Remember way back when you were dating?

I was young once and I can still remember that time.  I was young and actually dated boys.  I don't think things happen the way they did many years back.  For one thing, everybody has a car now days.  Usually given to the kid by one parent or another so they do not have to drive them around.  Back in the day, it did not work that way.  Cars were few and far between and if the boy wanted to use the car to take a little chickadee somewhere on Saturday night, the deal was made weeks in advance.  A date was a big deal back then.  The guy had to come to the door and actually meet mom and dad. Well, it was supposed to work that way, but it didn't always.

See back then I thought my parents were way to strict and old fashioned and and I just could not be bothered with those little customs that other kids held so dear.  One might say I was a bit of a rebel back then.  So I always managed to meet the lucky boy up on the highway.  Looking back, I see that I might have been sending the wrong message.  Well, I am pretty sure I was not getting the message across that I had parents who cared about me and wanted to know where I was more for my benefit than just because they were nosey!

So, I met Prince Charming up on the highway and we would go to the drug store and have a coke ore something equally decadent which cost in the neighborhood of five cents.  Dates were cheap back then.  Then we might walk around a while.  You know, look at the stars and stuff because back then there was not so much light pollution and you could see the stars.  Then back to the car and drive some where so we could see better.  Inevitably that damn car would run out of gas!  What to do now?  My idea was to hit the road and go get more gas, but his was to neck.  Neck!  We could neck all night and that car would still be out of gas.

I have always been a woman of action.  "Come on!  It will be midnight before we get back.  I ain't gonna set here all night."  And it was then that the truth came to light,  I could either give or walk.  Give or Walk?  Is that your idea of foreplay?  Well, I have also been scared of the dark most of my life, but here was a situation that would warrant closer scrutiny of whatever was in the dark.  On the one hand I was alone with an idiot who did not have sense enough to put gas in his car, thinking that sex would make that thing run.  And if we had sex, he would still be out of gas and I would be walking.  Either way, I knew I was going to hoof it home that night.

Ever look back on your life and just wonder how you could have actually been that stupid and ever lived?  I got more walking time in when I was a teenager than in all the rest of my life.  And you would have thought that the guys would have wised up at some point, but they never did.  I did finally decide all the boys in my hometown were jerks and started dating the boys from the big city.  Now those guys knew how to treat a girl!  Actually I think they were afraid of me because I had some very muscle bound legs.  Guess they thought I might kick them!

One of the guys from way far away in Dodge City caught my fancy and the rest was history.  We dated three weeks.  He met momma and dad.  Never made me walk home. Took me dancing and we drank some beer.  I got sick, but I knew I would spend the rest of my life with this gorgeous man with blond curly hair, blue eyes and a Roman nose.  Funny thing, life.  My forever lasted 10 years and 5 kids.  The Dreamer that I had loved with every fiber of my being turned out to be just that, The Dreamer.  He wrote the most beautiful love letters, but neglected to pay the rent.  He painted pictures of a most glorious future, but wouldn't change a diaper.  Guess life just kind of got in the way, and life does have a way of doing that, doesn't it?

One year old has the blues!!

Here is the little fellow at his first birthday party all covered with blue frosting!! Doesn't he look sad? He may just be realizing that the easy part is over now and the hard part begins. He has to learn to walk and talk, the potty training and then it is off to school so he can learn all it takes to finish growing up and how to make a living. Then it is off to work and a wife and a baby who will someday be one year old and have blue frosting and start the whole cycle over again!

Pueblo AIDS Memorial Quilt #3

This is the third panel that I am highlighting in this series.  Just noticed on this that 2 of our guys passed on the same day.  Probably a lot more about these panels then I noticed at the time.  Taking care of them has been a definite labor of love and I shall miss them when someone else takes over the job.

In the upper left is my friend
Wally Miller
3/15/1965-7/23/2001.
I knew Wally for 3 years before I discovered how well we were connected. I was giving him a ride home and we started talking about the University and when he attended. I told him my son attended during the same time. Who was my son? When I told him it was Sam, he said, "Oh, my God! Sam was my best friend!"  That friendship was soon revived. Wally was such a dear!

  Elsie
6/26/30-/12/03.
I did not know Elsie very well.  Only that she was our oldest client and she loved to cook as well as eat. Her husband was a lot younger than her, but took very good care of her until she passed.

Myron
12/19/72-12/21/03
I did not know Myron well, just that he liked to hunt and especially loved the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Paul
2/22/62-4/26/03
Paul was a dear and a very lost little soul.  He had the saddest brown eyes in the whole world most of the time, but when he found something amusing they would light up the whole room. He fought alcholism his whole life and lost.

Felix
9/30/66-10-19-2000
I never met Felix, but made this panel and gave him my Mickey and Minnie Mouse because I knew he would want them just by the way he was described to me.  He loved roses and had many of them at his home.

Jenny
8/22/71-9/6/01
This panel was made by her mom and 2 young sons. It is a work of love and it shows.  Her sons are big boys now, but still reflect the gentle nature of their mother.

Dennis
2/8/54-1/19/01
Dennis loved flowers, finer things in life, his home and most of all his dogs.  He is sorely missed by friends and family and the dogs.

Dennis
8/21/50-7/23/01
Here is a guy who knew what good was!  Dennis loved Kentucky Fried Chicken and I think Colonel Sanders was his hero! He also like bright, flamboyant things, to include flowers.

And there you have this installment.  Will try not to let so much time expire next time.  This represents another 8 lives cut short to the disease we pay so little attention to nowadays. I had a guy explain to me the other day that AIDS is now a thing of the past and that there is a cure.  I told him he might want to check that one out a little closer!

They have arrived, took sister Mary, and left!

Here are the culprits! This is Dorothy and Mike Flory. They live in Shawnee, Kansas. They both work and have strange hobbies. They have cows for pets and a farm for a hobby. It is calving time on the farm and with this weather, they keep pretty busy overseeing the birthing process as well as having full time jobs! Then to take time out to run out here and pick up Mary, my hat is off to them!

They arrived Saturday night, ate supper, slept, ate breakfast, loaded Sister Mary in the car and away they went! Now I am alone. Well, not really alone since I do have Bret, Daisy, Elvira, 10 geese, and 23 ducks, but I have nonetheless, lost my buddy.

And here is Sister Mary, all ready to go. She even has her purse hooked on her arm. Maybe they are going to stop and do some shopping! I do not like to shop, so we did not do that while she was here, except when we did it for survival.

Having Mary here was a definite treat, and a diversion to say the very least. You have to look back on our childhood to realize what a learning experience this really was. Mary was always the "pretty one". Dorothy was the baby, Donna was there, Jake was the boy, and Josephine was the oldest. I came in between Donna and Jake, so that made me the "middle child" and you know what the middle child was good for--nothing.

Middle Child Syndrome is what it is called. I am not a leader and not a follower, just kind of there. Or at least that is how it should have worked. But in our family, Josephine married and left very early, Jake attached himself to a farmer and then forged a new birth certificate and joined the Army when he was barely 16 and was never there. So, I then became the leader. Then I left.

But back to the relevant part. Mary and I were never very close. She was closer to Donna. Then she married Tommy when she was 13(?) and he was 15(?). Think that is right. They remained together and lived happily ever after until he passed at the early age of 52. So when the opportunity arose for her to come spend time with me we jumped on that. You really get to know someone when you set and talk for hours. We have a lot in common. We both lost our mother, both lost our husbands, both have grandkids, went to the same grade school. And on and on. Lot more than I thought. Might have to do this again someday!

But for now, I will savor the weeks we spent together, knowing she is safe at home with her family checking up on her. Guess I will plan a trip to Wichita, Kansas as soon as the snow melts!!

Nickerson, Kansas Elementary School, 1945-1953

This may take more than one posting. I woke up this morning thinking about grade school. When I can not fall asleep at night, one of my favorite things is to remember the one mile walk to and from school. I picture the houses and try to remember the names of the people who lived in them. It usually works if I follow it with the Lord's Prayer.

What I woke up remembering this morning was the music room. At least what passed for the music room before they moved in a small school building and set it on the corner and that was the music room. This room was on the second story. Cultural Department.

The windows in the whole school were huge, very tall. Every window in the school was covered with heavy blackout curtains that were fastened to the sides. This was in case the Japanese were to fly over here and end up in the center of the United States in a town named Nickerson, Kansas, population 1,100, we could close them and no light would get out so they would not bomb that building. Homeland Security!

Once a month, we were all called to the central hallway, which doubled as a lunch room and given a glass of orange juice. There was a small room off the first grade classroom that doubled as a sick room. Health Department!

I think that was so we would not get Rickets, or something like that. Our meals were cooked in the kitchen by Mrs. Ritchie. Her husband was the Janitor. He committed suicide shortly after the 8th grade, or so we heard. Probably about the 4th grade one of the boys in our town was killed in the war and the whole school went to the train station to meet the coffin. All I remember is looking up his marker in the cemetary and it says "He sleeps in Iwo Jima."

Also in fourth grade, a classmate named Beth (You know who you are!) brought a popcorn ball to school and dropped it in the stool in the bathroom and blamed it on me! Said I grabbed it away and threw it in there! If I had touched it I would have eaten it! Mrs. Howe was very upset with me and wrote on my report card, "Louella teases the other kids on the playground." So much for the Justice Department!

Fifth grade I had a poem published in the Jack and Jill(?) magazine. Other highlights: Last day of school in 8th grade, the band played outside and a bird pooped on Gay Withrow's cap. Mother had cancer and the church ladies sewed all us kids clothes for school except Jake who only wore overalls anyway. Mother recuperated and lived to be 80 years old. Miss Barkis, the music teacher, married the principals son, David Houston. Miss Donnough, the first grade teacher, married someone. Mrs. Howe, the fourth grade teacher got a thorn in her intestine and nearly died.

Oh, for the days of trivial nonesense!! And to think I have remembered some of this stuff for 63 years!!!

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days!

Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,

taught to the tune of a hickory stick!

Button up your coat!

I heard some one say "Button up your coat!" That started me thinking about the way we talk and I realize a lot of it hearkens back to the olden times. Like "Button up your coat." If you think about it, that is the correct way to button because you can start at the bottom with the buttons matching and it will button straight. If you start at the top, you really can not see to match them and when you get to the bottom, sometimes one side hangs down below the other.

"Put that book down!" would seem to mean that it should go on the floor as that is the location of "down." We need to be more specific with the kiddies. "Place the book on the table." Now you may wonder, what got me off on this tangent. It was the trash.

I told Bret, "That trash needs to go out." Seems like a harmless statement on the surface, but I could see his wheels turn. So I amended the statement, "That trash needs to go out and you need to be the one to take it out (then I added) to the barrel that is located by the carport and you need to open the lid and place it inside and replace the lid then you need to walk away leaving it behind." I think he did it on his way to work.

He used to be so cute! What happened? Where did I go wrong? I never whacked him in the head I don't care what you think! The last I remember he was a tiny boy coming to the door with both his hands clutching something and saying "Let me in! I have too many hands!" Now he just gives the door a kick and comes on in. Well, at least he has learned to fend for himself!

Well, that is it for the day. Got to go do the Java Automatic Update so it will quit flashing at me. Enjoy your day, and think carefully about all you sentences. You could start a world war!!

Sister Mary comes for a visit!

Well, Sister Mary is here for a visit. She is not really A sister, she is MY sister. We are in this order: Josephine, Brother Jake, Me, Donna, Mary and Dorothy. Mother spaced us all 2 years apart. Josephine and Jake have both gone to the big resting place in the sky. Josephine from Pulmonary disease at the age of 70(?) and Jake in a car wreck at the age of 29. That leaves me as the Matriarch of the family.

Being the Matriarch carries a lot of responsibilities and is also a postition of respect. No one bothered to tell any of the sisters this. I have tried to point it out, but I refer back to that statement about the position of respect. My mother once told me " There is no sense beating a dead horse." Now I know what she meant.

Anyway, Mary and I ventured off to the Brain Gym at the Arts Center yesterday to make ourselves smart in our old age. Well, we ventured home in basically the same condition we left. But here is the good news! Brain Gym is based on a premise of left and right brain activity and exercises that will increase usage of both sides.

While the Brain Gym workshop was beneficial to me, I know it is not a magic bullet and we will need to do the exercises to see any improvement. I also know that not everyone has a Brain Gym program in their area, so I ordered a book from Amazon and I am going to recommend this book to anyone who is interested. It has clear directions for some of the more popular exercises.

The book is Brain Gym. It is written by Paul E Dennison, Ph.D and Gail E Dennison. The cover is orange (and that seems to make a difference). The ISBN:0-942143-05-1. The cost is $12.95 new and is well worth the price even if you don't think you have a problem. We are all getting older and need all the help we can get.

So, back to the subject at hand. Mary has been here for 1 week and we have babysat twice. This has been fun. First one was 6 months old and the second was 2 years old. The 2 year old gets around a lot faster then the other and fairly well kept us entertained for the afternoon. Course his grandma was here all the time. Might have been a different story had grandma left! I foresaw screeching if that happened!

We also went to the Mexican Grocery store in Salt Creek. I bought a new cast iron griddle for making tortillas. Got a coke from Mexico that is made with sugar cane as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. It was really good and different then coke made here. Wanted corn meal, but they only had the cornbread mix. Alas, and alack.

Elvira sleeps with Mary and Daisy sleeps with me. So we each have a dog in attendance. Today is church and it starts at 9:30 so I got to start stirring around here or we will not make it on time.

THINK GOOD THOUGHTS!

Hansel and Gretel: a bedtime horror story for the kiddies!

I just finished reading a horror story! Wait a minute before you pass judgement, I think I am on to something here. Did you ever read nursery rhymes? I mean really read them? Back when you were a wee one, perhaps your mother read them to you. How did you sleep after that? Let me just give you a synopsis of Hansel and Gretel as retold by Rika Lesser.
This book was originally written by Wilhelm Grimm in 1810 and printed in 1812. It has been cleaned up because as I recall, it was a lot scarier the first 6 times around. As it is currently written, it is pretty scary. As the book opens, the father and stepmother are laying in bed and the stepmother tells the father he must take the children to the forest and abandon them or they all will starve. Pretty spooky, huh?
Hansel tells Gretel of her plan and goes out in the yard and picks up stones. The parents take them into the woods and Hansel leaves a trail of stones. Parents drop them in forest and when it gets dark the kids follow the trail of stones back to the house. Daddy was glad to see them but the evil stepmother was not! (Now this is probably where we get our ingrained sense of stepmother's being evil!)
Again the household runs out of food and the trip is planned again. This time the door is locked and Hansel can not gather stones. So the next day he crumbles his bread and leaves a trail. Silly boy! Birds ate the bread. Now they are really screwed. Of course, you remember the rest of the story. They find the gingerbread house and then are held captive by the old woman. Hansel is fattened up to be eaten and Gretel is the slave.
The old woman gets greedy and decides to eat Gretel first, telling her to crawl in the oven to see if the bread is done and Gretel tells her "Show me how"and the old woman crawls in the oven and Gretel slams the door, lets Hansel out of his pen. Then they go back and take all the jewels the old woman had and miraculously find there way home to learn the stepmother was dead also and they all lived happily ever after!
Let us dissect this story. Hansel and Gretel slept in the same bed. There is one for social services! They are abandoned in a forest. One is subject to child labor law violations, the other will be fattened for fodder. Gretel is a cold blooded murderer. Both of them are thieves! Found their way home with pure dumb luck, or maybe the witch had a GPS in with her jewels. They are overjoyed to find the stepmother dead. Now the old man becomes an accomplice. I can see all kinds of reasons whereby I would not be able to sleep after reading this story. Can't you?
If this were the only one, it would be different, but nursey rhymes were scary and evil! Tom, Tom the pipers son, stole a pig and away he run. (Thief) Little Boy Blue fell asleep while violating child labor laws. Hey diddle, diddle, the cow jumped over the moon! Where will that sucker land? Old Mother Hubbard could not feed her dog! The old woman who lived in a shoe fed her kids broth without any bread! And on and on go the fairy tales. And we don't wonder where we went wrong raising our kids? We read to them!
I think in later years the tales had a better ending. Now Hansel and Gretel would need seperate rooms from birth. The Gingerbread house would not pass the building code. There are no forests. The stepmother would be kept alive on life support paid for by Medicaid.

Just some thoughts from my demented mind!