Christmases Past!

At this time of year, one starts to think about Christmas and some of those that have happened in the past!!!! To think how the kids of today are about Santa and how old I was before I knew about who was Santa Claus. Dumb little country girl! I think I found out about the Easter Bunny before I found out about the Jolly old fellow known as Santa Claus! But when we lived in Wawawai in the big old house with the ten rooms and the outdoor bathroom, I went to bed with my siblings after we had helped put up the 8 or 9 foot Christmas tree and decorated it, and for lights had small candles which were lit, first after the tree was put up and then in the morning before we were called to "come and see what Santa had brought"! This happened for some years, I can't remember how old I was, but had to be somewhere in the 7th or 8th grade! I had gone to bed and for some reason couldn't get to sleep! I "snuck" down a few steps on the stairs where I could see through the transom window over the door to the stairway! I heard "noises" Somebody pounding at something, gently, but still pounding! And lo and behold! There was my Father on his hands and knees by the tree putting together a "choo-choo" train for one of the boys! And Mother was helping him by putting dolls under the tree and other toys! Well, I started crying softly, because I didn't want them to hear me but Mother did and came and opened the door! She came up to me and motioned for me to come downstairs with her. I was still crying and asked her what she and Dad had been doing and so she told me the sad story that there was no Santa Claus and that I was not to tell the others but that I could stay and help them! That satisfied me but even though I knew about it and no one else did, or so I thought, Christmas as a child was gone forever for me! I remember when my youngest boy's daughter(Tom's)Natalie flat out announced that there was no Santa, Tom and Dottie and I decided we would fix her!!! I was up at their house for Christmas and they usually celebrated on Christmas Eve. That is, a big dinner, the real "Christmas Story" about Christ's birth read by one of tha adults, Carol were sung around the piano and presents were passed out and opened but then when the children went to bed then Santa came and the next morning, the kids woke up to their Santa's gifts. Well, everything went off as planned and the kids went to bed. I was sleeping in the den on the couch and watching the Midnight Mass from Rome on the T.V. Dottie and Tom played Santa Claus and then they went to bed. I fell asleep and sometime in the night Dottie came and turned off the T.V. Well, the next morning Natalie came out and looked at all her things and I said, "Hey kids! I saw Santa come last night. I didn't let him know I was awake but he turned off the T.V. and then he put all these thing out here for you guys! And then he opened the door to the garage and went away! I was so excited, I couldn'nt get back to sleep for a long time!" Natalie's eyes got as big as dollars and she says, "Really Grandma?" And I told her that was just the way it happened!!!! I don't know if she believed me or not but if she didn't she sure put on a good show of believing!!!! But by the next year she was wise! Tommy for along time, I think knew, but he acted like, "If I say there isn't any Santa Claus, what if he doesn't bring me anything?" It was too funny to watch! There was another story with those kids when Santa came to visit before Christmas and when he asked Natalie, who was not that old at the time, what she wanted for Christmas she said, "Didn't you get my letter?" Goodnight one and all I have to get my dinner!!!

Sunday and...

Well today was Sunday and I didn't get up to go to Mass. I had a really bad leg yesterday and woke up not even able to put my foot down. I laid there awhile and when Nature calls you manage somehow to get up and at it! So I slept, not "too" good last night and woke at 5:00 with a sore leg and so went back to sleep! I go to the Dr. tomorrow and will "hope" that she doesn't feel that I am too bad off! And that it's no more than Arthritis!!! Stephen called and said he would be over about 12:00 or 1:00 but I was able to say a Rosary and Chaplet before he came at 1:00! For which I thank God. I have felt pretty bad off and on all afternoon but my leg seems better tonight but my feet are really aching!! I am, and I'm not trying to say why I didn't go to Church today. I feel really guilty about it especially since when Steve came, he didn't feel too good! Yet he had gone to Church this morning!!! He and I both have Dr. appts. tomorrow and if I possibly can after them I am going to try my darndest to go to Mass tomorrow!!! My appt. was for the 17th of Dec. but I called the Dr. and asked if she would move me up if she got a cancellation and lo and behold Somebody backed out of their appt. and so I have her place tomorrow!!! One has to learn to put things in God's hands and not try to "run things" yourself! My friend Rose will take me tomorrow too. If I had to wait until the 17th I would have had to take Dial-a-Ride. This foggy dark gloomy weather does me no good! (Mentally or phisically!) I have been waiting for so many days to get addresses for an upcoming party and Steve came and I think we did pretty good! I've got to get busy on the phone and ask people what their addresses are!!! I wonder if everybody is as dumb as I am! I know their phone no. and can drive to their front door but either can't remember or forget what the actual number is. Goes to show how so many things are really not that important as we tend to make them! Steve just called. He helped me make out that "list" to send to Janie and then we couldn't send it! So I told him, my computer does that all the time!!And so, when I turned it on a note came up saying that my mail waiting to be sent was sent! And then I thought, when the phone rang, that's Steve, telling me he got it! And voila', or something! Now I feel better knowing we won't have to do that again! Took us, looking up the names and the "right" addresses about two hours or more! Thanks again Steve, and for putting up my shelf by the computer!! It looks really good! Thank you Marilyn for having a "good eye" for a nice shelf that was really what I wanted! Ho hum! Am I boring you as much as I am boring myself! Ta, ta!!!!!

Christmas and how "not" to feel!

So today was a beautiful day and so I got over the "grumps" and the pain in my left leg didn't just keep shooting up my leg. I got to thinking about Christmas and how close it is! It seems like this whole year has gone by in a wink! I remember thinking a year ago, almost to the day that I was going to be in that Convalescent home the rest of my life and I didn't feel too kindly towards anyone, especially the people there that really annoyed me like "Lila".Would I have to put up with her whining and crying day and half the night for just a moment of attention, for another month or so? Or could I get "sprung" (my word!) I didn't think I should have been there in the first place! But thanks to a certain "doctor" I had to undergo therapy for about a month and then could get out! The one month turned into two because I had another relapse with the Virtigo. No fun but I began to feel like there was no tomorrow. I sat in my room or watched T.V. (what I could get at that Hospital!) and of course there was the cold breakfasts, the rubbery eggs, or the huge bowl of oatmeal, or the piece of cold toast with nothing on it, the extra strong cold coffee, and I could go on and on!!! But as the people who were running the place started to talk about maybe I would be able to leave, or, on the other hand, how they could talk me into staying in one of their "assisted living" apts.I thought, I'm going to get out of here, if I have to pretend that I'm crazy or some other thing. And then I started to talk to some of the other "guests"! Some of them were alright mind-wise but couldn't walk, or eat, (without being fed) and all the other things that to me were so much worse off than me! One fellow, (pretty young) was across the hall from me and had been there twenty years! He was in a chair that he had to propel with his mouth! He couldn't walk or use his arms and here I was an 89 year old woman and griping! Mark was his name and he had more people in the establishment "visiting" him than anyone else in the building! I had to find out why!!! He had to be changed, fed, someone had to brush his teeth, wash him, dress him and all the "little " million and one things that one has to do in a day! But, and I say "BUT" he was always cheerful and outgoing and would drive himself all over the hospital, stopping to talk to this one or that one!!! I don't know what happened to him that he was in the position he was in but he had accepted it!!! I started to talk to him and he asked me if I played Bingo, I told him that I didn't do anything but watch T.V. so he said you ought to come down and play Bingo. You'd have fun! So I was sitting in the lobby one day and heard them playing Bingo in the recreation room and so I wandered in and someone asked me if I wanted to play Bingo. I thought, "why not?" So I was asked to sit in a chair at one of the tables and that was the start of my second month in the Hospital. I really had a ball! And Mark, even if he couldn't do the playing himself, always had some one to put the checkers on the cards for him! When he would win he would laugh so hearty!!! So I also got acquainted with the other two players at "my" table and started to enjoy myself! I won two or three games every time I played. Just the way the dice rolled! My two new friends were a woman in a wheel chair who had had bad knees and couldn't walk and the guy was in dialysis! He would go two or three times a week to the Dr. Really nice guy and so helpful to point out a play or two for me! The woman I found out was the sister to one of the people at St. Anne"s who had worked there for years and I knew her but not her sister!There were two or three other people there too that I found out had some relative or friend that I knew. So, I got out of my "dungeon" and started to take walks all around the Hospital! Of course, there was the poor souls who didn't talk or even wake up when I walked around! I got the exercise I needed and also could have someone to talk to and visit with, even if we were both walking with a cane or a walker. And I found that some of the people there who "weren't with it" as the story goes had some amazing talents!!! One lady from the Philipines played the piano so beautifully. She told me her sister had taught her and that her sister was a music teacher in the Philipines.The next day when I met her she just stared at me when I tried to talk to her.Another old guy was walking around and around all the time. So one day in the recreation room they had singing, music,etc. (and some of the help who thought they could sing and dance) anyway, while this old guy was walking through the rec room some piece of music stirred his brain and he went over to one of the girls (the help) and could he dance!!!! Everyone in the room who was just sitting there watching, started clapping and when the music ended, he, the old guy, went back to his cane and out the door without saying anything!!! Another guy picked up a guitar in the rec room and really began to play music that was modern, etc. but when he had his "moment of glory" he walked out and probably at that moment forgot that he could ever play a guitar!!!I never "want" to go to a Convalescent home but if the day comes when I "have" to, I hope that I could make it as pleasant as some of them (unknowingly)did!!!! Goodnight, and good grief! I haven't had my dinner yet!

Some more "funny? memories...

When we were at the sawmill that we had gone to Mexico for in the first place, we were living in a one room place until we could build ourselves a house. We had a Mexican woman, or, even maybe she was one of the Tahuamara Indians,who had finally settled down. She lived in a "crude" house behind us. Anyway, she was very clean and would get on her hands and knees to scrub the room so it was snowy white! She did all the washing, (down at the side of a creek and pounded it on the rocks!) and she ironed everything with some kind of iron and did a beautiful job. The people we met there were so kind and very friendly!!! When Bob got sick one time everyone would wait for a chicken to cackle to tell us she had laid an egg and they would run and get it for Bob!!! They dug in the frozen ground for potatoes, etc. Anyway one would have to have been there to really appreciate them.But to get back to my story. Cappy came in with some dried corn and I asked him what he was going to do with it and he told me he was going to make something, (it sounded like he said "tesweeno") He put the corn into a crock and put some other things in it and said it now had to ripen or something! He covered it with an enamelware tin plate and put it behing the little stove we had. In the middle of the night a week or so later, we heard a clatter and Cappy said, "The tesweeno is ready!" We were going to town the next day and the only way we could go without our car was on a small railroad that tooted about five miles away and if you wanted to ride on it, you had better be down by the tracks and with a red flag out!!! More about this railroad later. We got ready the next day and waited for the train and Cappy took some of his concoction with him! Everybody on the train beginning with the conductor had to sample it and of course they were pretty well drunk by the time we got to the town! The other day when we were looking up the Tarahumara Indians here was what they had as a "likker?" I laughed with Steve and told him the story! Cappy told me at one time that his Father had helped put that railroad in!!! It was a train that ran from the Texas border to the town of Chuatemoc. We made several trips on this train when we were in that area and it was challenging to say the least! Sometimes there would be that toot and then no train and we would run down to the station only to be told that the train had run off the tracks! So we would have to wait till it was back on track and sometimes it would be a day or two! One time we got on it and were about halfway to town when it ran off the tracks! We all had to get off and then were told that they didn't know when it would be ready but they would let us know in plenty of time. It seemed like people came out of the woodwork up to the train from the small group of houses that were along the track. They sold all kinds of different foods, "snacks", I guess. Anyway this time when it happened with us, Cappy went over to one of the houses and asked them to make us a meal. They went out and killed a chicken and then began fixing dinner for us! The train gave a toot and we had to run like anything to get back on it, leaving them a pretty nice dinner, I guess! We paid them for it any way and were mighty glad to get to town and to the Hotel where they had a restaurant! The meal probably would have been very good! The house was clean and the people were clean, etc. Cappy would have probably eaten it but me, well, I had never lived in Mexico before and I must admit I did have "qualms" about eating that food and furthermore feeding to my child of two. I soon got over my qualms and was able to find that sometimes the simplest of meals is the best and especially if there is a willingness to prepare it for you! Oh about the Tesweeno. The noise we heard was the tin plate hitting the ceiling!!!

What do you do when there are no wagons to circle?

When visiting Mexico back in 1947 or so, Cappy and I were driving along a "road", when the springs broke on the axle of our car. Cappy decided we would make camp that night right where we were! He gathered wood for a bonfire and made a pit out of rocks to radiate the heat and cook our meal. He layed the meat directly on the rocks to cook it and was in the process of putting up a tent with our bedding when lo and behold! what should appear but a strangely dressed and ominous looking bunch of people! They just stood around and stared at us for a while, until Cappy asked them what they wanted in Spanish. They told him something or other and then moved on. I asked Cappy who they were, after calming down a bit, and he told me they were Tarahumara Indians. I had never seen any before. They wore breechcloths and not much else except a headband with feathers. Quite startling for my first encounter with this people. They moved on, then Cappy told me about them. They are a nomadic people and just wandered about in the Northern Mexican Sierra Madre mountains. Needless to say, I got no sleep that night, and slept in the car with little Bob. The next morning, finally, a horseman came along and asked Cappy what was wrong. Cappy told the Samaritan that our car had broken down on our way to town. Our new friend suggested to look around for some haywire to try and attach the spring back to the axle and that his father owned a garage in the next little town about 3 miles down the road. He had a face you could trust, and did not let us down. He attached the car to his horse and towed the car to town with it! What a sight! His father fixed the car and we went on to our destination. We were happy to have found a new friend and also to find out the Indians were peaceful and were not going to attack. It would have been hard to circle the wagons with just a car--and a broken down car at that! Happy Thanksgiving to all and I hope this story has made us all realize that no matter how much trouble we think we have, God is always there to help us out.

Weather!

When one listens to T.V. or Radio as to what the weather is going to be like, seems like it never happens! Either these "experts" don't have a clue about weather or are just guessing! Goes to show who really takes care of the weather and everything else in the world! Whether WE like it or not!!! I was surprised when it turned so cold in the night last night! It was supposed to be a "beautiful weekend, temps. possibly in the low 80's." Imagine my surprise when I got up this morning at 8:30 and was freezing! In fact, that is what probably woke me up! My feet felt like icicles! I did my few morning chores, like bathroom and morning prayers and got my breakfast, Bob called and I told him about being so cold. He said it was nice and warm in So. Cal. I looked at my little thermometer and at that time, about 9:30, it was 69 degrees here! I went to my front door and looked out and it had been "showering" I guess. The ground was wet and it was cloudy all over. I just looked up our weather on the computer and it is still pretty cool, in the low 70's. I'm not complaining because I think that I am getting an answer to the prayer I have been saying that we would get rain and lots of it to get this part of the state out of the drought it has been in! I hope this is just one of many showery days we have. Rain doesn't bother me at all. I love it! When it rains my arthritis slows down, and I begin to feel vigorated. When I was younger, I used to love to walk in the rain. Not in a cloudburst, mind you, but a gentle rain. Everything smells so fresh and new. I remember when I went to Hawaii several years ago and we had a sudden downpour. The rain felt like you were in a warm bathroom shower! I just let it pour on me and in about 10 minutes after it had stopped, a warm wind came up and I was dry again in a just a few minutes! I don't like dark dreary days, when we have what they call a high fog! I feel as though I am all alone in the world! And fog itself is very bad for my "Arthur"! Wind, now that's something I really don't like! I get so nervous and cross when it gets windy! I don't realize it until I start to think "What's the matter with me?" When I was young and we lived in the big 10 room house that I told you about before, the wind would come up and that old house would actually weave in the wind!! Maybe that's when I first got this "hate" thing. One night it blew so hard that it broke the window in the room where my brothers were sleeping! Our bedrooms were upstairs and I remember Mother and Dad telling us to stay in bed and not to try to go into the boy's room because there was broken glass all over! Then sometimes when we had heavy winds we had dust storms! One could hardly breathe and the dust settled on everything! Well, we take what we get and God has his reasons for making the weather "sometimes good and sometimes bad!" At least so far we haven't been struck with very many tornadoes! Or hurricanes! See ya later!

Barb 'n me

I have felt so blue today! Don't know why. I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge, and family on the internet!!! But it's just not the same without Barbara! I can't explain it. I am not sorry that God chose to take her at this time because she was really bad off!!! In pain and not able to do anything for herself, etc. This was just not Barbara! Was thinking about the last time we took a trip together! We went to St. Joseph, Missouri for a family reunion of my Mother's people, the Rabideaus. We had recieved notice of it and started planning to go! I went to So. Cal. for something or other and Dick and Janie were there. I was telling him about the trip and he says, "we'd love to have you guys come and see us in Cleveland before you go home" Anyway, to make a long story short, he called me when I got back to Lodi and said that he and Janie had been talking it over and that they were going to pay for our trip to St. Joe if afterwards we would come back to Cleveland and see them before we went home. I told Barbara and she was estatic!!!! So we finished making out plans. Dick sent us the tickets and we went to the Reunion! We had to go via Dallas and then up to Kansas City. We had planned on getting a rental car so we could do a little sight seeing, etc., which we did and then set off for St. Joe. We found the Hotel where we were registered and where the reunion would be held. Never saw so many family members in my life!!! I forget how many had come from all over the U.S. and Canada! The first people we talked to, was a couple sitting on the veranda of the Hotel and they were from a place up near Quincy, Cal. They kind of hung out with us while signed in and then we had, that afternoon, a cocktail party, where everyone tried to get acquainted!!!! In looking around I thought, " I would have known this crowd any where!" While talking their hands were flying as fast as their mouths were! You just felt, well, at home! This one would introduce you to that one and so on. Many of them had been meeting someplace every four years for years! We were sitting at a table with this lady and a couple of guys from Canada walked in and sat down with us because they had known this lady at the table for years!!! They were so interesting. Their wives were there and finally wound up with us. Pretty soon they brought in, I don't know how many kinds of pizza and someone called out to come and get whatever kind you wanted and as much as you wanted!!!! After a certain length of time we had to get in line and they, the committee running the thing gave us envelopes with all the instructions as to what was going on the next few days and how to get there, etc. Everyone had been instructed by mail to bring family albums, etc. and these were set up in another room where there was books that one could buy ( about geneology of the fam., etc.)We were getting pretty tired by this time so we and everyone else kept drifting off to their rooms, or wherever they were staying. Barbara and I overslept the next morning (probably not the only ones) so we had to find a restaurant to get breakfast. Found one pretty close so ate quite a few meals there while in St. Joe. Tried to have our Continental breakfast at the Hotel though because it was free! They had scheduled a trip on the second day and our new-found friend told us that we wouldn't want to go on that! Alot of walking, climbing, etc. so we decided that we would go down to "Old Town" and see a few of the famous places. The house where Jessie James was shot, the first pony express station; this is where the first mail by pony express started out! and there were a few other Museums, etc. Then, since there was to be a dinner at one of the Old museums that night, we decided to go and visit a place that I had visited a long time ago. Well, I got her up to the next town and from there they had changed the highway that I wanted get on and yes, you guessed it! We got lost. We found ourselves going down an old gravelled road and way out in the country. Barbara decides that this is probably not the right way and so here we were!We stopped the car to try and get our bearings. Some guy comes along in a pickup. I yelled "hey" out the window and Barbara told me later she was scared to death! The guy stopped and when we told him where we wanted to go he had us turn aroung and go back into town and so we did find the way. We wanted to go to a Monastery that I had been to with Teresa and Hank and Bob years before! We found it but it was getting so late that we weren't able to stay very long and headed back to St. Joe. The nuns told us how to get to where we were going without going back to the little town we got lost in. We made it back in time for the dinner at the old Museum and a beautiful dinner and after dinner the Host told us the history of the Museum, Seems like there was a ghost living there with his wife and him! He finished the story and after looking at the million and one things there, all went back to the Hotel.The next morning after breakfast Barbara and I decided to try out the Casino at the edge of town. No, we didn't win anything but did find half the reunion members out there!!! That evening was the Grand "Ball" so to speak, a catered dinner at the Hotel! The next morning after that, one of the "relatives" a priest from Kansas City came to the Hotel and said Mass in one of the Conference rooms We packed up and left the Hotel to go to Kansas City to leave the rental car and catch our plane to Cleveland. After driving around and not being able to find the rental place and we had passed the airport several times and so Barbara says "Why don't I let you out and you can get our bags checked and I'll see if I can get this car back". I did as she instructed and found a place to sit with out carry-ons and then I started to wait for her. They announced loading and still no Barbara! Finally some one asked if I was waiting for someone and I told her the story. She went up and talked to the lady who was putting people on the plane and they called out for Barbara over the loud speaker, etc. I really started to worry. The loading lady came over to me and told me not to worry that they would do something else about our tickets, etc. So, when I had given up in walks Barbara! You guess it she finally had to stop and ask someone to guide her to the rental place! You see when we got off in Kansas City they were there with a shuttle to take us to the rental place!!! Well, I promise I will finish our trip sometime!!! I am getting very tired of typing!!!!!

Whew! Halloween gone....

Not that I was worried. For three years I haven't had anyone come to the door! And there was not that much activity in the neighborhood. Guess people are waking up to the fact that it is really a dangerous activity in this day and age!!!! Now good old elections, (which are REALLY scary anymore!) And then too soon Thanksgiving! Course if we really think about it, it really is what it means! Giving thanks to God for what we have or don't have, (in the case of a unexpected illness!) I have so much to be Thankful for this year! I know that sounds funny with all that has happened in my life but to just name a few! I first of all, thank God for my family who have been so helpful to me during all the years of my "widowhood"!And then I thank God that they have come through the "trials" of illness. Then I thank God for giving me the strength of Faith to weather all the "storms" that I have gone through for the past couple of years! Loss of two sisters, two sisters-inlaw, illness of so many of my brothers and their wives, my own family illnesses! Now for some of the better things to think about on Thanksgiving. I'm remembering a few years ago, or it seems like a few years ago, when my Mother and Father and their family would all get together and rent the Y.M.C.A. Hall in Torrance and everyone would cook what they thought was their "best" dish for a Thanksgiving dinner! Of course, we would let the others know what others were bringing, so we didn't wind up with 8 or 9 turkeys! Made it much simpler! The hall was large and had tables already set up for us and there was a fireplace, a piano, and a nice big yard for the kids, if the weather allowed, to go out and play.Sometimes the older boys/men would have a lively game of touch football before dinner. The women would get the tables set, finish cooking the dinner, etc. After dinner there was always pumpkin pie, and a couple of other kinds of pies! Then while the women and the young folk put the dishes into a dishwasher (I seem to remember a dishwasher! Maybe it was a human dishwasher or two!) and cleaned up the kitchen, the men sat around and talked or whatever. It was a really good time! Afterwards, someone would be asked to play the piano,(most of the time it was me!)And someone would suggest that we dance to some records that someone was thoughtful enough to bring!I always loved to dance! We had almost the whole day there at the hall and would go home really happy and content that were able to see the "family" We took pictures and I'm sure some of the pictures are still in many albums. But things change and even though it is even now a "family" day, there are fewer and fewer families getting together. It is much easier it seems to go "out" to dinner. I wonder if, with the economy as bad as it is, someday it may get back to the old things we used to do as a family! Ho, hum!!! Enough of being old!

Back again....

I was remembering another Halloween when we lived in East Oakland. We lived upstairs in an 8 apt. building. There were lots of families there with lots of children. My kids were out with some of the neighbors kids and adults and then came home. I heard another bunch coming upstairs and a knock on the door. I opened it and here stood the biggest clown I ever saw saying "trick or Treat"! And then she laughed. It was one of my neighbors on the other end of the building ! She was always a lot of fun!!!!How she ever had the time to fix herself up like that I'll never know!!There was another time in later years but I'm trying to figure it out in my mind, when Tim and Brian were little. Marilyn and Bob had fixed them up in costumes and took them out in the neighborhood. I can't remember now if Brian had gone up to the door for candy or not but all of a sudden some big person in a horrible mask scared him and he ran right up to the house where a lady was passing candy and ran right in the door!!!! I do remember Marilyn and Bob coming home laughing their heads off!!!!Time passes and things are not safe as they were then. Linda, my niece, was out with a bunch of little ones and as they passed this one house there was something fixed up like a man sitting in a chair and as she passed by she heard the "guy" speak. She said as loud as could be "Oh s---t!" then she heard the guy who lived in the place laughing! He had hooked up a speaker to this figure in a chair!! If you want to know about Halloweens, just talk to my oldest grandson, Tim! He's like a kid and fixes (or used to) fix up his house like a haunted house or whatever every year his Father tells me! Every year he has to outdo "last year's" decoration!Do you still do that Tim???? Love you!

Halloweens...Boo!

I thought since tomorrow night is Halloween I'd write a few Halloween "pasts". Since we lived on a farm quite a few years of my "growing up" I had to wait until I was in the 2nd grade of High School before I did any Halloween "tricks"! There wasn't any "Trick or Treat" in those days, it was mainly tricks. Usually some nice person would come to the door and give you an apple or a piece of homemade candy but it finally got out of hand. I don't ever remember getting into any kind of "costume"! We would wear an eye mask or big parafin lips or maybe throw a towel like a cape over our shoulders but that was rare!We "soaped" windows, knocked on doors and then ran, etc. but some of the kids did some pretty weird things like "waxing" the windows, (Mother caught us doing that one Halloween and that was the last time! We had to wash it off and you're right! It didn't wash off! It had to be scraped off!) We didn't write anything weird or anything, usually just scribble! I don't want to put down a few of the things we did, what we thought was innocent fun because somebody might read this blog and get a lot of "strange" ideas!I never really "liked" the Holiday!One Halloween, my Father was listening to the Radio and this "Newscast" broke in and said that aliens from another planet was attacking the U.S. and we all sat glued to the radio, afraid to go anyplace and really frightened!!! After so many minutes, somebody broke into the broadcast to tell us that we had been listening to Orson Welles, "War of the Worlds"! People all over the U.S. who were listening to the radio that night were affected! Some heart attacks, suicides, etc. Needless to say, the Radio sponsor who put this horrible show on was sued!!! They tried to say that people were warned before the show started that it was just a show, but everyone, including my Father, said THAT was not true, that he had been listening for over an hour to the radio and nothing was mentioned that it was fiction! Reports over the news later said that it had not been announced that it was only a show! We, my brothers and sister and I were afraid to go outside at all! And for days or even months later, one looked up at the sky to see if there was any "Alien Space Ships" out there!!! I'm sure that after so many years and so-called "sightings" of alien craft that people got used to the idea! And then there is today! With so many really, really "weird" movies, Broadway shows, books, and all! It's a wonder we don't have a bunch of "raving maniacs" out there! It's O.K. God's still in His Heaven and with age comes a sense of calmness! How long will it last??????

It's been awhile.....

Sorry that I haven't been on my job of "blogging! So much has been going on I just haven't felt "up to it"! Was talking to my friend Rose today and while talking to her started to remember a few things about the good old days! They were, I know now, really the good old days!! Even if we did go through a Depression and all, or as some people say "the GREAT DEPRESSION". Things were much calmer then it seemed to me and I think it had a lot to do with the fact that families were "closer"! When it was mealtime, for instance, we ate together and then instead of getting up from the table and dashing off to God knows where, we stayed at home, played games, talked, read, or in most cases, the first thing we did was help with the dishes. No dishwashers, (Oh I shouldn't say that! As my son Dick recently pointed out, at one time, I had three "dishwashers") I also remember doing dishes myself when I was small enough to have to stand on a chair at the sink to do them! I didn't say I enjoyed it, but here at almost 90, I still do my dishes at the sink but I stand at the sink and not on a chair. My Mother was ill one time and my Father cooked all the meals, which we really enjoyed! He used a lot of the good old fats like Lard and real butter, etc. He made the best fried potatoes I have ever eaten and I consider myself a good cook! But after dinner, he would bring in a chair and up to the sink we would go and he would sit down and make sure we did the dishes to his liking! So, when I found out that Cappy was a better cook than I was, I "LET" him do the cooking whenever he wanted. But he told me flat out that he did "NOT" do dishes! So clever as I was, I had to train the boys to do the dishes!! My sister Barbara said to me one day, "I hate to dust! That's all I did when I was growing up at home!" I told her she should have said something, I would gladly have "dusted" if she had done the dishes!! It's not really that much of a chore and I kind of miss the big sinkful of dishes after having company and standing there and quietly go over the days events in my mind. It was kind of soothing! OOH YEAH!!!!!!! Goodnight.

Another Day...

Thank you God! It has been a beautiful Fall day here today. Not too warm and not too cool. Just right! And the smell of Fall in the air! I can remember fall days in the Northwest when the leaves would turn to gold, red, orange and still a few green ones. One couldn't keep up with the falling leaves. It was fun to rake them all up into a pile and then run and jump into them. Of course that meant twice as much work to get them all into a pile again before putting them into boxes or something and carrying them to some place where they wouldn't be in the way. There wasn't any plastic bags then so they probably made good mulch wherever they were put! Steve came over and installed Barbara's computer table into my computer room and then we got rid of a lot of boxes that I needed to throw away, etc. I'm trying to go through some of Barbara's things so have a lot of things to look at, etc. At least I can move around in here now! Can't seem to get my thoughts back again but then there's always tomorrow, or so the saying goes. Got to think of what to eat now and then relax. Goodnight and God Bless!

Dick, a few memories...

Well, this has been a few weeks that I could have done without!!Barbara's illness, death and burial, etc. Got home from the "wake" following Barbara's funeral and got a phone call from Dick! He sounded "kind of" funny but I thought he was tired. He had been here from Thurs. night late until Sunday night. Kept me on the "go" trying to keep up with him, but that's Dick. I said, "Oh, are you home now from Dallas?" He and Janie had gone to Denton to check out somet hing on their new house that they are supposed to move into in Dec, He says "No, as a matter of fact, I'm in the Hospital here in Dallas!" When I asked him what was wrong, he said that he had had a "mini" stroke! I said "Don't do this to me Dick!" Then he told me that they were going to keep him that night and that turned into 3 and half days and nights! He did have a stroke alright and it was caused by the "Caritoid"? arteries in his neck and he was going to have to wait and see what they were going to do with him! So on this coming Tuesday, Oct. 21st he will have the operation or a reaming out of the artery! He thought he was going to get out today and then go golfing with his friend there in Denton, where Janie has been staying with them. So Janie called me about noon,today, our time, and told me that they had let him out of the hospital but not only was he not going golfing, he wasn't to bend over, lift anything, etc. His sugar was pretty high the other day but the Drs. have now said that he will be a borderline diabetic and will treat it with medication .( a pill!) His operation will be in the early afternoon on the 21st and as to when he will be able to go home to Cleveland is still up in the air!!! I think I can hear him now where I live. But Dick, be a good guy and do what the Dr. tells you. You have children and grandchildren that need you as well as your Mother ad your Brothers!!!! I did have a nice, I thought, visit with him when he was here last weekend! Has it only been that long? It seems like he has been gone a month!! A few memories come back to me that I was talking to him about when he was here. We had gone to Church and he said, "Every Church seems to have a different version of some of the Hymns, don't they?" And we got to talking about Janie's beautiful voice AND his ! I told him about one time that I visited them in Cleveland and they took me over near Warren, Pennsylvania, to a hunting place that Dick had leased from State, County, or something. It was a nice place. John, Dick's son went with us and Rene, his wife. It was a pleasant day but a sudden shower came up and thunder, lightning, rain started to pour and so we decided to come home. John and Rene were supposed to be following us and they were, for awhile. But I remember we got to this one town on the way home, the sun broke out and everything looked so fresh and green, and on the radio was a religious program and they started to sing "How Great Thou Art"! That is one of my favorite hymns anyway, but Dick started to sing and Janie chimed in and I actually had goosebumps! I told him last week when he was here, Never was a song more appropriate but their voices blending in together was so BEAUTIFUL!!!! He says Janie does have a beautiful voice and I told him that the two of them should think about joining a choir when they move! He said he had thought about it!! You two would be a great addition to any choir!!! There Dick, I'll bet you thought I was going to talk about some of your "escapades" didn't you? Well, I'll let you get well and then you can tear into me, Okay?

A few thoughts...

After going out to dinner last night with Steve and family and Dick, I got to thinking about so many times that my family had been together! We were a pretty "tight" family to use the teenagers way of putting it! We had so many good times and they were mainly "at home" with family! When my three oldest were teenagers we sat around in the evening and either played games or watched T.V. or just talked. That was "more" than "important" to be able to talk to one another!I remember evenings when Cappy had to be on the swing shift and the kids were in High School. We always had a houseful of teenagers after school. I was "mom" and Cappy was "pop" to all of them. I never see any of them to this day that I am not "mom". They put up a Monopoly game on the dining room table and would play night after night! When they had to go home the board stayed in position and the game continued on the next night, etc. They about ate us out of house and home, anything and everything. Sometimes it was a quick call home " Is it O.K. if I stay here and eat?" I can remember the laughter and the funny things that they would be accusing one another of duroing the games! "You cheated" "I did not" and of course when Cappy wasn't there I got in on the games! When Cappy was there he did the cooking up of Tacos, etc.He wasn't much of a game player but enjoyed watching. And the crd games! Silly ones, like "Old Maid", Go Fish", "Canasta". Good clean fun! Why they all hung out at our place was beyond me! But I really liked it. My boys were home and I knew who they were with then! Ah, the "good old days!"

Fun? times in Mexico...

After the Bracero program, etc. and several bad "mistakes" in our financial area, we got a call from Cappy's brother Lafay that he could sure use Cappy in running a sawmill that he and their brother Bert had "invested?" in in Mexico. Since we were having a hard time of it we rushed home from my in-laws where we had been visiting and packed up and took off right away! We had a lot of trouble on the way there. First of all the small trailer that we had to take with what little furniture we had to take with us broke down and so that entailed an overnight stay in the town of Atwater which wasn't that far from where we were living! We had to wait till morning and didn't get away from there, (they had to order a part) until about 4:30 P.M. or so. We drove all the way to Barstow and since Bob was not quite two, we stopped and got a Motel and then tried to make it to Mexico the next day. Well, we had to stop one more night and then got to El Paso. Went to the border and even though Cappy was a duel-citizen, I was not so we had to go through all the problems of getting me a Visa. While waiting there a cousin of Cappy's came along. He drove a taxi in El Paso! In fact it was his own co. So he took us in his cab all over and showed us the sights of El Paso. Took us to dinner, etc. We had decided to drive into Mexico to the City of Chihuahua in the cool part of the day! We started out and about halfway there had a flat tire. Talk about luck! We parked and who should come along going to Chihuahua but an uncle of Cappy's and his wife. He helped us out and then said they would drive behind us in case we got into any more trouble! They went their way after guiding us to the Hotel where we were supposed to meet Lafay. Lafay had left word for us at the desk that he would be a few days late and that we were to go ahead and get a room and it was all entirely paid for by him. We were to just put everything on a tab and he would take care of it! And what a hotel! Right on the Main Avenue in town and a very classy Hotel! We were treated like royalty! I was told after they had to put us in a smaller room that in a day or two we would be put into a "suite" till "Alonzo" as they called him, came for us! I would, under their direction, put our clothes outside the door and they would pick them up, launder them and bring them back! Everything was spotless, and Bob's diapers,(no plastic diapers in those days!) were all neatly folded and his and our clothing was ironed and put on hangers, etc. When it was time to eat, we were guided to a beautiful dining room and waited on like we were the only ones there! For a day or so, we would take walks uptown and look around till 12:00 noon and then everything uptown and everywhere shut down for "Siesta" time till after 3:00 P.M. so we would head to the Hotel, have lunch and put Bob and ourselves down for a litle "Siesta". Then after that everything opened up again and went wild the rest of the day and half the night!!! In a couple of days they put us into our "suite" and that was great! Bob had plenty of room to play, and we had comfortable chairs to sit in and there was an outside "porch" all fenced in so that Bob couldn't fall but he played out there a lot! The weather was nice and we were actually on like a town square. A big statue of some guy on a horse was in the middle of this and there were benches to sit on, etc. and the cars came down and made a circle and went back uptown. Bob loved it and I used to take a chair out there and watch the cars and the people! When it was time for our meals of course, we went to the dining room. Oh yes, I forgot, they had dinner music played by a group of men and women with violins, etc. It was simply beautiful! We really dallied over our meals! All too soon Lafay showed up and our "honeymoon" was over. He stayed there a couple of days too and "spoiled" Bob no end. He wasn't married yet and so he really indulged Bob! Carried him all over town with us,etc. Life really began after we left the hotel to go to where the sawmill was. But that is another story! We lived in Mexico for six montha and it wasn't all wine and roses! Love it when you guys "comment" on whether you are enjoying them or not!

Well??

Well here we go again as someone recently said!!! I lived through the "Great Depression" as it was called! I think I wrote before that Dad lost two homes to it and somehow we managed to pull through! Mother, God love her, did a lot of praying but also she had a family to take care of and while Dad worked first of all as a farmer, by the actual sweat of his brow! Mother did a lot of things like being sure we had enough to eat, and clothes on our backs. After F.D.R. was elected into office, Franklin Delano Roosevelt for those who need to be told what some initials mean, (that'll be the day!)As I told you before Dad made $60.00 a month because he qualified as a head carpenter for the W.P.A. And of course things weren't so expensive then but I remember that F.D.R. shut down all the banks and wow! Everybody was scared and wondered what would happen but then he put all these different programs to work, W.P.A. was one of them. People were being hired and were working and with the work there was the Relief program. People were paid to make over clothes that had been donated to the program and for a long time that is what we wore! Of course we had an Aunt Josie, who was a marvelous seamstress so she could make over a lot of things that this one or that one had outgrown! The best part about it all was that everybody was in the same boat! Mother would go down to the Relief office and get whatever we needed, be it food or clothing, fuel, (wood, that lasted us through the winter!) It must have been terribly embarrassing for her to "beg" so to speak, but she was one of many!!! And it wasn't only us that had large families but you didn't just get rid of a child if it cramped your life style!!! We sure ate a lot of beans I remember but since Mother was such a gardner and knew how to "put up" food as they used to say, we did all right. I remember one bad time with my father. After the banks got the second house, I can remember him threatening to kill himself! We were all huddled behind their bedroom door and Mother talked him out of that Thank Heavens! A lot of people, particularly those who had lost all they had money-wise did take what was described as the "easy way out" No guts! And WE knew how to pray!!! Aaamen!!!

Thinking...

I get this Magazine called "Reminisce" every month, well actually Reminisce one month and Reminisce Extra the next. It was so filled this time with things of the past. Things that they are calling "things of the past!" To me it seems like pretty modern things. They showed on the front of the magazine a picture of what an older home would look like. On the table were, for instance, a peeler which I guess they were going to use to peel some apples for a pie since there was a pie crust rolled out and one pie pan already filled with a crust! I noticed a measuring cup, and a gadget that was used to mix together the lard, flour, salt,etc before adding a little water to hold the whole thing together. On a stove were big pots, a bread pan with a loaf of bread, etc. Got me to thinking how, when I was growing up we used a plain coffee cup for the measuring cup, a regular paring knife to peel the apples, and we kneaded the flour, Lard, etc. with our hands! This was great for your hands too. The lard kept them nice and soft! On the ironing board in the kitchen was an iron which was heated somehow but when I was growing up we had flatirons that sat on the back of a wood stove all the time. They were always ready to use, I guess. When one did the ironing we had a clamp-handle kind of thing that fir onto the irons. When the iron got too cool you put it back on the stove and "picked" up another one!!! And the stove in the picture was a gas stove! My, how things have changed! A heck of a lot of things, for the better, but in some ways, the "good old days" were good! People cared for one another and there wasn't so much "me" and "I". I didn't have to have everything to make "Me" happy and content! Enough of the Grandma stuff for today!

Strange isn't it, how time flies.....

I went this morning to a Funeral Mass for a fellow that I have known, oh lets see... at least 30 years. Gary died on Saturday, and Barbara, my sister, on Sunday. Gary and his wife started a retreat group called "Journey into Faith" some time before I had heard about it. It was based on the old Spanish retreat system called Cursillo. I was asked several years to make it by various relatives but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had been on Catholic "silent" retreats. One would go to a Retreat House for a weekend and just do nothing but keep silence and pray, etc. Of course you got your meals, and a room for at least 2 nights. They really were great because you really started to think about where you came from and where you were headed. When I finally decided to make "Journey" I was told to bring a sleeping bag, clothing for two days, besides the ones I was wearing, etc. We, oh sometimes 25 or 30 people made it at one time. The leaders, like Gary and Margaret, his wife, had a "crew" who did the cooking, etc. Well, on a Friday afternoon we left for an undisclosed destination and then the fun began! We paid for no food, or anything that I can remember but we were in a camp in a forest, that was a Science Camp for kids during the schhol year. Lots of cots, rooms, etc. and I do remember we were greeted with trays and trays of different kinds of cookies and a cool drink or coffee or tea. The leaders explained the program to us which involved over the weekend; Bible Study, prayers, Mass etc. And of course delicious meals!!! It was really a lot of good fun besides learning about your Faith, etc. One thing stands out in my mind. On Sunday morning at about 5:30 or 6:00 there was this sound of singing and people marching and then came a parade of people who had made Journey before into out bunkrooms singing Hymns and throwing flowers on our beds! It was neat!!! After this all happened we got ready for breakfast.Oh I forgot! On Sat. evening we had an Agape" service. We were told that we had to be very quiet and that we were going to go up and surprise the "workers" in the kitchen. When we got to the kitchen, it was completely dark and we went into the dining room where all the tables were put into one long table and there was a bottle or two of wine and big loaves of French bread. for an evening get-together with the whole bunch! The lighting was candles in wine bottles and flowers on the table, etc. We sang and gathered as a "group" talking, singing, etc. Then it was lights out and off to bed we went. The next day was getting ready to go home day. We had a conference or two and then packed our things up. Mass was at 4:00 P.M. and the people who had brought us up there and anyone who just wanted to come up joined us for the Mass and dinner and then home! Everyone that I talked to said they had really felt like they were leaving Paradise and returning to the "cruel" world. One could only make Journey once but you could go back up the next time or anytime they had it to help out!!! I was working at the time so didn't go back up but the memories still linger on. And today at Gary's Funeral Mass, the priest who was our Spiritual Director up there said Mass and Some of the "songs" were one's from Journey. When th casket left the Church the group was singing "I Know Where I'm Going" Anyone of you who have made Journey will remember the song. After Church it was like "Old Home Week". Gary would have loved it!!!

The not so good "news"

Got to thinking about some of the "crazy things that Barbara and I had done! Since she is on the downside list, I thought "Dwell on the fun times!" I particularly remember one Thanksgiving weekend when Tom with with me and Katie, his daughter had come for the weekend. Barbara called me on the Friday following Thanksgiving and told me that she was so bored etc. and was going to go up to Jackson Rancheria, a gambling house and did I want to go with her. I said, who else is going? She told me if I didn't go she was going alone! Now this was about 7:00 P.M. and dark, etc. I told her to llet me think it over. No way, Tom said, is Aunt Barbara going up there by herself. And he gave me $50.00 to spend and siad that should do it. I am not a gambler and never have been. I don't think I ever won anything in my life! So Katie asked me if she could make cookies while I was gone and Tom was going to help her so Barbara and I went to the Casino. It was my first time to Jackson Rancheria! I went through my $50.00 in nothing flat playing the quarter machines. So Barbara gave me $20.00 more and I sat there at this one machine and played and I never knew whether I had won or not, because I didn't cash out! Finally she came over and says, you've got $250.00 there! I decided that it wouldn't urt to play a few more games, and you guessed it I was down to $80.00! I told Barbara that I was through! I figured I had back my $50.00 and her $20.00. But she says well just let me play a few more games. She wasn't winning anything but thought she might hit the "one" jackpot. I sat and watched her play and I kept getting so tired, I thought, I'll go out in the lobby where I can lay down on one of the benches! Barbara said that she was almost through herself! When I was out there, it kept getting quieter and quieter and finally I asked the desk clerk what time it was. He said it's 1:30! I then asked him to page Barbara. She came tearing out and wanted to know what was the matter and I told her I'm tired and it's time to go home! She told me O.K. just let her cash out and she would be right out! Well at least a half hour later she came and we got the shuttle to take us to her car in the parking lot. We were chatting all the way home when all of a sudden she says "Why is that cop following us? I wasn't speeding!" Well we pulled over and this officer came over and asked politely "And where have you ladies been? As if I didn't know!" Anyway Barbara asked him why he had pulled us over and he said that when we had passed him he noticed that one of her wheels was acting funny and just wanted to tell her she had better find out what was wrong with it! I, in the meantime, could see us in the pokey for something or other! We were not far from home and the cop said we would be Okay but that he would follow us in case anything went wrong, which he did! I came in the house and here was Tom, practically pacing the floor with a "Where have you been" I told him "yes, Daddy, calm down and I'll tell you!!" Of course he did calm down but afterwards, I thought nobody's going to believe this!!!

Not too much good news....

But I got to thinking about the winters in Idaho and Washington. It was really fun as children to use our sleds and go flying down some hill only to fall off into the soft white snow! Then as I got older there were the sleigh rides. Someone would come up with a wagon or a big sleigh and it was full of hay. The boys and girls piled into it and then off we would go, singing the latests songs, laughing, once in awhile a sly "hand-squeeze" from some boy that you "kind of" liked! After some time, riding around for an hour, we would stop at someone's house for cookies and "yum! yum! Good hot chocolate! Then after maybe another hour of "partying" we would be dropped off at our respective homes! Then there were the taffy "pulls" Kind of messy and sticky but nevertheless a lot of fun! And a lot of work to pull the taffy into the good white, or pink taffy ropes. They then would be cut into pieces and of course everyone got some to take home! When Spring finally came we were ready for it but still the good times of winter lingered on!