Once upon a time there were two sisters named Ella James and Molly James who had fun playing together at home in a bedroom with a big bed.
Daddy and Mommy were Gamecock fans so they became Gamecocks, too
sometimes younger sister Molly liked to squeeze Big Sis Ella’s neck very hard
The two sisters also had fun together when they went out to eat with their family and played in the parking lot while Naynay took pictures. Naynay was forever taking pictures.
we’re not posing for any pictures tonight, said Ella
Molly, I said we weren’t posing, and you’re posing
okay, Naynay, I will pose for one picture
Ella and Molly went to school every day because Ella was five years old and Molly was almost three years old. Sometimes Nana and Naynay came to pick them up from school in the afternoon and take them to their house across the big river. The two little girls had their own playhouse at Nana and Naynay’s house. Ella called it the Tree House.
Naynay tries to help us with our projects,
but she is slow because she is very old
we do much better when Ella is the teacher who tells us what to do
Our most fun was when we went to the tailgate for the Gamecock football game with Daddy and Mommy, Aunt Coco and Uncle Seth and our cousin Caleb plus a bunch of other people. Uncle Seth bought us our own Cocky!
we had the most fun,but we were so tired…
because tailgates last a very long time
The End.
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Since Naynay is so very old, she can’t remember who took all these pictures. Thanks probably to Nana and Mommy Caroline…and any other contributors.
Like many Americans I continue to experience high anxiety about the general election taking place one week from today. I have several lingering questions in addition to worrying about the outcomes. Number One, how can November, 2024 be upon us already when we are still using leftover 4th of July napkins? Number Two, why are large acorns dropping from the gigantic oak tree in the backyard, rolling off the tin roof of our screen porch, and flying into the sun room windows with so much velocity I think we are under siege by malevolent squirrels? Thwack!
What could possibly distract me from the hate speech spewing from the campaign of the Man Who Would be King?
Thank heaven for little boys.
Yesterday my friend Becky (whose family included three sons I named the Fabulous Huss Brothers when Pretty and I became “bi-stateual” with our second home in Texas from 2010-2014) sent us a picture of a thank-you note from her youngest son George who had his 12th birthday in September. She found the note when she was cleaning behind her desk – he had written the note two years ago to thank us for the Valentine’s card and cash Pretty and I sent when he was ten. Maybe the note got lost because the universe knew I would need it more now.
Distraction accomplished. I can survive another week.
Once upon a time a kind queen who loved to wear shorts in warm weather took her two little princesses to a special Halloween festival called Trick or Trunk in the magic land of Westover Acres. All the villagers came together to celebrate by decorating their carriages to welcome the many children who lived in the kingdom.
Princess Ella and her little sister Princess Molly carry their goody gatherers
Princess Molly clutches her goody gatherer and stays close to Queen Nana
oh my, what treasures must be hidden behind the colorful carriage streamers!
Princess Ella flees the scary ghost who offered her a second piece of candy
to give her younger sister Princess Mollywho was afraid of the ghost
kind Queen Nana holds Princess Molly while Princess Ella waits her turn
decisions, decisions – so many yummy choices from Bonnie and Clyde
kind Queen Nana serves joy juices to the two thirsty princesses
last stop: corn dogs and chips marked the festival exit
kind Queen Nana and Princess Ella reach their carriage
while Princess Molly struggles to keep up
Queen Nana and Princess Ella all smiles as they leave Trick or Trunk festivities
(Princess Molly wants to make sure the ghost isn’t going home with them)
The End.
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When I think about the futures of Ella and Molly, my wish for them is they will grow up in a country where they are free to make discoveries of who they are and what they believe with kindness toward others, with love in their hearts, with joy in their souls.
In 1968 at twenty-two years of age I voted in my first presidential election, the beginning of fifteen presidential elections over the next fifty-six years. I was living in Seattle, Washington, and had been diligent to change my voter registration from my previous address in Houston, Texas, to my new home in Seattle. Politics was always a prominent conversation in my family who preached to me about the difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party from the time I was a young child. In an effort to impress upon me the importance of my vote, my paternal grandfather Pa whom I adored and thought he surely walked on water, had told me before the November election to remember the “Democrats are for the people, and the Republicans are for themselves.” Naturally I voted for the Republican candidates Richard Nixon for President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.
I made the mistake of telling my dad about my vote, and he was horrified. My entire family considered me a political pariah when Daddy announced my defection at Christmas. As my second presidential election came around in 1972, I began to wish I could take that 1968 vote back, but there it would be forever in infamy – much like the forever infamy of the men I had supported (not counting Elvis).
Therefore, in 1972, I voted for Democratic candidates George McGovern for President and Sargent Shriver for VP. You may not recall these guys because they lost to the incumbents Nixon and Agnew in a red wave that swept the nation. Of course, my dad blamed me for the entire Agnew tax evasion scandal that led to his resignation as VP in 1973 and the Nixon Watergate debacle that led to his exit in 1974. My grandfather couldn’t bring himself to talk about his woe-is-me version of the political landscape at the time. I was off to a shaky start with my voting record.
Here’s the Pop Quiz FUN for Pre-Halloween, Pre-Election Teasers. I will give you the election year and tell you who I voted for. I want you to tell me whether my candidates won or lost? Name their opponents!
1976 I voted for Democratic candidates Jimmy Carter for President and Walter Mondale for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss? Who did they run against?
1980 I voted for Democratic incumbents Jimmy Carter for President and Walter Mondale for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss? Who did they run against?
1984 I voted for Democratic candidates Walter Mondale for President and Geraldine Ferraro for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss? Who did they run against?
1988 I voted for Democratic candidates Michael Dukakis for President and Lloyd Bentsen for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
1992 I voted for Democratic candidates William J. Clinton for President and Albert Gore, Jr. for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
1996 I voted for Democratic incumbents William J. Clinton for President and Albert Gore, Jr. for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
2000 I voted for Democratic candidates Albert Gore, Jr. for President and Joseph Lieberman for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
2004 I voted for Democratic candidate John Kerry for President and John Edwards for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
2008 I voted for Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President and Joe Biden for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
2012 I voted for Democratic incumbents Barack Obama for President and Joe Biden for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
2016 I voted for Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton for President and Tim Kaine for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
2020 I voted for Democratic candidates Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?
Today I voted for Democratic candidates Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for VP. A former Republican President (spoiler alert) was running against them for President with Senator JD Vance the Veep on the Republican ticket. Stay tuned for the results which will be determined in the next few weeks.
My feelings about the 2024 election results are currently 50-50 and are not skewed by polls, pundits, predictors, or pandemonium. If you kept score of my record, you will see that I have seven wins and seven losses. When I tallied my historical voting record, I was struck by the irony of having a tie for wins and losses over 56 years. What are the odds? I’d guess 50-50.
Headlines scary for high stakes happenings in the past week – my head is rotating at warp speeds that add well-defined layers to my general free-floating anxiety. Missiles in the Middle East, final sounds of a Sunday morning going down for British actor Maggie Smith and Texas songwriter/actor Kris Kristofferson, Hurricane Helene ravaging the states in the Southeastern section of the United States, a Veep debate tonight between a high school teacher/coach who became governor of Minnesota and a venture capitalist fiction writer who became a senator from Ohio. The mind races to absorb the twists and turns of a world gone mad in many ways to this nonfiction writer who actually voted for a President Jimmy Carter in 1976, a man who celebrates his 100th birthday today.
But yesterday Pretty and I took a break from the troubles of Hurricane Helene which miraculously left us safe and relatively sound to spend the day with our granddaughter Ella who didn’t have school because the school had no power, her home had no power, but her grandmothers’ home was loaded with fun and power. How old will you be tomorrow, my darling girl? I’ll be 5, Naynay!
All pool toys had been put up over the weekend, but Ella couldn’t wait for next year to christen the new pool liner so…out she and her Nana came for an afternoon fling on her birthday eve.
Ella always brings the joy when she visits, and yesterday was icing on the “pretend” birthday cake. She and her Nana had fun with fashion shows, body paintings, gathering acorns while they might from our gigantic oak tree that withstood the winds of Hurricane Helene but mostly they both celebrated their love of the swimming pool. Brrrr is all I can say.
I was thrilled when Ella finally allowed me for the first time in her five years to completely read a book that she chose. She loved it so much she asked me to read it again. The book? 101 Dalmatians.
Soon she will be reading it to me. I can’t wait!
Happy Birthday, Ella – your Nana and I love you to the moon and back.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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