John McAdams, My Great-Grandfather

John McAdams was a groundbreaker, in his own way.  He lived near Lake City, Arkansas.  Rice and cotton were the main crops in the area.  Between the rice paddies and the swampy lake, you can imagine the flies and mosquitoes.  This was also the time of out-door toilets.  Mr. McAdams was the first, and for a long time, only person to put screens on his windows.  His neighbors thought it was a terrible waste of good money, and a useless idiosyncrasy.  But he didn’t care what they thought, he didn’t want flies crawling on his food.

John McAdams, my paternal great-grandfather, was of Scottish descent.  He married a McBride, daughter of a Cherokee woman and a Scotsman.  His daughter Maude McAdams (my grandmother) was born in Alabama on March 14, 1882. She had two sisters, Ludie and Mae, and a brother Herbert McAdams, who became a doctor.

Maude married young, to a Mr. Dunavant.  Mr. Dunavant, I am told, liked his liquor.  She had two children, both boys, by Mr. Dunavant.  But before the second child was born, she ‘went home to see her mother and father’.  [My old maid schoolteacher aunt, my father’s younger sister, told me this story so there is more than a hint of old-fashioned formality in it.]

Great Food on the Gulf Coast

Our recent vacation to the Florida Gulf Coast was so full of wonderful things that I have forgotten until now to mention the great food we enjoyed.

There was a restaurant called The Boar’s Head fairly close to Sugar Sands where we stayed. I really did not want to drive to Thomas Dr. and all the new traffic patterns and strange (to me) intersections.  It was just as well, as while we were there the main attraction called the Treasure Ship burned to the ground.  It had contained various entertainment venues, I think, as well as three restaurants.  Then there was the clog of sightseers driving slowly by to goggle at the late, great Treasure Ship.

So we went to The Boar’s Head and it was Good.  Jerry had sirloin steak and I had prime rib with shrimp cocktail for starters.  The next evening, our last, we were caught in torrential rains and rather than look for something new, we went back to the place we knew served good food in a relaxing, quiet atmosphere–The Boar’s Head.  I dropped Jerry off under the portico and parked the car.  Partially sheltered by a big pink rose of an umbrella (birthday gift from friend Rebecca), I waded through ankle-deep puddles to the front door.

Usually when one gets wet feet, one gets a chill and comes down with a bad cold, or at least that’s the way it was when I was growing up sixty years ago.  I guess it’s different when the water is warm, the air is warm, and the restaurant is not chilly.  I was never uncomfortable (my pedal neuropathy may have kept me from feeling my damp feet) and I didn’t get sick.  Of course, that old saw about getting sick from a chill is silly anyway, one gets sick from a bacteria or a virus, everybody knows that.  Anywayyyyyy…

There we were: I had raved so much about the prime rib that we both ordered it this time–mine was medium rare, yum! Creamy horseradish sauce accompanied our prime rib with sides of garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. It sounds pretty pedestrian, but wait!

We shared an appetizer of fried alligator; it was sort of like chicken, mild and tender.  We forewent the wine this time and had coffee both before and after the meal.  It was all good, and if you are even in Panama City Beach FL, I recommend The Boar’s Head restaurant to you.

Rough Seas in the Gulf of Mexico

The surf is up, red flags flying

Jerry is observing the rough seas when we arrived in Panama City Beach, FL on April 25, 2010.  It was just after a big storm had passed through the area.  This is also just after the oil spill began in the Gulf but before it had reached North Florida beaches.

The wind blew constantly, and gusted.  The sun was warm and the temperatures were in the 70s, and we got as much windburn as sunburn. Although with today’s sunscreen lotions we didn’t get burned, just brown.

Jerry and I remember well our first visits to the Gulf of Mexico over 50 years ago, before sunscreen was invented.  All we had was baby oil to smear on our bodies and boy, did we ever get tanned!

Gulf World, Panama City Beach, FL

We love Gulf World so much we’re going back. Actually, we were so late showing up they put us ‘in the book’ so we could come back for free to see all their shows, not just the Dolphin Show we went for. That means we get to see the Dolphin Show we love so much again!

Talk with the animals...

Swim with the dolphins...

Leaping Lizards!... uh, I mean Leaping Dolphins!

We were the only people there for the last show of the day… it was off-season… so we had a personal, up-close, Reptile Show!  The snakes were cool and smooth to the touch, the lizard rough and dry.  It was great!  Here is our Host:

Standing Flamingo

A Lazy desert Lizard

The House where I grew up…

C.1942: My parents, Conus and Hubert Rheubush in front of their home at 617 Creath.  Both Conus and Hubert were conscious of their civic duties and contributed their skills to the war effort.  They were active in the church, taught First Aid and Emergency First Aid classes during World War II. My mother organized a Brownie troop for the girls in my class, including LaVelle Panneck and Shirley Holt, both of whom were at our high school reunion.  Later, Mother and Mrs. Lois Panneck, LaVelle’s mother, were our Girl Scout Leaders.

If you look hard, you can see the Red Cross symbol on the front door, just above Mother’s head.  First Aid classes for adults were held in the basement of East School at night. I went with them.  The bandaging was interesting.  I was the practice dummy.

I have a Roseville tea set my parents received as a thank you gift from one of the classes.

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