Saturday, March 2, 2024

Family - Dean Gipson

 Family

What we know about the young boy, Dean, that my great-grandparents took in when he was 9 years old.

The photo below is of Dean Gipson, his wife and their son.  Dean's family threw him out when he was 9 years old and Granny and Pa took him in and raised him.  He took their name, Gipson.  He eventually married a girl from Vines Ridge and moved to Ohio.  He had a son and a daughter.  I don't remember ever meeting him but he obviously stayed in touch with at least Pa and Granny.  He was one of the miners in last week's photo. 


Dean Gipson, his wife and son

After last weeks post on our family, I asked my sister a few questions about Dean. We all knew about him as you would any member of your family but none of us (my sister, myself, or my brother) remember ever meeting him. 

Below is a dictated account of Dean, how he became part of our family, and a harrowing story about a farm accident involving Dean.

After I sent this picture of Dean, I read a memoir Grandma Dorothy dictated for me back in 1999.  This is what I found out about Dean:

After Doc and I were married, Granny and Pa adopted a little boy. His mother had passed away and there were several in the family and the father could not do with the children, I guess, so he let Granny and Pa adopt Dean. 

He was a very sweet child and Doc just fell in love with him. Doc was teaching him a lot of things around the farm, how to feed the mule and feed the cows and the chickens and the hogs. Doc was always pulling pranks and doing things, so one day, he put a black snake in the corn crib to eat the mice and rats who were eating the corn. So, Dean would go with Doc to shuck the corn and shell it to feed to the animals and Dean was alright as long as Doc went with him to the crib because he was afraid of the snake. One day, Doc wasn't available to go with him, so Dean had to go the crib by himself and shuck and shell the corn. He was just scared to death of that snake. He told Doc, "If you want me to feed the stock and go into the crib and shuck and shell the corn, you're going to have to get rid of that snake." So Doc had no other choice but to get rid of the snake so Dean could go into the crib and shuck and shell the corn.

After a while, Dean grew to love all the animals. He was such a good kid, he was so much help to Granny and Pa. He did the feeding. One time, he went into the barn to feed the mule. They kept the mule so they could plow the land. They had no tractors or anything like that. They had to use animal power. They had to use the mule to plow and cultivate the land to grow the corn to feed the animals. So, this day, Dean got his corn and feed and started into the barn to feed the mule and he stumbled over the door going into the barn and fell right under the mule's feet. The mule was scared and startled and it kicked Dean right in the face and almost took one of his eyes. It was terrible. We were all scared to death. The nearest doctor was at Livingston, about 25 or 30 miles away, so they had to get him in the car and take him all the way to Livingston. We just knew he was going to lose his left eye. When they got him to the doctor, though, the doctor took him in and sewed his face up and put his eye back in the socket (it was plumb out of the socket) and saved his eye. It was miracle; God just had to be watching over him and He saved his eye. After that, though, Dean always had a weak eye on the left side. His eye watered and you could tell he had a weak eye, but the
doctor did save his eye. That was a real scary, bad time for us, because we thought sure he was going to lose that eye.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Family - My Baby Boy

 Family - My Baby Boy

And just like that ... my baby boy is 30 years old.


My baby boy and his sister who turned 32 years old a couple of weeks ago.

Where does the time go?


Thursday, February 29, 2024

Red/White Bear Paw Progress

Red/White Bear Paw Progress

I feel as though I have been working on this quilt project for awhile now. This past weekend I managed to get all of quilt blocks completed.


This is a scrappy red/white quilt project.
I started this project after seeing the Bear Paw block all over my social media feed. I love the look of this block. A LOT!


Now that the blocks are complelted it is down to the sashing and borders and this red/white quilt project will be complete.

 

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Book Club

 Book Club

Years ago I was part of book club, we meet monthly, very intelligent older gentlemen picked the books that we read and all of them were so heartbreakingly morbidly depressing that I quit reading the books. That being my book club experience, I haven't been real interested in participating in a book club.

But ...


My daughter and I have decided to make our on little book club and our first book is the first book of the Harry Potter series. I have seen all of the movies but never read the books.
It's time and I'm excited to read this book.


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Pen Pal

Pen Pal

I'm very fortunate that I grew up in a time when handwriting was a skill to be mastered and where folks wrote letters and post-cards to friends and family.

Hand written anything seems to be a thing of the past. Along with email, text messaging, and social media we now even have digital signatures that have replaced handwriting almost completely.

Fortunately for me I have a sister who agrees that hand writing and communicating via post-cards, cards, and letters is still an important skill and a joyful task.

I don't know about you but I love getting mail.


Recently I was sick and didn't get out of the house until I was feeling better, so I ended up with two letters to send to my sister. 

I highly recommend letter writing, journaling, and any other form of handwriting. Handwriting is a beautiful skill and so it seems a dying art.

 

Monday, February 26, 2024

I Love This Little Life

 I Love This Little Life

Recently I came across the article below online.


@deepbreathssmallsteps on Instagram

These words really hit home for me and gave me pause to be truly thankful for this little life I have carved out and blessed enough to live.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

In Queue

 In Queue

Like most quilters I have quilt projects in progress and quilt projects in queue.


I especially have several red/white quilt projects in queue. The red/white star quilt pictured above reminds me of the Moda LOVE pattern and is possibly the next red/white quilt in my quilt project queue. I have planned for a while to make a Jacob's Ladder quilt block pattern in red/white ... I'm not sure which one I will make first. I'm presently still working on the red/white Bear Paw scrap quilt but getting closer to finishing that project.
I love having options, I love red/white quilts, and more and more I love traditional quilt patterns.


Saturday, February 24, 2024

Gas Stove

 Gas Stove

A little short of a month ago the 100 lb. propane tank that supplies gas to my kitchen stove was finally empty. I have lived in this house for 5 years and the gas just ran out.


After almost 4 weeks without the use of my stove ... this is a beautiful sight!


Friday, February 23, 2024

Family

Family

My sister has been sharing pictures and family history via text messages. I can't tell you how much I enjoy getting a random text message in the middle of the day about my family. It always makes my day.

The pictures and text below is her latest installment


Dean Gipson, Patrick (Pa) Gibson, Liza (Granny) Gibson's brother, and Doc (Grandpa) Gibson
**Note** Our family name was Gipson with a "P" until my Grandpa Doc married my Grandma Dorothy. My Grandma Dorothy changed it to Gibson with a "B".**


Coal Mine - Crawford, Tennessee

These pictures were taken about 100 years ago.  This is the coal mine our family worked in.  The men in the picture are Dean Gipson, Pa, Granny's brother and Grandpa Doc.  That doesn't really look like Grandpa but that's what Grandma Dorothy told me.  Dean Gipson was a neighbor boy Granny and Pa took in and raised.  I don't know about you, but I am very thankful none of us had to work in a hole in the ground to feed our family. 

This was up around Crawford, Tennessee, near the Tennessee Kentucky line.  

Monday, February 19, 2024

Family - Celebrating

 Family

Celebrating My Girl's 32nd birthday


We had a wonderful day. I all began with visiting a new pop-up shop that does permanent jewelry. We decided on matching bracelets with little heart charms. 


Then on to manicures and a pop in at Joann's fabric for some yarn. We will be crocheting hats soon.


Then it was onto Nama's our favorite sushi joint for an early dinner. We finished the evening at her place with her favorite ice box pie.

Happy Birthday baby girl!


Sunday, February 18, 2024

Red/White Bear Paw Quilt Project

 Red/White Bear Paw Quilt Project

This project seems to be the quilting project that I have landed on at the moment.


Back in my red/white fabric scrap box for this one.


This quilt block is a bit fussy. With all of the half square triangles there is a fair bit of trimming.


Lots and lots of half square triangles ... LOTS!


That being said, I love this traditional quilt block pattern.


Red/White Bear Paw Quilt
Size = TBD