I may have found the farm. It wasn't under my grandfathers name of James Henry Miller it was under my great grandfathers name of James Evans. There were about three sections or pieces of land listed all contiguous. I vaguely remember that Grandpa evans split the land up to the kids. He was a small man with white beard and mustache and aleways wore an old suit. He had a nickname of Frenchie and had a bad temper (I never saw it) He had worked for the railroad in Missouri and at one time worked at a switch house. They say he carried a little .41 caliber brass derringer in his vest pocket in a tobacco pouch. My girl cousin (a few months younger than me) would go out on the front porch of the farm house where grandpa Evans would spend many hours sitting and watching the cars pass up on the hill on the road between Bryant and Ava. When he saw us he would gather us up into his lap, one on each leg and tell us mesmerizing stories. Wish I could remember some of them but they were very happy days for us kids. When my dad was little grandpa Evans taught him an old Cherokee song and dad sang it to me but he didn't know its meaning. Lots of questions but no answers available anymore. One vivid memorie I have is, we were going somewhere, maybe Bryant and we, my mother and dad and I went across the creek down to the barn where dad hitched up the horses to the open wagon. One of the horses was a new one they had just traded for and it was skittish. When dad climbed up into the seat it lit out and the wagon and horses went skidding around the barn. Mom heard it coming toward us and yelled and slammed me flat up against the barn. I saw dad with one leg hanging down on the barn side asd the horses came careening around the corner of the barn toward us and his leg got caught between the corner of the barn and the wagon and scraped it up pretty badly. He got them halted and we went to our log cabin where mom fixed up his leg. We didn't go anywhere that day. Another time I remember was dad hoisting me up on his arm lighting the prince Albert in his pipe (sure loved that smell) picked up his axe and went up on the side of the hill (I could look down the hill and see a pretty little pond). He sat me on the ground and began cutting wood rails and such. And maybe firewood. The trees were not big but it must have been fall because the leaves were all yellow and other colors. Still cherish a lot of those memories of so long ago. I am 70 now. Dad and mom passed away in 2006, he 90 and mom 82. Moms folks came from Springfield wher we spent much time later on after grandpa Miller passed away. Paul

There is a Five Guys here in town right next to where I usually get my hair cut, that people had been raving about. Twice while trying to kill time until the hair cut, I went into Five Guys, waited in line for about 5 minutes, and got so turned off by the slow line, the peanut shells littering the grease-slickened floor, and the sign atop the menu declaring "All of our burgers are cooked to well-done" that I ended up leaving without ordering anything. A third time I was determined to try the food, and was not at all impressed. The burger made up for the fact that it was overcooked by being very greasy, the bun was soggy and flavorless, the lettuce was wilted from being steamed while the burger was wrapped in foil. The fries were far, far too many, and way too salty, and were mushy and greasy, and they went from too hot to eat, to too cold and greasy, seemingly without ever passing through the "just right" temperature. I went to a local hot-dog restaurant that seemed to be aiming for "like Five Guys, but with hot dogs instead of burgers" and their fries were some of the best I'd ever had. Maybe that's how Five Guys was when it first started out, and its merely that the local franchisee is not doing such a great job, but I'll certainly not be back.

Vee, sorry, I only just noticed your post to me about Death Comes to Pemberley. I don't watch Downton Abbey so haven't been following this thread. I can't remember what I said about the book either but the TV show looks interesting and I shall see if I can get an advance DVD download as I don't know when it will be shown here or it may have been on Foxtel satellite which I don't have. I don't get the time to watch everything I'd like on "Free to air" as it is! I have heaps of programs that sit in the recorder....

My son went to the parade. It was completely amazing. The Eagles had more fans than the Pope. The crowd was well behaved. The biggest problem was not enough bathrooms, which is the main reason I didn’t go. Our schools were open but some classes had only two or three kids attending. Everyone managed to get in and out of the city without any problems. Here’s a video my son took at Broad and Ellsworth in South Philly. He rode his bike so he got to see a lot of the parade. well, looks like GW won’t let me post the video. Too bad. And yes, I heard on the news that the Phillies are packed up and heading south for spring training.