Birds

Princess 

       Morning Glory 

Butterfly in the Garden

My Original Black, Grey, White Piano Quilt

There Were Times to Remember --- Reposting some of the 'Remembering' to neaten up my blog

There Were Times To Remember - Continues

There Were Times to Remember - Continues

It's almost Christmas, 2011.  That date would have sounded eerily futuristic when I was a little
girl way back when.   But those years have passed all too quickly and here we are... in realville.

I remember Christmas in the "too many years ago" .... we got electricity in our home when I was
 around 10 or so.  That meant come Christmas, we could have real lights on our tree.  The tree
 was real....just a small 5 foot tree.... and with real lights.   So basic, so unfettered, and
so memorable.

I'd asked for a doll every year and every year I got a doll.  There wasn't any TV showing
commercials of toys and whatnot  to taint my wishes or put ideas in my head of something
that didn't do what it said it would do.  Our ideas came out of our head ... just a doll.  One year
 I got a ruby necklace and ring. Ruby was my birthstone ... the red set was in the shape of a
turtle's back.  I loved that necklace and ring. I hadn't even thought of asking for it ... and it was
 the exact thing I really liked so much.  I caught that ring on a door at school one time....bent it
.... but I straightened it out best I could and kept wearing it.

Christmas was usually accompanied with snow and cold.... lots of snow, in fact.  It was really
pretty to look outside and see everything covered with snow... even more delightful to watch it
coming down.  Soft, white, quiet snow... and Christmas.  Perfect!

Which takes me to the hill and sledding in that snow and ice.  We had a hill on the road just
south of the intersection.  Everyone slid on that hill.  It was a long hill.... a long slide... a long
uphill climb.  All the town kids would be there.  We got wet and we got cold.  I'd come home
wet to the bone... and cold to the bone. Many times the temperatures would be around zero
... and that is cold!!   My feet would be frozen... stiff...and hands too.   All bundled up with coats,
 leggings, shoes, boots, toboggan... and frozen to the bone. After it became unbearable and
no limb was movable...  I'd go home and get all the wet clothes off... lay them by the stove...
get some dry clothes on... and be so thankful for my home and that warm heating stove.
Time for a cup of hot cocoa and settle down on the sofa.

Those Indiana Winters - Times To Remember

Indiana winters could be brutal.  January and February were 2 months we just knew we'd be
snowed in or iced in for a couple of weeks.  The cold was bitter and it lasted a long time.
Everything froze up.

March and April could be a continuance of winter or it could decide to show a sign of spring.
 After Christmas vacation, school was forever with no breaks.. and January was just a plain
 ole' dread for me. February was at least after January.  I used to watch golf on the TV just
 to see green grass somewhere... and short sleeves still worn.. somewhere.

My grandmother said one year when she was younger, it snowed every month but July in
 Indiana that year.  One long winter.   We had the annual reunion the 3rd Sunday in June...
 on Father's Day.. and one year it was so cold they lit a fire in the old round stove in that
cabin at the park.  It was rainy and cold.. no fun for kids that year.

But spring was bound to come one day.

We got out of school in mid April for the summer... A long 3 1/2  months with no breaks
 from January to April.. except all of the school walked to the local church for Good Friday
 Services.  I guess the kids today are not allowed to go to church when school is in session.
  Sad too... it didn't hurt anyone to attend the Good Friday Services and school officials
 thought it would be a good influence.   Atheists would not have had a chance with the
principal we had back then.  The school board was local persons... no government telling
 anyone what to do.  If you got in trouble at school, you'd get in trouble when you got home.

We'd go sledding down the big road hill... within an hour, I'd be wet and so cold I felt
 miserable.  I'd be ready to go home, thaw out... and warm up.  Hot chocolate tasted real
good while warming by the fire.  It was good to go home... it always was.

Today I live in the south.. where the seasons still come around.. but the winters are shorter...
 and less severe.  Further south is where it is summer all year... but I still like the seasons....
until January... then it would be nice to spend a month in Florida.

Christmastime - Times To Remember

I so remember the cold winter nights in Indiana.  School would be out for Christmas

and sometimes it would snow so much that we were out of school for a long time..

2 weeks extra even.  Without electricity, those cold winter nights looked different

than when there are street lights and other lights that light up the sky.  It was quiet,

cold and good to be home.  It was always good to be home.  That is the one place

we should have to gather our strength to meet the next day.

I remember looking out the window and if the moon was shining, it would just light

up the dark earth.  If there was snow on the ground, it would literally glisten.

 I remember the comfort of being inside where it was warm and comfy.. where

 there was someone who made it all okay.

There wasn't any expectations for gifts.. for toys... it was just Christmas and

Christmas meant Jesus's birthday.  A tree, yes... and some decorations, yes...

 but we were void of being bombarded with advertisements on toys.  Christmas

has taken on a different hue than it did then.  We can't go back, I know...

we are destined to change.... we can't help ourselves.

How To Make T Shirts White Again

                                          How to make those dingy white T-Shirts white again

Mix dish washer detergent and enough bleach (small amount or as much as does the job) in a large kettle of water.  Heat on the stove 'till the water is hot enough to dissolve the detergent .. almost to a boiling point ... stirring every few minutes.  Add the T-Shirts to the bleach/detergent/water solution and stir them around every few minutes.  Turn off the heat and let the T-Shirts soak for an hour or so.... stirring now and then.

After the soaking, take the shirts out of the water (I use a wooden spoon) and put in washer to do a regular wash cycle.

You can reuse the water solution for more T-Shirts.
Don't do this to anything you wouldn't want bleached.

                                 6 AM - Grocery Shopping - The Oddity

This is one of those things that makes me wonder.

I was on the road early one morning this week and stopped at Walmart.. they open at 6 and I was there 10 minutes till.

At 6, the doors were open and I went in to get my few items I had on my list.  One of those items was Imitation Vanilla.  That's something I don't buy very often, as one bottle lasts awhile.  But it was on my list.  If I didn't get it now, I'd forget it next time.

I went through the aisles, quickly, as I had just a few things on my mind to pick up.  I headed down the baking aisle and there was my vanilla.  And there was a gentlman, standing right in front of the vanilla.  No one in that store but some employees and this gentleman.. and me.

The whole store.. a large store... and this gentleman was in the baking aisle, looking at the spices where the vanilla was up above his head.  How can this happen every time!  Since when do men go to the spices at 6 am and look them over, deciding what to get.  One gentleman.  Spices?  First thing in the morning? 

I waited a bit, wondering if it was better to go on,  or reach around him.  He turned to look at this person standing behind him and asked if he was in my way.  It was my chance to reach in and get that vanilla.  As I was reaching, I said I just needed a bottle of vanilla and didn't he know that with no one else in the srore, he'd find someone else wanting to be right where he was.

 With vanilla in hand, I smiled as I explained the oddity of this happening so many times.. and he added , "yes, and at 6 o'clock in the morning".

It happens often.. or so it seems. 

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                                                     Butterfly, Butterfly

HollyHocks

                                            HollyHocks

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Coloring Pages - Kids Stuff

That Long Swing

                                       

I have a grandson who likes to swing in his swing that hangs from a support beam on their deck.  It's fastened good... and he swings as high as he can go. 

Takes me back to the swing we had for a short time, hanging from a very high limb of a very high tree.  That kind of swing goes waaayy back and waaayy forward... it's a lazy day swing.  It just goes and goes... that slowww ride that  takes you to the sky and back... I loved it.

But when the rope broke, there was no one who wanted to climb that huge cotton wood tree and out on a limb to put a new rope up for the swing.  That swing was, then, but a memory.. but what a ride it was!!

Much of our childhood is but a memory.. and we remember things that stood out at the time.. God and bad.. but it's in our heads to recall.