The Christmas Album

The year my Dad passed we were expecting our first Grandson Jackson. It was a long winter to go through, depression and anticipation are an odd mix. I decided that keeping busy was the best medicine for me so I began putting together a Christmas Album. Up till then, the various years were scattered from album to envelope to the "Picture Box." Every night I'd set down to watch TV and go through the pictures, 1970-1994. Years of Christmas mornings spread out before me to be placed in the pages of an album that I hoped would mean something in time to the Grandchild waiting to be born.

As I went through the pictures, the memories flowed back. Stephanie was 2 when we were stationed at Biloxi, Mississippi in the above pictures (1972).

Stephanie and her Daddy under the mistletoe...Sacramento, California 1974

1981, Amy was 2 and Stephanie 10

Many, many Christmases at our parents houses. We were lucky, they lived across the pasture from each other so when we went it meant TWO Christmases!

1987 at Mom and Dad's

1988, the next year Stephanie graduated from High School

When you look at a picture you see many things, the look of surprise on someone's face, the excitement of opening the gifts and you remember the feelings you had at that moment of being with the ones you love the most.

It was the perfect project for me to work on. I relived the many happy years that my Dad enjoyed his Grand Daughters. His greatest joy was when we were all together. Whether it was Christmas, or digging potatoes out of the huge garden he grew each year, or at the table laughing and talking all at once...he loved every minute. I think that's probably what I inherited from him that I value the most. It's those moments in our lives that add meaning and joy and make each Christmas something so very special...

Thanks for the Memories!

The Blue Whale of Catoosa, Ok. Route 66

Boy, oh boy, do I love to get my hands on the perfect picture! One so good, you don't even have to put words with it to tell a story! This one, hooo boy, does it speak to you? To me it makes me remember all of those roadside attractions we stopped at during my childhood. We traveled Route 66 a lot, and it didn't really matter where we were going. It was the trip and not knowing what was around each curve!

My parents took a trip back to California when I was 2, it was 1954 so I really don't remember it other than seeing these pictures a million times. Mom's family lived there, all except her Mom and Dad who lived in Arkansas. They actually went with us on the cross country trip. That's 6 people in that car you see behind them... HOW did they do that? 

All along the way, they never passed up a chance to take a picture. Approximately 1800 miles and dozens of stops along the way to take advantage of a photo op! Mom's hobby was photography, she called it Kodaking!

I look at these pictures and I see it was hot summertime, you know they didn't have ac in cars then. Wow.

Mom and Dad were a good match, she loved stopping for pictures and he loved stopping to try out cafes. He used to call it "local flavor," he was afraid he'd miss something good!

Taken somewhere, 1957, I'm not sure since Mom didn't write on the back. It most likely was a Sunday drive, we did those a lot. Probably the Ozark mountains behind us. Memories for later, now it's later. 

Thanks for the memories Mom and Dad!

*Thanks to daughter Stephanie for taking that great shot of the Blue Whale. You are proudly carrying on the Kodaking tradition!

Trash or Treasure?

Sharing the good stuff, that's what blogging is all about. That's why I love going for my morning visit over to Janie's, she tells it like really is. She said genetics play a big role in explaining why they are driven to go junking. In their blood she says, also it's their livelihood since she is an antique dealer. On a fairly regular basis she loads up the car with daughters and grand babies in tow for a junkin' run. Janie is an open book, sharing her life with all of us, even the embarrassing stuff! Half the morning gone, her daughters noticed she had her shoes on the wrong feet, really! They were the forgiving moccasin type so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. She said her Mom on another run for goodies had her coat on upside down... you'd notice that, wouldn't you??? She did say it "felt odd!" I have to collect myself here, this is funny stuff................. OK, I can type again! You just have to go visit her post at Janie Fox Talks .

They say confession is good for the soul, I think I need to go to confession, I mean spill a little this morning! When we lived in California in the early 1970's, the apartment complex was huge. Fairlake was wooded with parks and pools. The apartments were in blocks, each with private enclosed patios and walkways, planned well with playgrounds and hidden areas set aside for garbage cans. Our daughter Stephanie was two, she toddled everywhere with me. Every few days I'd gather up our trash and walk down the path that led to the garbage area. Just inside the gate, there were  metal cans lined up along the sides of the walls. Sometimes when people would move, they would throw away things that they chose not to take. Things like lamps and tables and chairs. And sometimes the stuff would still look pretty good. Stephanie and I would see the booty and our hearts would race. "Det it Mommy," she too had inherited the junking gene! We did 'det it' many, many times! Lamps and dishes, vacumns and furniture. It became an event, going to the gahhh bage as Stephanie called it! Sometimes she would be playing in her room and she'd come ask me if we needed to go the the "gahhh bage!" Lord help me, this too funny to write...

True, every word of this, and I have to reach a stopping point! One thing we found was a true treasure, a sewing machine. There it was, like new, beside the metal garbage can. How could anyone throw away a perfectly good sewing machine? I picked it up (it was the portable in-a-case kind) and carried it back to our little 2 bedroom apartment. I knew immediately that this would be sent to my Mom in Arkansas. For my 13th birthday my parents had bought me a New Home sewing machine, so I didn't need it. Mom used that sewing machine for the next 35 years. It made pajamas for our families, it mended pants for my Dad and it even made doll quilts for the granddaughters. The sewing machine that was trash to someone else, resides at Stephanie's house mending clothes for her boys. I love that.

Close Calls

We have had several close calls, natural disasters or dangerous incidents in 41 years of marriage. Some of them were too close for comfort. The first brush with Mother Nature came the very first year we were married, 1970. Springdale, Arkansas had a tornado and we lived only 10 short miles from the destruction. We slept through it and were shocked when we found out the next day that the area had a tornado!

The next time was in North Highlands, California 1972 when Army ammunitions exploded on railway carriers near our apartments. This also happened at night and when they came to the door to have us evacuate, we hadn't heard a thing! No, we are not deaf...we are just sound sleepers evidently!

We lived in Sacramento, California from 1972-1976 and made many trips into San Francisco. I would comment sometimes as we would be in the "sandwich" of overpasses, what if we had an Earthquake? My husband always assured me the roads were built with safeguards. In 1989 the Loma Linda Earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale caused a 50 foot double decker section of the Bay Bridge to collapse. In disasters like that, nothing could withstand the force of Nature.

Another scare came in 1975 in Sacramento when Squeeky Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford...no less at a park where we often took our young daughter Stephanie.

Fast forward to Harrison, Arkansas in April 1977 when a freak cold front dumped a foot of hail on us. We had gone up to Branson, Missouri for the weekend and couldn't believe the "snow" we were seeing as we got into the city limits of Harrison. A new roof was required from the beating it took with the hail.

The following year the telephone company in Harrison blew up from a gas leak. We lived a few miles away and the only damage we had were broken windows. Just a few miles closer and we would have had major structural damage.

Another close call came when we lived in Russellville, Arkansas. A mass murder, then said to be the worst family mass murder, happened in 1987. Russellville was a small town with practically no crime, when Ronald Gene Simmons went on a killing spree around town...hitting the same places I had just been paying water bills and buying gas. Eerie!

By far the worst and closest brush with Mother Nature came in Seguin, Texas 1998 when the Guadalupe River flooded after 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. We lived on Lake McQueeney which was fed by the Guadalupe River. When the dam broke, our subdivision was flooded. We were evacuated and had no idea we would be returning to a dry house after a long night of rain that sounded like rocks on the roof of the shelter where they took us. The homes that were waterfront all had 12 foot of water ruining everything. We lived two blocks up in the subdivision and the water came just to the edge of our garage. Flood insurance paid for damage to some of the homes that were devastated, but the important things you have in your home can't be replaced. The photo albums that were ruined, Grandma's china that was broke, the things your children made in First Grade...those things are priceless. It was a terrible time in our lives, my heart was broken for our friends and neighbors that were going through this. Hard to write all these years later.

Some of you may ask me where I live and then not move anywhere CLOSE!!

Being Southern~Fugetaboutit

Chari at Happy to Design gives us all the chance to re-visit previous posts that are buried deeply in our archives.
Thank you Chari!

Growing up in the South I speak a little differently from others, and I’m not just talking about slower dialog. My first awakening to this difference came in 1972 after a move to Sacramento, California. Back then, we called the operator for long distance. After repeating my Mother’s phone number several times, the operator simply told me “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you.” I wasn‘t in the South anymore, and I was in trouble!


There are so many odd sayings, not to me mind you, but to others who find our phrases downright confusing! My Mom used to say, ''Well, I swan” when she would be surprised. She always said ''supper'' for the evening meal, instead of "dinner." And oddly enough, dinner was the midday meal. In the 1950’s we had an icebox, not a refrigerator. Inside were glass bottles of “pop” but later when I grew up and lived in Texas it was “soda water.” Most of us nowadays simply call it Coke! I’ve heard my Mother say ''Y'all come back" or ''Y'all might as well come go with us" to guests as a way to let them know just how welcome they were in our home.

My brother and I were encouraged to be good by several “prompts” before we got a swat on our behind. Misbehaving children often heard "Don't act ugly!” or ''Quieten down!" as my Father would scold us when we were getting too rambunctious. “Too big for your britches"-- putting on airs when we acted prissy or snobby was not allowed. I felt a great sense of pride being part of this Southern family.

I remember beaming with pride when I’d go to church with Grandma and someone would say, “Selva, she 'favors' you to a tee,” meaning I resembled her in my looks and mannerisms. “Pretty as a speckled pup in a little red wagon" was high praise from Grandpa! These old-time expressions or regionalisms are fascinating, adding color to our life. They are worth preserving and passing on to our children and grandchildren. Funny as they may sound, they clearly describe the situation or the character of a person.

Paula Deen cannot do a show without sprinkling it liberly with her Georgia expression, "Good enough to make you slap your Grandma!"


On the subject of weather, the older generations would say...
''It's comin' up a storm!"
“In high cotton” meant that person was living well.
"A sight to see" meant glad to see you!
"All vines and no taters" or “All hat and no cattle” implied a person who put on “airs.”
"Stove up" - usually to describe someone who’s worked hard and had sore muscles.
"The sun don't shine on the same dog's tail every day" - meaning that fortunes change.
Saying that someone ''Looked like he was rode hard and put up wet'' implied he was exhausted and overworked.
"Well, who licked the red off of your candy?" - meaning who put you in a foul mood?

My Dad used to say "What come" instead of saying "Why did you do that?"
"What come you to do that child?" usually meant I was in trouble! I suppose other parts of the country have odd sayings too, I don't know what they are... Oh, fuhgetaboutit!