A Child of the 70's

My husband and I in Paris, 1978

I was a child of the 70's.

I wore bell-bottom jeans and embroidered, gauzy blouses, often with long beads around my neck.

I wore granny boots and tie-dyed t-shirts.

My hair was long, blonde and straight (the only decade where my thin, straight hair fit in), until I had to chop it off (see photo) when it was ruined by going in a swimming pool with too much chlorine. (It turned my hair green!!)

I often wore dark eyeliner and purple and blue eye shadow, but very little lipstick

I listened to the soothing sounds of Jim Croce and the Carpenters, and sang along with Carly Simon and Carol King; played John Denver and Bread on my stereo.

I also went to my share of rock concerts, most notably Chicago and Carlos Santana. We listened to Donna Summer and did the "Hustle".

It was the decade of "cool." My teachers were cool, too. They were hippies abroad, traveled extensively, were probably liberals in today's sense of the word, and taught us History and Social Studies against the background of yesterday's battlefields.

I loved the 70's. I graduated from high school in 1976 while living in Germany. It was a small DOD school for military dependents. Life was simpler then. We didn't have electronics. Unless you count 'boom boxes'. People actually called you on the phone. I took "Bookkeeping" in High School, an archaic subject nowadays. I also took Typing. At least that skill stayed with me.

I wanted to be a lawyer in the 70's. I love Law, Government, Politics, History, Philosophy, etc. I love a good debate.  My first job after High School was in a bank, so I became a banker instead.

I met my husband in 1977, in the Spring. It's funny how this time of year brings back those memories. We took little weekend trips to Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, etc.
We sampled the local wines in the villages along the Rhine River. When our daughter was born our landlord gave us a bottle of wine as a present. He owned a vineyard.
The 1970's were cool. After I had written this post I thought of all the sweet memories I had. And no wonder that Spring is a bittersweet time because I met my husband in April and lost him in April, too.
What decade brings back memories for you?

Blessings,
Anita

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossoms are in bloom at at the park.

It was a perfect day to take the grandchildren 

to feed the ducks...

or sit and watch the fish...

This is the Japanese bridge.

A perfect day.

Storm Warnings

It was another scary day in North Alabama. The tornado sirens started early. By 9:30 this morning tornadoes had already hop-scotched across our county. It destroyed  dozens of homes, and also hit a high school, middle school, a church and the restaurant where my daughter was hired for her first job. That family restaurant is less than five miles from my house. Here's a picture of the tornado that someone took.

Nerves were on edge...we don't want a repeat of April 27, 2011, the day of the tornado outbreak that devastated entire towns all throughout the Southeast.

Things have calmed down. We are safe. As my grandson said, "Jesus can stop the storm."

Blessings,

Anita

Ode to a Cookie

Here's a little ditty I wrote last year in honor of, guess what? Thin Mints.

O Thin Mint, Thin Mint,

Why can't I eat just two?

If only my hips would lie, 

I'd eat the whole box, 

And write an ode to you. 

Photo from Wikipedia

All Prayed Up

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

I've heard the expression "Are you all prayed up?" more than once since living here in the South. There's even a country song with the same title. What does it mean to be "all prayed up?"

Being all prayed up is sort of like having a well-stocked pantry. It reminds me of my mother who never let her pantry shelves go bare. She took advantage of supermarket sales and stocked up on groceries whenever she had the chance. Nothing went to waste. And in the summer she would can or freeze fruits and vegetables.  Growing up in post-war Europe she knew what hunger was like firsthand.

What does prayer have to do with a kitchen pantry, you might wonder? It's all about being stocked up. Stocking up on prayers, that is. Is your prayer life like those empty cupboards? Do you completely run out of supplies before replenishing your pantry? In other words, do you wait until you are starving before you make your shopping list? Sometimes our prayer lives can be like those empty shelves. We wait until there's a desperate need before we turn to God with our pleas. I'm guilty. "I'm in trouble, Lord. Please help me." We wait until we go to triage before we start praying.

Being prayed up satisfies the spiritual hunger in us. It fills us with hope and joy and peace and draws us closer to Jesus. But it means we have to pray continually, every chance we can. It may be a simple "Thank You, Lord," or a long conversation. (He's listening). It's keeping those lines of communication open and knowing that the Lord has our back, even if no one else does. And that spiritual hunger and thirst will be satisfied through the power of prayer.

My Favorite Romantic Movies

(A re-post from two years ago)


I collect old postcards. These are a few of my vintage Valentine postcards, some dating back to 1908.

Since Valentine's Day is about love I wanted to make a list of my favorite romantic movies. No light-hearted romances here - that would be another list.


Gone With the Wind
 Passionate love - (Rhett and Scarlett are too much alike. He loves her, but he can only take so much).

Love Story
Who can forget "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Dr. Zhivago
Two people, married to others, fall in love during the Russian revolution. This movie is three hours long and perfect for a long winter's night.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Fantasy love - Woman falls in love with the ghost of a sea captain. Those black and white movies from the 1940's were really good!

Out of Africa
Uncommitted love - Danish writer loves big game hunter in Africa. I actually bought the soundtrack and play it all the time.

The Notebook
Lifelong love with a touch of sadness. Have plenty of tissue at the end.

The Message in a Bottle
Woman falls in love with widower, still grieving the loss of his late wife.

Pride and Prejudice 
Prideful love - Two witty souls finally find true love. Who doesn't love Mr. Darcy?

Sense and Sensibility
Another Jane Austen favorite. Love wins in the end. My absolute favorite.

Wuthering Heights
Dangerous love - Woman falls for brooding Heathcliffe.

Jane Eyre
Hopeful love - homely girl finds love in the end. I never tire of this story.

Ghost
Everlasting love - "The love inside, you take it with you."

May you still be truly, madly, insanely in love on this Valentine's Day.

Ordinary Days

I love three-day weekends, even if I don't "do" anything. I live a simple life, an ordinary life. I'm one of the lucky ones, because if you've ever received bad news, your life turns upside down and there is no such thing as an "ordinary day".  So I am thankful for all the ordinary days.

Puttering

On Saturday I putter around the house. It rains most of the day, a repeat of January's weather. The weather is cool, but mild. I go about my housework, washing the sheets, taking out the trash. I empty the dishwasher. I make a second pot of coffee. Finally, I grab my umbrella and drive to the nearest Barnes and Noble, 25 miles away. For over an hour I browse to my heart's content, spending my gift card from Christmas, with enough left over to buy a White Chocolate Mocha.

A Quiet Evening

On Saturday evening my daughter, her husband and the two older children go to a hockey game. I baby-sit Mae-Mae (her nickname). Bath time...bottle...baby is soon asleep in my lap. When they return from the game, the older girls go home with me. One goes right to sleep. The younger one thinks that she is a grown-up ( she is going on five) and stays up until midnight. I give them my bed and the cat and I share the couch.

Mae-Mae

Sharing Popsicles

Sunday morning and the younger one is up early and already dressed. She hits the floor running. I am rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Can I play with Play-do?" "After breakfast," I reply. Today the weather is gorgeous, bright and sunny. We go outside after lunch and the children (including my grandson, who came over) help me pick up broken branches in the yard. I rake up dead leaves while they play hop-scotch, kick the soccer ball, and climb trees in the backyard. They make friends with the two little boys who live across the street. The kids want popsicles, so my granddaughter asks me how many to get of the freezer, while she counts on her fingers. "Five?" "Yes, five", I tell her. While she goes inside for the popsicles the little boy across the street comes out with a handful to share with everyone. At five o'clock the kids go home. I am exhausted, but it's a good tired.

An Ordinary Day

It is Monday and I treat myself to a movie from my collection, "The Painted Veil." It is based on a book by W. Somerset Maugham and is about a doctor and his unfaithful wife. The story takes place in China, where the doctor is fighting a Cholera outbreak. It is a fascinating story. Later, I run errands, mail some cards, pay bills, balance my checkbook, put a pot roast in the oven, bake cupcakes, call my sister and a close friend; ordinary things on an ordinary day. I am blessed.

Blackberry Cobbler in a cute casserole dish

The Joys of Motherhood

Mae-Mae sleeping

I spent the day with my grandchildren, while my daughter, Carrie, went to the doctor and got two shots for her respiratory infection. "Mae-Mae", my little 8-month old granddaughter, is also suffering from a cold, but she didn't let it stop her from crawling all over the house and standing up next to the CD player, dancing to Justin Bieber's "Baby, Baby." It was simply hilarious.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the kids. First, my seven year old granddaughter, "Teka," had to have four teeth pulled. Her two front teeth had been loose for some time and we thought that surely they would fall out by Christmas. No such luck. Her two permanent teeth had already come up behind the baby teeth, so my daughter took her to the dentist. Because her baby teeth are so tiny, he recommended pulling all four of her  front teeth! Talk about traumatic...she cried and cried. After seeing the roots on those baby teeth, I wanted to cry, too! But all was better when the tooth fairy came and left her five dollars. Of course, she had to get sick then, and run a fever and that meant missing school, and  breaking her perfect attendance record.

The other children have been sick, too, with the usual coughs and runny noses. I talked to my daughter on the phone one day and she told me what her day had been like. One was running a fever, one had wet the bed, another one had had an accident and the baby was sitting under the kitchen table eating Cheerios off the floor. I laughed. Don't sweat the small stuff, was my sage advice. This, too, shall pass.

On Thanksgiving

We are having Thanksgiving at my house tomorrow, with approximately 15 or more people. Besides turkey and ham there will be the usual Thanksgiving side dishes: Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Corn Casserole, Cornbread Dressing, Cranberry Gelatin Salad, Sister Shubert rolls, etc. Then there will be Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Pecan Pie and  Peach Cobbler for dessert.

I love Thanksgiving Day because it is the time set aside for families to gather together and count our blessings.

I'm thankful for my two daughters and four grandchildren, who are the light in my world.

I'm thankful for my health.

I am thankful for the people I meet each day and the stories they tell me. I recently talked with an elderly man who was taking care of his sick wife. They had been married for 62 years. People don't share stories any longer.

I am thankful for my home, in light of the many tornado victims who lost their homes this year.

I am thankful for a job when I have seen so many lose their jobs in this poor economy.

Most of all, I am thankful for God, who has made me stronger during my trials and hasn't given up on me yet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Veteran's Day

Today I would like to think of all the veterans in my life, past and present.

To my Dad, who retired after 20 years in the U.S. Army. He served in Vietnam the year I turned 10 years old.

To my step-son, who is in the Air Force Reserve, and has served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the home front he is a police officer and the father of four.

To my brother and brothers-in-law, who have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Two are Vietnam veterans.

To my neighbor, who is in the Army National Guard and has served in Iraq.

To the husband of a good friend, who is also a Vietnam vet and suffered from PTSD.

To many friends who have been military wives or Army brats, as I was, and can relate.

To my late husband, who was a wounded veteran from the Vietnam war, and served 20 years in the U.S. Army.

To my co-worker, who juggles a full-time job with being a mother and a weekend warrier with the National Guard.

May God bless all of our veterans, and especially the ones in your family and circle of friends.

October Days

Every Fall a local, historical (almost 200 years old) cemetary

hosts a "Cemetary Stroll"

and features local people dressed in period clothing

who portray the famous and not-so-famous that are buried here.

For example, I didn't know that one of Samuel Clemons' cousins,

Jeremiah Clemons, is buried here, and that he also wrote novels.

.This year there were almost 70 people that were "risen from the grave", so to speak.

This little event used to be a well-kept secret, but not anymore.

There were literally hundreds of people visiting the cemetary

on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon, each following their paper guide.

One actress portrayed Talullah Bankhead, a native-born Alabamian,

whose father was in politics.

Her mother died when Talullah was an infant and is buried here.

There were many Civil War soldiers and widows who retold their stories,

along with many prominent men and women, such as the famous madam

who donated her land to the hospital.

Then, there was the Southern belle who ordered her bridal gown from Paris

and was taking a special powder to whiten her skin. Only her illiterate maid gave her

boric acid by mistake. She became ill and called for her doctor.

When he discovered what had happened there was nothing he could do.

Still, the young couple married, she sick and dying and lying in her bed. 

When the young bride died a few weeks later, she was buried in her exquisite bridal gown

shipped all the way from Paris, France.

The last story we heard was from a famous widow well-known in my neck of the woods.

She had been married six times before the Civil War. Her first marriage lasted almost 20 years

when her husband passed away. The second one lasted six months and each husband

subsequently succumbed to some mysterious or short-lived illness. Now, this

is quite possible, seeing that this was the early 1800's, and being a strong, Southern woman,

known for her beauty (historical accounts claim that she was a beautiful woman)

she may have been smart and opportunistic.Remember Scarlett O'Hara?

Rumor has it that she had a hat rack in her foyer with a hat from

each of her husbands hanging on it.  At age 60, the beautiful widow moved to

Mississippi, after a trial involving slander and a feud with a local farmer.

 Coincidentally, the ancestors of that farmer still own that land

and now have a popular Pumpkin Patch in the Fall. See pictures below.

Oh! Another reason the widow moved away...the local Baptist preacher refused to marry her again.

I love these stories!

I never knew there were so many varieties of pumpkins. I didn't take pictures of all of them,

but I saw at least a dozen varieties.

Beautiful Mums

Baby granddaughter #3

Hope you are enjoying Fall as much as I am.

Blessings,

Anita

Fall Tidbits & More

One thing I love about Fall are the county fairs and street festivals

that abound at this time of year. There's something for everyone:

pony rides and fun activities for the children;

arts and crafts for the adults;

food and gorgeous weather for everyone.

What better place to hold a street festival except near the railroad tracks?

Believe me, that was the longest train ever!

Fall also means that I have to stock up on butter because I do more baking.

 This is "Walnut Pear Sour Cream Cake"

 found in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

 It's perfect with a cup of tea.

I love a bargain and found this bag for $3.99 in a thrift store.

 It looked like Fall to me.

After a long day at the street festival there's nothing like dining out and learning

how to color in the lines.

Remembering Mama

I've been thinking about my mother lately and how much I miss her, still. I wish she were here to talk to. It doesn't matter how old you get, sometimes you just need a mother. I was blessed to have her for 44 years, but I wish she could have stayed a little longer. Long enough to be a great-grandmother, for example. She would be tickled by the babies that have been born since she passed away. I wish she could have stayed long enough to enjoy her retirement years. But it wasn't to be. God gave her the rest she needed and took her home at age 62.

I was listening to a "paid advertisement" on television while reading a book. They were playing the old country songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's. My mother was a fan of country music and I grew up listening to Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich, and all of the popular artists at that time. Hearing those songs brings back so many memories.

Music always made my mother happy. She loved "The Sound of Music" and never tired of watching it. She would sing "Edelweis" when she though no one was listening, just as she would hum the little German songs from her childhood. Mama was shy, just as I am. When "GI Blues" is playing, I can remember Mama singing along with Elvis, " Muss ich denn, muss ich denn, Zum Stadtele hinaus Stadtele hinaus, Und du, mein schatz, bleibst hier?" Can't you see I love you, please don't break my heart in two... (Wooden Heart lyrics)

Like my mother, I sing along with the songs, if no one is listening.

Blessings,
Anita