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I was in a store yesterday evening getting some things we needed bread being the main thing I was a little tiffed because Don waited till I got home from Church before he told me we needed bread. “Why didn't you tell me sooner?” And he starts this condescending tone that ruffles my feathers fast and says “Now how was I going to tell you when you were not here”. Oh good grief I do have a cell phone with me at all times. It wouldn't have rang in Church but a simple message would have cause me a lot less hassle. I just let that go and headed back out in the hot day. I thought to myself that I'd just take my time and look around since it was a Dollar General and has everything. It being a holiday weekend there weren't many stirring. Just me and two others in the store. I wandered around a spell, got bread and a bunch of other stuff, and sauntered on up to the check out. Now there were only three shoppers in the store and one check out girl. Shouldn't be a problem. RIGHT? Well heck all three of us decided to leave at the same time. I was second in line, with a man behind me, and a lady in front of me. I started smelling a stinch. Now I had already observed that the man had been out working in the hot day and he was dirty and sweaty so I tried to just hold my breath. I mean, after all the poor feller couldn't help sweating and that stinks after a while. I can't really blame the poor guy for that. But when I heard a loud succession of “Flop Flop, Flop, Flooop and a big sigh from the guy I knew that warn't no sweat stinch. Heck fire that guy was ______ Well you know. I was thinking ,Oh hurry little girl and get us checked out of here.
The lady in front of me looked back at me. I thought Oh My Gosh, that woman thinks I did That!!! How in the heck do I convince her otherwise. I used my eyes to let her know the man behind me was the culprit not me. Then out of the deep dark recesses of my warped mind the words of that Alka-Seltzer jingle came up in my mind and I said “Plop Plop Fizz Fizz Oh what a relief it is."OH good lord Why in the world did I say that. Oh My, What if he follows me out of the store and throttles me?
The Lady in front of me looked back again and the look on her face set me off in a giggle fit. She was checked out and she took off like all the demons in hell were after her. I had several things in my cart I told the check out girl I was sorry (Or some such thing) and put my stuff up there. She seemed to hurry. Probably was afraid I was going to get us all in trouble because I could see she was trying to hide a full blown smile.
I never looked back but I almost ran out of there with my purchases and left the store as fast as I could. I mean this ol' gal got out of Dodge. Yep!
Tags: Milk Stink Shopping
It's a dreary and chilly day but so many signs of Spring are around me. Oh how fresh and clean is Spring.
First thing I notice as I venture outside was these tiny little star shaped purple flowers popping up everywhere. Daddy called em' johnny jump ups. I don't know the name and I suspect they are weeds but they will forever be Johnny jump ups to me. Then on a cold morning like today someone has their fireplace going. I dearly love to smell the smoke drifting up in the air and mingling with a fresh green smell of wet grass.
The little Finches that were brown and drab in the winter are too brightening up their feathers with yellow and red. Then there is a Red Breasted Robin strutting around looking for the perfect ground where he might fetch a big fat earth worm. I thought well little Robin I doubt you are going to find a worm this morning in fact I think you might be here too soon because it's still cold. But heck fire that little bird was smarter than me because all at once he bobbed his head down and came up with a worm for his breakfast. Good for you little one.
I have bird feeders hanging by my window so I can watch them eat and this morning there is a beautiful Cardinal sitting there in all its glory as the sun shines down on him and makes his red feathers glow. He calls prit-te prit-te prit-te. My Grandma told me once, "Listen Clydene, he's telling you that you are pretty." If you have never listened closely to the Cardinals call you should. Let him tell you how pretty you are. It will brighten your day.
Easter Lilies popping up out of the cold ground. They reach up for the sun to help them grow. When the bright yellow flowers start popping open it reminds me of sunshine. Nothing prettier that the first Easter Lilies.
I have a Fire Bush that is starting to have little red blooms all over it. Soon it will burst forth with the fiery red color that gives it its name. On the other side there is a Forsythia bush that has been spurting out those bright yellow flowers for several weeks now, only to be plucked off by the icy fingers of the still gripping winter winds. That bush has finally burst forth with the color of sunshine so bright it almost hurts your eyes.
I scratched around in my Wishing Well planter and sure enough the little green spurts of Rose Moss is trying its best to get through the hard soil. I covered them back up and another day when I look again I'll be able to remove the cover and they will spring up seems all at once with the many colors of a rainbow. They will grow and grow till they hang down the sides and look like a huge colorful bouquet.
Trees are budding, flowers are popping, birds are chirping, and it all just shouts "Springtime is Springing". Makes a body feel good to know that even though winter is still hanging on tight, it can't stop Spring from coming. Winter you might as well go crawl in your dark dreary hole. I'll be waiting for you when you come back again to give the earth a rest so Spring can once again spring forth out of the resting dormant earth that you have been protecting and nurturing for us. Thank you Winter, I'll miss you, but I'm gonna love the renewal of the earth with Spring. By the way winter, Would you take some of those pesky bugs with you? I'd appreciate it muchly. YEP!! By the way I do love winter but this one has been a mite tiring. I love Spring also but am not looking forward to hot summer. I don't get along with the hot weather at all.
Tags: Flowers Budding Green Robin
Easter is coming up. A wonderful time of the year, akin to Christmas. Jesus was born on Christmas. He was crucified died and buried in a borrowed tomb. He arose from the tomb on Easter.
It should be a beautiful day to my way of thinking but in my part of the world it very seldom is. This is the time of transition from winter to spring. Things are renewing, coming out of dormancy and bursting forward in new growth. One day cold and dreary, next day sunshiny and springlike. Reminds me of a young boy in between childhood and young manhood. One day he has that soft sweet voice of youth. But as he talks his voice will squeak and struggle. One sentence can change from babyish to squeaky, to gruff. He wants that manly voice but he has to struggle while he is transitioning in between. Young ladies have the same transition period as their bodies change and grow.
When I was a child we sometimes had Sunrise services on a hill above our Church on Easter Sunday. It invariably would be cold and cloudy. Maybe even spitting snow or raining.
This one Easter Morning we were up before sunrise getting ready to go. Of course I was grumbling loudly. It was cold and I wanted to stay in bed. Mama had Norman dressed in his cute little suit with a bow tie. I was dawdling and not being cooperative as usual. I think I was about 5or 6 I'm not sure. I had a new yellow Easter dress and white bonnet of some kind with yellow daisies on it. Mama finally got me all beautiful (she said it I didn't) and sent me out to my Daddy while she got dressed. Even at that age I noticed that Daddy and Mama didn't have new Easter clothes. Didn't think much about that then but it is significant now in my memories.
We arrived on the hill above the Church. The men had erected a huge cross and sat it in the ground with concrete. It was on the East side and we stood on the other side to the West. Now all the years I had been there I had not seen the sun rise over the cross. I was cold and wanted to go home. We assembled and had opening Prayer. Mama was holding Norman and I was pushed in close to my Daddy. I had a sweater on but still felt cold. Daddy put both arms around me and his warm hands on my arms were like a heater. I was close to my Daddy and I felt the comfort of his heat. I can almost feel Daddies warm loving hands on my arms now.
The opening Prayer was said and the sermon was ready to begin. Just as the Pastor said Amen and everyone opened their eyes you could hear the audible sighs and Awwws as the Sun came up over that cross. The cross was silhouetted in the early misty dawn of a new day. Indescribable, Awesome, magnificent. No words match that beautiful sight. Neither can any words describe how standing there close to my Daddy, sheltered and warm looking up at Mama's face as she held my baby Brother who looked so handsome in his new suit and bow-tie. That was 65 years ago but still fresh in my mind.
To this day I never see a sunrise that I don't go back to that peaceful sunrise on that little hill above the Church. I get up before dawn every morning now and watch the sunrise. Some mornings there are just clouds and rain but I know the sun is there and it will peek out again soon. And when it does I will do all I can to be there to see it. There is no other hopeful, comfortable feeling that I can imagine that would top it.
Matthew 28: 5-7 …5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."…
Tags: Cross Sunrise
We ate what we grew in the 50's and 60's. Bought flour, meal, sugar, and other staples at a store when needed. Everything was made from scratch and it was all oh so good. Meat, eggs, milk, butter and the like also tasted better than it does now. Chicken was fried in Mamas big iron skillet in hog lard. We ate lots of bacon and eggs and all the salt and grease our hearts desired. Unhealthy? Thats what they say now. Hey! I'm 70 and still here. So if we ate unhealthy then I wish someone would explain to me why I can do, and know how to do so much more than young people today. I'm not talking just about teens either. There are some in their twenties who are the same. What in the heck happened? Well I'm going to try and tell you my view on the matter not that it matters.
All us kids stayed outside all day in the summer. No TVs no phones, no video games, no computer, and not much to play with. We came in and ate what was set before us. Foods had no additives, the animals hadn't been shot full of medicine, fast growing hormones, and vitamins. The meat was just that, meat. No water for extra weight, no coloring, no added fillers to make more, we never had frozen meat even. It was killed then eaten. Fresh and natural. After we ate we ran back outside and played. No plopping in front of some machine, we used the food in our body to build muscles and good stamina.
Then there was the air we breathed. No chemicals in the air, no jet planes, no shuttles going into space to emit all those fumes and gases back down in to our air. On a clear day you could see for miles. Nothing in the air to muck it up.
We didn't need gyms with all kinds of machines, weights, and such to get in shape. We carried buckets of water, baskets of fruit and veggies from the garden. Then we shucked, peeled, snapped, shelled, washed and put in clean jars to be sealed with lids in a pressure cooker. A hog was killed and meat sugar cured for the smoke house, Or in our case the back porch, where it stayed cold and fresh. We played hard and we worked hard. Went to bed at dark and slept good because we were tired.
In the winter we walked to the bus stop and caught the school bus. No one had their car to drive to school. Some had bicycles and rode those. No motor cycles either. We walked where we went. No use for tread mills and daily walks slinging your arms for a mile or two daily. We walked three times that much just being natural. I probably put in several miles a day running back and forth to Brenda's house.
We drank milk, buttermilk, and water. Kool Aide made with real sugar. A coke now and then was a treat. Cakes and pies were also treats and were not always sitting there for us to eat as desired. At Christmas we got fruit and nuts, not a bunch of candy. We ate popcorn for snacks on winter nights. Popped in the iron skillet with butter and salt. No low fat, sugar free, low sodium, tasteless stuff. Hey I still eat that way. I use real butter, real sugar, real salt, real eggs. I make things from scratch. My hubby is a diabetic and he does just fine.
We went barefoot winter and summer. Went outside as much as we wanted but we were seldom sick and snotty all the time like kids are now. We could sluff it off because we had strong systems and healthy bodies.
Don't get me wrong, I love my modern stuff as much as anyone. It is just that my childhood made me stronger and better able now than people much younger than me. I also know that there was sickness then just as now. I just don't remember so much of it. Could be because I was young. Yep could be. I just happen to believe that the more simple times of my childhood were so much more healthy and happy. Thats the way I see it folks! OK?
Tags: Play Food Fresh
I don't like getting my bubble burst in my face but it does happen. Too often it seems. How come you can go along on your merry way and one word, look, or thought can just blind side you?
One day just a few years back I was riding in the back seat of a car which I very seldom do. In fact I will not do if I can help it because I get nauseous. I was dressed to the nines, my face all made up, my hair fixed with not a hair out of place (which is a rare thing). I happened to look in to the mirror on the windshield of the car. Lordee Mercy sakes alive something is wrong with that mirror. Has to be because I definitely don't have all those wrinkles and all that gray hair. Nope, somebody scratched that mirror. YEP! That's what happened by golly. Now guys I was really convinced the mirror was scratched. Enough so that I asked the driver why in the heck was that mirror all scratched up like that. Yep sure did! Of course she informed me the mirror was perfectly OK not a scratch on it. I asked everyone in the car if they could see the scratches. Nope, nary a one saw them.
I was flabbergasted, upset, and completely disillusioned. I absolutely did not realize all those flaws existed till the bright sunshine shone on my face and I looked in to a perfect mirror. It has taken a little bit of getting used to and it really bothered me for a time.
One day I was getting ready to go somewhere and of course I don't go out without looking the best I can. I stopped and thought, well heck fire I'm being stupid. The same person lives behind all those wrinkles, gray hair, and stooped and hurting body. I'm still me at 70 same as I was at 20. I still have dreams, hopes, and thoughts of going to Ireland, Holland, and France just like I had when I was 25. I still have the same heart beating inside me even though it is slowing me down a bit now. I can still love, laugh, and live same as I did as a teen. I'm still me and all these wrinkles are mostly laugh lines. My body is like an antique, old but more valuable now with all the wisdom from years of learning and doing. Hey World! Look out I'm still here. I still have fire in this ol' furnace. YEP!!!!
Tags: Mirror Wrinkles Bubble
Did you ever see a bunch of guinea hens congregating? It is quiet a sight. They will all huddle in a sort of circle and chatter. Daddy said it looked like a bunch of old women in their bonnets, gossiping. Mamma didn't like that much. She said it could just as well be a bunch of old men.
We had some guinea hens once when I was a kid. They were loud but very useful. They caught bugs by the millions and were as good as any watch dog for alarming you to something or someone who shouldn't be there. They would even attack a snake and they usually won the fight. They roosted in one of our big walnut trees at night and if you heard them start chattering you knew something was amiss.
A cousin of ours that came to visit sometimes didn't like our guineas and though they were of a gentle nature around us they flat didn't like Curtis. I'd never seen them attack anyone else so we were never sure why they got him.
One day we were in the front yard playing and Curtis came walking up. He figured he was gonna scare the stuffins out of us. He snuk up behind us and grabbed Norman and put him on his shoulder. Well that is what he intended to do but it didn't quiet work out that way. When he grabbed Norman we all started screaming and here came those guinea hens chattering up a storm. It was a mad chatter. You could tell the difference. They didn't need to get in their huddle and talk it over for this one. Heck no. They attacked! I mean they climbed Curtis. Covered his body. There he stood too stunned to do anything but splutter and look wild. He finally started swatting and fighting which just made the old hens madder than hornets. We thought it was the funniest thing we ever saw and we were giggling. I heard Curtis say, “Get these d----d b-----s off me it aint funny”. Well I was mortified by his language and I was rushing to tell on him for talking that way. Didn't have too though because Daddy, Mamma, and Grandma were standing on the porch. They too were laughing hysterically. Daddy did finally get the guineas off Curtis but they were right on his tail as he ran to get in the house. Mamma was saying “Now y'all this aint giggle giggle a bit funny. Giggle giggle, He could have been giggle giggle hurt bad.”! Grandma was busy examining Curtis and she too was giggling with each breath. Daddy was just flat slapping his knees he was giggling so hard. Don't think he was able to say anything in between. What he did say when everything died down to a soft rumble was, “I told you they were a bunch of old gossiping women”. I don't remember if Curtis got in trouble for his language or not. Years later I brought the incident up to him and had to tell on him again for his bad language. TEE HEE Don't mess with a bunch of old hens, human or fowl! NOPE!!
Tags: Guinea Hens Attack Cousin
Friday nights in the winter was our fudge parties. Brenda and I would be at one house together. Sometimes Mamma and Auntie had to pool their stuff so we'd have what was needed for the fudge.
Now this wasn't the fudge like we all make today. Nope, We didn't know there was any kind but what we made.
We'd assemble our stuff all on the old kitchen table. The recipe was on the Hershey's cocoa box. We used a big skillet to cook it in. Now this was not like the skillets we have today either. It was a skillet that used to be used on wood cook stoves. Had a long handle that did not get hot. The one we had was bent to heck and everything run to the center as you cooked it. I don't know why that particular skillet was used but it always was.
In the skillet went sugar, (three heaps) milk, dash of salt,& some cocoa powder. Now don't turn the burner on yet. First get that big ol' white platter. Spread a dollup of butter out on it and set it back on the table. Get a saucer and put a little cold water in it. Set the vanilla flavoring by that and some more butter. (Now let me explain, this is not what it stated on the can but how we talked to one another as we assembled it all.)
Now get the ingredients in the pan mixed real good and turn the burner on low. There was a container hanging on the wall near by that had yellow flowers on it. That was the match box holder. You had to strike a match on the side of the box, turn the gas on a smidge and stick the flame to it till the burner lit up. Quiet a production. The stove was white enamel with green stripes. Yep, Really! There were four burners. It sat up on four legs. The oven was on the side and it was big. Just threw that in for good measure in case some of you don't know what we cooked on then.
Now there was a teakettle of water always on the back burner with a low flame to always have hot water. The water stand had a shelf on bottom and there were two dishpans for washing and scalding dishes. Well Heck fire I done went and got sidetracked on all that, better get back to the fudge.
Now came cooking. It was definitely not five minute fudge. Bring the ingridients to a bubblin boil stiring constantly. Reduce heat and cook till a smidgen of it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water. Yep! We dropped so many balls in there that the water in the saucer was brown. We knew it wasn't done but we liked to eat the cooled stuff outta' the water. YEP! We usually had it running off the table. Now when the perfect soft ball was formed, remove from heat, add I teaspoon vanilla and a dolup of butter. Take turns beating it with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens up a bit and don't look so shiny. Pour in the buttered platter and spread out good. Get a spoon and test it till its cool and hard enough to cut with a knife. Eat all that off the spoon you tested it with. YUMMY!
You can't have a big piece till your mess is all cleaned up. That's where the hot water and the dishpans come in. Oh My Gosh was that stuff good!
Now if you guys were listinin good you outta be able to make the best darn fudge you ever wrapped your mouth on.
Good Grief but I'm hungry!!!!!
Tags: Friday Night Stove Sugar Clean Up
Kids can get weird ideas that grown ups never suspect. We didn't have TV but someone gave Mamma some magazines once. I didn't really see anything I wanted to read but I was fascinated by some of the pictures. One picture that stands out in my mind was of a baby riding on a cloud. The beautiful baby was lying asleep on the big fluffy white cloud. Oh Man now I made up my mind to do that. I could just feel myself floating around on that cloud. I asked Mamma one day how I could get on a cloud and she tried to explain to me that I couldn't but I wasn't having that at all. Then I asked her if the clouds ever came down closer to the ground. She said yes that she believed fog was the clouds close to the ground. Well OK then, I thought. I'll just wait till I see fog and I'll just climb on and go floatin' about Heaven. Shoot Fire, the first time I saw fog after that I didn't see any pretty clouds to climb on. Heck I couldn't see much of anything. That sure nuff' wouldn't work!!!! I tried to get Brenda in on it but she told me I was goofy and I couldn't convince her to help me so I showed her the picture. She still didn't want anything to do with it. Guess she wasn't the dreamer I was. One day I was in the big Elm tree in our yard where I played often. The biggest fluffiest cloud I had ever seen was right above me. Heck fire I just knew with me being in the tree I could just climb right on that cloud. I climbed farther up but still couldn't touch the cloud. Now it seemed to be on the other side of me so I started climbing over that way and lost my footing. I still had hold of the limb with both hands but my feet were floating around in nothingness. I finally got my footing and looked over to the cloud which had floated on farther away in the wind. I was just devastated to have missed my chance to ride on a cloud. When I finally showed Mama the picture that made me think I could ride that cloud she finally got through to me that was just advertising. ( I think it was toilet paper but I'm not sure). Mama was upset that I had been doing something so dangerous. She said, “Clydene you can't believe everything you see or hear. You need to learn the truth of things before you go head strong in to something like that”. Well Mamma that statement is still true today and maybe more so. For not only young minds but older ones too. It is getting harder and harder to know what we can believe. We just have to be careful.
Tags: Cloud Baby Fog Magazine
I started to school in 1950 at Altus Denning Grade School. Things started changing fast once we got off the dead end road and started to school. Things just were not as simple anymore. Mama and Daddy were not around to get us out of messes we may get ourselves in to. We were not used to this. Teachers didn't seem to be worth a darn to me. Useless! If I wanted a peanut butter sandwich at 10 AM they wouldn't get it for me. Out for first recess I could smell things cooking next door in the Lunch Room. The lunch room was a little house that had been converted. Kitchen in one end on one side of the room. The rest of the room had long tables with benches to sit on. It was right beside the Grade school building so we didn't have far to go to eat. If you couldn't get an end seat you had to climb over the bench to sit down. There was an area at the entrance where you could pay your dime to eat then stand in line till you got up to the area where the two cooks dipped up your plate and handed it to you. No choice, you took what they gave you just like at home. Only difference was that my Mama cooked things I liked and those durned cooks didn't. How the heck would they know I don't like green beans unless I told them. Well I tried to tell the durned fools and they wouldn't listen to me. Mama said she wouldn't go tell them either cause that was their job and they couldn't fix what all of us wanted.
One day I decided that I just wasn't a gonna take those green beans on my plate. Heck fire Miss Sullivan made us clean our plate before we could leave and I wanted to eat what I wanted so I could get out on the playground. She caught me one day throwing the beans under the table and made me pick them up and tell the cooks I was sorry. Shoot, I wasn't a bit sorry and hated that. From then on Miss Sullivan watched under the table and I wasn't the only one doing it. To get us to stop she made the whole bunch on that table clean it up. Sometimes I would wear my coat in the Lunch Room so I could put things in my pocket then throw them on the play ground. Got in trouble at home for that one. Mama didn't know what I had put in my pocket but she found the mess. Just couldn't win on this one. At home if you took it on your plate you had to eat it, but you were not forced to take anything you didn't like as much as I didn't like green beans. Daddy would have put a stop to the green beans in school if I had told him. But I didn't tell him. To Daddy is was wrong to force anyone to eat something and that would have been that.
In the lunch room when we were in grade school there was no talking. We had to sit there like little proper ladies and gentlemen, even though we were not. One day I just decided I'd had enough of this silence and I just upped and screamed, then cackled like a chicken. To that everyone in the room got to giggling. “Clydene, come with me”, Miss Sullivan said. Now how in the heck did that ol' woman know it was me? I got paddled and had to stay in at recess the rest of the day but by golly I didn't clean my plate that day! HEHE.
Then there were days we had an apple or an orange on our lunch tray. I wanted to take mine home with me but no way. Couldn't take that dad burned thing outta' the lunch room either. Good Grief. One day I laid my orange down on the table and it went rolling down the middle of the table with everyone grabbing at it. One of the boys got my orange and started peeling it to eat it. I climbed out and went down there and just thumped him on the head. Got in trouble again at school and then at home but it was worth it.
I still will not eat green beans and I never ate them in school either by golly. When suddenly the Teacher stopped making us clean our plate that was over. I had found a way every time they were on my tray before to not eat them. Why did Miss Sullivan stop making us clean our plates? Don't rightly know. But I suspect some brave kids told their Mama and she was made to stop. Whatever happened the green bean eating thing was over. I realize now how good we had it. We had a home cooked, from scratch even, well balanced meal for 10 cents. Man were those Chocolate cakes delicious just like home. We just don't appreciate what we have until we don't have it any more. Isn't that the way it is with everything?
Tags: School Bus Bench Lunch Roomgreen Beans Yukky
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