I'm Tired Of Looking At A Weather Update...

So I thought I'd play catch up.

Yours truly and the baby brother. This was taken in the master bedroom of the home that we were raised in. Bennett would have been about 3 and I would have been about 6.

Continuing on...








This photo was taken after we got home from a trip to California to visit relatives in Santa Monica. We also went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco... check the hat.

This was, I believe, in the summer of 1955. I would have been 10 and Bennett would have been 7.

Moving right along...














This picture was taken later in the summer after we had gotten back from our California trip.

We were at Turner Falls, outside Davis, Oklahoma, a place we have enjoyed a number of times over the years.













This picture was taken on our birthday, yes both our birthdays, in 1960.

If you don't remember or missed the posts where I've talked about it, my baby brother was born on my third birthday, a Friday the 13th. I've teased him that it took me years to decide that the 13th was good luck.

As you can see from this picture, for a lot of years momma made our birthday cakes... in the shape of hearts because we were born on the day before Valentine's Day, me in 1945 and Bennett in 1948.

Our friends, Ronnie Friend and Selene Main, and two of our nephews and a niece were there to enjoy the cake with us. We have tried over the years to celebrate our birthday together but this year it didn't happen. The weather was bad a few days before and I was not comfortable to make a quick trip.
Bennett only had a couple of days off from work and he has been working a lot of extra time and I felt he would be better served relaxing and not worrying about entertaining me on a short break. So we will enjoy playing catch up on our birthday on a later trip but I wanted you all to know what has been happening the last couple of weeks.

Celebrating my non-birthday birthday because I didn't feel like having a birthday this year. We did go out to my choice of restaurants for dinner... bar-b-que, mmmm good and Carol cooked my request for a birthday cake, chocolate pound cake. My sister and her SIL and BIL came up from Texas on Monday to go check on another brother-in-law that is in the hospital and she bought my lunch at an old hamburger joint in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and we went from lunch up to Cuz's place in the country to visit with our cuz Carol and our brother Walter. We had a really good visit and Walter had cooked a ham and fixed soul sweet potatoes, Spanish green beans, home made bread and a rum cake for our supper and my late non-birthday supper. I was so full from eating everything that I didn't even have room for a piece of the rum cake.

So next year I'll get back to celebrating birthdays but this year the birthday didn't excite me so I decided that I'm old enough to decide whether to have a birthday or not and this past year hasn't been the most wonderful of my life so a non-birthday was my choice and it turned out pretty darn good.

Soon I'll be able to start digging in the dirt and that is always the way to soothe the savage beast in me. Thanks for hanging in with me. It's got to get better!

Good Golly Miss

Molly!

Meet the newest addition to my Baby Bro and S.I.L.’s household.  Molly is 3 months old and is the new dog in the cathouse.  Fortunately she was brought up around cats and leaves the cats alone except for trying to get one of the three of them to play with her.

And just what is it about a dog’s paw that is so fascinating?  Perhaps the Frito smell that they all seem to have or it could be just the wonderful mixture of textures.  I don’t have a clue, I just think they are wonderful mixture of  utility and beauty.  Oh, well… You all know I’m a little strange by now and this is one of the odd things I find very appealing.

I’m in Fort Worth at Ben and Diane’s.  My youngest sib and his wife.  Ben traditionally works on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day to give other doctors who might have family to visit that require travel an extra day off.  Since both of our parents and both of Diane’s parents are gone Ben and Diane do Thanksgiving usually on the Saturday after.  That way their kids can feel comfortable about visiting their spouse’s family and be able to give thanks for all of our blessings and share a meal with whomever can get here to visit.   In other words, we are blessed with more than one Thanksgiving repast.

Speaking of which…

The cooks did a wonderful job at our house…

Jeff is practicing and loosening up his jaw muscles for the feast.  No, actually he was getting the dressing out of the stove for his mom and touched his finger to something hot and I just happened to be taking pictures at the time and I got this photo.  He will probably kill me for it but if he gives me grief I’ll tell him I’m going to post it on FaceBook if he messes with me, the ‘Other Mother’, too much.

. Carol and our friend Datha… both are wonderful cooks.  I asked Datha to come and play at our house for Thanksgiving and then to pup sit my girls so I can make the quick run to Ft. Worth for the weekend.

Carol’s sister baked the turkey and a turkey breast because the turkey Carol got was smaller than usual and she wanted to make sure that all of us white meat eaters had plenty to eat.

Now that’s a beautiful bird and it was so moist.  I have to give credit where credit is due. 

Dressing… I’m not a big fan of dressing but thought I’d share what was on the menu with you all.

  Soul sweet potatoes.  This is probably my second favorite of the holiday dishes that Carol makes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Oh, boy, this stuff is good and I don’t even care for sweet potatoes except for this and sweet potato pie.

Spanish green beans…  Tomatoes, onion, bacon, green beans and a bit of cayenne to give it some ‘hello mama’ kick. We also had mashed potatoes and my favorite, giblet gravy but I didn’t take pictures of that.  I swear I could put it in a cup and drink it if I had the chance.  Our friend Scotty also brought over 2 pecan pies, a pumpkin pie and a black walnut pie.

Jeff and the girls.  One for each hand.  I love this young man. He is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a child and he is delightful.  Grumpy, very talented, dry wit with a hint (or more) of sarcasm but he is a good guy and very helpful to his mom and his ‘other mother’.  This is the bunch of us that shared in our wonderful dinner. L-R-Yours truly, Carol, Jeff, Datha and Carol’s sister Nancy behind her and Scotty and the four-legged one is SueSue making sure there was no turkeys other than us on the floor.

I’ll try to get photos to share with you all on my second Thanksgiving, tomorrow… well, actually today since it is four in the morning and I’m having trouble sleeping but that’s another story for another day.  I’m going to turn off the light and try to get a little sleep before helping get the food going for one o’clock lunch.

Same Song, Second Verse…

Here we go again… second day of play!  There was volleyball going on…

Steve (the dad and husband of Nancy Lu)  and David (my sister’s son, my nephew)were taking on Chris and Jeremy (not in these photos) Steve and Nancy’s boys, my great nephews in more ways than one.

  After each game into the pool to cool off and water to rehydrate and get ready for whomever else calls out to take on the winners.  David was a definite plus for anyone that played with him because he is one tall young man.

Melanie, Nancy and Steve’s daughter, talking to her husband Dave there in the corner, her #2 son and her nephew are getting ready to go into the pool.

Melanie is reaching for her nephew, Kaeden, to help him into the pool. There are very strict rules that no one goes into the pool without an adult outside with them and, amazingly, all the kids understand that rule.  When Kaeden goes in by himself, without someone helping him, he always gets in his ring and along with his floaties on.  All of the little ones that don’t yet swim well are limited to the shallow end of the pool unless they are with an adult and all have their floaties on their arms, even in the shallow end. 

Grandma to most of the little ones, my niece.  Her kids are some of my greats and her grandchildren are my great-greats. Lord, that makes me feel old.  I diapered most of the people that you’ve seen in these photos of the last couple of days.

Not bad for being a grandma!  Nancy has always loved having a pool to play in since she was little.  This is her first in-ground pool and thankfully it’s a big one because three of her five children have children and Jeremy’s fiancé has a daughter that we all consider his.  Her and Steve’s fifth child is adopted and is only four so it will be a while before Melissa adds to the grandchild brood.

Melissa with Steve… one tired little girl having some lunch before her nap time.  This child loves tomatoes more than any child I’ve ever known.

Jeremy, come home again as soon as possible… we all have missed you and I enjoyed getting to meet Heather and Haylee.  What a wonderful addition to our family and what a great reason for us all to be together for some summer fun and catching up with each other.  There may not be a beach in Oklahoma but there sure are a mess of family that loves you all.

The Finished Job…

My baby brother sent me these photos… He came in from his shift at Fast Track at the hospital where he works about 11 p.m. on last Wednesday night, heard the ruckus and knew what was happening.   He managed to snap a shot of yours truly doing one of the things I most love to do… DEMOLITION.   I had my hammer drill with the chisel bit and I was gettin’ it done.  He knows how much I love my power tools.  And while a lot of times when I’m really concentrating on what I’m doing I might stick my tongue out of the corner of my mouth,  ala Michael Jordan, I do NOT do it when using my hammer drill because the dust is gritty and tastes nasty.  Anyway, after he did the caulking around the firebox he was kind enough to send me a photo of the finished project.

By the way… that is mostly my t-shirt hanging down, not my belly… 

But here is the finished project and it was done and dry for them to entertain probably about 30 family members for Thanksgiving today.

And they were thankful for so very many things, but one of them I know for sure is that I ran down and helped bust out the old tile that they had been wanting to change out for several years and then helping get it all back together in time for Thanksgiving.

And it’s good to know that there are folks in this world that are thankful for me… at least once in a while.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with many blessings.  I know that despite everything else in my life I have many more blessings than woes and all of you that stop by and visit and have become my friends through this blogging world are right up there after my family, and once in a while, before them…

This One's For You, Cuz...

These three sisters... these three friends...

The relationships between them was probably the closest relationships I ever saw growing up. Aunt Pauline, Aunt Mack (Maxine) and mom, Mary Lou, (in that order in the first photo), were so very close. I don't ever recall anything but laughter and lots of talking when these three got together.

It didn't happen nearly as often as they would have liked, because Aunt Paul and her husband and two children lived in Santa Monica, California. Aunt Mack and her family lived in Okla. City like our family.

So many times when we were growing up we were out in the 'country' (south OKC on a small acreage) at Aunt Mack and Uncle Bud's place, playing with our cousins and learning about 'country' ways.

Slopping the hogs was just that. I don't know what all was in those buckets, but it looked like slop and in the deep summer time it smelled like slop. I learned how you milked a cow. I always loved to watch my uncle milk because they had barn cats around and he could squirt that milk right into those cat's mouths.

I helped pick corn and tomatoes, snap and hull black-eyed peas and green beans. And if mom and Aunt Mack were tired of us they'd shoo us outside to play. When Aunt Pauline would come to visit, mostly it was just that... visiting. Time shared was so precious to all the sisters that they would talk for hours on end, all help in fixing up whatever meal it was time for, all help in cleaning up after the meal, then it was more visiting time.

My family would go to California every two or three years to visit Aunt Pauline and Uncle Benny and our cousins Bonnie and Mike. I always looked forward to those trips because seeing new places and going to the beach.

On those trips we saw the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Yosemite, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park and other places I've forgotten.

But the best part was the family getting together to re-connect, to talk and catch up on what was going on in our various lives.

This photo is the only one I know of that has all the children of the three sisters together. You've seen my cousin Bonnie, she of the beautiful curls, my baby brother Bennett, being held in place by my sister Sue, and me on the right. Our cousin Carol is next to Sue, my middle brother Walter, cousin Ray Lynn and Cousin Mike. On the back row from the left, is our cousin Nancy Gale, my oldest brother Bill and my oldest sister Lou Ann. This photo was taken approximately in the summer of 1951.

I get to see my cousin Carol mostly, because she lives the closest, but every 10 or 15 years I get to see Bonnie when she comes to visit in Oklahoma and just last week I got to visit with both Carol and Nancy Gale when I met with them for dinner and to watch Nancy's granddaughter play in a basketball game in Shawnee.

And the reason that this one is for my Cuz... We were talking about the old photos and I promised her when I found the one of all of us kids, I'd post it so she could see it and print it off if she wanted.

What better thing is there to do but share with family.... and with friends.

Anybody Thirsty?

Staci, over at The Bliss Of It All, gave me the Lemonade Award, for attitude and/or gratitude. I'd like to think I have all of it, although some folks around here would say that some days they don't appreciate my attitude...

However I do know that I have all my life tried to be grateful for everything that has come my way. I've basically had pretty good health, even with the fibro, I have great siblings and I have had and still have some pretty wonderful friends, even back to school days. I love to go outside and feel the wind on my face, the dirt under my fingernails, even the rain on my head. I might gripe at one point and the next turn around and say how wonderful the day, weather, dinner, movie, whatever is...

When I get hit with the joy of living, I just have to share it. Please don't get me wrong, I'm no PollyAnna, but dang, it's good to be alive! Especially now when the days are getting longer, more sunshine, and I'm taking a break from working out in the garden, cleaning up getting ready for the fellow that's coming tomorrow to turn up the garden for us. Can anyone tell that I'm seasonally effected?

Okay, here's the Lemonade Stand Instructions:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. 2. Nominate at least 8 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude. 3. Link to your nominees within your post. 4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. 5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award. So here goes...

My Random Insanities

My New Thing To Do

Adopting M.E.

Twisted Fencepost

From Here To Anxiety...My Lapband Journey

Life Just Keps Getting Weirder

Blind Pig And The Acorn

Gingerjar

All of these folks, for one reason or another exemplify the attitude/gratitude aspect of this award. I enjoy reading each and every one and I can say that I think all of you would find them fun to read.

So, Staci, thank you for feeling inclined to send this award my way. I'm very thankful for you and all my blogging friends out in this wonderful world.

Well, There's More To Add...

I don't know if you remember me writing a post about losing my a... or not, but now, obviously from the photo, there's more. It seems I'm also shiftless. My poor laptop is slowly but surely going to pieces.


The best thing about it is that it is my laptop going to pieces, not me. If I had realized how, in times of stress, pain, heartache, loss, and in good times, joyous moments and feeling great times, sharing my life is so cathartic I would have started blogging a long time ago.


Of course I am beating my laptop to death with all the blogging, reading other blogs and leaving messages, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (from one of my all time favorite movies), but I think that is a small price to pay for the peace of mind from just putting myself and my thoughts for the world (or not) to read and contemplate (or not).

It isn't so much that I think my thoughts are so all-fired important to the masses, it is more like I like to throw it out there and see what comes back to me. So far I have had wonderful things come back to me, such as my Red Dirt Woman doodle (thank you Rick), friendships all around the country and even another continent (thank you Nola). I've enjoyed reading and posting on other people's sites, some of which are right here in my own backyard, in a manner of speaking (thank you Lisa J.) others I come to find by my love of critters such as dogs (thanks, Hallie), horses, and family (thank you, Ree) and so many others.

I guess I'm finding (in my older age) that the world is such a wonderfully diverse place that even if I live to be one hundred, which is not entirely unthinkable thanks to my gene pool, I will never, ever tire of exploring all the places I'd like to go and meeting all the wonderful people I'd like to meet. Of course if I live to be one hundred I probably won't remember them all, but I would enjoy meeting them at the time.

I think that is well worth being a shiftless old woman that's lost her a..., don't you?

Re-Tired-Ment...

Yes, I know it's spelled wrong, but it fits for me this week... We have had company since Saturday and they will be here a couple more days and while these friends don't require entertainment, one does need to consider things like food, sleeping arrangements, clean towels, clean dishes... you see where this is going. And although I love my friends like family, it goes back to the old saw, after a few days visiting family and fish start to smell. I gave up my kingsized bed, because, like a lot of folks, we don't have a guest bedroom. I've been sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor of the living room with dog beds next to me on either side. When I wake up in the morning to let the fur babies out, instead of going back to bed as I sometimes, well, often times do, I have to get up and fold up the bedclothes and move the mattress out of the way so people can get out the front door to go places and do things... So I'm trying real hard to not be grumpy, to be a delightful and witty host-person, and all the while I'm thinking I just want to go back to bed in my own bed. But it's just until Thursday (or Friday) and then I can crash out for a day or three. It seems like to the best of my memory when we had company at home when we were growing up mom was never tired, dad was always witty and in a good mood and us kids didn't give a shit because we got to sleep on the feather mattress on the floor. We always could go outside to play and our routines were never really interrupted so it didn't really faze us. What I want to understand is how my mom did it without wanting to behead people...

I've always thought that when I got old enough to retire that I'd be ready for a laid back life and be able to do things around the house like I've wanted to for years, such as art work and jewelry making. It seems like I'm so damn tired from just having extra people around that I haven't done anything that I've wanted to do for just the past four days. I don't think I do very well with longer visits, and it will certainly make me re-think how long I stay when I go visiting. In the meantime, please excuse any growling noises you hear coming out of your computer while reading this... Come Friday it will be all better.