Let Me Tell You This About That

Kentucky Conversations: Weathering the Storms of Life

• Hess and Delbert • Season 1 • Episode 26

Share episode

Send us a text

In this heartfelt episode, hosts Hess and Delbert share personal stories about weathering life’s storms—both literal and metaphorical. Broadcasting from their homes in Kentucky, they discuss the state’s recent flooding, the importance of community and resilience, and the spirit of making the best out of challenging situations. The duo also recounts nostalgic memories, talks about their ongoing community projects, and emphasizes the importance of supporting child nutrition and housing security. Don’t miss their charming reflections on life, love, and the beauty of Kentucky in the spring.  

Click here for Carole's Kitchen Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/caroleskitchen.nonprofit?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Update on my friend José and his cancer treatments. After the first rounds of chemo, after new scans--the good news is that the tumor in the colon has shrunk, but they have increased in his liver. His oncologist has increasd the power of the chemo to help irradicate it elsewhere. Thank you so much for your support to Jose!
https://gofund.me/e6f61999

In addition to being a podcast host, Hess is also an LCSW--if you'd like to learn more about her work as a therapist, check it out at www.jessicabollinger.com

One of her mission's is for all of our lights to shine--when we see each other and allow ourself to be seen--and we can say to the person in front of us, There You Are! the world will be an amazing place!

Delbert is a realtor in Louisville, KY, and you can find her at Kentucky Select Properties

Her philanthropic work to continue her sister Carole and niece Meghan is Carole's Kitchen. Blessings in a Backpack helps feed the many hungry students in our schools. The instagram account is: https://www.instagram.com/caroleskitchen.nonprofit?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
...

Hess:

Hey, welcome everybody. This is Hess and I am welcoming you now to let me tell you this about that I'm sitting in the white chair by my window.

Delbert:

Good morning. This is Delbert, and I as always am sitting on my green couch looking out the picture window. And let me tell you this about that I. There is a beautiful sunrise this morning. It's pink and purple. Swirl. Just sent the picture to Hess. We'll try to share it. It's gorgeous out and boy do we deserve it. Hess,

Hess:

That's right, Delbert. That's right. When we talked last week, it was still raining.

Delbert:

yes. It was like we thought we might have to build an ark, but it turns out it finally stopped. Our topic today is making the most of a bad situation. We've got wonderful spirit in Kentucky of staying together and taking care of each other, and we have a wonderful governor that reminds us about that all the time. And so we're gonna talk about both of us. Went on little trips this week.

Hess:

That's right. That's right. And yeah, so there was a lot of flooding in Louisville. What's what Delbert's referring to. And the Kentucky River flooded Frankfurt here over its banks. A whole lot got flooded. I. And on my trip, Delbert, I went down to Aiken, South Carolina to a friend of mine's place Beth and Kelly to their little farm that they've built down there in Aiken, South Carolina. So I had to go through Asheville, North Carolina, and that I 40, that has been reclaimed. They've opened two lanes of it after their big rainstorm last fall. Oh, and it's so amazing. And even though there was a slowdown about four miles of the road just needed to be rebuilt, the Pigeon River just tore out a whole, like two lanes just collapsed. Hundreds of feet down into the river and it's a really amazing how they are building that back. And I thought, gosh, it was so there was a slowdown and stops. I.'cause we all went, both lanes going and coming only had one lane. So the two lanes had to go down to one, but just, it was amazing just to drive through there. And those workers that are working hard and their people from there, they're like, we wanna reclaim this. We gotta get this back. This is important for our economy and this is our home. This is where we live.

Delbert:

Exactly, and you were pulling a horse trailer. You weren't just driving through it, you were pulling speedy.

Hess:

Right going Delbert. I thought I saw a sign that said it was closed and I thought I 40 East, and I thought, uhoh, okay, I'll go ahead and get off. And my GPS said it was gonna be 20 minutes faster. It wasn't because I'm pulling a horse trailer like you said, so I'm going up winding this way and that and going through sulfur spring. Not Sulfur springs, but hot springs and then coming down, all around. It was like two hours and Speedy said he did not like that at all. That's my horse speedy. He said he did not like those curves. He was like shiver, just trembling a little bit. Going around all those curves. coming back, I came straight and stayed on I 40 and was in awe of that reconstruction.

Delbert:

I am glad you listened to Speedy and came back on 40. That's the quickest and the straightest way to go.

Hess:

For sure.

Delbert:

I drove to Nashville and all that pour rain. Were you, did you have any rain on your drive?

Hess:

Because I was headed east and this line of rain folks was just like north to south on this corridor. So I was driving a little bit east and when I got down down near Corbin, it was, I was out of it.

Delbert:

I was driving Southwest and it was just hovering over us and my youngest daughter, I went to visit her in Nashville, Tennessee. And I'm always struck by how beautiful it is driving through that farmland in Kentucky and Tennessee. So beautiful. And rolling, farm fields and this time, it's just pouring the whole time I'm driving, and we had planned to go on a picnic. We had planned to do a lot of outdoor stuff and we had. Switch that to indoors. We pivoted and made the most of everything. We had an indoor picnic and just opened the blinds up in the hotel and we were overlooking this beautiful hillside with beautiful dogwood trees and red buds. So we just, pretended like we were there. And we did a lot of spa kind of things and meditation and shopped a little bit and still got to go to our favorite restaurant on the river. I. There, there was a lot in place to keep it from flooding there, but in Louisville, oh my goodness. The Ohio River came way out of its banks. It just crested just the other day and it's starting to recede now. But a colleague of mine was driving on the overpass. On 64, which is way up in the air. You're not far from being bridge level. And he said he looked over his shoulder to merge and he was eyeball to eyeball with a crew member of the bell of Louisville. That's how the Bell of Louisville was up towards the expressway overpass. Yeah.

Hess:

my.

Delbert:

that's, just to give you an idea the bell of Louisville is our big Steamboat and, it was up by the overpass and they were working, to adjust all the lines and ropes and everything to keep her safe. We love the bell. But so in Louisville this week, is this the kickoff to the Kentucky Derby and the first thing that we do yesterday should have been Thunder over Louisville, which is a big air show. Hess, I think we went together last year. Was it last year?

Hess:

Yeah,

Delbert:

Okay.

Hess:

went.

Delbert:

We had a big adventure on a city bus. Yeah. But, they had to cancel that because the river was, and it's on the waterfront. So they had to cancel it. And so I'm so proud of one of my cousins, Liz Lanning. She works for WHAS and they turned all of their advertising that they were gonna do for Thunder into a big fundraiser for the Red Cross for flood relief. And then I was telling Hess about just everybody along the river and everybody in town, they're just doing so many awesome things. If you watch CNN a local restaurant here called Captain's Quarters, which is right on the river, they flood every time. The river gets high almost. And the o one of the owners, Andrew Masterson, he has this idea that he's, researched and he floods his own place with fresh water. They disconnect all the electrical and take out all the equipment and move all the furniture. It's a huge process, but they put clean water so that they limit the amount of mud and dirty water that comes in. And so he's got this really cool video that they played on CNN where his employees are all in floaties. After they finish doing all the work they're floating in floaties in the bar area. It's really cute. So just what a great attitude, how much hard work that is. My goodness.

Hess:

I was fascinated by that. Delbert Andrew Masterson it's his family. He he's a co-owner of Captains. Quarters Riverside Grill, and they, that location, it's Prime. They have all these Adirondack chairs that sit out and look at the river. There's a big boat that sits there that take, can take people on cruises and stuff. Or it's might maybe a, you can rent it and go out, and have parties on he knows because of that location that he's got this threat of flood whenever the water gets high. So to come up with that idea to put fresh water, he has a a well water pump, and it brings the water out of this auquafor under the restaurant. And they fill like you said, they've taken all the furniture out. Those have been all put in tractor trailers. Everything's been hauled away. The fuse box is emptied out, all electronics are out, all the equipment's out, and they haul it to high ground in these tractor trailers. So he fills the wa, fills it up. And that's something that fascinated me about biology. Delbert is active transport, is your cell membranes. That, that that when you have this pressure outside when you have something inside, it keeps things from going. the cell, so it has to be active transport to come into the cell. I always remember that word. I don't know. I forget what science teacher that was that we had that told me that,

Delbert:

Probably Sister Patrick.

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

She was biology. Yeah. From Sacred Heart. Yeah.

Hess:

Yeah. Yeah. So what Andrew does is he figures that doing this to the building, he doesn't have that muddy water in there to clean out, and he just gets things cleaned out. He uses employees to help him clean everything out so they get paid. He says it probably saves him a hundred thousand dollars, but as you all see in that video, if you look it up, captain's quarters, restaurant it. He said it only works if the water is only like five feet in the rest, five feet around the building. And it did get up, just below the roof so it got higher. So it was an active transport. It was just sym symbiosis where the water, the, some of the muddy water did come into the building because the water got a little too high,

Delbert:

Has the scientific expla explanation. I just love the floats, like the flamingo floats and the duck floats. And I, the joy that these employees had, they're making this fun video and they're not gonna. Have worked for a while, they're not gonna be able to open for Easter, which is big for them. They're gonna hustle to try to get open for derby. Hey, we're sending you good vibes out there. All the restaurants and businesses out there on the river di Oreos. Out there is having a big fundraiser for all the restaurant employees and employees along the river that are out of work right now, and they have really good pizza. So go see them too.

Hess:

And Delbert, you were talking about WHAS. They televise the thunder over Louisville. It's this huge air show and then. When it gets dark, and this is along the river, right there at Louisville. And when it gets dark, then they have a huge gargantuous firework show,

Delbert:

It's one of the largest in the world.

Hess:

And it wasn't gonna be safe because the high water and all of the debris that gets put up on the shore and stuff, even if the water receded. But they were all citizens were out there just like picking up and picking up sticks and trash all along there, all the parks along there yesterday. So WHS. Said the their, the sponsors of the Thunder over Louisville did not retract any of their investment, and did a, did it all day, like they would've anyway, a Televis show and it, and they showed reruns of Thunder over Louisville and it was a fundraiser to raise money for Red Cross. And it was amazing. They had so much fun doing that.

Delbert:

Yeah, they did. They showed reruns of some of the other shows and they still had the drone show. Which was, I'm like, wow. Okay. Romes incredible that, that was a really fun part of the show last year that you and I watched live. And so cool to watch all the planes fly over and all the military and everything before the fireworks show. So it's just an all day long festival. We love a party here in Louisville, Kentucky. And we'd party for about two and a half weeks for a two and a half minute horse race. So this is the beginning, Derby season is here. Get your hats. Get ready.

Hess:

The first weekend in May, and if you were from Kentucky, knows the first weekend of May is Derby weekend. Schools don't have schools in Louisville, don't have school Thursday and Friday. Is that right?

Delbert:

Really just Friday, I, that it creeps into Thursday.'cause now Thursday is Thurby and then Friday of course is the oaks. And they do the cancer survivor's walk. And that's the day you dress all in pink for breast cancer awareness. And they have the survivor's parade, which is awesome. And then, of course, Saturday, the first, Saturday in May is. Derby day. So yeah, the kids don't have school on Oaks Day Friday, and I'm not sure, I'll have to look at the JCP. That's something I'll do in housekeeping next week. I'll look at the calendar because my little darlings go to JCPS. And if you've listened about Carole's kitchen, we feed our kiddos there too. And, we have our Carole's kitchen in a lot of schools at JCPS, and let me just tell you this about that. April's also the anniversary of when my sister and my niece passed and we launched our Instagram page. My niece Lizzie helped me launch that. This month we did it exactly on April 2nd, and then Megan's birthday is on the 21st of April. And April is also Global Child Nutrition Month. And so I wanted to make sure everybody was aware of that. And it's so important to take care of our children, to satisfy their nutrition needs. It's the most basic human need. We need to make sure our future of our country and our world are fed. They're, they have nutrition mentally and physically. It's gotta be physically first, and then we feed them so they can learn and they can be the best person they can be.

Hess:

Bert, I sent you an article from the Lexington Herald leader this past week, and they're making sure, they're trying to make sure that in our school budget that's about to be passed, that we keep the funds for people, for the students who have housing insecurity, and the number they speculate the housing insecurity is a thousand people. And as you reminded me. Those are the only those are those thousand kids are the ones they know about,

Delbert:

and whenever we go into a school and start, a pantry, that's what the family resource coordinators are so vital for those kids. And they'll always tell us, we have 70 students that are homeless. That's who we've identified. They always say that afterwards. They say that's who the ones we've identified. And so throughout the school year, they usually identify more. But one thing I've got a update on my website and on our Instagram is, pre pandemic, we had 60,000 kids in Jefferson County at risk for food insecurity. And a lot of those, children had home insecurity as well. Now I'm looking at the Blessings in a backpack website and now they cooperate a lot with No Child Hungry. A lot of the national programs that deal with childhood hunger. They, it's 80,000 now in Jefferson County, so just since the pandemic it's grown 20,000. That just gives you pause. Made my brain scramble a little bit, but,

Hess:

that's Delbert. That's 20% increase.

Delbert:

That's just my little, that's my little thing I'd like people to concentrate on for the rest of this month of April. And if you'd like to go we're relaunching our website. It's taken a little longer than we thought. We're still working on it, but our new Instagram is up, it's Carole's kitchen nonprofit, and it's Carol with an E. And you'll see our logo that's got our apron and our arrows. It's black and white. If you wanna read a little about our story or help us feed some kids right here in Jefferson County, that would be awesome.

Hess:

So Carole's kitchen, C-A-R-O-L-E, kitchen.

Delbert:

Yes.

Hess:

Got it. And that's the Instagram and that's a new, and I'll have it tagged you all on the bottom of the information on our pod. So it'll be down there and you can click on it. Wow.

Delbert:

So another thing that I did this week, Hess it's been a big week. I had happy hour with Father Flynn. Our priest that we grew up with who just made such a difference in our lives. He made us aware of the world around us. He made us wanna be involved and active in our communities. And gosh, growing up we talked about the guitar masses that we had at Mother of Good Counsel. We talked about Joey t whenever we get together with Hess's cousin Joey, we talk about those scrolls that we would do on the overhead projector and play music, protest in the war in Vietnam. So he just got us so involved and told me a little bit, if you grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, your family probably started out in the west part of of. Louisville down by the river, either Portland, that's where most of the residential area of Louisville was. And so my mom and all her siblings grew up down there and so did Father Flynn and his siblings. And we were laughing about, all the growing up there, being Catholic and Irish and, not having a lot of money and just making the best, like when I talked to my mom and her sisters and talked to Father Flynn and his sister, my friend Linda's mom was there, you they're talking about how fun, all the fun they had. All the good times, making the most of, just finding any little thing, kick the can down the road or, just any little thing that they just made the most of it. And I just, I love that. I love that about life. When people can pivot towards that joy can move towards that joy in their life. And so Father Flynn his life mission was, battling poverty and helping people who lived in poverty. And as he is gotten older and gotten really involved in climate change he really, he sends out all sorts of information to people about climate change in the world and how it really affects the poorest in our world, these global climate changes. And

Hess:

absolutely and Father Flynn is now, did you say he was 95?

Delbert:

He's 95. He's gonna be 96. Still just sharp. Just so full of wisdom. You could just sit there and talk to him for hours and I just, I was so thrilled to get to see him. I hadn't seen him for a while. We do have the same Walgreens. We do see each other in the Walgreens every once in a while, but but it was just so great. Any time you see him is just so wonderful. And there's books. His name is Father James Flynn. There's been books written about him, his activism he's just a, he's had an incredible life. And

Hess:

He was at Mother of Good Counsel and then he went to Anchorage and opened a new church. There. That was. That was pretty cool. Church. What was the name of the one in Anchorage?

Delbert:

called Epiphany and the how they named that's in one of his books that I've read. Is they were walking the grounds, they were looking for a location for a church and they were walking the grounds and they were thinking about a name for it, and they were actually walking the grounds on the Feast of the Epiphany. So it's cold, right after Christmas. And so they named it Epiphany and it was the coolest church. It I think it's still around, but. We used to love to go when we were young after he built it because it was completely glass and you were just looking out into nature. So he's always had this love of helping people and of nature and in the world and the gift that nature is. And you could, whatever the season was like if it was snowing out, and like deer would run by'cause you're facing the woods. It was springtime, all these lovely blooms. Yeah. So it was just a really cool church. And we were talking about the guitar masses, that really brought a lot of young people back into the faith. And my dad, he said, oh, big Stanley let you all go to five 30 mass on Sunday. That was big'cause big procession of us all, seven of us coming into church. And my dad liked the guitar mass. All the modern song Joe Wise and the Agape Singers, all the cool songs with the guitar. So I was so glad my parents would let us go on Sunday night. Not only could I sleep in a little bit, gave us a little extra time to get ready. It wasn't until five 30 at night and my dad would make us all pile out in the front of church, and we were always just a couple minutes late,

Hess:

yeah, it takes a while to pile in and pile

Delbert:

It didn't go unnoticed when the whole Watson Gang came in the back door of Mother of Good counsel for sure. So we just had so many great memories and he just inspired us as kids and he just keeps on inspiring people. If you.

Hess:

You said you've seen him standing on the side of the road in protests, holding up signs like for

Delbert:

Yes. He's very active in climate change. He also did a lot of work in Latin and Central America, and he protests a lot on behalf of the immigrants and refugees. And he's, if you are driving through Louisville and you see this sweet man. Holding a sign that says, refugees welcome, honk and Wave. That's Father Flynn. And I say, I'm so proud. That's my priest.

Hess:

Yeah. Okay. So he lives at a little place and they have their happy hour every night for half an hour,

Delbert:

you gotta get there at five.'cause five 30 they wrap it up and you might miss it. But actually we, I hadn't seen him for so long and I hadn't seen. Honestly, I hadn't seen Linda's mom since I was a kid. You'd see her standing there waving to the kids when they got on the bus, and so it was great. I got to talk to her. So we did talk until about seven 30. So I was really honored that they, elongated the happy hour timeframe for me.

Hess:

So like from five to seven 30.

Delbert:

yeah, about growing up in the West end, growing up Catholic, all the wonderful things that we remembered about mass with Father Flynn. Remember? He taught us the song to the desiderata A new version of singing the, our father that was, to a guitar, just all the songs he taught us. And, we talked about when he and Father Robin would walk through the cafeteria, you would've thought they were from Hollywood. Everybody clapped and screamed and everybody wanted to hug him. Of course you couldn't do that nowadays. But yeah,

Hess:

That's funny.

Delbert:

just a good way to grow up. But yeah, climate change and, we could have Father Flynn on to talk about this more, but when he was in Central America working, it damages the crops, of the poor, the coffee crops in central, in South America really affects them. And so they migrate here because they don't have a living anymore. They don't have to make a living.

Hess:

yeah, for sure.

Delbert:

come here and work on our farms,

Hess:

these big weather events, neil Degrasia, I was listening to him talk about this Delbert, and I can't quote him exactly, but it was really something he said, oh, it's gotta be a global to, to go after climate. It's gotta be something globally because it's like having a pool and only having one section of the pool that you're allowed to pee

Delbert:

And nobody wants to go to that pool. It doesn't matter where you.

Hess:

And he said, it's just it's the covid, you can't see it. And then people say, oh, I'm tired of being inside. I'm gonna go on outside and go to the target and shop. It's, it, he says it needs to be it the climate. The climate change, it needs to be something like pur not purple. He said, that's too pretty of a color, but a brown sludge or something so people can actually really feel it and see it so that everybody will take an action for it.

Delbert:

And this is, mother Earth, this is our home. We've gotta take care of it. Just like we take care of our own homes. And I think, isn't it April, also Earth? Earth, yeah.

Hess:

Earth

Delbert:

Earth Days in April. But we should celebrate the Earth all year long.

Hess:

Yeah. Yeah. So you know, we're talking about the all of this rain and the floods and the devastation. What happened in North Carolina last fall? What happened with this month on the Ohio River, Kentucky River, all these swollen rivers, Falmouth in Kentucky, and it's all part of the climate change. It's here and that's where we are and that's the oxygen we're breathing is right here, right now, all around us.

Delbert:

And once all that rain's gone and we clean it all up, as I was driving back from Nashville and the sun was out, it was beautiful. My eyeballs were red driving there because it was raining so hard and I'm straining so hard to see that, had this beautiful weekend and we made the most of it through the rain. And then I'm driving back and I called our friend Teri Shaughnessy on my way back.'cause I'm like, Teri, it looks like Ireland. I'm driving through Ireland and it's just so lush and green and the sky's so blue. You understand why so many. Irish immigrants settled here. Just the landscape is so similar, especially in the springtime we've been trying to visualize this green grass and it is here. It is so beautiful lush and Green and I.

Hess:

Just think three weeks ago, I said

Delbert:

I know,

Hess:

getting

Delbert:

right? Exactly. You're like, I'm trying. I'm concentrating on just the patches around the mud. Yeah. And it is here baby. It is here. It's so gorgeous. Springtime in Kentucky is so beautiful and I. I was just like taking it all in and thinking about how beautiful it was, and then every so often I'd pass a barn that was like almost completely underwater with just the roof sticking out. I'd be like, okay. All right. All right. It'll get there.

Hess:

And then unfortunately yesterday morning, Delbert, it was 28 degrees, which is a pretty

Delbert:

Oh

Hess:

frost. And I hope that, it might not, I might not have peaches this year if there were, if

Delbert:

man.

Hess:

I'm it's my peach trees green, so maybe my blooms have already come and that'd be good. There's a lot of blooms on the apple trees I see right now. Wow. Yeah very green and the drive was so beautiful, right when you were coming back

Delbert:

Oh my

Hess:

Nashville and

Delbert:

So lush and beautiful and green. Yeah it's always a beautiful drive. I, nevermind making it, and of course I'm always so excited to get there to see my daughter. And then, the drive back, I just listened to music, but this was particularly beautiful. It's beautiful land. It's beautiful country. But this was just so lush and green from all that rain. And then I came home and my peony bushes had just peeked outta the ground when I left, but there was so much rain. They were like a foot tall. And I'm like, oh my goodness. And then it was like the freeze. So I had to put pillowcases over'em. And, I hope, I don't know.

Hess:

They did. They did. They did. Yeah. when they come up,'cause I just planted some, a few years ago from my mama's yard. So they can remind me of my mom when I come in the driveway. But yeah, they just shot up and I said, oh, good. They're looking really healthy. They're so they're really full Good deal.

Delbert:

You did a good job transplanting those'cause they're hard to transplant. And the last time I was there in the spring, they looked really good. So yeah, you're good job on, I say peony, but you say peony. I like that I.

Hess:

Yeah. All right. You all is just look for the sunshine. Look for the pink swirls. Do good. Do the next best thing. And we love you. Thank you so much for listening this morning to let me tell you this about that subscribe, share, and leave us a comment.

Delbert:

Yes, we love you friends. Peace and love.