Month: November 2025

Letters from a Marine: 1949 – 1952

| Flower Roberts

My sister and I found a large envelope of letters from my mom’s high school boyfriend while we were cleaning out her house to sell it. We started to read the letters while mom was still alive in a nursing home. We just could not do it. We felt like it was an invasion of her privacy. She had dementia. Sometimes she spoke of Louis like we should know him. Once she wanted to leave him a message over the phone.  She thought he needed to know where she went. Mama wanted to leave Daddy messages, too.  Both of them were gone by then. We just let her do whatever comforted her.

After Mama died, my sis and I were sorting contents of boxes we had moved from the homeplace to my sister’s house. Here was that envelope again. I opened it and started reading the letters outloud. Louis came to life right there in my sissy’s kitchen. His letters were full of what he was doing and what he was missing.

RIFLE Practice

He was riding on a ship or a helicopter, hiking, digging foxholes, cleaning bunkers, standing watch, stringing barb wire and cleaning his rifle. He was missing deer season, trout season, football games and home.

His duty in 1951 took him to Kobe, Japan and then Pusan and Yanngu, South Korea. He describes the steep mountains and cold weather often.

Three buddies

He tells stories of a pesky mouse in his bunker that dropped things during the night. This caused some drama in the dark. There was also a lizard that drank coffee.

I have put the original letters, envelopes and photos in plastic sleeves and organized them in order in a big notebook. This treasure will be going to his daughter to be shared with her two brothers.

This young Marine was a great writer and storyteller. I see why my mom kept the letters for over seventy years. This is a window into the past of a nice person who ended up serving as a Marine for over thirty years.

I have always appreciated our military putting themselves in harm’s way. This is the first time I have closely considered their time away from friends and family, as well as the freedoms they give up to serve.

This young man missed his hometown, football games, hunting and fishing seasons, his family, his friends and my Mama.

Louis and Mama married other people, but they were great penpals for over three years. I doubt my Mama’s letters made all the moves of a Marine, but I am proud to give these to the children that missed precious time with their Marine father.

Thank you Louis.

FLOWER

The Two Lost Letters

| Flower Roberts

I went through my safe this evening in order to find two letters. These two letters were opened with a knife, not my usual ripping.
I never saw them until I took a box of cards and photos home from my mother’s house in the spring of 2024 as we were cleaning it out to be sold.
The two letters were from two young men I dated while away at school. I am looking for dates on these, not just content.
There was a period of busy months when I lived in a nearby city while my mail still came to Enwood. I am hoping these letters came during that period and were simply forgotten by my parents.

My dad had the habit of turning the stack of mail face down to cut each envelope open before turning them face up to remove the contents. I do not feel that they were intentionally cut open to be read. I did find two more Christmas cards that were cut open that I had read. This gave me some comfort.

I have waited to do this. I have had so much else to decipher. I really do not know what to do with this information when I get it. I have discovered more meddling.  There were also deflected phone calls. Was my future shaped by forces I was not aware of?

I moved out of my home and into an apartment in Statesville August of 1984. I moved back to Enwood mid-November to take a job at my alma mater high school as a biology teacher. It was a much better position and I could save money living at home.

That summer and fall were a blur of preparing for my sister’s wedding in July, both of us moving away from home and readjusting to new jobs.

Date stamps on misplaced letters.

The date stamps on these letters were June 20, 1984 and Dec 20, 1984. That is when it would be understandable for my family to have been too busy to remember to pass the letters along to me. It was also a time when I was making big decisions about my future.

I will choose grace here. What else can I do? My precious parents are both gone and these two men married other women. Maybe the two letters would not have changed anything.

This is just a small part of a long story. Actually, it is part of three long stories.

Flower

Past Family Picnics

| Flower Roberts

I drove to our family’s favorite picnic spot along the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday.

Julian Price Picnic Area

This is called Julian Price Picnic grounds. Just up the road is Price Lake and Julian Price Campground. My family spent many happy days at these places.

Gravel beach in the creek’s curve.

The Dudley side of the family picnicked in this spot often. Someone always went early to save it.

Deep part of creek.

We loved it because of the stones across the creek and the gravel beach in the curve where the water got deeper.

Loved playing on these stones.

I sorted through decades of photos to find these of past picnics. Many of these people are gone now. I will say to those of you who have not lost somebody close yet, you never stop loving them. You just have to find different ways to express that love after they are gone…Like writing and talking about them.

Boys being boys.

These photos made me smile. All these children are grown up now. We have such sweet memories of them playing in the water on those hot summer days.

The Dudley family enjoying each others’ company.

As I sat there alone, I was not lonely. My heart felt grateful again. What a great family I have had and still have.

Love you Dudleys!

FLOW

Daddy’s 5,840 Slides

| Flower Roberts

I got the neighbor’s children to help move all the boxes of slides and the three projectors to one place in the basement. I was tired of looking at them every day. They have been downstairs for months now. I am finally strong enough to go down the steps. I went down yesterday to look and take photos. I need to know what is ahead of me.

The slide closet in the basement.

Each box with a reel in it potentially holds 140 slides. There are 41 reel boxes and a shoe box of little boxes and random letters. That means there could be 5,840 slides.

Three projectors and more slides.

My sister and I purged hundreds of inherited slides when we emptied our parents’ house. These inherited slides were mostly of people we did not know in places we had not been. There were even hundreds of double slides and a binocular stereoscope viewer. At first we were careful and respectful in our purging. By the end we were thinking these folks were self-absorbed and took way too many photos of their dog and cat.

My plan is to purge and color-code these thousands of slides while I am snowed in this winter. I will keep a fire going in Daddy’s big stove as I sort through sixty years of slides. This sounds like a great way to spend snowy days. Mr. Flower bought me a lovely blue Lodge pan for cooking on the stove if there is a power outage. Daddy would have loved that.

I have done some sorting before when old friends were coming to stay here on the mountain. We hiked Grandfather Mountain with this family in our younger years. We made a slide show just for them. Their color was purple.

It was a wonderful visit. The last before my parents passed. We suspected such and wanted it to be perfect.

I am determined not to leave this purging task for my children to tackle. I will confess that the inheritance of stuff has changed the course of my life. I do not want my two children to be overwhelmed by what I leave behind. They have too much stuff of their own right now.

I will bravely tackle this task for the sake of the family that follows, so they won’t have to wonder,  ‘”Who are these folks? Where are they? and ” Who is that spoiled beagle in all these photos?”

FLOWER and the slides

Following the Lines

| Flower Roberts

These books are supposed to be for coloring mindfuly and de-stressing. I have tried that. It does not work for me. I would rather draw or paint than color between the lines.
I have these books bevause of their lines. While I was an artist, I used these lines as inspiration to make templates to cut stained glass. I made brooches, hanging ornaments, stepping stones and mosaics. The work was hard on my hands, but I loved it. I still have most of my equipment. Maybe I will make some small things now that there are fewer plants in my workshop…or not.


I will share a page from each book, so you can enjoy the lovely lines of the drawings.

Books with beautiful lines.

American Wild Flowers by Paul E. Kennedy has good clean lines and accurate illistration. There are colored pictures of each so the correct colors can be used.

Enviroscapes by MindWare has beautifully arranged groupings. The use of symmetry is amazing. The drawings are large, so not hard to color.

Lilypads and waterlily blooms from EnviroScapes

Haeckel’s book of diatoms will be loved by any biologist. The first time I saw one under a microscope, the world stopped. Some pictures are colored. All have the scientific names. There is a ClipArt cd included. This is a treasure.

Euchitonia species

Ruth Heller is one of my FAVORITE illustrators. The children’s books she has done are wonderful. Look her up for more of her artwork. There are also coloring books by her of Ornaments. Sea.Life, Shapes and Spring Has Sprung. Oh dear! I must look those up.

Various leaves in many sizes.

Winged Wonders by Color Creatives has many different styles of art. Some resemble mandalas and mosaics. This is a nicely mixed set of illustrations for someone who intends to color the pictures.

Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta is amazing just to look at. The drawings are complex so do not frustrate a little person with this book. She encourages coloring in patterns. Gorgeous drawings without color.

Wow!!!

Nature, Coloring for Mindfulness has pages full of repeated patterns. It is intricate.

The last one is Secret Garden An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book by Johanna Basford. I consider this the most magical of all of these. Each page is a surprise. THIS is my favorite. Looking through these pages is like touring a wonderland.

If you know of someone who colors, draws or does stained glass art, one of these books would make a great gift.

I hope all are still in print. I have had some of these for decades.

FLOWER

Zoo in a Box

| Flower Roberts

Inside this little box is an entire zoology course.

Zoo in a box

The cards are arranged by the common names of animal phyla in order of complexity: fish, mollusks, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Sixty postcards of rare book illustrations

The pictures are copies of paintings from the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. There is information in the front of the box about the history of the museum and the processes used to make the original prints. I would call this ‘Museum in a Box’ but that title will come in a later post about another box.

Fascinating information about museum, books and printing methods

Each postcard has information on the back about the subject, artist, and location of the animal’s habitat. I love reading the descriptions because many of the animals are strange to me.

I will be at my desk on cold days perusing the zoo.

FLOW

My Paper Plants

| Flower Roberts

The green is gone here on the mountain. My other home is never this brown in November. The wind and cold have kept me inside more than I am used to. These conditions are causing what I call “green anemia.”

Plant people know what I am referring to. I do have a few special plants here, but they cannot compare to my indoor jungle back home.

Two clivias, a cereus and an epiphyllum

To address my need for green, I have a large selection of paper plants. I have put these out on the Zebra so I can walk by and get a plant buzz. I will take you on a tour of my paper conservatory.

Mary Delay Notecards

Here is the back of the box. If you have never seen her work made of cut colored paper, stop reading and look her up. I have several books about her life. You need to know her.

The Passion flower on the right is my favorite.

My sis ordered an antique book about her for me as a gift. It is one of my treasures.

THIS book has artwork from Kew Royal Botanical Gardens. It has groupings so you can pick your fix for the day.

Botanicum curated by Katie Scott and Kathy Willis

Almost every page is frameworthy.  I consider this another treasure.

Ornamental shrubs

Wildflowers

I got this WALL COLLAGE set with two sided cards and sticky circles. You can make your own diplay of plants, animals, fungi, planets… If you have a little scientist or artist, they should have something similar to play with. Cards could be sorted or copied. I can imagine a lot of thoughtful quiet-time with this.

Wall collage kit

The last book I will share is a sticker book.

Unbelievable artwork

I have not removed a single sticker. It is too precious to dismantle.

Desert plants section
Rainforest section

I will share more in another post. This is how I plan to survive my first winter on the mountain. If you know someone who suffers from “green anemia” you may want to get them a survival kit of paper plants.

FLOWER

Pure Gold Pauses

| Flower Roberts

When I was teaching college biology I used to pause before an important point and alert my students that a gold nugget of knowledge was forthcoming. If I had been my student taking notes, I would have drawn an asterix in the margin, maybe skipped a line for the pause and breathed in.

I do this backwards as I read. I highlight the gold nugget and put an asterisk in the margin. If I consider the point really valuable, I flip to the front book jacket and write down the page number with a brief note or symbol.

I sometimes called these pregnant pauses because various facts were about to be birthed into a bigger concept. All the pieces finally came together to be joined forever, never to be seen as separate again. Like spinning gold from words.

Pure Gold Pauses take careful consideration and viewing a concept from all sides.  It is a skill that takes one’s full attention and relentless practice.

I just finshed a book with so much gold in it that I dried up three highlighters.  It was HOW TO KNOW A PERSON by David Brooks.  I am a fast reader but this book required quiet reading and pauses before and after each section. I will read it several more times as I wander where this book trail leads, but for now I will return to the asterisks, reread the pages I noted in the front cover and then site quietly for a time with my phone on silent.

I have always admired David Brooks, but now I love him. He is on every page of this book trying to see and be seen, hear and be heard, love and be loved. He has written other things and will write other things. This may be his magnum opus.

When I look back at my notes, page 164 got a grief post-poned note, page 165 got a WOW, page 250 got a heart.

If you have ever lost a soul-mate (mine was Sandra) you must read about his friend Pete. This part was raw and honest and helped me feel less bad about not doing everything right at the end. We cannot know what we do not know until we do know when it is too late.

Make time to pause. Read this book full of pure gold. Be ready to learn about yourself.

Thank you David Brooks.

FLOW

Dropping Our Reins

| Flower Roberts

I am almost ready to cut myself loose. The staples are out. I am no longer using a walker nor trekking pole. After nineteen months of struggle, I am down to one bandaid on the part of the incision that is still smiling. I have tried to be still since the staples were removed three days ago. This cautious  pause is due to the fact my other incision on the right hip got infected last July causing swelling at the site and fever. I do not want to repeat this with my left hip.

Hip prosthetic and staples


I also fell down two days before the surgery in October and bent my left, lower leg back under my body. I think having a fake knee saved me from a break. I guess you have gathered that I am more gung ho than graceful. I make my family nervous. They are tired of the trauma, emergencies and care-giving.

I get that. I appreciate their concern. I am grateful for their help. But…

Help is the sunny side of control (Anne Lamott) Too much help leads to helplessness. I have written about this many times on my other site,

seizuremamaandrose.org

That blog is about my daughter’s thirty-plus-year struggle with epilepsy. We have spent decades fighting against fear and over-protection. I remember telling one of her elementary school teachers ” Do not hand her a handicap!” Every child deserves to be as strong and independent as he/she can possibly be.

So I have been raging against holding the reins tightly as far as Rose is concerned for decades. Now, I find myself insisting that my own reins be dropped.

It is super important that women learn to be in charge of their own well-being whether it be avoiding a dark stranger, surviving bad weather, recovering from unwise decisions, staying alert for an empty gas tank, deflecting stray sperm, controlling a medical condition or not stepping on a piece of cardboard. (twice!)

Men protecting their moms, wives and daughters from reality makes us ignorant and weak. We cannot be naive in this world. We must be savvy, smart and strong. If we fall down, let us get ourselves up or call 911…again. You, dear man, cannot hover 24/7.

Do not try to keep the women you love in a bubble of your own making, it will pop. The earlier, the better.

We all know it. Stand down.

FLOWER