Words from a Reader

The “Writing Life Stories” e-mails I receive are such treasures. As soon as I see there is one in my inbox, I read it immediately. I look forward to them and never know how they will touch me. They can be interesting, informative, humorous, and/or touching.
Showing posts with label Pressley Girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pressley Girls. Show all posts

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Is it Time to Reinvent Me, Again?



Today I made the decision to cancel my upcoming writing classes for this summer. After much soul-searching, I realized that all my time lately is spent at physical therapy, water exercises and other methods of improving my health. For the time being, I must give myself the attention I need. 

Making commitments while dealing with chronic pain and fatigue is difficult. I can still write from home when I feel like it and I can attend a few events when it is convenient, but I don't want others depending on me to be at my best when they pay for classes if I can't be sure I will be at my best.

So, this will free me up for the summer. Mary Mike and I want to go on a genealogy research trip or two when my PT is done. I also plan to spend a week at my sister's in Roswell, GA. I call her house my "town house" and she says my house is her "mountain house." It is fun to visit the city for a few days where I get to eat at some of my favorite restaurants and shop at some stores I enjoy.

Also, when I am away from this house, I don't worry about what needs to be done here. I am even thinking about what it might be like to move to a 55+ community where someone else takes care of the maintenance. I am not sure what is available in my area. But, I am thinking of checking it out.

I am still not able to move things back into my storage room which was flooded recently. When I have time at home, I try to go through boxes I took out of that room. That is quite a job, but I make such neat discoveries. You know how it is, you find things you forgot you had or that you thought had been lost. 

My dear friend, Tipper, put me in contact with her lovely daughter who is between jobs right now and the smart, strong young woman came over one afternoon to help me. She was my legs, up and down the stairs, in and out to the garage, and in just two hours we accomplished so much! 

I have known Tipper's twins since they were little kids and I love seeing how they have matured and become charming young women. My spirits lifted and even the pain faded while working with this Pressley Girl. The twins sing and play instruments and are very popular throughout western NC and north Georgia. I needed someone who could work flexible hours and that is just what Corie wants -- flexible hours. Next week, she will come over again. I look forward to seeing her. 

I have reinvented myself several times over the years, and I feel I am on the verge of a new invention of Me.  How about you? Have you reinvented yourself at different times in your life?

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Thursday, July 7, 2016

Do you shop on Etsy? Some good finds today.

We have in our area, two delightfully talented twin girls or young women, I should say.
They are known as the Pressley Girls, who sing and  play various instruments. I've known  their mother since the girls were small and never met a kinder, sweeter, and more caring  person.

Today she sent the viewers of her blog which is all about Appalachia, to Etsy and her daughter's page.   This twin is known as Chitter. Her sister's nickname is Chatter. Katie and Corie are their real names and I can't tell them apart.

The Etsy page is filled with handmade jewelry that most young people of today would love. Please share this with your grandkids or young girls who like jewelry. The prices are very reasonable.

I loved to wear the earrings  on Chitter's page when I was younger. I  liked the  one of a kind, handmade by someone, appeal. Even though I seldom wear earrings today, I have kept many of those beautiful items over the years.

Check out Chitter's  handy work and  let me  know what  you think.

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend.


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Monday, July 20, 2015

Festival is a bit of nostalgia for me

We have photos from Festival on the Square where our writers group had a booth recently. Visit here if you want to see the pictures. 


Barry and I started attending the Festival on the Square in 1995 when we first moved to Clay County, NC, the smallest county in the state. Tents are set up all over the courthouse square with as many different kinds of crafts and visual arts as you could imagine. Soon my family members came up on the Festival weekend and we carried folding chairs down to sit in front of the gazebo where local musicians of all ages entertained for two days free to the public.

We fell in love with a family group, the Shook Family. The mother and father sang and played mountain music along with their three boys. Over the decades we watched those boys grow up and eventually the singing family scattered and those boys were raising families of their own. I miss them. Young men singing together brought back memories of my four brothers, The Council Brothers Quartet, a popular group in south Georgia back in the forties and fifties. But that story is for another blog post. 

Most of the groups at the festival sold cassette tapes of their music. We always bought them because we wanted to continue to hear those songs,  those voices, so we played them in our cars. My brothers carried home many cassettes from these mountains. Barry had fallen in love with good blue grass music and I often came home to find him on the deck with fiddle and banjo music flowing through the open doors. 

We also came to love another more eclectic group of musicians and singers, Butternut Creek and Friends, a group from Blairsville, GA. Steve Harvey, English professor at Young Harris College plays guitar, banjo and sometimes, the ukulele. He also lends his soft husky voice to harmonies with Jennifer Cordier who plays autoharp. Her husband plays percussion and flute with the band and when we first met them, a young blond woman was part of the group. She sang the most haunting melodies. We were so disappointed when she left the group, but over the years, Butternut Creek and Friends have evolved and made some changes in personnel but never lost that special sound. You will find samples of their newest albums on their website. 

Now my brothers are gone and we don't gather in front of the gazebo anymore to hear the singers. Our Netwest booth was not too far from where we used to sit, but none of my old favorite groups sang this year. Seems there were fewer people sitting in the shade and listening.

But I was happy to see that my favorite blogger, Tipper Pressley was there with her lovely twins,  the Pressley Girls who have grown up before my eyes. They took center stage while their mom and uncle played guitar and bass behind them. I was touched when Katie spoke of her musical family and how growing up with all the adults coming over to practice their music together inspired the girls to want to play and sing. The girls say when they were put to bed while the grownups played music downstairs, the two of them would lie down on the floor near the door so they could hear the singing. Tipper often came up to find them sound asleep on the floor.

Katie recognized her granddad who was sitting out front on a bench. Pap has not been well for a good while, but he was present to hear his family singing on stage. In the past he would have been up there lending his tenor voice to his son Paul's for some great country music.

The Pressley Girls

The festival holds a good bit of nostalgia for me, so it is best to be working in the writers' booth talking to visitors instead of thinking of what once was.




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