Did you survive Christmas

I am sitting here watching Alone in the Wilderness....Documentary tells the story of Dick Proenneke who, in the late 1960s, built his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula ...I have seen part of it before but not all of it.

Anyway, our tree and what few decorations I have are put away except the nativity set and my Christmas stocking.

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When you really look, you can tell he is in high spirits.

This was just a few seconds before...he had the entire tree shaking and his paws were just a blur.  It is as if were a young cat again.  If it is not the tree it is something else.  And we are having warm weather and it is in an out, in and out.  Roger said, "What is wrong with him?'  I asked him didn't he know?  Bubbie was wanting us to come outside and sit with him.  They just love for us to come and sit outside with them...they are perfectly content.

Well, I have to stop till I can watch this show...

A repeat post...

In a post over at Lily Valley, Karen ask if we had a favorite gift or item from childhood.  Though she was remembering Easter, the Christmas I write about below is one of my best childhood memories.  I think it will be new to a few of you.  I hope you enjoy it.

Did Santa ever come to your house? I am sure he was at mine...in the form of one of my sisters. It is the Christmas I will never forget.  Though you would think I would remember how old I was I am not sure...I think I was about seven years old.

It was late in the evening, either dark or almost dark.  I don't remember if I knew my sister, Fran was coming home or not.  Either way, in her and her husband came--and they had a big, big box full of stuff for all of us. I remember the box ripping apart.  It had toys and clothes--I can remember most of what I got, and it was wonderful.  But to just to have Fran home was joy beyond measure. 

A ham was fixed for Christmas, and it is the first time I ever remember having ham.  I could not stop eating it....every time I could I would sneak in the fridge and get a piece of it.   My mom kept telling me I was going to be sick from eating too much. Oh, my, how I loved it.  That night I paid the piper though.  I started throwing up and don't remember how many times or how long it took to stop...Fran got up and took care of me.  It was almost worth it just to have her caring for me.  I can remember her telling mom to go on back to bed, that she would stay with me.  She would wring a wash rag out and wash my face with such loving care.

Don't get me wrong, we all loved each other, but Fran is sort of the special one...I think special memories are attached to her by all of us.

She would do anything on a dare, and not afraid of anyone or anything.  I can remember when she was in high school, her and the algebra teacher got in a big, big argument.  She was sure she was right, and he  just assumed the book was right.  I think he even came to our house talking to her...not sure how right all my memories are because I was maybe not even in school then.

Anyway, I think they argued back and forth for a day or two or three, each working and reworking the problem.  He finally had to agree that Fran was right.  Anyway, that is just a sample of what she is/was made of.

Back to that Christmas, she brought the game of Tripoly home...I was too young to actually play...so I just sat by her side.  I don't remember how the game is played, but a free hand is dealt.  Well, she  would look at her hand and whisper to me to see if there was this or that card in the free hand...and if there was, I would sneak it to her.  I would have did anything in the world for her.  Of course either her husband or one of my brothers caught her and put a stop to it.  But she was having fun just sneaking and getting by with it.

All my sisters and my brother always came home, at least once a year after they moved away, and I always hated seeing any of them leave.  It was just always worse when Fran left...

One of my favorite things....

Every time I look at this, I feel joy.  My BFF made it for me last year.  I don't think I have ever shown it to you.  I grabbed some quick shots this evening.  I want to encourage you to click on the photos to expand the view...the small size just does not do them justice.

So many beads, so many stitches...

everything done by hand.

I love the little chickadees, but I cannot say I love them best.  I love this poinsettia, and love the holly leaves,

and don't you just love the scene as a whole?

It is tempting to leave it out all the time...but I don't. 

Do you have a favorite gift or treasure someone has given you.    If so, how about sharing it in the comments.

O Christmas Tree

I am not sure how this will show on everyone's computer...it looks fairly good on my computer. Let me know if it is dark or light on yours.  It was taken at night several years ago.  The photos I took of this tree remain some of my favorites. 
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I actually started wrapping presents today.  I always think of how we used to be so saving with wrapping paper when I was a child.  We didn't just rip open the presents, not like we do these days.  And we tried to save the best of the paper from one year to the next.  And we saved all the ribbons.

We almost always got a new jigsaw puzzle...it was such a treat to get one.  I think we used a big piece of cardboard to work them on, but I have no idea where it came from.  Or maybe it was a piece of thin plywood.  I really cannot remember which....but was thinking cardboard for some reason.

Anyway, we always laid out all the pieces face up, and tried to put like colors together, then found all the edge pieces and worked that part first.  Next we would each choose an area to work on.   I can remember my brothers getting aggravated at me for reaching across their view. 

I had a habit of when I actually put a piece in and it fit, I would give the board a little tap.   They always teased and said I did it to draw attention to the fact that I had just found a piece.  Who knows--maybe that is why I did it subconsciously.

I still love jigsaw puzzles to this day.  Just as when I was a kid, I have my favorite colors to work, or more to the point, colors that are much harder for me to work.   I find it hard to do anything else if I have one out, so I don't work one too often.  That was part of the reasons for wrapping presents...to feel freer to start something fun.  I wrap presents on the dining room table, but that is also where I like to work puzzles.  Thus, the wrapping needs to be done.

Just thinking....

Did Santa ever come to your house? I am sure he was at mine...in the form of one of my sisters. It is the Christmas I will never forget.  Though you would think I would remember how old I was I am not sure...I think I was about seven years old.

It was late in the evening, either dark or almost dark.  I don't remember if I knew my sister, Fran was coming home or not.  Either way, in her and her husband came--and they had a big, big box full of stuff for all of us. I remember the box ripping apart.  It had toys and clothes--I can remember most of what I got, and it was wonderful.  But to just to have Fran home was joy beyond measure. 

A ham was fixed for Christmas, and it is the first time I ever remember having ham.  I could not stop eating it....every time I could I would sneak in the fridge and get a piece of it.   My mom kept telling me I was going to be sick from eating too much. Oh, my, how I loved it.  That night I paid the piper though.  I started throwing up and don't remember how many times or how long it took to stop...Fran got up and took care of me.  It was almost worth it just to have her caring for me.  I can remember her telling mom to go on back to bed, that she would stay with me.  She would wring a wash rag out and wash my face with such loving care.

Don't get me wrong, we all loved each other, but Fran is sort of the special one...I think special memories are attached to her by all of us.

She would do anything on a dare, and not afraid of anyone or anything.  I can remember when she was in high school, her and the algebra teacher got in a big, big argument.  She was sure she was right, and he  just assumed the book was right.  I think he even came to our house talking to her...not sure how right all my memories are because I was maybe not even in school then.

Anyway, I think they argued back and forth for a day or two or three, each working and reworking the problem.  He finally had to agree that Fran was right.  Anyway, that is just a sample of what she is/was made of.

Back to that Christmas, she brought the game of Tripoly home...I was too young to actually play...so I just sat by her side.  I don't remember how the game is played, but a free hand is dealt.  Well, she  would look at her hand and whisper to me to see if there was this or that card in the free hand...and if there was, I would sneak it to her.  I would have did anything in the world for her.  Of course either her husband or one of my brothers caught her and put a stop to it.  But she was having fun just sneaking and getting by with it.

All my sisters and my brother always came home, at least once a year after they moved away, and I always hated seeing any of them leave.  It was just always worse when Fran left...

Christmas past and present

This is the first chance I have had to post in a while...I am using this photo from a post in the past...partly because I don't have my computer and partly because I just love the photo. It was taken years ago with my one of my Nikon cameras.

I hope all of you have happy and healthy Christmas and New Year...

I am thankful for many things, but foremost right now is that Sarah just came through her second surgery last week...all is going great in that department. One of these days things will be back to normal.

Lorelei is changing daily it seems...she is just so busy all the time.

She sings Jingle Bells, Happy Birthday, and other songs...

and has just been playing the drums and singing
She loves you, Yeah, Yeah, yeah
She loves you Yeah, yeah, yeah

Over and over.

She now tells me to 'Get up---I need you' She will get my hand and take me all over the place. Otto hardly has a moment's peace...and for the most part he enjoys every minute of it. This morning she went for a short but wild ride on him....unplanned. She was climbing on his back and was astraddle of him and up he got. She hung on for a second or two before falling off. I half expected her to get back up and try it again but she didn't.

Our oldest daughter will be here at this time tomorrow night...along with a bit more snow. I am not sure how much is in the forecast. I am hoping not much.

This will probably be my only post on here for a little while to come...one of these days I will get back to it on a regular basis I hope. There simply is not time to be on the computer...when there is I plan to try to catch up with everyone.

Christmas mood....

We were coming home from Sarah's today, and happened to have the radio on and this song happened to come on...

I so would love to be home one more time in my life when a few inches of snow is on ground....the photo below is of our childhood home. I can remember wishing we had ornaments to really decorate that blue spruce out front for Christmas. We were lucky to have any to go on our Christmas tree....let alone to decorate outside. We had a strand or two of the big multicolored lights and a few of the shiny ball ornaments...I don't ever remember getting to buy any new ones.

However, I can remember cutting a star out of cardboard and wrapping it in aluminum foil to put on the spruce...I think about this every year...and I never fail to think about how we saved wrapping paper from year to year. And I think of gathering pine cones and painting them with gold and silver paint. Thinking about that now, I would love to know where the paint came from and why we had it. It was in little bottles...maybe a couple inches tall. I wonder if they had been model paint...but even if they were, that still does not explain why we had them.

But don't feel sorry or sad for me...having a childhood like this has made even simple things so much more enjoyable. I buy a few new Christmas ornaments every year, and probably get twice the enjoyment from it that most people do.
Anyway, all that is going through my mind, and thinking how I have lived in the small town I live in now for 30 years...even with living here that long, Tennessee is still home.

And I would love to go back to Tennessee to live, but I could never willingly move farther way from Lorelei....nor her mommy either. It is bad enough when the kids move away by choice or with work and jobs...but I don't think I could willingly move away from them. Our one daughter lives on the west coast, but at least we have hopes of her someday moving back closer to home.

Right now I get sort of teary-eyed after leaving Lorelei...she is such a bright part of our life. She is always so glad to see us...right now she is at the age where Mamaw and Papaw can do no wrong...and honestly she can't either;-)

A good time was had by all

I am not sure if I mentioned before, but we did our Christmas yesterday....the day after. It makes it so much easier on Lorelei. She has so many people to visit, that it is more fun to wait and just have her the day after. It is easier on her mommy and daddy, too, because she is in a much better mood.
She was just a happy little girl yesterday, and kept us all entertained. Just busy all the time. She has to check out Shelby every so often....and that is okay as long as Shelby knows she is coming....not that she would hurt Lorelei on purpose, but she does not hear anything at all...and Lorelei does not cause enough vibration in the floor to warn her....so if she is startled she jumps up. And then there is the possibility of her stepping on Lorelei.
As you can probably tell by these last two photos, she is a born mom. She is just so gentle with Lorelei.
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We finally got some snow today....we have been having flurries the past few days but it never amounted to more than a skim of snow. Now we have 3 inches, or maybe 4. Believe it or not, we went to Terre Haute this morn, thinking it was only going to be flurries again. I took my camera with me.

On the way home, I mentioned going by Green Valley, just to see. It snowed harder and harder for a while, and everything was slick as could be. We were on country roads so only passed 3 or 4 cars...nothing was happening at Green Valley. We did not see anything moving at all, so continued on in a round about way that we have went before. We finally saw a flock of turkeys that were too far away to even attempt to photograph.
This is when it first began to really snow....to see a bit more be sure and visit my other blog. We did make it home safe and sound, glad to get here. We had leftovers--always the best part of holiday meals.

Ready or not?

Click to enlarge
A house up the street from a few years back.

I wonder if everyone is ready for Christmas....I am...almost. I still have a few things left to wrap. And actually need to get gifts for the little kids next door. And I have yet to get in all the fixings for Christmas dinner. But that is not that much left to do.

Neal and I were talking the other night...our talks always include talking about childhood and the things we remember. I was telling him, the one memory that really stands out in my mind is all the cakes mom would bake at Christmas. There was a metal cabinet that had two shelves up top behind glass, and those two shelves would be full of cakes! I could not remember if it was just a year or two that she did that, or every year.

He said he thought it was every year, and that he helped her bake them. So, I told him I didn't remember actually eating them...he thought that she gave most of them away. Which makes sense...I just can't imagine not remembering eating them.

I cannot remember the variety that she made, but know she almost always made a jam cake...it tasted sort of like a spice cake if I remember correctly, and she always made a caramel icing for it. She also made a stack cake...at least that is what we called it. She had no written recipe, and did not measure a thing....but she made this dough. I know it had eggs and sugar in it, and other than that I can't recall what else. I know I liked the dough raw, better than baked.

She would divide take a dough ball about the size of a fist or maybe just a bit bigger....she would pat that out flat in a greased iron skillet. She kept two iron skillets in the oven and would make anywhere from 8 to 12 or 14 layers.

For the filling in between the layers, she used dried apples and cooked them down to something similar to apple butter but with more texture if I remember correctly. ( I know water and cinnamon were added to the apples, but think there were other spices, just don't recall what all.) That was a cake that company always enjoyed. I have never seen the cake made by anyone else, but I did find a recipe that sounds right here.

Thinking back, that is one of my favorite memories.

Christmas scene....

I am not sure when I first started noticing this barn at Christmas...it was several years ago.
I had never tried to capture the scene before yesterday...I always just thought the road that led up close to it was the drive. I guess I was always focused on the barn and did not really take in the obvious--it has a public road that leads right past it.
So I got to photograph it yesterday...
and I am pretty well happy with the results. Oh, they could probably be better but I am just so thankful to have finally captured it at all.

I am still trying to gather my thoughts together enough to do the 6 random things about myself. I have got a couple picked out that I am pretty sure I am going to use...but other than that not sure what else I will tell. I will try to get it together sometime during the coming days.

Christmas at Sarah's

I tried to mess with this one and the one of the tree in photoshop the get the warm glow from the lights but didn't do too good. I was using the point and shoot and did not think to try different settings.


I absolutely love the wreath--well, she actually made two of them but they look basically the same. And as for the Christmas tree, Otto has only ate one snowflake so far. I am here to tell you that his stomach is made of iron...he has gotten into so much stuff and I think she ran him to the vet the first time or two and basically they didn't do anything. Nothing ever seems to slow him down.

Yesterday we were down there and I was just sitting reading..I am not sure how I had my hand. But he was sitting back staring at me intently. I just motioned with my forefinger for him to come to me and he was there in a second. I did not say a word other than to look at him and do that. I am about convinced that if you will let a dog, you can almost communicate without words.....

And it is so funny, our old dog here can be laying about sound asleep, or she could, she is getting so old that she really is out of it when she is asleep now, but we could start talking about her without ever saying her name and her tail would start wagging. I can look at her and smile and she starts wagging her tail.

Oh, and Keesha's radar is still on...yesterday she came out to see Roger and me, but then went back to her bed in the bedroom and didn't come out all the time we were there. Till about 20-30 minutes before Sarah got home. I have watched that all her life where Sarah is concerned. She used to always know when it was time for her to get home from school, and Sarah went to Florida a couple times with friends of ours. Both times, the evening of the day she was getting home, Keesha would start pacing and watching out the windows, going outside and going over to the gate and just staring down the road....

Oh, Bubbie is home! He has lost weight and he is on antibiotics. He doesn't like them too well, and I almost think they upset his stomach. He has acted very strange...didn't want anything to do with us. He finally came and got in bed with us this morning, but then I had to get up and give him his pill so now he is upset with us again. Plus I wonder if the antibiotics makes his stomach feel bad like some meds do ours.

Well, that is the report from here today....

Christmas past

From scanned slides...first a couple from Bridgeton, Indiana. I love to go for drives and look at Christmas lights. However, it has been a while since we actually done that. Seems like the time just flies as I get older.

And these are the blurred images that I ran across the other day that inspired me to take the photo that I posted Thanksgiving Day. I think these are best viewed when enlarged.
When we first moved here in 1980, or oldest daughter was just 5 months old. Not sure how long it was before we met the lady that lived two houses down from us. Veronica was from Lithuania and spoke very broken English even though she had been here for years. There were all kinds of rumors about her, which we will never know if they were true or not. One we know for sure is not true--she wasn't mean to kids. I had people that grew up here tell me that they remembered being so afraid of her when they were kids.

I don't know how she found out my husband could do stuff, but she would have problems with this or that and come ask him to help. Things like a leaky faucet, or the belt on her treadle sewing machine broke, just a few little things here and there. I know there were other things but right now I cannot think of them. And every so often she would get him to take her to the Chicago O'Hare airport. She was going back over 'there' for a visit. She went to Moscow.

She told us of her and her husband running and hiding under bushes and she witnessed her husband being shot. She came to the USA then and left two children over there...or that was what we understood her to say. At Christmas she would buy all kinds of clothes for children to send to relatives (grandchildren??) over there, and she would have us or this other neighbor write down a list of everything that was in the box, so whoever she was sending it to could tell if they got it all or if things had been stolen before it got to them.

She also had an old man named Walter that lived with her...one year he had a daughter come over from Russia(?somewhere in that area), and she brought her husband and one of their children...a little girl about 5 or 6 years old. They were not allowed to bring their other children for fear they would try to stay here. Her name was Elana...she was a kindergarten teacher. Her husband was Alex but I don't recall what he did...they did not speak a word of English and of course we didn't know a word of their language. But Elana had books that converted from their language to ours and from ours to their language.

We got the bright idea to take them on a drive...we had this little Dodge Colt. So there were us four adults and their child in that tiny car, and we took this big long drive just showing them the country...I showed them the orchard where I worked, and I cannot remember where else we took them. I think we showed them the other places we had worked. Elana and I would use the books to communicate and really enjoyed each other's company. I know we came home late enough to see the Christmas lights, so never does a Christmas pass that I don't think of her and wonder how she is.

Oh, and back to Veronica for a chuckle or two at my husband's expense. I told you he would take her to the airport sometimes. One time he went to pick them up, and it may have been the time when Elana came home. He forgot to pay attention to where he parked, and he came home telling about it...he was telling it and all I could picture is a duck with its ducklings following behind. Every where he went, there was this line of people following right behind him. I cannot do it justice...he was telling me and making gestures...he finally got them to understand and just stay in one place while he went and found the car.

And another time he picked up Veronica, she had been drinking. And she had it in the truck with her. Well, we don't drink...and she kept trying to get him to take a drink, and it was something strong...not beer. She just couldn't understand why he didn't want any. And all the time he was praying that he didn't get stopped by police cause they would never believe he had not been drinking...he said the truck smelled like a brewery. He was so relieved to get them home--I think Walter had went with him to pick her up.

So that is one of my Christmas memories....

Christmas memories

I have not sewn a stitch today--but I did make another batch of Fantasy Fudge. Actually a double batch. And it turned out good for the first time in ages. I wanted some to give to a couple friends...but don't know when I am going to get it to the one. I called her and she was not home..so maybe she went to some of her kids' homes for the holidays.

Husband stayed home today with a sinus infection. He did not sleep hardly any last night and kept the rest of us up most of the night with his coughing. He doesn't go back to work till the day after Christmas.

Christmas is almost here...and I haven't found any hard candy so far. Hard candy, apples and oranges are such a part of my Christmas memories. Mommy and daddy always bought a bushel of red delicious apples and a bushel of oranges every Christmas that I can remember. I was not crazy about the apples, and today I care even less for red delicious. But I remember loving the oranges, or to be more specific the juice from them.

And we usually got at least one new jigsaw puzzle at Christmas...to this day I love jigsaw puzzles. If not for the kitties I would have one out right now.

We always hung up an actual sock Christmas eve and would get up and find hard candy, nuts, and apples and oranges in them. And when I was small, I always got a cap buster. Mom would hide it some where and I would usually hunt and search till I found it...let the noise begin! And our tradition was to have fire crackers on Christmas eve, and it must have been fairly popular for us to be able to get them every year. I have never heard of any one else that did this besides my brothers and their friends. Of course I was always out with them.

We always shot off the biggest part of them after dark, then the next day we would hunt the area for ones that had not exploded. We would do one of two things with them...break one in half, light it if it still had powder, and drop it on a solid surface such as the sidewalk, and stomp on it. That would cause it to go off as if you had lit it the regular way.

The other thing we did was collect all we could find, and unroll them. If they had powder we collected it...I don't remember how many it would take. We would drill a hole in a chunk of wood and make some kind of cork, or find something else we could plug closed. My dad actually had dynamite fuse from when they dug the basement to our house....

We would beg a length or two from him, and use it to light our homemade explosive device! We had a blast seeing what we could actually do with the powder...if it was too big of a piece of wood nothing..I know we used other stuff...but I don't recall what. And I don't recall the results. I just remember us running to get behind cover. We really never had anything that was that big or dangerous--wouldn't have wanted it to go off in our hand, of course but it was nothing to worry about.

That would scare people to death now. Also think of how a kid can't have a knife at school...and I understand but it is still a sad situation. When I was a kid, all boys had pocket knives. For years when I worked at the orchard, I carried a knife and was just as apt to have it with me at the grocery store or Walmart as to not. It just went in my pocket.

Now I am finally getting used to carrying a purse again...for a long time I felt naked without my wallet in my back pocket. And every now and then I will pay for something and forget and put it in my hip pocket still...

Well, I am slowly but surely getting sleepy so will sign off for the night.....

We don't need Christmas decorations--we have Christmas cats! Bubbie is the main one that is up in the tree, simply because his mommy is too heavy to be able to climb easily. But doesn't he look like he lives in the lap of luxury in all of these pictures?


My daughter's new bed/mattress set and chest of drawers arrived last week. It was almost impossible to make the bed because the Princess had to help. When we were done, it was so cute: all three of the kittens and my daughter were stretched out on the bed. I told her the kittens thought she bought the bed for them. See more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rose.swalls



I spent about 5 hours at the Emergency Room Thursday night with my daughter--she has a torn muscle. But her leg was swelling and we were afraid to wait because of the possibilities of it being a blood clot. She can walk with ease and the calves of her legs only cramp occasionally now. Not even sure that the right one is cramping at all...it was the left one that was swollen and also it cramped the hardest. It hurt to touch the calf of that leg when we were at the ER.

I have been sewing a little...but not finishing anything. Every time I try to set and do this one binding one of the cats ends up trying to help me and I just put it away. That quilt has been cat tested and approved already.

It was not too cold here today, but this afternoon the wind has started and has been howling. Coming from the west/northwest. I can barely open the back storm door. It is the type of wind that makes Shelby, our dog nervous. I suppose she will want to be able to be close to me the entire night. If she can't be close to me, she whines.

Aren't they pretty?

No matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to get in the mood for Christmas...looking at these presents from a couple of years ago should inspire me. But all I can do is look and think, 'Wow--I made those bows.' I have three presents bought for two people, and still have more shopping to do for those two people. I have not idea what I am getting anyone...I can always buy for my older daughter. I seem to be able to choose clothes she likes, and can always find a dozen things she really likes.

My younger daughter is a different matter however--she just doesn't seem to want a lot of anything. Her husband is the same--he loves working on cars for fun...year before last we bought him a whole bunch of tools...and my older daughter also bought him a socket wrench set, then last year we bought him a battery drill set that also had a saw, and a palm sander...plus extra battery pack...so he is basically set for tools. Oh, we also got him a vise. He has an engine hoist...so just not much else that he needs. (His mom or grandma have bought him other tools)

Then there is my quilting buddy who is taking a LONG break from quilting...she has been crocheting and knitting some but since I do neither I would have no idea what to buy in the yarn dept...

I had wanted to machine quilt a couple quilts but with older daughter moving back home for a bit, I just cannot seem to get in the groove and get things done. She brought her two cats with her, and I already wondered just how I would get a quilt sandwiched with the two cats I had. Now it would be next to impossible.

OH, BTW, the picture that is in the header is one of mine that was scanned in from an old photo! It is one of my favorite pictures! It is in Tennessee from the winter of 1978-79.