Once Upon a Mattress

November 30, 2010
I overlooked a lovely event in my last post. On Sunday, November 21, Doug and I joined the Day Trippers group from PCWNC at the Whistle Hill Cafe for lunch, which was more than ample and quite delicious. Our attendance was organized by Kathryn Linde. Thanks Kathryn!


We then drove to Weatherford College to be entertained by their production of Once Upon a Mattress. It was absolutely delightful and competently acted. We mixed and mingled with the student actors afterward (see photos) and it was all free! What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Good friends and great entertainment.


The photos of the young actors are full of energy. Don't you agree?

This is all I have to say for now.

Ethan Baby Shower, Freedom House, Barnes & Noble Book Signing

Monday, November 29, 2010
I'm back to writing after some very busy events. I attended a baby shower for Ethan in the home of his soon to be great grandmother. The shower was hosted by Cat's mother and sister. The games were so much fun and I just had no idea how many new games are available for baby showers. Cat and my grandson Andrew decided to let her little son Landon open the gifts and he had a great time. Ethan is due around December 15 and he will be my sixth great grandchild! I think we are out of the baby making business for a while.

Sunday, November 14, 2010 I volunteered to serve refreshments for the blessing of the new building that is the new home of Freedom House. It was a lovely event with excellent attendance and two ministers sharing the blessing.

Then, on the following Tuesday was the ribbon cutting ceremony and there were several hundred people taking part. Executive Director Catherine Tietjen made a short informative speech thanking all those who made this happen with their time, talent and money.

They greeted visitors all day with delicious refreshments and tours of the building. This is such a blessing to the people of Weatherford and I feel especially honored to be a part of its mission.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010 finally arrived for my exciting book signing at Barnes & Noble in Dallas, Texas.

The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas (AICC) sponsored a literacy event spotlighting several members and their talents. Cherokee filmmaker Steven Heape presented his latest documentary, "Don't Get Sick After June: American Indian Healthcare"; August Schellenberg, a Mohawk who played famed Indian chief Sitting Bull in the movie, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and who helped narrate Heape's film; Cherokee Anne Buse who regaled the group with tales from her childhood and James Daniel Yellow Hawk Snow, a master maker and virtuoso player of Native American flutes who played taps in honor of fallen American service members after the colors were presented by the Renegade Nation Color Guard representing various tribes.


I was the featured author with my memoir "The Cherokee Advantage" written under my maiden name C. C. Crittenden. I read passages from my book and talked briefly about why I wrote it.


The event received support from numerous area businesses and was organized by Executive Director of the AICC, Tosawi Marshall, a Comanche.

I was thrilled to see my Dallas friends who came out for the event. It seems that 65 miles is a long way to visit anyone very often. Thanks to all of you for your support.





And last, but by no means least, is a photo of my publicist, Mary Stoddard with me. She is such a cute gal and has worked hard for me. Thanks, Mary.

This is all I have to say for now.

Donkeys, PCWNC Book Club, Red Hatters Day Trip

Friday, November 12, 2010
Thought it about time to make another nature report and the birth of this miniature baby donkey is perfect for this. The mother is Kay and the baby is Katie and they belong to Loretta and Larry Hale in Weatherford, Texas. Katie is one week old and they are both light enough in color that one can really see the sign of the cross on their backs. I believe all donkeys have this, but it's just more difficult to see on the dark colored donkeys. Legend tells us that the shadow of the cross fell across the donkey at the Crucifixion of Christ. They are very calm and like to be petted.


Loretta hosted our PCWNC Book Club meeting for November and I spotted the Donkeys the moment I drove up. We had an excellent meeting and delicious refreshments. We discussed the book "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. Outstanding writing and the author gives the reader much to think about while digesting this wonderful word portrait. I highly recommend this book to any and all. You won't want to put it down for anything.


The Wild West Women of Weatherford Red Hatters drove to Hico, Texas to visit the small settlement of Heritage Homestead. The people living here are of a religious sect and are mostly self-contained. They have a lovely restaurant with delicious food (we had lunch here), a forge, a woodworking shop, a grist mill, pottery house, sorghum house and a school where they teach others how to make all the things that they sell. They have a huge garden as well as an herb garden. They are currently building a cheese store since they already make their own cheese. They have won national awards in this endeavor leading to their decision to build this store to make their cheese more readily available to the visiting public. They have also won national prizes for their exquisite furniture making.

They make lovely smelling soaps, of which I bought several bars because they make great Christmas gifts. We all did a fair amount of Christmas shopping and I also bought a stunning lazy susan made from a slice of a mesquite tree trunk, beautifully finished and embellished with turquoise, for my dining table.


On the way home, we stopped at the Christmas Store in Hillsboro, Texas and bought some Christmas decorations and other items. There were ten of us piled into a large SUV and we filled it up so well, we nearly didn't have room for our purchases. However, being Red Hatters, we managed to fit everything in without feeling too much like sardines packed in a tin.

Today, I went to my regular PCWNC meeting and luncheon. It was my privilege and pleasure to introduce our guest speaker, Selma Johnson, who is an S.A.P.I.P. (Sexual Assault Prevention Intervention Program) Coordinator with Freedom House. Freedom House is a safe place for spouses and children to go during crisis times, especially physical violence. I am a Freedom House volunteer involved with one particular area of counseling sessions and am enjoying the challenge and learning experience tremendously.

They have just moved into their new building and I will be back later with photos and more on the grand opening.

This is all I have to say for now.

Halloween, Election Training, Opera, Election Site, Twins Arrive

Sunday, November 7, 2010
I really got into the spirit of Halloween and wore my witche's attire to the PCWNC Game Daze event in Betty Cooper's lovely home. There was a good crowd and we had fun learning a new game called Cards, Jokers and Marbles. It took a little while to catch on to, but it was a good brain exercise.

On Wednesday, October 27th, the Red Hat chapter was treated to a Halloween Party hosted by Joyce Bruton in Mineral Wells. Her home was beautifully decorated and she even created some really fun games for us to play. We had clowns, witches, kitty cats, etc. I went as a lady from India. We all brought covered dishes and enjoyed a delicious array of food.

I spent a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon in election training for the mid-term elections at the Weatherford Senior Citizen's Hall. This was in preparation for serving as a clerk during the election on November 2nd.

On Sunday, October 31, Doug and I drove to Dallas to go to Winspear Opera House to see Anna Bolena at the Sunday matinee. It was absolutely wonderful. When we arrived, they couldn't find our reservations so they wound up seating us in the orchestra section, row N in the center of the theater for the same price. We were thrilled and thoroughly enjoyed our first experience at the Winspear.

I got up at 4:00 a.m. to get ready, eat breakfast and make my way to precinct 450 by 6:00 a.m. to help set up by 7:00 when the polls open. We were ready for them and it was, indeed, a very long day, but a fun one. The ladies I worked with were great personalities and we enjoyed each other as well as the job at hand. I got home at 8:00 p.m. and was too wound up to go right to bed, but finally got to bed at 10:00 p.m.

At 1:00 a.m. the phone rings and it is our daughter-in-law, Kelley, calling to tell us that Jennifer was on the way to the hospital to have the twins. I thanked her, told her to call me when they arrived and went back to sleep. Any other time, I would have dressed and driven over there, but all those hours at the voting site just did me in. Sometime after 5:00 a.m., son Russ calls to tell us the babies have arrived and in excellent condition. Again, we went back to sleep.

In the meantime, Jennifer developed an unusually high blood pressure. Grandson Taylor asked us not to come to the hospital until the next day to give her time to relax and get her blood pressure down. When we went over to see them on Thursday, Ashton, the oldest twin, was still in the nursery under blue lights due to newborn jaundice so we didn't get to see him. However, Landon was there in the room wide awake and just precious. I got to hold him and feed him while we were there.

Ashton weighed 6 lbs. 2 ozs. and is 19-3/4" long. Landon weighed 4 lbs. 15 ozs. and is 17-3/4" long. Landon has the longest fingers of the two. They are not identical twins, but they certainly look alike at this point in their development. They both have a lot of blond hair. Jennifer was discharged from the hospital today (the boys were discharged yesterday and they and Taylor spent the night in Jennifer's room at the hospital). We were all there when they arrived home. Jennifer's mother and grandmother had decorated the house inside and out and it really looked great. In the middle of all this excitement, "Pops", as my son Russ will now be known, had his 53rd birthday on November 5th. What a lovely birthday present!


This is all I have to say for now.