Distant Memories from the Heart

There are times when

the smallest thing

can trigger

a memory..

A small picture

shared across the internet

highway...

Memories from far away

began

pouring in

somewhat akin to

an old levee

breaking during a

hurricane.

A small house,

two bedrooms,

living room,

and kitchen.

Two porches,

the front equipped

with straight backed chairs

and swing,

the screened in side porch...

always

a nursery with a

cardboard box for layette

sporting the newest

litter of kittens.

This little house

filled with love

was the home of my

grandparents.

In a blue two toned

Belair Chevy,

made somewhere around

1957,

we would come riding up...

Cats would fill the yard,

and way back when there

might have been some chickens

and Ginny fowl...

We would go in and see

Mam-maw sitting in her chair,

it was a very big chair

where she always was...

since the incidence of

"the stroke"

Just past her was the

entrance to the

dinning room/kitchen.

Immediately to the left

stood an old very tall

refrigerator

that always wore a

box of Pap-paws

favorite chocolate drops

and a box of porous

peppermint sticks

for its crown.

Why was the peppermint

porous?

You might ask...

Pap-paw showed me how

to take an orange,

roll it under your hand on the

table till it was

"somewhat" soft...

He then would cut a hole in

the top

and let me pick out a

peppermint stick

to thrust

through the hole ,deep

into the juices of that

orange...

OH, a sweet little piece

of heaven!

Orange juice through a

peppermint straw.

A black and white t.v.

sat on the far end of the

table...

and on occasions when our

visit was extended into

the evening...

We would watch

"Gunsmoke" or "Bonanza"

and if our luck was real good

Pap-paw would cook

"Bucket Steak"

It was somewhat like

cube steak...

but, until this day I have not

found Anything that was just

like Pap-paws bucket steak.

Yuummmm.

Upon our arrival Mam-maw

,in her big chair,

would have me brush her

hair.

Was it that I would do it for

extended periods of time

and it felt good

or was it a way to corral

and keep me quiet?

After our beauty sessions

I would always be instructed

to venture

on out to the side porch

for an inspection of the

newest

brood of kittens.

On a warm summers day

Daddy and I would walk to

the well house...

not far from the front porch

for , as Daddy would say

"The best tasting water in

the world."

When we returned to the

porch Pap-paw would

be sitting

either in a straight backed

wooden chair,

leaned on the back two legs

against the house

(which amazed me...

I had the hardest time

imitating this position...

my center of balance never

being quite right!)

or on the swing with one leg

out stretched across it..

either way he always had his

fly flip in hand...

Whether we were arriving or

on our way out...

Pap-paw had a certain kiss...

that in my family today

we still call it a

"Pap-paw Robertson kiss"

He would pucker and kiss you

on your cheek

like anyone else...

but, Pap-paws kiss was

a musical kiss.

It was

accompanied by the longest

loudest sweetest squeak in

all the land .

Our Mam-maw and Pap-paw

are long, long time

gone from this earth...

but, they will ever live

on in our hearts and

memories.

I Shall Have Some Tea

A veil of quite as

enveloped the house

this morning.

Unless you listen closely

you might miss the

sounds of intent

licking as each pup,

in their own space,

work unrelentlessly to

relieve their "Pongs"

the enormous burden of

peanut butter and one small

cookie embedded there in...

Quietly,

oh, so quietly

as if almost a hushed whisper

you can hear

Miss Bo-Bo licking the gravy

from her bowl of "squishy"

food.

For just awhile longer

Meredith & Matt will

remain "muted"

where as the chatter and

white noise of the world will

be kept at bay...

for just a while.

just a little while...

I think...

I shall have some tea.

The Sewing Room, Marching Bands, and Nascar

The last couple of weeks have been dedicated mostly to

a project that has taken place in the sewing room…

Kelsey Ryan our sixteen year old niece is the drum

major(ette?)

this next year in Hanceville, Al

She and her parents asked that I make her an outfit…

O.K., then we got together and talked over what she liked…

and then I set about trying to figure out how to get all these different requirements into one outfit.

Over the next few days quite a bit of “Googling” ,pondering and head scratching

took place.

A couple of patterns were ordered…

with the thought..

“I could take this from that pattern and some of that from this one , wiggle it together like this,

pull it up like that, add that lace here and that pearl there..

Michael and I discussed it..

the serger I had wanted off and on through the years would be a definite needed machine , with this kind of fabric…

and it was my birthday after all.

So, Michael bought me a serger,

two patterns were ordered…

(Oh, my gosh… they were coming from

Canada !!!

Would they be in English?)

Fabric…I could not find the right kind of fabric in this area!

What was I to do !?!

Finally , one day on the phone with a gentleman

who’s answer was…

”I am sorry ma’am…

We only sell drapery & upholstery fabric…”

tears welled in my eyes and must have wrapped their wet fingers around my throat

for I sniffed and asked

“Do you have any idea where I could find this kind of fabric?”

and without hesitation that wonderful man said

“Why , Mary Jo’s in Gastonia

ought to have anything you would need.”

End of statement, end of search!

The patterns arrived…

they were in English

although

it was the second language

and seemed to be an after thought..

at least I could figure out most of it…

Fabric and notions were procured

then the next week was spent in the sewing room…

Needless to say I had

an abundance of help!

Miss Bo-Bo held down one of two spots and seemed to like me at the serger more than anywhere else…

“We” put a pillow

on the table

in front of the window

and

this seemed to suit her to a tee!

The pups stayed close…

because ,

they always do!

Miss Chloe enjoying the luxury of long naps…

When Thibby would allow her

a moments rest…

and Thibby…

well , let’s just say he stayed busy and kept the rest of us busy too!

No, no I promise you he did not need to take

any of those trims or anything else he happened to

“snatch”

down stairs!

(who would need the added expense of a stair stepper

when you have a

Thibby to chase ?

This past weekend Russ and Kelsey made a trip over to see the SC Ryan clan and check on the progress of the outfit…

Hoping to have it done so as to surprise her I worked many hours and Michael brought in supper several nights…

Long story short..

some alterations needed.

While at the fabric shop the first time, we bought not only the fabric needed for the planned outfit

but also some

for a second..

as a surprise.

This fabric seemed to really tickle them..

however, instead of more gold with it..they thought

black would be great.

(a color we did not know was in the band uniforms..)

Okie-dokie then..we needed to go back to Mary Jo’s

in Gastonia, NC…

just about 70ish miles north…

But Wait!

I think Charlotte, NC

(Home to the new Nascar Hall of Fame and several other Nascar museums and attractions)

is very close to that indeed.

Michael, Russ and Kelsey

being the Nascar fans they are

we decided to make it a day of

procurement of fabric and site seeing!

I think a good time was had by all…

Saturday morning,

we stopped off at “Mabel’s” for breakfast…

It was the perfect start

to a day with the promise of a new adventure.

Pictures taken from the front door…

I really love this place…

If left to it on my own..

I’d venture to say

hour upon hour would possibly slip by without my notice!

As for the outfits,

pictures will have to wait till after their official debut.

We have been asked not to ruin the surprise.

Maybe we will be able to get pictures from the first ballgames half time!

As for now its time to head a little further north...

Just north of Charlotte you'll find a sleepy little community where

way back over a country mile you'll find,

out amongst the pastures and corn fields a large building

housing the

Dale Earnhart Inc.

Museum and store.

Back around the bend ,

past some tire stores,

past a Publixs

and past a race track you

come upon

Papa Joe Hendrick Blvd.

and out that road

you will find the

Hendricks Motor Sports

Racing Complex.

A 100 acre complex:

Historic race cars, Display exhibits, souvenir sales and race shop viewing.

Come along and take a peak

in the museum/sales building.

Next we head on into Charlotte

To the new

Nascar Hall of fame!

http://www.slide.com/r/__ARI4FZ7j_vLTdRB8uf6S1G4VOU4iZE?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Just click on the site text above and see the slide!

We had a wonderful time visiting

with Miss Kelsey and Russell Jay

I am a wee bit afraid the puppies wore them out!

But, hey who could blame them…

all that petting was there just for the asking…

and believe me they weren’t shy..

they asked!

They went back home on Sunday,

and everyone is back to our normal routine…

Now, it’s time to get back to the sewing room…

get that outfit finished

and be ready for

a marching band show!