Little things mean a lot as we get older. The way little babies smell works it's way into our mind and as that happens we remember...
A young child's hug is worth it's weight in gold, the funny things they say are worth writing down.
It seems like last year I wrote a story about Lady Autumn showing off her new finery before Mrs. Winter ruined it. (October 22, 2009) I went to Fran's mom's house and asked her if she would like to go to the lake and see the pretty leaves. She said she would. However, when we got there, we were a bit diasappointed. She only got to see one red tree and one yellow tree. That was interesting because we have several trees that have turned here in this area.
The one thing we did get to see was white caps caused by the thirty mile an hour winds. Kind of fun to sit by the dock and watch.
The air was clean and crisp. We wish you all could have been with us.
My grandma's name was Lulu. All of her nieces and nephews called her Aunt Lu. I was just a little girl thinking, "why do they all call her that, she's grandma." At that stage of my life, my mom and dad 's name were their given name to everyone but me etc.
Most often people that are really close to me call me Lu, except Fran. He always calls me, "she, her etc." he uses LuAnne also once in awhile.
One thing I am so grateful for is that my parents did not name me Lulu.
The main reason is that when I was little there was a cartoon character named Lulu. She was a crazy looking little girl . She had a
little knot on top of her head. And....she was always getting into trouble. Nothing like me.... especially the knot on top of my head.lol
Fall is upon us thus, being time like spring, to clean out closets and under the bed etc.. I have no basement or I would clean it too. I was cheerfully folding clothes to go to Goodwill and then there it was....
My favorite pair of jeans from years gone by. I was going to fold them and put them in the bag too. I longingly held them up to me and in my imagination pictured myself still wearing them. They are so pretty.
My daughter asked me the other day how my diet was coming. I told her I had lost one more pound. I explained to her that when you're over sixty an unwanted pound attatched to the waist, hips, legs, face, etc. does NOT want to come off. In the last six months I have lost almost fifteen pounds. No carbs (much).
Anyway, I put the jeans up to my waist and I just knew they wouldn't fit, but I thought, "what the heck" and then they slipped right on. Believe it or not my husband noticed. His remark was, "a new pair of jeans?" I'll take what I can get. lol
Some times it pays to clean and sometimes to cut back on the carbs a little.
I hate bills. I hate unneeded bills. You know, a long time ago, there were no cell phones. First crank type telephones with an operator to dial for you, then the first land line phones were sometimes called princess phones. They still work in this day and age when the power goes out. Mobile phones do not. I don't think that a lot of cell phones do either. I have a princess phone that is at least forty years old. Princess phones were pink, blue, white, yellow anything that would match the decor of the room it would be in.
It always rings out or in when it is needed. I had one that was mother's and bought another at a flea market so I had an extra one. Forty years is a long time.
This little article started when I wanted to call a farmer about some apples that he usually has for sale. Well, I know where he lives. On Hwy M. So I got out the phone book. There was a person by the last name and an address. I couldn't be sure if the person that sold apples or not and I wasn't about to get embarrassed at this time of night.
I told my husband , "you know what? it won't be too far in the future that there will not be any telephone books, because there will not be any landlines."
Well I will tell you what, there will always be a landline in my house. The cellphone company told me the other day I need to use my cell phone more because I only used 7 minutes last month and 27 minutes the month before.
I always forget my phone at home, or I forget to charge it. My family and friends are always yelling at me. Their favorite saying is, "Mom why do you have a cell phone when you never carry it, or let it go dead."
This is not a new complaint, I may renew my contract and I may not. I don't like bills, but I will never, ever get rid of my land lines.
I am sure that I am more nostalgic than most folks. Forty years ago there were no video cameras etc. However, there were cassette recorders. In those days, it was much too expensive to use the telephone to call my parents and my sister, so we would have the recorder sitting on the dining room table or even on the kitchen counter, so if I thought of something, I would stop and add to the "tape" that I would send through the mail probably for just a few cents.
My father, especially was the recorder in our family. Mother recorded her organ music that she played for her patients. She said that the music soothed the patients that were either agitated, or in horific pain.
Some time ago I found several of these tapes and put them on cd's for my brother and my children that would be interested. Then one day I wanted to play one and it was gone. I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I called my daughter and she said she was sure she had it, but couldn't remember where.
Yesterday Fran and I decided to sing all afternoon getting in some practice for Saturday night karaoke. I asked him if he knew where the BREAD karaoke cd was and he said, "no", so I started looking and sneezing. Oh my goodness. The dust was so thick and at this point I didn't care. There was my little girl in the poncho that my mom had made her, there was the cd with my four year old and my two year old at the zoo. At one point my two year old said,"mama is it going to eat me?!" I really didn't need the cd but, oh what a warm and fuzzy it was for me to listen to and have in my hand.
I went to see my mother-in-law this afternoon and told her about it. Now she is ninety-six and she said, "Oh, I would give anything to hear my mom and father's voice again."
Nostalgia is a good thing.
Every once in a while something or someone kicks my brain on "on" and I start thinking about something from years ago. This time it was savings bonds. When I was sixteen I wanted a piano. Of course, I had no money, but mother went into her dresser drawer and brought out an envelope with a twenty five dollar savings bond. I cannot remember if my parents bought that for me in 1944 or my grandparents did. The bonds were called War bonds and good citizens bought them to help the government find funds to fight the Germans.They really only cost about twelve dollars, but when they matured in a few years they were worth twenty-five dollars. Well, that was enough to buy me a beautiful upright piano. Oh, I was so happy!!
I continued to buy those bonds as I grew older. I would save them and go on a mommy vacation once a year. In those days it didn't take much money. I would take a bus to go to Missouri to see friends or go see my mom. (In those days we were a one car family) My husband knew that the mommie vacations were well worth letting me go and tending to the children himself. I came back like a whirlwind and ready to do dishes, laundry, cleaning and changing diapers. I was usually only gone about a day or two. Amazing, like a shot in the arm of high priced vitamins. I can still feel the refreshing savings bond blood rushing through my veins!
There are many different ways that just jump out at you to tell you that perhaps you ARE getting older; forgetting things, losing things, having trouble problem solving, and word finding just to name a few.
My youngest son asked to use our camper last weekend because he had to get up in the middle of the night. He had to get up at one o'clock in the morning and didn't want to wake us up. I gave him a new about a year or so old digital alarm clock so he would wake up.
Yesterday he stopped by and he had a fun time with us teasing us about being able to read the clock. I said, "yes, it is very hard to read. I always have to tilt my head to get the numbers right."
He just laughed and said, "Mom, you have to peel the celephane sticker off then you can read it."
Softly I said, "Oh."
I am sure other people have had the same thing happen to them. I am also sure the directions didn't tell us to do that. ;)
