anyone who has had that first baby will see this for what it was:nesting on steroids.

Thanksgiving Day  dawned bright and early with frost definitely on the pumpkin. Tim’s turkey that year was exquisite and he handled the cooking quite well. For some reason, he retired that year.  The family arrived and just as we sat down to dessert, my mother-in-law Jeanne asked me if i was okay. I asked why and she said that my face was as red as the jumper I was wearing.  i told her that now that she mentioned it my stomach was cramping fiercely. All the women but me flew into action knowing that Katie Anne was on her way. They pushed us out the door telling us to forget about the dishes and Mo and Lady the dog. They would handle everything. 

We arrived at MacDonald House in a record fifteen minutes. Tim says twelve minutes, but I have really never thought that humanly possible.  As we entered with our portrait of a turkey designed by Mo, Tim’s pom pom shaker and our mix tape of Led Zeppelin tunes, we were prepared to spend the night awaiting Katie’s birth.  One resident had other ideas.  She told me that I needed to go home, put my feet up, have a glass of wine, relax, and I would come back tomorrow to have my baby.  When she left the room, I told Tim that there was no way that I was leaving that hospital.  Luckily, the nurse who patted my hand told me that I was going nowhere. She had already called my obstetrician.This vignette happened at 11:30 pm.  Katherine Anne Ferris was born at 4:11 am November 29.  

During my stay in the hospital, I dreamed of that piece of pumpkin pie I left on the dining room table. When Baby Kate was settled in with her Mamaw and big sister, I went to the refrigerator where there was nary a crumb of ANY dessert left.  When I turned toward Tim, his response was”I didn’t want it to spoil”.  I was gone for two days!  I immediately remembered that we had the sweetest “little punkin” who would be with us each and every day.  And KT, you knew I would say it didn’t you?