The story...AS I HEARD IT.

I have been home now for just over a week from a road trip through memories.  A reunion was held in San Jose, CA for the remaining members of THE CRUSADERS.   The Crusaders was the name of the  young married Sunday school class my late husband taught when we were all young marrieds.  I say remaining because three of that class has gone on to be with the Lord.  I spent the day after the reunion with a long time friend (boy friend in high school) and next went to Ceres, CA to spend a few days with a brother and his wife.  After that, I drove down to Redlands, CA to spend almost a week with a cousin and aunt who live there and a cousin from Fayetteville, AR (can't remember if that has two t's or one).  The cousin from AR is working on her Bucket List.  She wanted to put her feet in the ocean and head in the clouds on a mountain.  With each of those people, memories begin to fly, laughter was rampant AND EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US HAD A DIFFERENT STORY ABOUT THE VERY SAME EVENT!   

I am going to tell you a story I heard in Redlands that is supposed to be true.  Keep in mind the cap's of the last paragraph.

When I was growing up my family spent a lot of time with relatives and 'shirt tail' relatives.  I think shirt tail relatives are relatives of relatives.  One of those shirt tail relatives was Faye. (or Fay?)  She was the wife of my cousins uncle.  She was supposed to have made a notable pumpkin pie.  Her granddaughter who went to a culinary institute started playing with Grandma Fay/Faye's pumpkin pie recipe and made a muffin from it.  Now, here is where my memory is muddy and undependable.  I think she made the muffins and took them to an event (child's school?) can't remember that part.  Someone from Costco was there at the event and wanted to buy the muffin recipe.  The developer of the recipe refused to sell it because the recipe would no longer be her's to share so she wouldn't sell it.  Later, at another unknown event, someone from Starbucks sampled the recipe and ask to buy it.  Lawyers would be involved.  The young lady again refused to sell.  Grandma Fay/Faye's Pumpkin Pie recipe, legally not to be able to share the recipe with anyone, no thanks.  The Starbucks rep said, "I am going to write a figure on this piece of paper and you think about it".  (Right out of movie or TV, right?)  When he wrote the figure on the paper and slid it to her she is supposed to have said, "Where is the lawyer?)  TWO AND ONE HALF MILLION DOLLARS!!!!  Remember the cap's in the first paragraph!


That is the story and I am sticking to it.  It is written in the way I heard it and as I remember.  I am assuming it is all true because my cousin would not lie to me about her muffin cousin.  No matter, I couldn't wait until I could get to Starbucks and try that PUMPKIN CUPCAKE.  I have no way of knowing if it is worth 2 1/2 million dollars to Starbucks but I sure did enjoy it.  Get yourself to a Starbucks while it is still pumpkin season and try one yourself.

Higher Ground

I'm pressing on the upward way
New heights I'm gaining every day
Still praying as I'm onward bound
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Why the words to that old song?  They are going through my head this a.m. because of my cat.  Yep,  Because of my cat.  She has found a new interest and a way to get to the highest points in my house.  Not good.  I have a very large collection of old Roseville Pottery (early 1900's)  and the pottery is sitting on all the highest points in my house.  I am making it unpleasant for her to get up there.  I have a roll of frosted sticky plastic that I have had for many years.  Cats do not like to get their feet on/in sticky places.  The first high place now has a sheet of that, sticky side up and I don't believe she will get up there too many times now.  It is also a step to the highest place where the largest pieces of Roseville sit.   Of course I am not putting the pottery up there for a while until she finds the sticky stuff So...that is why I am singing this old song.

I remember singing this song, sitting on my grand fathers lap, my mom playing the piano.  Grandpa always had a toothpick in his mouth.  He pointed to the words in the hymn book with the tooth pick so I would not lose the place in the song.

Higher ground......................until next time.

Didn't It Rain...

I can hear the melody in my head...DIDN'T IT RAIN CHILDREN? RAIN ALL THE TIME.  Old quartet song.  I often hear an old song in my head related to conversation, events, sights.  The curse (to others) and just who I am.  I have been involved in music from the very beginning.

Rain?  Oh boy.  We had an all time 'gully washer' in our aria last night.  I was at church when it hit.  I live 11 miles away from church and out in the desert.  My daughter called and said, "If you are coming home you had better come now".  I didn't catch the call.  I don't have a clue what she meant when she said, "If you are coming home...".  At any rate, the lights went out in Georgia...oops, no that is another song.  The lights went out at church and it didn't even slow us down.  We finished the song/praise service, the preacher can do what he does in any  situation (I am convinced) and the service went on.  I told my preacher's wife that I sure hoped I could get home.  I took my storm/walking shoes out of the trunk at church just in case I had to have them to walk home.  By the time I headed home, the washes had washed (water had already run off) and I made it home with no event.  Just skirted the deep water places in my dirt washboard road and made it home.  As soon as I got home, I received a call from my son.  He and his new lady had made a very lovely pasta dish with seafood and I was invited over to share.  In the car again, .3 of a mile to his house.  Very tasty and welcome dish.  Even better company.  He followed his lady as she drove to where the pavement started to see that she made it OK.  Exciting night.  Several limbs down.  Hole punched in one of my window screens.  I failed to roll up the outside sun shades because I didn't believe the storm would reach us.  We often do not get the rain when others do.  Grandson and son-in-love came over in the storm and rolled up the shades before a window got punched out.  I love living close to my family who loves me.


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.             That's all folks, until another event.  Now, on to my sewing room.

Florida 2010

Bob (son-in-law) and son Boyd.Kala and Spencer (oldest grandchildrenAll of us the night before we all headed for homeSpencer, almost 20 y/oKala, Sam and LilyMy home town boy, MikeMy little Tigar LilyGlamorous KalaNot so glamorous meMe and my next door neighbor daughter BeckyKala and lilyThe ol' lady that keeps showing up Lily and Sam 

The two pictures you see here is what happens on vacation sometimes.  The flower you see is on Kala's side.  It is a tattoo she designed.  It is permanent!!!! and Spencer's is a Latin phrase and I can't remember what it means.  Must mean a lot to these two kids because this particular vacation will ALWAYS be remembered.

Good thoughts

A few weeks ago I visited my family in Redlands, CA for a 90th birthday celebration of an aunt.  (See pictures a few blogs back)  While there, I went to church with my aunt, cousin and brother.  Lowell Linden, the senior pastor at that church writes 'daily readings' for the newspaper and has made a book from those little entries.  I was gifted with a book while there and have been enjoying reading it.  The following is one that especially impacted me.


Teddy Roosefelt said once in a speech that it was better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs and even to endure some failures than to be one of those poor spirits who never taste the victory or suffer defeat because they live in a gray twilight zone of no-risk safety.  Life is a risk.  Sometimes we forget that.  When we weep, we risk being seen as sentimental.  When we laugh, we risk being seen as a fool.  When we reach out towards another human being, we risk involvement.  When we love, we risk not being loved in return.  

But the greatest risk in all of human history was the risk God took when He sent His Son into the world.  God loved the world enough to send His Son and give His life upon the cross for our sins.  That was the greatest risk in all eternity.

Pictures later

It really goes against my grain to be dependent on someone else but that is the way it is these days sometimes.  Must get someone to help me download my pictures from vacation.  I do have a few that I have stolen from my granddaughter's bunch.  Thank you Kala. 

My family all went to West Palm Beach, FL for a week.  Seven from TN (a grandson's friend included) and six from AZ.  BB couldn't join us.  He has a new job that started about the week we all left here so he had to stay home.  So sad for that ol' beach, surfer, hippy fellow.  I KNOW he hated not being there, especially when he started seeing the beach pictures.  I did bring him home some seaweed, sand and seashells in a water bottle.  Isn't that sweet of me?  NOT!

Thirteen people and all thirteen of us were only in the same place twice but that was OK.  Almost everyone had their own interest and went their own way every day.  It was a great vacation for everyone I believe. .

These are pictures taken by Kala.  The first one is Kala, Sam and Lily,  all brothers and sisters.  The second is of Spence, Kala's little bro.  6'6" !!!  The last is Kala and yours truly,Oh my, sometimes I kinda wish for the face of years ago.  I did get a free dermabrasion.  It is amazing what a full day in the FL sun will do to the skin and then another day under an umbrella in the wind...all day.  I have left part of me from FL to here.  Just wish I could left some of my hips instead of what I did leave. 

50th birthday party

My son is a fan of the 'Greatful Dead' jam band.  He probably has all the concerts he can get legally from the internet on CD's.  He has had very longtime friends, Jason and Robin.  Robin is a party giver extroidinier ( know, the spelling is not correct but I can't find the correct spelling for that word)  They decided they would give my son the party of party's.  Of course the whole theme was 'Grateful Dead'  Those that could remember wore tie died shirts (I of course didn't remember) and the whole theme was of GD.  The picture above is Jason and Robin.  The picture underneath this narrative is BB hanging lights.The picture right below is cupcakes baked by Robin herself.  Probably the best cupcakes I have ever eaten.  To the right is the honored guest himself.  My 50 y/o son.Bob, son-in law with his head cut off.  Below is Bob with a giant cheese curl in his mouth.

Master BBQ'er is BB.Coasters are throwaway CD's made by BB1#son enjoying some of the food.  We had enough to feed a church potluck    there was a Pinata filled with candy in the shape of a skull (Part of the logo of 'Grateful Dead.  AZ grandson can't wait to break the pinata.I cannot get this new format correct.  I guess you will just have to look at the pictures and imagine the good time we had.

90th birthday celebration

Last weekend I attended the 90th birthday party of my aunt.  She is one of two  still living of the six children my dad's parents had.  What a wonderful celebration!  My cousin Mary is an excellent party giver and hostess.  I have not had  frequent contact with these people in many years but I am planning on making up for that in the future.  Wonderful people all.  I am so blessed to have a family that loves me and loves each other.  My aunt is such an upbeat person.  Her most used phrase is:  "I can do that" and  refusing most help.  I love the "I can do that" attitude.  When I grow up I want to be just like her. 

For the life of me I can't figure out the new setup on the blog.  I will just show you a few pictures and give up trying to set it up the way I want it to be.  At any rate, it was all lovely.  The celebration was held in an old and beautiful Victorian  house which is located on the grounds where my aunt and cousin live in Redlands, CA.  The weather never got much above 90 degrees.  We had to go into the house one evening because it was getting too chilly to sit outside.  A very nice break from my desert weather. 

A Father's Day tribute

Many years ago, 15-16 years perhaps, our youngest daughter arranged with the church office of the church my husband and I were attending,( totally unbeknownst  to either of us) to put an extra page in the bulletin with a tribute to her dad.  Here it is:


THERE ARE NOT MANY MEN LIKE MY DAD.  WHEN I WAS GROWING UP HE WORKED HARD AND CONSTANTLY, BUT HE WAS ALWAYS HOME BY DINNERTIME.  CHILDREN NEED CONSISTENCY AND HE MADE UP 50% OF OURS.  HE WAS ALWAYS UP BY FIVE A.M.  (PROBABLY A HABIT LEFT OVER FROM HIS FIRST ALMOST TWO DECADES ON THE FARM).  ON SUNDAY MORNING YOU NEVER HAD TO LOOK FOR HIM.  YOU COULD ALWAYS HEAR THE TENOR FROM VARIOUS CHRISTIAN QUARTETS KEEPING HIM COMPANY AS HE SAT PREPARING FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL WITH HIS BIBLE, HIS PAD OF PAPER AND HIS GOLD PEN. 

WE ALL LAUGH BECAUSE HE'LL WATCH ANY SPORT BROADCAST.  (I'VE EVEN SEEN HIM WATCH FISHING!!)  BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT HIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOKS YOU UNDERSTAND WHY.  HE WAS IN EVERY SPORT OR CLUB HIS SCHOOL HAD TO OFFER (BESIDES CHEERLEADING) AND HE HAS A SMILE ON HIS FACE IN EACH PICTURE.  HOWEVER SINCE A FOOTBALL KNEE INJURY HE ONLY PARTICIPATED IN TWO SPORTS;  GOLF AND GARAGE SALE-ING.  HE WAS EVEN SUCCESSFUL WHEN CHOOSING A WIFE.  HOW DID HE KNOW SHE'D BE SUCH A GREAT MOM?  MARRIAGE CAN BE HARD AT TIMES, BUT IF THEY EVER HAD A PROBLEM...WE NEVER KNEW IT.  WHAT A TEAM THEY MAKE!  MY DAD WAS NEVER WHAT YOU COULD CALL A 'KID PERSON', BUT WE KNEW INSIDE THAT SERIOUS EXTERIOR WAS A TNEDER HEART...ONE THAT LOVED US.

DAD, THANK YOU FOR FAITHFULLY TAKING US TO CHURCH AND FOR SERVING THE LORD.  THANK YOU FOR PLAYING BATTLESHIP, PLAYING CATCH AND WORKING SO HARD FOR YOUR FAMILY.

NO, THERE ARE NOT MANY MEN LIKE MY DAD...KEN PRATT. 

P.S. HAPPY FATHER'S DAD.    DAD, DO I STILL HAVE TO BUY YOU A CART?
                                                                     LOVE, BETH.


Memories.  Good ones.  Often found between the pages of Bibles.  My husband has been with the Lord for over 10 years now.  Memories are good.

ME day

Today turned out to be a ME day.  I am not sure I deserve a ME day but I took one.  The whole (almost) of last week I spent doing things for others.  Not noble.  Not to be lauded.  Just did things for others that needed to be done...by me.  When I said (almost) it was because the first thing I did last week was to finish crocheting a shawl, perhaps for myself, that I started about a year ago.  It is made from heavy crochet thread.  It was fun to do.  The rest of the week I spent finishing a trunk for BB's motorcycle, making MC a case for MC's new iPad, making a dress for my sis-in-love (Karen, I am going to have to modify it, it almost reaches the floor on ME) patching yet another pair of jeans for grand kids.  I didn't cook much, hardly at all last week.  After #1 son's birthday party, there was enough food left over so that when ever I got hungry I went to his house and said, "Feed me"  That was nice.  So today...a Me day.  I took someone to the airport, took my Baby Lock Surger sewing machine for yet another repair and ended up trading it in on a new one.  Score one for ME.  I have had that machine for many years and several repairs, the most recent one costing over $100 so...it is GONE.  The next reward was lunch @ Macaroni Grill and then on to Cold Stone Creamery.  I think a nap is in order for more of my ME day.

Till next time............stay well and keep on keeping on.....................Connie

My desert

I love my desert.  I hate the cold that is anyplace else.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere except right here in my desert but...it does have occasional drawbacks.
     My AC is not working well right now.  I have someone coming to look/repair it on Friday!   The temps have been well over 100 degrees for about a week now.   I have 20 windows in my house.  I love those windows.  So bright in my house.    I have small rectangle windows high above my regular kitchen windows.  Kitchen windows that face South and West.  A whole lot of light, (Summer sun) coming in those windows.  HOT, HOT, HOT!!  I have double accordion shades AND old fashioned roller shades in those windows.  Nothing in the rectangle windows above.  Some of the roller shades have disintrigrated (my little word dictionary can't even help me spell that word correctly) over the seven years that I have lived here so I had to make do with some stuff I had in my sewing room stash.  For the windows over top, I have many Fry's Grocery Store bags.  Can't wait for the AC man to get here.
     Another problem:  Several times over those seven years my desert spews forth different kinds of little bugs, by the hundreds!  It has happened overnight.   So far not many of them have gotten into the house...so far.  They are tiny elongated golden fly type bugs.  AND they bite!  A time or two in other years they have gotten into the house.  Had to vacuum them off the walls, out of the light fixtures and off my bed before I could crawl in.
Other times the bugs have been teeny tiny hard shelled beetle type bugs that can hardly be squashed.  None of those  this year...yet.
   I still love my desert.  I think I will lie down and read.  Cooler that way.  
                                   HEY!  AC MAN.  YOU WILL BE WELCOME HERE.  

Just for fun

A few weeks ago my oldest daughter and I spent a week in Palm Springs.  I believe I may have told you about that already.  Becky and I enjoy going to yard sales when we are on vacation with only us.  No one else in our family enjoy that as much as we do.  While we were there, we stopped at a sale where the people were already closing up shop and packing all the boxes to take inside.  Good timing  :-)  "Take it away, almost free".  I bought a box full of very nice books on quilting.  In one of the books there were two pages of examples of Victorian quilt squares.  Just for fun I started playing with small  pieces of  material and lace and also the embroidery stitches on my Bernina Sewing machine.  As the pieces were coming together I thought, "I think I would enjoy this being the top of a dress.  The pictures above are the pictures of the final result.  I wore the dress to church yesterday.  It was so comfortable I wore it all day and then to church again in the evening.  I am thinking, "More dresses similar to this one"

Finally!!

 The crazy quilt above was claimed by BB.  It is at this very moment on his bed.  He loved it the minute he saw it before it was even finished.  It may have taken me 3-4 months to finish it.  I was so tired of working on this on that I couldn't wait for it to be on his bed.  

I have discovered something anew about myself.  I TOTALLY HATE, HATE, HATE repetition.  I hate it when a song doesn't know when the song should be over and keeps repeating  near the end.  I want to ask whoever is leading the song if they don't know how to end it or if they don't know that it is supposed to be finished.  Relating that, I am now working on yet another quilt.  All the quilt blocks were finished and hand sewn in the recommended way with 1/4 " seams.  Of course I had to recut those blocks because they were very tattered on the edges.  It will not be a very large quilt.  I think the person ran out of matching yardage because there are some odd ball blocks  and she got discouraged and quit.  I don't know how long it will take me to finish this one.  Same thing over and over.  BORING!  I think Crazy Quilts are my forte.  It is constantly changing.  Being bored with the repetition of the quilt I am working on now, I left it in the middle of the L.R. floor and started working on a Victorian Crazy Patch.  IDEA STRUCK!  It became the front of a top for a new dress for me.  Almost finished!  Picture forth coming.

t

Above is the quilt I finished for my AZ granddaughter
She really likes bright colors so this one just fit the bill. 
Remember that I am almost always working with
things other people throw away.  These oblong pieces
came to me precut.  Smelly.  Must have been in some-
ones basement in the midwest.  I had to wash them and
of course I had to iron and recut each piece.  What you
see running from top to bottom is cording (from a
yard sale) covered with various fabric.  It took me just
a week to make this one.  It also took every bit of
batting I had on hand including small pieces here and
there.  It is almost a comforter.

ME

Not many of you will be interested in reading this but it is all I could think of to post until I get another project completed.

I LOVE GETTING SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING.
   Making quilts out of scraps others have thrown away.
   BB building a chicken house for me from out of date election signs.
   I made a blouse not too long ago from scraps.  Enough to get the body as recommended but had to make  
       the sleeves going in two complete different directions from each other and the blouse.  I like it.
   Getting dinner w/out running to the store when I don't have all ingredients called for and substituting some-
       on hand.  I have come up with new and very good recipes.

I SELDOM EVER SIT WITH MY HANDS FOLDED.
   I continually move to different task depending on my energy level.  I save knitting and crocheting for when
         I don't have enough energy to move the body.

I HAVE COME TO DESPISE TV
   Too many commercials, not anything much I am interested in but...I am watching an old TV series that I 
      didn't know existed when it was on TV.  It is called 'Boston Legal'.  Totally delightful.  I do sit with my
      hands folded while watching that.  At night in my desert, when the lights are on many bugs, especially
      tiny ones seem to be able to find their way into the house.  I hate watching TV in the dark.

MY HOUSE IS SELDOM COMPANY READY SO...
    every time I go from one room to another I pick up something on the way that needs to go my direction.

I ENJOY DOING LAUNDRY
   I have had a clothes line ever since I was married in 1959 and use it.

I ENJOY GROCERY SHOPPING

I...L-O-V-E..TO COOK.
   Sometimes when doing other things I get in the mood to cook something and have to decide what it will be

I HATE TO CLEAN MY KITCHEN
   And many times it looks like it
   On our honeymoon (in Yosemite) my husband bought me a plaque which still hangs in my kitchen.  I am
    no good at memorizing anything but I know this little verse.
            THANK GOD FOR DIRTY DISHES, THEY HAVE A TALE TO TELL
            WHILE OTHERS MY GO HUNGRY, WE'RE EATING VERY WELL.
             WITH HEALTH AND HOME AND HAPPINESS, I SHOULDN'T WANT TO FUSS,
             BY THE STACK OF EVIDENCE, GOD'S BEEN VERY GOOD TO US.

I TURN OFF THE AC/HEATER AT NIGHT ALL YEAR AROUND
   I figure if I have to pull up the covers (in the Summer) I am wasting energy and I can pull on enough
   covers in the Winter that I don't need the heat.

I LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL MY MIND, HEART AND SOUL
    I hope.                         I have never been put to the test.

I WOULD RATHER STAY HOME THAN GO OUT.

I NEVER USE THE WORD BORED
   I have way too much to do here at home that I enjoy.  If I get TIRED of one thing I just move on to
   something else.

NOW. ENOUGH ABOUT ME RIGHT NOW, TELL ME ABOUT YOU.



















  

This is why we love kids.

1) NUDITYI was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, 'Mom, that lady isn't wearing a seat belt!'
2) OPINIONSOn the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, 'The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents.'
3) KETCHUPA woman was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. 'Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle.'
4) MORE NUDITY
A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, 'What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a little boy before?'
5) POLICE # 1While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, 'Are you a cop? Yes,' I answered and continued writing the report My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?' 'Yes, that's right,' I told her. 'Well, then,' she said as she extended her foot toward me, 'would you please tie my shoe?'
6) POLICE # 2It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. 'Is that a dog you got back there?' he asked.
'It sure is,' I replied.
Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, 'What'd he do?'
7) ELDERLYWhile working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my 4-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs... One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, 'The tooth fairy will never believe this!'
8) DRESS-UPA little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, 'Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit.'
'And why not, darling?'
'You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning.'
9) DEATHWhile walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased.
The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: 'Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.' (I want this line used at my funeral!)  
10) SCHOOLA little girl had just finished her first week of school. 'I'm just wasting my time,' she said to her mother. 'I can't read, I can't write, and they won't let me talk!'
11) BIBLEA little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it.. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages.
'Mama, look what I found,' the boy called out...
'What have you got there, dear?'
With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, 'I think it's Adam's underwear!'

Detail pix

A few close up pictures of the Crazy Quilt that BB liked enough to take a close up of it.