SHIPWRECKED IN TEXAS

Well, not exactly. But we were becalmed, shut down, unable to move as we were on a boat ride about 13 miles from the lakehouse. In the wavy sea the boat was finally tossed to the sea wall and there we stayed. We had had an offer from four men in a boat to help us, but Bob did not want to impose on them to bring us all the way home as they were headed in the opposite direction so he told them that his neighbor was on the way to tow us home.

Great neighbors, they, for true to their word they came and towed us slowly home. I was happy that I had already driven the boat. I have a Bayliner of my own but for various reasons have not been able to use it for two years so that was a real treat for me. Here is a picture of our triumphant return!


It is lovely returning to summer from the North . The trees here are just beginning to turn and of course with the background of the Live Oaks it is even more impressive. Haven't tried swimming yet but we have only been here a day. Got my worms all ready to go and even bought Julie a scaler so she can clean any fish I catch. Yeah, you read that right. Isn't she the greatest tho? (Now that I have said that she will be compelled to do so, won't she?)

Actually we did some fishing this afternoon. Julie caught a lovely bass and then I caught a bluegill and an ugly catfish which she got off my hook. I also had a carp hit my line and he broke it. And she did clean the bass and the bluegill and we already ate them.


Here are some pictures of Julie's Bougainvillea on the pier. They really are spectacular and she has some on the porch as well.


By the way, Wanda, I noticed this at Julie's house in town the other day--another heart!




We couldn't get the Packer game on Texas television so watching the Packers/Vikings game on the computer. Ain't technology grand?

Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

THE REAL DEPRESSION OF THE 30's

At a dinner with a program series that I belong to at our local museum the other night, the theme was The Great Depresssion of the the 1930's. After a dinner of delicious tho very unpretentious stew and jello, we assembled in the small auditorium for a program by the Heritage Singers with songs and little vignettes about the Great Depression.

They had dialogue and songs like, "Brother, can you spare a dime," the Veteran's March on Washington because they never got paid and run out of town by General MacArthur and his troops no less. The poor lives they lived at home and school, the Hooverville "towns," the election of FDR and pretty much covered the whole period showing that they endured. But the people who lived through it had some fun doing it singing songs and dancing and in the coming of radio shows like Amos and Andy and some movies if they could scrape up the nickel to go.

Many of you have stated in your comments that you like hearing about the "old days" from someone who was there and that is why I am telling you about a little of what I remember of the depression years.

I really could enjoy relating to some of these things as I remembered living through some of them. I remember my dad hated FDR with a passion as all good Republicans did and how he laughed at Amos and Andy. I remember how he would polish our shoes every Saturday night and glue on those rubber soles and heels to keep us going another week.

This is a picture of either my kindergarten class or my first grade. From the left side front row, I am the girl (circle on left) with the flimsy skirt and an old sweater at the end of the front row. It might interest some of you to know that actress Barbara Hale was also in that class down the row from me with the envied Shirley Temple curls (on the right in other object). She later was Della Street on all the Perry Mason shows.

I remember in second grade, when we all went to the lavatory at one time--girls and boys separately, of course. There were no doors on the individual booths. Why, I don't know but I had come to school that day wearing an old pair of panties with the elastic all stretched out and I had apparently taken a safety pin and pinned it together to stay on. Well, it broke. I didn't know what to do. I had a man teacher and so I just stayed in the bathroom after everyone else left. A couple of kids were sent in to tell me to come back to the room but I was too embarrassed to tell them my problem. Finally, a woman teacher came in, saw the problem, got me another safety pin and I could go back to class.

I remember my dad going down to the relief center to get a basket of food for people in the congregation who were too proud to go get it themselves and he delivered it to them and kept many a member from starving.

Later on when times got a little better, I am including a picture of my best friend and I with our new Shirley Temple hats which we got for Easter. Everyone had one and we prized them highly. I'm the one on the left. I was probably about 9.

Many of you may have members of your family out of work or be out of work yourself, but you can be glad things are not as bad as they were then. Unemployment insurance helps and so do so many agencies that give food and clothing and yet the number of people who are homeless is large and many children go to bed hungry. So maybe we don't have it so bad.

WORRY----WHO ME?

Click on link to see the Ink Spots sing "Do I Worry?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0A87WKhRoM


I have always read and heard that the things you worry about almost never happen. So I figured early on in life that yep that seems the way to go and so I took up worrying. I am about the best worrier you will ever find in this life. Like having my tooth pulled recently, for instance. I worried and worried and it was postponed so many times and then the day finally came . I went in and bravely stood at the counter and said “I am here to have my wisdom tooth pulled.”

It was a piece of cake. He put in the IV and I was talking to him and then while I am looking at him he says,” You’re done. The tooth is out.” At least that is the way it seemed to me. I could not believe that any time had elapsed, that I was not conscious, and did not see or feel anything. But I’ll take it. Believe me. What a load off my shoulders! I really am a wimp. So many of us worry about things beginning when we are very young and all through life.

I remember when son No. 2 was a little boy and was so obsessed with the idea that there were elephants under his bed. We had been planning a trip to visit my brother in Kansas City . They have a great zoo and we thought it might be a good idea to show Jimmy what an elephant looked like and that it could not possibly get under his bed. I shall never forget the look on Jimmy’s face when he saw these huge monsters of the wild. A rare moment.

When we are young we worry about such little things as a zit on the end of our nose before the big dance. Or that Shirley has bigger boobs than I have and the boys will like her and not me. We worry about tests we have to take and we used to worry about those new-fangled home permanents that they would turn our hair green or make it all fall out or something. (Bet most of you don't even know about those!)

Do you think these jeans fit my butt tight enough? Do you think I will get a bid to the Prom? Will my dinner turn out right and will my guests like it?

I don’t know if anyone ever beats the habit. There is always this little nag that if I don’t worry, it will happen. I think we all worry ---some more than others. Is it worth it? Causes a lot of wear and tear on the psyche. But if it prevents catastrophes from happening I’m all for it.



{Be sure to listen to the Inkspots ----from the 40's I think. My brother loved them.
Click back to the post after you are done listening.)

DENTISTS--HATE 'EM BUT NEED 'EM

Only five days left before the thing I have been dreading for so long will transpire. I have to have a big ole wisdom tooth pulled! About 57 years ago, Bill had a mavelous dentist that he had gone to almost his whole life. He even had his office on one side of his house in Bill's neighborhood. He filled this tooth for me then and it has lasted this long.



I had always hated dentists from the time when I was a teenager and went to a dentist that should not even have had a license. In those days, most dentist's offices were on the second floor above a store in the downtown area. I shall never forget whenever I had an appointment, I would have to stop at the gas station john and then at the grocery store john and then at the library john before I reached that long stairway that went up to hell. He would call you in and sit you in the chair and start drilling. Yeah, you read right. I think he was the firstproponent of the phrase,"drill Baby drill" and a relative of Sarah Palin. No novocaine, nothing. and he would drill first one and then another and if you made a noise in pain he merely turned the radio up louder. You were done in 15 minutes. I guess he was the only dentist my parents could afford.



After Bill and I were married and I met his dentist. I was always so nervous and one day this man stopped and stood in front of me and said, "I will try my best not to hurt you. I worry about hurting my patient so instead of worrying coming here, just remember I am afraid of hurting you." And he was so gentle and kept asking if I was doing all right and alleviated my fears.



Getting back to this wisdom tooth, this wonderful dentist was drilling a cavity in this wisdom tooth and it was deep and he wondered if the filling he put in would last even a day or a week or just how long. Well, as I mentioned, that was a long time ago and it has been fine ever since. But I was eating something one day last Spring and the tooth broke in half. My present dentist said it would not be feasible to put a crown on it and that it should be pulled.



This is my third attempt to get it done. I think the first time was postponed because I could not sit when I broke my tailbone. The second was postponed for it was scheduled the day Bill died. And so the time has come to face it finally and I am not looking forward to it at all. Although it has not pained me, it has worn down even more and I know I have to do it.



I AM A BIG SISSY AND I KNOW IT AND I WISH FRIDAY WERE OVER. HOPE I DON'T GET A DRY SOCKET OR SOMETHING ELSE.

GERIATRIC MAIL

Apparently a lot of people read the Obituary Column in the paper. I am getting mail that I never thought I would ever receive. Course my children say that I live in a constant state of denial--the" of course, this stuff will never happen to me", sort of thing.

People are sending me material on hearing aids of all kinds. "Do your children think you have the TV on too loud?" and "do you miss part of the conversations going on around you when you are out?"Come in for a free examination or be a part of a study we are doing on just a select number of people" Well, I like to hear a concert or watch a movie with beautiful classical music loud enough to feel like I am in the audience.

Like tonight when I watched a movie called THE TURNING POINT, a lovely ballet movie made in l977, and starring Baryshnikov and Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft. It was just like being there in person and from my easy chair at that. And my children do think I have the TV on much too loud. I don't understand why. Just fine for me. Thank goodness I was home alone.

Wouldn't you love a chair lift up those stairs like Laura "because Laura loves this house? And, no, because climbing the stairs is the best exercise I get every day.

Wigs I don't need and I do think it is a little too late to buy into an annuity that will pay out great sums in 20 years. And heaven knows I don't need any sexual disfunction helpers. Viagara can keep their coupons for the right sex at least!!!!

But the ones that really interest me are the ads for the mechanized scooters. I saw some people with those at the rest home Bill was in. I wonder how fast they can go and do you suppose they give speeding tickets to drivers of those? I can't risk getting anymore tickets.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIENDS

Next to the bestest thing in my life, which was going away to college, was going to Church Camp, Once a year this great event occurred in my life when I was but a wee teenager. It lasted for a whole week and was the most fun. I even had my first boyfriend there. He was a missionary doctor's son and had lived in China most of his life. Kind of cute. huh?

We stayed in a sort of dormitory, usually with your own group from your own church and sometimes others, as there were four two decker double beds in each room. At eight every morning we got up and gathered at the back balcony to brush our teeth and spit over the railing. (Not a pretty picture, huh?) After washing and dressing, we met by the flagpole for morning devotions (which were very short) and then to the dining hall for breakfast.

Then we had some time to go back and make up our beds and then we went to our first Bible lesson of the day. That usually lasted until 11 and we were free until the evening service. We could go swimming, boating-one boat for all-(this is important as you will see later) or try out our dating skills with the opposite sex, Lunch at 12. Afternoons were spent with baseball games, swimming and boating, and just hanging out. Then we had dinner and the evening service.

The Ironwood group was always noted for being trouble makers and we usually got into trouble in the dorm for short sheeting other groups , putting dead animals in their beds, talking and not going to sleep when we were supposed to. One night the pastor who was the head executive of the camp that year came to our room and reamed us out royally And the room got very quiet. Then, as an afterthought, he left with a mighty “AND MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU!” This engendered a torrent of giggles throughout the whole dorm which irritated the poor man even more. He added a few choice words and then left helpless to stop the pandemonium.

The boat was always in demand and so one day I pretended I had a headache and asked my mother (yes, she was there that year with my dad) who stayed in the executive house if I could stay in her room during the morning session and have Donna, my friend stay with me so I wouldn’t be all alone. I forgot to mention that the oars were always kept in the executive house in the front office. Do you see where this is going? We hid the oars under my mom and dad’s bed and when it was time for lunch we went to the dining hall as usual and took our time eating. We had two guys lined up to go with us. Many hurried through the meal to get to the oars first for the boat and we ate very leisurely listening to them looking all over hell and gone for them knowing they were safe and sound right under my mother’s bed.

Well, we crept down to the lake after the to-do had subsided and got into the boat and took off. We were enjoying our boat ride very much when it seemed that all of a sudden a big wind came up and a big storm was brewing. The boat was small and not suited to be on a big lake in bad weather. Both of the two guys rowed and decided to head for the island as we were closer to it than back to camp. After a lot of strenuous rowing with we girls praying and scared to death, we made it to the island. We were stranded there all day. There was a transient camp on the lake and some men came and wanted to help us but we were afraid of them and stayed away from them.

Finally, a large sheriff’s boat came with my father in it and we were rescued and brought back to camp. The whole camp was on the dock waiting for us and my mom cried she had been so worried. , Strangely enough, we were not punished in any way. They figured the scare we had of almost drowning and being stranded on the island all day was enough punishment, I guess.

The night we had baked beans for supper, teens made the usual jokes about the flatulescence which occurs and this old grizzled white haired guest preacher took offense at it. At the service that night he held his big old Bible over his heart as he always did and castigated all of us for acting that way at dinner. He said he could not preach to people who had sinned so terribly and that we had to come up to the front and apologize to all the directors of the camp one by one. My mom had to go up there for goodness sake and when I came to my dad (who was one of the directors) he could not look at me nor I at him because we both knew we would burst out laughing.

Church camp was a lot of fun. Those were the days, my friends.

TRUST ME

Trust me.


Yeah, right. Whenever anyone says that to me I run the other way. And I bet most of you do too. It is a fact of life that trust is something precious to all of us and affects us in almost all aspects of our lives.


The idea of trust was brought home to me vividly by the many wild birds in our backyard. Jim was out of town for a week and filled up the feeder as much as he could before he left, but it didn't last and it was empty after the fourth day. I could not reach it to fill it up. The beautiful cardinal mom and pop and the red-polled sparrows and the chickadees and all the beautiful birds that came every day disappeared. After three days Jim returned and filled the feeder up to the top and do you know---none have as of yet returned and it has been almost a week.Their trust that the food that sustained them would be there every day was gone.

Trust is a big topic because it is so universal. Whom do you trust? I trusted my husband implicitly and was not betrayed. Marriage is one of the most important areas of our life where we hope to put our trust.

We trust our dentists to numb up the spot to fix our cavities and the doctor to give the right diagnosis to make us well. We trust the food we eat to be healthful (not always so) and that the morning will follow the night. We trust the mechanic to fix our car, tho whenever they rotate the tires I worry about whether they have tightened the lugs enough so the wheel will not come off in the middle of my streaking down the highway. (that's right, I no longer streak until my tickets are over).lol But the point is we do trust them to fix our car so it is safe to drive.

We have to trust some things whether we want to or not. You can't go through life expecting to get screwed all the time. (Just some of the time:}) And it is important to be trustworthy. To teach one's children that you can trust them and the dog so he won't poop in the house.

And most of all, it is important to have a higher being that you can trust who will never fail you.
Trust or faith will carry you through anything. And that is the hardest trust of all for some of us to maintain--the biggest sin--to not have enough trust.