Earliest Memory...

Have you ever been asked what is your earliest memory? Hmmm--makes you think, and to be honest the more time you take to think about it the further back you can get. I have read that age 3 tends to be the earliest most people can recall a memory.

I first came to this question when I was working on a Mother's Memory book for my daughter when she got married. It starts way back to my mother and works it's way to my daughter on her wedding day. It was in those pages that the question was posed; What is your earliest memory? Every time I was ready to write something down, I came up with a new one, so decided to spend a couple of days mulling it over. Finally I found that I could not go back any further; the memory that I came up with was of my Great Grandma.

Great Grandma lived across the field from us; you could see her house from our kitchen window and we had a trail through the hay field to her place. I remember walking in her house where a a trap door to the cellar lay directly in front of the door. It was covered with a throw rug and there was no way to get into the house without walking over this door. My memory is of fear; that I might fall down through that door into the dark cellar! I recall the wood burning kitchen stove facing me as I stood there, the kitchen table with the oil cloth covering, to the right of me and the parlor to the left. I remember the feeling of love when I was with her, and her sitting in a burgundy velvet upholstered, high back rocking chair, reaching out to me with a smile:)

I could go on to tell you more, but that would no longer be MY memory; it would be of stories I have heard from other family members.

As I wrote of this in my daughter's book, I had to go back and figure out how old I would have been at this time. Well, my Great Grandma died in 1956; I was 3 years old...

Wishing you moments of going back to your earliest memory.

Wordless Wednesday...well kinda:)

When we go "home" to see our families in northern Wisconsin, the grandkids love to go to Great Grandma's farm. One of the best parts is having Grandpa give them a ride on the tractor. Often times we will hitch up the wagon so we can all go on an adventure through the fields and down to the river.

This picture is of Gary, with our grandson Connor doing what they like doing best, riding on the tractor! Makes me anxious to go "home" again :)

Just a Little Mouse...

Mrs. Robin thinks she needs to make a nest in our garage, so we have no choice but to keep our garage doors shut...at least until she decides to give up and nest elsewhere. It reminded me though, of how many people are afraid of birds. I can't say I relate to that unless you were part of the movie The Birds, then I could understand! But in all fairness, I try to put myself in others' shoes, and I assume that they dislike birds in a way that I HATE mice. I do not use the word hate lightly...I have very strong feelings about those rodents.

I'm not sure where it comes from, but does it really matter? I can't imagine ever having any sort of counseling that would lead me to conquer my fear by catching one in my hands. YIKES!! Trust me, it will NEVER happen.

My husband's Aunt Maryann who was a rather robust, full figured lady, once had an experience with a mouse that caused me to tremble. (Now you may wonder why I added a description of her womanly figure...I think it will help you to visualize the story better as I continue. )

It was winter and she was outside when a mouse happened to run across the snow; her dog started to chase it around. Suddenly the mouse headed right at her and went scurrying to safety up the pant leg of her polyester slacks! Oh my gosh-can you imagine? She tried shaking her leg but to no avail did that mouse want to leave the safety and warmth of her thigh. Finally in desperation, right there in the middle of the yard, in broad daylight and freezing temperatures, she dropped her pants! Thank heavens she lived out in the country and off the main road!

Evidently that was enough to send the little mouse out of his protective shelter never to be seen again. I wonder who was more traumatized, Aunt Maryann or the mouse? She laughed and laughed when she told us that story so I tend to think the mouse had to be more frightened than her :)


While I have had experiences with mice, I can't claim to have had any type of physical contact with one as Aunt Maryann did. The Disney mice are adorable as are the other cartoon ones that are dressed in cute little clothes and hats; but that is about as close as I will ever get to touching one; trust me!

So, I truly do have empathy for anyone who has issues with any of God's little creatures that he has created. May they stay wild, free, amongst their own kind- and far away from me.

If You Can't Laugh At Yourself...

I wanted to video tape my grandson's spring concert the other night but my husband was at a meeting and he is the guy who always does the taping. In the past I had been able to fill in when necessary, but that camera died of old age--years of taping volleyball games, track meets, softball games, concerts, not to mention graduations and holidays. Wow! just writing about it makes me feel tired, no wonder it finally died!

With the new smaller camera in hand, Gary showed me how to turn it on, and then he talked me through it step by step. OK, that looked easy enough; I thought I could handle that.

The 5th grade choir starts to sing and I am ready. First-turn on the power button, next open the view finder, hmmm why can't I see a picture? Finally my daughter-in-law notices that I forgot to take off the lens cover. She's a photographer so is smarter than I am on this stuff-not that I suppose you need to be a genius to figure that out,(what does that say about me?)

Hey! there's the choir--hurray! OK, click the button to record--what the heck-- it's just flashing... Click, click, click,click click--still no recording going on--this isn't what happened at home when Gary showed me???

Finally my son takes it, and sees that the power button wasn't clicked on the right setting- I was taking pictures on the video camera. Are you kidding? What kinda video camera takes pictures?? Ugggh~

OK, now we are recording, but gee whiz where in the heck is my grandson? I see the ceiling, the floor..Oh there he is,- relief,- They are still singing. This is NOT as easy as it looks but I am determined.

The rest of the concert went fine, and at one point my daughter-in-law takes the camera to give me a break, and with calm steady hands records the rest for me. I am so impressed:)

My son remarks that he can't wait to see what my part looks like after observing me moving the camera up, down and all over the place...
My response, "Well, if nothing else, we will certainly have a good laugh!"

Wishing you much laughter in your moments of challenge:)

Building Castles

I often wonder what makes some people positive and others negative? Children born of the same parents can have such different outlooks on things. Isn't that interesting?

I think it comes down to choices. You can either take your experiences in life and use them to make things better, or you can use them to drag you down.

I choose to find the good, because face it, I would rather be happy than sad; but most importantly, that is where my faith leads me.

Thoreau wrote:

"If you build castles in the air your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.

Now, put the foundations under them.

History can be messy and painful, but it is not our destruction; if we are lucky it is our foundation.

You just have to work your way through the mess to find what matters; to find the pieces of your past you still want to carry with you.

And sometime, if you have just the right view and just the right castle, you can build the foundation for your new history... All by yourself."

I write this to all of you who are struggling with something right now. I believe you can build a new castle with a foundation that will lead to a positive outlook on life.

It truly is an adventure! :)

"Just Grandma..."

I am curious- what names do you and/or your children have for the grandparents in your life?

Seems as though every family has a fun way of differentiating which grandparents they are referring to.

When I was growing up we called my Dad's parents,"Grandma and Grandpa on the Farm" and my Mom's parents were, "Grandpa and Grandma in Town!" That was simple as that is where they lived!

When we became grandparents for the first time there was an actual discussion on what would we liked to be called? One suggestion was that we use our name, such as "Grandma Peggy?" Somehow that wasn't comfortable for me, so I asked if I could simply be called just Grandma and the other grandma could have her name attached. That seemed agreeable to everyone:)

Once Billy started talking, and he needed to tell someone about me, he would lovingly and without hesitation refer to me as, "Just Grandma!" We got such a kick out of that as obviously he was picking up on what his parents were saying when they needed to refer to us, instead of the grandparents on the other side of the family!

Yesterday I spent the day with my daughter and her kids. I rode with her to pick up 5 year old Connor from preschool. He ran out to the car along side of one of his little friends. As he jumped into my arms, I introduced myself to his friend saying, "Hi, I'm Connor's Grandma!" You could tell that Connor was very excited to have me there; he proudly and loudly yelled, "Her name is Just Grandma!:)" Now how can you not laugh at that?

Connor calls his other grandparents "Kitty Grandma and Grandpa," because guess what... they have cats:) You just have to appreciate the principles of association!


Our other grandson, Tate, who lives out of state, refers to us as "Grandma and Grandpa in The Woods," which we love; as yes, we DO live in the woods:) His other grandparents are called "Grandma and Grandpa Chris." because Uncle Chris was in high school and naturally living at home with them when Tate was born, so that's how he relates to them!

I have an adult friend who called her grandparents "Jing-Jing and Bah," and I use to wonder how she explained that to teachers etc... when talking about them? Interesting...

Life is full of fun sayings, expressions and happenings, don't you just love it?
Have a great day:)

"Once Upon a Time..." Part 3 And They Lived...

Thanks to those who have shared how they met their spouse/companion--Fun to read:)
In my last episode I was determined that it was time to meet this guy...

Christmas break was over and I was excited to get back to school to be with all my friends. My decision to meet "this guy" was made; I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it. I had heard that there were a number of girls interested in him but evidently he was so shy that nothing ever became of it. I took that as encouraging news--he was eligible! ~Obviously I saw the glass half full rather than half empty:)

Everyday, my friend Alice and I had to walk past "his" locker on our way to English class.~Alright we didn't HAVE to, but...you know.~ We were very discrete in checking him out as he was getting his books from his locker.
One day posters were up in the school that announced a "Girl Ask Boy" dance. This was my chance; I was going to ask him. My plan was to talk to him between classes on my way to English class. Everyday for a week I was ready to do it, but ugggh, I just couldn't! How do you talk to someone who doesn't even know you exist? My friend Alice, was getting tired of my aborted plans each day.
Then it happened...we were rushing past him at his locker when Alice suddenly said, "Just ask him!" and with those words,she gave me a shove, pushing me right into him!! The poor guy didn't know what hit him--literally!
Totally embarrassed and blushing from head to toe,I managed to look up at him and mumble something to the effect of, "Would you like to go to the dance with me?"

There was this pause as he regained his balance, and then he spoke...("This guy" actually had a voice-)saying,
"I heard you were going to ask...yes, I would like to go with you."
Did he say "yes?" In a very hurried way I said, "Thank you" and turned and walked a way. (Well, actually I kinda ran a way.) When I got to my classroom I was flushed, flustered and screeching over and over to Alice that he said yes!! My English teacher approached me with great concern asking me if I was OK? When I explained that I was, he obviously didn't believe me and sent me to the bathroom to calm down and wash my face! ~Ahh, that makes me really laugh now, being young is such an emotional time, isn't it?~



Well, I could go on and on about our high school years; much of it spent talking by the locker, as you can see from the photo, but I guess it is only interesting to me. The long and the short of it is that our high school years were a wonderful adventure. We got married during our college years and had five great kids. It has now been 43 years since I saw him for the first time. We will celebrate our 38th anniversary this year.
So yes, I do believe in fairy tales as our "Once upon a time...has so far turned into a "Happily ever after..."
~By the way, his name is Gary.~