Day by Day with Camille

 At just before sunset, I cut limbs of white dogwood, redbud, azalea, and wisteria and arranged them in a vase on my table! Welcome Spring!

 My Dad would have been 89 today. Earlier today, my terrier (my girl Ellie) and I took spring flowers in hues of blues and purples (his favorite colors) to his grave at Holly Hill Memorial Park. They were playing instrumental piano and guitar music thru the Bell Tower there today, which is near my Dad's grave. He would LOVE that, as my Dad was a very talented pianist and organist.  One of my favorite memories about my Dad dates from the 1990s, when we were both antique hunting and had a booth in a local antique mall. We had gone to the Metrolina antique and flea market event one weekend, and while we were there, my Dad noticed a baby grand piano from the Rockefeller estate that one of the antique dealers had on display there. My Dad asked the man if he could play it, and the man seemed delighted, and said, "Please do." So my Dad started playing. The first song was a Gershwin standard. A crowd started gathering, just to listen to my Dad play, and the dealer asked him to pl...

 My cousin Eddie turns 60 years old today. This blog post is my way of sending birthday greetings.  I'll start with a few things that I remember about him when we were growing up. Most of the time that we spent together was at our grandparents' (Atlas and Veda Freeman) house on Burton Street in High Point, NC. Eddie is my first cousin. My mother, Loretta, was Eddie's mother's, Norine, younger sister.  I am around a year and a half older than Eddie. I am the youngest Freeman granddaughter, and he is the youngest grandson.  Eddie was a huge NASCAR fan growing up. As far as I am aware, he still is now. The driver I heard the most about from him was Bobby Allison. He had a collection of NSACAR Matchbox cars. He was also a Miami Dolphins fanatic. His favorite cookie was vanilla (Nilla) wafers. He loved a song called "Joy to the World". He loved WWII history, even taking German in high school because of his historical interest. At least that's what he told me.  ...

 To mark the occasion of my first cousin, Eddie Coggins) 40th wedding anniversary today to his wife, Maureen, I decided to post a few things that I remember regarding them. Eddie is my first cousin by way of his mother, Norine Freeman Coggins Stanly, who was my mother's (Loretta Freeman Green) older sister. Eddie and Maureen were married on January 22, 1986. I myself was finishing my senior year in college. To the best of my recollection, the first time I remember meeting Maureen was when she and Eddie had brought their infant son, Tony (Edward Anthony Coggins), over for our grandmother, Veda Davis Freeman, to hold him. Our grandmother was blind, since before Eddie or I were ever born, and so she ran her hands over Tony's tiny face carefully. It was her way of sensing what he looked like.  When Eddie and I were growing up, and were at our grandparents' house on Burton Street one summer afternoon (both of us were still in elementary school at the time), Eddie told me that wh...