Things in general...

Steve sent a blog today about today's readings at Church. It was about Lot and his wife and how God told them they could leave Sodom and He would give them a chance to rebuild a new life elsewhere. But no, Lot's wife had to look back! I was thinking too about this blog and how I am "looking back" so to speak in order to leave a sort of legacy for my Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren! And in a way I think this kind of looking back is good, because it gives them, my "younguns" a chance to see where we or I, in my old age, made a lot of mistakes, and also we, as a country, made a lot of mistakes!!!! I guess if one looks at it in this way, life is a "merry-go-round"! It is what we do about the mistakes that makes the difference. If we can help it, (and sometimes we can't do anything about the mistakes we make) but trying to do better, I guess is what I am trying to say, makes us better people. It's the one's who shrug it all off with an attitude, a "the world owes me a living attitude" that bother me! There are those who don't vote and haven't ever voted, and I do know a few people that don't, but groan and moan about everything! I think that we have to have an opinion and I think we have a right to express it!! Whether things go "our" way or not!!! The world, to me, is in a big spin and I would like to slow it down some but that's not the way things work! In a way I wish I could go back about seventy years and think things out more! I wouldn't have given up Cappy or my kids, but maybe I could have made life a bit easier for them!!! I don't know!!! What you get is what you get! Sorry about that! I love you all anyway and wish I could have made you all millionaires or something but that's not all there is to life either! "Get off here Mom, Grandma, Great-grandma, Aunt, Cousin, etc. Go eat something and then go sit down and relax! You are good at that!"

Bug and other things...

I was thinking this morning about how to get rid of some of the bugs which are eating some of my plants and then I got to thinking about how that might make a good blog! Last night I went in to my bedroom to turn down the bed, (is that phrase too old fashioned for you guys?) and when I came out of the bedroom I saw what looked like a piece of black fuzz or lint. I took my cane, (thank goodness!) and tried to push it around to make sure it was fuzz or lint and the thing started to move. It wasn't moving very fast so I went back into my bedroom and picked up a "Kleenex" and came back and picked it up, with that, a big old spider!!! Ugh! I think it came in under my screen door or in the door while I was letting Rose outside to go home! I shut the door right away and since I had my fan on and the window open was plenty cool enough so I didn't have to keep the door open! I, after picking up the spider and giving him the ride of his life in the toilet, sat down in my lounge chair. I started some of my prayers and reached over to pick up a booklet and here was some kind of "bug" sitting on the booklet! I thought, where are they coming from? Needless to say I felt creepy and crawly for quite awhile, even after I got in bed!! Mark, one of my nephews said at my party to give him a call and he would come over and spray my plants or whatever. I haven't called him yet about it but I seriously think I will this weekend!

Then I got to thinking about gophers, those stinking little things that make piles of dirt all over the lawn and anyplace else they can and are so hard to get rid of!!! There is one in our yard here and there is a neighborhood cat that sits right by the mounds of dirt hoping I think for a good meal! When we lived in Fresno, I had so many gophers in my yard! They would pull my tomato plants or any other thing right down into their "nests"! I thought one day, I'll get you so I got the hose and I started finding out where the holes were and started filling them up with water. Not smart, I was standing there putting water into one hole after another and looked down and here between my feet was a really wet gopher!!!! I screamed and dropped the hose, the neighbors came running over and I will bet to this day they are talking about that!!! When Cappy came home from work I told him and he went to the store and got a few "gopher bombs" put them down into the holes and covered them up and well, for awhile we didn't have any more gophers there!!!! My Father, when I was little used to take stryknine (I know that isn't spelled right!) and he would dig around the mounds and find out where the hole was that the gopher had come out of and take a long, really long-handled big spoon and quickly take the lid off the can of poison and dump a spoonful into each hole. He had to cover the can each time he took a spoonful out of it because it was not only deadly poison to smell but also to ingest!!! How I know that is because one time when I was very small, those terrible winds we had in Wawawai had blown down the sack where my father had put the poison in the garage rafters and I took the spoon and I guess tried to lick the spoon. I came into the house gagging and my mother wanted to know what I had done, (she was nursing a baby at the time) and anyway, I took her out to the garage and showed her the "spoon"! She called the Dr. who was 20 miles away and he told her to give me some warm lard to get me to vomit. She put some lard in a spoon and put it on the stove. Yup, you guessed it, I did throw up but I had a blister on my tongue for days!! The Dr did get there on time or I wouldn't be doing this "blogging"!!! Bye.

Footware??????

Someone sent me an E-Mail the other day with some of the most ridiculous shoes on it that I have ever seen and the article said that these were really shoes and women were buying and wearing them!!!! Ouch!!!!! They were the most outlandish "heels"! I was one that even as a child I liked to go barefoot, mainly in the summer because where I lived up in the states of Washington and Idaho, it was too cold to go without shoes in the winter!!! I had as a child, "Mary Janes" which were patent leather shoes that really had a good shine on them! In later years, some folks were saying that you could see the girls panties in them. Well let me tell you, in my day they wouldn't have been able to see much!!!! We wore bloomers and sometimes they were black. BUT... they covered your whole behind and then some they had elastic around the waist and also around the legs which hung down to your knees!!!! When I became a teenager, I started wearing silk stockings, (not nylons, they came later!) but before that our stockings were cotton and came up over the knees and we wore garters to hold them up!! Garter belts, I guess they were. And then the shoes, which were usually good sturdy oxfords and you got one pair if you were lucky, a year!! After I started wearing the silk stocking the style changed for them and we started to roll them down below the knees and then were rolled over elastic bands called "garters!" That was quite the fad, the rolled hosiery!! Then after I got out of High school and started to buy my own shoes or, at least was able to tell my parents what I wanted in the way of shoes and stockings, I bought "heels". They were not as high as the ones that I have seen advertised in some of the recent catalogs, but they were miserable too but what the heck!!! That's what everybody was wearing!!! The highest, I think, that I ever wore were about three inches high! Do I have to tell you as soon as I got home from a date or wherever, my shoes come off and I felt soooo good!!!! Shoes also started either being square toes, round toes or pointed toes!!! These pointed toes were terrible. One's feet were crammed into a space meant for about three toes and since you were in "heels" they really were "crammed" into a tiny space!!! But as I said before, style is style and you HAD to be in "style" When I look at my poor feet today and have to wear "flats" and I do mean "flats" I really thank my lucky stars that I can't be "stylish" anymore!!! I have a bone on the top of my feet and high arches and so when I wear anything that has to press down on that bone, Wow, more misery!!! Now for a little secret! (I still take my shoes off as soon as I get in the house and either "slop" around in a pair of sloppy slippers, or, you guessed it! I walk around barefoot!!!! Second childhood, but, oh how good it feels to let my feet free!!!!!!!!

Guardian Angels...

I don't know where I got the idea of calling my Guardian Angel "George"! It just sort of came to me one day years ago and I was very exasperated about something and out of my mouth came this," Okay, George, why aren't you helping me????" And whatever it was that I was exasperated about eased up and so from then on, I have called my Guardian "George"! I thought I was rather weird until one day about ten or twelve years ago, a bunch of us got to talking during Bible class and this one "Old" lady, (for those of you who knew her, she was Louise St. Marie!) said that she had named her Guardian Angel "Agnes" quite a number of years ago! I perked up and asked a few other people and I guess I'm not the only weird one in the world!!! Seemed that everybody in the room had a favorite "name" for their "special" angel!!! I don't know how many times "George" has helped me get through a day, find a convenient parking spot, gave me a bit of humor when I needed it and a shoulder to cry on when I get "EXASPERATED"!!!!! I told my sister Barbara about it and she promptly named hers!!! I have asked "him" to calm me down to get a night's sleep when I begin to think that I was never going to get to sleep!! Father Matt O'Connell when he was having our Bible class asked us one day, "how many people in here have given special names to their Guardian Angels?" I asked him what about himself and he told us that he had named his Guardian when he was still a boy! So Steve, you're not off your "rocker" so to speak and I'm sure that "George", "Laurence", "Agnes" and whoever, are pleased that we think about them once in awhile in a personal way even if it is in desperation!!! Try it and I'm sure your "special" angel will show you just how special "it" is. Since it is a creature, again, so to speak, of God!!!

Yesterday!!!!

Whew what a day! I woke up fairly early for me and got up at 8:00 and made my bed, straightened up the house a little and as usual, before all that, I said my Morning Prayers, which consist of the Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Offering ( to give my whole day to God, every thought, word, and action!) Anyway, I fixed my breakfast and brought in my morning paper, (piece of junk!) And then waited for Steve's call to come over and take me for groceries and to Mass last night which we had prearranged on Friday night! Steve came earlier than I expected but I was in the process of having my shower and cleaning up for my grocery jaunt! We went first to Staples to get some new ink for my printer and Steve said he was hungry and so we went to Coco's and had lunch!!! It was already that time. After lunch we went to the store for my groceries! Good thing! If I had to wait another day or so I would have really been out of things!!! I got so tired pushing the cart, (mainly for balance, I had left my cane in the car!) I was getting out of breath! We got home at about 2:50 P.M. and I told Steve, "I am going to let you just put anything that will melt or spoil in the fridge or freezer and I am going to sit down and get my feet up or I'll never make it to Church tonight!!! " I'm going to have to learn, if I get groceries, that is what I will do that one day and all the rest on other days. We got good news last night about our "new" pastor. The Bishop had made Fr. Brandon the Administrator of the Parish and that means he will be, as I think, his training period to becoming our Pastor!! He is really a fine young man and someone that was really needed here for a long time. Since Fr. Hayes passed away, he has been "acting Pastor" until now!!! He really got a standing ovation!!!! I had to laugh because as he was leaving the Altar I saw him wink at someone and give them a grin, and it dawned on me that it was Steve! Steve told me when I got in the car that he had given Fr. a "thumbs up!" and that is when he looked over our way with that special little look that he does for, what I think is , when he wants to acknowledge them! Steve said that every now and then if he is in the area he goes to Mass at St. Anne's and if Fr. Brandon happens to be the one saying the Mass that night or morning, they have some good "talks?" When he came here the first time to hear my Confession, he looked at the family picture of Steve and Marilyn and he told me "Hey, I know that guy! He comes to Church here a lot!" So I told him that was my son, and that he was working for a couple of weeks at the U-Hall across the street from here, (or practically across the street!) So a few times when Steve and I have been to Church together, he stands and talks to us afterwards!!! He's the Priest, for any of you that came to my Birthday Bash and attended the Mass at 10:30, who had me stand up and he came down and gave me a "special" Blessing!

Now to get back to "My Day" (thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt for the title!) I was really so tired when I got home from Church, I wanted to have my supper but there was a call on my message machine from Bob, ( in fact, two of them!) so I called him and then fixed my supper, which consisted of 1/2 of the Burger I had brought home with me from Coco's and a couple of cookies that I bought at the store! I still had all my evening prayers to say, etc. and I was so beat at about 11:30 P.M. I could hardly breathe, so I decided to give up and go to bed! My arms and shoulders were hurting from pushing the grocery cart. It was so heavy but still I needed the cart for my balance!! I don't think I even watched any T.V. I turned it on in my bedroom but didn't even turn up the sound!!! I had taken my Rosary to bed with me and I said most of it I think, because when I woke up this morning, I still had it in my hand and only had one decade to go!!!!! Thanks Steve for a nice day with you but let's next time try and figure out something else! I may have to get hold of Sue, Barbara's daughter and find out which day she is off during the week to pick up my groceries! She has offered me several times but I like to go and pick up a few things myself! ( That's the wrong thing to do because I really spend more when I do my own shopping!) She has a different day off every week now and never knows until she goes to work on Monday morning!!! Ho-Hum!!!! Think I'll go and sit down again with my feet up!!!

Forgiveness....

All is forgiven even if that old "devil" tried to make me feel otherwise!!!! And I was going to write you and tell you how things in a "child's" eye are different than they are in an adults eye. I had a great day yesterday. To start out with, my friend, Anne, came over at 7:00 and took me to get the blood test that I have been putting off too long. Not really, my Dr. appt. is week after next. Anyway, we left the Lab and we had already decided that if we got out of there early enough we would stop by for Mass. So, even if we were a bit late, (Fr. Joe was giving the homily and must have just started because it was pretty long.) So we were technically "on time"! That being the case and after visiting with a couple of old friends (outside the Church) Anne asked me if I was hungry and I told her yes "but let me take you to breakfast!"She would hear none of that and we went to that place on Lodi Ave. and School St. The name escapes me but the waitress told us that it had been "bought out" by another outfit and the name was changing! We had a great talk about Anne's recent retreat to Peru and how beautiful it is down there! She brought me home and then I had a visit from my friend Thelma! I had seen her at Mass and she said she just wanted to drop in on both Rose and I and say hello! They stayed about a half hour which meant it was time for my "noon" prayers. I was very tired last night because I got out of bed at 5:30 A.M. so I would have time to pray, and clean up to get ready to go with Anne. Somewhere along the line yesterday I had read or seen some thing about a picture of the Blessed Virgin called "Our Lady of the Book". Later on yesterday afternoon after "blogging", etc. I went to my bookcase and saw a picture, framed that must have been among some of my brother Bob's things when we helped him move from Lodi. Lo and behold, when looking at it, I remembered that it was "Our Lady of the Book"!!! It is really a lovely picture and why I hadn't paid that much attention to it before I'll never know!! In it Our Lady is holding the child Jesus and there is what looks like a Bible on a table, open, as though she was reading it, and the Child Jesus, like any "little one" would do, has his hand on the book, but he is looking at her and on His wrist is a small bracelet like a "crown of thorns"!!! It's kind of spooky in a way that I had never really looked at it before and in fact I was looking for something else on the bookshelf! You, Steve, will have to see it. Remind me when you get home. I also found on my bookshelf two copies, hardbound, of a small book written by Robert Moynihan. The title of the book is The Spiritual Vision of Benedict XVI, "Let God's Light Shine Forth". I have no idea where they came from but you can have one of them!!! Maybe they were among some of Barbara's things that the girls brought over after her death!!!! So I do have the picture in my living room and like I said, It's been quite a couple of days!!!

Excuse me!!!!!!!

It was my story and I am going to stick with it!!!! But as long as you kids had fun!!! I didn't remember too much about you doing too much or Bill!!!! And You might have had fish for breakfast but I didn't!!!! I'm an old bacon and eggs gal!!!! You really ruined my whole story, boo, hoo!!! Oh well, I've got another to tell you about when we went to Shaver Lake one time with Flo and Bob and the little ones they had then and Bob and Marilyn and I guess probably Tim and Brian and Mark because I definitely remember Angela's being there!!!! She talks about it yet! Bob had a rowboat that was either his or one that he borrowed for the weekend, and we had all got together and rented this BIG sort of resort house that had a loft and several bedrooms, etc. It must have been after your Dad died because I don't remember him being there at all. Bob had life-jackets for everybody or I think you could rent them! Anyway, he decided to take me and a bunch of the kids, probably the four I mentioned with him out on the Lake. We were having a great old time when some freak, (like in Tom's case!) in a speed boat kept going around and around us and trying to tip us over! He finally made it but not before all the kids grabbed Bob and me and held on for dear life!! We were all in the lake and the boat had not sunk but was trying to. Another boat came along, a cruiser, someone actually just trying to enjoy themselves out on the water. They picked us all up and took us and the boat back to shore!!! I don't remember what happened, about the speedboat, I was just too thankful to be back on shore. But Angela tells me to this day about the time Uncle Bob tried to drown her!!!! We did have a good weekend but nobody tried to go boating again. We probably lost the oars!!! I do also remember the people in the boat that picked us up saying that they had been watching that bunch of "punks" in the speedboat! So maybe they reported them. Like I said, I don't remember all that.

Goin' Campin' Part II--Tom's version

Sorry, Mom, but I just had to log on to your blog and tell the same story from a 5-year old's perspective--Tom's. When I read your entry today, it immediately reminded me of the story Tom wrote in his diary that I copied in my family remembrance titled, "The Man in the Boat". I think it is one that shows Tom's appreciation for Dad. It is an entertaining story that spotlights Tom's respect for Dad, and some of the "tricks" Dad used to teach us more than we could ever learn from books.

"WHO NEEDS A FISHING POLE?"
One time we went camping as a family-- (I think it was the only time)—and to me it seemed like it took an eternity to get there. So far, this "jives" with your story, Mom.
My dad had inherited an old Lincoln Continental from the next-door neighbor who had died. He had fixed all the power windows, radio and engine "stuff", and gave me my first experience in what it was like to wax a car.

-----Anyway, back to the story-------
We drove and drove and drove through winding roads until we reached an area that appeared to be little more than a turnout in the road. I remember it was called "Strawberry Creek." Well, he was close. "Peppermint", "Strawberry"--to a kid it's all the same.
We had to carry all our stuff along some trails for about a mile. Again, as a kid it probably seemed like a mile. We made camp just where a creek trembled out of a mountain crevasse, twisted and turned around evergreen stands and fern, and ended in a small pond. The total distance from the crevasse to the pond was about one hundred yards. Then, the first creek was joined by a few others at the pond and became a decent stream or brook.

We set up camp along the creek (about 25 feet away) and we kids were turned loose to explore. Personally, I was determined (as always) to have one hell of a good time. That night, I think Dad made tacos. How he remembered tacos instead of hot dogs is a mystery to me. I'm sure it was hot dogs, because I wasn't much into ANY Mexican food. Of course we had a marshmallow roast after dinner. Funny, I don't remember talking much that night.

Early the next morning, we got up to go fishing. Off I marched behind my father and brother, with my hand-me-down pole from my brother along with a small paper sack containing hooks, sinkers, and a can of whole-kernel corn.

My pole was a type commonly known as a "bait-casting" reel outfit. This was a fishing pole designed to catch fish using live baits such as minnows, frogs, and the like. To the trained fisherman, this outfit can deliver the lure or bait to a spot within one foot of his target. To a five-year-old, this was like an open bobbin of thread on a pencil with a rock tied to the end. As I cast, the bobbin spun faster than the line went out, causing what is commonly known as a "bird's nest."

It was quite a catastrophe for a five-year-old kid. I quickly learned, however, that "slow and easy" made the reel work just fine. The bigger problem was in knowing when a fish was on the line. As it was my first time fishing, I had no idea what to do or when to know that I had a fish.

Enter the "Master"!
My dad soon noticed my dilemma and came over to see if he could show me how to successfully accomplish the task at hand and "snag" one. Oddly, he seemed inept at managing the reel and was decidedly uncomfortable using the reel combo--could this be? My DAD; Righter of wrongs, fixer of things, improviser extraordinaire--boggled???

I was brought back to reality by words I had never heard before--and LOTS of 'em! He pulled and tugged, tugged and pulled and finally, in a fit of exasperation did the worst of all possible things…he got out his pocketknife. My dad was going to cut up my fishing pole! I started screaming and whining as if he were using the knife on me, when all he really did was cut the line just before the bird's nest on the reel. He quickly pulled the old line and bird's nest off the pole and then did something else I didn't expect. He set the pole aside, took me by the hand, and said he wanted to teach me an "old Indian trick"

As I followed him up the hillside away from camp, I wondered what in the world he was doing…Mom was waiting for us to bring back breakfast! He stopped abruptly in a grove of saplings and cut two sturdy pole-like lengths from the stand. "But Dad, " I explained, "we already have a fishing pole."

"I don't know what the ###//!!!???### that thing was for, but catching fish isn't one of them! C'mon, your mother's waiting on us." Down the hill we went. I didn't like the taste of dust from his boots as he slid down the shallow cliff to the creek bed. There, he took two lengths of line from my fishing pole and made us each a "Huck Finn"-type pole. "Now we'll catch some breakfast," he assured me.

I could smell the smoke from our fire as my dad baited our hooks and began to do some serious fishing. For a while I just watched HIM--his very soul focused on what I later learned was the line tension and the easily recognizable tug of a rainbow or brook trout. All of a sudden, he snapped back on the pole, as though some horrible scene had shocked him into action. To my amazement there was a fish! An honest-to-God humongous flip-floppin' trout! "Do it again, Dad!" I shouted, busting at the seams with excitement.

He looked down at me and, seeing my disbelief and wonderment, put the fish back securely on the hook and placed it back in the water. "Hold this," he said, and put the fishing line in my hand so that I could feel the snapping of the line as the fish tugged at it.

We caught a whole stringer full of fish for breakfast that morning using Dad's "old Indian trick". I remember we didn't even use a frying pan to cook the fish. Dad threw a couple of flat rocks directly into the campfire to get them hot, and we cooked the fish right on the rocks. Delicious!



In loving memory of Tom Farnsworth

Goin' campin'!

Let me tell you a story about camping and me!!!! I like being in the woods and all that and as I've said before, I love a lake or stream or even a creek for that matter! BUT! I also like a comfy bed at night and a bathroom, etc. One Memorial Day or Labor Day, I'm not sure which, the three boys that I still had at home begged their Father and I to take them camping! To show you how much camping we did, we didn't make any reservations and thought we would just drive from the San Fernando Valley to Lake Isabella to go camping. My brother Don told us he had a nice big tent and sleeping bags, etc. for camping and we were more than welcome to borrow them. So we got the "equipment" and took off on this "Holiday weekend" after Cappy got off work at 5:00 P.M.! Wrong!!!!! We ran into the most traffic I had ever seen and we lived in L.A.! We absolutely crawled behind every R.V. that was ever made and followed all the directions to Lake Isabella which turned out to be the biggest mudhole I had aver seen and of course, no place to camp! Someone told us to go on up into the Mountains a little farther and there was a "Peppermint Creek" campground and we might be able to get s place there. We got a place and that is what it was, a place to put up our tent and they did have little fire-box type things to cook on but no bathrooms or any of the amenities so we could clean up, etc.!!! It was getting late so we proceeded to put up the tent and try to fix something to eat!!! Thank heavens for hot dogs!!!. We were right along the edge of "Peppermint" creek which was sort of pretty in a "small" way. There was a small waterfall which made a wading pool for the kids and of course we saw a small fish or two sailing along in it!!! It was too late for anything except going to bed that night and I swear that they put my sleeping bag on the only fallen limbs and debris around. We could hear coyotes howling in the night and after a certain time, I had to use the "bathroom" which Cappy told me would be a log to hang my fanny over! I was scared to death that some animal would take a bite out of me to say nothing of all the mosquitoes that we had seen around the tent!!! I made Cappy go with me because I didn't know, either, if there were other campers beyond where we were! He checked it all out and told me he would stand by and make sure nothing would "eat" me! Well, I'm not sure if I slept or not all night, but the next thing I knew Tommy was up and wanted to go fishing! We had a couple of fishing poles but they were for Cappy and Bill, I don't think Steve got into the fishing thing! Cappy cut a willow "pole" and put some of his fishing line on it and a safety pin for a hook! In the meantime, I'm trying to wash up in the creek and get to finding the cereal we had brought along and of course, we did have bacon and eggs. Cappy took Tom and got him situated by the little "falls" and came back and got breakfast while I folded up the sleeping bags, etc. (Oh yes, we planned on staying another night!) I sat aroung on a camp stool most of the day etc. but one of the best parts of the day was that Tom caught a fish with his willow pole and a safety pin for a hook!! He, of course, had to have that for his breakfast! The day was not too warm, after all we were in the mountains! There was another camper or two around and I visited with some of them, etc. We had dinner, (from some of the things that we had brought to eat!!!) That night was as bad as the first night for me but I did manage to "bathrooom" before it got dark. Early the next morning, we broke up camp and started home. Everybody that lived in So. Ca. had the same idea!!! We had to follow the Kern River for a little while and what should happen but we got a flat tire!!! As Steve can tell you the road up there is not an arterial highway and we pulled over as far as we could to fix the flat and at this place, the River was "way down there!" After a lot of cussing on Cappy's part, the tire got changed and we were on our way again. Then we hit Highway 99, which was the main highway into Los Angeles in those days! Traffic was backed up all the way over the Grapevine, and we didn't get home till about 8:00 P.M. or after and we had left camp at about 9:00 that morning!!! Everybody was tired and cranky and hungry, etc. AND I VOWED AS OF THEN, THAT THERE WOULD BE NO MORE CAMPING FOR ME!!!!!! I do remember going one more time after I moved up here to the Valley going up to Silver Lake, and that, even though it was somewhat better, was IT!!!!!!!!!!

Weather and what we do about it!

It has been so hot today! I haven't looked at a thermometer but it was supposed to reach about 102 or 103! It was warm when I first got up today which was much earlier than my 9:00 or 10:00 A.M.! I, in fact opened the door, locked the screen and went in to take my shower! I decided that a "tepid" shower would work for today! Cool me off, but keep me cooler!(or so "they" say!)! We went to the 10:30 Mass and lo and behold the Church was really nice. Not too cold but nice and cool! First time since last Fall sometime that I was able to go to Church without wearing a sweater at least. Even though it's warm, the Church seems cold, cold!!! I started thinking about seeing the kids on the News last night having fun in the American River in Sacramento! When we were kids, we just turned on the "sprinkler" in the front yard and could spend hours out there! Even though we were about 2 miles from the Snake River in Washington, we never went swimming there! Some of our cousins did, in the River near where their farms were. The River was a little tamer there. I can remember my Father telling me how when he was younger, swimming across the Snake River. To me, at that time in my life,that seemed like quite a feat!!!But we did cool off on a hot day in the yard under the sprinkler. Then when we moved into Couer d'Alene, Idaho, we had the beautiful Couer d'Alene Lake. When we first went there none of us kids in the family could swim, but we still made it to the Lake and dangled our feet in the water, getting sunburned like a beet!!! Then I learned to swim! A cousin of mine, a few years older came to visit and I was sitting on the dock dangling my feet and he asked me if I could swim. I told him no and he pushed me off the dock and into the water! I sank like a lead balloon and I opened my eyes and I could see everything on the bottom of the Lake and I started to wave my arms and kick my feet and I slowly came to the surface! I was absolutely beside myself! I had enough sense to use my feet and arms to keep myself from drowning!!! Well, there was no keeping me away from the Lake all Summer long, even if I had to walk down there by myself!!! But I usually had enough brothers and sisters with me to keep me company and they all learned how to swim by just jumping off the dock and into the water! That was one of the most enjoyable times of my childhood! When we moved to California, I loved going to the Pacific Ocean and even though one didn't "swim" there, I loved jumping the waves, etc. I loved to lay flat on my stomach and float in to shore on a wave, etc. seaweed and all!! The Ocean was so restful to me to just sit on a quiet beach, (if you could find one) and just listen to the waves roll in and the seagulls squacking away. I could sit there like that for an hour or two. I found out about the Ocean, that even on cloudy days one could get quite a sunburn! But it was worth it! I have been to some of my relative's swimming pools in later years and find it extremely comforting! Wonder if it is because I am a Pisces? Or whatever that Horoscope rot is!!! I like rainy days, too, and I love looking at beautiful Falls, no matter how small or big they are!!! I guess I've rambled on enough for tonight.

Blue-jays and me????

When Cappy and I moved into Northridge, Ca., the house had a nice "garden spot" out behind the garage. Cappy loved to plant gardens and he really had a "green thumb" when it came to taking care of them. Anyway, he went out to this garden spot and had to clean it up first! Seemed that the former tenants didn't care where they threw their garbage, cans, bottles, etc. (Actually, the whole yard there was a mess when we moved in!!!) I helped Cappy clear up the trash which took a couple of days and then we hauled it to the garbage dump. So then Cappy got out his trusty shovel and began to spade up the place. There were plenty of worms being turned out of their homes because the trash, etc. made it a perfect place for them to grow. He told me one day, when he was digging up what seemed like the whole backyard, that there was a Bluejay that followed right behind him to eat the worms! He didn't seem at all afraid of Cappy, (who wouldn't have harmed a feather on him!) and every day he was out there. This went on for the few years we lived there. Every time Cappy went to the "garden" there was the Bluejay! Cappy got sick while we were there and eventually died while we lived there. I did not want to live in the house anymore and told my landlord so, and with the help of Bob and my two youngest, Steve and Tom, we moved over to Bob's till I could find an apartment or something! I was feeling so blue and alone day but I looked around at Bob's and there was a Bluejay! It was as though he was saying, "I'll be watching out for you!" Well, we did find an apartment and one of the first birds, I saw out the window was a bluejay!After a year, Steve and Tom and I decided to move up to the foothills to live. Cappy and I had been looking for property up there anyway just before he died! Barbara and Babe helped us move our things into this old house with gingerbread, etc. and so a new life began! I was pretty restless for the first few days, wondering what was going to happen to us! I was standing in the kitchen, looking out into the backyard and there was a.... you guessed it! A bluejay and he just hopped around and kept looking up at the window. I suddenly had a calmness come over me and decided that everything was going to be alright! When I moved to Lodi, (I had to go to work because the boys were not getting any Social Security anymore and therefore I wasn't getting any either!) You guessed it again, that darned Bluejay was right outside my window the first few days that I moved in. It isn't that I see those birds all the time but I don't care when or what kind of weather we have, it shows up!!! Kind of a "reassurance!" The other day, I don't know if I told Steve or not but I have been having such a time trying to be healthy, etc. I really got to feeling pretty "blue?" I didn't even think about that bird or "those" birds! But what should come flying right up to the carport and sit there and look at me but a Bluejay!!! I'm not supersticious but... I guess God has been sending me them to remind me that I am not alone and that He is there for me!!!! Before any of you get any ideas that I am losing my mind, ask some of my kids! I have told them about the birds at one time or another after I happened to see one! Well, I'll go and have something to eat now and let you all talk about "poor old Grandma! She's lost it!"

Sometimes I wonder?????

Every once in awhile when I try to sign on I get a blank to fill in and I usually have to sign in my password two or three times, and always the same, very carefully, and yet they tell me it is incorrect. I try one more time and Bingo!!!! Either I am crazy or this machine can't remember what my name is!!!! Enough of that! Anyway was thinking about yesterday and since it was Mother's Day celebrated it with my son Steve. Up to now,or rather, up to this year, I generally celebrated it with my sister Barbara and some of her family. Not that I couldn't have gone to Steve's but Marilyn has a large family and they would celebrate it at one one the other's homes or up at their cabin in the woods ( a family tradition, which is O.K. I love family and particularly family traditions!) However, since Barbara passed away last Sept. and the only close one's around are her family, (I hate being a pest, even though I have a standing invitation to any of their homes!) when Steve called and invited me to be with them in Stockton, it was great! I am still trying to get over my Birthday Bash and a couple of things that have happened since but decided I really had to get out of the house!!! The day was perfect weatherwise and to begin with Steve came over and took me to Church here at my Parish Church at 10:30 and we went directly to Stockton. My youngest little "flower" Lilliana was in great spirits and kept the family laughing at her all day!!!! I wanted so much to take her and hold her but was afraid I might drop her! That didn't deter her though, she went from one to the other grinning, giggling, and showing off that she "might" if everyone didn't watch out, say a few words or so!!!! The day couldn't have been more perfect, as I said before, but after all, it was Mother's Day and I'm sure God's Mother was making sure it was O.K. for everyone!!!!Marilyn said it was going to be a "light" lunch but when we all got there, there was plenty of goodies to gnsw on till the barbecue was ready. We "just" had hamburgers and sausages from the barbeque and there was s couple of salads, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, etc. for the "burgers". Then Marilyn brought out dessert, or should I say desserts? We had strawberry shortcake, a mousse-like chocolate pie and a fruit pie, (looked like peach!) I had a hamburger and with mine I had a few chips, (I had been guzzling out on the snacks!) then Marilyn asked me what I wanted for dessert, and I guess I should have said "everything!" But I chose the strawberries. So Sarah, bless her heart put her plate down by me and she had some of "everything" with the admonition, "Now Grandma, just watch this, don't eat it!" The more I "watched that chocolate pie, the more it beckoned to me and so when she came back I told her, I changed my mind, I do want a piece of that Chocolate pie!! So she brought me a piece and it was yummy!!!! Any way after we took a few pictures (generation pictures with Lily) I decided I had better get into the house where I could put my feet up as they were really getting swollen. That was kind of a signal I guess, because some of them began to leave and I told Steve I thought it was time for me to go too. I had to stop and get a few? groceries. I was about out and so thought I might just as well get what I needed. I was well "beat" when I got home but thanks to you and Marilyn, it was nice to get out of the house for the day. When I got home, the message machine on the phone was loaded and so I called back the different one's and let them know I was now home!!!! By the time I got my prayers said, it was 11:00 P.M. but I got up yesterday morning at 7:00 A.M. so it was a long day for me. But I did sleep well last night, I just nibbled a few things here for my dinner but I figured I had made up for it at Steve's. Believe me, if I had been hungry, I would not have slept like I did!! Thank you all for the wonderful gifts and the phone calls, etc. That is called "Family" folks!!!

;

Time and trouble....

Has it really been THAT long since my last blog? I shock myself!!!! I thought that I had typed in later than 4/22! Maybe I didn't send it after I typed it!!!! Do you suppose???? Guess I told you all about my friend and "taxi-driver" Rose falling and breaking her arm!!! I told her that little Chihuahua that some one of her family had given her was going to be the death of her yet!!! He is so hyper!!!! Well, after he pulled away from her and caught his leash on her ankle and she fell AND broke her arm, she decided too, that he was too much for her! So she gave him back to her Grandson who gave him to her and he found another home for it!! But Rose in the meantime has been staying at her son's house and came home yesterday for the daytime but will stay nights with some of her family for awhile. It's great to have her back!!! She said that she can't wait now to get back to driving her car so she and I can at least have a way to get us to Church!! Of course right now she can't do too much. Broke her arm near the shoulder so has to use a sling. She said the Dr. told her to keep up the exercises he has given her and before she knows it she will be O.K., but for her now time, she says, seems to drag! I seemed to be doing great here and all of a sudden got a running off the bowels, and a nausea. Don't know whether it was a 24 hour thing or not. Figured out it couldn't have been anything that I ate! Well, I called Steve that evening and he brought over some Pepto-Bismol and so I did get to feeling better. He left and went home about 11:00. The next day felt O.K. and I ate kind of light all day and then on Saturday got a scare when I had my usual trip to the bathroom. Looked like my stool was black and it was!!! That scared me and so I called Steve. He said he was ready to take off from work anyway and would come and take me to the Emergency Room. After 7 hours there, they decided that I was O.K. except that they were going to gve me an antibiotic because of a Urinal infection that I apparently still had from about two weeks ago. Then I found out from my son Bob, and when I got home, and I had a call on my answering machine from a niece who is an R.N. and I had called her earlier in the day about my problem and she and Bob both told me that Pepto-Bismol will do that!!! However, both the hospital and Sue told me that I did the right thing by going to the ER! Which made me feel like not quite the fool that I was feeling like!!!! Went to the Dr. then on Monday which was a regular visit and she also told me I did the right thing!!! Quite a weekend, and with all the coming and going and doing, I feel like I have been put through a wringer!!!! started feeling a little better yesterday, (maybe it was the visit from Rose!!!! We have known each other for at least 20 years and have been neighbors for that long!) But I tend to think that it was getting all the antibiotics out of me!! Oh yes, the Dr. told me not to take anymore of those and in fact took me off all the infection medicine!!!! So I guess maybe my system is getting back to "normal?".
Read your last blog today, Steve, and I wouldn't know what to tell you about giving to the poor!! Did you say you had talked to Fr. John about the man? One never knows, does one? There is a lot of good people out there, like you, and then it's getting to the point to where you never know whether you are being "conned" or not. There are agencies like the Salvation Army, etc. that do feed the poor and don't ask any questions about it! So why is this man standing outside a Church and it seems like day after day and always or almost always a different story? Maybe if he didn't get the handouts there, he wouldn't be standing there!!! Who knows? Father Hayes told some of the guys who used to do that at St. Anne's that they should come to the Rectory and they would give them a voucher to get food and or clothing through the St. Vincent de Paul Society or the Salvation Army. I don't know why but we don't seem to have them around the Church doors any more!!! Think about it!! Thank you for all your help to me when I need it! My problem is that I'm afraid to be taking too much time of you time away from your family!!! Believe me it is appreciated! Times are so tough these days! Seems like only prayer and good works are the only answer!!Well now that I have given you my Drs. report and my advice on how you should live, I'll sign off for this time!!! All I want for Mother's Day is prayers and I know that I have that from my family, but a little better health would be a plus!!!

Games we played as Kids...

Growing up in the early part of the 1900's was such a simple time of life. No, we didn't have a pile of Nintendo's or other T.V. games or things that most kids of today think they have to have! We played games!! Tag, Kick the Can, Hopscotch, Hide and Seek, Jump Rope,etc. How many of you older readers remember those games? Those were the "outdoor" games and of course, what boy didn't have a pocketful of Marbles to play Marbles with his friends? We had real fun, running, yelling,and of course once in awhile ("you cheated! You watched where I was hiding!" ) or some other accusation. But it was all in fun and we could in the summer months get out of the house after supper (as it was called in those days, dinner now!) and we would play till dark! There were so many places to hide when playing Hide and Seek!!! The houses weren't practically touching each other! We had big yards! I myself loved to Jump Rope! I know you, that is, many of you know how to Jump Rope! And you could get pretty fancy at it, like trying to jump over two ropes almost weaving! Another game I liked was Hop-scotch. This you drew a bunch of squares in a certain form and then you had to have a stone or something that was "yours" and you could not hop into any square that your partner/partners were occupying and if you made it all the way to the end of the hop-scotch figure without of course not stepping on any lines and hoping all the way, you could then move your game piece, (rock or whatever), up snother square. I can't remember all there was to it now but we could play a game of hop-scotch for hours. Tag or Hide and seek, Kick the can, Run, Sheep Run were played by getting all the kids in the neighborhood involved. We looked forward to our games in the Summer evenings. Usually our parents would be sitting on a "front porch" (Heaven forbid,these days!) but some of the other parents would gather with your parents and I guess maybe they were there to referee to make sure (all was fair in love and war!) In the winter we played checkers, chess, if you were more advanced, Dominoes,and there was all kinds of card games, "Old Maid", Go Fish", "Rummy", "Hearts" etc. They went on and on!!!! Such a simple, easy way to live and have fun! And it didn't cost a pile of money! When I think or read about some of the games the kids of today "have to have", I just shudder!!!! And most of the games are just sitting infront of a game board on T.V. or on a couch,etc. No wonder today that they are becoming "couch potatoes!" Hope you enjoy this! I'm not against having fun, but come on guys! Why put your bucks in all that stuff???

A few....

Just read your blog Steve, and what a great day you must have had or rather evening!!!!! I have been to a few of those myself with the big Mexican families and years ago there were those kind of families! Sorry to say a lot of them, Mexican families, have seemed to "bit the dust", as so many American Catholic families have. I, too, enjoyed "Mercy Sunday here by myself and the great EWTN! I watched from about 1:30 on Sunday, had a bite to eat and then watched the Devotions until 11:P.M. I said so many chaplets, that pretty soon I forgot to count!!! What a great Sunday! The only thing that could have made it better was for a few more of the family to attend, but that's what you get when you have a large family and get really, really old! The family is scattered from here to there! Wish I could have had Lily and Alicia and Lorenzo there! I got my reward with Lily yesterday though! She was asleep when Alicia came over to take me to the Dr. and she slept quite awhile after we were there! My appt. was late getting started so she did wake up, ate and then started to smile at me and it was so great!!!! Thank God that I still have some family nearby!! I started to feel a little guilty about keeping Alicia out so long but she was so kind to me and of course when I got through with my appt. the baby had fallen asleep again and slept right through the ride home!!!! Just about in time for her next bottle, Alicia said. Getting back to the kind of a time that you had Steve, Sunday night, I feel good just thinking about it too. How was the food???

Sorry!!!!!

Hi one and all! I haven't been doing much for a few weeks since my fall! I reall took a good tumble but I am doing O.K. I think!!!! Will know more after I see the Dr. on Mon. This hasn't been a very good month for me! After I took my fall, things started going from bad to worse!!! I was doing what I thought was great for Lent and all and was getting ready to make all the Holy Week Services and wound up not even going to Mass on Easter!!!! I really feel lost! My friend, Rose, who I depend upon so much has been great, doing things for me as well as Barbara's girls and Teresa's Linda but yesterday after having brought me a lovely box of fresh strawberries, went home and decided to go to her Son's house for a few minutes. She has this little Chihuahua dog and he is quite a handful! She was trying to get him in the car and he broke away from her and tripped her and she fell and broke her left arm up near the shoulder!!! She made it to get up and called her son who took her to emergency and she called me about 7:00 and told me the bad news! She will be laid up for all of six to eight weeks!!! So she is going to stay over at her son's house for awhile and Lord know when she will be able to drive again!!! Funny, she told me just the other day that she was thinking about getting rid of her car and taking the Dial-A-Ride and I told her she would really be sorry and for her to drive as long as she could!!! Steve is taking me to Church tomorrow morning and Alicia is taking me to the Dr.'s on Monday! And from there on in I'm well just waiting to see what God has for her! And me!!! She doesn't drive me too much, but since she goes to Church every week she takes me and once in awhile she takes me to an appt. She picks up what few things I need grocery-wise between Sue's shopping day for me!!! But to look over there and see that there is so few people here anymore that I know!!! It's really scary!!!! Oh well, God's Will is what will be done!!! If I can make it to the Dr. appts, and have my food picked up, Steve or Alicia will see that I get to Church or one of the other friends I have here in town will do it! They told me at my Birthday Party that if I needed a ride anyplace just give them a call!I guess I'm feeling sorry for myself! Time to go in and Pray and ask God to take care of me like He Does and will continue to do so If only I can remember to put everything in His hands!!!!

Some childhood Memories!

Are you guys getting tired of these kind of blogs! I got a letter from my friend Thelma, ( my 8th grade teacher's daughter) today and she was telling me that after she and her daughter left my Birthday party, they went to Chico and then went up to Tri-Cities Wa. where another daughter lives and they, the two daughters and she really had a nice time visiting. But then she went into the Birthday Party and how she and her daughter really enjoyed the Mass before the party, and all the things that went on at the party and all! Then she was telling me about how her Father who used to cut hair for all the men and boys in Wawawai, when they were there. She said that the first year they were there, which would have put me in the 7th grade,her father would just come down to Wawawai on weekends because he was going to barber school up in Lewiston, Idaho, where they had come from that year! She said he told her in later years, that he just couldn't sit around all the time while Mrs. Earl was teaching. It wasn't that far to Lewiston either and it gave him something to do because he had retired from his job!!! So she said, in her letter, that she and her Mother that first year would walk up to our house and "visit" in the evenings! She said those were, in her opinion, the best days of her life! She said that they had just loved our family and then, when that first summer when the men in the area decided to fix up the basement of the school as living quarters with a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen, etc. that really made them feel close to the Community!!! Then she asked me if I remembered us taking our sandwiches at lunchtime in the Spring and going down to the creek and putting fresh watercress on them. She said it didn't matter if it was peanut butter or meat, we still ate the watercress and she said like I told you before, it was so good!!! And the beautiful flowers on the hillsides,etc. It brought so many memories to me today too! She said her daughter has talked her into getting computer lessons and then she can E-Mail me, she said. I remember, while sitting here, my brother Bob, who was in the first grade when we moved there!!! He always had to wear a white shirt, trousers and talked Mother into getting him a "bow-tie! He never went barefoot! Always had to have his shoes on!!! He was so darned cute when he was little! He was neat as could be and always had his hair combed, etc. Mrs. Earl and the other teachers over the few years we were there used to really get a kick out of him! He was always a "little gentleman!" And when I saw him at my party, he hasn't changed. He was always pretty quiet but could really be funny! He had a dry wit like my Father had! I could say something to him and without ever cracking a smile, come up with something that had me and him laughing our heads off!!! I saw that in him at the party too, in some of the quiet little "cracks" he would make, Oh no, not about anybody, but about something!! His kids will tell you that he is like that!!! I really hated to see him move away from here but he needed Doctoring and I was getting too "old" to cook like I used to for him! Hey Bob, I miss you and our quiet evenings here at the house! I am rambling on now so it's best I get to bed for now!!!

More "likes and dislikes"...

Didn't get to my computer yesterday so thought up some more of my likes and dislikes. I'll start with the seasons. My very favorite season is Spring! Seems like God put it before the heat of Summer and the cold of Winter so that one could really be ready for it!!!Seems like Spring kind of "sprung" on us this year! My daffodils were budding and grew into the beautiful and noble flowers that they are! Last year I had a lot of the white kind, (Narcissus) and I had those around Christmas time this year and they still had a few blooms when the daffodils started and then the hyacinths! The odor is simply overwhelming! In fact, if I am around them too long I get a headache! But they really did themselves well this year even if all I had was pink. When I planted the bulbs several years ago, I had two or three shades of pink from dark to pale and of course the white ones! But over the years they have all reverted back to pink! But to see them blooming and one of my azaleas really outdid itself this year! My roses all have buds and my Easter lilies are starting to really get tall! My big wine-barrel planter is really outdoing itself with the gladiolas coming up and the little plants that I planted aroung them are starting to fill up the barrel! Is it any wonder I like Spring!!! One of the bad thing about Spring though is the winds. We had a saying years ago, "March winds bring April showers which bring May flowers"! The wind and my "Arthur" don't get along!!! I've got a built-in thermometer that tells me when the weather is going to change! And this past Winter and into this Spring I really feel the pain! Summer heat and I don't get along too well but the Fall isn't bad and as long as I don't have to be out in the weather, I don't mind Winter! I hate foggy weather when it can't make up it's mind to come down to the ground (Tule Fog) or whether it's just going to hang up there covering the sun and making me feel "blue" or despondant! A cold,crisp winter day isn't bad when one can see the sun but it is too cold to be out in it! I also like a rainy day! To hear rain patter on a roof, ooh, what a lullaby!!!! I'm talking about a gentle rain, not a hurricane or tornado or something! I don't like thunder and lightning but I can get drawn into watching the lightning from a window or door!! Not a very smart thing to do!!!! I was in a tornado one time when Tom and Dottie lived in the Chicago area and I never want to go through that again! One minute it was so warm and I was sitting in the house watching the weather channel when Tom came in and asked me to come out and sit in the yard with the family! Dottie was watching the sky and there was a few flashes of lightning, etc and the clouds looked kind of pale green! Dottie told me she didn't like the looks of that, when all of a sudden a wind came up and it didn't just "blow". It was like a twisting wind and Tom told the kids and me to get in the house and he started to put the chairs, etc. away! We went to the basement, and we could hear the wind and the thunder, and see the flashes of lightning, and we sat huddled, when all of a sudden there was almost a big "bang-slam" and then the wind died down and Tom said, "well, that's it! We can go upstairs now!" Boy, there was branches all over the yard from a tree they had and of course everything was soaking wet. We heard later that the crash we heard was from a tree a few blocks away that had taken a hit!!! But other times when Dick and Jane lived in Cleveland the thunder and lightning storms they had there were terrible. Janie called me one afternoon and told me that there was a bad storm heading toward the house. I told her that it had been there and a lightning bolt had hit their bird feeder, (it was quite tall like a lightning rod) and I sat there and saw this big flash of lightning hit that and go down into the ground!!!! Another time in the night she came into my room and I was standing at the window watching, flash after flash of lightning, (hardly time for the thunder!) She said, "Mom, get away from that window!!" No thanks! I'll take the weather out here!!! It does get hot in the Summer and cold in the Winter but I don't think I could take the weather back East for long!!! So on this Spring day, the wind has calmed down a bit and I think I'll go and see if I can open the door for awhile!!! And I grew up in Wahington and Idaho! where we did have four seasons but I was much, much younger then and so could take it!!!

All? about me!!!!

I thought that I would write to some of you who read my blog and let you know my "likes and dislikes"!!! I really don't know where to start except to say that I really, really like babies! All sizes, colors dispositions and all. They are all so precious, just coming from God!!! Even those who didn't turn out so well are precious! I was watching a program about the "Missionaries of the Poor" yesterday and the babies on that program were so precious and eager to learn, even though they probably will never learn any more than to smile, eat, etc. Some of my other likes I like, pretty much everybody. Some better than others but that's where my human nature comes in. And.... sometimes I get to know them and really find myself liking them more and more!!!! Lets get on to something else! Colors! I like blue, pink, red, green, white, and black becauseit goes so well with white!!! I was told by my Mother that she had me Consecrated to the Blessed Virgin when I was born and for two years I only wore blue and white!!! Maybe thats why I like blue so much. It has to be a light color, in any case, I'm not too fond of Navy blue! Pink and red came through my loving my favorite flowers, roses!! And the fact that I was a towhead or to put it nicely, a "platinum" blond as a child and into High school. I had no idea that everyone was envious of me! I could do nothing with my hair, it was a straight as a string without a perm!!! But the colors I mentioned liking went well with my hair! My hair started to turn kind of light brown and then it seemed that someone told me that I would look good in yellow, orange brown, etc. I just couldn't see it!!! and never did anything about wearing those colors! Food!!!! My favorite meat was and still is beef!!! Nothing better than a good beef steak cooked med., med. rare or just until the blood was warm enough to eat the meat!!! After that I like chicken, or any kind of fowl, then comes pork and then lamb!!! In the spring of the year, I love a meal made with leg of lamb!!! Not an old sheep but lamb! With that I like the usual potatoes, fixed any way and I can eat loads of them!!! Growing up on the farm I pretty much like vegetables but the few that I really can't stand are okra, eggplant, lima beans, etc. Some beans are O.K. and some I could care less if I ever had them! I love tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and pretty much all the rest of the veggies! A lot of it depends on how it's cooked! My favorite fruits are peaches, strawberries, watermelon, some grapes, (not concords! Too slippery!) But I like apples, oranges, (just wished they liked me more!) grapefruit,( I can't eat that anymore because of my medication!) I "sort of" like bananas, pineapple, and one or two of the more exotic fruits!! I like peanuts, walnuts, (black and English) almonds,etc and I do like hazlenuts, brazil nuts, etc. I like raisins, dates, dried prunes, etc. I am a "Chocoholic" and could eat a pound of good candy in about three days!!! I'm not much of a coffee drinker, one cup a day, in the morning! And I have to have a little sweetener in it and milk or cream, just enough to make it not quite so black!!! I could stand a glass of wine with my dinner but I can't say that I am a drinker!!! One drink and I'm on the table dancing!!! And the headaches the next day! Not worth it!!! Incidently, I don't drink that one glass of wine either! I used to love to cook, before and during my marriage and then after Cappy died, I had to cook and then too, my Mother lived with me for a few years and so I cooked for her and when my brother Bob lived near us, we made an arrangement that we divided up the food bill and I would do the cooking! He then too care of my car, made sure I had enough gas and oil, and watched out for flats, etc. It was a perfect arrangement for us! Then as I got older, I just couldn't cook anymore and he was itll and moved away, so now if I can get away with a sandwich, that suits me fine!!! Wow! I've got to get out of here and get to doing something else!!! More about me later!!!!!

Reminders..

Yesterday I couldn't get Barbara, my sister out of my mind! I said a few prayers for the dead, etc. and then it finally came to me!!!Yesterday was her birthday!!! Was this her keeping me on "my toes" or on my knees,so to speak! I did, then, really get busy and pray for her! The things that went through my mind about her and my other sisters and brothers, and some of the crazy and not so crazy things that we did!!! Genevieve, being next in line to age was almost my constant companion when we were little! We made mud pies together and they were beauties! We then "tried" to feed them to our brothers. Some of the older ones were smart but I remember Gerry and how we fed him mud pies! He would sit there and chew away at them!!! They were so pretty! We would decorate them with flowers or vegetables and I guess that "sort of" took away the taste of the mud! I wouldn't know because nobody ever fed me one!!! When Teresa came along she was like a little doll! Blond, blue-eyed and she always had such an even temper!!! And she was quite the tomboy too! She was born after Mother had two boys after Genevieve and so she grew up climbing trees, etc. just like her brothers! She loved riding the horses, and loved all the animals on the farm who were her special friends! She loved all the cats, dogs, and whatever else that we had around!! Then two more boys and then Barbara was born! Barbara was sort of a go-getter! She made her place known in the family!!! She was somewhat spoiled and to us older girls she got away with murder! She always said she hated to dust because that was always "her job" when we were all home! We would have gladly let her do the dishes or clean the house with Mother!!! I told her that not too long before her death! My sisters were all "unique" in their ways. Genevieve was always "the lady", and her friends were all reserved, etc. Teresa was a "happy-go-lucky" type of person and made me, anyway, like to be around her! Barbara carried her "independent" air about her until her death but was always there for me!! All my sisters were there to help me in some of my more difficult moments!!! Maybe that's why I have "outlived" them! And I really have a "lost" feeling, not knowing who to turn to for those "special" moments!!! I miss you all but I think I miss Barbara most, because I am not physically able to do things for myself! But God and His Mother are there for me most of all, and I do have, as my family will tell you, a lot of good friends!!! God Bless them all!!!