On the Road Again

The dogwoods are so beautiful here! Yes, we've made it all the way to Birmingham with life and limb intact. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. I truly recommend a DVD player for all long trips. I'm surprised at how much better the kids do while engaged with a movie. We watched 2 Scooby Doo movies, Cheaper By the Dozen, some more I think. Jim and I don't watch - we just listen. That Shaggy is, like, such goofball, dudes.

We started seeing the dogwoods in East Texas. I just love them. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't grow in Abilene. There aren't enough tall trees for them to be under. I saw one pink one (in Alabama, of course) but lots of white ones. When I was a little girl my grandmother, Mama Crawford, had a box with the legend of the dogwood on it. The box had a very strong smell. I always thought it was dogwood wood but it was cedar, of course. My grandparents were old and I don't remember much about them but I remember that box.


Legend of the Dogwood

An old and beautiful legend has it that, at the
time of the crucifixion, the dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and
other monarchs of the forest. Because of its firmness and strength it was
selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use greatly
distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for
the sorrow and suffering of all said to it: "Because of your sorrow and pity for
My sufferings, never again will the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as
a gibbet. Henceforth it will be slender, bent nd twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust and stained with red -- and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember