Holidays, Family, Friends

Fun, fun, fun. Last night was great! Everyone one was there, except Alan-but he was at his mom's in Monroe, NC. We had the party at Rick's. I was supposed to work last night, but got a message on my cell to call a co-worker. I crossed my fingers and called and-sure enough-our last patient had gone and I didn't have to work. I called Rick and told him, but swore him to secrecy, so it was a big surprise when I came in the door. That was fun! I got to play with my little man Cody, who is now 21 months old. He was hilarious. All the adults drew names, but we all still bought Cody and Jess-who's only 14-gifts, and it was so much fun to watch Cody open them. He looked a little confused at first, but once his mom helped him open the 1st one, he caught on quickly to what was happening, and he ripped into them. One of the things I got him was a bucket of bubbles, so he and I went onto the front porch (it was raining) and I blew bubbles while he squealed and chased them. I tried to let him blow some, but he kept putting his lips ON the wand when he'd blow. He was just delighted by those bubbles and I had some much fun with him. I got Jess a telescope and he was very excited about that. He started out into the yard to set it up, but then saw the rain and decided to wait til tonight.  When we opened our presents, Kathy ended up with 2-1 from me & 1 from Alan- and Kim had none. Turns out when Case & Court wrote out the draw names slips, Court wrote "Mom" instead of "Kim" on the slip. So, I got "Kathy", Alan got "Mom", which he & Kim assumed meant Kathy. It was pretty funny and Kathy said she had no problem with the way it turned out! :-)  Kim was cool with it b/c she had a bunch of presents from Alan waiting on her once they got back home. Lookit my 2 handsome young men! Bye for now...

Almost Christmas

Almost Christmas.......almost the end of another year. Wow, they go by so fast these days.

It's been a nice coupla days off. Had dinner with my dad & step-mom sat night and gave them birthday presents, then did some shopping and got a great deal on some nice things for 2 of my friends, then went to Barnes & Noble for something to drink and to read a couple of magazines. Today has been a lazy sunday....my favorite kind. It's 1 am on monday morning, and all 3 cats are curled up on the recliner with me......Life is good!
Gotta go get 1 more present in the morning then I'm DONE!!!!!! I hate shopping!

9 more days...new year...new beginnings, challenges....wonder what it will bring...?

Holidays

I've spend the majority of the afternoon baking Christmas goodies. This is the first time ever I've done this completely by myself. It was kinda lonely. I started to call my niece and ask her if she wanted to do this with me, but this is her first Christmas as a married woman and maybe she wants to create her own traditions with Joe. I hate to intrude on her life. I know she'd never tell me if I was, because she's one of the sweetest, most kind-hearted people I've ever known, but I don't want to be a pain. Maybe I'm just feeling sorry for myself ..... This is not my favorite time of year anyway, so I just need to get a grip. I hate feeling self pity....everyone is capable of creating their own happiness if they want to. So, I'm going to shake it off, snuggle on the couch with my sweetie baby kitty Tibs, who has been sitting on my right staring at me the whole time I've been on the computer, and start counting all the reasons I have to be happy. And to remind myself how wonderful my life really is!! 

Roots

On Thanksgiving Day, my dad and got into a discussion about our ancestry. We pulled out the ole laptop and started doing a little research. Poor dad got somewhat frustrated because I moved too quickly on the computer (he does not use them), so I slowed way down and we looked up the names of cousins, uncles...etc... I found out my dad's nickname, Bud, is the same as his grandfather's because he looked so much like him. I never knew that before. Anyway, once I got home, I started doing some research on my own, following my direct blood line. My dad's mom's side has quite a bit of info available, but I couldn't locate a lot of info on anyone else. I did trace 2 ancestors back to Germany/Austria and 1 to Ireland on my grandma's side. I also-from a number of years ago when a cousin did some research-knew I had a great x3 grandfather who died fighting in the Civil War and no one knew quite where he's buried. There was some speculation that he was buried at Arlington....which confused me. Did they bury confederate soldiers at a federal cemetary?? Did he fight for the Union?

I decided to concentrate on him and see if I could find out more about him. After 3 days of research and digging I found out:

1.  He was born in Pickens Co, SC in 1825

2.  He was married to Jennie Anderson

3.  He joined the 4th SC infantry  about 1862 and after his year term was up, he, along         with the majority of the 4th SC, joined the  37th Virginia Calvary Co. B and served           under A.C. Earle as a partisan raider-which means they infiltrated enemy lines and

      supplies to stea......umm.. requisition supplies for their own soldiers, and to find 

      intelligence on enemy movements and plans

4.  He was captured in Virginia in 1864 and sent to Camp Chase, Oh, which was a                   POW camp, where he died of pneumonia in 1865

5.  He was buried at Camp Chase Cemetary in Ohio

He was 40 years old at his death and left behind his wife Jennie and at least 5 kids I can find. Jennie never remarried, or I can't find any evidence of it if she did. Her grave is at Oolenoy Church cemetary and she is buried under the name "Jennie Massingill". I plan on riding up to the church and reading some old grave markers, maybe I can learn more.

This has been so interesting!!

   

Revisiting the past

The most traumatic thing that ever happened in my life was the death of my mom. On July 20th, 1966, Mom, Grandpa, me, my sis-Kim and 3 cousins went for a picnic at a spot beside a bridge that was part of Hartwell Lake. We'd been there many times before. I had just turned 7, Kim was 4. Towards the end of the day, mom went for a swim across the narrow channel. She came to the surface and waved at us, then went under again. She never resurfaced. Of course, by the time grandpa realized something was wrong, it was way to late to do anything, even if we'd known where she was. This whole day, the memories, the feelings, the fear and pain are still very clear to me. As a child, I guess everyone wanted to "protect" me & Kim, so we were never allowed to see any info about this. I saw the newspaper article for the 1st time when I was in my late teens, maybe even early 20s. I grew up feeling as if there was some big secret associated with her death and always had lots of questions that I couldn't get answers to.

I was at a family get together last weekend and wound up staying after with my cousin-one of the ones who was there that day-and we got into a discussion about mom and that day. She told me that at the time, they had been told that mom, when she dove down and went to push back up off the bottom, had actually gotten her foot stuck in the remnants of an old bridge and couldn't get loose. I'd never heard this before. She also stated that since we're in a drought and the lake is down 25 feet, she wants to go back to the site and see if she can find any thing there that mom could have gotten caught on and see for herself.  I relayed this info to Kim, who was up for the weekend, and we decided to go, just the 2 of us, and check it out.

It has been years since we've gone there, but we went straight to it.  The river is nothing more than a trickling creek now, probably no more than 6 inches at the deepest. The road and bridge are completely out of the water...weird looking, especially when compared to my memories. We walked down the bank, trying as best we could to remember where we were that day.  We didn't see any old bridge exposed, but we did find some concrete chunks that looked as if they were once part of a road, and we found some planed, rotted old boards. Was that the bridge? Is that's all thats left after 42 years? I dunno. The pain was raw but Kim & I talked a lot, shared a lot while we were there. It's painful still, but it has to be faced-and altho I wasn't sure this was a good idea, I'm glad we did it. At one point, once we located where we believe we were that day, I started taking pics of Kim sitting on a rock, looking back towards the bridge. Then, it hit me like a lead weight. Mom's body was found about 10 feet from the shore in a small crevice, just large enough for a body to fit. Where we were at that moment was 10-12 feet from the bank in the area that she would have been in when she drowned. I mentioned this, so we started looking around. We found a huge granite rock outcropping and below and slightly under was a small crevice that would just be large enough for a smallish body-and mom was small. I felt a jolt go through my body when I realized what we were probably looking at. 

I know this may sound a bit morbid, but it's hard to understand unless you've been involved in the same kind of situation. Maybe we were looking for a connection, maybe for some answers, maybe for more closure. Maybe we were just trying to understand why it happened and how.

Kim, I know you'll read this...I had bizarre dreams all night last night and mom was in them. This bothers me because it tells me that I haven't worked through all my grief. But, realistically, I'm not sure I ever will.  

Halloween Night

I have a friend who has thrown a Halloween party the last few years. This year, she really didn't want to do that, so she and I held a Murder Mystery Dinner at her house. It was a hoot. If you ever get a chance to attend or be in one, do it! This one was set in 1969 with rock star/music business/hippie types. There were 8 characters and several others who watched. I, of course, was the photographer. I took over 300 pics. Of course, I had to weed thru them and post only the good ones. I use snapfish.com to save, post, share and print my pics and would highly recommend this site to anyone. Anyway, the party was great. We had a good mix of folks and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I did a lot of research on the 60's, to pull up old posters, news articles..etc... and I learned a lot of interesting history, stuff I vaguely remembered so it was fun to learn more about all of it. I have another one of these kits, so will probably do another one in the Spring. It was great fun.

Charleston

Last night in Charleston. We have had incredible weather and it's just been the perfect time to be here, except for being able to go in the ocean. I've got to spend a lot of time with my sis, Kimmy. We were at her house last night for a cook-out, then today, she, Gee & I traveled all over the open market area, then went to the battery and got some great pics of the sun set. I hated saying goodbye to her. Probably won't see her again until Thanksgiving....MISS YOU SO MUCH!!! This has been a great trip tho, just perfect. 

Fun Fun Fun

I went to a barn party last night and had a blast! It was at my friend's in Enoree. There were so many people there and they had a live band. People brought their kids-which I liked-we had a cardboard dance floor and I got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while. It was a beautiful night, a little chilly, but they had a huge bonfire going, so we stayed warm. They live out in the middle of the country and I love going out there. I'd love to live out like that and have all that room/privacy. The sky was incredible, I've not been able to see that many stars in years. It made me think of when I was a kid, and could spend hours outside in the yard at night on a blanket watching the moon & stars. I've always been awed by the night sky! 

Man, I really enjoyed last night!

Cool nightime pics

See!  

Rainy Day

I love cool rainy days. Except I get sooooo lazy! I need to go finish some birthday shopping, do laundry, vacuum...blah-blah-blah. The way my recliner is set up is perfect for catching the nice breeze coming in the sliding glass door, I can hear the rain falling and my wind chimes tinkling. Great day to just stay in and veg out in front of the TV!

Yeah, think it's time for a little nap.

STOP

OMG....he contacted me AGAIN!!!!!

Made several snide little comments in an e-mail.

I sent him one back and made it abundantly clear that if I get even 1 more contact from him, I will take legal action. I'm wondering if he'll take this as a challenge, but I'm dead serious. I'm thinking about going to the LEC and talking to someone on my next day off, just to see what my options are and where I need to turn if I do have to do this.

Dayyyummmm. 

Letting go

What is it that keeps people holding on to something long after its done? I ended a "friendship" nearly 2 years ago. This person was someone I tried to be a good friend to, in spite of his petty, childish moods and juvenile behaviour. He was married to one of my good friends, so I tried to overlook a lot of faults and to give him the benefit of doubt. Until the day he came into my home and ripped me apart, an unbelieveable verbal attack. He even had the nerve to tell me that if I didn't do what he told me and live my life the way he wanted, we couldn't be friends anymore. I already knew he was very insecure, but had no idea he was so controlling. I was very hurt and couldn't reply, it was all such a shock. He became angry at my tears and his wife, who sat on the edge of my couch staring at the floor, said to me "he doesn't understand emotion because I'm so unemotional. I take enough prozac so that I never have to feel anything". One of the saddest statements I've ever heard.

Controlling, abusive people are not welcome in my life, so I let him know, in no uncertain terms that the so called friendship was over, to no longer call, e-mail, text message or in any other way contact me. His wife, my supposed friend, then e-mailed MY friends and MY family to give them a very skewed version of what happened.?? I feel like they were trying to interfere with my other relationships. I then had to explain all this, rehash it over and over, with all of them. I heard the statement over and over from them that--"If they're trying to get us to choose sides and they think we'll choose them over you, they're very mistaken". I do feel that was what they were trying to do..?

Anyway, he would not let this go. He still contacted me by e-mail, at least until last summer when I told him for the 3rd-4th time to leave me alone and to never contact me again, and I thought he finally got the message.  It's history, let it go.

Today, I got home from work, and had a card taped to my front door. I have the sweetest neighbors, so I thought one of them had left me something. I opened it, and it's from him....!! In it, he actually admitted he was wrong, asked me to please forgive him and he wanted to renew our friendship..... What??!! What about this is not clear? I sent him an e-mail praising him for looking at his life and what he's done, but again told him that there was no friendship to renew. I'm careful about whom I allow in my life and I can't be friends with someone who's actions and motivations I do not trust. I actually sent this to his wife, as I long ago deleted his e-mail address. She wrote me back saying she had forwarded it to him, and that she doesn't remember many of the things I referred to, but that was because of her failing memory. Sounds more selective than failing to me!  

I've tried to be the bigger person in all this, and to dismiss a lot of the actions by both of them as the actions of sad, petty people who have no idea what a friend really is and I've put it behind me. This is such a dead issue and I'm tired of dealing with it. How many times do you have to tell someone to leave you alone before it's considered harrassment? As a teen, I was stalked by a crazy guy I worked with. This is starting to feel like that. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that this is finally over with and he will let it go.

I hope he finds happiness, because I know he's a very unhappy person And I hope he really is getting professional help to achieve this and not just trying to manipulate me and the situation. Poor guy! 

Sleeeeppppppp

Having trouble getting more than a couple to 3 hours at a time. Wonder why? Can't think of anything in particular that is worrying me. And I am having some really bizarre dreams, scary stuff. I'm napping through the day but I can not stay awake. I met a friend for lunch yesterday, and was so tired by the time I got home. As soon as I sat down, I dozed off. Maybe I need to call Dr Malinowski and have a pacer check done...???
I woke up at around 4 am having an asthma attack. Must be the humidity that set it off?? I dunno. I had to hunt for my inhaler, it's been that long since I had my last attack. Hate it, it's an awlful feeling, but my worst has been nowhere close to what my sis Casey has had. She's had severe asthma since childhood and I hope I never have to deal with what she's gone through!
Almost 7:30. Think I'll try to get some more sleep since I have to work tonight.
Later......

Money-money-money-maybe

Article on WYFF4.com this morning.....

Could Another Stimulus Check Be Coming?

We can only hope!

Laundromats

Dontcha just LOVE them???
I haven't been to one since I bought my place, complete with washer & dryer, over 5 years ago. But I have 2 large rugs and a comforter that are in desperate need of a washing, and my w&d are just not large enough to do it. I've found one close by, so I'm hoping it will be clean and relatively safe. I've had some bizarre experiences in the past in them. This is my 1st step towards my spring cleaning...yeah, I know, about 4-5 months late, but better late than never, huh??!!
Hi-ho-hi-ho, it's off to wash I go.......

Furniture

Yea!!

I got my beee-yoo-tee-ful new furniture today. Only prob is that it's bigger than I had thought, so I'm going to have to rearrange my living room, but that's ok! I came in from work this morning,vacuumed, dusted, did a little rearranging, then sat at the computer desk trying to stay awake.Within about 5 mins,there was a knock at my door and it was the delivery guys. They set it up, had me sign the paperwork and left. I love the "new" smell, so after I sniffed it, I piled up in one of the recliners with my blankie and pillow and slept all afternoon. It is so comfy and I love it!

Congrats to my friend Sunny on passing her big test for work! I'm so proud of her. And, Sunny,I haven't made the pie yet, we were too hot and tired that day, but I am gonna!! I'll bring my honeycrisp to work and let you try it. It's just delicious.

Apple Festival

I went to the Apple Festival in Hendersonville, NC yesterday. I got a bag of the honeycrisp apples I love so much. They're my favs, but they sold out early last year and I was so disappointed. I went with 2 friends and we had a great time. Once we left there, we went to Saluda, NC for dinner, then rode down to Poinsett Bridge. It was part of the original road that connected Greenville, SC with Ashville, NC. It was just beautiful out there....hot, humid & beautiful. I found out why it's not a good idea to go climbing over rocks, tree roots and a creek in ballet slippers--even if they are camouflage. Weez didn't care whatsoever for the idea of climbing all over the bridge so stayed in the car. Another car with 4-5 young guys (18-22) drove up and parked and since her window was open, told her that the area was haunted so it was a good idea to not be there after dark. She told them she was really hoping to be out of there shortly! When we got back, she told us what they had said, but was more upset because they called her "Maam". I told her we'd reached that age where we are no longer "Honey or Babe". Sad, but true. I'm beginning to understand why people have plastic surgery...!
I got a lot of great pics tho and have worked on them today for a couple of hours...after doing housework for all morning and early afternoon. I hate housework. Added a few more things to my website under the "Digital Photos" section. I got some incredible flower pics yesterday too in downtown Saluda. I'd never been to Saluda before.

Just a cool day all the way around.

Website

I am now officially searchable on
MSN, Yahoo & Google search engines. Just type in:

cruellmoon photography

and my site pulls right up. I'm so happy!!

Yea

Just finished my last 7 days in a row, 12 hour 3rd shifts. I have 7 days off and when I go back, it's to the normal schedule. Jennie has been training with me the last 3 nights and she's now starting her position. Man, these last coupla months have been rough. Time to celebrate, I pulled out my party hat..............................See
Today is recoup day, then tomorrow I start on my website again, and after that whatever I feel like doing!!
Come and take a look at the site:

cruellmoonphotography.com

Sad but true!!

My Website

I can't wait!!!
I've worked my 7 days in a row, now I'm off for 7. I am chomping at the bit to get lotsa stuff published to my website. I'm going to bed in a few minutes, after working all night, I don't think I'm up to working on it right now. But after a few hours sleep, I'm going to start working on it. I'm so excited about finally doing this!.....Now, I just need some sleep.....

Busy Weekend

I feel as if I've done nothing but run for 3 days. Fri was Courtney's wedding. Sat I spent 4 hours shooting an outdoor wedding, then came home to change and head out to meet friends for dinner. Sun, I met friends at the park and did family portraits for them. OMG, it was so hot-hot-hot. I remembered to take a ginormous bottle of water with me on Sat, after passing out the last time I did an outdoor shoot, but didn't take one Sun. I started getting really sick as we were trying to get to Starbucks to get someplace cool and get something to drink. I was shaking all over, had trouble catching my breath and my pacer was going nuts. Thank goodness Steph found an elevator and we rode up to Starbucks. If we'd had to walk the stairs, I probably would have passed out again. That would have been embarrassing! I don't know why I've developed this extreme intolerance to heat. I've lived here my whole life and never had this problem, at least, not to this degree. I hate this!!

Wedding Pics

I spent about 4 hours in Saluda today shooting a wedding. I've done one for my sister when she got married, and took some shots for my niece yesterday, but this was different......mostly b/c I didn't know these people before today. I had such a great time though. The people were all very nice, just decent, earthy folks, and they all seemed to have a good time. The bride and groom were such a cute couple, but looked so young to me. I hope they'll have a long, happy marriage!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

My niece is getting married today . I'm so happy for her, and for him. He's a great guy and has come to be a very well loved member of our family. I just can't believe she's old enough to get married. Wow....where did the time go? I love her so much, more than I could ever say. She 's my heart, my life has been so improved because of her existence. I wish them every joy and happiness. Love you baby, Both of you!

I'll Fly Away

I attended a funeral yesterday. The mom of one of my best friends passed away early Tues morning. She was a sweet lady and, judging by the number of folks present, was obviously well loved. I spent a good part of my youth at her house, hanging with her daughter, Gee (nickname of course). She looked very pretty and at peace. Life wasn't easy for her (& her kids), but they always knew they were loved. It was hard to say goodbye, but good to know she was no longer in pain and in a much better place. They played only one song, and I think it was probably the most beautiful rendition I've ever heard....I'll Fly Away sung by Johnny Cash with only a guitar to accompany him. It was incredible and I've been singing it since.

Goodbye, Ms Long. I always loved being at your house as a kid and you showed me how wonderful having a mom could be (mine passed away when I was 7). No matter how many rules we broke, you always scolded with a slight smile on your face and with a gentle loving hand.

Goodbye, for now-we'll miss you.  

First

This is my first blog! On here at least. So it will be short and boring.
yeah, I think this is it. Later