People in the south get excited about snow, primarily because it is a rarity, especially on Christmas Day. Everyone makes the bread and milk run and other favorites things before the big event. In the city of Atlanta they have the first Christmas snow in 128 years, so this is keeping the weather forecasters busy with pictures and comments.
In north Georgia we too get excited for some of us have visitors coming and we want them to arrive and depart safely. At my house only half of our family arrived before the snow hit. We had a great time with early lunch as my grandson had to leave around 12:30 to drive to the Hartsfield-Jackson Air Terminal to pick up a friend from England. All went well with that venture and my daughter and her husband stayed on until around 3:30 when the snow arrived and began to ice over on the bushes. The temperature outside was still in the mid thirties so there was no immediate threat.
The other half of my family was expected Sunday but with warnings of "don't drive unless you have to" they decided to play it safe and postpone the trip until Monday.
One needs to be flexible when the weather plays tricks on us.
I kept waiting for someone to notice something in the southeast corner of my front room where the big windows are. I have several lush plants grouped in the area and back of them is a big old white, five gallon bucket, with something growing in it. Gardeners are experimenters and this is my experiment. It is just as well that they did not notice as it is rather unsightly.
Last spring I ordered some seeds for heirloom tomatoes. I planted them in small pots. I then covered the whole thing with a plastic dome, and put it on a table in the front room. I am positive that every seed I planted came up. Good seeds, Baker Creek Nursery! I will be ordering from you again. After these plants reached the stage to move to larger pots, I placed them out in the sun room. When they seemed large enough to put in the raised bed garden outdoors, I again moved them there. I had more plants than I could use so I gave some to my dentist and to another friend. Some went into individual outdoor, makeshift pots. One did not thrive down in the raised bed garden so at the end of the season I brought it back up to the back porch. It did not grow well there, so when cold weather threatened I moved it indoors. I just hated to relegate it to the compost heap.
This one heirloom tomato plant is what I now have in my living room hiding behind the lush plants but where it can get some sun. It is actually growing quite well. I have not used any fertilizer on it as that should wait until fruit appears. I just had to give it one more chance since it had clung to life for eight months. I suppose you could call it a traveling tomato plant as it has been in many locations. Perhaps the threat of the big snow will cause it to summons enough strength to defy all odds and do what it was made to do. Then I will know at last if the fruit is orange, Arkansas Red, Purple Red or the Kellogs Breakfast yellow. Whichever, I know it will be "yummy".
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Scary things
Technology is moving so fast that we can hardly get adjusted to one new thing before another comes up on the horizon. A few years ago we learned of a new devise which could be used in warfare. When a soldier is faced with higher ground this devise can tell him what is on the other side, thus making it safer for him to proceed.
I well remember the first time I saw television in Nashville Tennessee. I believe the year was 1950. Our landlord invited us to watch the Kefauver hearings from Washington D.C. Television was mind blowing to me at that time. Now we are hearing of autonomous cars. They are computer run and no driver is needed. The idea is that they will be safer and save time and money. I wonder if they will lower insurance rates? If so it will not happen for a long time!
Just recently, the Metrodome in Minnesoto collapsed from the weight of 17.1 inches of snow, on its roof. It is pretty amazing that such a building could be erected in the first place. It has been in use for 25 years with regular inspections and minor repairs. An architect told my husband that if our flat roof received 11 inches of snow it could collapse. Fortunately for us that is unheard of here in the south. But it is still scary to think about.
Scary is a subjective term. I am not afraid of insects, or snakes, but many people are. However, I am wary of some of them . I wear shoes inside my house because scorpions have been known to come indoors, through unseen cracks, etc. If I am stung by one, it is because I inadvertently stepped on it.
Young teen age kids seem to like to be scared by certain movies. Us older folks know that you need not go out of your way to be frightened, as life if full of scary things. The trick is to plan on avoiding them.
Perhaps one of the scariest things of all is something we do not think about; that is the absence of something. We do not think about the absence of good health, until it strikes out of the blue. We can drive along serenely, until we have an accident, then we realize how good it was to be safe. People do not plan on tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes. Sometimes the weather watchers may warn us, and we hope it does not happen; but if it does, it is very scary.
I can think of one thing that would make this world a really scary and ultimately unsafe place to be and that is the absence of love. We probably take the love of our family and friends for granted, until it is no longer there. Think of where we would be if emergency workers did not love (delight in )their work. Or scientists did not love spending their days investigating and discovering ways to make our lives better. This idea can be applied to most anything in life. I am just thankful that we are designed to love, as it is the oil that lubricates the way our lives mesh together.
I well remember the first time I saw television in Nashville Tennessee. I believe the year was 1950. Our landlord invited us to watch the Kefauver hearings from Washington D.C. Television was mind blowing to me at that time. Now we are hearing of autonomous cars. They are computer run and no driver is needed. The idea is that they will be safer and save time and money. I wonder if they will lower insurance rates? If so it will not happen for a long time!
Just recently, the Metrodome in Minnesoto collapsed from the weight of 17.1 inches of snow, on its roof. It is pretty amazing that such a building could be erected in the first place. It has been in use for 25 years with regular inspections and minor repairs. An architect told my husband that if our flat roof received 11 inches of snow it could collapse. Fortunately for us that is unheard of here in the south. But it is still scary to think about.
Scary is a subjective term. I am not afraid of insects, or snakes, but many people are. However, I am wary of some of them . I wear shoes inside my house because scorpions have been known to come indoors, through unseen cracks, etc. If I am stung by one, it is because I inadvertently stepped on it.
Young teen age kids seem to like to be scared by certain movies. Us older folks know that you need not go out of your way to be frightened, as life if full of scary things. The trick is to plan on avoiding them.
Perhaps one of the scariest things of all is something we do not think about; that is the absence of something. We do not think about the absence of good health, until it strikes out of the blue. We can drive along serenely, until we have an accident, then we realize how good it was to be safe. People do not plan on tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes. Sometimes the weather watchers may warn us, and we hope it does not happen; but if it does, it is very scary.
I can think of one thing that would make this world a really scary and ultimately unsafe place to be and that is the absence of love. We probably take the love of our family and friends for granted, until it is no longer there. Think of where we would be if emergency workers did not love (delight in )their work. Or scientists did not love spending their days investigating and discovering ways to make our lives better. This idea can be applied to most anything in life. I am just thankful that we are designed to love, as it is the oil that lubricates the way our lives mesh together.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
R. R. Parsons, March 26,1922 - December 11, 1970
Forty years ago the lives of my family came to a screeching halt. We were in shock for some time. It takes a lot of healing to learn to lead a normal life after the husband and father in a family is suddenly lost. It takes time to learn to move through the routine things and think again about the future. It takes a lot of help from others as when you are in the middle of grief you really cannot think straight.
Much time has passed since that day when our lives were turned upside down. Remembering the man who was my husband and the father of my children brings me to want to express what kind of man we are talking about. Here are some facts.
He served his country in Europe during World War II. Upon returning to the states he enrolled in college at Eastern Ky. State. When he had finished his schooling there he and I were married and both of us began teaching in Kentucky. He continued in school after that first year of teaching. After three summers of nothing but study he graduated from Peabody College in Nashville Tennessee with a masters degree. This was part of our plan for our lives together. He would complete his schooling and we gave ourselves five years before settling down to having our family. He found employment in the state of Maryland and then our plan continued to work. Since teaching was not bringing in enough money to live as well as he wanted for his family he found work in the business world. As the years passed other opportunities became available for work. He and I discussed moving our family to another state in order for him to take a new job. We sold our home and moved the family to Georgia. We had only lived in Georgia for one year and four months when our plan as we knew it came to a finish.
Without his counsel I had to take on the job of single parent. My children and I had a good solid base for continuing in the same pattern because of his character and integrity. He took his job of father very seriously. His children and I were foremost in his mind always. When he was away from home he called us every night. He carried a picture of his children with him wherever he went. He was always thinking of them and what he could do to make our family strong. He succeeded and because of his strength and love for us we were able to rebuild our lives in the knowledge that we were continuing what he had planned for us.
Much has changed in our individual lives but one thing remains constant, that is our love and concern for each other. I know he would be pleased that we are carrying on the concern and love which he showed for us.
Much time has passed since that day when our lives were turned upside down. Remembering the man who was my husband and the father of my children brings me to want to express what kind of man we are talking about. Here are some facts.
He served his country in Europe during World War II. Upon returning to the states he enrolled in college at Eastern Ky. State. When he had finished his schooling there he and I were married and both of us began teaching in Kentucky. He continued in school after that first year of teaching. After three summers of nothing but study he graduated from Peabody College in Nashville Tennessee with a masters degree. This was part of our plan for our lives together. He would complete his schooling and we gave ourselves five years before settling down to having our family. He found employment in the state of Maryland and then our plan continued to work. Since teaching was not bringing in enough money to live as well as he wanted for his family he found work in the business world. As the years passed other opportunities became available for work. He and I discussed moving our family to another state in order for him to take a new job. We sold our home and moved the family to Georgia. We had only lived in Georgia for one year and four months when our plan as we knew it came to a finish.
Without his counsel I had to take on the job of single parent. My children and I had a good solid base for continuing in the same pattern because of his character and integrity. He took his job of father very seriously. His children and I were foremost in his mind always. When he was away from home he called us every night. He carried a picture of his children with him wherever he went. He was always thinking of them and what he could do to make our family strong. He succeeded and because of his strength and love for us we were able to rebuild our lives in the knowledge that we were continuing what he had planned for us.
Much has changed in our individual lives but one thing remains constant, that is our love and concern for each other. I know he would be pleased that we are carrying on the concern and love which he showed for us.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Pearl Harbor Day
Our citizens were in shock upon hearing that our fleet had been attacked at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. It happened on a Sunday early in the morning while most of our Naval personnel were still sleeping. In those days news was spread by radio so we were all hearing of this assault at different times of the day. If you ask anyone who was living during that time "what were you doing when you heard this news" you would get varying answers.
As for myself, I was a freshman in high school. Our family had just returned from Sunday worship service. My mother was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch. No doubt, my father had turned on the radio and that is how we learned that all of our lives would be changed forever. My mother said to me that I should get my journal and record this event. I said to her, "what should I say ?". She told me to write that I was electrified. I think I was more in a daze but if I did write that it has long been destroyed, probably in a flood which took everything stored in our basement.
In thinking about that day, I decided to call my sister in a distant town and ask her what she remembered. She said she remembered that when she heard this she was wiping down the stairway in our home. I am not sure why she was doing that on a Sunday but there must have been a good reason.
Next I called my brother who lives in Illinois. He remembered very well and told me he had been at Gunter Field in Alabama. He had joined the Army and had finished aviation school at another air base before going to Alabama. He said early in the morning around 4:00 or 5:00 his squadron leader burst into their barracks and woke everyone up and asked if all were there and accounted for. Someone said "all are up and accounted for sir". Then my brother began to laugh for half of the young men were "hung over" from Saturday night drinking and though accounted for they were definitely not "up". All of them were immediately put on alert and were scared to death, he said. At that point none of them knew if their base was to be attacked. As it turned out only the fleet was attacked and the results were heartbreaking for those at that Naval Base and elsewhere.
Though I do not remember my mother saying anything about my brother and any danger he could be in, I feel sure she was thinking about it. At that point only one of her sons was in the military, but before World War II was over, two other sons had served in the states. Bill, however spent years in the China, Burma, India theater of war in the jungles recovering airplane parts and repairing planes.
My parents were devout Christians who lived their faith and praying for their son and the other sons in this war was foremost in their minds. Since all mail leaving the war front was censured my mother devised a plan to keep up with where her son was. When he wrote home the first letter of each paragraph spelled out the name of the area where he was when he wrote that letter. That gave her some comfort to at least know where in the world her son was during those years.
That day in our history set in motion many, many changes for individuals and for our country as well. Food, gas,sugar, tires,and other products were rationed. Travel was curtailed. New industries were put in place and people migrated to larger cities where war preparation factories were located and jobs were available. Women began to work away from home, even in factories making war machines. Our culture was turned around and changed forever. Thus it is good to remember Pearl Harbor Day. We should never take our country for granted. Too many suffered and died for us to be cavalear regarding our freedom, for once lost it is not easily regained.
As for myself, I was a freshman in high school. Our family had just returned from Sunday worship service. My mother was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch. No doubt, my father had turned on the radio and that is how we learned that all of our lives would be changed forever. My mother said to me that I should get my journal and record this event. I said to her, "what should I say ?". She told me to write that I was electrified. I think I was more in a daze but if I did write that it has long been destroyed, probably in a flood which took everything stored in our basement.
In thinking about that day, I decided to call my sister in a distant town and ask her what she remembered. She said she remembered that when she heard this she was wiping down the stairway in our home. I am not sure why she was doing that on a Sunday but there must have been a good reason.
Next I called my brother who lives in Illinois. He remembered very well and told me he had been at Gunter Field in Alabama. He had joined the Army and had finished aviation school at another air base before going to Alabama. He said early in the morning around 4:00 or 5:00 his squadron leader burst into their barracks and woke everyone up and asked if all were there and accounted for. Someone said "all are up and accounted for sir". Then my brother began to laugh for half of the young men were "hung over" from Saturday night drinking and though accounted for they were definitely not "up". All of them were immediately put on alert and were scared to death, he said. At that point none of them knew if their base was to be attacked. As it turned out only the fleet was attacked and the results were heartbreaking for those at that Naval Base and elsewhere.
Though I do not remember my mother saying anything about my brother and any danger he could be in, I feel sure she was thinking about it. At that point only one of her sons was in the military, but before World War II was over, two other sons had served in the states. Bill, however spent years in the China, Burma, India theater of war in the jungles recovering airplane parts and repairing planes.
My parents were devout Christians who lived their faith and praying for their son and the other sons in this war was foremost in their minds. Since all mail leaving the war front was censured my mother devised a plan to keep up with where her son was. When he wrote home the first letter of each paragraph spelled out the name of the area where he was when he wrote that letter. That gave her some comfort to at least know where in the world her son was during those years.
That day in our history set in motion many, many changes for individuals and for our country as well. Food, gas,sugar, tires,and other products were rationed. Travel was curtailed. New industries were put in place and people migrated to larger cities where war preparation factories were located and jobs were available. Women began to work away from home, even in factories making war machines. Our culture was turned around and changed forever. Thus it is good to remember Pearl Harbor Day. We should never take our country for granted. Too many suffered and died for us to be cavalear regarding our freedom, for once lost it is not easily regained.
Friday, December 3, 2010
The Maryland Years
Earlier I wrote of living in Baltimore, Md. Those were the years of being a home maker and early parenting. Many of our family activities took place in the Baltimore, D.C., Annapolis area.
My husband and I came to this new area as he had taken a job teaching in a high school in Salisbury. it was all part of our Five Year Plan. We decided early on to work, save money, for him go to graduate school, then in five years time we would start our family. Being on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was almost culture shock, in a positive way. We had left family and friends and gone into the unknown.
Our first friends were Phyllis and Russ Cooper. Phyllis worked for the Dept. of Education and invited us, being newcomers to their home, for a duck dinner. Russ was the ultimate outdoorsman. He hunted and fished and we were often treated to wild game dinners. We hit it off as couples and thus began the forming of a nucleus of couples who met and visited and had many happy evenings together.
As we settled into living in the very nice town of Salisbury I found a job teaching a class of three year old children in a Day Care called Tiny Tots. I did not want to sign a contract for a teaching job in the public schools as we had our Five Year Plan to follow. The Nursery was owned by a Mrs. Moore. She was a good business woman and her business thrived. Thinking of those years I remember one little girl who had a phenomenal voice. At Christmas she performed in our little program. She sang "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus". She had a strong clear voice and was right on key. She would have been out on You Tube if it had been available then.
We found an upstairs apartment with the retired Police Chief of Salisbury. This man and his wife had no children and rented out the top floor of their home. She once gave us a large bowl of beef/vegetable soup. It was simply wonderful and I remember it after 50 years,but have never been able to duplicate it. When we learned we would be a family of three we found other lodgings and this couple was quite upset with us for leaving.
We made friends with Bill Conrad, basketball coach at Wicomoco High School, where my husband taught. Every Saturday morning he came over to our apartment and I made oatmeal for him. His wife's name was Georgia and she worked at a bank. She did not like to make oatmeal. Oatmeal was a regular item at our morning table and we looked forward to his visits.
The manual arts teacher, Nick Guilanio and his wife Faye became friends also. Nick was from New York and if he drank beer he got terrible headaches. Nick helped us select our first dining room set. We used it for over forty years. I loved it as it had a modern design and was made of maple. It was made in Denmark, I think. Nick said it was well built and on his okay we paid $600 for it. A lot of money for us at that time. Thirty years later when my son bought our home in Decatur that furniture went with the house.
Another teacher, ED Manus and his wife, both from Tennessee, became our fast friends. They had three little girls and our friendship with them was a bit different as their girls dictated their social life. Most often we visited in their home in the evenings when the girls were in bed. We played cards a lot and had many meals at their home. We really had a lot of fun with them and the other couples also.
Those were carefree days in 1951 and 1952. We had not started a family, and living in apartments, no yard to maintain. We had time to explore the area around us and eventually bought a lot across the Chesapeake Bay, with an eye to built there one day. That never happened but we had many happy week-ends on Love Point swimming and enjoying the water. My husband bought a runabout type boat which we sometimes used to reach this property. There was a huge fig tree near the clubhouse and I delighted in the fruit of that tree. The first time I had tasted a fresh fig was in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was intrigued with this fruit. The pink interior, which is actually the bloom, is pollinated by a particular wasp.
By the time we had children, and they were old enough to take out in this boat we would cross the bay and spend the day there. Once on the way home we were in the middle of the bay when a squall came up quite suddenly. It was a scary situation. The wind was very forceful and the rain was pelting down. My husband told me and the children to huddle down in the prow to protect us from the biting rain. He, however was right in the line of fire, and navigated us out of the squall and home safely. Only later did I realize what a dangerous situation we were in.
I was reminded of this trip many years later when I was in a boat with my son-in-law Jim, my daughter and their young son. We had been to see the fire works display at Lake Lanier Islands on the night of July fourth. When we left it was dark and Jim discovered that he did not have running lights on his boat. He had to cross the lake northward and get back to my dock with only the light he could see from the shore line. We made it safely but it was a tense ride.
Many memories come back to me of our time living on the eastern shore of Maryland, but this is enough for mow.
My husband and I came to this new area as he had taken a job teaching in a high school in Salisbury. it was all part of our Five Year Plan. We decided early on to work, save money, for him go to graduate school, then in five years time we would start our family. Being on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was almost culture shock, in a positive way. We had left family and friends and gone into the unknown.
Our first friends were Phyllis and Russ Cooper. Phyllis worked for the Dept. of Education and invited us, being newcomers to their home, for a duck dinner. Russ was the ultimate outdoorsman. He hunted and fished and we were often treated to wild game dinners. We hit it off as couples and thus began the forming of a nucleus of couples who met and visited and had many happy evenings together.
As we settled into living in the very nice town of Salisbury I found a job teaching a class of three year old children in a Day Care called Tiny Tots. I did not want to sign a contract for a teaching job in the public schools as we had our Five Year Plan to follow. The Nursery was owned by a Mrs. Moore. She was a good business woman and her business thrived. Thinking of those years I remember one little girl who had a phenomenal voice. At Christmas she performed in our little program. She sang "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus". She had a strong clear voice and was right on key. She would have been out on You Tube if it had been available then.
We found an upstairs apartment with the retired Police Chief of Salisbury. This man and his wife had no children and rented out the top floor of their home. She once gave us a large bowl of beef/vegetable soup. It was simply wonderful and I remember it after 50 years,but have never been able to duplicate it. When we learned we would be a family of three we found other lodgings and this couple was quite upset with us for leaving.
We made friends with Bill Conrad, basketball coach at Wicomoco High School, where my husband taught. Every Saturday morning he came over to our apartment and I made oatmeal for him. His wife's name was Georgia and she worked at a bank. She did not like to make oatmeal. Oatmeal was a regular item at our morning table and we looked forward to his visits.
The manual arts teacher, Nick Guilanio and his wife Faye became friends also. Nick was from New York and if he drank beer he got terrible headaches. Nick helped us select our first dining room set. We used it for over forty years. I loved it as it had a modern design and was made of maple. It was made in Denmark, I think. Nick said it was well built and on his okay we paid $600 for it. A lot of money for us at that time. Thirty years later when my son bought our home in Decatur that furniture went with the house.
Another teacher, ED Manus and his wife, both from Tennessee, became our fast friends. They had three little girls and our friendship with them was a bit different as their girls dictated their social life. Most often we visited in their home in the evenings when the girls were in bed. We played cards a lot and had many meals at their home. We really had a lot of fun with them and the other couples also.
Those were carefree days in 1951 and 1952. We had not started a family, and living in apartments, no yard to maintain. We had time to explore the area around us and eventually bought a lot across the Chesapeake Bay, with an eye to built there one day. That never happened but we had many happy week-ends on Love Point swimming and enjoying the water. My husband bought a runabout type boat which we sometimes used to reach this property. There was a huge fig tree near the clubhouse and I delighted in the fruit of that tree. The first time I had tasted a fresh fig was in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was intrigued with this fruit. The pink interior, which is actually the bloom, is pollinated by a particular wasp.
By the time we had children, and they were old enough to take out in this boat we would cross the bay and spend the day there. Once on the way home we were in the middle of the bay when a squall came up quite suddenly. It was a scary situation. The wind was very forceful and the rain was pelting down. My husband told me and the children to huddle down in the prow to protect us from the biting rain. He, however was right in the line of fire, and navigated us out of the squall and home safely. Only later did I realize what a dangerous situation we were in.
I was reminded of this trip many years later when I was in a boat with my son-in-law Jim, my daughter and their young son. We had been to see the fire works display at Lake Lanier Islands on the night of July fourth. When we left it was dark and Jim discovered that he did not have running lights on his boat. He had to cross the lake northward and get back to my dock with only the light he could see from the shore line. We made it safely but it was a tense ride.
Many memories come back to me of our time living on the eastern shore of Maryland, but this is enough for mow.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Mind Tricks
I am always amazed by the way the mind works, by how we can be transported into the past by a smell, an action or a thought. Recently I was driving into our nearest town and when I turned on the heat, the change in temperature caused me to cough. Then I went back in time to 1957 when our young family lived in Baltimore, Md.
My husband worked in a research lab where he was working with different chemicals and colors. The mission was to develop a technique for glazing a concrete block for a decorative appearance. You can go into any school and many buildings and see these blocks on the interior walls.
When my husband returned home after a days work his clothing held a pungent odor. He probably should have been wearing a uniform so that he could change clothing before leaving for home. His clothing had to be isolated to prevent all of our clothing from taking on this odor caused by the styrene used in his experiments.
Thinking of this time in our lives reminds me of many happy normal family incidents.
One of those involved some refugees from Hungary. These young men had left their country because of political unrest. There were several of them and they lived in our building. They all had motorcycles and they parked them in front of our building. When I passed by these motorcycles with my year old son in my arms, he would fairly leap from my arms trying to get to them. My daughter who was around four at the time, passed by without any notice at all !
She was however most interested in the books which our neighbors had. The matriarch of the family was from France and every July 14th she reminded us all that it was Bastille Day. Her name was Mrs. Napoli and her adult daughter lived with her. Her daughter worked as an air traffic controller. I well remember her speaking of the stress she experienced at her work. She had collected a set of books from her childhood, which my daughter loved. The central characters were twins and each book told about the twins living in a different country. These books were given to my daughter and she loved them. My daughter remembers them too, but alas over the years they have disappeared.
We were well known in our neighborhood as every few days my daughter would "go missing" and I would alert the neighbors Bonnie had run away. Everyone would get out and help look for her. She was three years old and would leave when I was occupied taking care of the new baby. At least on one occasion she left the apartment complex where we lived and traveled across a four lane highway. A construction crew saw her and concluded correctly that she had come from our apartments. She was returned intact by the supervisor of the project she had traveled so far to see. We were fortunate indeed that she was always found soon and unharmed.
There were many families there with plenty of children going all over so we very often had several in our home to play. I never minded for I was at ease when I knew that my two were indoors and playing happily where I could supervise.
During our time there Asian Flu was rampant. We were spared but one of our neighbors, a man, his wife and young child, all were terribly ill at the same time. No one dared enter their home but the neighbors took food and left it at their door. I do not know how we avoided having the flu as it was all around us and generally all over the country.
We had joined the near by Presbyterian Church and I taught a preschool class and had my three year old daughter in my class. On one of our family outing I had found a crysallis on a milkweek plant. I brought it home and my husband made a "home" for it where it could be observed. I knew very little about such things at that time and I took it to my class to share one of nature's fascinating occurances. I told the children that next year a butterfly would emerge. Thankfully our pastor, Tom Allen corrected me. He said it would emerge in about two weeks. And of course he was right. We were able to see this beautiful Monarch butterfly come forth with dampened wings, dry itself and prepare to fly away. I hope the children remember this incident with awe and wonder as do I.
Picnics were a common thing for us, no matter what time of year. We once had one picnic in a park on the Potomac River with our warm coats and hats on. On other picnics we would find blackberries and pick them. At one park we had our picnic and all of us went for a short walk, as we walked we remembered that I had put a chocolate pie in our basket and when we returned to our table we could have that reward. When we returned we were in for a surprise. Our pie was gone. The children thought perhaps Yogi Bear had found it. Whoever took it had a fine feast I am sure. Our spirits were bruised but not damaged. I knew it was an excellent pie and could make many more.
I am so thankful that, though I do forget where I put things sometimes, my mind can still travel back and relive some very happy times when our children were young and we all enjoyed each other to the fullest.
My husband worked in a research lab where he was working with different chemicals and colors. The mission was to develop a technique for glazing a concrete block for a decorative appearance. You can go into any school and many buildings and see these blocks on the interior walls.
When my husband returned home after a days work his clothing held a pungent odor. He probably should have been wearing a uniform so that he could change clothing before leaving for home. His clothing had to be isolated to prevent all of our clothing from taking on this odor caused by the styrene used in his experiments.
Thinking of this time in our lives reminds me of many happy normal family incidents.
One of those involved some refugees from Hungary. These young men had left their country because of political unrest. There were several of them and they lived in our building. They all had motorcycles and they parked them in front of our building. When I passed by these motorcycles with my year old son in my arms, he would fairly leap from my arms trying to get to them. My daughter who was around four at the time, passed by without any notice at all !
She was however most interested in the books which our neighbors had. The matriarch of the family was from France and every July 14th she reminded us all that it was Bastille Day. Her name was Mrs. Napoli and her adult daughter lived with her. Her daughter worked as an air traffic controller. I well remember her speaking of the stress she experienced at her work. She had collected a set of books from her childhood, which my daughter loved. The central characters were twins and each book told about the twins living in a different country. These books were given to my daughter and she loved them. My daughter remembers them too, but alas over the years they have disappeared.
We were well known in our neighborhood as every few days my daughter would "go missing" and I would alert the neighbors Bonnie had run away. Everyone would get out and help look for her. She was three years old and would leave when I was occupied taking care of the new baby. At least on one occasion she left the apartment complex where we lived and traveled across a four lane highway. A construction crew saw her and concluded correctly that she had come from our apartments. She was returned intact by the supervisor of the project she had traveled so far to see. We were fortunate indeed that she was always found soon and unharmed.
There were many families there with plenty of children going all over so we very often had several in our home to play. I never minded for I was at ease when I knew that my two were indoors and playing happily where I could supervise.
During our time there Asian Flu was rampant. We were spared but one of our neighbors, a man, his wife and young child, all were terribly ill at the same time. No one dared enter their home but the neighbors took food and left it at their door. I do not know how we avoided having the flu as it was all around us and generally all over the country.
We had joined the near by Presbyterian Church and I taught a preschool class and had my three year old daughter in my class. On one of our family outing I had found a crysallis on a milkweek plant. I brought it home and my husband made a "home" for it where it could be observed. I knew very little about such things at that time and I took it to my class to share one of nature's fascinating occurances. I told the children that next year a butterfly would emerge. Thankfully our pastor, Tom Allen corrected me. He said it would emerge in about two weeks. And of course he was right. We were able to see this beautiful Monarch butterfly come forth with dampened wings, dry itself and prepare to fly away. I hope the children remember this incident with awe and wonder as do I.
Picnics were a common thing for us, no matter what time of year. We once had one picnic in a park on the Potomac River with our warm coats and hats on. On other picnics we would find blackberries and pick them. At one park we had our picnic and all of us went for a short walk, as we walked we remembered that I had put a chocolate pie in our basket and when we returned to our table we could have that reward. When we returned we were in for a surprise. Our pie was gone. The children thought perhaps Yogi Bear had found it. Whoever took it had a fine feast I am sure. Our spirits were bruised but not damaged. I knew it was an excellent pie and could make many more.
I am so thankful that, though I do forget where I put things sometimes, my mind can still travel back and relive some very happy times when our children were young and we all enjoyed each other to the fullest.
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