Home Burned

I have told you stories about all of the fun and closeness that we were blessed with but there were also times that we experienced tragedies. The one that I am speaking of now is when our home burned to the ground when we lived at Stamford. All of us were fairly young--(that was where I started first grade in school.)
I think that the street that we lived on was Orient St.--don't know why I would know that but I do. Daddy worked the night shift in the oil field, so it was Mom and her 6 kiddo's at home. In the wee morning hours Mom heard a loud noise like something breaking coming from the kitchen. The door was closed going into the kitchen but she knew the sound came from there and immediately realized she smelled smoke. She jumped up and began hollering for us to wake up and get outside. we did not tarry, by the sound of her voice we knew this was serious stuff and ran outside only to be gripped by fear as we could see flames shooting up in the night sky. One of our neighbors had already called the fire dept. and they arrived soon after we were outside. The firemen began to spray the fire, one of them rushed inside to check that everyone was out (guess he didn't see Mom standing by us.)We were all crying- guess being frightened etc. I was crying for my doll that I had left behind in my bed. It was about 2 foot tall and I really loved her and slept with her. The fireman came rushing back out carrying a quilt with the doll inside of it, He felt it on the bed and just reacted I suppose but I was so thrilled that I had her back--smoke stained and all!
That was all that was saved from the burning house that was our home. To this day I recall the horrible scene of watching it burn, than crumble to the ground. It certainly left me with a fear of fires.
The fire Marshall determined later that he felt the fire had been "started" underneath the kitchen. They never could prove who did it but Daddy always thought that it was probably two men that he had fired from the job a few days before. Both men left town and were never seen again so Daddy was probably right..
The beauty of a small town is that they all work together, the people helped clean the property and haul away the burned remains..
Mom always took things as they came and she kept her spirits high which made all of us feel much better and we didn't suffer any ill effects from the experience.
Before long we had a home again and it was just another memory --not one that we cared for but still a memory.. Life is composed with the good times and not so good times --- this incident was sure one of the not so good times!
Through the years I have often wondered if the men that struck the match to our home ever considered that there was a woman and children inside---guess that we will never know....

Just remembering...

Why on earth some things just seem to take root in your mind/memory is a mystery to me--you know its things that are not earth shaking or even worthy to remember. Guess for me they were meaningful because they stuck with me. Like the time that we lived in Old Glory, Cinda was very young, and one day after lunch Mom made us all lay down to rest for awhile--Well it so happens that a certain religious group had been "working" our little community--when two of them stepped upon our porch we could see them from the bed we were on. Mom whispers to us to be real quiet and they would think we weren't home. Sounded good to us, so we were quiet as a church mouse , well they just kept on knocking and knocking and all of a sudden little Cindas sweet voice yells out" Go away their not home." Mom didn't seem to mind all of the giggling that we couldn't hold back.
It was while we were living there that the new young minister of our church would come by to visit. Mom really thought he was a great minister--I was young enough that I don't remember if he was good at his job or not, but I do remember him and how much he seem to love people. He had never met Daddy and wanted to "bring him into the fold" I suppose. One day he came to visit just as Daddy was about to leave to go unload a truck load of hay at a nearby ranch. It was a very hot day and not a breath of breeze (Mom recalled that little detail) Jerome told Dad that he would like to visit with him and Dad tells him that he had to unload the hay before it got dark but if he wanted to go with him that he had a extra pair of gloves about his size. I really wonder who was the most shocked Mom or Dad when Jerome stood up and says that he would be happy to go help him. Bet my bottom dollar Dad thought that his offer would run him off.
Well, he did go help Dad and we were never told all that they talked about but a friendship that lasted many years was brought about as those two unloaded and stacked a load of hay.
Like I said isn't it strange the little non eventful things that we remember?

Where's My Supper??

One time Daddy had gone out of town to a horse sale and didn't think that he would be home until late that night. Well, Mom would just "get the itch" to cook a certain something and that day it was pies--coconut and pecan pies to be exact. She cooks a couple of each kind but she still wasn't ready to quit so she prepares a meatloaf and some sort of potatoes. Naturally, vegetables had to be cooked and before she knew it she had a big table of food with no one there to eat it. You know good and well that she didn't ponder what to do about it for very long--she began dividing all of the food up -- wrapping or bagging it. I can just see her doing that and humming or singing all of the while, feeling so good that someone will be happy to be getting their dinner that night..
Well, one of the lucky recipients was the couple that lived next to Mom & Dad--they both worked and always seem to love Mom's cooking....I don't remember who she said she took the rest of the food to -- doesn't matter because that isn't the story!!
The story I loved, was that Daddy got home much earlier than he had expected and was hungry as a bear---whoops--she has given EVERYTHING she cooked away!! It didn't discourage Daddy once he heard that their neighbors had his food on their table he said he would just walk over and see if they had any leftovers. I can imagine what Mom must have told him along with wanting to cook for him but she said that he wouldn't hear of it! So over to the neighbors he goes and as he gets to the porch he stumbles on their step, swearing over the near fall--she opens the door upon hearing the commotion and See's that its daddy than asked "Mr. Sherley are you drunk?
Mom said that Daddy sounded soooo insulted when he answered in a gruff sounding voice" he@@ no I'm not drunk, I'll have you to know I am as sober as a baptist preacher in a dry county!!"
Oh, how I love that story because I can still hear Mom laughing telling it and see the silly looking grin Daddy would have...
Oh yea, Evelyn did have plenty of food left and fixed Dad a plate. He use to joke that sometimes he had to eat at the neighbors because if he wasn't right there when Mom got it all cooked she would give it away.

Tribute to Mom for Mothers day

I know that I have written a lot about Mom and her cooking but to be perfectly honest , you can't think of her for long that her cooking doesn't enter into the picture. She was great at a lot of various things--had a beautiful singing voice--as Daddy use to say she could hit those high notes and rattle the rafters--just beautiful..Many women have said that she was the best Bible teacher they ever had, we know that she was a GREAT story teller and loved to pull jokes on people. In general the precious lady just loved life and seem to spread that joy and laughter to those all about her. Her hands were always open to share whatever she had with others and the same dear hands worked many hours for her family as well as others.
What I was thinking about was in her later years when she was in a wheelchair how she would go into the kitchen rolling up close to her cabinets and then would pull herself to stand and leaning one arm on the cabinet she would make and roll out pie crust, stir up a cake just whatever she wanted to cook. Her disability did not hinder her from doing what she loved--cooking and sharing with others. She would prepare meals- meatloaf- roast, vegetables and most of the time hot rolls or corn bread--whatever she thought sounded good she managed to cook. She would than prepare several plates of the food and wrap it in foil, load it in her little basket on the wheelchair and off she would go to the little elderly neighbors to deliver them some lunch.
Of course they LOVED it and loved her and I am certain her visit made their days brighter---without a doubt Moms day was brighter because she got to feed those poor little souls. It seems that one of her greatest talents and gifts was to minister to people not only through her Bible teachings but in her everyday life--serving others by her abundant acts of kindness and labor of love in cooking.
I know that the entire family thinks of her often or everyday as I do and each Mothers day I reflect back on the mother days I got to spend with her-- each and everyone is a precious memory. God blessed us with the very best Mom and hopefully each of us will be inspired to carry on her traditions with the same loving heart and open hands!!

Moms doughnuts--yum yum!

Today being such a cool day a memory came to mind of the COLD days of winter and the long walk that we had to make from where the school bus let us out to our home.
I say long walk and it certainly seemed it to us but I doubt that it was all that far---doesn't matter anyway because when the cold north wind is hitting you in the face and biting into your skin a half of a mile may as well be 2 miles. We would keep our heads down to try and shelter our face from the sting of the cold wind but you had to look up every now and then to stay on the road. It would have been great if there had been face mask like they have today.... but we were tough little critters!
What I was remembering was the many, many times that we would get to the house feeling frozen to the bone and upon opening the front door to be greeted with the sweet aroma of hot doughnuts with a cooked syrup glaze that smelled more like a candy store than glaze..Mom would come to the living room and help us out of our coats and most of the time hugging us or gave us a pat on the back. Amazing how such a small thing can warm you up so fast--guess feeling loved and cared for does that, huh?
She would put the platter of hot doughnuts on the table and had hot chocolate if we wanted that. It was good to be home..
I have carried on her tradition- on those cold blustery days of winter, if I know my grandson is coming over there will be hot doughnuts on his Memes table.

Daddy and the carnival

Every fall our school would have its annual festival--it was referred to as Halloween carnival in those days. Really a big deal for our little community and school. Each class elected their duke and duchess to be presented at the beginning of the festival that night, after that --the party was on! Goodness sakes, there was booths of all sorts- throwing darts, basketball free-throws,throwing balls to knock dolls over,bingo,etc.etc. the most popular place in the gym was always the cake walk- You know by now that the women in the community took great pride in the food that they prepared..Each Mom was asked to donate a cake for the walk, now you don't need to be a rocket scientist to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that only the best recipe in their cake file would make its way to the festival. Heck, most of them didn't even use recipes--like Mom it was a matter of just start pouring and dipping flour by the handfuls and adding a little of this and a little of that until she was pleased with the way "it looked" --into the oven it would go and bake until it smelled like it was done! There would be the most beautiful cakes on display, it was easy to see why the lines was always long with mouth watering people awaiting their turn to do the cake walk--each one hoping they would be the one standing on the lucky number when the walk ended.
There was always "apple dun kin" or some called it "bobbin for apples".This was THE PLACE for the children--man we did love it.A big trough would be full of water and apples would be floating in it. The rules were that you kept your hands behind your back and would lean down and try to pick up the apple with your mouth. Now our school was mixture of white , black and brown and here we were all opened mouth trying to catch apples as they floated around--you get my drift don't you?? Well, Daddy sure did --remember how he checked out the kitchens if possible to make sure they were clean--well not really but he was picky about clean cooking etc.
Before we returned to the carnival the next year, Daddy ask us if we plan to bob for apples----CERTAINLY- we are, he said "Well, I hope you know that every kid up there is "slobbering" in that water with their mouths gaped open and lick in' on those apples." It is SO true how well parents know their children.....not a one of us ever bobbed for apples again--in fact it sort of turned my stomach to watch it after that. The cake walk was THE PLACE to go in the years that followed--well- until he mentioned that we better watch out for ---ahhh, well you don't want to know about that!!!

Proper Raising

I guess that all of this talking about spring cleaning and Mom sewing new clothes for us--{funny that I just don't recall her sewing a lot for herself--I'm sure she did but seems she was always sewing for some of her children}ANYWAY I got to thinking about the way the ladies dressed--man oh man did we forever dress. Seems it took longer to put on all of the "underlings" than our dress etc. I don't know that they even make girdles anymore--I know they must but I haven't seen one since I burned mine!! No self respecting lady would leave the house without her girdle on ---or so our Mothers told us. Makes me think of a quote from one of my favorite movies (Steel Magnolias}
Dolly Parton and another lady were watching a woman dance and remarked that it appeared that she had 2 puppies underneath the back of her dress,to which Dolly replied that her thighs had not been without Lycra since she was a teenager. The other lady tells her " Honey' your momma raised you right."
It just tickles me pink to inform everyone that we were darn sure raised right, regardless of how uncomfortable we were--Oh, and the wonderful nylon hose with the seam in the back, that you HAD to have on straight with your seams perfect! Makes you wonder who on earth thought up this stuff to torture poor ladies and their teen daughters. Mom and my sisters didn't have the trouble getting straight seams--me, well that's another story--best I can think of is that the back of my hose resembled the snake river!!

Sewing and Washing

In the posting yesterday I mentioned that the women cooked the starch that they used on their doilies but mostly it was used for their clothing. I can still remember what the starch smelled like--I thought it smelled clean and fresh--no pine tree scent AT ALL!
After Moms spring cleaning was finished, she turned her attention to our clothing. As I have already told you the lady was a master with the sewing machine and she ABSOLUTELY loved to sew. She could take one of Jerry or Bevs dresses and remake it for me and by the time she was finished with it --you could not recognize it as one of their cast offs. She made all of Mick and Mikes shirts and all of the western clothing that Jerry wore in the barrel racing competition at the rodeos.. By the time she finished up her creations-washed- starched and ironed, brother you were dressed fine enough to meet the President--well, maybe we would just as soon meet the rodeo clown
Do you remember the metal pant stretchers that you would slide into the pant legs and hang on the clothesline to dry? You put the metal pant leg shaped frame into the leg with the front and back being the stretching point.. Naturally the levies were starched --by the time they had dried and you pulled the stretchers out -- you had a pair of levies that stood upright all by themselves--yep could have walked right off if only they had feet!!!
I used stretchers for many years after Freddie and I were married--didn't go so heavy on the starch though -- Mom would have so many pairs of jeans hanging on the line -Daddy's,Mick and Mike along with a few of the girls--then you would see these very full can-can petticoats spread in a circle on top of a sheet to dry ---looked like a band of gypsies setting up camp!
Guess that our washer, dryers, spray starch and steam irons do a pretty good job for us today but the good clean smell of the cooked starch is long gone.

Spring Cleaning

The warm days of Spring brings to mind the way that Mom (and many other women) would "open up the house" to air it out after being closed up over the winter months. One thing that I recall is that you did smell the lingering smoke smell of the wood stove that had kept us so toasty during those cold winter months.
She would raise the windows as high as they would go, assign each one of us a job to do,and brother we did "get after it!" The floors were swept. the walls and ceilings were swept--light fixtures were washed, curtains washed and of course all of the quilts and spreads were on the clothes line getting their share of fresh air and sunshine. Mom didn't actually mop the floors , she would use her mop bucket pouring all sorts of cleaning "goop" in the water and use her broom to scrub the floor, but the one thing that I remember most is that foul smelling pine sol!! Flat out stunk!!!
She would scrub all of the floors then go back over them with the rinse water--the wood and linoleum did shine!
In those days if you starched anything- you had to cook it, well she would cook a BIG batch of starch and believe me we starched every curtain, doily and even the pillow cases. All of this was done in one day -- by the time Daddy got home he walked into a sparkling house that reeked of a pine forest, but hey Mom must have thought that it smelled clean. She still used it in her mop water until the end.
Well sir, it is spring and I am "fixin" to start my spring cleaning opening up the house and airing out my quilts etc. but the one thing that I won't be doing is "scrubbin" the floors--think that mopping will do me just fine --really doubt that I will go over it with rinse water and I guarantee you there will be NO pine trees added to my water!!