When Mom made up her mind about something-well, that was exactly what it was--made up and you best not even THINK that you could change it. If you did not agree with her --it became her mission in life ,so to speak to convince you otherwise. She was very successful I can guarantee you!
One year she got to thinking about it being their 45th wedding anniversary and she wanted to have a party--a nice party-invite everyone--kinfolks,church friends,old friends etc. etc.So she mentions it to Bev and Cinda one day and Bev told her that she thought that you did all of that on the 40th- not the 45th--and Cinda tells her that we could throw a big 50th party for them--(Bev said she really thought that was a good idea as it would take us that long to address all of the invitations)--I thought that was priceless and we laughed & laughed as sisters will do when sharing our stories about things.
Mom was not to be swayed though, she tells us that she was afraid with her health being as it was that she would not live until the 5oth--WELL NOW, that put a whole different light on the subject!!! What kind of daughters would we be and how could we live with ourselves if that were to be true. SO we got busy planning a party but since Mom had already made out her list -addresses and all,even told us where the invitations could be purchased that she liked--she had purchased the material for her a new dress and picked out the week-end she wanted to have this shindig--heck, we were well on our way-- there wasn't a lot for us to do..Hardily!! We threw it into high gear though and divided up the responsibilities between us - our one intent was to make the party as pretty and nice as we possibly could in honor of the many years our sweet Mom and Dad had shared.
We shared many a smile listening to Mom say some of the things that she did as the big day approached--she was so cute about it- like a bride. You have got to remember that she didn't have a wedding as such- just got married at the justice of peace home. My mother-in-law loaned us her beautiful Irish lace cloth for the table and we used all of my silver to serve with--the other daughters took care of mailing everything, napkins and getting the flower arrangements and Mom's corsage. I had taken some cake decorating classes and decided that I wanted to do their cake instead of ordering one and that was exactly what I did- a 5 layers stacked cake with the column dividers and the precious cowboy and bride on top, trimmed with roses and scalloped border...a designer cake it was not but made with love it was..
The big day arrived and people were arriving from one end of the State to the other and Mom was having the time of her life--daddy on the other hand looked like he was at a funeral--said that he da@@ sure hoped that was the last of the anniversary parties! Just wasn't his thing but I think that he enjoyed it more than he let on.
My sisters and I shared alot of FAST work and many phone calls to put the celebration together in the short time that we had--but we pulled it all together and it was very pretty --especially the aging bride!! The aging groom wasn't too shabby either! We were very happy that we had shared in this blessing as Mom and Dad never had their 5oth--Daddy passed away after having shared 48 years of marriage with Mom.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Daddy
Today being Fathers Day, I have thought of Daddy many times and as always give thanks that I was blessed with such a loving man for a Dad. As I shared with you in a past post, daddy never knew his Mom as he was a baby when she died and his Dad died when he was 12 or 13yrs old so he really missed out on being brought up with a family environment. Grandpa Sherley was a wonderful Christian Dad to him and I am certain that the short time that Daddy had with him instilled in him many of the attributes that Daddy had-- family was so important to him and everyone of us KNEW that he loved us very much and was proud of each of us.
Dad always had many friends and as Mickey and Mike grew older their friends accepted Daddy as their friend as well. One of these friends began to call Daddy "Coon" and it stuck!! That is about the only name many of the friends would call him.
If ever a cowboy was born to this earth --he was the one. I am so thankful that he fathered two sons that followed in his footsteps with their love and skills in riding--Dad enjoyed watching them and sharing in the fun of rodeos.
I was so touched by the many friends that came to see Dad while he was in the hospital just shortly before his death--a lot of them were his longtime friends and many were the younger friends of his sons. They all had one thing in common -- they loved the man that they were visiting.
I think that Dads funeral service spoke volumes about the kind of man and friend that he was ---the church was so full that people were standing and many had to stand outside. Yep, I am a little prejudice but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when it came to Dads--we had the BEST!!
Dad always had many friends and as Mickey and Mike grew older their friends accepted Daddy as their friend as well. One of these friends began to call Daddy "Coon" and it stuck!! That is about the only name many of the friends would call him.
If ever a cowboy was born to this earth --he was the one. I am so thankful that he fathered two sons that followed in his footsteps with their love and skills in riding--Dad enjoyed watching them and sharing in the fun of rodeos.
I was so touched by the many friends that came to see Dad while he was in the hospital just shortly before his death--a lot of them were his longtime friends and many were the younger friends of his sons. They all had one thing in common -- they loved the man that they were visiting.
I think that Dads funeral service spoke volumes about the kind of man and friend that he was ---the church was so full that people were standing and many had to stand outside. Yep, I am a little prejudice but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when it came to Dads--we had the BEST!!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
House shoes
I had to buy me a new pair of house slippers the other day and for some strange reason it got me to remembering my first pair of house shoes--they were made from pretty pink wash clothes...yep, you heard right wash clothes,except we called them wash rags.
Two elderly ladies lived next door to my Aunt Dodie and I LOVED to go visit them whenever we would go to Aunt Dodies house. It didn't matter that I was 5 or 6 years old and they were in their sixty and seventies--heck, I could talk to ALL ages. One of my visits I admired the cute house shoes that Mrs. Carr had on and she informed me that she had sewed them from wash rags.. It didn't take much to amaze me back in those days and I WAS amazed--I had to have a pair. She tells me she would get the 2 wash rags and my next visit we would make a pair
Time does creep by when you are so anxious for something, I thought that we would NEVER go to visit Aunt Dodie--I was "bitin at the bit" to get my pretty house shoes. Well, FINALLY we go to visit and I was out of the car and rushing over to the Carrs house faster than you could say "squat." True to her word she had bought me the 2 wash rags in pink. I recall telling her from the start that I liked red but I was confident that being old she couldn't tell pink from red. She pulled a stool up for me to watch her and to help her make them--she made one of them and had me to do the other--talk about excited- now this little gal was on cloud nine.
That next week I got into Mothers wash rags and my mission was to see that everyone in my family had some wash rag house shoes--I did a decent job of making them too!! Guess it was a good thing that my stitches were rather long because I used most of the wash rags and if anyone needed a wash rag they had pull the stitches out of their house shoes and use my wonderful creation to bath with.
Just a note on the expression of wash rags instead of wash cloth--in the old days they did not have wash clothes as we know them but would use a rag hence the expression wash rag. The same goes for dish rag, which I heard all of my life
Now doesn't it make your day to know this "stuff?' Heck, if you hang around me I 'll teach you all sorts of things about the "finer" side of life----
Two elderly ladies lived next door to my Aunt Dodie and I LOVED to go visit them whenever we would go to Aunt Dodies house. It didn't matter that I was 5 or 6 years old and they were in their sixty and seventies--heck, I could talk to ALL ages. One of my visits I admired the cute house shoes that Mrs. Carr had on and she informed me that she had sewed them from wash rags.. It didn't take much to amaze me back in those days and I WAS amazed--I had to have a pair. She tells me she would get the 2 wash rags and my next visit we would make a pair
Time does creep by when you are so anxious for something, I thought that we would NEVER go to visit Aunt Dodie--I was "bitin at the bit" to get my pretty house shoes. Well, FINALLY we go to visit and I was out of the car and rushing over to the Carrs house faster than you could say "squat." True to her word she had bought me the 2 wash rags in pink. I recall telling her from the start that I liked red but I was confident that being old she couldn't tell pink from red. She pulled a stool up for me to watch her and to help her make them--she made one of them and had me to do the other--talk about excited- now this little gal was on cloud nine.
That next week I got into Mothers wash rags and my mission was to see that everyone in my family had some wash rag house shoes--I did a decent job of making them too!! Guess it was a good thing that my stitches were rather long because I used most of the wash rags and if anyone needed a wash rag they had pull the stitches out of their house shoes and use my wonderful creation to bath with.
Just a note on the expression of wash rags instead of wash cloth--in the old days they did not have wash clothes as we know them but would use a rag hence the expression wash rag. The same goes for dish rag, which I heard all of my life
Now doesn't it make your day to know this "stuff?' Heck, if you hang around me I 'll teach you all sorts of things about the "finer" side of life----
Friday, June 11, 2010
Quilt Show
The local "yokels" are having their annual quilt show this week-end, being the quilt lover that I am - we arrived about 30 minutes after they had opened the doors. There were quilts of all themes and some of the most beautiful fabrics were used in the quilts. I guess that hand quilting is a thing of the past as I did not see ONE quilt that was hand quilted. I know that many women just don't like to spend the many. many hours that is required in hand quilting--not to mention they could piece several quilts in the time that it takes to "quilt out" just one. The machine quilting arm is really all they are using. The machine is pretty expensive so most just pay someone to quilt out their quilt for them.
As I admired the many works of art that the women had invested their time into sewing, I couldn't help but to compare the quilts of today with the quilts of old days. Most all of the old quilts were actually old from the start because the fabric that was used had been a piece of clothing that was too worn to be used any longer or maybe it was torn--ANYWAY, the women would cut the salvageable fabric into the blocks or whatever pattern she was making her quilt block .. As I have stated in the past post, the old feed sacks & flour sacks etc. were a very big hit with the women because of the pretty bright colors and now they could actually make a NEW quilt--my oh my how times have changed---In the old days the quilts were made out of necessity for warmth on the cold winter nights and they would also lay them on the floors to make a "pallet" for someone--usually a child--to sleep on. Now the quilts may have several hundred dollars invested into the making of the quilt and when completed many use them as a bed cover but most seem to just use them for decoration---which is great from my point of view anyway that they want to use them is fine...I am just grateful that the appreciation of quilts and their history is still appreciated.
As I admired the many works of art that the women had invested their time into sewing, I couldn't help but to compare the quilts of today with the quilts of old days. Most all of the old quilts were actually old from the start because the fabric that was used had been a piece of clothing that was too worn to be used any longer or maybe it was torn--ANYWAY, the women would cut the salvageable fabric into the blocks or whatever pattern she was making her quilt block .. As I have stated in the past post, the old feed sacks & flour sacks etc. were a very big hit with the women because of the pretty bright colors and now they could actually make a NEW quilt--my oh my how times have changed---In the old days the quilts were made out of necessity for warmth on the cold winter nights and they would also lay them on the floors to make a "pallet" for someone--usually a child--to sleep on. Now the quilts may have several hundred dollars invested into the making of the quilt and when completed many use them as a bed cover but most seem to just use them for decoration---which is great from my point of view anyway that they want to use them is fine...I am just grateful that the appreciation of quilts and their history is still appreciated.
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