Milt Patton 1937-2015

My friend Kim's dad passed away the day after Thanksgiving. Here is his obituary. He was with Kim and Sarah and they had enjoyed the feasting together on Thursday.

The whole Patton family circa 1971

Known to some of us that loved him by his Mary Anne given Shaker name, Irascible, Milt was a Father and Grandfather, a genealogist, and just generally an interesting guy. He stopped by the house frequently, proud to show off what his boy had designed to anyone visiting from out of town. He took long road trips to explore whatever historic themes were of interest to him at that time, sometimes taking a grandchild along. He ran for Congress in the late 80's. We took Eleanor to a fund raiser and he got a photo op holding the baby. Wish I had a picture of that.

Milt came with us to encampment at Lake Muscoka. He loved educating us on the history of the logo in the clock on the wall.

Eben & Milt

The memorial service will be held at Yuko-En on the Elkhorn, Kentucky-Japan Friendship Garden, Georgetown, KY on Dec. 12, 2015, at 1:30 p.m.

The last of the siblings

Dorcas Noel Hollingsworth Wiedemann passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th at 88 years old. Here is her obituary. She joins husband Jefferson, her four brothers (including TGP), and her parents Denzil & Polly.

Although Alzheimer's disease took away her ability to recognize even family, nothing ever took away her smile.

Her love of horses was highly influential in the family move to the Bluegrass, and the Hollingsworth clan has been here ever since.

She baked bread in the kitchen at the Holly's, and my brother Dunn always said how much he liked it because she put fresh on it.

We will always miss Aunt Dorcas

Hall Dorcas Donn Kent Vertrees

Dorcas Denzil Kent at the track

Dorcas with her prize for horsemanhip

1935

The Aunt Hill: Dorcas, Leslie, Betty, Alice

Mark, Britt, Randal

Times Picyune Newspaper in college

The Gracious Way

Friend Kim and I finished the walkway to the driveway over Memorial day weekend, and MA and I found a grindstone on an antique jaunt to Shelbyville in June.  We had thought nephew Max was going to get to help with the construction project, but we had more fun things to do with him.

So, on a beautiful Saturday, I took on finishing the route from driveway to front door.  Brother Dunn had given me extensive directions while we were at the beach together, so I knew what I needed to do.

Also, note the handrails on the stairs.  There were over a year in getting here, but we love them.

The obligatory selfie

Grandmother calls it "The Gracious Way".  We're just glad to have folks easily able to get into the house.

Come see us out at the creek.

Living in a tree house

Spring has definitely sprung around here.  We have been on the porch almost every day.  The late afternoon thundershowers come, but they keep the grounds lush and the temperature down.

We had an oriole come think he wanted into the house for a couple of days.  He kept lighting on the door handle and knocking on the glass.

We ended up with one of those walk through screens on that door, and a sparkly windsock near the dining room door to get the bird to move back onto the tree branches.

In the interest of visitor mobility, and anticipating some first time visitors in the fall, when the wedding celebration occurs, we have added steps from the driveway to the house and from the house down to the park.  Given the upcoming extravaganza, we hadn't anticipated many upgrades to Millstream 2.0, but these are practical and will last a lifetime.

The stairs in the back were done by our gardener, who also brought us the Jolie Jardin Jaubert

The grass is coming along on them very nicely since this picture, and MA has made it down and up to the park without assistance!

Friend Kim's wife was busy with school graduation work on the Saturday of Memorial day, so he needed a project.  We borrowed Jay's tractor and moved a bunch of rocks around to make this: 

Sparky has taken to wading into the moss above the dam - it's enough to turn a white dog green

And perhaps best of all, while digging spots for the rocks on the front steps, we found a dog tag, expires June 30, 1977.  Must be from Ribot, the German Shepard who lived with us at Millstream 1.0, pictured here by the previous steps in 1980.

Life is good.  Come see us in the treehouse.

MS Walk 2015 recap

The walk was yesterday, on a steamy May morning in the Bluegrass.  Thanks to all of our friends, we raised over $1800 for the National MS Society.  (I think some contributors ended up in the general fund instead of attributed to MA - but it's the donation that counts).

If anyone missed the fun and wants to contribute still, it's not too late, just click here.

My favorite team T-shirt read:

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

Proverbs 31:25

Sounds like Mary Anne to me.

MA's morning web perusals found this article by the daughter of someone with MS.  It's worth reading for some insight into the disease.

Pictures from the event:

The starting gate, quiet before the race

A very large dog

The MS Society leaders, plus Miss Kentucky

A good day for a good cause.

MS Walk 2015

If you are in a hurry, here is the donation link.

The Lexington MS walk is coming up at us fast, on May 9th.  If you're in town and can join me at Masterson Station, let me know. We look forward to another successful event raising money for this very important cause.  We have been a little more involved with the KY chapter for the National MS society this year.  It's a great organization to work with and we're always thrilled when we (or our friends) can help.

Our walk history is interesting, at least to me.  You can read about Mary Anne's progress, and why the advances that this walk funds are important to us in these earlier posts:

MS Walk 2009

MS Walk 2010

MS Walk 2013
MS Walk 2014

There were many more walks than that, but I didn't start writing until fall of 2008.

For the annual health update, the MS news remains steady, which is positive. Mary Anne's energy level is good, and we've had another year without any exacerbations.  Basically, with this disease, no news is good news..

We appreciate your help in the past, and are always grateful when any of you can contribute again.

Donate to the MS walk on Mary Anne's behalf

And because everybody likes a picture of a cute little one, here's Aunt Mary Anne with Kate around Christmas

We do not all like the same kind of weather My Dear

"We do not all like the same kind of weather, My Dear" is something Grandmother used to say all the time.  We're not quite sure what the origin of that quote is, but TGP said it all the time too.

Our last two winters on the park have had some pretty strong snow.  A week ago Monday, we got 6 inches and got to do some sledding with cousin Tish, Steve, Cooper and friends.

Yesterday, we got a few inches of rain.  We came as close to flooding the park as I've seen since I've been back.

Then the rain started to turn to snow.

 By Thursday morning, we had over a foot.

Cousin Jay came to dig us out

You can see the taller snow, where the water didn't quite rise, and the lower snow, which only stuck after the flood waters receded overnight.

 The pups would rather have some open ground.

12+ inches

We do not all like the same kind of weather, my dear.  I love the snow, but at this point, I'm ready for spring.