He’s My Grandfather by Esther

[Editor's note: This story was written by Esther]

Taffy was about two and maybe three years old and she was an easy going child when she had company come to spend time with her. She loved to share all her toys with them. Her favorite toy was the set of poker chips her Uncle Jerry gave her. He had come to spend several days with us. And Taffy would watch him and her father Vernon, play cards and she wanted to play with them. It was not long before Jerry knew he had lost them and gave them to her.

Of course he also knew he had to leave some of his stuff with me as he wanted to make several trips he had plans for and when he was ready to head back home he could collect everything and head out for other parts of the country. He did like to travel Loved seeing other places, and why not , as he was foot loose and free to go. As long as the money held out.

Taffy treasured her poker chips. She would roll them, stack them, and put them back in the tote tray they came in. She was so fascinated with them and spent hours with them. She learn to count with them.

Taffy loved to go places too. One of her favorite places, was going to see her Grand Parents at the Sky Ranch. She was going to stay with Grandma while Vernon and I went shopping.

Mom loved having the grandchildren. And seeing Marion there and found out she was leaving Skippy there too, made it quite nice for Taffy, as she had her play mate to spend the day with her too.

Skippy was Marion’s son. He was about four and maybe a bit more, and I loved that child as if he was my own. When ever Marion would let me keep him , I would bundle him up and head for home and he was a wonderful child to have. He had red hair and was a happy baby. Even Vernon liked having him around and loved having them walk up and down his back.

When Vernon and I got back to pick up Taffy, it was a shock to know Taffy had taken a two by four length of wood and hit Skippy over the head and knock him out. I just could not believe Taffy ever could be that angry to any one. But Dad and Mom both assured me she had done it. Taffy did not deny it.

Dad had said he heard the children arguing over his hat in the front room The hat was the source of the problem. It seems the hat started the argument. Taffy or Skippy made the statement, “ that hat belongs to my Grandfather “ and Taffy said, “ No that is “ My Grandfather’s hat. “ And to this day, I am not too sure either one of them have changed their mind.

Where did Taffy get the two by four? This was the time Dad was building a new floor under the house which sat on top of the mountain and the back side was built over the ground on stilts and the front of the house was set on the top of the ground. So Dad and the boys were helping him do the work.

Skippy got the worse of the deal, and I was so sorry he was hurt. The Sky Ranch did hold so many good memories of good times, and this was one that every one remembers and can smile about today. Even today if I could, I would gather up Skippy and bundle him up and carry him home to spend several days of just enjoying him play and learning new games.


Poker Chips



What Folly!

What Folly!

What Folly!
To create a power so great
That if unleashed
None would equate.
What Folly
we have caused
When we forged ahead
And never paused.
What Folly
Thinking to contain
The rippling fusion
And the chains.
What Folly
To think we knew!
But nature's thrust
Threw all askew.
What Folly
Now an all consuming
taint prevails
On ruins the unseen
Terror does entail.
What Folly
Uncharted misery
Dispels the myth
And for ever afters
There's a curse
We can never lift.


Marion Bigelow March 2011

A Grandmother's Love by KimB

[Editor's Note: This story was written by KimB]

Growing up, my brother and I lived as often with Grandmother and Grandfather as we did with Mom. Being with Grams and Gramps was just as much “home” as when we lived with Mom. There was never a lot of money but we never went hungry. Mom, Grandmother and Grandfather saw to that.

Grandmother always fixed a “proper” meal and when with her, we had to behave and sit at the table until dinner was over. Even if there were cartoons on TV, we had to sit until everyone was finished. At times, being the youngest, I was spared the long dinners and ate in the kitchen, where, while fingers were admonished, I could still shovel in the food in order to get back to watching Mickey Mouse and other favorites while the adults were busy sitting in the dinning room.

There must be something about grandmothers that their food is always “better”. Grams dinners were always fantastic, even everyday dinners were special. Times and finances dictated what would be served but regardless of the selection, it always tasted wonderful. I don't remember balking at eating what was served very often, the exception was canned asparagus but thankfully that wasn't served often. I think turkey was the most common item on the table. They would buy a whole bunch of frozen turkeys when on sale and keep them in the freezer.

Grandmother and Grandfather always had loads of company. Me, Mom, my brother, various Uncles and Aunts and other relatives would drop in or be staying with them for visits. It was always a full house and those saved up turkeys came in handy. A turkey could feed the whole shootin' match with something for everyone. Grandmother would fix all the trimmings, even in July. There would be stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy made from roasting pan drippings and real diced up giblets too.

The cranberry relish was my favorite and still is. She had this hand crank grinder from the beginning of time (or just about) and she would put in fresh cranberries in the hopper. If I was especially good, she would let me turn the crank. Then she would select a nice orange and cut that into quarters and place that in the hopper, peel and all would be added to the crushed berries. Lastly some sugar was added and it was placed in the fridge until dinner time. Tart, sweet, crunchy – it was the BEST.

There was always a bit of rivalry about Grandmother's Turkey Dinners. At various times, other members of the family would host Turkey Dinners with pot-luck side dishes contributed by those attending. Comparisons would inevitably arise and hurt feelings were sure to follow. No one could match Grandmother and that was just that. No matter how perfect the gravy or tender the turkey, no one would dare to praise it above Grandmother's dinners.

Now, to be honest, some of those dinners were excellent but there was always a missing ingredient. A Grandmother's Love cannot be duplicated and that was the magic ingredient in every meal she prepared.

Grandmother and Grandfather Abbott
Lucinda G. Abbott Aug 7 1902 - Jul 9 2001
Herod E. Abbott Oct 3 1900 - May 20 2001



Mimi

Mimi has gone off with a river boat gambler. She left surreptitiously. She went missing the evening of the super moon. At first we thought she might be napping but when she didn't show up for supper, we looked for her in her favorite rooms, then realized that she was gone.

This is not the first time Mimi has been lured away when the moon was full. During the hurricane Ike, she left and was gone for a month. She came back disheveled and seedy looking, and not entirely repentant. Of course we took her in. It was the only humane thing to do under the circumstances. We never did learn much about her time away, but she seemed happy to be home again.

From time to time recently I had noticed a slight change in attitude and assumed she was getting bored with the same old conversations, and the long winter days. We were all experiencing a restlessness waiting for spring and the blossoming of new growth on trees and foliage.

As a change of pace I took to knitting and had long conversations on the computer with my sister in Baton Rouge. Consequently, Mimi must have felt a little ignored and when the opportunity presented itself, she took it and skipped the ship.

I can only hope she weathers the strife and storms of day to day living with a river boat gambler. Perhaps after the excitement of being romanced by moonlight wears off, she will decide to trade that life for one she left behind and come back home. We will take her in again, (of course) and will treat her fatuity as a thing of the past.

Super Moon 03 19 2011

Indian Head Pennies and Buffalo Nickles

Yesterday, while walking across a large parking lot to our car, one of the people with me stopped to pick up a coin. I asked if it was a penny and they said no, it was a nickle. As a joke, I asked if it was a Buffalo Nickle. It wasn't.

As a child, both Indian Head pennies and Buffalo nickles were were so plentiful, we never considered collecting them. The only thing I thought of collecting was autographs. The little autograph books were inexpensive and every school child had one. Mine was filled with signatures of family and school friends. Obviously, I gave little care to protecting and saving them because I seemed to get new ones frequently.

I did have a small collection of handkerchiefs; presents from family and school chums. I prized the ones grandmother A sent me in the mail. During the great depression, fancy handkerchiefs with lace edging and embroidered flowers, pinned to cardboard backing and tied with ribbons, were offered for sale at Christmas time.

Aside from the collection of salt and pepper shakers of a neighbor, the only other collection I knew about was the stuffed birds in the high school biology room. There were no song birds in the collection. They had no identifying labels and were of varying sizes. They were a mystery except for the pheasant and ducks which were familiar to me. The stuffed birds sat next to each other on a shelf that continued around all four walls of the room. They were never discussed in class, neither did our teacher know much about them. They were just there.

I once attended a lecture about the contribution collectors make to society. The reasons people collect range from complex to to the simple fact that it's an enjoyable hobby. I, myself do not have the 'collector gene', but appreciate the work of those that do have it.

Collections of everything and anything can be found in the most unlikely places. I once came across a collection of egg shells in Bloomington, California. There were thousands, each labeled and nesting in a padded box of its own. There used to be an exquisite collection of diamonds in every color on display at the Los Angeles County Museum.

Some of the many types of collections are coin, stamps, shells, rocks, baseball cards and chess sets. The churches of Europe collect bones, supposedly of Biblical persons and Saints which I saw when touring the churches there.  If seeing them paves one's way into heaven, perhaps those pearly gates will open for me.

Gem Collection
Natural History Museum Los Angeles County



For Heaven's Sake!

Let's shut down the nuclear plants and stop building new ones! 

In light of the events that are on-going in Japan, it makes no sense to build more of these things!

On March 16, 2011 in Victoria, Texas, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board held the first day of a two day hearing to consider a Chicago based corporation, Exelon's proposal to build a nuclear plant on the Guadeloupe river.

Houston environmental attorney, Jim Blackburn, representing Texans for a Sound Energy Policy (TSEP) gave a very good speech in opposition to the new nuclear plant.

Here are some key points:

... the position of Exelon, it does not matter if there is faulting, hundreds of oil and gas wells, toxic gas and methane and inadequate water supply as long as the power block itself is not directly affected. Additionally, there is a total disdain for instability and uncertainty of the geologic platform for this facility.

...we have a geologic platform of silt and clay that is riddled by fractures and oil and gas penetrations.  The subsurface here is active.  It has cracks.  It is pressured in certain locations.

Exelon's proposed plan includes a cooling pond that is clearly crossed by two and potentially four subsurface faults. These faults clearly threaten the stability of the cooling pond.

...Exelon cannot guarantee water at all times .... Exelon clearly states that it will simply shut the plant down when the cooling pond levels are too low.

I think the Japanese Nuclear Companies said the same thing and it turns out they CANNOT "just shut them down".

The hearings will continue...



Victoria Texas
Map shows the mostly likely areas of Nuclear Contamination.



Credibility

News of how Japan is coping with the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami is beginning to come to us in bits and pieces. Photos and videos are broadcast via television. Added to the enormity of the disaster, are reports of explosions in Japanese nuclear plants.

As the world struggles with the bewilderment of such a biblical act of nature, suddenly the realization of the hazards of nuclear radiation is seeping into our consciousness as insidiously as radiation particles seep into the atmosphere when the nuclear plants vent steam. The only reference we have is the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the disaster at Chernobyl.

One hears conflicting explanations of Japan's report that 'partial meltdowns' may be taking place. The press is understandably as confused as the listening audience, so they call on 'experts' to tell us in plain English what 'meltdown' means.

The word Credibility, is being banded about suggesting Japan may not be forthcoming in telling us all, or that our own 'experts' are reluctant to say how dangerous the scale of radiation has been.

Obviously in days to come we will know the true nature of the situation but I, personally have already formed the opinion that all nuclear energy plants should be shut down.

Fukushima Daiichi No.3 "Hydrogen" explosion March 13, 2011

Decoy Autos

The evening television news reported that city police have resorted to using decoy police cars in an attempt to cut down on the number of drivers running red lights. The news reporter named most of the intersections where the cars will be located as well as several other major high traffic areas.

For some time, cameras were used to film drivers running red lights. Photos, being proof of their having done so, resulted in fines, which in turn furnished the city with hefty revenues. During the last election, the initiative to ban all traffic cameras finally won, and all the cameras have been removed. Now the police hope decoy cars will alert drivers not to speed thru intersections that 'woulda, shoulda, coulda' resulted in a traffic ticket.

Seeing a police car in the nearby vicinity of where one is driving will automatically alert one to driving hazards, and if speeding, slow down. On many occasions, I have driven miles behind a police car controlling traffic by driving the posted limit. Only when the police car veered off on an exit ramp, did any of the drivers following behind speed up from the posted limit.

In long ago days, I often drove highway 101 to and from San Francisco’s peninsula to southern California. There was a small town in the middle of a long expanse of highway that rarely had drivers stopping for gasoline, food or motel services. The highway ran along the edge of the town which posted speed limits but they were generally ignored.

One day as I drove south, I saw a 'black and white' parked at right angles to the highway so that it could be identified as a police car from some distance away. There was no question about it. A police car was waiting for a speeder. Of course I slowed down.
You can imagine my surprise to see that when I passed the 'black and white', it was only a cutout in plywood that had been painted like a police car. It was so realistic that it only became a cutout when the driver was within feet of it. It became one of my favorite things to notice as I drove thru the beautiful and changing landscape.

One of the favorite devices police use to catch and fine drivers is hiding their autos in nooks an crannies off the traditional highways and byways. The moment a driver fails to stop at a stop sign or runs a light, or when a radar gun registers speed above the allowed limit, a police siren or spotlight warns the driver to pull over to the side of the road and show his driver's license while the officer writes a ticket.

I had an experience many years ago when the above happened to me and I forgot to pay the ticket. Some weeks later I got my renewed drivers license in the mail and being in a hurry, I only glanced at it and put it in my purse. That evening I casually mentioned to visitors that the state had redesigned the new drivers license and I passed it around for them to see.

You can imagine my shock and dismay when I was told it wasn't my new license but a notice of my arrest if I didn't pay the fine!

Pierre Vivant's Traffic Light Tree
Canary Wharf London

The Best Vacation Ever by KimB

[Editor's Note: This story was written by KimB]

Mexico has many many travel and vacation spots. And even 40 years ago many of them were famous get-away locations featuring Sun, Food, Music, Entertainment and The Ocean. One of the more famous ones is Acapulco. All the movie stars from the USA went there and the magazines were full of their doings and escapades. It was THE HOT SPOT to go to and getting reservations for hotel rooms was almost impossible.

Acapulco is located about 200 miles southwest of Mexico City on the Pacific Ocean and has beautiful beaches surrounded by steep hillsides and cliffs. The La Quebrada Cliff Divers are famous for their plunges from the high cliffs surrounding the bay, timing their dives with an incoming wave. The temperature is generally hot all year round and the tropical climate is totally different from that of the high altitude of Mexico City: hot and steamy.

One day Mom came in with great news! She'd managed to snag a two week reservation for the both of us at an inexpensive hotel near one of the beaches and just a short drive up a steep winding street. We started celebrating our good fortunes and planned for a wonderful vacation on a shoe-string-budget. I wondered if I would see any Hollywood Stars and we planned sight-seeing and other activities for our trip to the famous spot.

We packed and planned and finally the day of departure came and we loaded up the van with all the things we thought we would need for our stay. And off we went. It was a long drive through jungles and flatlands and finally we came over the top of the mountain and saw Acapulco Bay. It was fantastic! We went to our hotel, checked in and started unpacking the van.

[Of course, you know an adventure is about to happen don't you?]

As we unpacked for our stay, Mom began to look for the box of books she had planned to read on our stay. But it was no where to be found and after much searching there was only one conclusion: We had left it behind. We found one old paperback and that was all there was to read. There was dismay at the thought of nothing to read for two weeks. Books were our primary source of entertainment. We had no money to go to the nightclubs and as I was only 11 years old, I couldn't go even if I wanted to.

We talked about making the long drive back to Mexico City to get books but the cost of gas would prohibit us from returning to finish our vacation. Mom was in a quandary about "What to do Percy"? At last, it was decided that we would stay and enjoy what we could and if things got too boring we would leave early.

Our hotel was perched high on a steep hillside and though we could not see the ocean we could smell the salt air and if we listened carefully we could hear the faint sounds of the waves crashing on the cliffs nearby. We had a very nice room with no air conditioning but a nice big fan and there was a hotel restaurant that served simple standard Mexican cuisine. There was a swimming pool that was shaded by large trees and during the day most of the hotel guests hung out there.

During the day it was so hot that all we wanted to do was sleep thru the heat. I discovered that most of the hotel guests left the pool around 5:00 pm to go nightclubbing or pursue other interests and I could have the pool all to myself. The water was warm from the heat of the day and it wasn't long til I persuaded Mom to come swimming late late at night. We got the hotel manager to let us keep the pool lights on and we would swim from 10 pm to 3 am. When we were finally tired of swimming and lounging we would turn the lights off as we headed back to our rooms.

Our fellow visitors were friendly and we would often be offered fresh made cold lemonade when we came out to the common patio areas. The food in the restaurant was good and I enjoyed eating many many meals there.

But the problem of the missing books was soon resolved in an unexpected manner. Because we had nothing to distract us, Siesta Time became Prime Time and boy, did we enjoy our siestas! We slept all day long, only getting up for a meal at the restaurant before it closed for the evening then napping until the night came when we went for our swim.

Sleep, Eat, Swim, Sleep, Eat, Swim, Sleep, Eat, Swim.

That was the mantra for the entire two weeks of vacation. We did make a few forays down the main boulevards and along the beaches but we didn't stay away long. The lure of our warm pool and nighttime swims was too strong.

I didn't see any Hollywood Stars but I had a wonderful time swimming in our “private pool” pretending that the hotel was our "personal villa". Mom, slept and slept and never even read the one old paperback we'd found. She had not realized how exhausted she was from all the painting she'd been doing. And after the initial shock of not having books, we both relaxed into a wonderful mental state where nothing was more important than: Sleep, Eat, Swim.

Our two weeks passed quickly, more quickly than we imagined when we first arrived. And we were both sorry to leave behind our magical experience. As we drove over the top of the mountains we stopped and looked back one more time at the beautiful landscape and bay.

Mom said, “This has been The Best Vacation Ever!”

And I couldn't have agreed with her more!

Acapulco Bay

Mrs B's 2010 PDF book is HERE!

[Editor's Post]

Mrs B's Family Stories for 2010 is now available for download in a PDF format.  All of the stories for 2010 are included.

Previous years stories are also available by the Download Link as well as the two cookbooks - one by MrsB and one by Esther!

Please feel free to download and share them with your family.

Click on the link in the download panel to get a copy.

Misty Bird

When most people look at Misty Bird, they think they are looking at a Cockatiel, but that's just a disguise. He wears the feathers of a male Cockatiel to throw people off his real mission which is Supervisor Extraordinaire.

Misty Bird lives in a cage that rests on a table in the corner of the living room, aka The Bird room. He has a view of the whole room including a good portion of the wide entrance hall into the room as well as the activity thru the glass window on the wall next to his cage.

Misty came into my care about five years ago. It was a life changing experience for both of us. I had just lost my house in hurricane Rita, and had resettled in an apartment in Houston, TX. Misty had been passed from one foster family to another and was showing signs of neglect. Thru the good offices of friends (doing good deeds) we were brought together for good or ill. It's still undecided but as things presently stand the 'good' is more heavily weighted than the ill.

In the early days of our relationship, I read books about the care and feeding of Cockatiels, spent a lot of money on toys, vitamins and tasty seeds, and regular visits to authentic bird groomers. I also spent many hours holding him on my finger and talking to him to no avail. He preferred jumping off my finger to the floor and hiding under chairs and tables. Neither did he show an inclination to imitate human speech, but exercised an incredible range of whistles and screeches. He also refused to eat the nourishing diet the authentic bird groomers recommended. He ate only black sunflower seeds, which the authentic bird groomers called potato chips of the seed diet.

Suffice it to say we gradually settled into a routine that suited both of us. I let him stay in the cage as I stood next to him and repeated the phrase, “I love you” over and over hoping he would learn to say it. Limiting his sunflower seeds forced him to eat other seeds. On his part, the screeching stopped and he looked at me in a interested way, cocking his head this way and that.

Then one day I was given a kitten, which, in time. grew into a cat. Misty whistled each time the cat entered The Bird Room, then ignored her. If the cat began some activity I had prohibited at one time or another, alarm whistles rang out.

Surprise is hardly the word to use when one day, I heard Misty whispering the words, “I love you”!

Presently he is talking some kind of gibberish in a louder tone, but I don't know if he is imitating an over heard conversation, or a TV commercial. From now on, I'll switch the TV off and only play music.

The question is: what music to play, a classic instrumental, a jingle, The Star Spangled Banner, or a Woody Guthrie?


Cockatiel



Theater: The Dresser by Richard

[Editor's note: This story by Richard]

On Wednesday February 16, 2011 Frances and I enjoyed a wonderful play, The Dresser by Ronald Harwood at the San Jose Repertory Theater.

The play is about Shakespearean Theater in the English Provinces, during World War 11. It was enjoyable to watch and listen to the dialogue. The sound effects of air raid sirens and bombing in the back ground gave the effect of war.

An interesting subject came up about how and why actors superstitions play an important roll in their lives and acting which we also enjoyed.

Remembering

Remembering

In loving fellowship
They graced our lives
In springs and
Summers fair.
In common, felt
The breath of autumns
And snowy winters air.
We knew the seasons
From farmer's fields,
Heard Robins sing
Their birdsong trills.
Picked wild flowers
On the river banks,
And hiked the woods,
Went nutting where
The great trees stood.
The stars we followed
Set the paths on
Journeys,once begun
To fated ends, when
At last, we mourn their
Leaving one by one.
No use to wish for
Life's undoing,
For each one lost,
There's only grieving
Until the weight of
Grief jells memories
Of time and place
To seek a sweetness
In the sorrow and
Again to trace
The bonds of love,
Of fellowship and grace.

Marion Bigelow 2003

Mangos

Mangos are a favorite of mine and until recently I was unaware there were so many varieties. I have been getting some from the flea market that are from Mexico. The skin is green and much larger than the green and yellow ones at the grocery store. They have an exotic sweetness resembling a mixture of peaches, tangerines and pineapple.

I have been saving the seeds to germinate. According to the information I read on the internet, it's a very simple process and generally quite successful. They can grow into trees readily in warm, humid climates, but they also make nice house plants.


Green Mangos

 While Googling for mango information, I discovered there are thousands of varieties grown around the world, with over 1500 varieties being grown in India. The mango variety considered the best in the world, the Alphonso, comes from India. Named Alphonso, after a Portuguese military commander, it is called the King of Mangos. It has yellow and light green skin and is non-fibrous. It is very sweet with a spicy, vanilla quality. It is only available in the months of April and May. After a ban of eighteen years, it's once again being imported into the U S since President Bush signed a trade agreement in 2007.

Sliced Mango

 Eating a mango can be tricky since they are very juicy, and getting the fruit separated from the large, flat seed can be messy. There is a famous scene in a TV episode of Agatha Christie's story, The Theft of the Royal Ruby, where Poirot (David Suchet) explains and demonstrates how to pit a mango with a spoon. There are other variations where you slice off the the sides of the mango or peel it with a vegetable peeler.

My personal method is to first cut completely around the fruit along the flat edges of the seed with a very sharp knife. Then I continue cutting completely around the mango 4 more times making narrow strips that can be easily cut away from the seed and scooped from the skin to eat or store in the fridge.

Cut and Sliced Mango

  

The Kind That Fights Back by KimB

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB]

Mom was very particular about what we ate as kids and often we protested loudly. Mom loved wheat germ and yogurt (plain no sugar) and could eat loads of it. Frosted Flakes and other sugared cereals never graced our table and plain oatmeal was the most common breakfast food.

Getting groceries with Mom was always a “chore” and stressful to a T. Tagging along behind her while she selected the “correct” items was at times unbearable. I could see all the stuff that was advertised on TV and none of it went into the basket. Pleading and pouting availed nothing. There were no Oreo cookies going home with us, instead Raisin cookies (long flat and very uninteresting) were placed in the cart. Cream of Wheat made it to the basket, while the Coco Puffs stayed on the shelf.

Once, I placed something in the basket hoping Mom wouldn't notice – WRONG! First, she thought she had gotten the wrong cart but a confession soon followed and the subsequent lecture insured I never did THAT again.

But not everything was dreadful. English Muffins were always On The List, as was Peanut Butter. But like all other things, Jiffy wasn't going to make the cut and Mom always bought “fresh ground” peanut butter in a plastic tub. If I pleaded just right, I might get “crunchy” style but most often “smooth” was the version to come home with us.

I loved peanut butter and we ate it by the heaping spoonful. Heaps of it where placed on the English Muffins and with one bite, your jaws were clamped together. The perfect vacuum was achieved and it took minutes to get your jaws unglued to continue the munching. I think it was a secret method Mom had found to keep us occupied and quiet for 5 minutes... and it worked. We would be so busy trying to get our jaws re-hinged that glorious silence existed for a short while.

Mom would fix a mishmash of stuff for dinner. Mom would ask what we wanted in the casserole and we would pick out stuff from the fridge. Once, long before I ever tasted Thai Food, peanut butter made it into the pasta and sauce dish. With skepticism, Mom put a wallop of peanut butter into the sauce and surprisingly it tasted great!

English Muffins and peanut butter were the Hard Tack for traveling too. On any car trip we made, a bag of groceries sat on the seat near by and inside were English Muffins and the ubiquitous tub of peanut butter. Well slathered slices where passed around whenever anyone said they were hungry. The car may have run on gasoline but we ran on peanut butter until we got to our destination.

There was always a special quality to the peanut butter Mom bought. I have never been able to find the duplicate to the jaw clamping stuff Mom used to get. I have tried the organic stir-it-up type and the grind-it-yourself types and while they tasted good, they never compare to the memories of the stuff that “Fought Back” every time you ate it.

English Muffin with Peanut Butter

Leaves

Fall Leaves

The leaves of the tree outside my window, back lit by sunshine, are brilliant jewels. Yellow leaves hang like golden ornaments among the ruby reds and lemon-greens. The denseness of the leaves has diminished which, in summer, forms a shade sanctuary from the oppressive heat of the paved parking lot.

One of the joys of autumn is watching the green of summer blossom into gems of color before winds force their drifting into oblivion. As a child I gathered them on the way to and from school, always looking for a more spectacular one to add to the collection. Mom often used them to decorate the dinner table.

Until recently, as seasons changed, television stations gave daily reports on where the viewing of fall colors was most spectacular, but for the last two years, extreme weather conditions have been so violent, the viewing of colored forests has not been on anyone's agenda.

Fall Leaves in Houston

Privately though, I take great delight in noticing the changing of the colors and appearance of trees as they become bare and dormant for the winter. Some of the city streets have become open to the skies showing bare limbs, while some districts have oak trees on each side of the street, their branches tangling and twisting together above the street creating tunnels.

The only people I see these days who pay attention to leaves are gardeners who have blowers to whisk the leaves into yard bags ready for land fills, aka 'the dump'.

The jeweled toned leaves of the tree outside my window are visible for only a few short minutes every day before the sun rises higher in the sky and the back lighting fades away. In another day or so the leaves will have fallen and I'll have to wait until spring to see budding leaves starting a new life cycle.

Fall Leaves in Texas

Halloween Time by Esther

[Editor's note: This story was written by Esther]

Vernon and I finally moved to Baton Rouge and stayed at his parents home in the country. It was a lovely place and his Father raised cattle. The house was set a ways back from the road. It had a long driveway to the house and on both sides were Pecan trees, which were so lovely to drive under with their long limbs reaching over the drive way.

The house area was fenced off to keep the cattle off the lawn, till they needed the space to work on the cattle. The lawn was kept neat and trimmed with a bush hog. The Saint Augustine grass was so thick and the only time it was different, was during the winter, when they planted rye grass to help feed the cattle.

I would watch Vernon with his brothers and Father working the cattle in a coral with a long chute to separate the calves. Vernon would throw a rope and put the calf down, so it could be branded. It was for sure a rodeo and Vernon was a cowboy. The brothers knew their way raising cattle. It was a family working together.

There was BC, the oldest, then came Buddy, Bruce and Vernon. They had three sisters.

One was dating and the man came to the house to meet her parents. As they were in the house, the boys were out side and they picked up the little car the man drove and set over into the flower bed. They'd laugh when that story was told but while their Father was not pleased, he did smile.

Another time the boy’s remembered when their Grandfather had just bought a new Deluxe Buggy to get around to Church and town, and this was close to Halloween time. There must have been a good moon to have enough light to dismantle the four wheel enclosed buggy and to put it on top the two story barn. Vernon did say, it took them two days to dismantle it and get it down and back together again.

Once, not to long ago, while Vernon and I were living at the lake, we were driving down high way 87 to Orange, Texas. It was after Halloween time and someone had spent a lot of time throwing rolls of bathroom tissue over a pine tree. They (or he or she) must have been a good pitcher as they covered that tree every which way. I have no idea how many rolls it had on it and can only imagine the time it took to get the tree covered but it was there most of two years.

The good news: it was a sight to see on the long miles in between towns and Forestry did not make a complaint.

Phaeton: 4 wheeled buggy

Dad by Loretta

[Editor's Note: This story was written by Loretta]

When I was a kid, I always enjoyed going with dad and visiting the family members and listening to them reminisce about their experiences in life.

Dad always kept in contact with people like great uncle Charlie Dixon who was grandma Willison’s full brother. When we visited him, he was living upstairs over a store in Oskaloosa. Great uncle Hutch, who was grandpa Willison’s deaf brother, lived in a retirement facility and used sign language to communicate. Dad bought a book on it and learned to sign from it. He wasn’t half bad either. Then there was Rose and Susie who were half sisters to grandma Willison. It always sounded so exciting to listen to their stories of how they grew up and lived in “olden times”.

That’s us now, talking to the kids of today, who look at us strange. What no computers or iPods or cell phones? In fact, there was no electricity! They just can’t comprehend.

I think dad had a well rounded life of experience, he used to say he was a man of all trades master of none.

Grandma had 16 children and when times got bad, she farmed the boys out. Dad went to a farmer who believed in education. He made sure that dad went to school everyday and worked on the farm before and after school and on weekends. I think that’s why dad started college, but he had no money to finish.

When he was looking for work dad, uncle Chester and uncle Ray used to ride the box cars and call themselves hobo’s. He always talked about it as “good times”. He could converse with anyone on any subject and make it sound interesting.

He used to visit Cora and Bob Rogers in Oskaloosa. Cora was dad's cousin. She had an old two story house in a neighborhood called “flies corners”. I never did find out why they called it that. She had Chinese fortune telling cards and when anyone came for a visit, they could have their fortune told for fun. Cora had a piano and Dad would play the piano by ear while people sang hymns. He was always the life of the party.

He made the most of his vacations by visiting as many people as he could on his treks across the country. I never knew we had so many relatives! Dad thought nothing about driving to Delta, Iowa and visiting the family down there. They tried talking him into going hunting with them but guns weren’t his thing.

Drinking wasn’t either. I don’t think he took more than a sip from any alcoholic beverage ever.

I remember when he traveled, he’d picked up strangers on the highway. One particular person was a girl, who was hitchhiking on her way back home from attending college in Phoenix, Az. He ended up taking her home and dropping her off. After his death, we found letters she had written him. Apparently, they had kept in contact well after that trip. There was a lot more to him than we knew.

One thing about dad, he was more open about his life when he was younger than mom was.

American Sign Language

Coal Gardens

My growing up years was so different from children today. We could never have imagined many of the learning tools children have today. We lived simple lives that repeated themselves day after day during school months, and we amused ourselves with simple pleasures during summer vacations.

My brothers, sisters and I usually did things as a group. I was the oldest and as the younger ones of us 8 children reached the age of 4 or 5, they joined in with us older ones and participated.

In the summer we swam, hiked, rode bicycles, skated, and had cookouts. After dark we played hide and seek, or sat on the front door steps with chums or caught fireflies in jars.

In winter we skied or went ice skating on the frozen river after school and in the winter evenings we did our school homework after supper and listened to the Fibber McGee and Molly on the radio while we popped corn, or made fudge, or sat on the kitchen floor and cracked black walnuts.

Sometime during the winter, when things got tiresome with so much cold and snow and the same old routines became dull, Mom and Dad would liven things up with showing us how to grow coal gardens. Before going to bed, we would arrange our individual dishes of coal with the solutions so that in the morning when we woke, we would see crystals that had formed in the night.

No two were ever alike and we were eager to experiment with food coloring and tried to keep the tiny fairy gardens growing for as long as possible When they failed we started new ones. I remember making the gardens with pieces of coal and vinegar but there is another recipe using ammonia to create the crystal gardens.


Recipe 1.

Place a chunk of coal, or broken pieces of charcoal briquette, or porous stone, or pieces of cork, or a clinker, or a broken brick in a non-metallic dish.

Mix the following in a jar:

6Tbsp unionized salt
6Tbsp bluing
6Tbsp water, distilled preferred
1Tbsp ammonia

Pour over the coal or brick. Dab spots of food coloring on the coal and place in a draft free location. Crystals start to form and when the solution runs out mix more and gently pour into the bottom of the dish to keep the garden growing.

Bluing can be purchased in most stores and has the coal garden recipe on the label. You can buy it on the web at this address: http://www.mrsstewart.com/


Recipe 2.

Use pieces of coal, charcoal, or brick.
Stir salt into warm water until no more salt will dissolve.
Add a spoonful of vinegar to salt solution
Pour over the coal. Add a drop or two of food coloring.
Keep adding solution so capillary action continues.



Ingredients for a Coal Garden

A Coal Garden



An Unexpected Surpise

[Editor's Posting]

Welcome All to the New Year at MrsBizzyB's blog!

As Editor, I thought I would share some information about what goes on behind the scenes with the blog and pass on some unexpected surprises. For those who send postings, my efforts are well known but to the readers and potential posters it might be surprising about what happens to get a story on the blog.

We have grown the number of family members who submit postings each year and last year we had more family members posting than ever! Each poster writes their own story and selects their own topics and writes their stories in their own way. Then, they send it to me for "editing and publishing".

I check the story for basic stuff, like spelling and for consistency. If I have questions about something, an email exchange with the author takes place until I am sure I understand what the story is about. I then pull out my "blue pencil" and decide where and how the story will be published on the blog. Some stories are long and get broken into multiple segments for multiple postings and sometimes I make a few changes to either enhance or clarify something being written. I try not to make many changes to the stories and to leave them in the "voice of the author".

Leaving as much of the author's voice as possible allows us to "hear" the stories as if we are sitting in the same room with our southern relatives or those from the north or west. I love to "sit on the divan" and listen to how family members "struck out on their own" and "war with gophers in the garden".

Once I am satisfied the story is ready, it gets scheduled for posting. All the stories get published but not all at the same time. I try to give each story its own time and space on the blog. Each story is a memory that has been selected by the author to share and I try to give it ample opportunity for everyone to read it.

So... who's reading it? You'd be surprised. Recently Blogger started providing some statistics about the blog and here's some of the information for 2010.

Countries where the blog is viewed.

• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• United Kingdom
• Netherlands
• Germany
• France
• Brazil
• Russia
• Finland
• Slovenia
• Poland

There are approximately 400 page views per month.

People are viewing from Windows, Macs, iPhones, iPads, Blackberry and more.

Top 10 Most Popular Posts:

1. Homemade Pies
   [Sept 10, 2008]
2. The Park on the Corner by KimB
   [Sept 10, 2010]
3. Green Tea
   [July 11, 2007]
4. A Trip to Scotland part 4 of 6 by KimB
   [July 24, 2010]
5. Theater Backwards in High Heels by Richard
   [Dec 7, 2010]
6. Things Forgotten and Visit Remembered by Loretta
   [Jun 22, 2010]
7. Memories of Jerry by Esther
   [Aug 17, 2010]
8. Thanksgiving
   [Nov 20, 2010]
9. Keyboards
   [Oct 27, 2010]
10. Substitutes
    [Jan 27, 2007]

So there's more to the blog than meets the eye and more eyes reading it than you'd think!

So here's to a New Year and to more posters and to more postings.  And especially to MrsB who wanted to start the blog in the first place!

KimB Editor

Happy New Year

It's holiday time
with bells and good cheer
We sing Christmas songs
And ring in the New Year.
Parties abound
with presents galore,
We remember our friends
And toast days of yore.
Old resolves vanish
And leave not a trace,
But with the best
of intentions,
New ones replace.
Precisely at midnight
When the old year is gone,
In comes a number
For the new year begun.
Our hopes for the future
Oft repeated, and said once again,
Peace on earth, good will to all men.


!! Happy 2011 !!

Whispering Room by KimB

Whispering Room

From the darkness of the gloom
Hear the whispers in the room
Darkness hides the forms of past
And only fading echos last

No shapes to see, No forms to view
No colors bright or of faded hue
Emptiness is all that's there
No matter where you look or stare

Echos faintly from the haze
Remind us of by-gone days
When colors, life and hopes rang true
With nothing hidden from your view


KimB
July 2010

Christmas Trees

Wooden Tree
Kalamaria Greece

Happy Holidays To All



Modern Tree
Puerta Del Sol
Madrid Spain

Sao Paulo Brazil



Dublin Ireland

Tokyo Japan



Antler Tree
New Mexico

Lighted Tree
Poland

Woodland Tree

The Cat and the Quilt by KimB

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB]

We have a lovely gray tabby cat we call "Princess Zazu" or "Zazu" for short. She came to us about 10 years ago via an animal shelter event at Pet Smart in Monterey, CA. She is a bit different from other cats we've had and that says a lot because as Cat People will tell you, "Cats Are Just Different".

Zazu picked my husband Allen from all the people checking out the animals that day. I say she picked him because when he went to her cage, she immediately came forward to be petted thru the bars. When he moved on to look at the other cats, she retreated to the back of her cage and I watched as other potential owners looked in on her but she stayed in the back. Each time Allen returned to her cage she came forward again. We continued our shopping and returned to the rescue area and she was still there. I told Allen to go see her by himself and see if she reacted the same way. Sure enough, as soon as Allen approached her cage she came forward again and our fates have been linked ever since.

Zazu has been a wonderful and unusual addition to the house and continues to surprise us every day. Like many cats she is a unique individual and has her own way of doing things and getting things done for her. One thing that is constant, is her attachment to Allen. She likes me too of course but if she has a choice, Allen will be it. And if truth be told, Allen is very flattered by her cat-winning-ways, even when she's in a "mood" and "wants to be left alone", she will curl up near Allen and "complain" (meows) if he moves too far away from her.

Allen and Zazu napping on the
Holiday Quilt @2001

About the same time we acquired Zazu, my mother sent me a Christmas quilt. It is a charming simple quilt with holiday motifs on both sides. When Allen took a nap, Zazu would follow suit and would curl up with him and they would have their siesta time together.

For many years I had the quilt on the bed at holiday time and would change it for other quilts as the seasons passed. A few years back, I purchased a bedding set from a department store, one of those high fashion decorator sets with matching sheets and comforter top. The holiday quilt was put away in favor of the store bought set which I thought would be more durable for daily use.

It wasn't long after that we noticed that Zazu didn't sleep or nap on the bed anymore. On a rare occasion she would get on the bed but she preferred to sleep in other areas of the house. As with many cats, she had her napping zones in many places: the left-side of the couch, the window sill, the cat-perch, on the floor near Allen when he's working on the PC and she even comes to snooze with me when I'm upstairs on my PC but she rarely got on the bed. Being humans and not speaking CAT, we decided that she had just found other places she preferred

Zazu on the Holiday Quilt 2010

This year I decided to put the Holiday quilt on the bed again. As soon as I got the quilt out of the chest where it was kept, Zazu came to watch. Allen helped me, as we put away the Industrial Strength Quilt and placed the Holiday quilt on the bed. As soon as it was it in place, Zazu jumped on the bed and plopped down in the middle! She gave us one long look each, as if to say, "Gosh, humans are dumb! Took you long enough to get this back where it belongs!" Then she rolled on to her side and fell asleep.

Zazu on her Holiday Quilt 2010

Now when we look for Zazu, the first place we check is the bed with the Holiday quilt on it and 9 times out of 10, she will be curled up on it fast asleep. She has resumed taking naps with Allen and at bedtime, she leads the way so she can sleep on the quilt with her two humans.

Zazu and her Holiday Quilt 2010

I don't know why Zazu likes this quilt above all others but I think it is because this quilt was made with love. The quilt radiates the good cheer and happiness that were put into it when it was created. I think Zazu has a special ability to detect this "quilt happiness aura" and in her own way tried to tell us this. She enjoys sharing it with her humans and I'm glad that we finally understood what she wanted to tell us.

Zazu and the Holiday Quilt 2010

Zazu and the Holiday Quilt 2010

To My Chess Friends

Holdiay Bell

To My Chess Friends

Chess Knights



I wish you good Christmas
I wish you good cheer
I wish you good luck
In your chess games Next Year
When we meet on the server
I'll do my best
to give you a run for your money
If I can't win the test
As your pieces come calling
And mine start to fall
I'll fight to the finish
And hope for a draw
When the game's over
We'll politely say thanks
And the loser will wonder
In what part of the game he
Missed the win chance



Chess Kings

Merry Christmas

Mom and Dad by Loretta

[Editor's Note: This story was written by Loretta]

In growing up, I’ve always wondered how Mom a Dad ever got together. Their personalities were completely different. I guess, opposites do attract.

Mom was easily angered but once it was over, it was forgotten. Dad was, to my way of thinking, a pacifist or buffer.

“Family is important,” he would say. “You never close the door.”

I guess, you can say, I have a little of both. I'm stubborn, like my mother. Caring and loving as she was, she didn’t like falling into the same hole twice. I too, stay away from the same holes.

Mom and I were both born in May - the month of the Bull and Dad in January – month of the twins: Aquarius. It's become a habit with me, I’ll ask what month someone was born and compare them to others that I know. You’d be surprised how alike some folks are.

Mom and I were looking at some pictures and one was of two nuns. I asked her, who they were and that they looked mean. Mom's reply was that they were the most caring two people she ever knew. And that was one of the few times I can remember when she talked about her childhood.

Before mom was 21 she ran off and got married. My grandmother found her and had the marriage annulled then sent her to a convent. She also sent aunt Louise (my mother's sister) to the convent.

One of the requirements at the convent was daily mass. Well, mom had always gone to church on Sundays when she lived at home but apparently she didn’t pay attention to the sermon in Latin. One day, at the convent, she was sitting in church and thought she heard the priest say: “Damn it, give me a biscuit!” She couldn’t contain her laughter and had to leave the church.

Other than that, she never really talked to us very much about living at the convent or how long she lived there. I do know my mother had her name changed from Orilla Sophrona Fleener to Rita Marie Fleener when grandma no longer had control of her.

When mom was around 26 or 27 she ran off again this time to marry my dad. Grandma was furious and said it wouldn’t last and no good would come of it.

Well, it lasted for five kids, 35 years and lots of ups and downs until her death in 1967.

Orion and Taurus

Coats

My sister, Esther and I were chatting about how difficult it will be this year for the many unemployed to have a merry Christmas when they are facing loss of benefits and possible home foreclosure.

One of the charities that Esther gives donations to is Coats For Kids¹. When she was telling me about the program, I thought of the many coats I've had over the years, including a coat I got when I was about 4 years old. The memory has never left me and I believe it was the first time that I exhibited a strong feeling of color preference. Or it might have been sibling rivalry and not color consciousness.

My mother and aunt Pearl had taken my sister, Adeline, who was three years old and me to a store to buy coats for the winter. As the clerk brought coats of various sizes for us to try on, we stood in front of a three way mirror and turned this way and that so Mom and Pearl could judge the fit and style.

The coats brought for Adeline to try on were a perfect fit for her and both Mom and Pearl commented on how sweet Adeline looked in them. The choice was a toss up between a navy blue sailor coat with brass buttons and one that was fire engine red.  Mom and Pearl both seemed to like the red one best, but the decision was put off until one was selected for me.  I liked both the sailor coat with it's big collar and brass buttons, but the red coat was by far the most exquisite coat I had ever seen and I wanted one like it.

When it was my turn to try on coats, the clerk had only one coat in my size and it was a brown one. Not only was it brown but had tiny white hairs woven into the fabric and in my opinion, the coat looked like it had dog hairs on it. I let Mom know that I didn't like it and would like a red one.

Mom made the remark that it was just as well that there wasn't a red coat in my size since the red color did not go with my red hair. The clerk searched further and came up with a green one, but it was a tad too small. The brown coat was the only one available and when Mom said she would buy it, I threw a tantrum.  I did not want to wear the brown coat.  I cried and carried on to the point that Mom and Pearl thought it best to leave the store. They put off buying Adeline a coat and after paying for mine, they hurried me out to the street.  I cried and pouted all the way home but I could not make Mom change her mind.

The coat I bought with my first earnings was a source of pride for me as long as I wore it. It was a tan camels hair coat suitable for the bitter cold Iowa winters.

Among my favorites was a coat designed for me by a couturier in Paris when I lived there. It was dark forest green with a small red checked wool lining designed for the coldest winters. I wore it for years until I moved to a warm climate and gave the coat to Mom to tear up and weave into a hand woven rug on the loom Dad made for her.

I've had fabric and leather coats but never one of fur. Presently, I have a beautiful natural gray alpaca cape my daughter gave me, and I wrap it around me when the Texas winters vie for the worlds coldest record.

¹ Check your local area for a Coats for Kids donation drive.

Gray Alpaca Cape

The Christmas Lights of Mexico City by KimB

[Editor's Note: This story was written by KimB]

Our friends, Lou and Paula had a house on the outskirts of Mexico City. As they were far from a bus stop, Paula had learned how to drive and used her 1939 Packard to make the rounds of friends to take them to the parties that where held at their home on the weekends.

They were wonderful people and I enjoyed being with them. Paula spoke excellent English and didn't scold me too often about my Spanish. She was very patient and kind. And while I was very young they didn't exclude me too often from their parties or gatherings. It was always a treat when Mom would say, “We're going to Lou and Paula's this weekend.”

Paula would wield this giant car around Mexico City and thru the narrow side streets to pick up friends. After the party was over, Paula would drive everyone home again. It was a team effort: Lou and Paula always together. Paula would drive, Lou sat “shotgun” and everyone else would be piled into the back seat which could easily handle the crowd and then some.

There had been an enormous highway project to put an expressway around all of Mexico City. It had taken years to make the “ring” but at last it was finished. It was called the “Periférico” and Paula soon learned that it was faster to drive the Ring around the city than to drive across it.

It was during the holiday season and late at night when Lou and Paula took us home after a party. As usual, we sat in the back while Paula guided the Tank along the high speed expressway. We were chatting about what a lovely evening it was and about other holiday events coming up. Paula noted that even the City had gotten into the holiday spirit by putting up wonderful Christmas lights.

Neither my Mom nor I had seen these lights, so we asked Paula where we could go to see them? She replied that they were everywhere! So we looked out the windows and tried to spot these holiday decorations but to no avail.

“Paula, where are these lights?” Mom asked. “I don't see them.”

“Why right there!” She replied. “Right in front of us. See: Red and Green. They are all along the highway! So festive! It's lovely that they decorated the road for Christmas!”

Even Lou sputtered a bit, as Paula was pointing to the Stop Lights that marked the infrequent intersections.

Lou, patient as always, explained that stop lights weren't decorations and if she saw a green light she could go thru the intersection and if she saw a red light she was to stop until it turned green. Paula thought we were pulling her leg! But Lou finally convinced her that she should stop for the Red Lights.

Ever since, I cannot look at Stop Lights without thinking about what wonderful Christmas Decorations they are: even in July.

Holiday Fun

Theater: Backwards in High Heels by Richard

[Editor's Note: We want to introduce a new poster to the blog: Richard. Richard is MrsB's brother. Richard and his wife Frances are avid theater goers and have agreed to share some of their theater experiences with us. We hope that everyone will enjoy his posts as much as we do. There are more details about Richard at the bottom of the posting for those interested in family ties.]

My wife, Frances, and I belong to San Jose Repertory Theatre and for many years have enjoyed going to the theater.

Recently we enjoyed seeing Backwards in High Heels a story about Ginger Rogers life and how she became star. The stage, the costumes, the actors the dancing and the music was wonderful to watch. The song and dances just kept coming for 2 hours.

They included the following:

• Lets call the whole thing off
• Shall we dance
• Fascinating rhythm
• They all laughed
• I got rhythm
• Embraceable you
• We're in money
• Lets face the music and dance
• Change partners
• Fine romance
• Pick your self up
• Baby face

These are the songs I enjoyed the most. If you get a chance to see it, I know you will enjoy it as much as we did.


[Who is Richard? Richard is one of MrsB's brothers. MrsB's other brothers and sisters are Esther, Adeline, Jerry, Elbert, Charles and Mickey. Richard is uncle to all of their children.]

New Quicker Links to MrsB's Blog

[Editor's post]

We now have 3 new and faster ways for you to get to MrsB's Blog! You can use any of the following URLs to access the latest postings.

• mrsbizzyb.com

• mrsbizzyb.net

• mrsbizzybsayshello.com

Of course the original link works too.

• mrsbizzybsayshello.blogspot.com