Where Are the Wooly Worms

Where are the wooly worms? I have not seen one this fall and I depend on them to forecast the winter weather. Others have seen them but not me. What does this mean? Does this mean I won’t see winter? Which is not bad because that means I will be where it is warmer. From what others have told me the wooly worm is black and that means batten down the hatches, pile up the wood, and get your long johns out because winter is going to be bad.

Saw the sand sculptures this afternoon. It is absolutely fascinating that someone would spend days creating these fragile pieces of art.

We ate dinner at Cohen’s. The Cohen Family owned this from around 1921 until 1980, when the last member of the Cohen family, Stella Cohen Peine, died upstairs in her apartment. Her husband was murdered in the alley behind the building. She lived with her sister until the 1950’s. The she became reclusive and was hardly ever seen. Allegedly this place is haunted and has been on the Discovery Channel “Haunted Journeys.”

Location: Paducah Kentucky

Grumpy versus Perky

My mother pops out of bed. She starts the coffee, turns on the TV, and while nursing her cup of joe she watches the news. I, on the other hand, do not do perky in the morning. I slide out bed, plop down at the kitchen table, and stare at her with one eye. I am not a pretty sight in the morning and my disposition makes it worse. Undaunted mom smiles and says "Good Morning." This causes the other eye to open and I to growl, "Whats so good about it." Geez how does that woman live with me?

I lied we are staying two more days. They are doing sand sculptures and Metropolis has a casino - two good reasons to stay on.

Location: Paducah Kentucky

Leaving Tomorrow

We will be leaving tomorrow. Our destination is the beautiful state of Tennessee. We are planning a visit to "Widow of the South."

Paducah and Mayfield was a wonderful stop. My favorite place was the cemetery in Mayfield.  It is very rare to see the statues. The gentlemen that had them created must of wanted his family with him when he passed. Even though they are buried elsewhere they are with him in stone and spirit.

Mom and I are looking forward to warmer and drier weather. Lets hope we find it.

I will post when I can. It is always a challenge finding the Internet. Trees kill my signal so sometimes my satellite won't work and even though the RV parks are getting wireless we seem to find the ones that hasn't.

Location: Kentucky Paducah

The Day The War Stopped In Kentucky

Sister Mary Lucy was born Barbara Dosh in Pennsylvania. She and her sister were orphans who were taken in by the Sisters of Nazareth of Louisville. Barbara had a talent for singing, so the nuns sent her to study music at St. Vincent’s near Waverly, in Union County. A wealthy couple wanted to adopt her, but she so loved the Sisters of Nazareth that she became a nun and was known henceforth as Sister Mary Lucy.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Sister Mary Lucy was teaching music at St. Mary's Academy in Paducah Kentucky. Northern troops occupied the Southern-sympathizing town in September, and appealed to the sisters at St. Mary’s to help nurse the sick and wounded. Though teachers, the nuns from St. Mary’s did double duty as nurses. The Sisters served in all the hospitals which were soon filled with cases of typhoid and other infectious diseases and later with sick and wounded from the battlefields. Some patients were captured Confederates but the nuns treated all of the patients the same.

Sister Mary Lucy was young, and unproven as a nurse. But she willingly went about the task assigned to her; tasks which required every ounce of courage and strength that she had. She sang softly in her beautiful voice as she worked, for which the soldiers silently blessed her, as it reminded them of their mothers, wives, and sweethearts back home. Sister Mary Lucy also ate less food so the patients could have more. This apparently weakened her system, and she came down with typhoid fever. Sister Mary Lucy died on Dec. 29, 1861.

Even battle-hardened soldiers were heartbroken at the death of this selfless young nun. She had never raised a hand against anybody, and here she was struck down by this horrible disease. Union authorities arranged a military funeral. Her honor guard was a dozen officers, six in blue and six in gray. All were patients of Sister Mary Lucy. Her coffin was placed aboard the Peacock, the cannon-bristling gunboat draped in black. The warship transported Sister Mary Lucy’s remains up the Ohio River to Uniontown, where a wagon waited to take the coffin to the little cemetery at St. Vincent's Academy.

The soldiers were convalescent at best, in their weakened state; they risked catching pneumonia in the cold out on the river.

It was dark when the Peacock reached Uniontown. They put torches on the wagon and the funeral procession traveled another seven miles down a dirt road to the cemetery. After a brief funeral service, her body was laid to rest. Before they left, the officers, with the permission of the church, gave her a military salute. After the burial services were over, the twelve officers of two different armies parted company, one contingent going to Columbus, Kentucky in the service of the North, the other group toward Vicksburg and the South. Impressed as they were by the admirable conduct and gallantry shown by the Southerners on the journey, the Federal officers allowed the Southern officers their freedom and in that act offered a tribute to the memory of Sister Mary Lucy, who had nursed all men as simple children of God, regardless of the earthly loyalties.

Location: Kentucky Paducah

Mayfield Kentucky Cemetary

We visited another beautiful cemetery in Mayfield Kentucky. This one had something a little unusual in it though. An 18-figure group was erected in the late 1890's by Henry G. Wooldridge. He is the only person entombed on the lot. The group of monuments consist of two statues of Henry- one astride his favorite horse, Fop and another with him standing beside a lectern. Colonel Wooldridge raised, raced, and sold horses in the Mayfield / Graves County area. He never married after his first and only love died in a riding accident years before in Tennessee. About 1880, as Col. Wooldridge neared 60 years of age, he moved to Mayfield, where he lived until his death on May 30, 1899. I took lots of pictures and they will be posted after I post this.

Another interesting monument is the statue of an angel holding grapes. According to folklore, when the monument was erected the angel was holding a full stalk of grapes in her extended hand. As time past, one by one, the grapes began to fall and disappear. Legend has it that when the last grape falls the world will end.

Afterwards we headed for Paducah and stopped off at a bookstore. It is not a good place for us to go, believe me. We have reading material now which will be nice when I snuggle into bed tonight. We just found out it will drop below freezing tonight so I will have to drain my hose and turn on the heaters for the tanks.

As the Duke of Paducah would say “I’m goin’ back to the wagon, boys, these shoes are killin’ me!"

Mayfield Kentucky

Today was laundry day and house cleaning, what fun we have in our little house on wheels. We did meet our neighbor who was just delightful. Later we took a drive to Mayfield because that is where the RV will have to be tomorrow morning for minor interior repair. The cemetery is beautiful there and I am hoping that we will have time tomorrow to go back.

We will also be going to downtown Paducah sometime this week. They have murals as well as historical buildings. My two favorite things to see.

So far all is well and we are keeping warm, hope the same for those that read this. .

Location: Kentucky Paducah