More About Rings
The rings above are made from telephone wire. My neighbors, Dave and Judy's son made them many years ago when he was just a kid.
He was selling them--I think for about a dollar apiece. I just bought them to make him feel good. I never actually wore the rings. They are kind of pretty, or were in their day. They have been juggled around in my jewelery box and have gotten out of shape somewhat.
Rodney, Dave and Judy's son, was making them just for fun but he also wanted to make a little money. Judy use to work at a place where she had access to the wire. It came in all different colors. So to help him out I bought two of the rings.
Rodney is now living on his own. He was married but is now divorced. Maybe he is still trying to sell rings!
The Big Secret
I am sorry this picture is a little fuzzy. But you can see the ring somewhat. Back when my kids were just little ones they were figuring out what to get me for Christmas. They were talking it over with their Dad.
We had been on a shopping trip shortly before that and I had seen a ring that I liked--the ring above. So they decided that they would get me that ring. It was all supposed to be a big secret, even though they knew I had seen the ring and that I liked it.
So one afternoon before Christmas we went on a trip to downtown Fort Wayne. That was when we still had stores to shop in downtown. I sat in the car, because I wasn't supposed to know any of this, and Ford and the two girls went to the store to get the ring. The kids were so excited about all of this secrecy.
So on Christmas I opened the present and I acted so surprised about the ring. They had more fun than I did about the whole thing. They thought they had really surprised me with that ring.
My kids are not dumb and I am sure they really knew it was all fake but they had fun anyway. I don't wear the ring anymore but I do like to get it out once in a while and look at it and reminisce.
Mother in Vinegar
Did you know vinegar has a mother? It is the slimy, gelatinous material that is found in unpasteurized vinegar. In general it is the growth of acetic bacteria which is responsible for turning alcohol into vinegar.
There are health benefits of the mother of vinegar. It may look unappetising but it is completely harmless to eat. Two spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar can be taken daily as a supplement to a healthy diet and exercise.
We don't see mother in the vinegar at the grocery store because they have pasteurized it. People have demanded the clear vinegar instead of the ugly mother kind. Actually, the mother would be better for us.
I admit I don't want the stringy, slimy stuff in my vinegar. I want apple cider vinegar without a mother! I use a lot of vinegar; in my salads, on cucumbers, and in potato salad. I would be lost without my motherless vinegar.
False Teeth
My grandmother wore false teeth. She delighted in making funny faces with her teeth sort of like the man in the picture above is doing. She thought it was hilarious and really got a kick out of it. I was just a little kid and it really frightened me when she did that. I know if she had realized how I felt about it she would not have wanted to do it. Even to this day I remember her doing that with her teeth and it is not a pleasant memory.
I have always felt that false teeth are a very private thing and should be kept private, not displayed to everyone else!
I loved my grandmother but I still feel to this day that she should not have put her false teeth on display to me in that way because that is what I remember most about her.
Doodle Bugs
Back many years ago when I was just a kid--how many times have I said that?-- I used to hunt for doodle bugs. They were found in sandy spots and their homes were little indentations in the sand like in the picture above. We would take a stick, or sometimes just use our fingers, and twiddle it around in the middle of the indentation and say a little chant like, doodle bug, doodle bug fly away home or some other little poem, until the doodle bug would come out. Sometimes they never did but once in a while we would get lucky and the bug would come out.
I have not seen a doodle bug in all the time since then. The bugs were not good for anything and I don't know why we were so excited when one came out. It was just fun to mess around with them.
Thank God I now have more exciting things to do than look for doodle bugs!
Cemeteries
Do cemeteries give you the creeps? They do me! I am not so afraid of them during the daylight hours but I sure don't want to be in one at night.
Why would I be afraid of a place where no one could possibly hurt me. I don't know. I am smart enough to know that everyone in there is dead and can't possibly hurt me but I guess my thoughts and reasoning from when I was just a kid are still lurking around somewhere in my mind!
We used to have a cemetery a ways behind us at one house we lived in, I think it was called the Odd fellows Cemetery, and I remember going there to play sometimes as a kid. But I was always out of there before dark.
My kids and their cousins use to play in an old cemetery that was close to where my mother and dad lived. They had a lot of fun there and I don't remember ever hearing them say anything about being afraid. It was a rundown cemetery that was not kept in good condition.
I know a lot of people live very near cemeteries and I guess it is OK if it doesn't bother them. But when we were looking for a house to buy. I kept close attention to what was near any house we looked at.
The cemetery where Ford is buried is not very far away from my house, maybe two miles, but I am never there at night.
I guess I am just spooky minded but I don't like to be at a cemetery when it starts getting dark. I realize that someday I will spend eternity in one but until then I will stay away at night!
Say That Again!
Pig's feet
Have you heard of souse? Chow chow? Pourdoo? Pickled pig's feet ? They are all dishes from the past. Actually, I guess they are still around in some hidden area of the grocery store because Ekrich makes meats and Souse is pictured in their products. My niece, Debbie, bought me two jars of pickled pig's feet last summer as a gift. We had been discussing them and the next time she came she had these two jars for me. I thoroughly enjoyed them! Pourdo is probably not in the grocery store. Chow chow is probably not called chow chow anymore but it is still made with the same ingredients as in the olden days. Chow chow is a relish used as any other relish is used, on meats and sandwiches.
Pourdoo, originally called poordo, is a dish made from leftover biscuits and milk. It is mixed up into a batter and then fried in a skillet or baked in the oven. My mother used to make it when she had leftover biscuits. It is called pourdoo because it is a poor do for a meal! The name evolved into pourdoo over time. It was mostly made for a Sunday night meal when nothing else was available.
The chow chow and pourdoo is made from normal foods that don't repulse you. But, souse is made from pig's feet, tongue, ears, and other repulsive parts of a pig and has vinegar and spices added to it I don't think I ever ate souse in my life. but my mother used to make it. Actually, we probably eat the same pig parts in other things that meat makers produce but what we don't know won't hurt us-- I hope!
The name, souse, just makes you wonder what it is. When I hear the word chow chow I think of chow dogs! Why they ever chose chow chow for a name is beyond me. And pourdoo is even more curious. Of course we don't know all of their thoughts and reasons behind the names they chose for the stuff they ate.
Anyway, I think I will pass on the souse. I might eat pourdoo and chow chow. I certainly would eat pickled pig's feet!
I Don't Understand Myself!
Why do I have to try everything that comes along? Your answer is as good as mine. After my daughter got a computer and began talking to me about it, and sent me a Mother's day card she made on it, I just had to have a computer.
I did get one and I went nuts making greeting cards on it. I thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread! I made cards for everything that came along; holidays, birthdays, thank you notes, just any event was an excuse for me to make a greeting card. Then the postage rates went up and ink cartridges went up and it all spoiled my fun. Then I slowed down on the greeting cards.
Then e mails came along and they were free. So I went e mail crazy for a while. Soon, though, cell phones came along and it became easier to just call someone than to e mail them. So e mail lost its glamor.
Next came e bay. I went hog wild selling things on e bay. I actually did make a little money. I had so much fun checking my e bay items to see how much someone had bid on them. I finally ran out of things to sell and the postage rates went sky high and I lost some money on one item because I didn't charge enough postage so e bay flew out the window!
Next came my blog season. I started a blog and had so much fun with that. I now have 700 blogs posted. I am now running out of ideas for stories and I skip days putting one on because I can't get an idea for one. I have blogged for about two or more years but it is about the end because you can only write if you have ideas.
Now I just got on Facebook. Will it give me as much fun as all of the other things have? I sure hope so. I won't make any money but maybe I can have some fun with it.
I must think I am a teenager! I do all of the things that they do, or try to. I have some trouble with a lot of the stuff but I have a couple of grandchildren who help me along.
I am just waiting for the next novelty thing to come along on the Internet, because I will try to do it just for the fun. I transport myself mentally into whatever age group the thing fits. What fun computers are!
Embroidery thread
I have done many a stitch in embroidery in my life time. However, I do very little of it now.
I still have in my memory the look of the beautiful array of embroidery thread displayed when I went to the store to buy some. There were dozens and dozens of different colors and shades to choose from. Back then it was not displayed on hanging hooks as it is now. Then clerk had to get the boxes down from the shelf and open them for you. She was right there all the time so you felt as if you had to rush through your choosing. It was almost as if she were watching you to keep you from taking them without paying! Now with the way things are displayed you can take all the time you want to pick the colors and shades you need.
I have made dresser scarves, doilies, pillow slips, and many other things and enjoyed every minute of it. Now I have nothing embroidered on my linen shelves so all of those beautiful colors are missing!
However, I do still have my plastic storage boxes packed full of all the beautiful colors and shades of embroidery thread left over from my wonderful time when I did do all of the work. Maybe someday embroidery will come back and I will be supplied with all of my beautiful leftover thread from the past!
The Doll in the Window
Back when I was in elementary school in Paris, Texas, I used to have to walk to school--not five miles but maybe one or one and a half. I took many different routes to get home. It was fun to find all the different streets that would lead me to home.
One of the streets was Pine Bluff. It was a more direct way to take and usually the one I took. There was a two story house on Pine Bluff which I always passed on the way to and from school. In one of the upper story windows, which was a small one, there was always a doll sitting there. It was a very pretty doll, much prettier than the one in the picture above, from what I could tell from so far away.
I always looked at the doll for as long as I could see it from the sidewalk. I longed to see it up close and hold it in my hands, but, of course I never could.
I can see to this day, in my mind's eye, that doll and how cute it looked. I have not been on that street for many years but I often wonder if the doll could possibly still be there! I am sure it isn't because that has been at least 70 or more years ago. Maybe the house isn't even still there!
However, time or nothing else can take my memory of that cute little doll sitting there in that small window.
Grandma and Grandpa Couldn't Read or Write
Pictured above are my grandparents. They were my mother's parents. Also pictured is a family reunion which shows most of their descendants--only a couple are missing.
Neither of my grandparents could read or write in their early years. They never attended school. Later on my grandpa learned to read in some fashion, I'm not sure how but he did learn to read the newspapers and bible. My grandmother also learned to read in the bible. However, neither of them ever learned to read cursive writing. So when they got a letter written in cursive writing they always had to have someone read it to them.
You would think that with all of those descendants they could have somehow learned from one or more of them to read and write cursive writing.
When they got a check and had to sign it they always signed with an X. I can not believe with as many children and grandchildren they had that some of them did not try to teach them to read cursive writing.
I know that education was not emphasized back in those days as it is now but I would have gone through hell and high water to learn how to read and write somehow even on my own.
I try, even at my age, to learn something new every day. I am not the world's smartest person but it is not because I don't try to keep learning all the time.
If I don't know something I work hard to find it out before I give up. Then I check it out in other ways to find the answer! But then, this is the 21st century, not the 18th!
