Florida Adventure: Most Unusual Date Site

As we left the Morgue, I told Mr. Wonderful he had outdone himself on finding the new “Most Unusual Date Site.” That I called the tour we were on “a date” was stretching the definition of the word but whenever we eat out, I call it a date. And a meal was included in the “LeeG.R.O.W.S (Government Resource and Orientation Workshop Series)” program we are signed up for. Last Thursday was the first of five Thursdays we will be in government buildings such as the Lee County Court House and County Justice Center or transported by bus to many sites in Lee County that provide services for residents. The five sessions are from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., a long day for the 30-some people, mostly seniors, who have the free time to spend on such a fact finding activity.

Autobiography: My Culture

Blanche told me I was born in Bloody Mingo County in West Virginia. The history of that county includes the feuds in that area of West Virginia and across the border in Kentucky. If you Google Hatfields and McCoys, you, will find that history. There were Hatfields in our family photo album and no McCoys. So I knew whose side we were on.

But there was an even bloodier feud between the Martins and the Tollivers. We’re talking here about a dozen lives lost in the Hatfield and McCoy feud and forty-some in the Martin and Tolliver feud. Blanche was proud to be a Martin.

Autobiography: Summary of my Life

When Bea Weaver, a fellow technical writer/editor at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, and I became friends, I quickly found out she did not like details. She would always insist I tell her the end of a story before she would listen to the details. Then she actually didn’t want more information once she had the abstract. If I were to be with Bea now and say I was putting my autobiography on this blog bit by bit, detail by detail, she would insist on the abstract. So, here it is, written in the third person as if it were a blurb on the cover of a book to let the potential reader know what the book is about.

AN EXAMINED LIFE 

The life of Joan Deerfield Stokie Brown Bence might be a test of the old adage, “You can take the girl out of the hills but you can’t take the hills out of the girl.”

Florida Adventure: Find a Need and Fill It

As I was leaving the condo area where Mr. Wonderful and I live in Florida, there was a car stopped. A 30-something, roly-poly, clean cut Hispanic man was standing next to the car holding a gas can. I offered him a ride to the nearest filling station about a mile away, waited for him to buy gas, drove him back to his car, and said I would wait until he had his car running. Little did he know I might have paid for a tow truck and repairs to the car if that was needed. I haven’t ever done such a thing but suddenly realized here was a need I would fill, no matter what the extent of the need. We often back off from helping because of a fear that more might be expected of us than we are willing to provide. I did not have that fear during this event.

Autobiography: A ruined life? Not!

Dorothy was certainly not happy about the pregnancy; but it did not in any way ruin her life. She was a happy teenager who loved to dance and who was that cute redhead with a talent for making males feel good about themselves. Without a doubt, pregnancy did not mean her options concerning marriage were suddenly limited. Her mind wasn’t on such opportunities but they popped up without warning.

Autobiography: My Beginning

BIRTH ADVENTURE

Both of my mothers, Dorothy and Blanche, were present at my birth. Dorothy had no choice about being present; for Blanche it was optional. Dorothy was too preoccupied with the process of having given birth to witness, as Blanche did, my first adventure.

Autobiography: Approaching the Blog

Son Steve has called my bluff, even if he doesn’t know it. Even if I don’t quite understand the image of a bluff. We use such images with the confidence that we and our listeners know what we are talking about. A bluff is a poker term and I have rarely played poker. But I have watched movies and have a superficial feeling about what a bluff is and think the image fits my current situation.

Random Information and Pictures

This entry contains miscellaneous information and pictures which can be used later.  It is just a holding place for now.