Breaking green beans brings back memories

Blair Family Reunion Cancelled

The Blair family reunion has been cancelled for September 26 at the Andover Community Center in Andover. This cancellation is due to the spread of the Covid 19 virus. Be safe and careful.

Appalachia Lions Club

On July 9 the Appalachia Lions Club was proud to give our very own Lion Eddie Green a “surprise” dinner of appreciation for his 50 years of service in the Appalachia Lions Club.

Our district governor, Jean Cross, came from Wytheville to present Eddie with the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award, the highest honor any Lion may receive.

The crowd was filled with tears as Eddie was presented this most prestigious award. Needless to say, Eddie was speechless and could not hold back the tears himself. We all love Eddie and wanted to show him our gratitude and support for all he has done for the Appalachia Lions Club these 50 years.

Another special surprise for Eddie, we had his family come and be a part of his special night. It was a wonderful night all around.

Our Immediate Past District Governor, John Seaborn from Bristol came to install our 2020-2021 Appalachia Lions Club officers for the ensuing year. We were honored to have these two dignitaries come and present Lion Eddie with his award and install new officers.

Lions Club meets july 23

Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. the Appalachia Lions Club will eat and then meet.

The menu for that night is: meatball subs, chips and dip, mandarin orange pineapple cake and beverages.

The meeting is at the Senior Citizens building on Main Street in Appalachia.

Organization Meeting

July is the organization meeting to elect a mayor, vice mayor, town manager, clerk/treasurer and town lawyer.

Appalachia Town Council has a new Mayor Chase Christian and Vice Mayor Chris Williams. Chase has served the council as vice mayor the last two years.

Chris Williams is the newly elected council person.

Congratulations to these two council members. The other officers remain the same.

Condolences

We were so very sorry to learn of the passing of Loretta Hylton.

She was a special lady to a lot of people, a fine Christian wife, mother, grandmother and friend to all she came in contact with.

Please remember her husband Paul and her children and grandchildren in prayer.

We send our condolences to all the Hylton family.

Trip to Mann’s Farm

Gary and I drove to Clinchport last week and we stopped at Mann’s Farm. Beautiful country for a drive.

We purchased a bushel of green beans. On Saturday as we sat on our porch stringing and breaking beans we started talking about how we remembered our mothers canning, gardening and all the hard work they did to keep food in storage for the family to have to eat when the weather turned cold.

Mrs. Bush did a lot of canning outside. A large tub was placed over a fire pit filled with Mason jars containing green beans and the fire had to be kept hot to boil and keep the water boiling so the beans cooked in the jars. Salt was also added to the beans. The beans were removed from the water and they had lids to seal them.

Later on, you could hear them “pop” and Mrs. Bush knew the beans had sealed and would be ready for Sunday dinners and all holidays when the family and friends were there for a meal.

They worked from sun up to sun down and were glad to do it for their family.

Now we break the beans and put them in freezer bags and enjoy them any time we wish.

Makes you stop and think how hard they had to work to make sure there was food for their family though the winter months.

No Covid 19 Cases

There is, at this time, no Covid 19 cases reported in Appalachia and for this we are truly thankful. No one likes to wear a mask but we must until this dreaded virus is no longer a threat to all of us.

All activities at this time have been cancelled. I have never heard or seen anything that would close the doors to our churches, schools, workplaces, courts, DMV, furlough jobs and ask people to stay at home.

It has worked for our end of the state of Virginia. We have done these requests since March 15. Now we must keep these restrictions going if we plan to be Covid free.

Better to be safe than sorry, or sick.

Tennessee is now asking people to wear a mask for safety. Their cases of the virus went up when the restrictions were lifted so now they must wear a mask.

Sunday Afternoon Drive

Sunday afternoon Gary and I took a drive through Inman and up to Black Mountain.

The mountains are a beautiful green color this time of year.

Then we drove through Imboden, Exeter and Keokee. There are some beautiful homes in these areas of Wise County.

While we were driving we started remembering names of students who attended Appalachia High School that were from these areas. Keokee had their own schools.

It is amazing how we remember our past friends when our mind is stirred and the trip to Imboden and Exeter did this for me.

We always drive around the road at the museum in Big Stone Gap and down Popular Hill. There are so many beautiful flowers blooming and it is a treat to see them.

A lot of work goes into landscaping and having seasonal flowers growing on your property. Now is the time to enjoy seeing them.