Duty

Last night we had the opportunity to attend the play Duty by Tim Stevens at the Garner Performing Arts Center. Mr. Stevens has previously written a few historical plays that has been performed in both churches and at the GPAC. This one dealt with the 7 men from Garner who died in Vietnam and told a little about their stories, as well as some of the other Garner natives who fought there and survived. It was heart wrenching, but very good. My heart still hurts as I hear of the treatment our veterans received when they returned home. When our Quilts of Valor group presents a quilt to a Vietnam Vet, it's not uncommon for some of them to say it's the first time a non-family member has ever thanked them for their service. At one of our recent presentations, a vet told me he joined a group that served family members of fallen comrades when he returned home. He said one of them still haunts him to this day. The only people at the funeral and the grave-side service was the immediate family, the preacher, and the group of veterans. No one from the community or the church or the boy's school came out to pay their respects. He said there was not a dry eye on his bus on the way back to base.

One of my neighbors shared after the play that her brother also served in Vietnam. She said her mother went to mass every day, even if meant walking, to pray for his safety. She also baked snickerdoodles once a week to mail to him, as it was his favorite food. I think the family got a little tired of the snickerdoodles. She said they quit being her favorite, and even now she seldom eats them.

I'm thankful for the town of Garner and the commitment of its townspeople to honor its veterans, whether it be through a play at the local theater or through the hard work that went into the Garner Veterans Memorial at our local park. I wish there wasn't a need to recognize those who struggled so much and sacrificed so much, some of them even with their lives, but I'm thankful to live in/near a town that understands the importance of people over policy. It really does matter.

Cambridge bound

My niece and her husband are moving to England today.

Zach has been accepted into Cambridge. He plans to spend 9 months getting his second master's degree, then apply for the doctorate program. I think this degree will focus on a comparison/contrast of the Hebrew writing and Greek translation of the book of Ruth (his first master's degree was the same thing but on the book of Amos). Then his doctorate program would involve learning Aramaic, Urdu, Sanskrit and either French or German as part of understanding the translations of the early Scriptures. I think his ultimate plan is to teach at a Christian college, but at the moment that is many years down the road.

We spent Saturday with them since this week is full (I'm teaching today and doctor's appts tomorrow). I'm sure their departure will not be forgotten, as their tickets had to be credited due to Irma impacting flights out of Atlanta. So last night they headed to Washington DC so they could fly out from there today. They'll arrive in Heathrow, England at 7:30am, then take a bus to Cambridge. Someone from a Baptist church there will meet them in a "people carrier" (we think that's a minivan, but aren't sure), and then will drive them to another member's house where they'll stay for 2 weeks until they can move into campus housing. They have to come early to sign paperwork, but the dorms don't open until October. Someone in authority wasn't thinking through those logistics very well if you ask me.

And 2017 is staying true to fashion, and we had another flat tire (but no blow out!) halfway home. We called AAA at 4:30. A little after 6 someone showed up, only to look at the van and all its modifications and tell us we needed a tow truck as there was no jack that could elevate our van enough to change a tire. And of course with it being 6pm on a Saturday night every tire place nearby was closing or closed, so there was nowhere we could be towed. And since Bobby isn't legally supposed to stay in a van while it's towed (shout out to all the common sense tow truck drivers who shrug and say "we can make that work") and I'm not able to lift him high up into a tow truck and stick the chair back in a loaded van and secure it, we were grasping at straws. When the AAA guy came back after spending about 40 minutes on the phone trying to find options, and the best thing he had involved the police, an ambulance medical transport AND a tow truck, I started making my own phone calls. No way I was going to pay $700 in transport fees and then have to pay for a new tire on top of that. Thankfully my sister knew someone who had an accessible van, and an hour later they were there, Highway Patrol helped us get Bobby's van to a location where he could load and unload, and then we sat for another hour and a half waiting on the AAA guy to get back with a tow truck. I was not the happiest camper to find out he was taking other calls while we were sitting on the side of the road waiting. He loaded up the van and took it to his shop, and delivered it to our mechanic in Garner Sunday morning. I felt really bad for my sister and brother-in-law, as their time with Em and Zach is very limited, AND they then had to turn around drive back home and return the van to their church member. So by the time I climbed into bed from tending to Bobby's medical stuff in the wee hours Sunday morning, they would have just been arriving home themselves. I think it will be a weekend none of us will forget, and my thoughts and prayers are with Em & Zach today as they start their new adventure.

the "greatest" generation

When I was in college I had the opportunity to work for a lady from my hometown. She grew up during the Great Depression. For months, I thought the woman was crazy. Then on a trip home I was telling my Dad (who knew the woman) about her and some of the things she did. He laughed, and then started sharing stories about relatives the same age as her who did some of the same exact things (recycle coffee grounds - as in you use the same grounds for five days in a row and only add half a pinch of new days 2-4 and on day 5 drink it with milk, etc)

This month I've been assisting Bobby's aunt, who is almost 91, in cleaning out her house as she moves this week. As we packed up the kitchen, I removed the towel from the dish drainer and found this:

Yep. She had washed her Styrofoam and plastic pieces. My grandmother used to do that, too. I simply can't imagine what life was like during their formative years that they absolutely waste NOTHING. Every time I wash dishes, I can hear my Granny scolding me for using too much water. When I see things such as this, I'm reminded of the irony of the younger generations talking about being "environmentalists".  They really don't have a clue.

But I'm thankful for the small dent they've made in my life. I like to think that should things every become so bad as what they experienced that I will survive with the dignity and grace they did.

Dear Jane

About 10 years ago, I met a woman who was working on a Dear Jane quilt. I looked at all the teeny tiny pieces, and thought "No earthly way. Not in this lifetime."  Since then I've seen a few at quilt shows, briefly admired the chosen color scheme or the handiwork, then moved on. I was never one of those to stand and focus or think in front of the quilt. It was simply too much, too tiny.
Here's a picture of a quilt in the original style, from www.dearjane.com:


See all those tiny squares? The entire block (each square) measures 4.5" when finished. Those are tiny, tiny pieces in those blocks. Smaller than my fat fingers even care to think about.

I bought the book yesterday. WHY? Curiosity for one reason. But also, with all my fabric accumulations from last year and leftover scraps from quilts I made, this is just one of many possibilities to help use it up. I don't know if or when I'll ever start. In the introduction, there's a note that the original quilter of this pattern (civil war era) made an embroidered note on the quilt that it has over 5,000 pieces in the quilt.  I am absolutely mind-boggled that someone would not only quilt it, but keep track (or go back and count) the number of pieces.

Here's a look of the quilt with modern color schemes:
 

There are some quilts I've mulled over in the back of my mind for many years before I actually start them. There's quite a few rolling around in there now. I suppose I can add one more to the jumble. :)

dated

Last week my oldest niece helped plan an college activity. They did a 1980's throwback party. Seriously. So while I'm digesting the fact that college kids today see my tween and teenage years as historic, a friend from high school posted this on Facebook (and I've edited to cover their names):

Conversation on the way to school this morning as we passed the Bankhead House.

Child - "mom, did you see that house right there, the big one?"

 Parent - "I do"

Child - " It has clothes in it from the 80's!"

Parent - "the 80's"

Child - "Yes! And from a battle!"

I guess the 80's for her would be like the 50's for me growing up. 

Talk about starting the morning off feeling old! 

So if I had any doubts about the matter, I am officially old and historic!  And to make matters crazier, I'm wondering if items from "a battle" would be items from WWII, Vietnam, or the first Gulf War, which my generation fought in. Kind of crazy to realize such a defining time in my life is not the "latest" war.

brick walls

The last few years, I've been using some of my sporadic free time to research family history. And in some areas, I'm stuck. I have quite a few records from aunts and uncles that I've been entering into ancestry.com. Sometimes their records match census records; sometimes they don't. One of the craziest things I've encountered with one side of the family is that the family names, births, marriages, and deaths recorded in the family Bible have no link to anyone in our family tree that I can find. It's driving me crazy. I have a small family tree mapped out, but no clue as to how it relates to my family.  Or I have names and dates, but they don't match anything in the census record. Or you simply can't find anyone at all. It's quite frustrating. Before the internet searches became so huge, a library in Raleigh offered classes once or twice a year on how to start researching your family, but I've not seen that advertised in a very long time.

And the reality is, while I'm very curious and would love to prove/disprove a few family legends, the reality is, it doesn't change anything at all. Regardless of who my ancestors were or where they are (or are not) from, I still have to clean house and fulfill obligations, show up to appointments. Life does not stop just because of what happened in the past, and the reality of what Jesus changed in my life does not evaporate because I do/do not have a certain heritage.

So I'll keep searching and pouring over beautiful but hard to read handwriting in search of certain names and dates. Hopefully I won't aggravate any more family members in the process with some of my discoveries (or lack thereof). And maybe when it's all over, I won't feel so much like the people who sit back in shock upon learning history is not quite what they anticipated.

last Gettysburg post

 I've never been one to ooh and aah over dresses. But this one, while pretty, made me laugh. I had to go back after reading the description and check it out. Those "flowers" on her dress are not only wildflowers from America, but INSECTS. Yes, Martha Washington attended the dance with a gown decked out in bugs. How awesome is that?

And I was a bit surprised by this, but I actually enjoyed the wax section of the Presidents better than the fashion segment of the First Ladies. The Presidents are built to scale, and briefly tell a little bit about each man. It was interesting to see how tall most of them were. The ladies were not made to scale, and their gowns are about 1/3 of the original size. But still, you could tell some about the styles of the time and the woman's personality by her dress.


The only thing I wasn't overly impressed with during the trip was the Cyclorama. That's a HUGE painting, the largest in North America, I think, that someone did of the battle of Gettysburg. It took several French artists to help complete it, and the canvas is placed in a circular barn. We bought tickets for it as part of a package deal with the battlefield tour, and I was most disappointed. It's a timed ticket, and after the presentation about it, you only have about 5 minutes to look and they tell you to leave. I'm sorry, but 5 minutes to view a painting that fills the equivalent of three rooms is NOT sufficient. That's an insult not only to the artists, but to the people who helped build the building to show it off. On the flip side, the gift shop for the park is very nice.

With all the controversy over the battle flag going on in the south and the constant vandalism of memorials and grave markers, we were a bit surprised to see how many battle flags and confederate items were on sale in almost every gift shop. Can't find something for sale in the south? Visit Gettysburg. In almost every shop we looked, someone was walking in and saying "Wow! You actually have this for sale? You can get this here?" and a puzzled shop owner would say "Yes. Why?" It was interesting to hear and see that things that are banned and "outlawed" here are considered just a part of history there.

I'm glad we went. It is truly a beautiful place, even if the history behind it is overbearing and heartwrenching to both see and think about.

Gettysburg

If you want a historical or education field trip and find yourself heading to Gettysburg, these places are definitely on my list of places worth visiting:

1. Gettysburg Diorama - If you like miniatures, you will LOVE this. If you need to see the large picture or no little about the Battle of Gettysburg, this exhibit not only explains it very well, but brings the little details to life.

Loved the spreaded cotton balls for the smoke...from a distance it looked very realistic!

Not only did they have canyons in the fields, they also had soldiers
(from both sides) taking down fences.
A true but sad fact.

2. Gettysburg National Park - a tour Yes. You can drive yourself around and look at a book and look at monuments, but here's some of the special things you're learn with a tour guide.

This is one of the US regiments that fought the 26th NC Regiment. (We hired a personal tour guide rather than deal with the lift on the tour bus, and he pointed out some extra things for us.) Almost everyone in this regiment were school teachers.

After the war, vets from both sides returned to the site and showed exactly where their units had camped and fought. As a result, most regiments have foot markers in each corner of the square where they fought. US regiments also have their own monuments, as opposed to the South, who only have State monuments. This is the far left corner of North Carolina's marker.

Bobby's great-grandpa had six older brothers who fought in the war. Three of them never came home. One died in Gettysburg, fighting with the 26th North Carolina Regiment. From the marker showed earlier, his regiment had to climb over three such fences while fighting. (In other words, they crossed through three different farms trying to conquer their assigned area.)  I look at an area that is so pristine and beautiful, and find it heart-breaking that it was one of many scenes of devastation.

This marker shows how far the 26th came (you can't even see the first fence or the NC camp site/monument from here).  As most of the Confederate soldiers were buried in mass graves with no names or markers, our tour guide said this field (between the fence and marker) is most likely where Needham Bryan is buried, (basing it on the fact he died July 3rd, which is the day they crossed the last fence). 

"Ten paces"  - that's how far the men had to go when the cannons opened fire.  I walked to the stone wall, "the high water mark" and it was more than ten steps for me. Although, I imagine if I were running in attack mode and in fear of my life, it might be less than 10 paces.

Bobby looking across the field on our "take our time" trip the 2nd day.

One of the areas where soldiers tore up farm fencing to add to rock fences as ways of making barricades.

Our tour guide gave us the stories behind many of the monuments, but this one was one of my favorite. A PA regiment was standing near a tree during the battle, when a cannon ball hit the tree, causing part of it to fall, along with a nest of baby birds. The men stopped fighting, and put the nest and the baby birds back in the tree before resuming the fight. This monument for that regiment illustrates that story, as well as showing the regiment crest, backpack, rifle, and ammunition box. We did see one or two other tree statues, but this one looked fairly realistic and truly captured the humanity of a group of boys in the middle of a very trying time. New York's regiments also had incredible monuments, especially the ones from the group of engineers or firefighters.

3. Dwight D Eisenhower farm

and for #4 and 5, pics will come tomorrow
4. Christ Church  - Sat night presentation of civil war music and poems
5. Wax museum of Presidents and replicas of First Ladies' gowns to the inaugural ball 

so thankful

First, the quilt page has been updated (I posted the final, quilted version of my third quilt of valour).

This last week I read the book Growing Up bin Laden by Osama bin Laden's first wife and fourth son. It was heart-wrenching, sad, and enlightening, all at the same time.  But so far, every book I've ever read about the middle east that involve women in the book, except one, have left me feeling overwhelmed and a little flabbergasted that God chose me to be born to American parents.

I do not consider myself a feminist, though the older I get the more I see many Christian males as male chauvinists. For example, a Christian group I know recently posted that they need assistance moving things. They specifically requested men to come move furniture and dismantle desk units, and for women to come pack up the office supplies. I do understand that most women do not enjoy lifting heavy objects and that men are typically stronger. But it also made me laugh. a little.  My roommate and I actually took one of those desk units apart and put it back together (Okay...I took it apart and she helped me put it back together and then cleaned up the mess I made on her side of the room...and never complained). I know women who move furniture and paint their own houses while their husbands are away on business trips or at work, women who till their own gardens (GO, go, GO! Barbara Ann (she has a pink tractor) and Charlotte (who used a small hand tiller), women who repair the washing machine and refrigerator and toilet because there's no money to call the plumber and hubby is working his tail off at work (thank you YouTube!), and women who build their own stone steps and patios and driveways. I also know men who want to help out but have injured backs or severe health issues that limit their movement, but gladly will sort paperwork or make phone calls. When we (and I use the church/Christian groups here as an example because those are the groups I work with the most) limit certain activities to male/female roles, we alienate potential workers...for no reason. I understand there are very clear God-given roles for men and women in the Bible...but these things do not fall in those categories.

Yet every time I read a book about women in the middle east, I am SO thankful to have grown up in a country with parents who encouraged me to use my mind, who allowed me to work and learn to drive, who saw me as more than "just a girl".  I am thankful for their Biblical teachings: that God made me and loved me, that I am not incomplete because I am a female, and that God clearly teaches every thing we do should be for His glory and honor - not mine. That, when the apostle Paul wrote Timothy to "study to show yourself approved as a workman to God", it's a good principle for every believer, and not just males who are becoming preachers.

There's a lot to be said for respecting your husband and being a keeper of the home, but I would never want to see that taken to the extreme where a wife can never question her husband or leave the home without his permission or an escort. I cannot imagine my only duties in life to be that of cooking food, cleaning house, and reproducing. I am so thankful that God gave me a godly example in my father, who has never seen it as a threat to his manhood to lovingly help around the house. As he used to inform us if we ever asked for an allowance for doing our chores "You live here. You're a part of the team. You don't get paid for teamwork."

But I was also reminded of why we should reach out to the downtrodden and those on the fringes of society...they're the ones desperate for acceptance and meaning to their life.

For me, reading about another culture and from a different viewpoint is a great reminder of why I believe as I do, and how important it is to truly listen and understand where a person is coming from before we make snap judgments about who they are and what they will do. Things are not always as they seem.

changes and reality

Another farm is up for sale in our neighborhood. Funny thing is, it hasn't been used as a farm in many, many years, and yet I still think of it as a farm.

I truly understand the hows and whys of such things. I know about the taxes, the upkeep, and the amount of time involved in maintaining a small place (and can't imagine what it would be to do 12x the amount I do now). I know that for such places to remain a farm, someone must be willing to actually...farm.  And most Americans today do not have a love for the soil and a love for plants or farm animals, much less a desire for long, hot, hard working hours with a wild card called nature that can upend it all. So even if I don't like it, I do understand that at some point, farms must be sold, and when that happens, they will grow a development instead of crops.

But what bugs me beyond belief is that there is an old house with lots of character and charm, that would make an awesome home for a small family, that will be torn down. Evidently farm houses are not desirable to developers. Just for once, I'd love to see a developer come in, and build a development around a farm house, leaving a reminder that this area was once a working farm. Smaller houses, mixed with bigger houses, and even some barn-style sheds built on some of the properties. A throwback tribute to the tenant farmers who lived on the land but didn't own it, but without whom the crops would never be planted or harvested. One or two small apartment (as in one or two story) complexes as a modern day reminder of all the migrant workers who keep American in food. (Just google the story of GA and migrant workers...when the economy crashed and people headed back to Mexico, crops were rotting in the field because no American workers would do such hard work. Most Americans quit the job on day two, if they showed up for day two.) You could add a nice house or two for people who like big houses, in memory of the rare plantations, as a way of making a profit, but let most of the houses be smaller, open houses, like the true farm houses. You know, where you're not sure what the purpose of the room was when you walk into the empty house, because the rooms were non-descript so they could be interchangeable. Not that many kids? You've got an office, or a parlor (living room or den, we call them now), or even a library. Have a lot of kids? No problem. Move furniture around, and it's a bedroom. They didn't decorate in those days like we do now. That was for rich, frivolous people. And the kitchen? It's big enough to do farm things...like canning and processing food, with plenty of cabinets for storage. And the porch that connects to the kitchen...ideal for shucking corn or shelling beans and not making a mess in the house. It wouldn't be wanted by today's standards. I get that. This is probably why I could never make a living as a developer. My ideas would not match today's standards at all.

And as much as I hate to see it go, we have a house that works for us and that we've spent hours upon hours working to get it as we want (the yard, not so much the house). Other than the historical aspect of this old house, there's no reason to change the set-up we have. It's not realistic or practical.

I know that change must come. It's inevitable, really. But there's a small part of me that cringes and whispers "NO!"

recovery

Today marks the 4 year anniversary of my hometown being hit by two tornadoes, killing 4 people and demolishing Main Street. The first two years of recovery seemed to be nothing but meetings and paperwork as FEMA and the Alabama Historical Commission could not seem to get their requirements in line with each other and a tiny town with no insurance and little initiative seemed to find meeting the basic necessities of a town all it could handle. Today, I'm happy to report that things are still slowly improving, though there's still many miles ahead.

The new City Hall is under construction. (www.cityofcordova.org)

And the new Piggly Wiggly (located where the Hardware Store used to be, due to the 100 year flood plain guidelines), which opened last year (I think).  www.cityofcordova.org

I was thinking about it this morning as the news was showing coverage from Nepal. We are SO blessed to live in a country that can provide humanitary aid in times of crisis, and that no matter how bad things were in the state of Alabama (200 people died that day, and over 92 towns were tremendously destroyed), it's not even a blink of the trauma that is facing Nepal today. I was glad to read that India and China were immediately sending in assistance, both supplies and rescue workers, and that other nations were waiting on the airport to clear. It's sad that our world only works together during times of natural disasters, but at least we're still doing that.

changes

Someone asked me a while back about the house across the road from us. I had posted pictures as they were building, and the family has now been in it for several months. I finally got a shot of the completed house yesterday:

The builder is also renovating the farm house to the left of our house, and the change is outstanding. Hopefully I can find a before picture from tax records and then get a picture of it today.

And, in today's newspaper is an update on the school situation in Garner. It mentions that Bryan Road Elementary, like south Garner High, will house students of other schools the first two years so those campuses can be renovated. Seeing as Bryan Rd Elementary (which will be our next door neighbor) is schedule to house students in the fall of 2017, I imagine construction is going to start soon. So change is coming.  Maybe we'll get our road paved soon!

The solitude was nice while it lasted.

Tomorrow I'll try to get pictures of the progress they've made on South Garner High. They steel studs appear to be 90% in place on the academic building and in some places they've even started putting the outerwall up. The gym/cafeteria is looking more and more like a completed building as well.

And ten minutes down the road at the White Oak shopping center, Carbela's (sp?) is slated to open next week, with five new restaurants (FIVE GUYS!!! and a barbeque place...please let it be tomato based!), coming soon.

The joke that the only thing tobacco fields are growing these days is subdivisions isn't exactly true around here, but it's not far from the mark.

last shots of Bentonville 2015

I don't remember there being trenches at the previous reenactments, but they clearly had them here, and even had soldiers digging in them at various points. The Boy Scouts behind us were laughing at the soldiers doing the digging, because they all took their wool coats off. I don't blame them! It was warming up. The boys must have had binoculars, because I had to zoom with my camera several times before I found the soldiers they were talking about.

 The flank move below seemed to excite everyone in the crowd.

 The two "dead" federal soldiers (in the trenches) caused quite a bit of laughter among the Boy Scout troup behind us. Evidently one of them turned his head at some point, and they were making quite a few jokes about what the two dead soldiers were discussing.

 Maybe because of the almost teenage boys behind me, maybe because it was movement, but I started noticing the soldiers who "died". One, it was sad, but at the same time it became a little bit funny. Some of them clearly didn't want to hurt themselves and slowly knelt to the ground. Others put on quite the show by tumbling head over heels and writhing.  The guy below got quite comfortable. And I don't blame him. If I had to be still in one position for a long time, I'd die in a comfortable position too!

 Another scene enacted quite well was soldiers helping/dragging other wounded soldiers off the field.

 At this point the troops started a counter-attack directly in front of us. Like in the movies, row one fires while row two prepares their guns, and if there's a third row, they stand in line to advance or flank as needed. This group was doing that, so I knew they were about to fire and thought I'd have the perfect shot. About the same time they fired, the Feds fired a cannon shot in their direction, and EVERYONE in our section jumped. So instead of getting a good shot, I took a picture similar to one my mother would take...feet in focus and heads cut off. :)  Too bad the photo doesn't capture the noise, the smoke, or everyone around us cheering because they thought the "action" was about to begin.

 This injured chap drug himself under the shade tree in front of the crowd before he died. I know it was supposed to be serious, but it made me laugh a little bit.

 I think we were all amazed at how close the soldiers came to each other. Our guns today are so advanced and powerful that we forget that wasn't the case back then, and a lot of these battles resulted in bayonets (knives placed on the ends of the guns) and hand to hand combat.

I pray our nation will never face such a war again, whether "civil" or foreign. And as much as I hope that never ever comes our way again, should it happen, I pray we're well prepared.

the Bentonville musicians

Federal Band performing for the crowd pre-reenactment. They even took a few requests from the crowd and played a few Rebel songs.

Add caption

One of my favorite shots. Most drummers were younger boys, though by this point in the war the South was decimated and most southern soldiers were Grandpas and young boys.

Not totally sure, but I think one of the flutists was a female.

And another female I don't think I posted yesterday.

hat decorations

About half of this Federal unit sported the red caps. We weren't sure if they were supposed to be of French or Italian descent. Either way, they spoke a striking pose and were one of the groups that had a chant or song while marching.

Yeah, I know this guy doesn't have a hat decoration...but check out that quilt!

Saw quite a few feathers, which made me wonder if they got the idea from "yankee doodle"

A lot of this unit sported holly in their hats and had orangy-beards, making me wonder if it's an Irish thing (like shamrocks)

Don't fret. There's only a few more days worth of Bentonville's 150th anniversary pictures, and then I'll move on to other topics and such.

women at Bentonville

If I were in my 20s, I think reenacting is something that would be fun. And while I'd like to reenact the roles of women, such as the ladies who cook in the tents and work as medic assistants in the field with the long dresses and bonnets, I think it's cool that these girls took on the role as soldiers and such. Granted, all the women who fought did so in disguise (and yes, there is documented proof this did happen), I think it's kind of cool that these women do this without cutting off their hair and disguising as men. I know it would disgruntle the purists (yeah, the people who think about reenactments the same why I think of movies made from books), but it would make many young girls like I was more willing to participate.

No, this lady wasn't a reenactor, but was standing in front of the sitting lines talking to friends before it started, (during the preview time), in essence blocking the view of EVERYONE sitting in my section. And just because I'm a little snarky this way...notice who she pulls for....yeah...the same fans who almost always park in the handicap access lanes or illegally park in HC spots 'cause they'll "just be a minute")

 And now...for the female reenactors:

Check out the beards on the two guys surrounding the girl with glasses...that's authentic!

See the gator in the background? When it drove some older men onto the field for the preview, the Boy Scouts sitting behind me started heckling them..."Hey! That's not very authentic!" It made me laugh a little. The gator driver  also escorted overheated soldiers off the field for medical attention.