Well, here's a belated Happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year "If you don't eat your blackeyed peas - yore overhauls'll have holes in the knees" JAB Sr., Valentine, St. Patrick's Day and an up-coming Easter. We Got back from a 4 day mission trip to New Orleans where we (about 70 people from our congregation) worked on the church building and education building for a congregation there. We had a blast. Sampled all the Cajun food (no oysters) and enjoyed a lot of good fellowship and worship with the New Orleans brothern. Becky, Sherrill's older daughter, is planning a family reunion in April for the Broyles' and Rows. Don't know if E. and I will be up to the long drive but we hope so. Beautiful day today. Supposed to be in the 80's
Thinking about going fishing at the Apt. pond this afternoon. Said that all last summer but never got it done.
Talking about reunions, we used to have frequent family get togethers at my paternal grandparents' home in Mesquite, Texas. All my aunts & uncles & cousins would get together for lunch and the cousins would chase each other around the yard and act silly. Mama Broyles had a green "kitchen safe" that was about 6 foot tall. She always had a pan of biscuits left over from breakfast (Grandpa wouldn't eat store-bought light bread, called it "wasp nests" so Mama Broyles would cook him a pan of scratch biscuits every morning and we kids always looked forward to getting the leftovers.
One of the last reunion the C. E. Broyles clan had was about 30 years ago at the same park in Gainsville where Becky is planning this one. Since then, our father, Clarence, brother Jimmy and his oldest son "Little Jim" have died and Sherrill is now widowed. Many additions to the extended family. At the last reunion, the highlight for me was when brother Jimmy went over and blues dulcimer with a black family that was picnicing at the same pavillion.
The most recent reunion was in August of 2004 shortly before Little Jim died. in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma. Doug was working for a man who had just built a cabin to rent out to tourists and family groups such as us. We all crammed into a 2 bedroom cabin and had a wonderful weekend together.
I will try to locate some pictures and post on the blog soon.