A Frozen Roll Snafu The Family Won’t Forget
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Qua-Qua Bland, a senior at Coffeeville High School, received the Jeffrey Clay Horton Scholarship from Mr. Marvin Horton at CHS Senior Day. Qua received four scholarships during the event.
Oakland News
By Linda Aldy
I hope that everyone enjoyed Mother’s Day by celebrating having a mom, being a mom, loving someone like a mom, or being like a mom to someone. Moms are not always biological. Mom is more. Mom is a loving, caring, supportive relationship and I’ve known many a women without biological children who managed to nurture and care for others as well as if not better than some moms with children.
Our family is thrilled that our Mom (Margaret Ross) was home from a stay in the swing bed to regain her strength after a rogue bile duct threw several of her electrolytes out of sync and caused her to spend a few days in the hospital and undergo a procedure to put a stent in the bile duct before going to TGH. She has nothing but HIGH praise for the folks at TGH.
We celebrated with a dessert and coffee Mother’s Day afternoon for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We decided against a big lunch as she is still regaining her strength.
Sister Martha and I were sitting out on the front porch and talking about the things we’ve learned from Mother. Some things you learn by observing and other things you learn from discussion. My two favorite lessons from Mother are really both from just watching her live her life. The first and most important is how she treats other people. She would give Mother Teresa a run for her money in this category. She truly loves people and has gone to battle for those who have been hurt or abused. The second is one I have just recently labeled and that is her insatiable curiosity. She wants to know about everything and everybody. She reads everything she can get her hands on—newspapers, magazines, books, trade publications, you name it. She has questions about our work, our projects, planting of crops, coaching changes, road construction, whatever she reads about or sees going on. It is a wonderful lesson to see life-long learning in action.
My siblings pointed to compassion, fairness, and humbleness along with looking for the good in everyone, following the Golden Rule, and loving your neighbor as you do yourself. More recently one of my sisters has dealt with a lot of family health issues and she said Mother told her that God will sustain you, just get through today. Talk to people around you, you will meet so many interesting people that way! And SMILE always!
We’ve had many opportunities to watch her faith in action as she handles the turbulence of life. She has reminded us to not get so far ahead that we forget to treasure the time we are in, to count our blessings and to always be ready for a little adventure, especially if it means a road trip!
I took a big road trip last week to see the tulips blooming in Michigan. They were really beautiful. The first stop was to a tulip farm where 15 acres of different varieties of tulips were planted. They were planted so there are continuous blooms for several weeks. There were so many variations of color and shapes. Then we enjoyed Windmill Island where Holland, Michigan had been given permission to relocate an actual windmill from the country of Holland. The Netherlands lost so many windmills during World War II that the Dutch government prohibited the removal of windmills. The last exception was the DeZwaan windmill now located in Holland, Mich. It was dismantled and shipped to Michigan in 1964. The Dutch settlers who founded Holland, Michigan wanted to have something significant to represent the Dutch culture. The windmill, built in 1761, was dedicated in 1965. It is the only authentic working Dutch windmill in the US and grinds grain into flour. It was impressive!
The next day we went into Grand Rapids which has the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park which is one of the largest sculpture gardens in the U.S. They were hosting an exhibit of Chihuly glass which is mostly outdoor glass sculpture. Collectors of Chihuly were flocking in to see that exhibit from across the nation. Another claim to fame for this garden is the sculpture of The American Horse, a 24-foot-tall casting by Nina Akamu, created in homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s original design for a horse.
A very happy mom in recent days is Alisia Bland, whose son “Qua,” was selected to play in the North Mississippi All-Star Game on May 13. Qua is a senior at Coffeeville High School and also won four scholarships at Senior Night recently. He and I share the same birthday, so I’ve had special interest in him and he is a respectful, sweet young man who represents Oakland and Coffeeville well. We wish him all the best in the future.
If you have seniors graduating, let me know! I’d love to highlight them.
All families have funny stories and I recently learned that my youngest sister Martha had bought some frozen rolls and decided to cook them for Sunday lunch a few years ago. She opened the package, put the round frozen rolls on the cookie sheet and baked them—all without reading the instructions. Turns out, the rolls were supposed to be left out for about four hours to rise before baking. Her three sons had fun with those rolls which had baked hard as rocks by hitting them like baseballs out in the yard!
Don’t forget, one of our projects for our America250 Mississippi grant is to do a memory walk in honor of those who died during military service. If you have any friends or relatives and would like for them to be remembered, please send us their name and branch of service. Contact LaTonya Sayles or Cassaundra Pipkin with the Oakland Area Lions Club for more information or to share the name of the person you would like remembered. Text Cassaundra at 662-360-5689 or email LaTonya at Oaklandarealionsclub@gmail.com. Also, our Oakland Lions Club is growing and its members are very active throughout the area. If service is your passion, join us by contacting LaTonya or any member of the Oakland Area Lions Club.
Let me know if you have news to include. Contact me via email at oaklandareachamber@gmail.com or text or leave a message at 601-853-3942.
Josh Aldy and his wife, Rosy, along with their daughter, Huckleberry, stand beneath the 24-foot-tall sculpture “The American Horse” at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
