Nathan's parents get married

In the winter of 1980, I married William Otis Dollar of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Our son, William Galen Nathaniel Dollar was born October 26, 1982. Our wedding took place at Wilson Park at the Castle which is now called Point 7. It was built by Frank Williams. In this photo from your left is Suzanne Stoner Williams (now West) and Frank Williams. She was pregnanat with Garth. Steve Anderson is next and he officiated. He was a city councilman/Justice of the Peace. The hairy guy in the back is "Dead-Eye" Odom, a peddle steel player we used to play with. Between Bill and I, is Sheila, a girl from Arkansas. Next is my good old friend Larry Doyle. I think Larry is a respiratory therapist now in Texas. He was a medic in Vietnam. Bill is of AG Edwards now and "Bill Dollar and Loose Change." Suzanne is in Episcopal seminary and Frank lives and works in Moscow.

Ancestry in Indiana

I ran across this and decided to post some ancestry for dad. Here is an article about Mrs. Amerika Lyon, my great, great grandmother.

June 16, 1913
Mrs. Amerika Lyon, aged 80, died last night at 11:00at the Home of the Friendless on Race street. Death followed a lingering illness due to complications resulting from old agae and was not unexpected.

She is survived by two sons, Steve Lyon, 1314 Broadway, Charles Lyon, south of the city. One sister, Nancy McClellan, of Utica, Ohio, 85 years of age and two grand children, Bessie and Velma Lyon. She was one of the surviving pioneer residents of Washington township, having spent most of her life there until the last six years making her home with the son Steven with the exception of the last ten months at the Home of the Friendless. Funeral is to be held Thurssday at 2 o'clock from the residenc of her son, 1314 Broadway. Rev. Sumwalt officiating.

The funeral of America Lyons will be held Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the home of her son Stephen Lyons, 1314 Broadway. The services will be conducted by the Rev. Sumwalt of the Broadway M.E. church. Internment will be made in the Mt. Hope Cemetary.



America Jane Charles Lyon b. August 24, 1833 d. June 16, 1916
America was the third of seven children of James Charles and Matilda Davour There was a Nancy, Andrew, America, James, Alvira, William, and Robert. They were of Holland/Dutch descent. They homesteaded in Ohio.

Stephen Lyon, my daddy's granddad, was one of five children born to America J. Lyon and Almon Lyon. Almon was an Ohio farmer born June 20, 1818. He was a farmer and left 320 acres in Cass County, Indiana. The burial ground is in the middle of a limestone quarry in Logansport, Indiana.

They had Charles April 20, 1863 Stephen b. April 23, 1873, Henry b. October 16, 1853, Almon Jr. b. May 2, 1866, and Amanda b. June 4, 1855. Amanda married William H. Kunse in Sept of 1887. A boarder named George C also lived in the household as per the 1850 census. You can see that America had children from the time she was twenty until she was forty when my great grandad Papa Steve was born. He was the baby.

Almon Lyon was the son of Sara Lyon b. Dec 6, 1795 in New York and Charles Lyon b. January 27, 1791 in New York. I think it was Westchester County. Sara was a Van Hyning I believe which makes me eligible for the DAR. She is buried d. June 18, 1848

Imagine me in the DAR! NOT!!! I think they had five children as well. One was Amanda Lyon. One was Almon Lyon. Almon was also married to a woman who died in childbirth, I believe and an infant whose marker says Emily d. August 20, 1848 7 months old. I think his wife was Sara and she died at 19 in childbirth. His second wife was America.

Stephen Lyon was married to Alice Fitzgerald June 6, 1900 and my grandmother, Velma was born July 14, 1901. Alice was the daughter of Tobias Fitzgerald and Emma Balzell of Georgetown, Kentucky. Tobias emigrated during the last potato famine from Ireland. He may have been from Limerick. Alice Fitzgerald committed suicide, so I guess that Irish heritage of madness was there.

Diana of the Hunt

This bronze sculpture of Diana and Pan is my current favorite. I like the unsmiling mask and the lean runners body of this pastoral goddess.

Time has made a change in each smiling face...

1986 2002 2006



I'm still smiling....

Don't Leave Your Ropes in The Rain

The high rise window washer sways
amidst the birds, on sunny days!

A speed brake locks around his cable
and this keeps vittles on his table!

I watch him squeegeeing the fixtures
with vinegar and ammonia mixtures...

Hangingly seemingly suspended
by fragile ropes and lines untended!

I marvel at thee window washer
within my office, low and posher.

Perhaps I'd offer reassurance
If I did not sell insurance!

The Sirens

This is such a nice photo I wanted to put it on the blog. I think it is from a Will McLean Festival or maybe FFF. Kim on the left, is the best girl flatpicker in the state and she writes great songs! Patty is holding my autoharp and contemplating playing one. She has a beautiful voice and she plays guitar with her husband Frank who is a banjo picker. Together these two gals make gorgeous music and it is always a treat to play with them. I hope I get to do that again soon. Kim is going to become a double grandmother in September so that is pretty cool. I'm working on the grandbaby presents now.

The Paddlin' o' the Green: Lake Munson in the Sun!

I had the good fortune to be in the company of Peggy of http://paddletales.blogspot.com, today on Lake Munson. It was a very hot and sunny day but we managed to spend four hours because the birds were so many and so interesting! I was also happy to have a partner to go into Alligator Cove which did not disappoint. There were several small gators and one monster which I have seen on the other side of the lake at various times! Mating season for alligators appears to be over, however; so none of them charged us!

The water is warm and very green from an algae bloom, presently. The lotus blossoms are going to seed and their fragrance was undermined by a distinct odor of pig farm. I couldn't figure out why some parts of the lake smelled like a pig farm. It was tolerable though and we pressed on. We traversed the entire Lake which I had not done and I saw some new sights. One delightful discovery was a large flock of redwing blackbirds on the south side of the lake. They are among my favorites because of their distinct song, which reminds me of childhood.

I love snaking in among the cedars and cypress and looking for limpkins. This lake has very few boaters and the birds are quite shy. We saw many anhingas, cormorants, white herons, great blue herons, osprey, seagulls, limpkins, and even an ibis or two. I saw some hawks I could not identify. We saw the nest which Peggy identified as having been recently rented by osprey!

Behold...The Fig!

The figs are ripe and they looked so good I decided to photograph them. I am pleased to have gotten to them mostly, before the birds. If you were here, I'd give you some. But I guess you'll have to eat Fig Newtons instead! They're delicious!

Rare as an Ivory Bill

The voodoo kept me out of North Carolina.
Midnight, I sailed the Cache River on the back of a dragonfly,
The ivory bill flew off in a wink... a New York minute...

Water spirits found me anyway...

Washing up on a sandy riverbank,
I boiled my tea of Suwannee tannin,
Threw myself in the Choctawhatchee at dawn
When I heard the Kant, Kant
in dropped D

Honored the spell,
inhaling lotus blossoms
and fine legged wine

on the rocking river.

Here's my little niece

My little niece asked me why she wasn't in my picture blog. So here she is. It is somewhat difficult to get a photo of her without a phone blocking her face so I'll just show you what I've got! Grandma and I accompanied her on a blitzkrieg shopping trip after fueling her up on hot wings and cheese sticks at the Thirsty Turtle. She is not yet one of the tattooed people but she will be, I'm guessing! She's very trendy...And lots of people love her... mom and dad, three aunties and two uncles, two grandmas and a grandpa, cousins by the bunch, and even a doggie! ...not to mention salesladies!

Wekiwa Springs State Park and The Wekiva River

Wekiwa Springs is a popular swimming hole near Apopka and its clear river is one I have been eager to paddle for some time. I like to swim in the spring in fall and winter, when no one is around. You can imagine the riot of dipsters in the spring today!

I got my chance in the late afternoon, to explore the river on my return from south Florida. The Shuttle launch was cancelled and although I was disappointed I knew an opportunity to paddle the Wekiva River was at hand. The river is home to many kinds of fish including this sucker catfish which schooled with me while I floated. The trees are thick with airplants and they looked like river hair. I saw an alligator, two swallowtailed kites and lots of green herons. This little land tortoise was munching grass in the sand trail upon which I dragged the kayak down to the river.

The river has many fallen trees and is twisty and turny, requiring a bit of agility with one's paddle. The banks are thick with yellow north american lotus plants, sabal palms, old cypress trees with knobby knees, and maidenhair ferns perch atop half sunken oaks. For my friends who like to see bottom, this is one river which will not disappoint. The dragonflies traversed their watery highway. The river smelled like lotus blossoms and anise. I paddled up to the first bridge and although there were miles ahead of me, I had yet a long drive home so, I turned around. The swallow tailed kites were soaring over the bridge.

What delights me about this Park is that it is smack dab in the middle of lush suburbs. It is a hidden treasure. Forty two million gallons of clear water boil out of the spring each day and flow north into the St. John's river.