Happy New Year

                                                      Today is the last day of 2018!

                                             How did that happen and where did it go?

          This year has been filled with many ups and downs as I am sure it was for many of you.

But, I am happy to say that it is ending on a very positive note and I have so many ideas in my head

                                                                            for

                                                         THE BEST YEAR EVER

                                      How about you? What are your plans for the New Year?

I always intend to make resolutions. I do make a few.............

                                                        And, then I forget what they are!!

                                                  So, no resolutions this New Years Day.

                                            Then, I won't have to admit that I am forgetful!

    Wishing each of you a very Happy New Year and the best 2019                                      you can possibly have.

                                                                                                                       

A Quilt to End All Quilts

Several years ago I saw this ad in a magazine about getting a picture transferred onto fabric. (Now days you can do it yourself on the computer). 

That gave me a brilliant idea!! I'd design and make a quilt about our life. 

So, I designed each square, depicting a place we had lived. We moved around a lot because Elbert was in the Navy but in order to make the quilt rectangular, I had to add more squares. So, I did some of our hobbies on that last row. 

I had no idea about who would end up with that quilt when I was GONE. And, each of the kids started saying it was THEIRS. What to do?

I still haven't decided. I don't quilt anymore so I can't make three more identical quilts so each would have one. Maybe my will administrator can hold a drawing. Who gets the shortest straw? Who gets their name drawn outta the hat? 

But, here is my quilt.... and at the bottom I will tell you about each square so if you want to miss that part you can just look at the quilt and move on! hehe.

Joining with Thankful Thursday and Little Things

1. Jasper, Alabama ....The house where I was born. 

2. Columbus, Mississippi..My and Elbert's marriage license and gold rings. A tiny cake, too

3. Jasper, Alabama where our first child was born. See I appliqued a cut-out of the state represented
     on each square that the children were born. Baby Marie is in a bassinet.

4. San Diego, California, our first home. (The Mexican influence displayed on that square)

5. Panama City, Florida... a duty station where we enjoyed palm trees and the ocean

6. Panama City, Fla. our second child, Steven, was born. He passed away at 3 months. This square
    shows the state and a cross with a crocheted bootie hanging from it.

7. Seattle, Washington... And, Mt. Rainier and a totem pole from the park where we visited

8. Seattle, Wa.. Baby Shirley came along. This square has the state and a rattle.

9. Havre de Grace, Md... Elbert was attending school at Bainbridge Naval Base nearby. 

10. Honolulu, Hawaii... Diamond Head 

11. Honolulu... and Michael was born. This square has a miniature flower lei attached.

12. Midway Island... The sand, the birds, the scaveola bushes

13. The center square is my and Elbert's wedding picture... what started this whole thing

14. Bainbridge, Md. again. This time I appliqued Michael sledding behind our apartment

15. Bainbridge, Md. Susan was born. A black-eyed susan, the state flower

16. Concord, Calif. A mt. I could see out my kitchen window

17. Annapolis, Maryland... perfect duty, my family complete. The Naval Academy Chapel in this pic.

18. Norfolk, Virginia... Elbert was stationed on the USS Boxer. He retired off that ship.

19. Jasper, Alabama... our farm

20. Wakefield, Virginia... our last home together.

last rows: hobbies of fishing, painting, genealogy, quilting and foxhunting. And, I'll have you know I embordiered that foxhound myself. 

Snakes....

       

If there is one thing I hate... it's snakes!! And, another thing I hate is when my husband scares me. 

                                                                This story is about both.

Back many years ago, when we lived on the farm in Alabama, Elbert was cleaning up an old pile of cut wood at the edge of the yard. I was in the house. 

I heard him yell, 'come here'. So, I go out the door, across the yard and stop near where he is working.                                                      'Look what I found', he says, pointing at my feet. 

                                I look down. I am standing in a bunch of snakes... grant you, they were DEAD. 

                                                                      That did NOT matter. 

                                                               I screamed and then I got MAD. 

How could he have let me walk into a pile of dead copperheads. There was a bunch of them, Mama, Papa and all the babies. They surrounded me. I was so mad. It's a dang near wonder I hadn't had a heart attack. He thought it was funny. Now, he could be the sweetest thing... but there was a side... well, we won't go there, hehe.

                                                                  

                                                                   🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

Now, on to other things. Linking with Blue Monday

                                     Me standing next to one of my daughter's limelight hydrangeas.

And, the beautiful blue sky.

A Wedding at Old First Church

Recently I saw a post over at The Frog and Penquinn, featuring Old First Church in Bennington, Vermont. Since that place held memories for me, I commented to Beatrice that I'd share something about the church on my next Memory Monday posts. So, here it is.....

It was July, 1989. Elbert and I had driven up from Alabama, stopping long enough in New York to pick up our daughter and her dress to head to her fiance's ski house on Stratton Mt. north of Bennington. There was going to be a wedding.

The big day arrived, hotter than usual for July. We noticed as guests arrived at the church that there was no air-conditioning. The church was built in 1805 and I guess they wanted to retain the old-fashioned charm.

 Limousines had been arranged for the wedding party... out of Albany, NY, some distance away. And, the driver of the one picking up the bride got lost! There we all are inside a rather warm church wondering where the bride is! 

Finally she arrived, absolutely beautiful, radiant. Of course, I'd say that! She's my daughter...but she was. Don't you agree?

The pastor was pretty impressed having a model from New York hold her wedding in his church. All her New York friends were there as well as from Africa, Australia and Sweden. The groom's Wall Street buddies were there as well. The Rev. was really enjoying all this. The ceremony began and he started to embellish on their chosen rites. After all, he had an audience... perhaps not so willing at this point. He droned on and on. Sweat began to trickle down our back and make our faces shiny.

Finally he pronounced them husband and wife and they headed down the aisle toward the entrance. We all were happy to get some fresh, cooler air.

The reception was held under a huge tent in the back yard at Hildene, Robert Todd Lincoln's home.

                  I am sure the staff there remembered that one for years to come.                                    
                                     New Yorkers do know how to party! 

The food was amazing and plentiful, the flowers so artfully arranged, the band played current music and the sunset over the mountains unbelievable. It was a day none of us will ever forget. 

A Trip Of A Lifetime

Recently I began posting a memory of mine on Facebook every Monday Morning. My friends/family are enjoying reading my memories and one day I thought... "hey, maybe I will use that for my blog as well". So, here goes. 

Memory Monday....

Oh boy, we were an excited bunch of kids. The Walker County High School Band was going to Philadelphia to march in the American Legion Parade. We'd also be making stops in Washington, D. C. and New York City. Big time for most of us little country kids.

The band director got us our own private train car which would be pulled off to a side track while we did our thing in each city. Then we packed our bags and away we went.

Our first stop... Washington D. C. where we did some sightseeing. Our tour bus passed President Truman out for his morning walk. But, I couldn't get a picture. Yes, I was taking pictures even back then.

Then on to Philadelphia...It was August I think. I do remember it being very hot and our uniform jackets weren't made for summertime marching. People along the parade route would pass us paper cups of water so that we might have a drink as we marched.

Next... New York City. We stayed at the Governor Clinton Hotel, toured the Bronx zoo, some went to the top of the Empire State Building but those of us who weren't ready for such heights got to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. 

One night we were turned loose in the city. Imagine that!! But, we all made it safely back to the hotel.

It was a trip I will never forget. Thank you, Mr. Merck, wherever you are, for making that trip possible for us.

************NOTE: come back every Monday for another memory of mine!

Do You Keep A Journal?

                                                                     Do you keep a journal?

                                                       They called them diaries back in 'the day'.

  1. I started my first one when I was in my teens but it was one of those tiny little books with scarcely enough room to write anything. All I entered was the scantiest info, like 'met Elbert Barton today' or a couple years later 'he proposed'.

2. It was not until 1999 when I read 'The Widow Down By The Brook' a well-documented diary written by a widow. It made me realize just how little I had revealed about my life in those 'tiny little diaries'.

3. I bought me some theme paper (college rule, of course) and set about documenting my life day by day. There soon came our move from Alabama to Virginia, my cancer scare, Elbert and my journey through his Alzheimers and finally my new life as a widow. I had become that widow "Down By The Brook".

4. I have scores of journals, mostly the back and white composition books that we used in school.
I find they are about the right size for a years worth of journaling. As I have needed, I have gone back to those older journals to recall certain events, find out info I had forgotten and relive those special times in my life. How I wish I'd kept more detailed journals before 1999. Oh well, we learn as we go along.

5. I wonder if my children will keep my journals after I am gone. Will they read them or will they be stored in a trunk or perhaps eventually tossed out. It doesn't matter. They have served a purpose for me and that's all that is important.

Linking with Willy Nilly Friday, Thankful Thursday and Little Things.

This is part of my Growing Old Gracefully series. 

Turtles

Saturday is always Saturday Critters Day - also Camera Critters.

Today it's Turtle Day...

these first two were turtles we watched while we were anchored on Lake Wheeler in Alabama. 

The next two pictures feature turtles we saw on the banks of a pond in Huntsville (Alabama) Botanical Gardens. At first I thought they were fake but then one took off as fast as a turtle can move. Nothing fake about them. 

This turtle was on a log in the Great Dismal Swamp near my home in Suffolk, Virginia

And, this one was in a small stream in the Butterfly House at the Botanical Gardens.

I remember well, how, when my adult grandson was just a boy, he never saw a turtle but what he didn't want to pick it up and carry it home. And, his parents often did just that. So, turtles reminds me of Christopher. 

Old Brick Church

Back around 1960, when my husband was stationed at Bainbridge, Maryland, my Mom and step-dad came up from Alabama to visit us. Most of my family are of Primitive Baptist faith and so one day we drove up to an old historic church in Jarretsville. It wasn't open but we could peek inside through the windows. It was most impressive.

(my family standing in front of Old Brick Church)

Just lately I researched this church online. It is even more impressive now than it was to me back then. 

Old Brick Baptist Church was constituted on the first day of November 1754. The church was built in that year. In 1787 it was repaired, adding wood floors and other improvements. The church itself was constructed of Flemish bond brick. Some say the brick was brought over from England, other say not. The original yellow poplar seats that were put together with wooden pegs were still intact (at the writing of the article online). 

However, in recent years, someone painted the exterior brick with a brick red paint, a true travesty to the integrity of it's historic nature. 

I hope that the proper people take charge of the care of this fabulous old church. It deserves to be preserved. 

Memorial Service

I attended church this morning where Leslie and I had gone while we were together. It was a Memorial Service for all those loved ones we lost this year. 

I have to admit that I dreaded it, just knowing that it would stir up the loss I have felt, the memories of all those times we sat side by side in that pew on Sunday morning. And, yes, it got me. There were tears. But, they were tears of love, of sadness, of sorrow, of the joy we had shared, the memories of our good times together. 

As each name was called out, one of the small children from our church walked forward down the aisle carrying a lighted votive candle. When they reached the Communion table, the candle was placed there. There were a lot of them and they burned brightly throughout the service. When it was over we could take our loved ones candle home with us. 

The choir sang "On Eagle's Wings", so beautifully done. Leslie would have been so proud to have been remembered in such a way. I miss my 'pew buddy'. He always looked so handsome all dressed up for church. I'd sometimes steal a look at him while we were standing to sing... and I'd just grin. I was so happy we were together. 

Memories

I, from time to time, link with Tom over at Barn Collective on Mondays. Well, it's Monday and I want to share this with all of you.

It's hard to give up a loved one. During the grieving process you think about all the wonderful times you've had together. Leslie (my sweet companion for 5 years) and I loved to take rides. I remember one of our earliest times together we went to Smithfield (Virginia) and in getting to know each other the question came up "What do you like to do".  His answer was 'flying remote control airplanes'. 

When I said that photography was one of my pasttimes, he was astounded. His thought of 'taking pictures' was when the family got together and a snapshot was made to record the event. But, soon he was taking me on drives out in the country, helping me look for photo opt moments, and slowing down so I could shoot from the car. He was such a sweet man! 

On the last little trip we took before he passed away in June we again went to Smithfield. Had some barbeque at Q Daddy's and then I drove over to Windsor Park. (I was doing the driving by then since he was not well) There is an old historic house there called Windsor Castle and sitting in the back of the house was my photo opt!! I stopped, got out and took these pictures. It makes me cry to remember our times together. I miss him so much.

A Visit Most Anticipated

#1 I am excited today. My daughter, Marie, is coming to visit. It's been way too long. So, I am looking forward for us catching up and enjoying our time together. 

this picture was taken on a Mother's Day outing in 2011, the last visit we had together. Then she moved clear across the country!!

#2. I got sick Tuesday with a severe sinus infection, head hurting the worse it has ever hurt so it really upset me that it was going to spoil our mother/daughter time together. But, let me tell you.... Predisone is a wonder drug. I am fine, back to normal and ready to go to the airport today to pick her up. 

#3. In 1996 we girls went to Ireland together. That was one of our most favorite times together. It's a trip we'll never forget.

There we are in an Irish pub, having a barrel of fun.

#4. Here she is dancing with her Dad. That was a special time.

#5. Mom and daughter at Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.

Linking today with Willy Nilly Friday and Five on Friday

Swinging

Today is Tom's Treasures. I didn't have much in the way of contributing but then I got to thinking. Treasures aren't only related to old things. It can be a special moment between two people making memories of a lifetime. 

Such as the moment I saw the swing... grabbed my son's hand and pulled him along toward it... and then the feeling of his pushing me up through the air. And, back down again, over and over. 

It was great fun, brought back memories of the days I pushed him in a swing when he was just a little lad and how in years to come, when I am no longer here, he'll remember the moments we spent with him pushing me in that swing.

An Old Cotton Gin

I grew up in 'the land of cotton, ole times there are ne'er forgotten' (song "Dixieland"). In my early years before school age I played along the cotton rows while my aunts, uncles and Mom picked cotton. They even made me a sack to hang over my shoulder and I'd shove a handful of the white bolls in ever now and then. 

For Tom's Treasures I want to share a couple pictures I made last year when I was visiting my son in Alabama. He took me for a drive and we discovered this old, abandoned cotton gin. Now, that is a real treasure! 

I liked seeing the building and the machinery but my favorite part was these bales of cotton sitting against the building, just going to waste. 

My Mom's Little Booklet

Got up early (before sunrise) this morning and was looking for something to do when I spied a box of old letters I need to scan one of these days. Why not do a couple this morning? And, the first one I pulled out was not a letter but a little booklet my Mom had made in school.

Mom was born in 1904. Let's see, if she started school when she was six, then that would have been about 1910. Since there is a IV written under her name on the front of this little booklet I am thinking maybe that means she was in the fourth grade. So, now we are figuring this treasure was made about 1914. It's over 100 years old!!

So, I thought I'd share my find with you this morning. And, link up with Tom over at Tuesdays Treasures.

                                                                      THE COVER

FIRST PAGE

SECOND PAGE

It has 12 pages in all. Just such a precious thing to have, with my Mom's own handwriting.

                                                                                                            

Train Travel

Today my book club met. In December we all read "The Christmas Train" by David Baldacci. 

We all loved it and were ready to dive headfirst into our discussion. Of course, we always get off track and today was no exception. Some of us had ridden trains. There were more than a few tales being told about trips they had made. Myself, I've made a few interesting journeys on trains over the years so naturally I had to share my little tales as well.

The first trip I ever took a trip by rail, I was 14 years old. My high school band was traveling from Alabama to Washington D. C., on to Philadelphia where we would march in the American-Legion Parade and then we would 'do' New York City. We had our own train car the entire journey. They'd just unhook us then park our car on a side rail while we were in that particular city. Man, but that was one more trip!!

I made a trip in 1951 when I was four months pregnant, so I could see my sailor husband before his ship deployed for the fighting in Korea. The Mississippi River was flooded (like it is now) so I left Alabama and traveled north to Chicago to follow a route that was not under water. We left Chicago in a train car with no air-conditioning so the windows were open. The train was pulled by a steam engine and by the time I got to San Diego, California, I was covered with soot.

I've ridden the train many times since then and always have a wonderful time.

Have you ridden a train EVER or LATELY? Tell me about your experiences. I'd love to read about them. And, if you haven't been on a train... by all means take a trip! Anywhere. It's fun. And, no, Amtrak did not tell me to say that!!!