Not much

We are so tired this weekend. We had planned on going to see Ken and Kris but we woke up so tired, you know old peoples aches and pains. We have not had a weekedn off in weeks, One weekend we took the mobile to Marie, next we went to Peach festival, plus we work our hines off in the yard or whatever.
After much mowing I finally have the field mowed. Not only did I mow I had to move the sprinkler all over the field, That was to eliminate any chance of a fire. Grass was still dead, plus the water kept the pollen down. When you cut dry grass, expecially star thistles, they send up a fog that is consuming. so I had better lungs when I finished than I usually do.
Today we cleaned the old garage out, Threw out lots of stuff, and got lots loaded for the salvation army. I always think I will use something but truth Is I never get it done. I have so many irons in the fire, cant pick the right one to get the job done.
We still have to work on the back yard before the rains start. I am thinking of one strawberry bed. That will be a nice addition, of course I will add more to it so it is more than just green stems once the berries are gone. I am also considering a daffodill bed, plus someone gave me a huge bucket of iris. Not crazy about iris but hey it is free. Iris may be a good thing to plant behind the pool fence. No real care, jsut plants to grow and multiply. My front flower garden is full of cannas. Sher do you recall when I planted them, One day Nancy brought them to me, Well I only filled about 10 sq feet, now there is at least 200 sq feet, they really multiply.
Welll gotta go to bed I am drifting off.
Love to all


I also have lots of quilts to make. In addition I need to get down to sewing other presents. So much but feel so lazy at times.

LOST ARTS

In one past post I mentioned whittling, When I was a small girl, that was something lots of men and boys did. In Sheridan you could walk down the street , adn sitting outside a local store, was a bench, You could always see men there with their knives whittling on a piece of wood., I am not sure if they made an item, like a toy or car or just whittled for the sake of having something to do.
My Grandpa always made us whistles or flutes by carving out a piece of cane. It had to be just the right size, and strong enough to endure carving.
My dad would make them for us too. But we found more cane growing in the river bottoms so we had an endless supply.
I could spend an entire weekend just playing my flute or whistle. All of us got one and over timy my brothers learned how to make these whistles.
Brooms, was another home made item my grandma had. Grandpa would find a certain kind of weed, stong nad not easily breakable, like straw. He would bind it together, and tie it off with a heavy line. Then he would place it on a stick, a(small limb he had whittled the bark off off). Then Grandma would have a broom. I guess that is why I loved to sweep her floors, that and the fact that they were dusty, or should I say dirty.
Grandma had a neat toothbrush too, Mama said that is what they used growing up. It was a stick that was very fiberous, They would seperate the fibers and make them look like a brush, not one as you see toothbruses today. But it definitely scrubbed the teeth. Their toothpaste was baking soda, if they had any soda and sometime just anthing to get the teeth clean and breath fresh.
Medicine consisted of homemade poltice, (spelling), Colds were treated with hot mustard wraps, sick stomach with peppermint leaves, Vicks salve in the blue jar was also a staple in our home. I remember Mama mixing up something that smelled so awful then putting it in a hot cloth nad putting it on my chest. You got well really fast so you did not have to smell the potion. But mostly I recall the wonderful smell of vicks salve. We would put it under our noses if we became stuffed up, It went on our chest every night if we had a cold. Mama had a huge jar on hand all time.
Black Draught, I am not sure what that was used for, but it smelled so weird. Onguinetine, for burns, It too was a salve.
I guess the worse I ever had was a medicine for sTrep throat. It tasted horrible. Harold and I both had strep at the same time. Mama would bring in the bottle and a spoon. One day we were standing by the big wood heater, in the living room. Mama gave Harold his does first, He spewed it across the stove right into my face and on my clothes, It was that horrible tasting. Mama made him take another dose. This time sitting down. Me, well you all know me it was a fight to make me take anthing like that. So I had to sit, Mama would put it in my mouth hold me and blow in my face to make me take a deep breath and swollow. Awful awful stuff.
Then of course there are your other grandmas potions.
Dad will tell you about them.

Helping Hands

I have expressed in the past, more often lately. When I leave this world, Will anyone know I was here, Of course my children will and my grandchildren. But, will I have made a dent in someones lives? Have I been a true friend? Did I do enough for people? This has been a concern of mine.
Several months ago, I told Retha, I know Brian has to take Rachelle to the drs often, If you need me, feel free to call.
Well she called and I get to help her out! She felt bad asking but I wish people would just realize they are doing more for me than I am for them. The end of August Nancy asked me to come spend the day with her while she recovered from some medical test. I did stay and she slept. It was a nice thing for me to be able to help.
Now Nancy needs another test and I am going today to help out. I feel as if I am finally able to repay all the good things that have been done for me in my life. I am sure each of you have heard, Pass it along! Sometime that is all we can do, Pass a generoisty along.
When My Mom was alive, as you know I was not able to be with her as much as I possibly should have. So if anything needed replaced, I was always called. I never gave it another thought, My mom needed something, I could provide. I just always felt as if I had could never do enough.
So finally God is letting me help my friends, and family.
I am not sure why I feel this way, I was born to a giving woman, She gave so much, she fed our aunts and uncles on a regular basis, she always made sure her Mom and Dad were taken care of, even to the extent of building them a house on her property. She donated to the church. I have a photo of a huge pile of canned applesauce, taken at church, where my Mom was donating for the orphans. She could always find it in her budget to help someone else. Even with 8 children to raise, she fed more people than you can imagine.
So that may be why I feel this urgent need to help.

So much to say

and so little time to relay all the information in my head. I do not want you all to wonder what I did as a child and how the world was different.
My family and your dads family came from the Saline River bottoms, Quachita river bottoms, Delta area, cotton fields and back woods of Arkansas. My Dad farmed and hunted his own game. He could make a rabbit trap or shoot a deer or squirrel for our dinner. We raised our own chickens, so we had fresh eggs. My Mama canned and froze all the vegetables we grew, and made sure we always had plenty to eat. We picked huckleberries and blackberries, in the woods, we found old abandoned house places and would pick apples and pears or persimmons. Mama made all our own jelly and jam, with one exception, Rex Jelly, looked like jello and was not bad. We bought it in half gallon jars.
We bought 4 foot sticks of bologna, and mama cut it up, wrapped it in freezer paper and we had bologna when we wanted it.
During the summer months we could be spotted , (all 9 of us) trapsing off through the woods with fishing pole in hand. Mine was always a cane pole with a simple line and hook attached. actually that is what we all had. I am sure my Moms was better, after all she was raised on the river and loved to fish. After Daddy died, it was a way for her to get out, I can still recall the first fishing trip we made that summer of 1957. That one was to our old camping spot on the quachita river. It was Called Open Banks. My uncles always came along or showed up the next day or so, We always took my Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa loved going fishing and My Mom always made sure he got to go.
So as you see, we never went without food. My Mama had been hungry many times as a child and she was determined her children would never go hungry or cold.
Yes our lives were so different then yours, We learned so much of life by living it, We did not sit inside, We had no computers or games to play with. We made our games. We roamed the woods, We played in the dirt, we had to work in the garden, we had to draw our own water from a well, We washed clothes on a wringer washer and dried them on a clothesline. Our baths were in a number 3 galvanized tub. Our dishes were all washed by hand. All this until I was 11 years old.
When my Daddy died we bought a houe with running water, inside bathroom and Mama had a real washer. We still hung clothes on the line but it was not a big chore. I still shared a room with my sisters but the beds were bigger and the room was definitelty bigger. Mama bought the girls a new bedroom suit. The first I had ever seen, The dresser had 12 drawers and the bed was a bookcase headboard. My clothes now had a specific place to go. So life changed for me when I was 11 but I still remember the times of my life.

49 Car

I remember the first car we bought, well it was the first I recall. I do know there were others. One car Mama told me about must have been a model A or something that you cranked at the front. Daddy was driving and I was a baby, Mama said, she was holding me in her lap. Daddy got stuck in a mud hole, The roads were nothing like they are today. Most country roads were simply dirt and if it rained it became mud pits.
Daddy had worked to get the car out, Mama said I started vomiting. She grabbed me and looked at the older kids, They had passed out. All the older ones, Had I not gotten sick, all the older kids may have died.
She and Daddy drug them out of the car and began washing their faces in a mud hole. She said It was the most freightened she had ever been.
Now on to the car I recall, daddy was doing pretty well, He had his own Log truck to drive, It was owned by Long Bell lumber. He had cheaufer buttons he wore on his hat, that was his license to drive a log truck.
We had bought a Television, in fact most people did not have TVS, Your Dad would visit the family across the street , (the Webbs) from us, and he recalls coming to our house and watching Television. Black and White Zenith. By the way I was not even in school yet.
So we were doing better financially, Daddy came home one day with this beautiful black car, I believe it was a 49 plymouth. It had four doors, Daddy had 8 children and some of us were pretty small, to keep us from opening the doors he removed the back door handles. LOL I still remember seeing those doors with no handles. The older ones could take the handle from Daddy or Mama and use them but they were never handed to them unless the car was stopped.
We took lots of family trips in that car, We went to Sparkman a lot. My grandma and Grandpa still lived there, and my Uncle John Henry Brown, Uncle Porter Tuberville, (mamas uncle0, and cousins galore, in additon we visited my Grandma Roland in Bearden. That part of the family had a grocery store/service station. We always stopped nad had a soda. They were only about 5 cents but a kings ransom to us. I always got a chocolate coke. Those are the only times I recall having bought sodas. We often had dinner with that family and I can't even recall their names other than they were Rolands, my grandma Tubervilles side of the family. Maybe it was uncle Will.
That old car took us to Texas and Louisana for gospel meetings. That is still another story.

My Brown Uncles

My daddy had several brother and two sisters. My grandma was very attached to her sons, They were attached to her too. My Uncle John Henry , Yep, I had one. Was a small man. In fact he was probably only 5 foot 2 I am not sure, but he looked just like my Daddy. He was sweet and kind to me. We spent a lot of time at their house while growing up. They lived in Sparkman, and the old house still stands. They had a big farm and grew lots of veggies and grains for animals. Aunt Corrine was his wife. She was a big woman, not heavy but tall and had black hair also. She always wore heels and lipstick. I never saw her without her lipstick, and how she wore heels all time was strange to me. she lived on a farm for petes sake. We would go to their house and they would take us swimming and I had this cute black swimsuit, It strangely disappeared one day, I think my mom hid it so I would not wear it, So I had to wear a skirt with my bros jeans under it .
Believe it! We were not allowed to wear slacks of any kind. When the weather was icy, I mean Arkansas Ice storm, frozen ground, bone chilling, wind blowing cold. So cold your nose turned red when you went outside, Then and only then we could wear jeans, but this is a big but, we had to wear our dresses over them, Man I hated that. But my legs were warm. Mama knew I hated it, so for Christms she bought me 2 pair of argyle knee socks, Brown, Yuck!!! So I put them before school but as soon as i got on the bus, I rolled them down so no one could see how hideous they were. Hey I was in first grade I had a sense of style even then. Can you imagine how sylish those socks were rolled down like that, they must have looked like a huge donut at my ankles. a chocolate donut.
So back to Uncle John Henry. We called him by both names. His daughter was Dorothy, she was my age, or close to it. We spent a lot of time on the swings or visiting her grandma up the road, or just hanging out.
When my Mom was really sick, she had to be in a hospital for a while, she had a nervous breakdown, So uncle John and Aunt corrine took care of us, by then they were living in sheridan. I remember staying there, a little, I was only 5, but I do recall the day Lou came in to check on me to wake me up and I was covered with measles. When mama came home they pulled up my dress to show her the marks from the scars of measles.
I rememver the day Mama came home, We were all standing in the road watching her nd Daddy come walking up the road. They had rode the bus, and they told us how exciting it was, well to me it seemed very exciting, When they wanted off all they did was pull a rope that rang a bell. The driver stopped nd they got off, Then they walked about 1 mile to the house. I was so excited to see her. She was gone a long time for a lttle girl. The baby was taken care of by Aunt Corrine. That was the last time My mama ever left us, My Grandma was responsibile for her breakdown, My Grandma was a mean woman, Have to tell you more later.

September Morning

This is September, the month my baby sister was born. I can still recall that night, We lived in Slabtown, I was 5 years old. When my Dad had somewhere to go dressed up, he wore kacki pants and a light print shirt, and his hat. My Daddy had black, black hair, that he wore combed back. Well that september he had somewhere important to go. My mom was giving birth to her last child. Bet she was breathing a sigh of relief when the Dr said that had to be the last.
On this paticular night in September, someone opened the door when Daddy came home, I am not sure if it was Grandma Brown or Aunt Lucille, (my Moms sister), but someone had taken care of us. Daddy was standing there with a big smile on his face and telling us we had a new sister. I recall him being so happy. Daddy had been with Mama until the time of delivery, a new thing in 1951, He was very funny and often embarrassed my Mom with his tales of that birth. JEANETTE was born c-section , I was kind of designated to take care of her. I am not sure why, I think being 5 years older, and loving her so much was one of the reasons. When my Daddy died I was the one in school to pick her up and hold her as she cried, The school nurse told me to put her down, I did so begrudgingly.
When she began sleeping away from Mama she slept with me, We had two beds in the girls room and Jeanette and I were the small ones in the family. Rosie and Lou got a big bed, we had a twin size. When her bath had to be ran and her elbows scrubbed I did it. I do not recall being upset at all about the chore, It was just my job. A few years ago she told me I was the only one that did not gripe when I had to give her a bath. I recall Mama saying scrub her elbows and knees, they are rusty. Rusty being tan. Jeanette and I both got tan in the summer. But hers was deeper or more rusty looking.
As I said this is Jeanettes birth month. I hope she has a happy birthday but every day is just what we make it. She will always be my baby sister and I do miss my family some time, but not often enough to want to go back. I tell each of them when they call, I am not planning any more trips to Arkansas, "I have spent 39 years traveling and I can count on one hand the time you came to see me, so if you want to see me again it has to be at my house." Each say they understand, but no one comes. By each I mean Rosie and Roy, LOL and I have 4 more siblings, They just dont say. LOL

Crying over spilled milk

I was in first grade, I can still see this little girl hiding and crying because he ruined a food item, and made a huge, huge mess besides.
Someone had loaned us a cow to milk, I believe it was Tony Harper, He ran a service station where my brother worked and he raised cows. When a cow has a calf they wein as soon as possible so Tony loaned us the cow to milk. That way we could have fresh milk and butter.
My mama had a churn, The old kind with the dasher, The dasher had long ago been destroyed, so Daddy came up with his own, He took a piece of cedar, carved it out and attached it to a stick, aproximately 3 foot long. The stick went through the hole in the churn top, The top was then covered by a dish cloth, to keep milk from splashing out. Fresh milk was then put into the churn and each kid had a turn churning the milk into fresh butter. It was not a fun thing to do, You had to stand or sit or both, and push the dasher in and out of the milk. Mama always wanted us to work a little faster but be consistent.
I more than once had my turn, maybe only for a few minutes but enough I remember it like it was yesterday.
When my mama milked the cow, she would put the milk in a huge bowl to chill in the refrigerator. One day she put the bowl in, I am going to say it held at least 2 gallon, It was yellow, and part of a set of bowls she had, the largest yellow, then red, blue, green, maybe another color but you may have seen parts of the set before, In fact Sher I think you have part of Mamaws set.
So in the fridge the milk went with the door closed, But the fridge was pretty full, so Mama carefully put it in and pushed the door closed, It was a tight fit.
I opened the door and out came the entire bowl, milk, bowl and all.
I ran and hid under the table. I was covered by milk and I did not even drink milk. Mama came and got me out, she said it was all her fault, she should not have put the milk in that way.
I must have stood in amazement for a few seconds, because in my minds eye, I can still see the bowl crashing down.
That day, Mama lost her favorite big bowl, we lost at least 2 gallons of milk and a pound of butter.
But we all learned, open door slowly, don't stuff the fridge, and don't cry over spilled milk.