Monday, November 30, 2009

A Sad Holiday Weekend
























I learned of the deaths of two people over this past holiday weekend. One I did not know at all, never met him but only knew of him through my neice and nephew, Nancy and Lannie. Lannie's brother, who lived in New Orleans, died there on one of the holidays. He was only in his forties--so young! Even though I did not know him I have felt a sadness through the last two days since I learned of his death.




The other person used to be an across the street neighbor. I had seen her a lot and had talked a few times with her but I didn't ever become close friends with her. They moved away about two years ago and I have not seen her since then. She died also this weekend. Her husband used to plow snow from my driveway when we had big snowfalls while they lived there.



I have felt a sadness and emptiness since I found out about the deaths. It is always sad when people die but when it is someone who you know a little bit about it is even sadder. All this weekend I have had an uneasiness and uncomfortable feeling when I think of those deaths. I always say a prayer for them and hope they were ready to meet God!



I will be thinking of them for a while but life must go on.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Bobby Kennedy Grave at Arlington Cemetery

























Ford, Brett and Carla At Robert Kennedy's grave (other person unknown).


In 1974 we visited Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC. Carla lived there at that time. Albert, her husband, was in the Marines and was stationed there.


Carla Sue took us on a tour and we visited the white house, Arlington Cemetery, and the Smithsonian museum.


I was impressed with how simple Bobby Kennedy's grave site was. His brother, JFK is buried near Bobby. JFK's grave is much more elaborate than Bobby's.


This time of the year, near Thanksgiving, was when JFK was assassinated. This year I noticed that there was not too much on about it as there usually is. Maybe it was on but I missed it.
Now Ted Kennedy has joined this brothers at Arlington. I am wondering how simple, or elaborate his grave will be. It is strange to not hear the Kennedy name all over the news now as it was in times past.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

More about Waggles











Guess Who? ^












Waggles Rose bush>







You see the back side of the person who cared for Waggles' rose bush! And she did take care of it well. I won't mention her name but you know who it is! She loved Waggles and really missed her after she was gone. The rose bush helped her remember her and made her feel better. Hooray for Waggles! A pat on the back --end--for the caretaker!













Friday, November 27, 2009

A Rose for Waggles





Waggles and her rose bush


















Waggles was a dog my sister and her family had many years ago. She was big lovable pussy cat. The family worshipped Waggles. She was a very sweet dog. Waggles lived a pretty long life but, as all dogs must, she died.

Cotton buried her in their back yard along side of their storage building. Mary Ruth planted a yellow rose bush right over where she was buried. The rose bush was there for many years. I am not sure if it is still there now or not. But it was a beautiful rose and reminded us all of Waggles many times.




So Waggles joined the other dogs of our family through the years in dog heaven: Mutt, Mickey, Buddy, Mitsie, Boots, Freckles, Patches, Katie and there were others that I don't recall at this moment. I am not sure if Boots or Mickey made it !

Thursday, November 26, 2009

A catastrophe

Dorothy at an older age
Many years ago, my cousin Dorothy, Aunt Lizzie's girl, had a big catastrophe. She was climbing up on a kitchen cabinet for something and she pulled it over and sent it crashing to the floor. Every dish in it was broken into many pieces. Dorothy was terrified, but uninjured. She was probably about five or six at that time. The picture above was taken when she was in high school.



Our whole family learned of the mishap and they all got together and decided that they would all help out Aunt Lizzie. They planned a big day on a Sunday and each one of them bought a new item of some kind to put in Aunt Lizzie's kitchen,


Not only did they bring many new dishes for Aunt Lizzie but they also brought a big pot luck dinner in. Aunt Lizzie was surprised and delighted with all of the new dishes. I well remember that day. All of the cousins had a ball playing together plus we had a delicious meal.


So the catastrophe turned out to be a good thing because Aunt Lizzie ended up with many new and prettier dishes than she had before. I am sure Dorothy remembers that day well. I'll bet she didn't ever climb up to the cabinet again after that!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Yippee Kia Ya




Lana Kay

<--























Carla Sue -->
These pictures were made at Lake of the Ozarks National Park in Missouri in 1967. They were made on just play ponies. I remember back when I was just a little kid there was a man, probably many of them, who went around to people's homes with a live pony and he would make a picture of kids on the pony and sell them to you. I guess they weren't too expensive or we never would have bought them. I don't actually have a picture but I remember that my mother had pictures of us kids on ponies in her picture box. I wish I had gotten one of them but that is water under the bridge!




These pictures were made while we were on a trip to Lake of the Ozarks National Park in Missouri. My kids thought these pictures were the bee's knees! (Bees have knees?)




Tuesday, November 24, 2009

More Olden Days


I must give equal time to my mother's family, the Gregorys. Their house is sort of the same as the house of my Dad's family--not too fancy!
In the picture, left to right is: Aunt Lottie; Aunt Nellie; Aunt Sarah;
Grandma Gregory, holding Uncle Tony; Aunt Lizzie; Ollie,
my mother; Grandpa Gregory; Uncle John and Uncle Emerson.
The family dog in also shown in the picture. His name was Trip. Notice that all of the small girls are holding dolls. So they were not destitute!
We have a lot to be thankful for these days, that we do not live in the kind of houses that our parents did! However, they were probably happier than we are because they were not saddled with credit card debts and all of the other pressures and problems that we have nowadays!
Even though, I think I would choose today for my time to live after all!

Monday, November 23, 2009

The Olden Days


Can you imagine living in a house like the one in the picture above? Well the caffee family, my dad and his parents did live in this house. The folks in the picture are: left to right, my Dad, Elbert Caffee, on the horse; his brother, my uncle Jim; my uncle Dillard; my grandpa Caffee; the family dog, name unknown; and Grandma Caffee. The last man on the right is unknown, at least by me. Grandma and Grandpa Caffee had three other children which were not born at the time this picture was made.
They may have had a shabby house but my Dad had one thing that I never had--a horse!
This picture was made circa 1905. The house had an open breezeway through the middle of it. I never saw this house but I have seen old homes with the breezeway in them--fancy, huh?

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cleaning the Toilet
















When my youngest girl, Carla, was just a little tyke she was fascinated by watching me clean the toilet. I would almost have to push her face out of the toilet as she watched me use the brush to clean the bowl.


I don't know what it really was that caught her attention. I usually put in a cleaner, then scrubbed the bowl with a brush and then flushed the toilet. She didn't miss a beat! She did that from the time she was maybe two or three until she was 14--believe it or not! Of course she was not around as much later as she was when she was little but if I happened to be cleaning a toilet and she was there, she certainly watched me do it!


I doubt if she is that enthralled with the procedure now, since she has two of her own toilets to clean. I know that I am not happy about cleaning toilets! But you do what you have to.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

An Antique--for Sure.



The dresser in this picture is at least 100 years old. It belonged to Ford's mother. She probably bought it used, I am sure. I do know that she got it when Ford was just a baby.

When she died and her belongings were divided up between her children. None of them wanted this dresser. I know why--it was covered with several coats of paint and very rugged looking. The latch on the little door on the lower right side was broken and the door was split on one side. I saw beyond all that ugly exterior and knew that it would be beautiful if refinished.

Its good points were that it was genuine oak, the original drawer pulls were all there, the wood was in good shape except for the split door and it was sturdily built. The mirror was also in good shape.

So I brought it home. The first thing I did was have Ford repair the split door. He did a nice job and it is really undetectable on the outside. On the inside he used a small ell shaped brace which has held it together perfectly all of these years. Then I began a month's work of stripping off all the layers of paint--there were at least four. I worked in my utility room because it was winter and we didn't have a garage then. I worked slow and steady. I would strip off a section of paint at a time using paint remover. I had laundry tubs so I would then wash off the old paint and start another section. It was a long, hard and messy job.

After I got all of the paint off, using steel wool, a wire brush and scrapers, I then sanded it forever! After that I put on a coat of clear varnish--which I was later told I shouldn't have--but it did make a nice shiny smooth surface.

After Ford's sisters saw the finished dresser I think they were sorry they didn't take it. But knowing them I am sure they would not have done all of that work! And it was a lot of messy and tedious work!

For years I have thought about getting a big wash bowl and pitcher to place on the little wash stand part but somehow, I never did get to that. Now I am not buying new things, I am getting rid of old things (but not this dresser)!

I have enjoyed having it all of these years, about forty, I think. The wood on it is a very pretty oak and it has stayed very nice to this day.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Not So Innocent!

Steve and Carol's Couch






















Innocent little Brandi and Buddy!



Pictured above are Brandi and Buddy, My nephew and niece's dogs. They look so cute, sweet and innocent--don't they?


However, the other picture proves that isn't true! Buddy and Brandi devoured some of the filling of Steve and Carole's couch in a moment of frenzy while in the care of a dog sitter.


Steve and Carole were on vacation and left Buddy and Brandi in the care of a not too efficient dog sitter! She failed to take them out for walks and exercise as often as they needed to be and the couch problem is the result.


The couch is in the process of being repaired with some difficulty in finding the right materials. Buddy and Brandi are so loved that they are in no danger of losing their home. But the dog sitter is not being considered ever again for any employment by Steve and Carole!









Friday, November 13, 2009

Pumpkins

Pumpkin pie

















Pumpkin seeds





Pie pumpkins




My grandson, Brett gave me his Halloween pumpkins last week. They were the small pie pumpkins. He brought over four of them.

Today, I dove into the job of cutting them up and making the pulp into pie filling. It was some job and I spent about 4 hours getting it all done. I cut the pumpkins into pieces and cooked them in the microwave until they were tender then I cut the peelings off. I ended up with enough pumpkin for about four pies.


The true treasure of this gift, however, was the seeds. Besides the pumpkin for four pies, I have about four cups of seeds that I have drying on my counter . Tomorrow I will roast them and store them for later use--probably not too much later because I will eat them up pretty fast!


I will make pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. I may share the seeds if there are any left by then!


I shudder to think of all the years I have had pumpkins and did use them for pies but I never gave a second thought about the seeds. They always got pitched into the garbage because I didn't know they could be eaten. Once I found out about that I have always roasted them for eating. I love roasted pumpkin seeds. They also are supposedly very healthful.


Pumpkins are a lot of work but well worth it in my opinion. Actually, the work is making the pie filling, not roasting the seeds. But who ever said this life was not filled with work?


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My Poor Memory is Costing Me!




I spent $10 today, not by choice but I spent it anyway. Usually when you spend money you pick out something you want and like and you give the money willingly. Believe me, I paid the $10 but not willingly!


I have a pretty good memory but it failed me this month. I have all of my utility bills set up to be paid automatically from my checking account. The one bill that, for some unremembered reason, I do not have set up for that is my cell phone bill through Centennial Wireless. I do pay it on line but it doesn't automatically pay. I have to get on line and process it through Bill Pay. So this month I was distracted from doing that for some reason and thus my bill was not paid.


I was called twice by Centennial Wireless and was connected to a recording telling me that I owed so much and to verify my identity I was instructed to put my last four SS numbers in. I never give my identification out over the phone so I just hung up. Then this morning I got another call saying the same thing. I decided that maybe I had better see what it was all about and I did put my SS numbers in. The recording told me again how much I owed and to press one if I wanted to make a payment and If I didn't want to make the payment press two. At that time I was unaware that I had not paid my bill and not wanting to pay something I was not sure about I pressed two, indicating I did not want to make the payment.


Then the wheels started turning in my brain and I thought maybe I had not paid the bill. So I got out my bill and checked and, sure enough, I had not paid it. So I got on line right away and made the payment, that was for last month. Then in today's mail I got the bill for this month and was shocked to see that they had charged me a $10 late fee. I had no choice but to pay it-- I was late paying the bill.


So I am out $10 for nothing. I did not get to pick out anything and keep it for mine. I paid for my poor memory! If you know me you know how I hate paying out any kind of interest, late fees or extra charges for anything. I always pay my Discover card bill every month to avoid any interest payment. I always pay my bills on time, except this time, to avoid a late fee. This is the very first time I have ever been late paying my Centennial Wireless bill.


So the next time I am out I will be stopping at Centennial Wireless to change my payment to automatic. They had better enjoy that $10 late fee I just paid them because it is the last one they will ever get from me!




Tuesday, November 10, 2009

ORANGEADE
























Many years ago when I and my two sisters were just little kids our mother used to make orangeade for us. I say orangeade because it was part water instead of all orange juice. She would make it with about half orange juice and about half water. Then she would load it up with sugar and put ice cubes in it and we drank it like it was pure orange juice. That way the juice went twice as far and we kids didn't mind the difference at all.


We didn't have a lot of money so we had to make things stretch as far as we could. Not only did the juice go farther but we also did not waste the pulp left after squeezing the oranges. Mama would get every last drop of juice out of the rind and then we kids ate the pulp leftover. not one bit of the orange was wasted. I remember even chewing some of the white part of the rind out of the skin. It didn't have much taste but I liked to eat it anyway.

Maybe that is why I am so thrifty and frugal today! I abhor wasting any thing that is edible. I will have to say that now I don't add water to my orange juice! I like pure juice with no water added. But back in those days the water was fine.


How times change!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Old Time Cough Remedies

Lemons

coal oil



Honey





















Pictured above are some of the home remedies that were used on me when I was a kid and had a cough. The honey and lemons are acceptable ones. But turpentine and coal oil? I don't think so!


However, my mother did use them on me. I don't know if they helped or not but now I shudder to think of giving a kid turpentine or coal oil. My mother would take a spoonful of sugar and put a couple of drops of turpentine or coal oil on the sugar and have me swallow it. I can remember how yucky it tasted.


Sometimes she would get me up maybe at 2:00 in the morning if I were coughing and have me suck on a lemon for a while. There again, I don't know if it worked or not but anyway that is what I had to do. But that was much more appealing than the turpentine or coal oil even if it was 2:00 in the morning!



She also sometimes made a cough syrup using honey, vinegar, sugar and I don't remember what else. I didn't mind that so much. It seemed I always had my coughs at night and would have rather slept than work on a cough!



I found that when my own two children had coughs that just giving them an aspirin did better than anything else to ease their cough. But we did try other things--not with turpentine or coal oil--but other kinds of cough syrup.



Even though I had all of that weird stuff poured down me, I am still alive, at 83 so I guess it didn't do that much harm! You probably would be arrested for giving a kid that kind of thing these days (even though salmonella and e coli are OK!)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Baking a Cake from Scratch







This story happened back in about 1956 at the time Jana, my niece, was born and Mary Ruth was in the hospital.
Sara, my other sister, who is now deceased, and I went down to Mary Ruth's home to stay with Steve, her boy, while she was in the hospital.
We decided to make a cake for when she came home. We dug out a recipe and all the ingredients for the cake. Mary Ruth had just got a brand new mixer not long before that and we were anxious to try it out.
Neither of us had a mixer so we were rookies with using one. We quickly read the directions for using it and started the process. We were doing fine getting all of the ingredients together and mixing them in. Then it was time to pour the batter into the cake pan. That is when the disaster began. That was when we wished we had chosen a white cake instead of chocolate!
Sara lifted the mixer out of the batter and suddenly there was cake batter all over the kitchen, the ceiling, the cabinets, the floor and on ourselves! Later Mary Ruth told us that we were supposed to turn the mixer off before we took it out of the batter! Or at the least to slowly lift the beaters out until they stopped throwing the batter out. Well, duh!
At any rate, we spent the next hour cleaning up the kitchen. We did bake the rest of the batter into a cake and ended up with a smaller pretty well constructed cake.
We often laugh about that mess from so long ago. I always think of it when I get out my mixer to make a cake.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Cranking a car--in the olden days

A 1912 Cadillac. the first car with an electric starter.
Cranking an old car




Cranking an even older car












I remember back when I was just a little kid, my dad had an old model T Ford. Of course it was used when he got it and had a lot of problems he had to deal with. It was an older car and did not have an electric starter. One of the problems was getting it started. It had to be hand cranked. By the time he would get it started he was cranky!
I remember sitting there in the car waiting for him to get it cranked up and running. I would be thinking why won't it start? Then when we were about to give up it would start sputtering and backfiring and finally take off running. It was always a relief for it to start.
The first car with an electric starter was a 1912 Cadillac. My dad never had a car with an electric starter until long after that. Not all cars got the electric starter until some time later.
My dad never had a brand new car in his whole life. I would have loved to have bought him a brand new car that never gave him any problems. However, I am sure that now he never has any problems with anything!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Corn Syrup or Mrs. Butterworths?




















I like maple flavored syrup on my pancakes. When I had all of my family home I had to have three kinds of syrup on hand. I had Mrs Butterworth's for myself, just plain corn syrup for Ford and then just plain brown syrup for one of the kids.



We had pancakes, or waffles about once a week at least. I made them in a waffle iron some of the time and other times I just made them on a griddle, or in a skillet. The waffle iron was good but it took more time and it had to be cleaned up afterwards. A skillet was easier to clean up.

I usually bought Karo syrup years ago but since I am the only one here now I just use a store brand. I never use it on my pancakes but I do use it for cooking . I keep Mrs Butterworth's on hand because I like it on my pancakes.


Ford would never use maple flavored syrup, he just wanted plain old white Karo syrup for his pancakes. He said his Dad used to make their syrup with sugar and water; he would put the sugar and water in a pan and cook it until it thickened. That is probably why he wanted just plain corn syrup, it was more like the home made syrup his dad made. I remember my mother did that sometimes also.


Since I am writing this I have a taste for pancakes so I may make some for my breakfast in the morning. Forget the calories!






Thursday, November 5, 2009

Mama and Our Dog

Me and Mama and our dog


I do not remember this dog of ours. But I am sure that I loved it. I never met a dog I didn't like--as Will Rogers used to say about men.

Doesn't My Mother look young there? Actually, she was young. Probably about 32 or 33.

I have had several dogs throughout my life. But none of them for very long until I was married and got Mickey and Buddy. I had them for quite a few years. Mickey lived for about 16 or 17 years and Buddy lived for about 10 years. As I have said before, Mick was our psychotic dog and Buddy was our angel dog. Buddy deserved to live longer than he did. He had arthritis in his spine and it just did him in. Mick probably just died from old age. He just quit eating and drinking water. I loved him even though he was a problem dog. He was born that way and couldn't help how he was! Just as some people are born the way they are and can't help themselves. We do judge them but God made them the way they are.

I often wonder if dogs will be in heaven. I hope so because I will have some Friends waiting for me when I get there! (Maybe not Mick!)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Paris Celebrities



Tanya Tucker




The Oak Ridge Boys
(Duane Allen is 3rd from the left).











Gene Watson

The three celebrities above were not born in Paris but they did have connections with Paris.


Gene Watson was born in Palestine, Texas but was raised in Paris. He is one of my favorite country singers. Someone once asked Country singing legend Ray Price to name his favorite singer. Ray paused a minute and then said, "I have too many to name but Gene Watson would be right at the top."


Duane Allen, lead singer of the Oak Ridge Boys, also was not born in Paris but he lived many of his younger days there. He attended church there with my niece in his youth.


Shirley Cothran, Miss America 1975 was born in Paris and her mother lived near my family when I was a child. So she is also a Paris native.


Tanya Tucker, born in Seminole, Texas had a connection with Paris. One of her relatives -- an aunt, I think--worked with my sister at Sears in Paris. The relative certainly kept everyone updated about Tanya almost to their annoyance.


Gene Watson is my favorite country singer. I have most of his songs on CDs and I listen to them quite often. I also like Tanya Tucker's San Antonio Stroll and The Oak Ridge Boys' Elvira. So
Paris is quite gifted with famous people!
And, of course, I am from Paris, the most celebrated of them all! I do not live there now but I visit there every summer.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Culbertson Fountain in Paris, Texas



Me sitting on the fountain in Paris, Texas.















Culbertson fountain


The picture above was made about in 1942 when I was in high school.


Paris had a huge fire in 1916 which destroyed the center of Paris as well as most of the other parts of Paris. The Paris fire was the third largest fire ever after the Chicago fire and the San Francisco earthquake fire. The center of Paris had to be completely rebuilt. The fountain was a gift from a Paris businessman and philanthropist, J. J. Culbertson to commemorate the rebirth of Paris after the fire. It took three years to assemble (1924 - 1927).


I remember as a child wanting to walk up the steps to the fountain to watch the pretty fish that were in the water. The fountain has always been a main focal point of Paris downtown. I saw it just this summer when I was visiting in Paris and it is as beautiful as ever.


Thank You, Mr. Culbertson!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Shrimp-Yuck!

Craw fish




Shrimp Cocktail



Shrimp













When we used to take vacations in Las Vegas we were amazed at the number of people who crammed into the Golden Gate Casino for the 50 cent (yes, 50 cent) shrimp cocktails. Of course that has been about 25 years ago.


The shrimp cocktails were a large size and according to others--we didn't know--were very good. They looked like the picture above.


Neither I nor Ford were seafood lovers. We do like just plain old fried fish but not clams, scallops, oysters, shrimp or any other fish dishes. And especially we did not like shrimp. I have tried it in cocktails, boiled, fried, baked and any other ways available but none of it appealed to us. I would just see a big craw fish there in front of me on the plate. Some people do eat craw fish tails--not me.
I realize that we are in the minority because I never met anyone who said they didn't like shrimp, in fact most everyone loves shrimp. I guess we are just weird!


I am sure that the casinos now do not serve 50 cent shrimp cocktails any more; probably more like $3.00. Whatever they are I'll pass!