July 19th, 2010
Today in the comic strips Janis was fanning herself with a fan given out by a politician and it awakened a memory for me.
When I was a girl, we had fans like those in church in the summer. A light cardboard rectangle stapled to an over size tongue depressor kind of stick made a sturdy little fan. The local funeral homes would give out these fans to churches. They were printed with serene garden pictures and, of course, also imprinted with the name of the funeral establishment. The fans were lodged in the hymnal rack, along with the hymn books, —several to each pew. They provided a way for us to move the air around us and feel a little cooler as we sat in the over warm building in the heat of summer.
I haven’t thought about those fans for years. They were a common fixture every summer. Some women carried pretty, folding fans in their purses and they would really intrigue me. Made of many long straight spines, they would stack to make one long, narrow strip, then snap open into a semicircle to make a decorative yet functional fan.
Today we have the overhead fans going and we bring in standing, electric fans to keep the air moving. And if we live in an area where summer heat is a constant, there is air conditioning. What a wonderful invention that has been!
But today, I’m remembering the paper fans, stapled to a strip of wood, which helped us feel a little cooler during church services in the heat of summers long ago.
Tags: church services, hot weather, paper fans, summer
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June 28th, 2010
A walk through the tall grass
We went into Crawford County to find a geocache. I have enjoyed the hunt for a geocache and I like to go when I am invited. These searches take me to unusual and interesting places.
This hunt took us through this trail that wound through grasses that were almost as tall as I am, –past my shoulders and almost to my eyes.
We found several more geocaches that day and I got some good exercise while we walked to the sites.
I confess that for me a highlight of the day was the noon meal when we discovered a little store named Ice Cream Cottage. It had such an enticing name. We decided to stop and try their wares.
We got a kielbasa sub and a taco salad (with two forks, because it was so big that it was enough for two people and then some!). We had their ice cream for dessert and it was very satisfying. We ordered their version of a chocolate covered cherry blizzaard. It was more like an ice cream sundae but that was okay. It was really good.
I wish the Ice Cream Cottage was closer to where I live. I really liked eating there.
Tags: geocache lunch field grass
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June 19th, 2010
I went shopping this afternoon, for groceries. I have been housebound for going on a month now while I tend Rusty who is recovering from surgery. He’s almost well now and a friend watched him for me while I got some groceries.
When I was toting my grocery bags into the house, I started to remember when I was a checkout clerk at the Grand Union when I was in college. Today my purchases were placed in a lot of nearly empty plastic bags. When I was a clerk, we had to neatly pack the groceries into large brown paper bags. A grocery clerk back then had to learn how to pack things neatly and efficiently with heavy things on the bottom and perishable things on top. Today a person can grab the handles of the plastic bags and carry many of them into the house at once. Back then, a person with four or five bags of groceries made more than one trip to unload the car.
But that wasn’t all that is different. Another thing, we had to have the groceries unloaded from the store cart, and lined up neatly on the counter. Then we would start at one end and touching each item with one hand, we would punch in the price on the cash register with the other hand. A really good clerk was aware of the price of each item and any changes that would be made daily.
In New York, where I worked, we were not allowed to give savings stamps for the price of milk or beer. Remember Green Stamps? Haven’t seen them for years. This policy sometimes made it possible for wily customers to get away without paying for their heavy packs of beer. They would put it on the bottom of the grocery cart, since it was so heavy and we would deal with the other purchases, saving the beer to last. And then once in a while, the check out clerk would forget the beer and the customer didn’t pay for it.
Being a check out clerk was a demanding job. It probably still is, but scanning prices and plastic bags must make it easier for clerks today.
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June 13th, 2010
These flowers, daisies and golden globes, have volunteered to grow at the edge of my driveway. There are buttercups with them, too, but I don’t think they show in the picture.
I like the way the yellows are so bright and cheerful and they make a drab area bright with beauty.
Tags: flowers, sunny yellow, volunteers
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June 9th, 2010
Remembering my dad.
This morning I was thinking about breakfast and what I’d like to eat instead of cold cereal and suddenly remembered that when I was a child, one of my dad’s favorite snack foods was bread and sugar and milk. He would tear bread into bite sized pieces, drop them into a bowl, pour on milk and sprinkle with sugar. It seems to me that he enjoyed this rather often. Usually I wasn’t tempted to have that but I did try it–but not this morning. It did taste surprisingly good, but it seemed to me to be a “Dad” thing, not for me.
Dad also liked coffee soup, which was similar to bread and milk but now with coffee. Dad liked coffee a LOT. If his coffee was too hot, sometimes he would tip a little into his saucer and sip it from the saucer. Then came the hype about coffee being in disfavor and Dad deprived himself of coffee in favor of protecting his health.
Dad liked succotash, another thing that I didn’t care for. Succotash is something that I haven’t heard mentioned for years. It’s lima beans and corn cooked and served together as one dish. He was very fond of lima beans.
And pie! Dad was especially fond of pie. He had his favorite jokes about pie. “I only like two kinds of pie,” he would say, and then playfully add, “hot and cold.” “I only turned down pie once,” he often said. “I didn’t really hear what they said that time.”
Dad had a very good appetite and he still enjoyed meals even during times of illness. We often joked in our family that we would know that Dad was really sick when he turned down food. I remember when that day came and it was no longer a joke. He was offered a cream puff, something he would have really enjoyed as a wonderful treat. I knew that he was really failing when he said he couldn’t eat the cream puff. He died about a month later.
He had lived to be 89, and had a full, rich life. He enjoyed life, –as he enjoyed his favorite foods. He used self control when eating, and lived life cautiously while enjoying the ordinary good things of every day.
Bread and milk and sugar–one of life’s simple pleasures for Dad.
Tags: Dad memories coffee foods favorites succotash life
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June 6th, 2010
Rusty walks a friend around a pond.
Last fall we went to Charlotte for a week with family. Each day we took walks. In this picture, Rusty is walking with a family member around the pond. We all enjoyed this walk and tried to walk there daily.
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June 5th, 2010
This sign greets you at the entrance of the Garden
This is another view of the Hospice Garden of Life. Hospice uses the butterfly symbol and the artist has put a beautiful butterfly into the welcome sign. The Garden is starting to come to life again this season. We planted geraniums and wax begonias last week. On Monday we will complete the mulching. That’s a task that takes a lot of effort but it does keep the weeds down and adds beauty to the Garden.
Tags: garden butterfly Hospice flowers plants
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June 1st, 2010
I’ve been very busy lately. I keep meaning to update my blog but days pass without me taking time to do it.
Now I’m dealing with Rusty’s medical problem. He had surgery to remove the tumor that we discovered just before Easter. Now he needs constant watching so he won’t rip the stitches out. I have to keep him very close to me.
I have most of my planting done now. I still have lots of weeds to pull. Things are looking good to me. I feel pleased when I go outdoors and see my growing things.
We have been getting the Garden of Life at the hospital ready for summer enjoyment.
Hospice Garden of Life
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March 17th, 2010
My mom as she was years ago.
I’ve been reading my mom’s letters to me, –letters she wrote in 1972. Mom and I wrote to each other often in those days. Letters were so much less expensive than phone calls. Long distance charges added up to a lot and letters were very economical. I am glad that I kept her letters and this year I am making a project of reading through my collection of them.
This morning I read, “I’m planning on making some pies for Daddy. I don’t mind it once I get started but I hate to get started.” (Mom was 59 in 1972)
How much I can identify with that statement! There are many things that I really hate to get started but once I start I don’t really mind the task after all. Why don’t I remember this, as my mom did, before I get started, when I’m just thinking how much I really don’t want to do this task today?
I really do identify with my mom this morning and I appreciate the many times she pushed herself to do the things she would rather put off. She knew that in the long run, she would end up enjoying the work, and she would be pleased with her results.
My mom often was a good example to me. Thanks, Mom!
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February 27th, 2010
In the book, Victories in the Valleys of Life, by Charles Allen, he shares this poem by an unknown author.
I’ve dreamed many dreams that never came true.
I’ve seen them vanish at dawn.
But I’ve realized enough of my dreams, thank God,
To make me want to dream on.
I’ve prayed many prayers when no answer came
When my hopes and my faith were almost gone,
But answers have come to enough of my prayers
To make me keep praying on.
I’ve trusted many a friend that failed
And left me to weep alone,
But I’ve found enough of my friends true blue
To make me keep trusting on.
I’ve sown many seeds that fell by the way
For the birds to feed upon
But I’ve held enough golden sheaves in my hand,
To make me keep sowing on,
I’ve drained the cup of disappointment and pain,
IU’ve gone many days without a song.
But I’ve sipped enough nectar from the roses of life
To make me want to live on.
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