Unexpected Pleasures

My daughter and I are plotting to make a quilt for my middle grandson, her nephew, who will be going off to college in the fall of 2010. We have conferred with him and her creative juices are bubbling away. She has an eye for design and color which I could never realize for myself. We were both thinking along the same design lines to make a quilt similar to the one she gave me two Christmases ago.



This got me remembering when she gave me this eye popping lap quilt. I was bowled over with the beauty and design. It was a real "WOW" surprise, something I had not expected. That line of thinking took me down memory lane to other occasions when I was taken aback with delight !



When as a teacher I entered the "Teachers Fair" representing my school, I was so naive I did not know it was competitive until I got there and was all set up and judges came around. I thought I was just sharing some teaching techniques with other teachers. So, when my name was called as winner I did not realize there was even a prize. I was more like stunned and then the pleasure set in. In my defense this was the first Teachers Fair for our county.



About twenty years ago on Mothers Day my son and son-in-law came up to the lake house with a load of cross ties, chain saws and plenty of energy ! They set about building steps up a hill which before had been a dog trot. When the day was over they had created a most enchanting pathway up the hill. It still delights me when I enter the property, come down the gravel road and the hillside comes into view. It looks so charming and inviting. It is one of those things which left me with one giant warm fuzzy !!!



A different sort of warm fuzzy came my way when I was in my early twenties. Acute appendicitis sent me into the local hospital for surgery. I had told my husband to not let my mother know about this until it was all over as I did not want to worry her needlessly. When I woke up in the hospital bed after the surgery I looked over and there sat my mother waiting for me to wake up. It was one big emotional joy ride for me and of course I began to cry and whimper at seeing her there. It still makes me tear up to think of it.



Last summer some of the posts in the second row of vines in my vineyard had fallen down and I had resolved to try to get them repaired. Before I could get around to it I was leaving the property to go into town and a new acquaintance had brought some helpers and they were working in the hot sun replacing posts and setting it all right again. There must have been twelve posts that they replaced. I had already told this gentleman that he could have all the grapes he wanted for his wine making project. I had no idea he would repay me by doing this work. It was six hours of hard work in the hot sun, and to be surprised after the fact was very gratifying.



My neighbors have surprised me with little things which were unexpected pleasures, like the bow hunter winding in my dock when he noticed it needed to be done. My neighbor across the way appeared with a large bag of figs which I was happy to receive as my tree had produced very little that summer.



My friend Bob who helped me around the place doing things I could never do myself, would often come up to my house with his right hand behind him and say " I have a little surprise for you". It was usually some edible treat like strawberries or an early tomato from his garden. He also came up with some creative ideas for ways to improve the appearance of the property. He is gone now but I still have some lovely creations he made with large flat rocks. Two are in the curve of the road and help to define the curve as well as protect my flower beds behind them.

In front of my house, and below the road, he made a long wall divided by steps made from huge flat rocks. Above the wall is now planted perennials which present themselves in due season and when they bloom are framed by Bob and natures handiwork, giving me pleasure over and over again.



One act of kindness which has enriched my life in more ways than I could ever tell, was being given a computer by my daughter and her husband. They just brought it up and got it all installed and began to educate me on using it. I can remember Al Gore talking about the information highway but I had no idea what he meant. Now I know and it has changed the way I live and even carry on business. When my son brought up a printer, installed it and showed me how to use it, I was able to expand my everyday use of the computer in so many ways. I do not know how people live who do not have a computer !! Just as I cannot imagine how my mother coped without being able to drive a car.



It is comforting to be able to relive these moments and enjoy the changes brought about by the many unexpected surprises which have threaded their way into my life. In Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois makes the comment, "I depend upon the kindness of strangers". In my life I can say I am enriched beyond measure by the kindness of family and friends.

Winding Down

Many surprises came my way this Christmas season. It started off with the arrival of a live Christmas tree with accompanying lights and birds for decoration. My daughter has sent three of these to me before and all three were planted out front and are thriving, not growing fast but are healthy and happy where they are planted. They are Alpine Spruce and have a conical shape with small needles and a nice " fragrance".





My next surprise was to go out my entrance and see that my mailbox had been decorated. I do not usually decorate it so I began to wonder who had done this. My neighbor had been seen walking down the road with greenery in her arms so the secret was out and I knew it was our new neighbor from California. I called her and indeed she was the Christmas elf . The call ended with an invitation to her home to have Christmas Eve dinner with her, her husband and visiting daughter. It proved to be a very interesting meal with foods I had not eaten before. They are steeped in Norwegian tradition and I got to see her amazing Santa collection gathered from all over the world. I had expected to be staying at home so that was a fun surprise.





Normally during Christmas season I have only one day with my family but this year we had two days, with a lot of games and laughing and good memory building. The visit I had not expected occurred the day after Christmas when two friends from my early days in Atlanta came by to see me . I had a tea pot which had been her aunt Martha's. My friend had let me take it home in 1978. I had always felt it should be with her as a memory of her aunt so on this day I gave it back to her to take home. I had enjoyed it all this time and at some point the lid had been cracked but it was a precious family treasure all the same.





Now that the visiting is over, things need to get back to normal, an adjustment in thinking has to take place. Some are going back to their jobs, others taking trips planned for during school break.
We get back to a normal routine pretty fast just by responding to the things going on around us, whether it is children, spouses, or every day events. The unwinding takes a few days and probably does not get us back on target until after we say good-bye to the old year and take up the new one. It will not be as easy to write 2010 on checks, etc., as it was to write 09 for 2009.



There will be seed catalogs coming in and income tax reminders and in my case still some bulbs to be planted. The new year will shake down and settle down and my Daphne will be blooming and greeting me with the most heavenly fragrance ever. The red Camellia is already starting to bloom and the new Yuletide sasanqua is settling into the new spot on the west side of my house. Before I know it the 100 daffodils I planted down near the foot bridge will pop up and make a glorious yellow mass to move and sway with the breezes. It all sounds so attractive to me that I am already eager to get into it all and try some new things for the spring and work my way into the summer. I need to plant a lot more cucumbers to use for the bread and butter pickles which has made a lot of friends for me. Christmas will soon be another fading memory but I hope I never forget the fun we had again this year.

Christmas Past

This Christmas Eve I was awakened by Christmas music on my radio. As I listened, I began to remember the events of this time in my own life and that of my parents and siblings.

My parents and especially my father wanted Christmas to be a happy time for their children. I think this stems from the fact that as they grew up their Christmas memories were not as they would have liked to remember. I do recall that as a child my father had wanted a little red wagon, and he never got it. Why, I am not sure. It may have been financial constraints in a large family or the fact that in the late 1800's the custom of gifting was not the main focus in families struggling to survive.

I recall special gifts at Christmas when a young child, as the time my brother and I both received tricycles and we rode them around inside the house. I believe we both had mumps at the same time as we had the tricycles. That was my earliest memory of gifts for me. I do not recall any talk or events surrounding "Santa Claus". It was simply a Christmas gift from our parents.

On a different Christmas my father had an oak doll bed made for me. It is one sturdy piece of furniture. I used it as a child and then my daughter used it when she was young. When her first child was expected I passed it on to her, but alas little boys do not care for doll beds. At this time the doll bed sits in my north bedroom awaiting some repairs on one of the legs. I could not pass it on to either of my three grandsons, so it is waiting for a great granddaughter to one day join the family.

On a different occasion my father had for me a gold necklace with a heart, anchor and cross attached to it. I have spoken of that before. Unfortunately I do not have all of it, only the tiny cross which rests in my jewelry box.

One Christmas my father surprised my mother with a new car. That one is a little strange as she did not drive !! On another Christmas -perhaps to make up for that time - he presented her with a beautiful cherry secretary. That was certainly more appropriate for her and she put it to good use. As far as I know it is still in the family perhaps with one of the grandchildren. I do know that my sister (the artist) at one point painted it yellow ! She liked to use color and even painted her maple bed a gray color. I know where that is as I sleep on it each night !

When I was very young I was given some money to spend for family members for gifts. I was limited to 10 cents per gift. The only gift I remember buying was monogrammed handkerchiefs for my father. I remember that as I really goofed up. Perhaps because we called him "DAD", I got handkerchiefs with a "D" monogrammed on them. Needless to say, my shopping was not supervised. My face is still red ! I had only heard him called Dad or Mr. Matthis as in my family my mother did not call him by his first name. She had other pet names for him. One was "Mister Blister". I don't know where that came from.

The thing I remember best is that when we were all older we celebrated Christmas as a family on Christmas Eve. That is when we had a huge meal and all of the extended family would be there and gifts were opened. Even if you had a date for that evening it had to wait until the main party was over. The reason for the celebration on the night before was so the grandchildren could be at home or with their other grandparents on Christmas Day. That custom is a natural progression as I see it happening today with other families.

Wherever you are and however you celebrate, in a large family or a small family, it is a special time so hold it close to your heart for it becomes a part of you forever.

Never Too Old

We had our first really cold temperatures last night, below 32 in Georgia seems really cold.
If you have a choice, you wonder if it is worth it to get dressed, brave the cold and start the car.

Well, this morning it was worth it. I scooted into Sunday School at the last minute, but still ahead of about six other people. I rushed in ahead of one gentleman who, likes me prefers to sit near the door. There was some good hearted laughter when I took the only seat next to the door, saying to the man in back of me, "Now you know why I was walking so fast".

Our pastor is our teacher and he is always interesting. We have been studying the books of the Bible as a whole in overview fashion. He had us turn to the front of the Bible where all of the books of the Bible are listed. Using that and a chart on his blackboard he spoke of the main divisions of the books. The first books are all about history of the Israelites. The middle books are called the books of wisdom and the last part are prophetic books.

Today he was focusing on the Psalms, saying we are not sure who wrote them. Some we know were written by David, perhaps others by Solomon and others living in that time frame. He asked us to share our favorite Psalms. The first lady who spoke mentioned Psalm 22. The comments ahead of this one says "Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility". I thought this was interesting and predictable. This lady has often expressed bitterness, loneliness and despair regarding her life.

The one I offered up as a favorite of my father was 119. It extols the glories of God's Law. I like it also as it seems to be full of good things, encouraging thoughts. It happens to be the longest book of the Psalms.

Someone mentioned the 23rd which is a favorite of so many folks. Our teacher mentioned how it compares God as a shepherd caring for his sheep. He spoke of the anointing of oil as shepherds did for their sheep. Now, I had never thought of that before so at the end of the class I had to ask about that. Our teacher said the shepherds put oil on the head of the sheep to calm them down, and compared that to the soothing effect God can have on us. Another one said she had read that the oil on the sheep was to kill the parasites which seemed to be on the sheep. Hmm

Another member brought up Psalm 117, the shortest one, a "Universal Call to Worship". It is easy to see how that one might be sung or recited at any service the Israelites might be having in the Tabernacle. Psalm 100 was our pastor's favorite, a Psalm of Thanksgiving.

I think most students of the Bible have their favorite books, verses, and Psalms which they can quote and which give them comfort. Mine has always been "Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches" Psalm 104 verse 24.
Now one would expect that from a gardener, don't you agree?

I am always amazed when I learn some new fact and can tie it in with something familiar, like the sheep getting anointed with oil for their comfort and to calm them down, plus killing those pesky parasites!!

Dating in the 1940's

For a reason I do not know, a tune came into my mind this morning. Deep Purple. It was popular in the early 1940's. When I was sixteen I had been invited to a party given by two sisters whose father was a dentist in our small southeastern town in Kentucky.

At that party was a young man, quite handsome, the son of a doctor in a neighboring town. He played the trumpet and for some reason had brought it along. I had never met him before this evening. I am sure he meant well but for some reason he targeted me with his music. Getting quite close to my face he proceeded to play "Deep Purple". I winced and edged away, for he was entirely too close with a trumpet sounding so close to my ear. Looking back on this incident he was just being obnoxious as boys will be toward young ladies when both are in their teen years.

I do not recall the next time I saw this young man but he had a car and could come and go as he pleased, sometimes he had his younger brother with him. He would come to my house and do all sorts of gymnastics with his little brother, picking him up and tossing him into the air. He would just show up at my house and we began a friendship which lasted for quite a few years.

He was an active boy scout and was friends with the man who kept the boy scout camp, which was located between his town and mine. We went there on numerous occasions and he would visit with his friend who was like a family member. I came to know the camp through him and when I went out with him it often was a visit to this camp. There was a stone dam holding back a lovely lake which the scouts put to good use. We would walk around the lake, take pictures and enjoy being out in nature.

One day when we were walking there through the trees a huge spider appeared in front of us. My friend picked up a rock and with deadly aim hit the spider. That was the end of the spider, but her progeny, at least 100 in number fled in all directions. Now, that was a sight to remember. I doubt he knew and I certainly did not, that the spider carried her young on her back, thus the "fat" appearance.

When I left to go to college in central Kentucky, my friend went to a college in a nearby town. It was in Berea Ky. and was called "Berea". It is a world famous college which has a work program. You must work if you attend Berea. During this time I continued to see him as he would drive home to visit his family and stop by my college, pick me up in his A model ford and drive me to visit my family also.

Once he came by to see me and brought me a corsage of pink camellias. I do not remember the occasion but I do remember wearing them on a black dress which had a scoop neckline with a ruffle around it. No doubt my mother had made it for me as she made most of my clothes. I have loved camellias since that time. It was my first introduction to them.

On one of his visits to the college we went strolling through the town of Richmond. The streets were lined with elegant old homes which invariably had large trees in front with sprawling branches extending out over the sidewalks. My friend was in a "poetry" mood and he was extolling the words of some poem along with arm gestures. Just as he was eloquently saying "Oh, bird, speak to me", his arm was extended upward. At that moment a bird perched up in the tree responded in bird like fashion, right in front of us. It could never have been timed as perfectly by any movie producer. We both were laughing so hard we had to sit down right there on the sidewalk and laugh it out !!

About that time he was inducted into the army and worked as a medic. They put him right to work allowing him to assist in some surgeries. Once he proudly gave me a large picture taken during surgery and pointed out which hands were his assisting. It was all good experience for him as he went on to become a surgeon, distinguishing himself as one of the first doctors to reattach a hand lost in an accident.

Looking back on this time, it was a great, wholesome friendship. When it came to marriage we both chose other mates, but we were friends at a time when courting was innocent and casual and helped to prepare us both for a lasting bond with someone else.

Birthday Event

Yesterday I left my two charges, Rocky and Cujo, and drove down to Snellville where my son, his two boys and their mother live. When I arrived at my son's home the birthday boy was asleep. He requires frequent naps to be at the top of his game. I had a little chat with my son and second grandson until Grant awakened. The moment his father heard him upstairs he sprinted from the room to get him in his shower and dressed for his own birthday party.

The party was scheduled at his mother's home a few blocks away and was a real surprise party. My second grandson, now 17 and driving, drove my car over to his Mom's. When we entered the house all was quiet. We walked back to the living room area and when Grant got to the quiet room, everyone shouted out "surprise" !!!! He was really not expecting this, which was the idea !!

Gathered there were his last four baby sitters, or play friends or nanny, which ever label fits. Also some special neighbors who have known him for so long. After greetings all around his mother began to set out the birthday cake and extra cheese cakes, etc. Usually there is one cake but she had choices. It all looked so tempting but I settled on white cake with raspberry filling.

In the adjoining room, called the music room as Reed the oldest, plays his cello there and the piano is there also, was a shiny new bicycle with a huge bow on the handlebars. Grant did not notice it in his eagerness to show the pet parrot to his friends. The parrot was in his cage and stayed there during the party. This was a mixed group with two toddlers, one four year old, one five year old and one not yet born. It all worked so well as Grant is Mr. Personality and blends in nicely with any age. Among his gifts were a gift card, money in a pine cone disguised as a turkey, a "doctor" shirt (as he likes to pretend he is a doctor with his stethoscope and accompanying medicine bag). Also a bicycle guard cap with red streaks on it. This from his brother. Games, book, and some gifts from the lunch room lady which they left at his home.

Grant is mesmerized with Hannah Montana. He likes to play pretend games with her as the focus. He likes her music and the idea of having her as a best friend. This is a well known fact and the school lady had given him a soft purple boot pillow with Hanna's logo on it. It is all a game and I think he knows it but he is so full of life it seems right.

Grant has a phenomenal memory and will long remember this day which so many people lovingly shared with him. This his 13th birthday has been a long journey which is still in progress. It has been a struggle for his parents and his brother who will be leaving home next year to attend college.

At the party I talked to the mother of one of his sitters. She was a teacher whom I met when we were both teachers at the same school. I was telling her a story of when Grant was still crawling and not yet vocalizing. He was on the carpet in front of a sofa. Reed and I were sitting on the sofa and having a popcorn snack. The television was on a kiddie program. Grant was watching us and I was watching him. He suddenly said to me " I want up there". I was so surprised to hear him speak as I had not heard him vocalise at all. So, I picked him up and sat him with us and fed him small easy pieces of popcorn. It has been a long history of speech lessons and appointments with specialists to help him grow and develop. It has taken much patience and love from his parents to help him reach this point in life. So entering his teen years was indeed an occasion for celebration. The journey is not over, the special sessions will continue, the support and love will continue, and Grant's engaging personality will bind us to him in many ways.

This is a story of coping when life takes a turn not expected. When a child is born with a genetic anomaly which is new to you. A lot must be learned and strength which seems out of reach is deep inside ready to be tapped. A child who spends his childhood trying to catch up, who knows only one way of living. Hopefully all such children with Prader Willi Syndrome will find a family who can be supportive and loving and kind to help in his/her journey.

Lost, Not Forgotten

This week I have two furry house guests, Cujo and Rocky. They are staying with me as their master is having surgery and may not feel like taking them outdoors. They are so easy as they mostly lie around. They occasionally catch a glimpse of a bird or squirrel outdoors through the large windows, then they leap up and bark wanting to go out for a chase. I look forward to this week as I feel somewhat protected with them here and I will have all of this week to finish some projects that have been put aside for just such a time.

One thing I have been revisiting in my mind is the things which I once treasured but are now lost to me. When I was about eight years old my parents went on a winter trip to Florida and I was left behind. I do not recall feeling sad about that but I felt happy when they returned as they brought me an Indian doll made by the Seminoles in Florida. She had rows of ruffles on her dress and was very colorful. I have no idea what could have happened to her, probably I neglected to take proper care of her.

Also when I was quite young I was given a china tea set for Christmas. The cups and saucers and tea pot were very small and the handle on the tea pot was woven reeds. It probably was made in Japan as so many of those kinds of toys were at that time, and now too !! I recall having it for many years as I did treasure it.

My favorite books when I was young were Anderson Fairy tales and a large story book with full page pictures. I believe it was part of a set of encyclopedia belonging to my parents. One picture I liked to study was of a little girl in worn clothing in a winter setting. She stood outside of a building as one would see in a large city. The picture itself looked icy and cold as did she. She held a small light in her hand as to warm herself. The story that accompanied the picture was "The Little Match Girl". Those books were around for a long time, but now are lost forever. Around this time I was given my first Bible. It had wonderful pictures of Biblical times and the beautiful, colorful clothes the characters wore. I actually do still have that Bible but it is worn and torn and has no cover. I have strong feelings for it and would not part with it willingly !

Some gifts of jewelry which made an impression on me are lost also. I think I gave some of them away to nieces of mine. One was a silver pin of a thunder bird with a piece of blue turquoise in the center of his chest. My boy friend brought it to me from Blowing Rock, N.C. when he went to visit his grandparents there. At a different time he gave me a ring with a square emerald in the center. There was no particular reason for him to give me a ring so I did not really understand it . In a generous moment I do recall giving it to my niece Mary Lynn Riddle when she was a young girl.

Another piece of jewelry form my childhood was a gold necklace with a heart, anchor and cross attached to it. I still have the cross but the rest is long gone. My father had given this to me when I was twelve years old saying it would remind me that "my heart was anchored to the cross".

When I was in college at Eastern in Richmond, Ky. I was majoring in Art and had made a lot of paintings in oil and also charcoal and colored chalk. Most of these things were stored in my parents basement. Unfortunately the Cumberland River which flowed behind our home ran over its banks during a prolonged spring rain and our basement was flooded. The water came up to the top of the stairs leading down there and everything was lost , including my mother's canned goods from the previous summer. That is my limited experience with floods and I can empathize with the folks who lost all they had to floods this September in Georgia.

It would be impossible to keep all of our childhood treasures forever. The passage of time and changes in living places and ways of living just take its toll in different ways. I cannot complain for I was guilty of causing my children to lose something they treasured also. When they were young around the ages of 7, 8 or 9 I had made little cloth dogs for them. The one for my son was green checked gingham and the one for my daughter was pink checked gingham. I made them for them at Christmas and they were identical. After some years had passed and they had outgrown those stuffed toys I gave them away to a neighbor child without asking their permission. I learned how much they valued them when they saw them laying out in the yard of our neighbor. They were crushed to see their own dear toys had been cast out so carelessly by their mother. If I had known they treasured them so I would never have given them away. This past year I made a diligent search online to find a pattern to make those same doggies over again, to no avail. A lesson learned, do not discard the property of others. The old adage still applies, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Influence and Inspiration

The past few days I have been reading a book on women of the American Revolution. They are really inspiring stories, for these women to have done the things they did at that time when they were not even allowed to vote. We have all heard stories of people who acted beyond their human strength to accomplish what seemed impossible. War stories of bravery are examples of this. There is something within the human psyche which lifts us up to meet challenges in life which seem most unlikely. Helen Keller is one example of such a person beating the odds. Thank God that we are wired to try to excel in the face of adversity. Where does this urge to surge come from?? It cannot be human strength alone, there is more to it than that. Whatever it is or whatever its origin I think we all have the capacity for greatness. It just needs to be tapped at the precise time it is called for to quality for greatness. Is it that it exerts itself in only some of us at certain times. I have never been tapped for such acts but I have been inspired to do more than I had intended to do under some circumstances.

Some challenges go unmet and others seem to hit the right spot to cause us to respond. Last year , the last Sunday of December our pastor was away on vacation and one of our members led our S.S. class. He spoke of resolutions and asked if anyone had made any. One humorist said he had made one, it was "not to keep any resolutions he had made". I have never made resolutions for a new year and did not intend to do so then. But as the days passed I began to think of his challenge to us. It was to do something this coming year which would help us to grow in our faith. My immediate thoughts were that my faith was already set and what could I really do to help it grow. An idea began to form in my mind and I took paper and pen, scissors and Bible and began a project which has lasted almost a full year. I have stuck with it and it has been interesting and has given me a feeling of reality regarding the characters in the Bible. What I have done is this. I cut paper into slips just the right size to write one Bible verse on it. I began on the 25th of December. At first it was just hunt and write anywhere in the Bible. Whatever caught my eye and seemed interesting or new to me went down on the paper. Eventually I focused in on the book of Luke. I found some of the stories so interesting I just kept on chapter after chapter and that is where I am now.

The reading I was doing the past couple of days was in response to a challenge also but of a different sort. One enthusiastic lady in our DAR is really fired up about literacy. She is trying to fire us all up also. She had been a reading teacher in the past, as have I, so her challenge resonated with me. Consequently I responded to it and yesterday I purchased five books to be given away at some point in the near future. Every meeting that I attend for the DAR there are challenges at every turn. One cannot respond to them all but it the shoe fits, wear it - I suppose !!

When I was nineteen years old I was given a life challenge, though I think it was just meant to be an encouraging remark to a young girl far from home who was just at the beginning of her adult life. My instructor told me that he believed I could do anything in life that I wanted to do. That gave me a star on which to hang my dreams. I think of it only in times of reflection for the rest of the time I am too busy "doing things" to even think of it. But, it was remembered.

My children are my encourager's now. They are very supportive for any crazy thing I want to do. Even if they think it is hair brained they do not say so. I discard the unworthy or really impractical ideas and stick with the attainable ones. Entering my pickles in the county fair this fall was a new and interesting challenge. Winning a blue ribbon for them made it fun too !

I suppose the point of all this mind searching is that we can be lifted up when least expected. Perhaps being open to possibilities is key to reaching goals. Choosing words carefully, especially when falling on young ears may result in some life altering way for them. I must remember this for myself, especially since almost everyone I know is younger than me. !!

Food memories

Occasionally I remember things about food from the past. This is triggered by something I am eating or see in magazines. I recently found some beautiful big grapefruit and have been enjoying them. I had intended to use them in a citrus salad with oranges, avocado and romaine lettuce for a church dinner. An illness interrupted this plan so I have been enjoying them solo. What I remembered about them is the way my oldest brother would eat them. Apparently he liked them as much as I do for when he had eaten all the pulp he could get from a grapefruit half, he would squeeze it and enjoy the rest of the juice in a spoon.

My sister and her husband grew their own broccoli and put it in their freezer chest. When she steamed the broccoli she would add butter and squeeze lemon juice over it. Smelling the lemon juice and the melted butter just made a lasting impression on me.

My other sister Frances went to a lot of trouble to make sandwiches for a picnic. She grated the cheddar cheese for her pimento cheese. For lemonade on these occasions she used fresh lemons and to top it all off she made peanut butter fudge. I was very young when I saw her do this and thankfully she took me along on her family picnics. These picnics with her and her husband and three children were always memorable. They had a hug tent for overnight camping, usually at Norris Lake in Tennessee. I remember seeing her making the fudge over a small camping stove sitting on a picnic table. Is it any wonder that everyone loved Frances ??

At Thanksgiving our family gathered usually at my sister Frances' home. Her husband would go hunting in the morning and we would all have the "big" meal in the late afternoon. My mother's contribution was a pineapple pear salad on lettuce with shredded cheese over it all.

Growing up most people had gardens and we were no exception. My mother raised chickens too, housing them in a large coop in the garage off the driveway. So fried chicken dinners on Sunday were frequently on the menu. We had a neighbor from our church who joined us almost every Sunday. Her name was Gladys Billips. To the meal she would always bring a large plate of sliced fresh tomatoes from her tomato plants. The other Sunday menu would be a beef roast which simmered along while we were all at Sunday service. Mom had a huge heavy metal pot called a "drip drop roaster" which she used for this meal. I suppose she learned over time just how long it took to cook a big beef roast in this pan. It had to be huge as we were ten in number and usually someone else was added to the big round oak table on Sundays.

Once my childhood friend Winifred Fore had a sleepover at her house for a few friends. In the morning for breakfast her mother had fried chicken, gravy, biscuits and probably fried apples. I remember that breakfast as I had never had such a huge meal that early in the day. At our house it was oatmeal with raisins and whole milk from the cows my father raised - his hobby ! Of course it came in handy for feeding the eight children. My mother wanted to make sure we all had plenty of milk. Her reason was personal for she lost her teeth when she was twenty years old due to lack of calcium in her diet as a child.

When I was around 12 years old my father was diagnosed with diabetes and from that time on our mother had balanced meals which he could enjoy . Big desserts were not on the menu. She would say if you want something sweet, put jam on your bread. My mother said your plate should be colorful , with something sweet balanced with something tart. Things like this stick in your memory. My food memories from the past are happy ones. I wish the same for you.

Things I Cannot Discard

We all have our favorite "junk". Every year our church has a "rummage" sale and we see a lot of those things on sale. A gentleman who used to work for me was always asking me when our church was having a rummage sale. He was delighted to find some great shirts for 25 cents !! I too have been guilty of dumping old stuff at these sales, but rarely do I go in and buy any of it, unless it is a book !! I am drawn to books on sale, or not on sale.

I was reminded of this recently when I went looking for some material in my stash of cloth. I did find what I was looking for and proceeded to use it. Most women who sew save cloth so that is not so unusual.

How many of them hang onto doll beds they had as a child? I have an oak doll bed which my father had made for me the Christmas I was twelve years old. I saved it and took it with me where ever I lived. My daughter played with it and she had it in her home before the birth of her first child. She even made a quilt for it, but alas her little boy was not much for dolls so it found its way back to me, here in Georgia. This bed originated in Ky., went to Maryland, and then on to Atlanta, Georgia, now in north Georgia and sitting on end with a broken leg ! But I cannot part with it. One day I will have the leg repaired and perhaps make a quilt for it myself - from some of that cloth I have been saving.

And then there are old photographs. It is a good thing that folks keep them. I only wish more of them had been saved. I love the picture of my baby brother at age 5 pulling back on the arrow to shoot what ever he had in his sight! And the picture of my father, his parents, sister, husband and boys all sitting on a porch for a family portrait is priceless. Once when my sister ran across a newspaper article in a historical search she let out a scream. Why? She had found a long lost photograph of our grandfather, professor C.W. Matthis. So, blessings on all of you who keep those family photographs, even when they were taken with a box brownie.

Wedding bands are hard to part with. I have two in my jewelry box. They will never be worn again. One reminds me of what a marriage is supposed to be and the other of what a marriage is not supposed to be. But they are both part of my life. I have jewelry given to me by my sister which is simply packed away. Some other pieces given to me are stored but not worn, still I cannot pitch them out, or put them in the rummage sale.

Paintings my oldest sister painted as far back as the 1960's are such a part of my home that it would seem wrong for them not to be there. Also I enjoy having them there as a part of my past which cannot be reclaimed.

How about papers that my children brought home from school in those early years? Guilty of keeping in storage. I run across them sometimes when I am looking for some records in my file cabinet and I still do not want to part with them. Also the cards and letters which came when the babies came. All of these things have a sentimental tug and are related to people who mean more to me than the things themselves. It may be that my subconscious mind is telling me that if I discard them I am discarding the ones I love and that I could never do.

This line of thinking caused me to remember the medicines on my shelf, so I took a look to see if I really needed all of those. I was amazed to see how many of them had expired years ago. Well, I have no emotional attachment to those. In fact it may not even be safe to have them around so without one twinge of regret I cleared off that medicine shelf and unceremoniously pitched them in the trash can. Now I have a nice clear space in that cabinet which can be used for something else. That was really easy to do ! While I am in that kind of mood I really should look in my closets to see what is there that could be cleared out to make room for something more stylish. That could even be fun !! The styles are always changing and last years clothing may seem a bit out of place today. It is not necessary to have a reason to go shopping but perhaps I can find one anyway, in my closet !

Visions From the Past

I often dream of being back in the classroom. Circumstances are always different but the one constant is chaos. My conscious mind tells me that at these times I am trying to sort out some situation in my present life. I do not ever remember chaos in my classrooms , it was always orderly, often a quiet murmur was in the air of students busy with their tasks or working at their centers.

Some of the things I do remember happening which were not part of the murmur of busy students do come to mind. Once when the children were out playing one of the boys came down the slide head first and momentum kept him going into the ground below. He came up bloody as he had somehow gotten a tooth through his tongue ! This happened at a county school called Twila. The principal and I took him to the camp doctor and he fixed him up right away. Needless to say, from that day forward this child came down the slide in a seated position.

In that same school there was no central heat. By prior arrangement a big eighth grade boy would come to the classroom before anyone else was there and build a fire in our pot bellied stove. The children were accustomed to this kind of heat source and knew to keep a safe distance. Fortunately we never had a burnt hand or anything else. However this same fire builder was unhappy with me. He had a little brother in my class and something which I cannot remember caused him to approach me in a very belligerent way. I was no match for this big boy and would not have wanted to tangle with him. Some of the mountain people could be very aggressive if they felt they had been wronged. By using tact and diplomacy I was able to alleviate the situation and calm him down. I had never been approached in such a manner before and did not want to give him reason to return with intended harm toward me. That incident stands out as it was the only time such a thing had happened.

My last year in the county I was at a school in a mining camp called Chevrolet. I had a precious little blue eyed, blond haired boy named Paris. He came to school in immaculate overalls each day. I had never had such a talker before. It was impossible for him to not talk. It was a nervous condition I feel sure. His mother gave me some history about his condition which she thought had caused the constant talking. Of course his mother was protective regarding Paris but it was not possible for him to learn with this physical problem. His mother quite plainly told me it was my fault that he did not learn. She did not offer an explanation as to why all of the other children did learn !! I always felt sorry about this little boy. If at that time we had access to our modern day school techniques of testing children or doctors who could diagnose his medical condition perhaps he could have been helped. Since I was not back there again I do not know what happened to that beautiful little boy.

In this county where I taught we had a program for teachers which was under the auspices of the University of Maryland. It was voluntary and I attended a group meeting each week in the evening. The leader of the group was a former principal of mine when I was in junior high. Her name was Ruby Carter. We each selected one of our students to study for the year. We kept notes and shared anecdotes regarding this child. We would discuss these in our group in order to gain some insight into the behaviors which caused us to choose that child. This was all confidential and I found it interesting and informative. The child I chose was Paris. Whereas our county was progressive in this child study area there was no money for trained psychologists or special education teachers.

As all of this took place in the late 1940's and early 1950's it is understandable that more help was not available for this little boy. He will always have a place in my heart and also a deep regret that I could not help him. At the end of the year he had learned to recognize 9 words.

Illness And Crisis Resolution

Most of the time we had no illness in our family, but there were occasions when we had short crisises. The first was when I had acute appendicitis at the end of our second school year together. School was out on a Friday and in the middle of the night I began to have pain in my stomach and was running a high fever and chilling. As soon as day came your dad took me to a doctor I knew about but had never met. He immediately put me in the hospital for emergency surgery. I remember telling your dad not to tell my mother about it until it was all over. When I awakened from the surgery in my room and saw my mother, I burst into tears, it was so comforting to have her there. We were scheduled to go to Peabody in a few days and your dad made a bed for me in the back of the car so I could travel more easily. Also during my recuperation he cooked a meal for me. As I recall he had pork chops, apple salad and I believe blueberry muffins. Not bad for someone who did not cook..

When Bonnie and Bruce were very young your dad became ill. He was working long hours and he came down with strep throat. The medicines which he was given were not taking effect, but he kept on working when he really should not have. Finally he was sent to a throat specialist and was told he had "quinsy", something that pigs get from not being treated. Essentially it was a boil in the throat. This doctor "burned" the boil out and that almost did him in. I was afraid to drive at the time and he wanted me to drive him home, I begged off and so he did drive himself. He was probably thinking I was a first class wimp but he did not say so. During that illness he was given every drug the doctor could think of to cure this infection. The one I remember was trichlormethiazide. He told us he used it as a last resort. After Ray was over the infection, he began to have pains in the ends of his fingers. The same doctor was concerned as this same drug he gave reluctantly, could cause cancer. We had to take his word for this and we were both very concerned. I clearly remember us standing in the middle of the living room with our arms around each other and praying, willing to accept whatever God was sending us to handle. Thankfully, he recovered and life went on.

As far as his illnesses I think that was it. When he was in his forties he was diagnosed with very high cholesterol however. His doctor ( a former Navy doctor) gave him drugs to hopefully get it down but they did no good at all. So, diet and exercise was the only solution. I did my part by preparing "clean" food. I remember back then it was recommended to take 2 tablespoons of corn oil each day. I bought diet books and made food as palatable as possible. He began a running program and since he was traveling a lot he would run in place. This was having some positive effect. How much longer it would have helped I do not know as we moved to Georgia and after a year here he lost his life in an automobile accident. We were all in shock and for some time struggled to lead normal lives.

Some things took precedent over others. The immediate situation was that we had purchased a home one week prior and settlement had been made. There was a move to take place and the men of our church insisted on moving us into our new home. It was about two blocks from the house where we were living. I really did not want them to do this as we had a piano to move, no small task and my daughter wanted it upstairs close to her bedroom. Somehow it was all accomplished without any serious injury ! There were improvements in the house which needed attention and I threw myself into that task. I remember being up at 2:00 in the morning using a steamer to remove old wallpaper from the living room walls.

Since I was the only driver there were many trips to be made which involved teen activities at school and church and sporting events as my son was playing football. Also band trips, scouting events and trips to school for special performances and much more. Thankfully by this time I was not timid about driving. Necessity causes us to adapt quickly when no one is there to help.

I had already begun the process of certification to teach in the state of Georgia. I had finished a 5 hour class at Dekalb College in teaching reading and it seemed the only thing to do was take the next 5 hours. I enrolled at Mercer University for this class in teaching Social Studies. Ray and I had already planned for me to work and help pay for Bonnie's college education. This was the obvious next step. Fortunately I was financially able to put off working for a while and help us all adjust to this new life. Working is a natural solution for me in problem solving, or in times of stress. I think my mother did the same thing. When we saw her cleaning wallpaper ( I doubt that is done in this day and time) we knew she had something serious on her mind.

What I did was volunteer in various ways. I was already teaching a Sunday School class of second graders at our church. I began to serve as deacon also. And I began working with Villa International in Decatur. This involved driving families of doctors who were in temporary studies at the CDC. While the doctors studied the wives and children lived at International Villa and I helped by taking them where they wanted to go. We became good friends with a family from Mexico and also one from Libya. The Mexican doctor pierced Bonnie's ears for her. I was against her doing that but she convinced me that the good doctor would do it right !! The family from Libya invited us to their home for a meal on a special occasion. I remember that the mother cooked chicken in tomatoes and I added that dish to my own favorites.

Another place where I volunteered was the Davidson School for the Deaf in North Druid Hills. I did whatever was suggested by the directors. I remember driving other older people who could no longer drive.

It also became necessary for me to buy a new car. Our neighbor offered to help in this area as the husband was a car salesman. I declined as I thought I needed to look for an inexpensive car. When I went shopping the salesman must have thought I was out of my mind as I insisted upon a manual shift. He had to look hard to find such a car, but finally did, a Dodge Polaris. In my naivete I thought it would be easier for me to drive what I had learned on, the manual shift. He tried to convince me but to no avail. Bonnie learned to drive in that car and I feel sure it would have been better for her if I had bought one with an automatic shift !! Maybe she would not have hit that mail box at the gate to Stone Mt. Park. OOPS, I should not have told that !!

These activities for me and school , church and visiting family in Ky. all helped us to get through these difficult times. I made a lot of trips to see family when the children were not in school. I think it was affirming for me and for my children too. We all have different ways of coping in times of stress. I suppose we all have to find our own solution as one does not fit all.

More About Dad

Did you know that your dad was in the ROTC when he was in college. He was still in the reserves when he went to Peabody College. He was supposed to register with them so they would know where he was at all times. When he went to Peabody in Tennessee he was told that with the Korean war on ( 1950 ) he had to register there. But he was also told that Tennessee was taking their quota of reserves to call, from out of state men. This is not right so he simply did not register in Tennessee. He was still registered in Kentucky however. Some of his friends who were in the reserves with him and did register were called up and had to go to Korea. We had not been married that long and it certainly would have been disruptive to be called up. Somehow I do not see that as dishonest. But that is what happened.

His first car he bought from a friend for $400. It had a lot of problems but it served us for a while. It was better than no car at all and we needed transportation to get to school in the summer and in the school year. I did not even drive then so I certainly did not need a car. We were living in Harlan and each day I caught a bus to ride to my school. I did that for the first year. The second year I rode with our principal and his wife to Twila, a mining camp outside of town. That was fine except for another woman who rode in the back seat with me and I would carry a lot of books and put them between us as we rode along. That was as close to her as I wanted to get.

Your dad was teaching history and serving as vice principal at a high school. He did not like teaching at all. After we moved to Salisbury Maryland he taught for about a year and then just stopped and got a job in a lab where he was running experiments with a coating for concrete blocks. Now, you see them all the time in buildings everywhere. It was a glazed coating and when he came home his clothing smelled like a chemical used in the coating. I think it was called styrene, but am not sure. But I sure do remember that it was a most disagreeable odor.

He later got a job doing something he really enjoyed, sales !. At first it was the American Art Clay Co. Later he was with a company selling technical training units for DeVry. He was just not cut out for teaching, but selling, well he could do a lot of talking for that !

For a while when we first went to Salisbury I worked at a Nursery Center called Tiny Tots. Then when Bonnie was expected we both wanted me to be at home with her so I stopped doing that. He was working at three jobs to keep up afloat. During the week-days he taught school, on Saturdays he sold paint at Sears and on Sundays he drove charter buses from Salisbury to Norfolk, Va. and often to New York or to Philadelphia. He drove many a sailor for his week-end pass. In Philadelphia he had to walk through a bad part of town on some occasions and he told me that he walked with an iron tool in his hand to protect himself, if need be.

One summer he had a job as an inspector at Campbell Soup Company. He worked at night and he was responsible for seeing that the pipes were properly disinfected for the soup to be run through it the next day. I remember one story about him working with a black man who brought some blackberry wine to work and I am pretty sure they took care of that wine as well.

We had a lot of good friends there, mostly teachers with whom he worked . One of them was a Manual Arts teacher. Now that subject would be taught at a Technical School. This man was named Nick Guiliano and his wife was Fay. We spent a lot of time with them. She could not have children and she loved to come to our house on her lunch break and visit with me and Bonnie. I think they eventually adopted two children and I have lost touch with them. Before we bought our Danish dining room furniture he went to the store and inspected it. He advised us that it was excellent furniture so we bought it for $600. Sounds like a steal now.

Another good teacher friend was Al Manus, his wife Jo and their three little girls. They were from Tennessee. They had a garden and she canned green beans. They were the best green beans I ever tasted ! I think he and Ray were the best buddies of all his friends. this couple was from Tennessee.

We were close friends with the basketball coach and his wife named Georgia. She had a bank job and worked on Saturdays. Every Saturday Bill would come to our house for breakfast. He loved oatmeal but Georgia would not make it, so he had it at our house. Still another couple we met early on was Phylis and Russ Cooper. He worked for the electric company and she worked for the Wicomoco Board of Education. She knew we were new to Salisbury and invited us to dinner. Russ was an avid hunter and she cooked quail and ducks, etc. for us. These were all good friends and sometimes they would all gather at our apartment as we had a large living room. It was a happy time to have so many friends. Most of this was before we had two children for our world to revolve around.

As we were starting a family so were Bill and Georgia. We would have outings with them on occasion until they moved to New Jersey and we moved to another part of Maryland. I still hear from Georgia and the Coopers. The white desk I have beside my front door reminds me of Russ as I bought it from his mother at her antique store, for $10. The last time I heard from Phylis she sent pictures of her children and grandchildren. All very good looking young people.

I will always treasure the good times we had with those couples. I really must try to make contact again, for old times sake.

For My Children

Today I want to share some things with you that you may not know about your father.

Once when visiting with his parents in Va. I saw a picture of him when he was about three years ago. He was in a group with his brothers. I must say he was the cutest little boy ever. He had those dark eyes and hair, from his Indian heritage no doubt. I have pictures of him in high school and in college and of course after we were married.

Did you know that he was baptized after we were married. Our Presbyterian minister at the Harlan First Presbyterian church was Ed Dalstrom and he kept after Ray until he finally was convinced that it was the thing to do. The Sunday that it happened I think I hurt him inadvertently. He told me later that after he came back to the pew where I was seated, waiting for him, that I did not look at him. Baptisms were old hat to me but for him it was a momentous occasion. I was really sorry that I had offended him in such a way. In my immaturity I had misjudged the occasion.

His mother told me a story about him when he was around two. Apparently he still used a bottle and had taken it out with him into the yard. He left it outside and the next day when he found it, it had a big slug crawling on it. Well, that was when he gave up the bottle !!

His mother was part Creek Indian and was a tall rawboned woman. Ray once showed me the place where she grew up. It was called Crackers Hollow and that is what it looked like, the area between two mountains. We did not go there just looked in that direction. Her father had been connected to the law enforcement and was a crack shot. A good thing if you are in law enforcement. She was very young when they married, but people did that in those days. She was only 14 and he was 17.

The first time she came to visit us she asked me if I had an aspirin. I asked if she had a headache. She told me no, but she wanted to take one just in case she did. That was a new idea to me. She loved gardening and when I first met her she took me out to see her dahlias. They were huge. She gave me a big red one to pin on my dress. She cooked eggs for me and they were fresh from the hens. Also they were fried in bacon grease which made them also very tasty. She made a dressing for her cold slaw by using cream with a bit of sugar and vinegar added in. Very tasty. Ray was very respectful of his parents, although he and his father had some heated "debates" from time to time. His father was a staunch Democrat and Ray a Republican.

Growing up in his family they knew hard times. His father was a mine electrician and when the miners went on strike he was not able to work. Ray once told me that one morning his mother did not have anything to cook for breakfast so she sent him out to pick apples from a tree that did not belong to them. My understanding is that it was a huge old tree and not growing in any one's yard. Perhaps it was common practice to do that, but he told it to me to make a point of how hard times had been. His father would sometimes have to travel to different places to find work and would be gone for two weeks at a time. I am sure that was not easy on the family.

I cannot remember Ray ever using foul language. In fact he took me to task when we were first married as I had a bad habit of saying "Oh, Hell" when I became frustrated. It was not something I said in front of anyone else, and he got me out of the habit very quickly, simply by pointing it out to me. He did not criticize people in his acquaintance. He would have plenty to say about world affairs, but not about people in a negative way.

He was so very good to my mother when she came to visit. She was ready to go at the drop of a hat and so was he. I stayed at home ( I was expecting Bruce at the time and I was required to stay in bed most of the time.) So the two of them would take off for Washington, D.C. or where ever or to whatever was interesting at the time. When Bonnie was born and I was at home on Easter he bought a corsage for her to wear to church with him. As I recall I was not forgotten as he had for me a box of candy in a box shaped like an Easter hat.

He was devoted to his family. He was so proud of his children and loved to get down on the floor and play with them. We, as a family spent most of our week-ends on outings after church. Picnics were our favorite thing to do and not many week-ends went by without us all going on some outing to a park or fort or historical place around the Baltimore, Washington area. After we bought a lot on Kent Island we spent a lot of time there and often took others with us. Some times we would go by boat and other times by car. At that time the Chesapeake Bay bridge was single lane and sometimes we had to wait for a long line of traffic to abate before we could cross.

When he graduated from the eight grade Ray received a certificate for having the best grades in the county for his grade. I am not sure where he was in school then but he graduated from high school in Evarts, Ky.

Ray was a talker. When I first met him he introduced me to one of his friends. The friend said "so you finally found a girl who would listen to you". On one of our early dates he was full of talk about the history of Korea. He belonged to the World Affairs Club at Eastern and I wonder if any of the other members ever got a chance to speak !! At Eastern he had a part time job keeping the tennis courts in order. I played when I could and once while I was sitting and talking to him a friend came by and asked me for a date. I already had a date with Ray for that evening, but Ray quickly spoke up and said "Why don't you go, I think you would enjoy it". That was a very gentlemanly thing to do. I was in a bad spot and he helped me out of it. I did go and it was a nice hay ride.

There is much more I can tell you, my children and I will do so at another time. But for now, your father was a disciplined, considerate, intelligent, high minded man who had been off to war and knew how to appreciate freedom and to appreciate a young lady who came from a respected, church oriented family.

Fall Activities

A few days ago I decided it was getting far enough into the fall weather to pick kiwi, so I did just that. I had gotten a couple of baskets full a few days before and wanted to just pick the biggest ones. One weighed in at 4.5 ounces. The average size for the ones sold in the grocery stores is 3 ounces. Perhaps next year I will see to it that the vines get some fertilizer in March as I expect next year to have them back into normal bearing.

I have some friends who look forward to these kiwi each fall. I think it will be putting them to better use to share with those folks then to try making jelly with them. However I may change my mind on that.

Hopefully this week the wild blackberry plants that I rooted earlier, can be planted on the hill in back of the house. They will be close by and I can monitor their growth much easier that way. I expect them to bear next summer. I noticed that the arapaho blackberry plants down in the front of my house have red stalks. The wild plants that I rooted also have red stalks. Perhaps they are related to the arapaho plants. If so, then I will have some very tasty, fat berries. I have tried to grow blackberries before about 12 years ago. They were thornless and not very tasty so I just let them die out. My intuition regarding these is that I will have a lovely crop !

I like to try new things and this fall I entered some of my jams, jellies and pickles in the county fair. That was the first time I had done that and I probably will not do it again. Reason being that it is just too much trouble to take the products in, register them and then after the fair is over go back and collect them. I read in the newspapers today that I could go online and see the list of winners . I did that and learned that my bread and butter pickles did indeed rate first place. The fig-strawberry jam only placed second and ditto for the muscadine jelly. So, that is not too shabby. We had rain all week so I imagine the attendance was not as great as expected in spite of having Charlie Daniels the featured singer on one evening.

When the days begin to chill it says soup should be on the menu. I did try a new soup this fall. It came from a magazine and is Vermont Cheddar soup. Rich, but filling and very smooth. A diversion from my usual vegetable soups. I do plan to make a base of tomatoes, okra and corn and let the rest just happen. My mother used to can tomatoes, okra and corn from her garden and use it for soups in the winter.

Also when it turns cold it seems a good time to make candy. My favorite is peanut better fudge. My sister would make this candy when she and her husband took us camping. She had a little camper cooker and using that on a picnic table she did her fudge. It was always so good !! I make my fudge with a very easy recipe and am willing to share if anyone is interested. It is in the cook book our church put together this year. I add walnuts to it and with the peanut butter I fool myself into thinking it is not too bad for the diet - unless of course you cannot have sugar.

So now that we are starting to use heat here in the south I will begin to look to inside activities to keep me busy. My next project is making lap quilts for patients at the Presbyterian Homes in Georgia. I have some colorful fleece prints to use. Also I have plenty of material in my stash upstairs to make adult bibs. These are among the items that are requested by the Homes. Our church will be collecting items during the month of November. The Homes will use them all during the year as gifts for the residents. I admire the people who care for older ones when they reach the age of not being able to care for themselves. I feel so blessed to not be among them, well not yet at least. In the meantime I will continue to fill my days with fun things and enjoy the beauty of nature from my window or from walks outside. I hope your days are fun filled also.

The Basket Persy Made

One of my "sometime" hobbies is making baskets. Ten months ago I ordered materials for making a mini bread basket. They came in a small box about 9" by 4". I put the box aside as I was busy with other projects at the time. Since it was January and grape vine pruning time, that may have been my preoccupation. Frequently I would move the box to a new spot and even onto the sun room which is not used in the colder months. I really wanted to get to it but other things ruled the day. Eventually I decided it was time to look inside the box. I discovered that everything was in order and began to read the directions. Well this will be a breeze I thought. So, I set it aside again and thought it would be so easy I would get to it another day. Months later I picked it up again.

There was nothing to deter me so I decided to just make this plain little bread basket. After all it was just simple weaving. After a few days I decided to put up a card table as it was not going as well as I had planned. This was taking longer than I expected. and I needed to set aside a special space to keep the work handy. Actually, I honestly believe the directions were incorrect. The directions had pictures along with each segment but the pictures always excluded the big problem I was having. Finally I just replaced two of the weavers that I had been told to split and turn under. It went much better after I did it my way.

The next big problem appeared when I really did not read and follow the directions. Such a simple deletion, but it threw things way off. More reverse weaving and a new start was in order. This went on for several weeks. I would put it aside when I felt tired as I wanted to enjoy the project.
Eventually, I got to the rims of the basket and the small handles at each end. I had given up on perfection and just wanted to get the thing done!! So, now it is and I never again want to use these directions to make a basket.
However, I do have another box of basket making materials that I have set aside , unopened, on the floor of a closet. The directions for the next one I have in mind is in a basket book I have used over the years. This one is called Amy's Basket and can be made in several sizes. I will need help I feel sure, for I could not have ever finished this little bread basket without the help of Persy. Who is Persy you may ask, well that is what I asked my husband after he told me that Persy had helped him finish a difficult task. His answer was Persy Verance. It is amazing how much Percy has helped me finish chores over the years. Things like painting the outside of my house. I did that in Maryland and again here in Georgia. Somehow it seems to help to know I am not doing it alone, but have Percy beside me. And sometimes he even talks to me!!

Faithful Fall Flowers

One of the things I look forward to in the early fall is the appearance of big yellow blooms on the Stone Mountain Yellow Daisy. There is a story of how I became the recipient of these beautiful flowers. My good friend, who is no longer living, showed them to me in his garden. I admired them so he simply reached down and pulled some of them up by the roots. He told me to plant them where I wanted them. I was doubtful that they would grow after being yanked up that way. He assured me that they would indeed grow and spread. So, I did as he said and yes, they did grow and thrive and are now planted in three different places near my home. When they appear each fall it reminds me again of my friend and his wit and creativity. He is the friend who built the wall shown in the photo of the daisy.

Another fall perennial which appears about the same time is the Purple Ageratum . It is a product of "accidental gardening" a term which was introduced to me by my New Jersey gardening friend. This little purple flower was a hitch hiker which came along with some Liriope from my home in Decatur. In my home there I had a patio out back and around it I had planted some Liriope which was given to me in one of those sharing incidents. When I brought some of the Liriope up here to plant I did not even notice the ageratum as it was not in bloom. However once the Liriope was established the hitch hiker began to appear, first in the soil that it came up here in then it began to pop up in other places. Each fall I find a new spot where it has traveled and put down its roots. The roots are a web of crossing fibers which lace back and forth. The seeds must travel by way of the petals on the blooms. I can think of no other way that they would find themselves down the hill and growing by the foot bridge. I have never planted them anywhere on this place but they seem to pop up everywhere. I have pulled them up where I did not particularly want them but eventually just stopped doing that. Now I accept them as one of natures little fall surprises.

Another perennial which earns it's keep is the Autumn Joy Sedum. It is not a spreading plant but once established just stays there for years. This year it has the best color I have seen since I first planted it about four years ago.

Another faithful flower though not specifically fall appearing are the Gerbera Daisies . They are not fast spreading but once they are put in a favorable spot they live there for years and spread slowly. I have some near my front door which have been there for about ten years. I have dug some of them up on several occasions but left a few to continue living in that spot. They are in full sun and that suits them perfectly.

There is a shade loving plant on the north side of my house which blooms in the spring and continues to bloom until we have a hard freeze. It is the shamrock. There are three of them and they do not like to compete with the roots of other plants. I had to rescue them this summer when some rude weeds threatened their space. By pulling up the intruders and putting down rich soil I gave them permission to once again shine with their perky white blooms which close in the evening and reopen in the morning. It gives me much pleasure to have these faithful little friends greet me when I go back and forth from my back door.

At the time of year when other plants are finished growing and begin to dry up it is very rewarding to have these colorful ones come along to claim my attention and lengthen my gardening interest. It is like seeing old friends reappear. I know they are still around but do not notice them until they suddenly appear to greet me once again.

First Teaching Job in Texas

I recently found a picture of me and some of my students in my very first teaching job. It was in a nursery class of three year children . The setting was an experimental Nursery School on Rodd Field, at the Naval Air Base in Corpus Christi, Texas in the 1940's. I had gone there to stay with the family of my sister's brother-in-law who was a Lt.Commander in the Navy. World War II had ended and he was an instructor there. His wife was expecting another baby and was having difficulty caring for her three year old. I was ready for a break as a different sister was trying to push me into a job I was not anxious to take. When I was asked to go there for a time I agreed.

I went by train overnight. This was my second train ride. The first had been to Richmond, Ky. to college. I well remember it as an old flame was on the train and he bought my supper on the train. I think he was going to his college as well. For some reason I remember him telling me his criteria for a wife. Maybe I remember it as I thought it was odd. She had to wear hats !! I think he was trying to say that he wanted her to be well groomed.

This trip to Texas was instructional on many levels. While there I saw my first buttermilk skies, and witnessed an amazing electrical storm. The sky was filled with lightening strikes and out in that flat land you could see great distances all around. That is not the case when you live in the mountains as you are limited to the sky you can see between two mountains.

While there I was able to take a week-end trip to Monterrey, Mexico. I went by bus and God must have been looking out for me way back then as I met a lovely elderly couple from Michigan on the bus, who took me under their wings. He owned a Mortuary in Michigan and this was a holiday trip for them. They took me around Monterrey with them, escorted me everywhere. They even took me to a shop where I sampled wine and to a restaurant where I had bean soup. I had never had beans mashed into a soup before. Also we visited a leather shop and I purchased a black leather purse which I used for over 20 years !! I still have some silver jewelry which I purchased there, earrings and a bracelet. I also have some pictures of the town and I saw so much beautiful tile on the sidewalks and buildings. It was a great trip and I almost missed it. Elma and John said "you should go as you may never have the chance again". They were so right .

Elma helped me learn to cook and sew. I made a striped woolen suit while I was there and wore it for quite a few years. I saw it in some of the old pictures I found. Elma showed me new ways to make old dishes. When I came back to my home in Kentucky, my brother teased me about my cooking saying, "some day she will be frying lettuce". Well, he was right . I have used swiss chard in my stir fries and it is a lettuce.

John was very good to me. He taught me how to drive and was very encouraging. Being an instructor for young pilots he knew how to direct instruction so that no doubt accounts for me learning so quickly. This was before we had automatic transmissions so I was using a shift drive. He encouraged me by saying " I think you can do whatever you want to do in life". I have thought of that many times when I learn something new - like using a computer !!

In addition to having a job in the nursery school I enrolled in an Art class in the junior college there. I went to the USO in town and met a very nice young sailor from North Carolina. We were great friends and had a lot of fun together, he was like a brother who looked out for me. I had a few dates with some of the cadets there but I had the most fun with the sailor from Winston Salem, North Carolina.

The young children I worked with in that first school were having their first experience with school. They were well behaved and enjoyed our activities. One day one of the little girls ran up to me, grabbed me around the legs, looked up to me and said "I love you Miss Mattress". She was mispronouncing my name but I loved it and it is still an endearing moment to me.

One day when I had the children in a little group reading a story to them they were all entranced except for one little boy named Alfred ,who had other ideas. I had him come and sit beside me thinking that would keep him calm but it did not. Eventually I had to send him away from the group for it was unfair to the other children. For any incidents of that sort the parents were told what had happened. Alfred's mother said "you did exactly the right thing". I later learned that Alfred's mother had written a book on child psychology. I am rather glad I had not known it before !

We had a Halloween party for the children and they each had on masks for the event. I sent some pictures home to my parents and my father said "what in the world is wrong with those children's faces' .

All in all it was a very good experience for me to live in the lone star state for almost a year, to be on a military base and to get a taste of being a teacher. For when I went back home I went back to College for a year and a half, graduated and did take the very job I had once gone across the country to avoid.

The Good Old Days Part 2

In that first year of teaching I had an unconventional way of beginning our day. I began it with singing. I sang to the children " Good morning to you, good morning to you, good morning dear children, oh, how do you do". They would sing back to me. "Good morning to you, good morning to you, good morning dear teacher, oh how do you do." It was a signal that our school day was beginning.

We had some interesting things going on in our classroom for the two years I spent at that first school. We had been discussing animals and frogs so one of the boys brought in some frog eggs. I brought a fish bowl to school the next day. We put the eggs and water into the bowl. This was in the spring of the year. By and by we noticed a tad pole and eventually the frog emerged. We put a tree branch in the bowl and the frog found his way up on the branch. He was bright green with knobs on the ends of his feet which served as suction pads. We learned he was a tree frog. We returned him to the area where he was found but had the pleasure of observing his development.


At that time in the late 1940's we had a unit on pets. As part of the unit we decided to have a pet show and make some money for school supplies at the same time. So, on a designated day the children who had pets brought them to school and with the pets on their desks the entire school, room by room was invited to come in and vote for their favorite pet. A vote was one penny. We made about $20 and the winner was a hen named Betty. She was brought to school in a wire cage. I thought it was a fun time for the children and it is something we probably would not be allowed to do now.

These children were schooled in the ways of the woods as they were living everyday in the mountains. They appreciated the things we did in the classrooms. Remember there was no television to occupy their time. Most did not have newspapers, magazines or books in their homes. One of the great things about those mountain children was that I never had a discipline problem. They were so very well behaved.

I fell in love with one little boy who had lost both of his parents and had come to live with his grandparents. His name was Clyde and I saw so much potential in him. He was a very bright little boy, well mannered and well spoken. I wished that I could have adopted him. I never asked to as his grandparents loved him and he really belonged to them, but he touched my heart as no other child had done. After he was grown I met him in my home town and visited with him. He became a newspaper editor so my faith in him was well placed.

My second year there my niece was a student in my class. She had been to Kindergarten in Peoria, Ill. where her grandmother lived. She had spent the year before there with her, so she was much better prepared for school that the children who had not had that experience. Her best friend lived across the road from her. This best friend told my niece that when she grew up she was going to be a teacher but not like me. She was going to be a Christian teacher. She thought I was not since I wore nail polish. That kind of thinking was not uncommon at that time in that area.

I recall one little boy named Howard. He was very young and had not been away from his mother before coming to school. He cried a lot and that was not all. Each day he would jump out of the window and run home. One day I had an orange in my lunch. I offered it to him and he peeled it and ate it. It was like magic for he never ran away again and the crying stopped. I heard sad news about him about fifteen years later. He lost his life while riding a motorcycle.

In that state and at that time the superintendent of schools for the county was elected. Before an election the schools were dismissed early and all of the teachers were expected to go out to the various homes to campaign for the incumbent superintendent. We went in pairs and I went with a second grade teacher whose daughter was one of my students. At lunch time we went to her home and she made a sandwich for our lunch. I had never had anything like it before or since. It was cheese with brown sugar on it between two slices of white bread. Surprisingly, it tasted good.

If a teacher became ill there was no list from which to secure a substitute teacher. This did not happen often but it did a couple of times to me. My class was taken over by an eighth grader. Our principal was also the eighth grade teacher so he simply selected a good student to stand in for me. I do not recall there ever being a problem in my class due to my absence.

At the end of each month we had an attendance record to prepare. It could be a nightmare as we had to count half days. An accurate record of attendance was important because of the money that the state allotted for every child for each full day of attendance.

When I first entered college my plan was to major in Art. I had two years in which I took all the Art classes I could cram in. Then my oldest sister had a heart to heart with me and insisted that I change my major to a more practical outcome. I cried for three days but I had to obey and that is how I was steered into teaching. While at this first school, wanting to share my interests , I formed an after school Art club for the higher grade students. We would meet after school and take our drawing boards and paper and usually charcoal or dark pencils and find a spot overlooking the valley. We sketched what we saw in the landscape. It was a fun thing for me and I think for the older students also.

In spite of the antiquated building, materials available, books, furniture, transportation and general inconveniences, I look back on those early years of teaching with fondness. How could I do otherwise for the young children I worked with were so sweet, innocent and appreciative. It was not like work but more like play. I have been told that the school had burned and was replaced with a one story building below the hill I used to climb. No doubt this building has all of the amenities of any modern school . Perhaps each first grade classroom has its own bathroom. The school probably has a lunchroom and certainly a parking lot for the teachers cars. The playground must have playground equipment other than swings which is all we had. And if a teacher must be absent a qualified substitute will be called in and she will find detailed plans on the teacher's desk to guide her for the day. There will be teachers meetings, in service on a regular basis, a music teacher, gym teacher and maybe even a school counselor. Who knows maybe one of those teachers is a descendant of one of my first students. That is a happy thought for me.

The Good Old Days Part 1

Sometimes the way we remember the past is in selective memory mode. We think of the really good things or the really bad things. What I am thinking about today is my first few years of teaching in southeastern Kentucky.

The first school where I taught just happened to be the same school where I began my education. My oldest sister was my teacher then and the year was 1931. It was a very short school year for me. I was too young and after one day my sister decided I was not ready. She based this on me bursting into tears when we were playing a game. It was "Have You Seen My Little Rabbit". I was told to go by each child's desk with my hands folded as in prayer. I had to ask each child if he/she had seen my little rabbit. After four or five negative answers of "No, I have not seen your little rabbit" is when I began crying. The game was intended to emphasize the proper use of "seen", as the mountain children had the habit of saying "seed" instead of seen.

The next year I did complete the year and also the next under the tutelage of my oldest sister. After that my parents moved us into the county seat and I attended school there.

The year that I began teaching was also my first year of marriage. My husband and I had both just graduated from Eastern Ky. State Teachers College in Richmond, Ky. Being a new bride, a new teacher and a new homemaker all fell at the same time. The classroom I occupied was a lower corner room which proved to be very convenient. In this picture taken in Feb. of 1949 you can see my corner room and also a lot of the boys and girls in this school which was perched on the top of a mountain. It was not a huge mountain but it surely seemed that way as I had to climb it after I left the bus at the road below and follow a path carrying any and all teaching supplies. That was year round and being young and healthy I thought nothing of it. There was a road up to the school but I never was on it as the bus did not take that route.

The first year I was there 45 first graders came into my room. After one week I saw that five of those little mountain boys and girls were simply not ready for school. Most were the age I had been at 5 years when I was taken to school. I sent a note home to the mothers and asked them to come to the school to see me. I explained the reasons why their young children would be so much better off if they waited one year to enter school. They were all very cooperative as in those days, if the teacher said it, then it was true.

After my class was diminished by 5, I had 40 delightful little eager learners. They had never been to Kindergarten, had not had any beautiful books to read or have read to them so I set about to remedy that. Our school did not have a library. I went every other week to the public library in my town ten miles away, and checked out the maximum number of children's story books allowed. I then had a library table where the children could visit when their work was complered. This was a treat for them and a great incentive to finish their paper.

I had a duplicating machine which sounds impossible in this day and time. It consisted of a rectangular metal box filled with a glycerin coated sheet of gelatin. It was about 1/2 inch thick. I used a special pencil to print out the days work paper. It was purple. No other pencil would do for this purpose. The "hectograph" was the name of the box and the hectograph pencil was what I used. A special sponge was used to wet the surface, then the prepared lesson paper was placed on the surface with the purple pencil side down touching the gelatin surface. The paper was smoothed out and left for a very brief time so the print could soak into the surface, then it was removed. As many sheets as you wanted to print were put down and rubbed over then pulled up. The next day the pattern of your paper had filtered down to the bottom and another new prepared paper could be put down. At this pace you can see why I only used one work sheet in a day.

The building I was in did have two bathrooms, one for the entire school for boys and one for girls. Unfortunately most of the time they were out of order so we had an outhouse for all to use. That was probably the most regretful aspect of being there, but there were others.!!

Most of the children went home for lunch. There was no lunchroom in the building. We all brown bagged it, even me !! Since we had no running water in the room I improvised with a small metal pan, a jug of water and a bar of soap (no liquid soap then). Every child had to wash his hands before lunch. I stood there and held the jug of water to pour over the little hands until all were clean. After lunch was recess. The corner windows in my room provided a fine place for all of the teachers to congregate to watch their classes at play. I always had things to prepare for the afternoon reading lesson so as I worked they socialized and watched the playground.

Once my principal asked me if their presence disturbed me from my work. I told him no, that I just went ahead with what I needed to do. We did not have teacher/principal conferences. I did find a note of approval on my desk one day. It was written on an index card which he had found on my desk. It said "Your children are doing the best I have ever seen in a first year teacher". Since I was hired for the second year I suppose that was his approval !!

Woodworking Hobby

This is a picture of a bluebird house which my brother made for me. I now have three of them around this place. One is visible from my front door. One is near the road leading to my house. The other one is on the far end of the property at the upper end of the vineyard. Usually they are occupied by bluebirds but on some occasions I learn that other birds have moved into one of the unoccupied houses. Once I found a tiny blue feather on the ground under the one in the far end of the vineyard. I peeked inside and saw little blue feathers all over the nest of eggs. When I explained this to my brother he said a tree swallow had moved in. He was correct as the tree swallow covers her eggs with her small fragile feathers.

This hobby of making things from wood started when he was a teenager in high school. In the 1940's most boys in high school in our part of the country had a class in manual arts. He chose to make a cherry end table. It was a beautiful piece of furniture which graced my mothers home for many years. It is now in the state of Illinois in my older brother's home. A few years ago one of the legs was broken so my woodworking brother made a new one for this table.

After retirement my brother returned to this hobby. He had a large work shop built at the end of his property. Since retirement he has been making reproductions of antique furniture for different members of his family. For one of our family reunions he made a desk, chiming clock from walnut as a door prize. My sister from Ohio was the lucky recipient of this lovely clock. When he saw how much I admired it he made one for me. He also made a wall shelf for it to sit on. It is now on my wall in the front room and is a work of art. He involved me in the making of it by asking me to paint roses on the face of the clock. This I did and also had the glass over it frosted so that the pendulum is exposed as it moves back and forth.

The people in his church, The Sinking Springs Presbyterian Church in Abingdon know about his woodworking skills so they asked him to make a 7 foot cross of walnut to hang over the altar. That cross is shown to the right. He was asked to replace windows in an old steam engine which is parked in their historic town. This he did also.

He has been making very good use of his retirement years with his woodworking skills. I know that he makes bluebird houses which are placed at strategic places for the purpose of increasing the bluebird population.

I feel so privileged to actually own on of his reproductions. To be able to use a skill that was learned in your teens and continue with it all of your life for the benefit of nature and man is a satisfying hobby. Thank you my brother for all of the many worthy things you do and have done in your lifetime.