Sharon, this is a treasure of a story and so nicely written...are you sure you are not related to Eudora Welty? Although i believe Eudora was from Georgia, your story reminds me of some of her stories. The great American painter Georgia O'Keefe, who was very well traveled by the time she reached her elder years, was once asked what was the most exotic place in the world she had been to. Her reply was "the Southeastern United States".

Such sweet words, Beverly, thank you! I read Eudora Welty some time ago and Georgia O'Keefe is one of my personal favorite artists, so your words are truly treasures. But sadly no, I'm not related to a single famous person. If you enjoy reading about my part of the country and my escapades there, you can find a few more listed somewhere, probably easy to find on my home page. One about the Mayapple plant comes to mind. I think you would like it.

Thanks for reading and especially for letting me know. Isn't ATP a fine place to be, a place where we can freely write about our childhoods and even get to share those stories with people like you? Love it!

So great to hear from you! Thanks again!

I think "famous" people are often highly over-rated. Could any "famous" person possibly replace Aunt Bett? I don't think so.

I was recently at a gathering of people, some of whom i know and some of whom i don't know. I was introduced to one of the latter who, upon hearing my last name, asked me if i was related to some famous movie director, screenwriter in the US (i don't know exactly and had never heard of this person before). I did give it some thought though and replied that possibly in the 1600's or 1700's we were the same family but today, it is not like we get together for the holidays. I was surprised at her insistence. "Are you SURE you are not related?" I told her we might be very distantly related but i do not know this person. Upon hearing this, she abruptly ended the conversation and walked away It really amazes me sometimes to be reminded what some people think is important.

I thought this section of the ATP homepage was just for ideas and not for stories. Sometimes i feel bursting with stories but never seem to sit down long enough to write one. I have a very demanding garden, afterall I will surely seek out your stories about Aunt Bett, etc. and maybe pull up something to share. Yes indeed, it is lovely to have a nonjudgmental place to share these kinds of stories and experiences.

I think this type of writing is considered an article because it is plant related, so it fits into 'Ideas and Articles'.

Interesting about your gathering; the person who asked about your claim to fame might have received the message more quickly if you had answered: "I'm nobody, who are you? Are you nobody too?" ~ E. Dickinson.

Of course a real lady would never say something like that in such a polite crowd.

Let's hear it for Ms Emily Dickinson

Of course you should toss in the 'admiring bog' part too.
Just for special effects.

Hee hee, and I know correctly the line is "tell your name the livelong day," but I always remember it as "croak your name..."

Ha Woof!! Only you . . . only ever you!

Ribbit.

Yes, and i think "admiring bog" would have whizzed right past the member of same with whom i spoke.

Sometimes there is a very fine line between ignorance and bliss.

I was just talking to someone the other day about "ignorance is bliss". I wonder where that statement comes from? I wonder just how long it has been around? Well anyway, far be it from me to deny any one's bliss, although ignorance seems to be in abundant supply, while there appears to be a dearth of bliss. But you know when i think about it, i sure don't know how i would even define "ignorance". I have met people who cannot read or write but are wise about other things and with their lively minds, i do not consider them to be ignorant. When i crossed the border from the US to Mexico, in adventurous anticipation of some warm early retirement years, i realized that i had, in an instance changed from a well-educated, well-traveled woman of the world to a complete illiterate. I could not speak, i could not understand, i could not read. I had studied French but that really didn't help me at all with Spanish and i found this to be a profoundly hilarious situation. I am still laughing. I was and remain dumbfounded by how kind the people were to me. Even a driver of a big truck (in Mexico truck drivers have the reputation of being the biggest baddest men around) showed me a kindness. If i could have talked to him, i would have said "hey, i thought you were supposed to be really mean what's the matter with you?" Of course, first thing upon reaching my destination was to enroll in Spanish classes but i still speak like a 6-year old. I guess, if i am going to be completely honest with myself, i would have to define "ignorance", as anyone who doesn't agree with me Now look what a mess of words you have made me spew out. Something tells me you are the kind of person who evokes that in other people which is a totally charming quality to have and which i wish i had more of. Perhaps you have a definition of "ignorance" you would like to share with us?

I am ignorant most of the time!! I agree with you, it's the situation we find ourselves in that brings that until-then-well-hidden-ignorance to the fore. Sometimes it doesn't take much of a situation.

Both my grandmothers and my Aunt Bett had only an 8th grade education. Women born in the late 1800s and early 1900s didn't go to school beyond that time because there was no real reason unless they were going into nursing or teaching. To me, both then and now, they were brilliant.

I guess you have to take into consideration the fact that we all are ignorant of some things.

You know how occasionally you get together with a group of friends and all have dinner together? Inevitably there is a joker in the crowd, one who draws attention by telling jokes. The longer the joke, the more he loves to tell it. Well, in that same little group of friends, his wife -- who is a really good friend of mine -- never 'gets' a joke. She just rarely understands them and never laughs because she sees nothing funny. The entire group will be rolling in laughter but she sits there with a blank look. She just doesn't get jokes. But she has her doctorate in Early Childhood Education and has been principal of a school in NY. She also taught for awhile at a university here in KY. But for that one moment in time, she is ignorant of joke humor.

I guess we are all ignorant when we find ourselves in a discussion or situation that we know nothing about. The life cycle of an octopus, forget it, I am mostly ignorant of underwater life cycles. But let's talk about Ancient Cultures and I fit right in. Or making Sauerkraut or apple butter -- there I am a genius.

Makes one wonder, though, where's the bliss?

All fun aside, it's really interesting how you found your way to retirement in Mexico. Amazing. I love your 'mess of words'.

I think you are right, we are all ignorant and wise and brilliant in some ways. I don't know how the "bliss" fits in unless we take joy in all that we are and not just part of what we are and in all that other people are and not just part. This is wonderful news...when i need a sauerkraut genius, i'll know just who to talk to

At your service, M'am.

And how are you at fermented pickles? (I have a friend who is agonizing over making pickles without vinegar.)

And as far as ignorance, my (and my DH's too) opinion is that no one knows everything and you can learn something new from anyone, if you just take the time to listen. Makes no matter what their age, basic intelligence, or level of education. Everyone knows something that I don't. (Heh, not too high a watermark, there. )

I'm not great with pickles mostly because I don't have any great fondness for them. Mom made them all the time but I never bothered. Sauerkraut only involves salt and I manage pretty well with that. I just don't do pickles, Woof!

Everybody knows something that I don't know and that's the total truth. It's so sad when people turn their minds off to learning. The more I read, the more I learn and the more I talk with people, well it's all the same. I used to love talking with older people. I learned so much from my own older relatives I always thought there would be something more to learn from older friends. And that was true too.

The problem with that concept though, Woof, is that now I'm the older generation at almost 73 and it scares me a little that there's still so much I don't know.

The oil spill from a barge collision late yesterday created a mess on the Mississippi River, the part that flows through the far western edge of KY nearly on the Missouri line. So today I've spent hours trying to find out which fish the oil is surely killing. Of course it's several miles from my home but the banks of the river that flows through the state are ripe with Civil War History, and the feel of the place is just very nearly hallowed to me. So of all things, I worry about those fish and realized I have no clue which fish are abundant there. It's sort of rural there so not many people but there are water critters.

See, there's just no telling what ignorance tomorrow will bring to me.