Day Ninety Eight

Monday and Tuesday it snowed. Today was gorgeous! Blue sky, cool breeze. I took this on my way home from aerobics class this afternoon. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

Had to make a candy run to Wal-Mart today. I started freaking out because we hadn't bought anything yet to fill up the plastic eggs we hide for the backyard hunt on Sunday. From the looks of this pic, you'd think I bought everything they had left.

Day Ninety Seven

Grandkids Shelby and Elijah, hanging out at my house after school, watching Scooby Doo cartoons on DVD, eating all sorts of stuff that can rot their little teeth. Shelby says she's sick of Scooby Doo, but she's always the first to pick out an episode to watch. Funny. We had snow flurries here all day. Even when the sun came out and the temperature rose to 43 degrees. Weekend weather looks good. Hope the kids get to hunt Easter eggs.

Day Ninety Six

As I've said before, it's a rare treat for Neil and me to get to enjoy a lunch with both our daughters on a weekday. But Kelly decided to stay over Sunday night. She was jumping at the chance to have lunch at Ocha, our favorite local Thai restaurant. It was supposed to have re-opened today after a month long hiatus, but when we got there, a note on the door said it would be closed until April 13. Bummer. So the question of the day became: Where do you want to have lunch? And the usual answer: I don't care. Which is never true. Because when you start mentioning names of fast food joints around town, someone will invariably groan. Holly suggested the Soup Kitchen. We've talked about trying it for probably years but we never go. Well, today is the perfect day for some soup. It's cold, windy, and raw and we've had snow flurries off and on all day. Homemade soup and bread hit the spot and we all wondered why we had put off coming here for so long.

Day Ninety Five

I didn't take pictures today, so I'll share one from our trip to Stones River Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, yesterday. This is a small section of Union soldier graves. Across the street and beyond the fence is the battlefield. 24,000 men were killed in three days, December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863. We learned that the Battle of Murfreesboro was one of the bloodiest in the entire Civil War.

Day Ninety Four

My great great grandfather, Robert James Campbell Gailbreath, a Confederate soldier from Gainesboro, Tennessee, was wounded in the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862. His arm was amputated and he died January 12, 1863. He is buried in a mass grave along with 2000 other Confederate soldiers in Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I've always wanted to visit his grave site and got the chance today. Our daughter, Kelly, lives in Murfreesboro not far from the battlefield where her great great great grandfather was wounded and later died. We spent this beautiful afternoon with the dead, walking around The Confederate Circle at Evergreen, then heading over to the battlefield at Stone's River where the thousands of Union soldiers are buried. We spent a lot of time in the cemetery. The next time we visit, we plan to walk the battlefield and maybe get a feel for some of the last moments of RJC Gailbreath's life. By the way, his name is misspelled on the headstone.