Monthly Archives: April 2011

Grandma Hardy’s Garden

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 22, 2011

Grandma Hardy’s Garden

Frank and Lola Hardy of Stratton NeMy grandparents, Frank and Lola Hardy, were farmers in southwest Nebraska, north of Stratton. I’ve written that Grandma Hardy was a tease throughout her life. One of her favorite targets was her husband, Grandpa Hardy. Of course, seeing how well he took the teasing and jokes at his expense, made him an easy target for us grandchildren, too.

And one of her favorite ways to tease him was through the garden. I won’t say that Grandpa was a perfectionist, but he did like his gardens nice and tidy. He would plant straight rows and would weed that garden throughout the season. That was HIS side of the garden. Then there was Grandma’s side of the garden. And let me tell you, there was never any doubt about which side of the garden belonged to whom.

There was almost a demarcation line – kind of like the Mason/Dixon line of southwest Nebraska. Grandpa Hardy’s side (whether it was on the north side or the south side of the garden) was the Yankee side. Straight lines, clean rows. Grandma Hardy’s side of the garden represented the South – the little bit of wild side, independent streak, with meandering rows (not just crooked) full of WEEDS.

More than once, I heard Grandpa grumbling about “that woman’s weeds!” And I can still hear Grandma chuckling. Except to have fresh onion sandwiches, I’m not sure that Grandma really cared about whether or not she had a garden. Well, fresh onions and wheedling Grandpa without having to say a word.

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Vonna and Her Pets

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 14, 2011

Vonna and Her Pets

My mother and her pets

Vonna and Her Cats

My mother, Vonna Glyndean Hardy Ragan, was raised on a farm in southwest Nebraska, about 15 miles northwest of Stratton. She had one older brother, Delbert, and a few years after this picture was taken, brothers Neil and George were added to the family.

A little girl on a farm during the early 30′s didn’t have the latest electronic games that my granddaughter loves. She and her parents didn’t run from dance class to gymnastics class to swim class to t-ball practice that kids do these days. Goodness, she didn’t even have TV to watch Dora rescue the animals and practice her Spanish with her animal friends.

However, she did have the farm animals. There were always cats around, partly to keep the mice at bay. And, as you can see from this picture, she did play with cats – several cats, as a matter of fact. She told me recently that she even played with chickens. They must have been smaller or tamer chickens than I remember being on that same farm because the chickens that I knew were more likely to peck a finger than not.

One day when her mother was hanging laundry, she found another farm animal to play with. So she took it around the corner of the house to show her mother. Poor Grandma Hardy never did remember what she did with the clothes she was hanging once she saw the snake in her daughter’s arms! Especially when that snake bit her darling little girl.

I mean, can you imagine the chaos of that moment! You don’t live on a farm in Nebraska without knowing the dangers of rattlesnakes. And in the rush of the moment, it’s hard to know whether that awful ugly thing slithering away is a poisonous snake or not. (And REALLY, does it matter? A snake is a snake is a snake. And I can assure you that had I been Eve in the Garden, Satan would have had to take a different form to tempt me to eat ANYTHING!)

Anyway, back to Mom. Here she was, bitten by her new playmate, certainly seeing the fear (and a little loathing) in her mother’s eyes and hearing the shaking in her screaming voice! The pain and the fear that she must have been going through while her mother was running her out to the field for her father-in-law to check to see if her precious daughter had been poisoned.

Well, obviously, Mom’s new playmate wasn’t poisonous. But I dare say that she was a tad more careful when choosing a new friend in the future.

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Little Lola

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 13, 2011

Little Lola

Grandma Lola Henderson Hardy of Stratton NE

Lola Henderson

My maternal grandmother was born and raised in southwest Nebraska. Lola Almira Henderson was born in 1908. She was the second daughter of Frank and Myra Henderson. Lola and Frank Hardy eloped while Frank was still in high school.

That seems like a really short synopsis of childhood, doesn’t it. Took her right from being born to being married in 2 quick sentences.

Grandma Lola had many wonderful qualities, and I don’t think she ever lost the child-like spark for fun. In the time that I knew her (which was into my 40′s), she could be a little ornery. You can almost see the tendency in her childhood picture. She was a tease.

And you know the best lesson I learned from her as a child? That you can catch a bird if you put salt on its tail. Really, you can. I used to spend hours sitting outside Grandma’s house with a salt shaker in my hand, waiting for just the right moment to shake just the right touch of salt on a bird’s tail so that I could catch him. And how did I know that Grandma wasn’t just teasing me? Because she always had a bird in her house that stayed in a bird cage (except when we let him out to watch him fly around the house). Anyway, I knew that was how Grandma caught her bird — with the salt on the tail. So, if I was just patient enough, I would catch another bird to stay in that bird cage inside the house.

Unfortunately, I was never skilled enough to catch a bird for Grandma Hardy. But my granddaughter has already spent hours in my back yard with a salt shaker in her hand. And when she catches that bird, I am going to get her the prettiest bird cage I can find and keep it in my living room. Just like Grandma Hardy.

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Receiving the Scriptures

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 12, 2011

Tears of Joy

When is the last time you celebrated having the Scriptures? Watch this video about the celebration of a group of people who are receiving the New Testament written in their own language for the very first time. It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it.

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Mother and Child

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 11, 2011

Mother and Child

Lucile Ragan and baby Seth

Mother and Child

Have you ever noticed that when you see a picture of a mother and her newborn child, the mother has eyes only for her baby? Lucile Adams Ragan was no different when she was holding her first child, Seth. In earlier pictures, her eyes are looking into the camera. But now she has a child, a baby that she didn’t carry to full-term 9 months, but one who had to fight for life early on. A son who fit in a dresser drawer for his first bed. And she has eyes in this photo only for him. You know that she’s wanting to protect him from the western Nebraska wind, even while she wants to show him off for the camera.

In this picture Grandma Ragan was no longer the new bride or the spoiled only child. She’s the new mother who is head-over-heels in love with her child, the new life resulting from her love for Clement. She was probably thinking that no other child had ever been as perfect. Just the same as this son would one day look at his children, and his children would gaze at their new children, and those children are now gazing at their newborns. The cycle continues. And I thank God that there are still mothers who gaze with love and hope and joy when they hold their newborn baby.

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Google Docs

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 9, 2011

Google Docs

Since my daughter (the Bride) and I (the Mother of the Bride) are a 14-hour drive apart, she started tracking her search for wedding venue, caterer, photographer, decorations on Google documents that she and I can both access and update. And it has really been a super tool. She doesn’t have to send me information via email, then wait for my reply. We don’t have to spend tons of time on the phone talking through possibilities of a caterer, although we have chatted online quite a bit. And tracking down all the family addresses, etc! (On the Ragan side of the family, we had 2 weddings last summer, so our list was in pretty good shape. But getting it all from the Burr side has been a little more interesting. And they mostly live within 30 miles of each other. Whereas the Ragans last year were spread across the US and over to Mongolia, seriously. One of the nephews was even swimming off a Navy sub for fun in the Indian ocean. This year, we are all back on US soil, even if that soil is in Hawaii. But the Ragans tend to be a little more tech-savvy overall. Even Grandma uses email and Facebook.)

And, seriously, Amy has been involved in a lot more weddings than I have. So it’s not even a matter of her needing my input. But it’s fun to watch it evolve and put in my 2-cents worth when I can.

But if there is anything that you collaborate with others on whether personally or professionally, Google docs is a great tool. Give it a try.

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The power of the scale

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 9, 2011

The Power of the Scale

I have been a mostly active member of Weight Watchers since December 29, 2009. I had reached almost the most I had ever weighed, felt awful, looked awful. Through my foggy brain, a message finally shouted through to me: “Get in shape NOW!” To make a long story short, I lost 30 lbs over several months, got into the best shape that I have been in years through walking and yoga. Over the last few months, I’ve put 5 of those pounds back on, but am back on track. Of course, THE WEDDING helped to snap me back to attention. After all, the Mother of the Bride, doesn’t want to waddle down the aisle. But the fog was starting to roll back in, too, and that frightens me.

I won’t focus totally on weight loss in any of my blogs because there are sooooo many venues of information for that topic. But every so often, I will share ideas and messages that have helped me.

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The Dress

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 8, 2011

The Dress

Ah, the importance of the dress at your daughter’s wedding. No, I’m not talking HER dress. That’s a topic for future discussion, in a little less than a month, to be exact. I’m talking about my dress — you know, for the Mother of the Bride!

I did a little research about “mother of the bride” apparel. And it seems that a lot of mothers stew about it, even up until the day before the wedding. I read about one “mother of the bride” who had bought 5 dresses because she couldn’t make up her mind. As much as I hate to shop, especially for clothes, I can’t imagine that I’ll be buying in multiples for the event.

My dilemma will be narrowed a tad bit when Amy selects her dress. The fact that it’s an outdoor wedding in Nashville in a woodsy setting will narrow things down some more. My arms are too un-(a lot of things) to go sleeveless. I thought I’d check some of the family’s past fashions at weddings.

Mothers at my parents' wedding

Mothers at my wedding


My parents were married at my grandparent’s home on the farm in 1948. Dress was Sunday best. I was married in a small church about 30 miles from there in 1969. My mother wore pink and my mother-in-law wore blue. Notice that both mothers wore hats.

Any advice from those of you have been through your daughter’s wedding? Any advice from those of you have recently – or not so recently – been brides?

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Young Lucile

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 8, 2011

Young Lucile

My Grandmother, Lucile Blanche Adams Ragan

Grandma Ragan, early 1920's



Have you ever thought about what your grandmother was like as a young woman, before she was your grandmother, even before she was your parent’s mother, and even before she was your grandfather’s wife? I have had the pleasure of getting to know my grandmother better over the last few months through pictures. Lucile Blanche Adams Ragan was intelligent, musically gifted, an only child of a farmer and his wife in eastern Nebraska. I’ve seen pictures of her as a young girl with long curly hair, in her “Sunday best” alone and with cousins. The pictures here show a young woman in love and on the cusp of married life. She was a college student at a time when many young girls didn’t even finish high school. I love the picture of her and my granddad, Clement E. Ragan, snuggling on the campus. Can’t you just feel the love and excitement? And the one of her standing by the car. Look at that smile and those eyes.

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Simply a Christian

By Elizabeth Burr | Published: April 8, 2011

Simply a Christian

I’m simply a Christian, a follower of Christ, a believer in the one true God, the Father, Who sent His Son to live among us and die for us. The Son died on a cross and was raised on the third day, after which He walked among His disciples, met with them, shared with them. After the Son was taken to His Father’s side, the Holy Spirit came among us as a Counselor. I worship and serve with the RiverWalk Church of Christ (formerly known as Central Church of Christ) in Wichita, KS.

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