Nice Ride in CountrySide.

I had an appointment in Alexandria this morning. It was a nice trip, just a typical fall day . The country side is really beautiful this time of year. The appointment was the usual and uneventful except I'm baffled at how high my blood pressure was today. Maybe I was a little bit concerned as to what would be changed this time. I did get a change in medication, hopefully it will be for the better. We shall see. I have to trust someone that knows more than I do at this time.

We had a very good lunch at Spirits and then it was home again. It was good to spent most of the day with one of my favorite people. We chatted all the way there and all the way home. We just enjoyed the time together.

I'm looking forward to the holidays. They are my favorite time of the year. I love to plan the big meal that we cook up. I enjoy visiting with all the kids that come home for the feast.Its always a good time.

Wish I was able to make the trip to Arkansas next week to attend the wedding. I know it will be beautiful. I wish the bride and groom much happiness.

And to my travels in Europe, have a good trip . Waiting to hear all your stories when you get home.

What A Day?

I had a some what interesting day yesterday. I got out of bed at the usual time. Went through all the usual routine. I had my coffee with a bit of bread pudding that was left over from the dinner the night before. That's not what I usually have for breakfast, but it was there and I ate.

I straightened up my little house and then showered and cleaned myself up a bit. Then I sat down to watch TV. I noticed a car coming up the drive and watched it as it parked on the drive near the lake. Then I thought it must be a friend coming fishing. They do that sometimes, but I am always told when this will happen. Then  the car move in front of my house. The door opens and a nice looking Sheriff's Deputy stepped out of the car. I thought what is he doing here. All kinds of things go through your mind. Was it gonna be good news, bad news or what?. They don't just come calling for no reason.

He walked up to the door and asked my name. He asked are you OK. Then he said my son had been trying to contact me and had been unable to get me. He called them to come check to see if I was OK. He asked me to call and tell him that I was OK,and I told him I would do so and he left. It really nice to know that everyone was looking out for me.

I immediately went to the telephone to call my son, and the telephones were dead. Then I thought of sending an Email. But before I did I went out to check if a squirrel had been hit by the transformer in our yard. That has happen two times before and I wanted to be sure what the trouble with the telephone was. I found no squirrel, so it must be the phone company. Anyway I sent an Email to let my son know I was safe and to call the phone to report it for me.

Thanks to the Sheriff's Department, thanks to my wonderful kids. I feel safe.

Yesterday.

I had a long telephone conversation with my niece yesterday. She is the daughter of my oldest sister, and she is so sweet to stay in touch with all of us older family members. We talk about everything, and she helps me to remember all those happy times we had as kids. She and my younger siblings grew up together, so there are a lot of stories.

I went away to business school after high school, so I missed out on some of their stories, but I have my own to remember.

The time was the beginning of the great war. If you lived at this time , and if you were sixteen and all the boys were going off to war, you will understand what that means. The country was trying to get out of the depression, so everyone was in the same boat. We had to make our own entertainment. Thanks to some of the parents that liked to have fun, we were allow to come to their homes on Saturday night, roll back the furniture and dance to the the strum of someones guitar. We had such good fun. No beer, no hard drinks, but a drinks of water from a bucket with a community dipper in it to drink from.We did this every week. The parents would sit back and watch as we danced the night. We had no transportation, so we walked to the danced. When it was time to go home at midnight we would be so tired it would be hard to make it home.

One of our guitar players was new in our community. He was a real handsome lad, and he fit in with our little group. He had moved there to live with some relatives. We became friends, and then he went to join the war. I don't remember corresponding with him. Maybe I did.

My oldest sister died several years ago. My niece inherited a cedar chest from her that her husband had given her for Christmas before they were married. Inside the chest, my niece found a letter that was written to me from this young friend who was then on an island far away. I never received this letter until over sixty years after it was written. My friend never got to come home again. What if?

Motivation.

Did I sleep too long this morning? Did I eat the wrong kind of breakfast? I had the usual cups of coffee and cereal and banana. It was all good and satisfying, but I've got to get motivated to do something productive today. What can I do?

In the spring you call it spring fever. In the summer you say it is too  hot to do anything, so you find a nice cool place. But fall with this beautiful weather, what is the excuse? Oh I have plenty of those and some are excusable, but really.

I went out into the yard to see if anything needed a drink of water. Our little fall flower garden looks so bright and pretty. It didn't need water yet and it's supposed to rain soon. At least that's what the weather man keeps saying. So I didn't water the garden. I'll keep an eye on the flowers and water them later.

The dogs must feel like I do today. They are curled up on my front stoop, and they are fast asleep. I want disturb them, they look so peaceful. They probably had a sleepless night last night chasing wild things in their dreams. They need the rest.

I'll just keep looking for the motivation to get up and get started on this little project that I have been putting off. The holidays are creeping up on us and I've got to get busy.

Beautiful October Day.

This is one of those days when the air is brisk, the sky is pure azure, and it's so quiet. Makes you wish you could take a long stroll through the woods. Just to hear the dried leaves crunch under your feet, that was the good days. We would drive out to the lake and take a path around the lake. We didn't know where we would end up, but it didn't matter. But I must admit that I would get a little antsy when the sun began to sink and we hadn't reached the end of the trail. We always got back safely and that was the good part.

The leaves of the tallow trees are beautiful this fall, and the yellow wild flowers along the roadside and in the fields are breath taking. What a lovely time of the year?

It's really quiet here today, the hunters are in the woods today, but not near our house. I told them not to kill my Bambi. We live in the pine forest and deer roam near the house. I enjoy watching them and we feed them in winter. They know where they are safe, so they come to the feeder. I watch for them everyday.

This is a good day!

Voting.

Today I was in a salon getting my hair cut. As I sat there getting my hair cut, I was listening to the young operators as the visited and did their work. They had all listened to the debates last night and they all had opinions. And I was very impressed that they seemed so intelligent. They were having fun with their arguments, and I got some laughs out of them.

One of the girls said that her husband said he was surprised that she was interested in the debate. He was interested because he had registered to vote. I asked was she going to vote, and she said no, she didn't register to vote. She said she thought about it after it was too late to register. One of the other girls she had done the same. "What a shame", if we all felt that way?. It's too late for this important election, but all elections are important. Be ready next time. Be a good citizen and register. If you don't, don't complain how things are done. I don't know if there was a winner or loser in the debate, but I do know we are losers if we don't express our opinions at the poles.

I remember my first vote was for Harry Truman . Go Figure!!


 

Son-in-law's Birthday.

Today is my son-in-law's Birthday, so we thought we would take a trip out to their house. to wish him a Happy Birthday. We baked some brownies for a treat and drove the thirty miles out to celebrate with him. It is a nice drive, and we arrived to find him asleep. That makes twice I've awakened him today. First thing I did this morning was to call to say Happy Birthday. My son-in-law is Dutch and it is one of his customs to call or visit the Birthday person. We took him a treat, but their custom is to treat their guest. We had tea and a good visit. Everybody was happy with that.

We took a walk around their beautiful yard. The roses were so pretty in their yard. Left us feeling very invious as our rose garden was eaten by bugs this summer. They have a fig tree that is loaded with figs. Hope they get ripe before frost comes. I love fig preserves, maybe I can have some.

This has been a long day for me. I woke up early this morning and have been feeling tired all day. I hope to do better tomorrow. So until then...

Grandparents.

Most kids these days have grandparents that are still in their lives. I wasn't that lucky. All of my grandparents were dead before I was born. I've often wondered what my life would have been like or different if I had known then. They must have been wonderful people because they produced some very good parents for me.

My parents were good grandparents to all our children. If they were living today, I can't imagine how happy they would be to see what has grown off their tree. The little house they lived in when we were growing up would be overflowing. My Dad would say "Come on in.", and Mom would add more water to the gravy. It would be a fun time. They didn't come to see us, we went to see them. On Sundays when we went there Mom never knew how many she would be cooking for that day But we always had enough to eat.

Things changed in my generation. We went to see our grandchildren. We drove miles to be with them for a short week-end. They were what we lived for. When they visited us we were so excited to have them there. Now I watch my children take care of their grandchildren the same way. What a blessing?

It's always great to have them around on holidays and special occasions. But it would be greater if they were not so busy with their own lives that they would pick up the phone and say hello once in a while between visits. I do miss them all.

Elastic Stocking.

My sister called this morning and asked what I was doing. I was gasping and answered that I had just finished putting on my elastic stockings. If you have never done this chore, and I say that lightly, you've never worked very hard. First you must get down to your feet, and that's not easy. Now you've got to stretch this inner tube of an ugly stocking over your toes, then your heel, and then up to your knees. It was'nt fun. But I got it done, and I hope it does the job it's supposed to do.

My sister and I had a good visit on the telephone. We don't get to see each other as often as we'd like to, but can spend time just talking. We talk about aches and pains, how things use to be, our grandchildren or whatever comes to mine. She is the one next to me in age, so we were pals while we were growing up. When we left home and got jobs, we lived together until we found husbands. Then we lived nearby for several years.

My little family moved away first. My husband got a better job and it was in another city. And then we moved to another state. Soon after she and her family moved to a different state. That made a great distance in mile, but we are still close sisters

A Clean House.

I feel good today. Nothing feels better than to be in a clean house and you didn't have to do all the work yourself. It smells nice and you can't write your name in the dust any more. All my clothes are nicely washed and put away. What a relief?. How lucky can a gal get?

I was beginning to think that my friend had forgotten me this week, but I just got my days mixed up. Thanks friend for coming today. We enjoy the day while she is here. We visit and laugh and talk while she dust, mops and clean. She has a large family, so she has a lot of stories to tell about her grandchildren and family.

I've learned to turn over the heavier jobs in my house to her. I've always done all the cleaning and cooking, and I loved doing it, but it's a little too much for me now. I've learned you don't have to have a five course meal on the table every night. But it is really nice once in a while, and this is one of those nights it would be nice.

This has been a good day. I notice that the beautiful flowers, mums, snapdragons and pansy that we just planted over the week-end needed water. I gave them a good drink of water. They raised their little heads almost immediately. They loved the cool weather we had last week-end, but that is gone and it's summer again.

Guess I'd better go and mess up my clean kitchen. I'm getting a little hungry.

Thanks for Cool Weather.

When you can curl up under a warm blanket at night, that's living. The air is fresh and cool and smells heavenly. Thankful for the nice rainy season we have enjoyed this year. Our lawn is beautiful and green on these fall days. It's really nice.

This cooler weather brings back gumbo, and I made some yesterday. We had a mallard duck and a goose in the freezer that was killed last season. So what better time to use it but now? I must say I thought it was delicious. Where in the world would you be able to find good gumbo like we have in south Louisiana?

I must admit I had never eaten gumbo like this until I moved to Louisiana many years ago. It took me a long time to really learn to make it, but I think I can now. This gumbo is pretty good. I may eat more of it for dinner.

I'm a country girl and I like home cooking. The smell of a pot of good food cooking on the stove couldn't be better. This is making me hungry. I've got to go find out what's cooking.

Lovely Fall Weather.

These cool nights are perfect for good sleeping. After being in the heat of summer as we have been for the past five months, it's such a blessing. The moon lit nights are beautiful too.

It would be nice to take a trip through the mountain to see the changing color of the leaves. We live near the pine forest and it's beautiful. And the wild flowers are pretty, but I want to get away. This journey that I am on has no destination. I can't complain, I've seen Paris, Amsterdam, London, Berne, Florence, Berlin and many more places in Europe. I've vacationed in the Alps and toured in Germany, France and Italy. I crossed the English Channel on the Hoover Scotter. I've toured the east coast of our country and vacationed in Canada. I've seen most of our United States. All this has been wonderful.

I really don't want to get away, I'd miss the sound of the little Wren that sings in the tree at my back door every morning. I'd miss watching the little humming birds as they feed getting ready for their long journey to South America. And I'd miss the little dogs that are so glad to see me when I venture out into the yard. I am happy where I am.