Mother's Day - for 2007, it's now history. For me, it was a really nice day, weather and otherwise. Not excessively warm or anything yesterday, but sunny, bright - very pretty and quite a few nice things going on too.
Mandy and I managed to get up in time yesterday to make it to church - leaving the two little ones at home with their dad -his turn for them to drive him bonkers! The service was VERY nice and Pastor's sermon had many points to it that Mandy and I both took away from there. During the service though - and I don't recall what it was exactly - but something struck an inner chord of the memory bank here which brought a few tears to my eyes. Nothing drastic, just wiped them away before they fell and were noticeable, or so I thought.
In our church, when everyone approaches the altar for communion, there are hymns sung during that process and the first hymn at that time yesterday was one with very pretty lyrics, "I was there at your borning hour....I'll be there when you're old." Although it is speaking of course, of God's love for each of us and his protection given, it is also generally quite appropriate a choice with respect to the relationship between mother and child as well. It's really a lovely song in words and melody and one which both Mandy and I love.
As Mandy and I knelt to receive communion, I wasn't aware of two things - one, that I still had a little trace of a tear in my eye and two, that Mandy glanced over towards me, saw it and that, combined with the lyrics brought such an emotional rush to her that she began to cry. And, as we left the altar - she slightly ahead of me - she deposited her communion cup in the tray and felt she had to go out to the restroom to wipe her eyes, blow her nose - the whole nine yards there. It takes me a little bit of effort to rise from the communion rail and turn to return to my seat but as I made my way back to sit down, I realized Mandy wasn't there in the pew, waiting for me, something that left me a tad confused. Then, she reappeared and whispered to me that seeing the tear in my eye had brought her to tears and she was teasing me gently about that. I giggled a bit and told her I was thinking she'd run out on me!
After church, we mingled with other parishioners, conversing a lot with folks asking about the recent visitors (the Swedes) to our area - how everything had been, what they were like and explanations too from some as to what happened that they hadn't been able to attend the luncheon on Friday we'd had for the folks. I finally remembered to talk to our church secretary, Julie Jacobson-Josephson about some people who will be coming here about a month from now from Phoenix, Arizona who are not related to me directly but rather, we share a common relative - Albin Lars Gustafson, my uncle who was married to my Mom's older sister was an uncle/great-uncle to the folks who will be visiting next month. And, although I knew my uncle was related to Julie's Mom (they were 2nd cousins), I hadn't gotten around to telling Vivian, Julie's Mom, that I was corresponding now with these cousins of hers, much less that they were going to be in the area in June of this year. Mel Gustafson and his son, Eric, were here about a year ago this month but at that time, I was not aware of their existence as I'd not yet learned that Eric had responded to a query I'd posted several years back on the Ancestry.com message boards, as I was trying to find members of the Alfred Gustafson family that had originally lived in Grassflat.
After leaving the church, we went up to the grocery store so I could pick up a copy of the Sunday paper. I normally read it online but still get a hard copy of the paper mainly so I can read the birth/wedding announcements, Dear Abby and also -this being probably the most important part - get the Sunday crossword puzzle then as trying to solve as many of the clues in that is a big part of my Sunday routine! While at the store, we were chatting with our neighbor, Karen Eyerly Hulett, who works in the Deli area (where Mandy worked too-Saturday having been her last day there though) and Karen was telling us that she had waited on the Swedish folks earlier that morning. She said initially, she had a little difficulty understanding their orders -the accent and soft voices made it a bit hard at first -but anyway, she had figured out then that they must be the group she knew had been here in the area. However, when one of the ladies of the group ordered a sandwich - cheese, with butter - she said to the lady "You must be Swedish" and the lady had nodded and apparently wondered how Karen figured that out as Karen had then said, laughing, "Only a Swede would order a cheese sandwich with butter only on it." (Karen should know -she's got lots of Swedish in her ancestry too!)
Mandy, Bill, the kids and I went up to Jim/Charmaine's then for dinner out rather than heating up all the leftovers then from the evening before - saved that for our supper hour. When we first arrived at the restaurant, they only had one table of folks there, so Charmaine wasn't busy and came out from the kitchen to chat with us and to make a fuss over Maya and Kurtis. Maya loves going to this place because she knows everyone there as far as the owners and the employees and yes, they all do make a big deal out of her being there too - showering her with lots and lots of attention.
After dinner, back home, my son-in-law had gone up to my son's and brought down a small Honda motorcycle he'd recently acquired. He said my son was already home then and Mandy called him, making plans then to meet him over at Walmart. Seems they were scheming about meeting there to purchase my present for Mother's Day and bring it home which turned out to be a lovely porch type swing with a canopy over it!
Prior to their putting the swing together though, my son and son-in-law were having fun, riding this motorcycle around town a bit and Clate, joked with me about whether I'd like to take a ride on it too. Although it had been about 43 years since I'd last been on a motorcycle, I decided oh, what the heck. Why not? Give it a shot. And then, the fun began but it was at my expense as the kids made sure to get a camera and took pictures of me trying to get on this thing! My leg joints, at the hip, are very stiff and trying to pull my leg up to lope it over the bike's seat to settle in there, regardless of how I tried to do this, would pull very hard on the muscle around those joints and send really hard cramps then around there too. We finally solved the problem by mon son-in-law bringing out a little step stool from the kitchen and I could use that to get a little higher off the ground and not have to lift either leg up as high to get on the bike! Once settled in there, Clate and I took off for a little ride around town during which he, of course, had to beep the horn as we passed just about every house on the route! Nothing like announcing it to your local world that some fat old lady is coming through your street on a motorcycle, no less!
As I said, the kids took pictures - for posterity - of this great event and later, we also got some pictures of the kids and me seated on my new swing too. Once I get the film developed in these cameras, I should have all kinds of pictures then to post on this blog, don't 'cha just know it!
Last evening then, Mandy had to run some errands - take a Mother's Day card up to the store for a friend of hers there -the card (and a page Maya had "colored" for Lois were from Maya and Kurtis) and after that, we decided to take a run out to visit with Charmaine's Mom - "Aunt" Helen Ann Nadzom since she hadn't seen the two little ones in quite a while. And, as always happens when we are able to sit and chat with Helen, we had a really nice visit with her then! Helen and her late husband are not related to me, but since I was about 12 years old, when I began referring to them with the little title of "aunt" and "uncle" before their names, it has become a family thing in that all three of my kids grew up calling them Aunt and Uncle and now, this is how Maya and Kurtis will be raised too.
And now, before I start trying to get things cleaned up, caught up too this morning, here's the Bushism for the day!
"I want to thank you for the importance that you've shown for education and literacy." - Washington, D.C.; April 13, 2005.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
It's Over!
The visitors from Sweden have been here tonight and gone - back to the motel for the night and will be departing in the morning -or by noon - to head to New York City and their return flight out of there at 4 p.m. on Monday back to Sweden.
The group was here this evening for supper - roast beef, coleslaw, watergate salad, carrots and onion that had been cooked with the roast and for the starch item in the meal, a little touch of ethnicity as I fixed "haluski." For those who aren't familiar with this item, it's a Slovak or eastern-European dish called in this country "fried cabbage and noodles."
Although I'm sure the kids I went to school with whose ancestors came from that region in Europe had dined well and often on this dish but I had never heard of it, never tasted it until after I was past thirty five and was working at the truckstop restaurant in Snow Shoe. They frequently ran it as a part of one of their dinner specials and once I tried it, I had to get the recipe and learn how to fix it. As a result, it is a real favorite for all three of my kids and especially for me!
I thought since I had baked some Swedish Limpa Rye bread today to serve my Swedish guests with our dinner tonight, it would be kind of neat - since the ethnic makeup of the village where I live is predominately either Swedish or Slovak (other groups yes, but most everyone here is generally Swedish or Slovak and today, often a mix of both too. That's something that wasn't seen too often though when I was growing up as the two groups usually didn't intermingle very often, even then.
Yes, even in the little-bitty villages, we've finally been trying to acknowledge diversity and still honor the traditions of the ancestors too - remember the homeland, ya know, every now and again.
After supper this evening, the group brought out their laptops and hooked them up, showing me various trees that apply to my family along with some others that would be of interest to people whose trees run parallel or slightly touch my trees through a connection of "in-laws" - things like that.
Anneli showed me today too which ancestors or hers and mine we share and it is a connection that dates back to about 1752. Isn't that incredible though?
Learning about one's roots, to me, is one of the most interesting, really fascinating things one could ever do. I hear so many people say they have no interest whatsoever in learning about who their forefathers were and I want to ask them why not? For me, each time I learn a little bit more about the people whose gene pool I share, it makes me feel that much more in touch with myself - who I am perhaps because of this or that or another relative way, way back in time.
I'm not what you would call a fanatic about collecting lots and lots of items that are or were traditional things from Sweden -or on the other side of my family - from Scotland. But I do like to have a few things that are reminders to me of the people of my past, or the country of this or that one's origin. It's a sentimental thing yes, but also because if I do find something I especially like or that someone has been thoughtful enough to give me a memento pertaining to my ancestry, I really do get a bit teary-eyes often and yes, I appreciate those things greatly.
Tonight, Anneli gave me an item - the size of a dishtowel, beautifully woven with the design of the little "red stuga" many think of with respect to Sweden. It will make for a very pretty wall hanging in the house and add a little color as well as beauty but especially, will add a whole lot of meaning and sentimental value for not just me, but also for my kids - who also appreciate things like this.
I suppose some might say to recognize a picture of a little red cottage type house perceived often to be typical of the type of home some folks in Sweden may still have or may have lived in a century or two -or more back - is living in the past or is even being unpatriotic to America I suppose in some folks minds, but I don't see it that way, not at all.
For me, it's a beautiful reminder of the simplistic origins the majority of my relatives on my Mom's side of the family knew in their particular day. And, it's also a nice way to remember that I also have a "great bunch of Swedes" that I call my family too.
Miss Maya was really having a field day at supper tonight, after dinner too as she really had me a bit (a lot, really) nervous then though when Anneli and her friends brought out their laptops. Maya LOVES computers! Loves to touch the screens and also, really, really loves to drive old Gram bonkers by touching keys here and there and changing things in a heartbeat that it may take me 2-3 hours to get things back the way I had them! LOL Yeah, I'm laughing about that now mainly because -thankfully - she didn't mess up anyone's computer tonight! Not that she wasn't trying to touch everything and anything though!
But as they gathered up their gear to leave, Maya stood in the door way between the dining room and the sun porch, waving and saying "bye bye" to them. I asked her did she want to give them hugs and she went to each one, reached up and gave each a really nice big hug then! Now that really made both Mandy's and my heart sing watching her display of affection. A year ago, even just a couple months ago, she never would have reacted in that way and it is just so great to see her finally beginning to emerge, to enjoy and appreciate others.
One final note before I end this post for tonight to go wash up the supper dishes and then, hit the old sack. If anyone reading my posts about the past three days and our visitors here and if you maybe have some Swedish ancestry and would like to delve into learning how to research your family tree, send me an e-mail and I'll hook you up with either Anneli, Anna Lina, Charlotte or Olaf! And, if the region where you live has a bit of a history that connects back to Sweden too perhaps you and others in your area would like to help this group return to America in a year or two and come visit your neck of the woods, giving seminars on how to research your roots in Sverge -Sweden!
I'd be more than happy - actually, I'd be honored to help anyone set up just such an event. Learn a little about the culture of your ancestors, learn who those people were who helped out to get you here today!
Learn their names, how they lived, where they lived, what their occupations were too. Really does broaden your horizons.
Now, find me a way to take the trip I've longed for virtually all my life to go see Sweden first hand too!
That would really be the absolute greatest for me!
The group was here this evening for supper - roast beef, coleslaw, watergate salad, carrots and onion that had been cooked with the roast and for the starch item in the meal, a little touch of ethnicity as I fixed "haluski." For those who aren't familiar with this item, it's a Slovak or eastern-European dish called in this country "fried cabbage and noodles."
Although I'm sure the kids I went to school with whose ancestors came from that region in Europe had dined well and often on this dish but I had never heard of it, never tasted it until after I was past thirty five and was working at the truckstop restaurant in Snow Shoe. They frequently ran it as a part of one of their dinner specials and once I tried it, I had to get the recipe and learn how to fix it. As a result, it is a real favorite for all three of my kids and especially for me!
I thought since I had baked some Swedish Limpa Rye bread today to serve my Swedish guests with our dinner tonight, it would be kind of neat - since the ethnic makeup of the village where I live is predominately either Swedish or Slovak (other groups yes, but most everyone here is generally Swedish or Slovak and today, often a mix of both too. That's something that wasn't seen too often though when I was growing up as the two groups usually didn't intermingle very often, even then.
Yes, even in the little-bitty villages, we've finally been trying to acknowledge diversity and still honor the traditions of the ancestors too - remember the homeland, ya know, every now and again.
After supper this evening, the group brought out their laptops and hooked them up, showing me various trees that apply to my family along with some others that would be of interest to people whose trees run parallel or slightly touch my trees through a connection of "in-laws" - things like that.
Anneli showed me today too which ancestors or hers and mine we share and it is a connection that dates back to about 1752. Isn't that incredible though?
Learning about one's roots, to me, is one of the most interesting, really fascinating things one could ever do. I hear so many people say they have no interest whatsoever in learning about who their forefathers were and I want to ask them why not? For me, each time I learn a little bit more about the people whose gene pool I share, it makes me feel that much more in touch with myself - who I am perhaps because of this or that or another relative way, way back in time.
I'm not what you would call a fanatic about collecting lots and lots of items that are or were traditional things from Sweden -or on the other side of my family - from Scotland. But I do like to have a few things that are reminders to me of the people of my past, or the country of this or that one's origin. It's a sentimental thing yes, but also because if I do find something I especially like or that someone has been thoughtful enough to give me a memento pertaining to my ancestry, I really do get a bit teary-eyes often and yes, I appreciate those things greatly.
Tonight, Anneli gave me an item - the size of a dishtowel, beautifully woven with the design of the little "red stuga" many think of with respect to Sweden. It will make for a very pretty wall hanging in the house and add a little color as well as beauty but especially, will add a whole lot of meaning and sentimental value for not just me, but also for my kids - who also appreciate things like this.
I suppose some might say to recognize a picture of a little red cottage type house perceived often to be typical of the type of home some folks in Sweden may still have or may have lived in a century or two -or more back - is living in the past or is even being unpatriotic to America I suppose in some folks minds, but I don't see it that way, not at all.
For me, it's a beautiful reminder of the simplistic origins the majority of my relatives on my Mom's side of the family knew in their particular day. And, it's also a nice way to remember that I also have a "great bunch of Swedes" that I call my family too.
Miss Maya was really having a field day at supper tonight, after dinner too as she really had me a bit (a lot, really) nervous then though when Anneli and her friends brought out their laptops. Maya LOVES computers! Loves to touch the screens and also, really, really loves to drive old Gram bonkers by touching keys here and there and changing things in a heartbeat that it may take me 2-3 hours to get things back the way I had them! LOL Yeah, I'm laughing about that now mainly because -thankfully - she didn't mess up anyone's computer tonight! Not that she wasn't trying to touch everything and anything though!
But as they gathered up their gear to leave, Maya stood in the door way between the dining room and the sun porch, waving and saying "bye bye" to them. I asked her did she want to give them hugs and she went to each one, reached up and gave each a really nice big hug then! Now that really made both Mandy's and my heart sing watching her display of affection. A year ago, even just a couple months ago, she never would have reacted in that way and it is just so great to see her finally beginning to emerge, to enjoy and appreciate others.
One final note before I end this post for tonight to go wash up the supper dishes and then, hit the old sack. If anyone reading my posts about the past three days and our visitors here and if you maybe have some Swedish ancestry and would like to delve into learning how to research your family tree, send me an e-mail and I'll hook you up with either Anneli, Anna Lina, Charlotte or Olaf! And, if the region where you live has a bit of a history that connects back to Sweden too perhaps you and others in your area would like to help this group return to America in a year or two and come visit your neck of the woods, giving seminars on how to research your roots in Sverge -Sweden!
I'd be more than happy - actually, I'd be honored to help anyone set up just such an event. Learn a little about the culture of your ancestors, learn who those people were who helped out to get you here today!
Learn their names, how they lived, where they lived, what their occupations were too. Really does broaden your horizons.
Now, find me a way to take the trip I've longed for virtually all my life to go see Sweden first hand too!
That would really be the absolute greatest for me!
Friday, May 11, 2007
An AWESOME Gift
As you are all aware now about the Swedish visitors in our little community, today was a really cool day! Not temperature wise, but just soooo cool and enjoyable.
Before I headed off to the restaurant (Jim/Charmaine's) for our luncheon today, I had to run down to Winburne to pay that pesky bill we get every month for our sewage connection It has to be paid before 1 p.m. on the 11th of every month or you end up paying an extra fee for their lovely fine. And, on my way to Winburne, as I drove through Lanse, what did I see across the road from the now apartment complex that used to be the Swedish Covenant Church of Lanse, but Olaf - the gentleman of the Swedish group! The three ladies were traipsing about in the cemetery rapidly photographing tombstones there of long since passed natives of Sweden. So, I stopped and chatted a bit with Olaf who told me they had found their way down to this spot - all on their own - and he felt sure they would have no difficulty in finding their way back to Route 53 and down to Jim/Charmaine's for the lunch there.
Once at J/C's (my daughter Mandy's and my abbreviation for the restaurant), those who remembered to attend began to show up -and we ended up I believe with 14 or 15 people there. Charmaine had brought out her photo album in which she has it loaded with old, old pictures of Grassflat's early years along with a goodly number of old photos too from Peale - the ghost town. This album was a big hit with everyone who got a chance to view it.
Then, Anneli - the lady who I have corresponded with for close to eight years now - brought out her laptop (or as she calls it, her "brain") and began to show me numerous photos she had taken shortly before leaving Sweden to come here on this visit. Beautiful photos of the churches in Erikstad (which is her home parish), Grinstad, which is where my Great-Aunt Hilma's family came from and Bolstad, the little area where my Grandpa Eld was born (my Mor-far or 'mother's father' as he would be known in Swedish) and where the majority of my ancestors on that side of my Swedish heritage lived between 1600 and 1880 - and perhaps some of my distant cousins still may reside in that area as well.
Then, my neighbors, Jim and Kate Nelson Eyerly, asked Anneli about family tree data and within less than two minutes time, she had pulled up the family tree records for my friend Kate's mother's family and it took her maybe 3-4 minutes to pull up Kate's husband, Jim's mother's family too. Kate was impressed but maybe not quite enough to start digging around for family tree data since it would inevitably involve dealing with a computer and that is something she doesn't enjoy at all - unlike me! But, her husband now - Jim's quite a computer buff and after he saw the records Anneli could produce there for him and so quickly too, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him maybe start delving into geneology sometime in the future. Hey, if that bug bites, you're usually "infected" for the rest of your life then!
Anneli showed several others there their family trees too - all in rapid fire and really interesting to see how far back she has these records linked to this area too.
But then, Anneli told me she had a gift for me - something she figured I would appreciate very much and that she had even had to "smuggle" it in with her luggage to get it to this country. Needless to say, I was intrigued.
And when she handed me a rock - yes, a rock - I was pleased because I knew she understood I would appreciate that sentiment of something that connected with my ancestral homeland. But when she explained that this wasn't just a rock from just anyplace in Sweden but it came from a part of the old stone foundation of the older Lutheran church in Bolstad, which had been the church of my grandfather and his family going back many generations, this rock took on a whole different aura! Just being from Sweden would have made me happy as a lark but to think it was once a part of the church my ancestors had been affiliated with, now that was just AWESOME!
Even my son-in-law said that too -Awesome. But when my son phoned home this evening and I told him about this rock, his response was akin to mine - AWESOME! And yes indeed it is that! It was, I must confess, a gift that I had a lot of difficulty keeping back the tears that immediately began to well up.
And yes, for a while after receiving it, I confess too that I was pretty darned speechless! Hard to believe that one isn't it?
After our lunch, I took the visitors up to Allport to see the Swedish cemetery there and then, down to the home in Kylertown of Ray and Janet Rydberg Larson, with whom they were going to go out to dinner this evening.
I didn't get all that many photos taken today - a few, here and there but I was so tied up viewing the album, looking at the photos and records Anneli had on her computer, I got really side-tracked there and forgot for quite awhile I had a camera with me. I did however get some pictures of Ray and Janet Larson with the four visitors surrounding them at their home. Unfortunately, this morning Ray had some problems -again- with his leg and the knee area swelling, fluid retention so Janet had to take him to the emergency room to get that attended too and thus, she missed the luncheon at J/C's as a result.
Tomorrow now, the plans for that day were changed today by the visitors. Initially, I had figured tomorrow I'd be able to take them down to visit the ghost town of Peale but they decided while they were here, they would be better served to drive about two hours east of here to visit Antrim and Arnot, PA - two towns up in Tioga County that had a very heavy concentration of Swedish immigrants too. Besides, those towns also have cemeteries with tombstones whereas Peale's cemetery only has one tombstone remaining there so Arnot and Antrim had the allure needed then!
Tomorrow night, they will be here at my house for supper. Pray that I don't burn the meat and scorch everything else I'm planning to serve too, will you please?
Before I headed off to the restaurant (Jim/Charmaine's) for our luncheon today, I had to run down to Winburne to pay that pesky bill we get every month for our sewage connection It has to be paid before 1 p.m. on the 11th of every month or you end up paying an extra fee for their lovely fine. And, on my way to Winburne, as I drove through Lanse, what did I see across the road from the now apartment complex that used to be the Swedish Covenant Church of Lanse, but Olaf - the gentleman of the Swedish group! The three ladies were traipsing about in the cemetery rapidly photographing tombstones there of long since passed natives of Sweden. So, I stopped and chatted a bit with Olaf who told me they had found their way down to this spot - all on their own - and he felt sure they would have no difficulty in finding their way back to Route 53 and down to Jim/Charmaine's for the lunch there.
Once at J/C's (my daughter Mandy's and my abbreviation for the restaurant), those who remembered to attend began to show up -and we ended up I believe with 14 or 15 people there. Charmaine had brought out her photo album in which she has it loaded with old, old pictures of Grassflat's early years along with a goodly number of old photos too from Peale - the ghost town. This album was a big hit with everyone who got a chance to view it.
Then, Anneli - the lady who I have corresponded with for close to eight years now - brought out her laptop (or as she calls it, her "brain") and began to show me numerous photos she had taken shortly before leaving Sweden to come here on this visit. Beautiful photos of the churches in Erikstad (which is her home parish), Grinstad, which is where my Great-Aunt Hilma's family came from and Bolstad, the little area where my Grandpa Eld was born (my Mor-far or 'mother's father' as he would be known in Swedish) and where the majority of my ancestors on that side of my Swedish heritage lived between 1600 and 1880 - and perhaps some of my distant cousins still may reside in that area as well.
Then, my neighbors, Jim and Kate Nelson Eyerly, asked Anneli about family tree data and within less than two minutes time, she had pulled up the family tree records for my friend Kate's mother's family and it took her maybe 3-4 minutes to pull up Kate's husband, Jim's mother's family too. Kate was impressed but maybe not quite enough to start digging around for family tree data since it would inevitably involve dealing with a computer and that is something she doesn't enjoy at all - unlike me! But, her husband now - Jim's quite a computer buff and after he saw the records Anneli could produce there for him and so quickly too, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him maybe start delving into geneology sometime in the future. Hey, if that bug bites, you're usually "infected" for the rest of your life then!
Anneli showed several others there their family trees too - all in rapid fire and really interesting to see how far back she has these records linked to this area too.
But then, Anneli told me she had a gift for me - something she figured I would appreciate very much and that she had even had to "smuggle" it in with her luggage to get it to this country. Needless to say, I was intrigued.
And when she handed me a rock - yes, a rock - I was pleased because I knew she understood I would appreciate that sentiment of something that connected with my ancestral homeland. But when she explained that this wasn't just a rock from just anyplace in Sweden but it came from a part of the old stone foundation of the older Lutheran church in Bolstad, which had been the church of my grandfather and his family going back many generations, this rock took on a whole different aura! Just being from Sweden would have made me happy as a lark but to think it was once a part of the church my ancestors had been affiliated with, now that was just AWESOME!
Even my son-in-law said that too -Awesome. But when my son phoned home this evening and I told him about this rock, his response was akin to mine - AWESOME! And yes indeed it is that! It was, I must confess, a gift that I had a lot of difficulty keeping back the tears that immediately began to well up.
And yes, for a while after receiving it, I confess too that I was pretty darned speechless! Hard to believe that one isn't it?
After our lunch, I took the visitors up to Allport to see the Swedish cemetery there and then, down to the home in Kylertown of Ray and Janet Rydberg Larson, with whom they were going to go out to dinner this evening.
I didn't get all that many photos taken today - a few, here and there but I was so tied up viewing the album, looking at the photos and records Anneli had on her computer, I got really side-tracked there and forgot for quite awhile I had a camera with me. I did however get some pictures of Ray and Janet Larson with the four visitors surrounding them at their home. Unfortunately, this morning Ray had some problems -again- with his leg and the knee area swelling, fluid retention so Janet had to take him to the emergency room to get that attended too and thus, she missed the luncheon at J/C's as a result.
Tomorrow now, the plans for that day were changed today by the visitors. Initially, I had figured tomorrow I'd be able to take them down to visit the ghost town of Peale but they decided while they were here, they would be better served to drive about two hours east of here to visit Antrim and Arnot, PA - two towns up in Tioga County that had a very heavy concentration of Swedish immigrants too. Besides, those towns also have cemeteries with tombstones whereas Peale's cemetery only has one tombstone remaining there so Arnot and Antrim had the allure needed then!
Tomorrow night, they will be here at my house for supper. Pray that I don't burn the meat and scorch everything else I'm planning to serve too, will you please?
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Roots Connection
Today was really an exciting day for me. I finally - after roughly eight years of e-mailing with this lady - got to meet her. And, what's more, she came to my area in a fairly round-about method too. Plus, she brought three friends with her.
This lady - by name - is Anneli Andersson and she is from Mellerud, Sweden. I've communicated with her for close to eight years now - having been "introduced" to her, in a manner of speaking, by my buddy, Jeff Feldmeier, who lives up in Allen Park, Michigan. Jeff is the friend who organized the impromptu walk two weeks ago this coming Saturday while he was here for a little visit, down to Peale, the ghost town about a little over a mile from my home. I'm finally one up on Jeff now in that I have actually met our correspondent friend, Anneli.
Through Anneli's help as a family tree researcher, she sent me by e-mail, church records from Sweden through which I was able then to trace my grandfather Eld's family back to between 1600 and 1642 or so in Sweden. So meeting her today was quite a thrill for me.
Another very good local friend of mine - who just so happens to have been my high school typing teacher too - and I were on hand this afternoon to meet Anneli and her three cohorts, who have been in this country since April 28th doing family tree research seminars in how to find your ancestors in Sweden. So, before they came here, they had been in Minneapolis, MN; Rock Island, Ill and Jamestown, NY - all three places pretty much notorious for having a very heavy concentration of people whose ancestors came here from Sweden.
Yesterday, a lady who lives in Kane, PA called me as her daughters were going to bring her down here today so she could see and talk to Anneli again too - she'd already met her before when she had taken a trip to Sweden some years back. So those three ladies were also at the local truckstop with my former teacher, Janet Rydberg Larson, to meet the four Swedish travelers and start the process of showing them around this old hills for the next three day!
A member of our church here, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, of Lanse, PA - Joan Larson Fetter and her cousin, Mary Kaye Larson Gurbal had agreed to have the travelers at Joan's house for supper this evening and they also invited the three ladies from Kane to join them. After they finished dining and chit-chatting a while, they called me and I went up to show them how to get back to the truckstop, etc. But before doing that, I took them up to the cemetery for our church, then we stopped at the location where the old Nebo Lutheran Church used to stand (it was struck by lightning 40 years ago this month and burned to the ground in virtually a matter of minutes.) From there, I took them down to my house but pointed out to them where the other Swedish Lutheran Church in Grassflat - Emmanuel Lutheran - had been until about 1952 or 1953 when the members of Emmanuel joined forces with Nebo Lutheran and formed First Lutheran of Grassflat and we all then attended services in the building previously known as Nebo Lutheran Church. After that church burned to the ground, our parish joined up with Gustavus Adolphus of Lanse to form the church we now have which is Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lanse.
While we were up at the cemetery, the four visitors branched off and each took a quadrant of the cemetery, walking through, taking photos of various headstones and markers based on names they knew from their research in their particular area from Sweden. I was tagging along with Anneli and it was amazing to watch her as she would spot a name that she recognized as being pertinent to the area of Sweden (Dahlsland) where she is most known for her research. She was like a little kid in a candy store - so excited to see this name or that one -all familiar to her and envisioning that person's family tree in her mind's eye while photographing that person's final resting place. It was quite an interesting experience for me to watch her and how she just "knew" this or that person and their family. Just amazing.
Tomorrow, we will have a luncheon at a small local restaurant - Jim and Charmaine's - with hopefully 20-25 locals who want to meet these people, perhaps learn a bit about their ancestors and those too who aren't of Swedish descent necessarily but who are interested in meeting them to share their knowledge of this little village where I live (Grassflat) and the adjacent villages around here as well as a couple folks who were actually born in the Ghost town of Peale and lived there for a while before it finally gave it's last gasp when the last residents - the "Duddie" Folmar family -moved out of there in 1957 or 1958.
And yes, I did get a few photos today of our "group" and will do that some more tomorrow and Saturday too - especially when I have the group for supper at my house Saturday evening. Just hope I can pull together a meal that turns out A-ok for me. I'm definitely not a gourmet cook and usually can do a fair-to-middling meal but I am not accustomed really to "entertaining" or cooking for other than my family with the exception of "pot luck" dinners at church when I can fix a casserole dish - which is more my speed too -as opposed to a regular meat, potatos, etc., meal which this is going to be. Cross your fingers, shake the rabbits foot and above all, prayer that I don't burn everything, ok?
And also, I will post the photos from this visit at a later date for all of you to see too!
I'm gonna cheat a bit here today and post the Bushisms for a couple days since tomorrow - who knows if I'll even have time enough to make a post, much less read all my "Favorites," check out my e-mail and read the CDT online before I head out to spend some really quality time with someone I've long wanted to meet along with three of her friends - some really special people now part of my life from Sweden!
Thurday, May 10, 2007
"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." - Washington, D.C.; May 25, 2004
Friday, May 11, 2007
"I think it's important to bring somebody from outside the system, the judicial system, somebody that hasn't been on the bench and, therefore, there's not a lot of opinions for people to look at." - On the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court; Washington, D.C.; October 4, 2005.
And, for Saturday/Sunday - May 12/13 2007
"Let me put it to you this way, I'm not a revengeful person." -Time Magazine, December 25, 2000.
This lady - by name - is Anneli Andersson and she is from Mellerud, Sweden. I've communicated with her for close to eight years now - having been "introduced" to her, in a manner of speaking, by my buddy, Jeff Feldmeier, who lives up in Allen Park, Michigan. Jeff is the friend who organized the impromptu walk two weeks ago this coming Saturday while he was here for a little visit, down to Peale, the ghost town about a little over a mile from my home. I'm finally one up on Jeff now in that I have actually met our correspondent friend, Anneli.
Through Anneli's help as a family tree researcher, she sent me by e-mail, church records from Sweden through which I was able then to trace my grandfather Eld's family back to between 1600 and 1642 or so in Sweden. So meeting her today was quite a thrill for me.
Another very good local friend of mine - who just so happens to have been my high school typing teacher too - and I were on hand this afternoon to meet Anneli and her three cohorts, who have been in this country since April 28th doing family tree research seminars in how to find your ancestors in Sweden. So, before they came here, they had been in Minneapolis, MN; Rock Island, Ill and Jamestown, NY - all three places pretty much notorious for having a very heavy concentration of people whose ancestors came here from Sweden.
Yesterday, a lady who lives in Kane, PA called me as her daughters were going to bring her down here today so she could see and talk to Anneli again too - she'd already met her before when she had taken a trip to Sweden some years back. So those three ladies were also at the local truckstop with my former teacher, Janet Rydberg Larson, to meet the four Swedish travelers and start the process of showing them around this old hills for the next three day!
A member of our church here, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, of Lanse, PA - Joan Larson Fetter and her cousin, Mary Kaye Larson Gurbal had agreed to have the travelers at Joan's house for supper this evening and they also invited the three ladies from Kane to join them. After they finished dining and chit-chatting a while, they called me and I went up to show them how to get back to the truckstop, etc. But before doing that, I took them up to the cemetery for our church, then we stopped at the location where the old Nebo Lutheran Church used to stand (it was struck by lightning 40 years ago this month and burned to the ground in virtually a matter of minutes.) From there, I took them down to my house but pointed out to them where the other Swedish Lutheran Church in Grassflat - Emmanuel Lutheran - had been until about 1952 or 1953 when the members of Emmanuel joined forces with Nebo Lutheran and formed First Lutheran of Grassflat and we all then attended services in the building previously known as Nebo Lutheran Church. After that church burned to the ground, our parish joined up with Gustavus Adolphus of Lanse to form the church we now have which is Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lanse.
While we were up at the cemetery, the four visitors branched off and each took a quadrant of the cemetery, walking through, taking photos of various headstones and markers based on names they knew from their research in their particular area from Sweden. I was tagging along with Anneli and it was amazing to watch her as she would spot a name that she recognized as being pertinent to the area of Sweden (Dahlsland) where she is most known for her research. She was like a little kid in a candy store - so excited to see this name or that one -all familiar to her and envisioning that person's family tree in her mind's eye while photographing that person's final resting place. It was quite an interesting experience for me to watch her and how she just "knew" this or that person and their family. Just amazing.
Tomorrow, we will have a luncheon at a small local restaurant - Jim and Charmaine's - with hopefully 20-25 locals who want to meet these people, perhaps learn a bit about their ancestors and those too who aren't of Swedish descent necessarily but who are interested in meeting them to share their knowledge of this little village where I live (Grassflat) and the adjacent villages around here as well as a couple folks who were actually born in the Ghost town of Peale and lived there for a while before it finally gave it's last gasp when the last residents - the "Duddie" Folmar family -moved out of there in 1957 or 1958.
And yes, I did get a few photos today of our "group" and will do that some more tomorrow and Saturday too - especially when I have the group for supper at my house Saturday evening. Just hope I can pull together a meal that turns out A-ok for me. I'm definitely not a gourmet cook and usually can do a fair-to-middling meal but I am not accustomed really to "entertaining" or cooking for other than my family with the exception of "pot luck" dinners at church when I can fix a casserole dish - which is more my speed too -as opposed to a regular meat, potatos, etc., meal which this is going to be. Cross your fingers, shake the rabbits foot and above all, prayer that I don't burn everything, ok?
And also, I will post the photos from this visit at a later date for all of you to see too!
I'm gonna cheat a bit here today and post the Bushisms for a couple days since tomorrow - who knows if I'll even have time enough to make a post, much less read all my "Favorites," check out my e-mail and read the CDT online before I head out to spend some really quality time with someone I've long wanted to meet along with three of her friends - some really special people now part of my life from Sweden!
Thurday, May 10, 2007
"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." - Washington, D.C.; May 25, 2004
Friday, May 11, 2007
"I think it's important to bring somebody from outside the system, the judicial system, somebody that hasn't been on the bench and, therefore, there's not a lot of opinions for people to look at." - On the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court; Washington, D.C.; October 4, 2005.
And, for Saturday/Sunday - May 12/13 2007
"Let me put it to you this way, I'm not a revengeful person." -Time Magazine, December 25, 2000.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
What You Really Never Knew -but should. Maybe?
Oh no! Another MEME! This time I was tagged by one of my favorite bloggers - you'll find her blog "The Owl's Song" here . I really enjoy reading her blog, her thoughts about her calling as a Pastor and her thoughts and feelings about family issues along with her joys with the birth of her first grandchild - a beautiful little girl named Trinity Ann. Check out her blog for some good presentation of common problems we all face from time to time.
MEMEs are not necessarily my "favorite" thing. They tend to make me go a bit daft or braindead most of the time. But I figured I'd give this one a shot today.
Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!
And so, without further ado: (drum roll)
"Seven Things You Really Didn't Want To Know About Me and Because Of That You Never Thought To Ask"
7. One reason that could explain my interest in politics - on a local/county level especially - stems from the fact my Dad's brother and my Dad's sister's husband were both heavily involved in county politics. That doesn't explain why I have never registered in the same party as was their particular preference.
6. The reason I have always registered for the party of my choice stems back to my maternal grandfather and his beliefs.
5. My maternal grandfather was also the source of much of my information growing up and the reason I am very "union" oriented.
4. Although I do not like abortions, definitely do not like seeing them used as a form of birth control at times, I am pro-choice because I just don't feel society, as a whole, as the right to determine what another woman can or can not deal with physically, economically, emotionally and spiritually.
3. I always wanted to have a very large family but stopped at three. Being an only child created a huge longing in me early on to have at least more than one child though.
2. Because I do certain things that many people think are not nice, right, good - I smoke, enjoy beer, occasionally mixed drinks, and have a vocabulary that often could rival a sailor's many people don't understand along with that I do have - strangely enough I guess - a deep inner commitment to my faith. It doesn't always come through by my irregular attendance at church, but nonetheless, I know it's there.
1. My voice tends to be loud, grating too perhaps, and because I often tend to be long-winded as well, at home, I am frequently just a very quiet person. Just don't get my temper in an uproar though as you never know how long it may be then before I simmer down and shut up again.
I'm supposed to tag seven others now - don't know if I can do that as most everyone has been pretty well MEMEd out of late but I'll give it a shot to tag a couple I've not put to a test like this before - or not for a long time anyway! LOL
Debo Blue
Tomcat
Paige
Paula
MCook
Laura
Claire
MEMEs are not necessarily my "favorite" thing. They tend to make me go a bit daft or braindead most of the time. But I figured I'd give this one a shot today.
Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!
And so, without further ado: (drum roll)
"Seven Things You Really Didn't Want To Know About Me and Because Of That You Never Thought To Ask"
7. One reason that could explain my interest in politics - on a local/county level especially - stems from the fact my Dad's brother and my Dad's sister's husband were both heavily involved in county politics. That doesn't explain why I have never registered in the same party as was their particular preference.
6. The reason I have always registered for the party of my choice stems back to my maternal grandfather and his beliefs.
5. My maternal grandfather was also the source of much of my information growing up and the reason I am very "union" oriented.
4. Although I do not like abortions, definitely do not like seeing them used as a form of birth control at times, I am pro-choice because I just don't feel society, as a whole, as the right to determine what another woman can or can not deal with physically, economically, emotionally and spiritually.
3. I always wanted to have a very large family but stopped at three. Being an only child created a huge longing in me early on to have at least more than one child though.
2. Because I do certain things that many people think are not nice, right, good - I smoke, enjoy beer, occasionally mixed drinks, and have a vocabulary that often could rival a sailor's many people don't understand along with that I do have - strangely enough I guess - a deep inner commitment to my faith. It doesn't always come through by my irregular attendance at church, but nonetheless, I know it's there.
1. My voice tends to be loud, grating too perhaps, and because I often tend to be long-winded as well, at home, I am frequently just a very quiet person. Just don't get my temper in an uproar though as you never know how long it may be then before I simmer down and shut up again.
I'm supposed to tag seven others now - don't know if I can do that as most everyone has been pretty well MEMEd out of late but I'll give it a shot to tag a couple I've not put to a test like this before - or not for a long time anyway! LOL
Debo Blue
Tomcat
Paige
Paula
MCook
Laura
Claire
On a Roll!
After a slow - ok, a late start - for the week, at least with respect to trying to put a post up here daily, I got a little bit of momentum going today and knocked one item off my "to do" list. I finished up sewing 30 baby bibs! So if my former classmate, Bernie, happens to be reading this, that's how many bibs you get to choose from for little Emma and the new grandchild due in August!
I really love to make these things. They're really easy as pie to put together. You can use either the regular size dish towels or the slightly smaller fingertip towels and fold the towel about a third of the way down, then fold it in half length wise and measure down about 2 1/2 inches from the top of that fold and cut a half-moon section out of the towel to form the opening for the neckline. Then you measure out rib trim - depending on whether you want the neckline to have a crew-type neck, mock turtleneck or full turtleneck is the determining factor for how wide you want to cut your rib trim and for the length, I generally figure on cutting a piece about 16-17 inches in length then of the ribbing. Sew the rib together with the right sides together at the side seam, then turn it so the right side is facing you, fold it in half and divide it into quarters.
Mark the middle of the back of the neckline with a straight pin, do the same to the middle of the front neckline and place a straight pin at the shoulder on each side and then pin the ribbing piece to that - matching the quarter-marking pins on the ribbing to the pins on the towel-bib neckline with the seam of the ribbing being matched up to the pin in the middle of the back. All that is left then is to use a zig-zag stitch to attach the ribbing to the neckline, and to finish it, I stop stitch along the neckedge on the towel portion which stabilizes the rib trim and the neckline of the bib. See - didn't I tell you it was easy as easy can be! And these bibs are really great because you just slip it over the baby or toddler's head and it covers from the neck down to the lap as well as across the shoulder area of the child's clothing completely. No muss, no fuss and easy to launder after being used as well. Plus, just being really cute if you manage to find towels that have perhaps a seasonal design on them or have a cute design printed into the towel. Although we have a whole drawer full of bibs of all types that Mandy has bought or received over the past 3 1/2 years for Maya and also for Kurtis, the ones we do tend to use the most are the ones I've made mainly because of the amount of coverage they provide and how easily they wash up and are ready to be used all over again.
The rest of this week now, I will be concentrating on getting things finished up to be all ready for when the visitors from Sweden will be in the area. They will arrive here at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon and after meeting them up at the motel, giving them a bit of time to get their stuff settled in, etc., I'm hoping to be able to drive them around, perhaps take them down to Peale then if the weather is nice that day. And then, get them back to the motel and lead them down to the home of the lady who is having them for dinner that evening. My next big planning session will involve determining what to cook for supper Saturday evening when most likely they will be dining here with me and my family. Plus, Saturday also happens to be my son-in-law's birthday too so I have to make time to bake a cake for him for the occasion as well.
Then, next week I will start working in earnest on scanning the photos I have received, courtesy of some of my former high school classmates and with the help of my friend Sharon - from high school - try to figure out how we will organize these photos and present them at our class reunion. I have some really neat photos of several of our classmates in group settings, taken when we were maybe 7-8 years old and it was so much fun trying to figure out who is who on these pictures! Hope the rest of the class enjoys looking at some really old, old pictures!
The class reunion will be on June 2nd over in Clearfield at a nice restaurant there - Hedges - and I hope the reunion attendees will find the food - and service - more than adequate at this place. Our last reunion, although nice and fairly well attended too, was a bit on the bum side with respect to the food. It definitely left a LOT to be desired plus, they had about 40 of us squished into a room where we barely had any room to turn around, much less to really be able to visit and mingle nicely. Personally, as I've said before here and to lots of former classmates, I would much prefer that we were still having our class reunion at the home of the guy who isn't attending this year - good old Joe -but the majority voted to have it at a place where we would be to ourselves, a private area with a little upscale atmosphere too, so I'll go along simply because the majority won that round. I'm not that particular about where we meet, just so we have the opportunity TO MEET and enjoy an evening remembering our good old school days together a long, long time ago now that was!
The story for the day involving the little Princess, Miss Maya, involved Mandy going to State College to take care of the last minute paperwork details for the new job she started last week and she took both the little ones with her, along with a friend and co-worker of hers from up at the store. While over there, they stopped at Perkins Restaurant to have lunch. Mandy always likes to stop at Perkins whenever she has a chance because she worked for them for about 4-5 years several years back and she likes to pop in and say hello to the managers there and the waitstaff still there from back when she waitressed and was a shift manager.
She said initially she was a bit concerned because there were no open booths available and they had to take a table in the back part of the restaurant. She had figured it would probably be easier to manage Maya if they sat in a booth but once they got settled in, Maya was on her good behavior - no fussing, no meltdowns, and she only got down from her chair about three times while they were waiting for their food and after it arrived.
However, when they were almost finished - Maya WAS finished - she got down and before Mandy could stop her, Maya had ventured over to a table across the way from theirs and just as nice as can be, hopped up on a chair there to "visit" a bit with a lady who was sitting there all by herself, eating her meal. Because she couldn't help but hear Mandy and her friend Lois, talking to Maya, calling her by name, the lady immediately spoke to Maya and addressed her by name which apparently kind of floored Maya as she gave her a somewhat startled look as if to say "Hey, how'd you know my name?" But the lady was very nice and friendly to Maya and talked to her a bit while Mandy got the baby ready to leave and when they went to gather Maya up, she turned to the lady and with a little wave, said "Bye Bye" and then blew her a kiss goodbye!
Well, now we know for sure she is turning into quite the little social animal and is definitely not "strange" around people!
This afternoon, the stepgranddaughter came to me while I was sewing asking me questions about history, the Civil War, in particular because she was trying to study from her notes - such as they were - for a test in school tomorrow. Although she claims she read the chapter in the textbook pertaining to this historical period, it was more than obvious that she hadn't done a very thorough job of reading the text and she was pretty much expecting that she would ask me a question and I would just give her the answer she needed. Nope kiddo, it doesn't work that way!
I was in a bit of a state of shock at how little she actually understood about the Civil War. All she seemed to know was that it was a war between the North and the South but she had no real concept as to what it was about much less lots of other things pertaining to general American history and even geography too. Part of me thinks "What the heck do they teach these kids in elementary classes nowadays but then, that's not really fair because it is automatically laying blame there on the teachers who, even if they are trying to present accurate and good data to the students, if the kid pays no attention, doesn't show the least bit of interest in the learning process, doesn't study anything, you can't say the problem is automatically the fault of the educators, can you?
So, hopefully with what questions and notes Kate went over with me and if she really tried today to pay attention to what I tried to explain to her - after forcing her by questions I asked her to "Think" about the question and try to reason out the answers often just from the few things she did remember, she might do fairly well on the test tomorrow. I simply refuse to do the study work for her, same as I refused to do that for my kids when they were in high school too. If they come and ask a question, ask to have something explained, I will do that but only to a degree. I won't give an explanation that just answers the question up front but rather will answer it with other questions to make her (or whoever) think about the question completely and then figure out the actual answer on their own. If they can come up with the correct answer then, fine - I'll tell them that, maybe explain a little bit more about the ifs, and, whys and other things where I can but not until the basic question has been answered and in this case, that she understands a little bit about what was actually taking place. There were several instances though when I wouldn't tell her anything other than that she obviously needs to go back an re-read the chapter in order to understand and be able to figure out a lot of the answers she needs to know.
So, that's how my day went on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007. How was your day? Hope it was a good one for you and like me, you managed to get something accomplished too.
Now - since my eyes are starting to show the wear and tear of sewing 30 bibs, telling me it's time to "hit the hay," I'm gonna post the Bushism for today and go to to bed!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
If they predecease or die early, there's an asset base to be able to pass on to a loved one." - On Social security money that would be stored to private accounts. Cedar Rapids, Iowa; March 30, 2005.
I really love to make these things. They're really easy as pie to put together. You can use either the regular size dish towels or the slightly smaller fingertip towels and fold the towel about a third of the way down, then fold it in half length wise and measure down about 2 1/2 inches from the top of that fold and cut a half-moon section out of the towel to form the opening for the neckline. Then you measure out rib trim - depending on whether you want the neckline to have a crew-type neck, mock turtleneck or full turtleneck is the determining factor for how wide you want to cut your rib trim and for the length, I generally figure on cutting a piece about 16-17 inches in length then of the ribbing. Sew the rib together with the right sides together at the side seam, then turn it so the right side is facing you, fold it in half and divide it into quarters.
Mark the middle of the back of the neckline with a straight pin, do the same to the middle of the front neckline and place a straight pin at the shoulder on each side and then pin the ribbing piece to that - matching the quarter-marking pins on the ribbing to the pins on the towel-bib neckline with the seam of the ribbing being matched up to the pin in the middle of the back. All that is left then is to use a zig-zag stitch to attach the ribbing to the neckline, and to finish it, I stop stitch along the neckedge on the towel portion which stabilizes the rib trim and the neckline of the bib. See - didn't I tell you it was easy as easy can be! And these bibs are really great because you just slip it over the baby or toddler's head and it covers from the neck down to the lap as well as across the shoulder area of the child's clothing completely. No muss, no fuss and easy to launder after being used as well. Plus, just being really cute if you manage to find towels that have perhaps a seasonal design on them or have a cute design printed into the towel. Although we have a whole drawer full of bibs of all types that Mandy has bought or received over the past 3 1/2 years for Maya and also for Kurtis, the ones we do tend to use the most are the ones I've made mainly because of the amount of coverage they provide and how easily they wash up and are ready to be used all over again.
The rest of this week now, I will be concentrating on getting things finished up to be all ready for when the visitors from Sweden will be in the area. They will arrive here at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon and after meeting them up at the motel, giving them a bit of time to get their stuff settled in, etc., I'm hoping to be able to drive them around, perhaps take them down to Peale then if the weather is nice that day. And then, get them back to the motel and lead them down to the home of the lady who is having them for dinner that evening. My next big planning session will involve determining what to cook for supper Saturday evening when most likely they will be dining here with me and my family. Plus, Saturday also happens to be my son-in-law's birthday too so I have to make time to bake a cake for him for the occasion as well.
Then, next week I will start working in earnest on scanning the photos I have received, courtesy of some of my former high school classmates and with the help of my friend Sharon - from high school - try to figure out how we will organize these photos and present them at our class reunion. I have some really neat photos of several of our classmates in group settings, taken when we were maybe 7-8 years old and it was so much fun trying to figure out who is who on these pictures! Hope the rest of the class enjoys looking at some really old, old pictures!
The class reunion will be on June 2nd over in Clearfield at a nice restaurant there - Hedges - and I hope the reunion attendees will find the food - and service - more than adequate at this place. Our last reunion, although nice and fairly well attended too, was a bit on the bum side with respect to the food. It definitely left a LOT to be desired plus, they had about 40 of us squished into a room where we barely had any room to turn around, much less to really be able to visit and mingle nicely. Personally, as I've said before here and to lots of former classmates, I would much prefer that we were still having our class reunion at the home of the guy who isn't attending this year - good old Joe -but the majority voted to have it at a place where we would be to ourselves, a private area with a little upscale atmosphere too, so I'll go along simply because the majority won that round. I'm not that particular about where we meet, just so we have the opportunity TO MEET and enjoy an evening remembering our good old school days together a long, long time ago now that was!
The story for the day involving the little Princess, Miss Maya, involved Mandy going to State College to take care of the last minute paperwork details for the new job she started last week and she took both the little ones with her, along with a friend and co-worker of hers from up at the store. While over there, they stopped at Perkins Restaurant to have lunch. Mandy always likes to stop at Perkins whenever she has a chance because she worked for them for about 4-5 years several years back and she likes to pop in and say hello to the managers there and the waitstaff still there from back when she waitressed and was a shift manager.
She said initially she was a bit concerned because there were no open booths available and they had to take a table in the back part of the restaurant. She had figured it would probably be easier to manage Maya if they sat in a booth but once they got settled in, Maya was on her good behavior - no fussing, no meltdowns, and she only got down from her chair about three times while they were waiting for their food and after it arrived.
However, when they were almost finished - Maya WAS finished - she got down and before Mandy could stop her, Maya had ventured over to a table across the way from theirs and just as nice as can be, hopped up on a chair there to "visit" a bit with a lady who was sitting there all by herself, eating her meal. Because she couldn't help but hear Mandy and her friend Lois, talking to Maya, calling her by name, the lady immediately spoke to Maya and addressed her by name which apparently kind of floored Maya as she gave her a somewhat startled look as if to say "Hey, how'd you know my name?" But the lady was very nice and friendly to Maya and talked to her a bit while Mandy got the baby ready to leave and when they went to gather Maya up, she turned to the lady and with a little wave, said "Bye Bye" and then blew her a kiss goodbye!
Well, now we know for sure she is turning into quite the little social animal and is definitely not "strange" around people!
This afternoon, the stepgranddaughter came to me while I was sewing asking me questions about history, the Civil War, in particular because she was trying to study from her notes - such as they were - for a test in school tomorrow. Although she claims she read the chapter in the textbook pertaining to this historical period, it was more than obvious that she hadn't done a very thorough job of reading the text and she was pretty much expecting that she would ask me a question and I would just give her the answer she needed. Nope kiddo, it doesn't work that way!
I was in a bit of a state of shock at how little she actually understood about the Civil War. All she seemed to know was that it was a war between the North and the South but she had no real concept as to what it was about much less lots of other things pertaining to general American history and even geography too. Part of me thinks "What the heck do they teach these kids in elementary classes nowadays but then, that's not really fair because it is automatically laying blame there on the teachers who, even if they are trying to present accurate and good data to the students, if the kid pays no attention, doesn't show the least bit of interest in the learning process, doesn't study anything, you can't say the problem is automatically the fault of the educators, can you?
So, hopefully with what questions and notes Kate went over with me and if she really tried today to pay attention to what I tried to explain to her - after forcing her by questions I asked her to "Think" about the question and try to reason out the answers often just from the few things she did remember, she might do fairly well on the test tomorrow. I simply refuse to do the study work for her, same as I refused to do that for my kids when they were in high school too. If they come and ask a question, ask to have something explained, I will do that but only to a degree. I won't give an explanation that just answers the question up front but rather will answer it with other questions to make her (or whoever) think about the question completely and then figure out the actual answer on their own. If they can come up with the correct answer then, fine - I'll tell them that, maybe explain a little bit more about the ifs, and, whys and other things where I can but not until the basic question has been answered and in this case, that she understands a little bit about what was actually taking place. There were several instances though when I wouldn't tell her anything other than that she obviously needs to go back an re-read the chapter in order to understand and be able to figure out a lot of the answers she needs to know.
So, that's how my day went on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007. How was your day? Hope it was a good one for you and like me, you managed to get something accomplished too.
Now - since my eyes are starting to show the wear and tear of sewing 30 bibs, telling me it's time to "hit the hay," I'm gonna post the Bushism for today and go to to bed!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
If they predecease or die early, there's an asset base to be able to pass on to a loved one." - On Social security money that would be stored to private accounts. Cedar Rapids, Iowa; March 30, 2005.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Soap Opera
First off - I'm really running late, again. I know, what else is new? Things have been "hairy" to say the least of late. So, first things first and that means I'm posting two Bushism's right now in order to get caught up in that respect.
Monday - May 7, 2007 (with apologies for missing posting ANYTHING yesterday)
"I can assure you that, even though I won't be sitting through every single moment of the seminars, nor will the vice president, we will look at the summaries." - Waco, Texas; August 13, 2002
and for Tuesday, May 8, 2007
"If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow." - Rochester, New York; January 7, 2000.
Now, on to a few other things.
First, the latest from Maya - on Sunday, as she was dancing around the room here, pretty much just running in circles, I asked her what the heck did she think she was doing. "Are you dancing, Maya?" And, to that her reply was "Dirty dancing, Grammie." Now where the dickens did she come up with that terminology? The movie hasn't been on - to my knowledge - lately and even if it were, I wouldn't be watching it as once around the block (ok, maybe I have watched it twice) was enough for me. "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" are probably the only movies I will try to watch every chance I get on the tv when they are shown - again.
Things appear at the moment to be shaping up quite nicely now for the upcoming visit at the end of this week by "The Swedes." This would be a group of three women and a gentleman who have been in the states since April 28th, doing family tree research seminars for people with Swedish ancestry. They will be arriving here this Thursday - I found out late last nite via an e-mail from one lady in the group that they will be here at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon. So today, I've been trying to contact a few of the people from the area who will be "hosting" them at some point in time during their stay. So far, we have things in place for a lady from our church who will have them for supper Thursday evening; another couple from a nearby village will have them Friday night for dinner and in all likelihood, I will be their "chef" (there's a joke) on Saturday at they will most likely be at my house for supper that day. But on Friday afternoon, we have things in place to have them attend a smallish luncheon at the little local restaurant here - Jim and Charmaine's place - and anyone with roots to Sweden who would like to meet them, learn a little about Family Tree stuff or folks who would like to meet them and share their knowledge about the local community too - history buffs, come on out - here's a great opportunity to meet some interesting folks and share your interests and knowledge all at the same time! At last count, I think we have upwards of 16 people who said they will try to attend the luncheon -so that plus the four Swedes, gives us about 20 at least then. Should be fun, don't you think?
Now, why did I title this piece "Soap Opera?" Well, for openers, this visit is a "big deal" in a small town such as this is, especially to a lot of the old timers here and those interested in family tree information. The antics of my little princess from time to time also constitutes a mini-soap opera but there have been more things going on just yesterday or in the past week I suppose, that really makes for some good soap opera material. But I'm not going to delve into the crux of that stuff mainly because enough crapola has already hit the fans and riled up a goodly number of people -within the family, on the periphery of the family and throughout the village that for me to discuss it would be tantamount to naming names, places, etc., and those players in this whole scenario really don't WANT to have my take on the whole mess!
Just suffice it to say the stepgranddaughter stepped into the middle of this pile of "doo" and didn't come out smelling exactly like the rose I think she thought would be available to her.
That, plus her latest brouhaha at school pertaining to her grades - and well, she is in up to her eyeballs right now. The school thing seemed to be simmering down with respect to her study habits -poor, at best - and the failing grades in math and science were being worked on. Then yesterday she brings home a paper to be signed because all of a sudden now, she's not doing the work required in her American History class! Geez, Louise!
This one really annoys me probably because I love history and have a hard time understanding what people see as boring about a subject so near and dear to my own heart. Math and science - now I can understand anyone having difficulty with those subjects but history? Give me a break here.
Well, the teacher had given her two options to gain extra credit for her grade. One was to read "Gone With The Wind" -and when she asked me if I'd ever read that book and I told her several times and that it is probably my all-time favorite book - I think she's already seen the size of it - she looked at me with a really big "Are you TOTALLY crazy, look?" Yes, I am and she should know that well enough by now. This option though apparently won't pan out because it seems she is currently not allowed to withdraw any more books from the library because she has at least two books out now that should have long since been returned but she can't find them! Brother! I asked if she had tried looking around the house to locate those books and she says she had but then I asked if she'd looked in the closet in the sunporch, adjacent to my room and she said "no" which tells me she hasn't begun to do any serious searching for these books. Ok -so GWTW has now been ruled out and we move on to the second option.
This one is that she memorize and recite, sans error, The Gettysburg Address. Well, it seems the child feels this is way too long a piece to try to memorize and besides that, "it's boring."
BORING? The Gettysburg Address? How the heck can anyone read that and find it "boring?" It's one of the most moving speeches ever delivered, ranks right up there with President Kennedy's "Ask Not" speech in his inaugural address in 1961, doesn't it? Moving, totally moving, is how I view President Lincoln's address. But then, she probably thinks I was present at Gettysburg when he delivered that speech too and besides, what the heck does this old so-and-so know about anything at all anyway? Ya know what I mean there?
She didn't like it when I questioned her about the part she played in the recent school play - "West Side Story" and how much she had to memorize for that role. Oh, it was just a small part was her comeback to that and granted it wasn't a lead role but it was an important one and yes, she had to memorize a good bit of dialogue, which she mastered perfectly. When I pointed out to her that because she not only had to learn her speaking part but also ALL the dialogue of the characters around her, on each time her character was on stage, then she had memorized way more than the amount of words involved in the Gettysburg address and there is absolutely no reason then why she feels incapable of memorizing this speech.
And furthermore, it is anything but BORING!
The teacher of her history class just happened to call here this morning to talk to Mandy - who had already left to go to State College this morning - and who I just happen to know quite well too, have known her since she was just a toddler because I also knew this teacher's GRANDMOTHER quite well too - and we talked for a while on the phone about history and problems with textbooks and getting/keeping kids interested in what happened at this time or that in the history of this country. And, this teacher knows how much I love history too as well as she knows how I am about lots of things - obnoxious, at times. Ok, obnoxious a good deal of the time since putting things in a blog should have honesty as a requirement ya know, so I may as well 'fess up to that here and now! Lest someone who knows me really well reads my stuff and begins to spout off in the comments section that this is one of my better known traits around town you see!
So anyway, I'll leave the real "Soap opera" story to whatever your imagination wants to conjure up that would make for really juicy gossip, etc., in a small town -mainly so as to not get myself in any more trouble than I already manage to stir up all of my own volition.
And now, since I'm still way behind on my other projects here too - sewing, for starters, meal plans for supper tonight which I haven't even begun thinking about yet, organizing more stuff for the Swedes visit, working on my project for my class reunion, knitting yet another scarf and of course, my research work about the local township here - and since Mandy took the grandkids with her today too and I have the house to myself for a couple hours yet (I hope), I better get off my duff, and get cracking to at least pull something out to start thawing and then, while I don't have to worry about watching to see what a certain three-year-old is dabbling in here, get moving on the sewing project first.
Till the next installment on the Small Town Soap.
Monday - May 7, 2007 (with apologies for missing posting ANYTHING yesterday)
"I can assure you that, even though I won't be sitting through every single moment of the seminars, nor will the vice president, we will look at the summaries." - Waco, Texas; August 13, 2002
and for Tuesday, May 8, 2007
"If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow." - Rochester, New York; January 7, 2000.
Now, on to a few other things.
First, the latest from Maya - on Sunday, as she was dancing around the room here, pretty much just running in circles, I asked her what the heck did she think she was doing. "Are you dancing, Maya?" And, to that her reply was "Dirty dancing, Grammie." Now where the dickens did she come up with that terminology? The movie hasn't been on - to my knowledge - lately and even if it were, I wouldn't be watching it as once around the block (ok, maybe I have watched it twice) was enough for me. "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" are probably the only movies I will try to watch every chance I get on the tv when they are shown - again.
Things appear at the moment to be shaping up quite nicely now for the upcoming visit at the end of this week by "The Swedes." This would be a group of three women and a gentleman who have been in the states since April 28th, doing family tree research seminars for people with Swedish ancestry. They will be arriving here this Thursday - I found out late last nite via an e-mail from one lady in the group that they will be here at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon. So today, I've been trying to contact a few of the people from the area who will be "hosting" them at some point in time during their stay. So far, we have things in place for a lady from our church who will have them for supper Thursday evening; another couple from a nearby village will have them Friday night for dinner and in all likelihood, I will be their "chef" (there's a joke) on Saturday at they will most likely be at my house for supper that day. But on Friday afternoon, we have things in place to have them attend a smallish luncheon at the little local restaurant here - Jim and Charmaine's place - and anyone with roots to Sweden who would like to meet them, learn a little about Family Tree stuff or folks who would like to meet them and share their knowledge about the local community too - history buffs, come on out - here's a great opportunity to meet some interesting folks and share your interests and knowledge all at the same time! At last count, I think we have upwards of 16 people who said they will try to attend the luncheon -so that plus the four Swedes, gives us about 20 at least then. Should be fun, don't you think?
Now, why did I title this piece "Soap Opera?" Well, for openers, this visit is a "big deal" in a small town such as this is, especially to a lot of the old timers here and those interested in family tree information. The antics of my little princess from time to time also constitutes a mini-soap opera but there have been more things going on just yesterday or in the past week I suppose, that really makes for some good soap opera material. But I'm not going to delve into the crux of that stuff mainly because enough crapola has already hit the fans and riled up a goodly number of people -within the family, on the periphery of the family and throughout the village that for me to discuss it would be tantamount to naming names, places, etc., and those players in this whole scenario really don't WANT to have my take on the whole mess!
Just suffice it to say the stepgranddaughter stepped into the middle of this pile of "doo" and didn't come out smelling exactly like the rose I think she thought would be available to her.
That, plus her latest brouhaha at school pertaining to her grades - and well, she is in up to her eyeballs right now. The school thing seemed to be simmering down with respect to her study habits -poor, at best - and the failing grades in math and science were being worked on. Then yesterday she brings home a paper to be signed because all of a sudden now, she's not doing the work required in her American History class! Geez, Louise!
This one really annoys me probably because I love history and have a hard time understanding what people see as boring about a subject so near and dear to my own heart. Math and science - now I can understand anyone having difficulty with those subjects but history? Give me a break here.
Well, the teacher had given her two options to gain extra credit for her grade. One was to read "Gone With The Wind" -and when she asked me if I'd ever read that book and I told her several times and that it is probably my all-time favorite book - I think she's already seen the size of it - she looked at me with a really big "Are you TOTALLY crazy, look?" Yes, I am and she should know that well enough by now. This option though apparently won't pan out because it seems she is currently not allowed to withdraw any more books from the library because she has at least two books out now that should have long since been returned but she can't find them! Brother! I asked if she had tried looking around the house to locate those books and she says she had but then I asked if she'd looked in the closet in the sunporch, adjacent to my room and she said "no" which tells me she hasn't begun to do any serious searching for these books. Ok -so GWTW has now been ruled out and we move on to the second option.
This one is that she memorize and recite, sans error, The Gettysburg Address. Well, it seems the child feels this is way too long a piece to try to memorize and besides that, "it's boring."
BORING? The Gettysburg Address? How the heck can anyone read that and find it "boring?" It's one of the most moving speeches ever delivered, ranks right up there with President Kennedy's "Ask Not" speech in his inaugural address in 1961, doesn't it? Moving, totally moving, is how I view President Lincoln's address. But then, she probably thinks I was present at Gettysburg when he delivered that speech too and besides, what the heck does this old so-and-so know about anything at all anyway? Ya know what I mean there?
She didn't like it when I questioned her about the part she played in the recent school play - "West Side Story" and how much she had to memorize for that role. Oh, it was just a small part was her comeback to that and granted it wasn't a lead role but it was an important one and yes, she had to memorize a good bit of dialogue, which she mastered perfectly. When I pointed out to her that because she not only had to learn her speaking part but also ALL the dialogue of the characters around her, on each time her character was on stage, then she had memorized way more than the amount of words involved in the Gettysburg address and there is absolutely no reason then why she feels incapable of memorizing this speech.
And furthermore, it is anything but BORING!
The teacher of her history class just happened to call here this morning to talk to Mandy - who had already left to go to State College this morning - and who I just happen to know quite well too, have known her since she was just a toddler because I also knew this teacher's GRANDMOTHER quite well too - and we talked for a while on the phone about history and problems with textbooks and getting/keeping kids interested in what happened at this time or that in the history of this country. And, this teacher knows how much I love history too as well as she knows how I am about lots of things - obnoxious, at times. Ok, obnoxious a good deal of the time since putting things in a blog should have honesty as a requirement ya know, so I may as well 'fess up to that here and now! Lest someone who knows me really well reads my stuff and begins to spout off in the comments section that this is one of my better known traits around town you see!
So anyway, I'll leave the real "Soap opera" story to whatever your imagination wants to conjure up that would make for really juicy gossip, etc., in a small town -mainly so as to not get myself in any more trouble than I already manage to stir up all of my own volition.
And now, since I'm still way behind on my other projects here too - sewing, for starters, meal plans for supper tonight which I haven't even begun thinking about yet, organizing more stuff for the Swedes visit, working on my project for my class reunion, knitting yet another scarf and of course, my research work about the local township here - and since Mandy took the grandkids with her today too and I have the house to myself for a couple hours yet (I hope), I better get off my duff, and get cracking to at least pull something out to start thawing and then, while I don't have to worry about watching to see what a certain three-year-old is dabbling in here, get moving on the sewing project first.
Till the next installment on the Small Town Soap.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Sight Seeing
Last week, if you recall, I mentioned that a group of four people from Sweden are going to be coming to this area for a very short visit the latter part of this week. The one lady in the group and I have been communicating for about eight years now about family tree data she has been able to secure for me from Sweden. In her note to me about their pending visit, she said she and the others would like very much to see the "sights" in this area and that got me trying to think what on earth would I show them that would or could constitute for "sights" here. That is, until my friend, Jeff Feldmeier sent me some photos today from his visit to the area last week. So I thought maybe I'd show you, my readers some of the local "sights." (Because these photos were all posted to Jeff's webshots, in order to download them, I had to download an "image converter" thing but being el cheapo that I am -or is that 'el broko' - the free version puts a watermark on the photos and that is what you will see in the right hand corner. But these photos are all courtesy of Jeff Feldmeier's fine photographic skills and I hope you can appreciate the beauty of these hills anyway.)The first photo here was taken at Karthaus - a little town further back in the mountains than where I live. It's about 10 miles or so from my home and is situated along the banks of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. This photo shows the bridge across the river between Karthaus and the road that leads to Pine Glen. I think it's surely a beautiful sight and from this angle though, is one I won't be able to get to this location upstream along the railroad trackage there to give the Swedish visitors this particular view as I can do here for you.
This picture, to the left, is of the Black Moshannon Creek just outside the little village of Moshannon which is about eight miles from my home. This stream, a really great mountain stream, noted too for being a good fishing stream, joins up with the Red Moshannon Creek (the stream used for the Big Red Mo Canoe Race the last Saturday in March every year) shortly before the waters then empty into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
To the right here, is another view of the Black Moshannon Creek. According to Jeff, this is located near "Meyers Run" and to be honest, I don't know where the heck Meyers Run is! There are many little rills and runs around these mountain streams that feed into them and they all run through some really heavily wooded areas, deep in the boondocks here beyond my accessibility. But I really think you have to agree on the beauty of this picture though, don't you agree? This is back in the hills in an area that is frequented mainly by hunters and trout fishermen - people accustomed to trekking in the wilderness and not necessarily a place easily accessed by old ladies who don't know their way around the forests here very well - like me.
The stream shown in the photo on the left here is of Black Bear - the mountain stream that runs sort of "behind" the small village of Winburne about five miles from my home. This stream is the feeder stream from which the majority of folks in the are get our water supply for our homes and most visitors to the area usually think we have some of the best water around. Where this photos was taken of the stream, it's doubtful I can get my Swedish visitors up exactly to this location but I can get them to a crossroads between Winburne and Black Moshannon State Park where they can see the stream - a little bit wider at that spot than it is in this photo. This stream is also known for being a great place for trout fishermen to try their luck too in this area.
The photo to the right is of Winburne, where the railroad tracks used to cross the highway and near where the old train station used to be in that village. This old train station, along with one that used to exist many, many years ago up in the mountains of Peale - the ghost coal mining town - were points of disembarkment for many new immigrants to the vicinity around the turn of the century. There also used to be a trolley that ran between Winburne and Philipsburg too - Philipsburg being the closest town to this area of any size, with a couple of stores still existing there now too.
On the left here, also in Winburne, this is where the railroad trackage used to be as it went between the train station and north of the village towards the coal mines and the old tipple sight in Winburne. This is the intersection of Church Street with Main Street - Church Street is the one veering off to the right. The smallish building you see in the front of this photo is of the old office of what used to be the Winburne Water Company - a now defunct corporation that is part of the Cooper Township Water Authority today.And finally, on the right, this is just north of Winburne and is of Wells Run - a stream until viewing Jeff's photos today, I didn't even know existed either.
Imagine that! I've lived in this neck of the woods for well over 50 years and this stream is only about four, maybe five miles from my home and yet, I never knew this is its proper name - Wells Run! If I am following Jeff's descriptions properly, this is probably what locals tend to refer to as the "sulfur creek" that runs through Winburne. We have the equivalent to it here in Grassflat, where I live too - what we call the "sulfur creek" here is actually named Moravian Run. It, and the stream through Winburne both were heavily polluted many, many years ago by the old coal mines that brought these towns in to existence in the late 1800's and will probably never carry water again that could be used to support fish or for drinking purposes either. Which is really a shame because when you view them in the light of Jeff's camera lense, it really is a quaint scene, isn't it? Almost calls you to pack a picnic lunch and sit along the banks on a quiet, sunny spring or summer day, doesn't it?And there you have my very short tour of some of the beauties of this region. How often I have gone by some of these areas for one reason or another and never really looked closely at them, never really saw how pretty these places are, most of the time. When I worked in State College and when I was attending Penn State, I generally drove by the Black Bear stream almost every day but I was usually in too much of a hurry to get over the mountain to work or to classes to really pay close attention to how pretty it is out in the wilderness here.
And now, later this week, I'll try to take my four Swedish visitors to attempt to show them a little glimpse of some locations here that really are quite lovely to behold if one takes the time to look at the beauty of the area for a change.
Perhaps later this week, I'll take you all on a little "look-see" around a bit of what is left of the ghost town of Peale - a place one of the Swedish visitors has expressed a desire to see. From it's birth in 1884 and for maybe a decade, Peale was quite a little boom town until the mines there began to be disbanded and folks moved up the road about a mile or two into Grassflat or were sometimes also transferred to another coal town in Indiana County - adjacent to Clearfield County -to Clymer or Commodore, PA.
One thing I find quite fascinating though about Peale is how many people who immigrated to this area in the late 1800's, and their entire families have left the area completely now for work in the cities of Cleveland, Detroit, Erie, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia -even to Chicago and New York -and so many people then have roots to this tiny area in the hills of central Pennsylvania.
A cousin of my Mom's who lives in the Cleveland suburbs told me a couple years ago about how when he worked for Sears in Cleveland that rarely a day went by that he didn't encounter a customer whose family had migrated to Cleveland from this small section of the state. He said it was like having old home week almost on a daily basis.
There are times I've thought perhaps I made a mistake -after having left this place in the mid-1960's only to return in 1972 - by coming back here because work is not plentiful and what work there is, often is not the caliber that pays very well. But those times when my mind wanders off in that direction usually dissipate quickly as I look around and think of what the area does have to offer. A good place, generally relatively safe by most standards, with its own unique charms and links to the past. I love the fact that many of the people who are my friends, my neighbors, I've known two, even three generations of their families from my childhood to today and I like that - knowing who people are by who their ancestors were, you see. For the most part, it is a friendly community and I appreciate that aspect of this region very much, indeed.
Come visit us here sometime and explore the mountains, the streams, the coal mine ruins today in some parts of the region because there really is a lot to see, to be learned, about the way things once were, how many of our ancestors existed when they first arrived in this country a century ago.
Who knows - maybe you'll decide it looks like a very inviting place to settle, even today.
Friday, May 04, 2007
And the Point Is?
Before I begin, let me state first off that when reading my blog, please keep an open mind and try to understand what I am posting here. The point of that sentence is mainly because recently I learned some people were upset with some statements I made which were intended to be read the same way I frequently talk -which is usually with a high level of sarcasm. I don't write this with any intent to slam anyone and generally, if it does appear I am "slamming" someone in some manner or other, if you read closely, you should be able to see it is being geared towards myself, not others. So keep in mind a lot of things I post are pretty much "tongue in cheek" and not intended to be otherwise.
Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time too also should be aware by now that my sweet little princess, Miss Maya, has some, shall we say, "Issues." She was diagnosed two years ago as having developmental delays and is receiving therapy from two really great therapists - one for behavior/play and the other for speech - and she is doing really great as a result of that. However, there are also other issues or symptoms that could possibly be markers for autism but she has not yet been evaluated for that. Next week, the evaluation for that disorder will begin. And, my daughter and I have learned through various sources that some people who have read my blog feel it is terrible that I have, in essence, "outed" Maya and her problem areas. One question that was asked was to the effect of how could we come forward to the general public and pretty much announce that Maya is "disabled?" Excuse me? How dare you - whoever it is who feels this way - accuse us of doing anything detrimental towards this precious little girl?
In this instance, this particular part of my post today, it may sound like I am "taking back water" from my first paragraph above - about not deliberately 'slamming' anyone, but this is not meant to slam but rather to explain something. People who think children who have any type of issues -whether they be physical challenges or mental or behaviorial, etc., - need to step back and take a closer look around themselves at their base attitude. And this applies especially to people who regard those who have mental or emotional challenges as being of a caliber that they should apparently be closeted, hidden away from society. Makes it seem that those people are not worthy of being accepted by society as a whole then. And, also makes me understand even more what my aunt often said about her daughter, my cousin, who is severely mentally and physically challenged and how many people wouldn't even look at my cousin almost for fear that her challenges, her issues, would be contagious and rub off on them. My little princess is a challenge often for us living with her at times, yes indeed she is, because she doesn't comprehend things the same way as other children her age often do but that does not mean she in incapable of learning, of doing, of behaving in a certain manner - just that it will take more time, lots more work with her through the therapists and lots more patience from us here too in trying to help her learn. But, she is a very bright little girl overall, is such a little sweetheart too, pretty as can be and yes, she is MY little princess, every inch of the way and the last thing I am is embarrassed or ashamed of her -nor are her parents or her siblings either - and no, she won't be shut away, led to think she is not a perfectly acceptable member of society now - or ever! Okay - that's been eating away at me for quite a while now and I'm glad I got it off my chest.
On to other things, hopefully in another vein too.
I had to laugh today, while reading my "favorite blogs" when I went to comment on one. Now, I have often cautioned folks when they go to read Meloncutter's Musings , Dooce or even Bob Johnson's Letters I Wish I'd Sent to proceed with caution and have also gone so far as to instruct others NOT to read those while trying to eat or drink ANYTHING as it can cause either choking or a big mess to have to clean up on your computer keyboard, desk or monitor from laughing at some of their commentary. But gee, until today I'd never had anyone say that they should be sure to HAVE something handy to drink while reading MY blog! Yeah, Debo - I know, I admit being very guilty all too often of being very long-winded in my posts! And no offense was taken by your comment there as it gave me a good little chuckle to myself when I read it.
Today, in my quest to try to get somethings done here, I'm pleased as punch to announce I have accomplished three very important things thus far today. First, I got the navy scarf (with silver sparklies in it) finished, second - I got the china cabinet cleaned out and reorganized and third, the reason for the cleaning of the china cabinet was because I was on a "search and destroy" mission to find the presser foot for my sewing machine which my little princess had removed, I had found, had thought I had "hidden" it from her by putting on top of my hard drive (which she can't reach) but it had disappeared from that place. (I kind of need that presser foot in order to start sewing the twenty some bibs I now have neck openings cut in towels to attach rib trim collars there.) And, lo and behold, the "search and destroy" mission paid off too in that within the first five minutes of taking stuff out and wiping it down, etc., I had found the presser foot safely ensconced in a cup (part of my cup collection) in the china cupboard!
So, you know the old saying "All's well that ends well" and that's my theory for today!
And, with that in mind - here's my ending for today too - the Bushism's for today and also, for the weekend. (Which to answer Sylvia's question about where do I find all these quotes from the DUBYA, I have a desk calendar which has a different quotation of his on it for every day of the year that my daughter gave me for Christmas.)
Friday, May 4, 2007
"Didn't we already give them a break at the top?" - To economic advisers urging the elimination of taxes on dividens, as quoted by Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill; Washington, D.C.; November 26, 2002.
and for Saturday and Sunday - May 5/6, 2007
"By the way, we rank tenth amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That's not good enough for America. Tenth is ten spots too low as far as I'm concerned." - Minneapolis, Minnesota; April 26, 2004
Have a great weekend now ya'll!
Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time too also should be aware by now that my sweet little princess, Miss Maya, has some, shall we say, "Issues." She was diagnosed two years ago as having developmental delays and is receiving therapy from two really great therapists - one for behavior/play and the other for speech - and she is doing really great as a result of that. However, there are also other issues or symptoms that could possibly be markers for autism but she has not yet been evaluated for that. Next week, the evaluation for that disorder will begin. And, my daughter and I have learned through various sources that some people who have read my blog feel it is terrible that I have, in essence, "outed" Maya and her problem areas. One question that was asked was to the effect of how could we come forward to the general public and pretty much announce that Maya is "disabled?" Excuse me? How dare you - whoever it is who feels this way - accuse us of doing anything detrimental towards this precious little girl?
In this instance, this particular part of my post today, it may sound like I am "taking back water" from my first paragraph above - about not deliberately 'slamming' anyone, but this is not meant to slam but rather to explain something. People who think children who have any type of issues -whether they be physical challenges or mental or behaviorial, etc., - need to step back and take a closer look around themselves at their base attitude. And this applies especially to people who regard those who have mental or emotional challenges as being of a caliber that they should apparently be closeted, hidden away from society. Makes it seem that those people are not worthy of being accepted by society as a whole then. And, also makes me understand even more what my aunt often said about her daughter, my cousin, who is severely mentally and physically challenged and how many people wouldn't even look at my cousin almost for fear that her challenges, her issues, would be contagious and rub off on them. My little princess is a challenge often for us living with her at times, yes indeed she is, because she doesn't comprehend things the same way as other children her age often do but that does not mean she in incapable of learning, of doing, of behaving in a certain manner - just that it will take more time, lots more work with her through the therapists and lots more patience from us here too in trying to help her learn. But, she is a very bright little girl overall, is such a little sweetheart too, pretty as can be and yes, she is MY little princess, every inch of the way and the last thing I am is embarrassed or ashamed of her -nor are her parents or her siblings either - and no, she won't be shut away, led to think she is not a perfectly acceptable member of society now - or ever! Okay - that's been eating away at me for quite a while now and I'm glad I got it off my chest.
On to other things, hopefully in another vein too.
I had to laugh today, while reading my "favorite blogs" when I went to comment on one. Now, I have often cautioned folks when they go to read Meloncutter's Musings , Dooce or even Bob Johnson's Letters I Wish I'd Sent to proceed with caution and have also gone so far as to instruct others NOT to read those while trying to eat or drink ANYTHING as it can cause either choking or a big mess to have to clean up on your computer keyboard, desk or monitor from laughing at some of their commentary. But gee, until today I'd never had anyone say that they should be sure to HAVE something handy to drink while reading MY blog! Yeah, Debo - I know, I admit being very guilty all too often of being very long-winded in my posts! And no offense was taken by your comment there as it gave me a good little chuckle to myself when I read it.
Today, in my quest to try to get somethings done here, I'm pleased as punch to announce I have accomplished three very important things thus far today. First, I got the navy scarf (with silver sparklies in it) finished, second - I got the china cabinet cleaned out and reorganized and third, the reason for the cleaning of the china cabinet was because I was on a "search and destroy" mission to find the presser foot for my sewing machine which my little princess had removed, I had found, had thought I had "hidden" it from her by putting on top of my hard drive (which she can't reach) but it had disappeared from that place. (I kind of need that presser foot in order to start sewing the twenty some bibs I now have neck openings cut in towels to attach rib trim collars there.) And, lo and behold, the "search and destroy" mission paid off too in that within the first five minutes of taking stuff out and wiping it down, etc., I had found the presser foot safely ensconced in a cup (part of my cup collection) in the china cupboard!
So, you know the old saying "All's well that ends well" and that's my theory for today!
And, with that in mind - here's my ending for today too - the Bushism's for today and also, for the weekend. (Which to answer Sylvia's question about where do I find all these quotes from the DUBYA, I have a desk calendar which has a different quotation of his on it for every day of the year that my daughter gave me for Christmas.)
Friday, May 4, 2007
"Didn't we already give them a break at the top?" - To economic advisers urging the elimination of taxes on dividens, as quoted by Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill; Washington, D.C.; November 26, 2002.
and for Saturday and Sunday - May 5/6, 2007
"By the way, we rank tenth amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That's not good enough for America. Tenth is ten spots too low as far as I'm concerned." - Minneapolis, Minnesota; April 26, 2004
Have a great weekend now ya'll!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Things To Be Done
Today, I've been trying to get myself motivated and organized so I can get the things done I need to do in the next couple of weeks.
So far, I have things set up for the four people from Sweden who will be visiting this area from next Thursday - May 10th- thru Sunday, May 13th for one lady from church so far who will have them for supper next Thursday night and also, offered to try to show them around the township a little bit. However, she says as far as taking them down to show them Peale, the local ghost town, well that will be my responsibility! I'm planning to have them for dinner here probably next Sunday, on Mother's Day, since my family and I don't usually do a big thing on Mother's Day (mainly because both my daughters usually seem to end up having to work that day.) And, another lady from an adjacent village has also said she would have the group for dinner one day while they are here too so I really only need to get things lined up for one other family (I hope) who will take them under their wing too for a meal then.
Then, I have another scarf I'm working on that I want to finish up along with other yarn I got recently to use in making scarves too. I have enough of this new yarn to make at least 5 scarves but can't seem to find the time to sit down and knit without falling asleep while doing it! Maybe I should leave those projects to really late at night - like watching Jay Leno and then MAYBE it would make me really sleepy then so I would go to bed a bit earlier, sleep longer maybe then too and be more rested, overall. Yeah - it sounds good on paper but... we shall see!
And then there's the bibs project too. I'm going to start getting the towel (fabric) ready tonight, line up the fabric I plan to use for the rib trim necklines and get that measured out and cut. Then, I'll just have to go on a "search and destroy" mission here to find the presser foot for my sewing machine so I'll actually be able then to put these together. A while back, I realized the presser foot had been removed on my sewing machine and found it no where near the machine so I know the way it got taken off the machine was that some little girl here had been putting her fingers on things she is supposed to not touch. I did have it stashed on top of the hard drive of my computer - where I could see it and knew where it was but I don't see it there now so I'm hoping maybe all I did was to move it slightly and it will surely turn up. If not, then I'll have to make a run over to State College to either the Joanne Fabric store there or to the Singer Sewing Machine shop to get a replacement foot for the machine.
Ah, little children and the things they like to get into, huh?
And now - the Bushism gem for today!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
"There's no cave deep enough for America, or dark enough to hide." - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; August 29, 2002
So far, I have things set up for the four people from Sweden who will be visiting this area from next Thursday - May 10th- thru Sunday, May 13th for one lady from church so far who will have them for supper next Thursday night and also, offered to try to show them around the township a little bit. However, she says as far as taking them down to show them Peale, the local ghost town, well that will be my responsibility! I'm planning to have them for dinner here probably next Sunday, on Mother's Day, since my family and I don't usually do a big thing on Mother's Day (mainly because both my daughters usually seem to end up having to work that day.) And, another lady from an adjacent village has also said she would have the group for dinner one day while they are here too so I really only need to get things lined up for one other family (I hope) who will take them under their wing too for a meal then.
Then, I have another scarf I'm working on that I want to finish up along with other yarn I got recently to use in making scarves too. I have enough of this new yarn to make at least 5 scarves but can't seem to find the time to sit down and knit without falling asleep while doing it! Maybe I should leave those projects to really late at night - like watching Jay Leno and then MAYBE it would make me really sleepy then so I would go to bed a bit earlier, sleep longer maybe then too and be more rested, overall. Yeah - it sounds good on paper but... we shall see!
And then there's the bibs project too. I'm going to start getting the towel (fabric) ready tonight, line up the fabric I plan to use for the rib trim necklines and get that measured out and cut. Then, I'll just have to go on a "search and destroy" mission here to find the presser foot for my sewing machine so I'll actually be able then to put these together. A while back, I realized the presser foot had been removed on my sewing machine and found it no where near the machine so I know the way it got taken off the machine was that some little girl here had been putting her fingers on things she is supposed to not touch. I did have it stashed on top of the hard drive of my computer - where I could see it and knew where it was but I don't see it there now so I'm hoping maybe all I did was to move it slightly and it will surely turn up. If not, then I'll have to make a run over to State College to either the Joanne Fabric store there or to the Singer Sewing Machine shop to get a replacement foot for the machine.
Ah, little children and the things they like to get into, huh?
And now - the Bushism gem for today!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
"There's no cave deep enough for America, or dark enough to hide." - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; August 29, 2002
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
What'd I Do Now?
If you look at my blog entry just below this one, you'll see some discrepancies - like in the way it is lined up. What the heck caused that, I have no idea!
I typed the meme up as a WORD document, then pasted it in to the blog. But, when I did that and hit publish, I realized I had forgotten to tag anyone so I pulled it up to edit it and when I did, it came up somewhat discombobulated then. Extra spaces between the lines and the last -#10 entry -was in bold, ultra large (and I do mean ultra-large) font!
So I monkeyed around, trying to get it all to line up, in the same font, same non-bold, etc. and it appeared in the "draft" form then to be okay so I hit publish again and what you see below is what it presented me with and I have no clue why it rearranged things that way!
Sometimes, computers and software and such really frustrate me!
I typed the meme up as a WORD document, then pasted it in to the blog. But, when I did that and hit publish, I realized I had forgotten to tag anyone so I pulled it up to edit it and when I did, it came up somewhat discombobulated then. Extra spaces between the lines and the last -#10 entry -was in bold, ultra large (and I do mean ultra-large) font!
So I monkeyed around, trying to get it all to line up, in the same font, same non-bold, etc. and it appeared in the "draft" form then to be okay so I hit publish again and what you see below is what it presented me with and I have no clue why it rearranged things that way!
Sometimes, computers and software and such really frustrate me!
"Ten Things" Meme
My "Blogger Bud, Mau" from up in Toronto way tagged me for the "Ten Things You Don't Know About Me" meme today. I'm usually really crappy about memes like this - can never think of anything about me that is really strange or odd - other than my whole self and I'm not sure that would qualify cause that would only be one thing.
But, I decided, what the heck - give it a try and here's what I came up with today.
Ten Things About Me You Don't Know:
1. I prefer to eat jello with mayonnaise on it instead of whipped cream.
2. Although I’m not as bad now about this, when I was a kid, I hated (was terrified) to ride over a bridge, especially high and/or long bridges. The Grand Island Bridge going into Niagara Falls, NY used to totally freak me out and I would lay down on the floor of the car till we were over it. Chesapeake Bar bridge still gives me a complex of sorts and scares me.
3. I dislike snakes immensely –actually, I am terrified of ANY snakes.
And now - the Bushism for the day - while I'm making a post, may as well throw this gem in here and now, huh?
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
"I repeat, personal accounts do not permanently fix the solution." - Washington, D.C.; March 16, 2005
But, I decided, what the heck - give it a try and here's what I came up with today.
Ten Things About Me You Don't Know:
1. I prefer to eat jello with mayonnaise on it instead of whipped cream.
2. Although I’m not as bad now about this, when I was a kid, I hated (was terrified) to ride over a bridge, especially high and/or long bridges. The Grand Island Bridge going into Niagara Falls, NY used to totally freak me out and I would lay down on the floor of the car till we were over it. Chesapeake Bar bridge still gives me a complex of sorts and scares me.
3. I dislike snakes immensely –actually, I am terrified of ANY snakes.
4. Although my vocabulary can be quite colorful at times, the worst word I used till I was over 18 years old was S**t and then, I would say it in Swedish so no one else knew I was swearing.
5. I learned to drive when I was about 8 years old and when I was 11, I drove my Mom’s car by myself, without her knowledge at the time, up the road past our house a distance about ½ mile in first gear all the way cause I couldn’t reach the clutch and still see out the windshield. Mom was NOT happy, NOT AT ALL!
6. Because of the little driving episode, my Mom refused to sign for me to get my driver’s license permit when I turned 16 and had to wait till I was 18 to get it on my own.
7. When I took my driver’s test, I flunked everything but the three swing turn the first time mainly because of the clutch in Mom’s old car which was going bad but she didn’t realize it until it burned out at the old high school one night when I was practicing driving and got the car stuck in the snow and Mom insisted that she would get the car out by “rocking” it out. Yeah, that smell around the car was the clutch burning!
8. When I was in high school and took typing for a year, I was the fastest typist in the class – 96 wpm –until they took away my errors and it dropped my speed down to about 62 wpm. Today, with a computer keyboard I generally average about 78 wpm with maybe 1-2 errors, thanks to the ability to backspace and not get penalized for it!
9. For as long as I could remember, until November of my senior year in high school, I wanted to be a Registered Nurse, like my Mom. Then I decided I wanted to go to college and be a teacher.
10. It took me 32 years after I graduated from high school to figure out a way to go to college and when I got my degree, it was in Rehabilitation Education – which I’ve never really ever been able to use in an employment setting cause I only had a B.S. and most places want people to have a master’s to do counseling work.I'm supposed to tag five people now to do this MEME thing - hmmm, wonder who I should tag? You know -I think I'll just tag everyone who happens by and reads this thing. Yeah, I know - ducking out on responsibility, aren't I?And now - the Bushism for the day - while I'm making a post, may as well throw this gem in here and now, huh?
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
"I repeat, personal accounts do not permanently fix the solution." - Washington, D.C.; March 16, 2005
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Rethinking a "Blue" Day.
First things first. I'm going to lead off today with the lovely Bushism for Tuesday, May 1, 2007.
"I want you to know that farmers are not going to be secondary thoughts to a Bush administration. They will be in the forethought of our thinking." - Salinas, California; August 10, 2000.
Ok, now that the Bushism is out of the way, let me ask a question that has no bearing at all on what I was thinking about writing. Why, after I insert something here using a color, bold and italics and then change it back to the black, click off the bold and italics, does the darned font stay in BOLD AND ITALICS? I can't for the life of me figure that one out! Oh well, the bold is easier for my old, almost worn-out eyes to read anyway!
Now, what was it I was thinking about?
Ever have one of those days when you get up and you feel ok but yet you don't feel ok? Not sick, but just blah or very much on the "blue" side of life maybe? That's about how I was today when I got up and it lasted for the bulk of the morning, well into the afternoon. I used to blame those feelings on the old standard - PMS - but since I am well beyond that phase of my life, maybe it is PPMS - Post-PMS?
I think what helped to bring me out of this little funk is that I didn't have the two little ones from 10:30 this morning till almost 4 p.m. They were at the babysitter's place so I took advantage of the freedom and went shopping. I had to be home before 3:45 though because Mandy had to be at work at 4 p.m. so my shopping "spree" wasn't all that long but it was long enough I guess in that I came home with some things I had forgotten I needed to pick up till a friend of mine from high school called me yesterday and that got my back to remembering a bit.
I like to sew but I'm not an expert at it and I don't like to mess with fancy sewing. I'm not that far advanced in my sewing knowledge to tackle really intricate stuff. But one thing I do like to make are really nifty little bibs for babies and toddlers. They're really easy to make as long as you can find the darned components you need for them. All you need to make one is a nice little fingertip towel - or a soft dishtowel (terrycloth) and some cotton knit rib trim. But finding fingertip towels can be a difficult process and locating cotton knit rib trim these days is almost impossible.
When my two younger kids were small, I took a course at a small fabric/sewing shop that used to exist in State College on how to sew with knit fabrics. It was a great class - kind of like the "Stretch 'n Sew" course and you learned too how to make your own patterns for tee shirts, turtleneck and cowl neck shirt as well as custom fitted slacks using really nice double-knit fabrics that were really popular back then. The instructors also taught us nice little tricks on how to insert elastic into a waistband by sewing it in or how to put the really narrow elastic in the sleeves of blouses and dresses for little girls that made the sleeve puff up so nice too. Easy tips that made sewing lots of things much more of a breeze.
Back then, you could find all kinds of cotton knit fabric that makes up into wonderful tee shirts and you could also find lots and lots of the cotton knit rib trim fabric too so you could easily match up the trim to your fabric and make tee shirts and turtlenecks that could rival some of the childrens namebrand clothing - like Carter's and Healthtex. And do it for half the price too which made spending the time sewing still a very economical move to cloth your kids -and yourself too.
Today, if you can find cotton knit fabrics even at the fabric stores (i.e. Joanne Fabrics -it's the only kind that exists in this area but requires a drive of at least 35-40 plus miles to the nearest one to where I live) you are lucky! They used to have really great selections of children's prints in the cotton knits as well as really nice prints suitable for adults too but today, finding anything in that type of fabric is really a hard thing to shop for. And even if you do find some nice cotton knit, try locating any rib trim to match up with it! If the store does carry any rib trim, odds are it will only be available in black or white - once in a blue moon, you can find some in red or a dark green but those finds are pretty rare.
The last time I went shopping at a fabric store and came across some nice cotton knit ribbing fabric, I bought a piece about 3 or 4 yards in length in white just so I would have SOMETHING I could use with most any fingertip or dishtowel when I want to make the bibs I mentioned above. And, on the rare occasions I manage to find solid colored cotton knit fabric (for tee shirt type items), I generally try to get a yard more than I need for the item so I will then have a little bit of a stash of sorts of fabric I can, in a pinch, use for necklines. That works ok usually for a crewneck but it depends on the weight of the fabric if it will work ok for use as a turtleneck.
On my little spree today, I lucked out and found several fingertip towels that I can use to make up some bibs, along with about six dishtowels that the design on them won't be too outlandish to use for a toddler's bib. I even lucked out at Walmart and found some cotton knit -on sale at $1.00 a yard - in a sort of denim blue color/appearance to the fabric which will work ok for use as rib trim too! A bonus day! So I got enough of the fabric to use to make tee shirts for the two little ones and still have plenty of fabric leftover for my needs to make crew neck or turtleneck openings for the bibs I want to make up with the towels.
My friend had asked me about a month ago if I would or could possibly make up a couple more of these bibs for her. I had sent her one a little over two years ago before her granddaughter was born and she told me how much she and her daughter both like using this bib because it slips on over the child's head easily, covers a wide area of their clothing plus, since they are made of soft terry cloth, they are very easy to launder - a factor ultra important when dealing with clothing of most any type for babies and little kids! Until she called me yesterday, I had darned near forgotten I had said I would make some up and bring them with me to our class reunion a month from now. Good thing she reminded me, huh?
Shopping when I have a mission in mind takes my mind off other things that might be kind of bogging me down at the time and that's what happened today as I went searching for some towels that would work up nicely. I found some at the "Dollar Tree," a few more at Ollies and now, I have 17 towels to make up into bibs.
My friend suggested I should make these bibs and take them to craft shows or flea markets and sell them. I've made some things in the past that I was able to sell over in State College - where I used to work - or at a craft show in Altoona, but as far as flea markets or crafts show nearer to where I live, trying to sell hand-made items often is like the kiss of death!
For some reason, people in this section of the state seem to be of a mind that if something is hand-made, the person making it should pay the person who wants the item - just to take it off their hands! Or, they expect the pricing to be the equivalent of something you would sell at a yard sale for used items.
It really irritates the heck out of me that these folks see no value in the time I spent making an item. Even though I can usually whip up a bib in a little less than an hour, after I subtract for the cost of the towel, thread, ribbing, etc., and if I charge $3.50 for the bib, I am still only making roughly $1.00 for myself - for my time - and that depends too on how much I have to pay for the towels in the first place.
Therefore, I don't usually make and sell these things but would rather make them and give them as gifts to friends and/or family who have just had a new baby or have a toddler in the house. The thought that others wouldn't see any value to my time if I charged for these tends to rile me and then too, it also depresses me too as it plays right into the feelings one gets at times of worthlessness.
But to make them and give them to people who I know like them, use them, appreciate them, gives me a totally different perspective then.
So now you know what I'll be doing every chance I get here after the kids are in bed or days they are at the sitter's place, don't you?
Yep - sewing my little fanny off, making baby bibs! Good thing not only is my friend's daughter having her second baby this August (and she wants some for the two-year-old as well as for the new baby) but I have several cousins who will be adding grandchildren to their families this summer and fall too and I know they understand the value and usefullness of these items too.
And that just makes me feel much better!
"I want you to know that farmers are not going to be secondary thoughts to a Bush administration. They will be in the forethought of our thinking." - Salinas, California; August 10, 2000.
Ok, now that the Bushism is out of the way, let me ask a question that has no bearing at all on what I was thinking about writing. Why, after I insert something here using a color, bold and italics and then change it back to the black, click off the bold and italics, does the darned font stay in BOLD AND ITALICS? I can't for the life of me figure that one out! Oh well, the bold is easier for my old, almost worn-out eyes to read anyway!
Now, what was it I was thinking about?
Ever have one of those days when you get up and you feel ok but yet you don't feel ok? Not sick, but just blah or very much on the "blue" side of life maybe? That's about how I was today when I got up and it lasted for the bulk of the morning, well into the afternoon. I used to blame those feelings on the old standard - PMS - but since I am well beyond that phase of my life, maybe it is PPMS - Post-PMS?
I think what helped to bring me out of this little funk is that I didn't have the two little ones from 10:30 this morning till almost 4 p.m. They were at the babysitter's place so I took advantage of the freedom and went shopping. I had to be home before 3:45 though because Mandy had to be at work at 4 p.m. so my shopping "spree" wasn't all that long but it was long enough I guess in that I came home with some things I had forgotten I needed to pick up till a friend of mine from high school called me yesterday and that got my back to remembering a bit.
I like to sew but I'm not an expert at it and I don't like to mess with fancy sewing. I'm not that far advanced in my sewing knowledge to tackle really intricate stuff. But one thing I do like to make are really nifty little bibs for babies and toddlers. They're really easy to make as long as you can find the darned components you need for them. All you need to make one is a nice little fingertip towel - or a soft dishtowel (terrycloth) and some cotton knit rib trim. But finding fingertip towels can be a difficult process and locating cotton knit rib trim these days is almost impossible.
When my two younger kids were small, I took a course at a small fabric/sewing shop that used to exist in State College on how to sew with knit fabrics. It was a great class - kind of like the "Stretch 'n Sew" course and you learned too how to make your own patterns for tee shirts, turtleneck and cowl neck shirt as well as custom fitted slacks using really nice double-knit fabrics that were really popular back then. The instructors also taught us nice little tricks on how to insert elastic into a waistband by sewing it in or how to put the really narrow elastic in the sleeves of blouses and dresses for little girls that made the sleeve puff up so nice too. Easy tips that made sewing lots of things much more of a breeze.
Back then, you could find all kinds of cotton knit fabric that makes up into wonderful tee shirts and you could also find lots and lots of the cotton knit rib trim fabric too so you could easily match up the trim to your fabric and make tee shirts and turtlenecks that could rival some of the childrens namebrand clothing - like Carter's and Healthtex. And do it for half the price too which made spending the time sewing still a very economical move to cloth your kids -and yourself too.
Today, if you can find cotton knit fabrics even at the fabric stores (i.e. Joanne Fabrics -it's the only kind that exists in this area but requires a drive of at least 35-40 plus miles to the nearest one to where I live) you are lucky! They used to have really great selections of children's prints in the cotton knits as well as really nice prints suitable for adults too but today, finding anything in that type of fabric is really a hard thing to shop for. And even if you do find some nice cotton knit, try locating any rib trim to match up with it! If the store does carry any rib trim, odds are it will only be available in black or white - once in a blue moon, you can find some in red or a dark green but those finds are pretty rare.
The last time I went shopping at a fabric store and came across some nice cotton knit ribbing fabric, I bought a piece about 3 or 4 yards in length in white just so I would have SOMETHING I could use with most any fingertip or dishtowel when I want to make the bibs I mentioned above. And, on the rare occasions I manage to find solid colored cotton knit fabric (for tee shirt type items), I generally try to get a yard more than I need for the item so I will then have a little bit of a stash of sorts of fabric I can, in a pinch, use for necklines. That works ok usually for a crewneck but it depends on the weight of the fabric if it will work ok for use as a turtleneck.
On my little spree today, I lucked out and found several fingertip towels that I can use to make up some bibs, along with about six dishtowels that the design on them won't be too outlandish to use for a toddler's bib. I even lucked out at Walmart and found some cotton knit -on sale at $1.00 a yard - in a sort of denim blue color/appearance to the fabric which will work ok for use as rib trim too! A bonus day! So I got enough of the fabric to use to make tee shirts for the two little ones and still have plenty of fabric leftover for my needs to make crew neck or turtleneck openings for the bibs I want to make up with the towels.
My friend had asked me about a month ago if I would or could possibly make up a couple more of these bibs for her. I had sent her one a little over two years ago before her granddaughter was born and she told me how much she and her daughter both like using this bib because it slips on over the child's head easily, covers a wide area of their clothing plus, since they are made of soft terry cloth, they are very easy to launder - a factor ultra important when dealing with clothing of most any type for babies and little kids! Until she called me yesterday, I had darned near forgotten I had said I would make some up and bring them with me to our class reunion a month from now. Good thing she reminded me, huh?
Shopping when I have a mission in mind takes my mind off other things that might be kind of bogging me down at the time and that's what happened today as I went searching for some towels that would work up nicely. I found some at the "Dollar Tree," a few more at Ollies and now, I have 17 towels to make up into bibs.
My friend suggested I should make these bibs and take them to craft shows or flea markets and sell them. I've made some things in the past that I was able to sell over in State College - where I used to work - or at a craft show in Altoona, but as far as flea markets or crafts show nearer to where I live, trying to sell hand-made items often is like the kiss of death!
For some reason, people in this section of the state seem to be of a mind that if something is hand-made, the person making it should pay the person who wants the item - just to take it off their hands! Or, they expect the pricing to be the equivalent of something you would sell at a yard sale for used items.
It really irritates the heck out of me that these folks see no value in the time I spent making an item. Even though I can usually whip up a bib in a little less than an hour, after I subtract for the cost of the towel, thread, ribbing, etc., and if I charge $3.50 for the bib, I am still only making roughly $1.00 for myself - for my time - and that depends too on how much I have to pay for the towels in the first place.
Therefore, I don't usually make and sell these things but would rather make them and give them as gifts to friends and/or family who have just had a new baby or have a toddler in the house. The thought that others wouldn't see any value to my time if I charged for these tends to rile me and then too, it also depresses me too as it plays right into the feelings one gets at times of worthlessness.
But to make them and give them to people who I know like them, use them, appreciate them, gives me a totally different perspective then.
So now you know what I'll be doing every chance I get here after the kids are in bed or days they are at the sitter's place, don't you?
Yep - sewing my little fanny off, making baby bibs! Good thing not only is my friend's daughter having her second baby this August (and she wants some for the two-year-old as well as for the new baby) but I have several cousins who will be adding grandchildren to their families this summer and fall too and I know they understand the value and usefullness of these items too.
And that just makes me feel much better!
Monday, April 30, 2007
I Lied!
In my last post, if you recall, I said I was going to retire for the night because since my son hadn't appeared by that time tonight, he evidently wasn't going to stop by at all this evening -er, this morning as it is now.
Well, about two minutes after I put that post up, this vehicle pulls up in front of the house, backs in and I know by the tail lights I can see through the living room window that it is Clate, come to call on me at what time? Yeah, about 1 a.m. I think it was then.
Seeing him pull up at this hour of the night usually means he has been "out and about" -doing some things he's been doing a lot more than his sister and I like to see him doing too, of late. He's been doing a lot of running around when he is home between runs, drinking a lot more than he really should be doing which is why his sister and I have been getting really upset with him for the past several months now.
I don't want to see him get arrested and end up with a DUI which would end his truck driving career before he even gets it going for openers. I also don't want to see him get into trouble beyond that by being involved in any accidents whether it just be smallish ones with damage to the vehicle or possible much more serious accidents involving other people who are hurt, maimed even killed or that he manages to get seriously injured or even killed too.
Having gone through this type of situation between 1973 and 1980 with my ex-husband, I can feel the tensions building within me and the worry and anxiety setting in. I know too from what I learned through Al-Anon thirty years ago now that I can't force my son to stop doing these things; that he has to reach that conclusion on his own and turn himself around. But boy, it is such a difficult path to walk down - not just for him but for me, for Mandy - for all of us here who love him dearly and care so much about him and his welfare.
We talked tonight for about two hours -or almost that long - some of it was pertaining to his drinking, yes. Whether he will take any steps towards correction of his issues, that I don't know. I can only hope and pray that he will see the light and act upon it appropriately. Right now, he sees the light but doesn't care to walk in that path and is in denial of how serious this situation can become and how rapidly it can also waltz in on a person and almost in the blink of an eye, overtake their life.
But that aspect isn't what I'm posting about -not really. Rather it is about a discussion we got into tonight about something else that is a major sore subject in the family. Education.
We have issues with the stepgranddaughter whose grades are not very good in math and in science. Right now, she is on the verge of failing both subjects this year. She managed, when put under a lot of pressure from the school to get both subjects up slightly so she could continue to participate in the school's drama club and to perform a very important role in the school play back in March. She also signed up to participate in the junior softball team too but was told on Friday of this past week she would not be allowed to play in their scheduled game yesterday (Saturday) because she was failing math now. Since she couldn't play in the game on Saturday, she hurried up and made arrangements to go spend the weekend with her mother and not even to attend the game yesterday with the team.
I don't think she realizes the consequences yet for having made that move - Mandy just found out today (Sunday) after talking to our neighbor, who is a teacher at the school, that if a kid is on a particular team sport and even if they are not allowed to play due to poor grades, if they don't attend the team function at all to cheer the team on, they will automatically then be booted off the team.
This kid has a history of signing up for various extra-curricular activities and then, once she finds out she has to move a muscle occasionally, or do a little bit more in the academic line than she cares to put out, she pulls away from the activity - and also from the grade/study aspects too. So far in the past three years, she has wanted to be a cheerleader and tried out for that not once, but twice but did poorly because she didn't put forth the effort, to go the little extra in the exercise department to have a good "show" in the tryouts plus, she also learned to be a cheerleader required maintaining a certain grade level too and that meant she would have to do dreadful things - like reading textbooks from time to time, completing homework and gee yes, studying too, of all the ridiculous requirements!
She insisted too that she wanted to participate in basketball one year, another year it was soccer but as soon as Mandy went and scraped together the money for necessary uniforms and gear, etc., she decided within usually a week or two then that she really didn't like basketball or soccer, etc. You get the picture there by now, I'm sure.
Her latest notion is that she insists she is going to go to college and that she is also going to go to the University of Arizona or Arizona State University - not sure exactly which one - but one of those two anyway. And, trying to explain to her that to attend a university that far from home, with out-of-state tuition rates doubling the cost of college, just from the economic factors alone, this is not a viable game plan. Plus, the fact she persistently ignores the rules of the game being to be accepted at a college - even a small school at the junior college level - one still has to have at least passed certain required courses and the higher in prestige the school, the more demanding their requirements to be accepted to attend there. But what the hell do I know anyway? In her eyes, this old broad just doesnt know what she is talking about at all and she will be able to just drift through high school and based on whatever, I sure don't know what, she will have this college just clamoring to accept her to attend there. Uh, think again, sweetheart!
This is where my son and I clashed tonight - locked horns you could say. He was not the best student in the history of our school district - not by a long shot. Not because he couldn't learn, but because if he didn't like a subject, saw no earthly need for it (in his opinion), he wouldn't even do the bare minimal amount of work to pass it. Because he failed general mathematics courses - all three that were needed for him to get his diploma, he was not allowed to participate in the commencement ceremony and they withheld his diploma until he showed the school that he had taken make-up courses and passed them. And, if he hadn't tried to get into the Army and been told by the recruiter he HAD TO HAVE his high school diploma, he probably never would have taken those three courses he needed. Which he did do and he passed with very little difficulty then too but he had to have a personal motive, an incentive, then to deal with what he thought for several years was an unnecessary entity in life.
Now, we got into a discussion about how colleges require that a student MUST take x-number of credits in various areas of study. Penn State, for example, requires all students MUST have at least a set amount (I think it is 60) credits in what they call the "Gen-Ed" credits: which means all students have to have at least 6 math credits, 9 in the natural sciences; 4 in the health/phys ed; 6 in courses dealing with history, 6 in humanities and you have to take a Speech communications course, at least two English/writing classes, 6 credits in the Arts. Maybe it is only 46 credits, I just don't remember exactly now. But my son's argument here is that why should people HAVE to take courses in which they have no interest, which -in his opinion - have no bearing at all on the courses that person is interested in, which really ARE NECESSARY to do whatever it is that the person has for a career goal.
And my response to him - although I do understand what he means there (I never liked math or science at all either) -in part, the idea is to assure that the graduate has a "rounded" education and has some concepts in these various areas and also, because it is necessary to learn that in life, regardless of one's occupation, there is always going to be some aspect to any job that one doesn't like but you still have to do it and perform half-way decently at it too. And, to take on subjects you don't like, which may be more difficult than others - and survive -it gives you more of the aspect of being responsible and able to persevere in life in general.
Let me put this question out here then to those of you reading this post - what classes did you take in high school or college which you felt were totally useless, and did you just scrap and skate by in them or did you try to get a reasonable grade to get it over and done with? And why do you think this is a requirement of colleges for students to take these various classes that the student may believe will never be used in a career of that person's choice?
The floor is wide open here - both in respect to answer my son's questions as well as perhaps tossing out some advice that could be applied to the stepgranddaughter to perhaps help to open her eyes as to the foolhardiness of her attitude about school, education, coursework, etc.
So let's hear your thoughts now!
Well, about two minutes after I put that post up, this vehicle pulls up in front of the house, backs in and I know by the tail lights I can see through the living room window that it is Clate, come to call on me at what time? Yeah, about 1 a.m. I think it was then.
Seeing him pull up at this hour of the night usually means he has been "out and about" -doing some things he's been doing a lot more than his sister and I like to see him doing too, of late. He's been doing a lot of running around when he is home between runs, drinking a lot more than he really should be doing which is why his sister and I have been getting really upset with him for the past several months now.
I don't want to see him get arrested and end up with a DUI which would end his truck driving career before he even gets it going for openers. I also don't want to see him get into trouble beyond that by being involved in any accidents whether it just be smallish ones with damage to the vehicle or possible much more serious accidents involving other people who are hurt, maimed even killed or that he manages to get seriously injured or even killed too.
Having gone through this type of situation between 1973 and 1980 with my ex-husband, I can feel the tensions building within me and the worry and anxiety setting in. I know too from what I learned through Al-Anon thirty years ago now that I can't force my son to stop doing these things; that he has to reach that conclusion on his own and turn himself around. But boy, it is such a difficult path to walk down - not just for him but for me, for Mandy - for all of us here who love him dearly and care so much about him and his welfare.
We talked tonight for about two hours -or almost that long - some of it was pertaining to his drinking, yes. Whether he will take any steps towards correction of his issues, that I don't know. I can only hope and pray that he will see the light and act upon it appropriately. Right now, he sees the light but doesn't care to walk in that path and is in denial of how serious this situation can become and how rapidly it can also waltz in on a person and almost in the blink of an eye, overtake their life.
But that aspect isn't what I'm posting about -not really. Rather it is about a discussion we got into tonight about something else that is a major sore subject in the family. Education.
We have issues with the stepgranddaughter whose grades are not very good in math and in science. Right now, she is on the verge of failing both subjects this year. She managed, when put under a lot of pressure from the school to get both subjects up slightly so she could continue to participate in the school's drama club and to perform a very important role in the school play back in March. She also signed up to participate in the junior softball team too but was told on Friday of this past week she would not be allowed to play in their scheduled game yesterday (Saturday) because she was failing math now. Since she couldn't play in the game on Saturday, she hurried up and made arrangements to go spend the weekend with her mother and not even to attend the game yesterday with the team.
I don't think she realizes the consequences yet for having made that move - Mandy just found out today (Sunday) after talking to our neighbor, who is a teacher at the school, that if a kid is on a particular team sport and even if they are not allowed to play due to poor grades, if they don't attend the team function at all to cheer the team on, they will automatically then be booted off the team.
This kid has a history of signing up for various extra-curricular activities and then, once she finds out she has to move a muscle occasionally, or do a little bit more in the academic line than she cares to put out, she pulls away from the activity - and also from the grade/study aspects too. So far in the past three years, she has wanted to be a cheerleader and tried out for that not once, but twice but did poorly because she didn't put forth the effort, to go the little extra in the exercise department to have a good "show" in the tryouts plus, she also learned to be a cheerleader required maintaining a certain grade level too and that meant she would have to do dreadful things - like reading textbooks from time to time, completing homework and gee yes, studying too, of all the ridiculous requirements!
She insisted too that she wanted to participate in basketball one year, another year it was soccer but as soon as Mandy went and scraped together the money for necessary uniforms and gear, etc., she decided within usually a week or two then that she really didn't like basketball or soccer, etc. You get the picture there by now, I'm sure.
Her latest notion is that she insists she is going to go to college and that she is also going to go to the University of Arizona or Arizona State University - not sure exactly which one - but one of those two anyway. And, trying to explain to her that to attend a university that far from home, with out-of-state tuition rates doubling the cost of college, just from the economic factors alone, this is not a viable game plan. Plus, the fact she persistently ignores the rules of the game being to be accepted at a college - even a small school at the junior college level - one still has to have at least passed certain required courses and the higher in prestige the school, the more demanding their requirements to be accepted to attend there. But what the hell do I know anyway? In her eyes, this old broad just doesnt know what she is talking about at all and she will be able to just drift through high school and based on whatever, I sure don't know what, she will have this college just clamoring to accept her to attend there. Uh, think again, sweetheart!
This is where my son and I clashed tonight - locked horns you could say. He was not the best student in the history of our school district - not by a long shot. Not because he couldn't learn, but because if he didn't like a subject, saw no earthly need for it (in his opinion), he wouldn't even do the bare minimal amount of work to pass it. Because he failed general mathematics courses - all three that were needed for him to get his diploma, he was not allowed to participate in the commencement ceremony and they withheld his diploma until he showed the school that he had taken make-up courses and passed them. And, if he hadn't tried to get into the Army and been told by the recruiter he HAD TO HAVE his high school diploma, he probably never would have taken those three courses he needed. Which he did do and he passed with very little difficulty then too but he had to have a personal motive, an incentive, then to deal with what he thought for several years was an unnecessary entity in life.
Now, we got into a discussion about how colleges require that a student MUST take x-number of credits in various areas of study. Penn State, for example, requires all students MUST have at least a set amount (I think it is 60) credits in what they call the "Gen-Ed" credits: which means all students have to have at least 6 math credits, 9 in the natural sciences; 4 in the health/phys ed; 6 in courses dealing with history, 6 in humanities and you have to take a Speech communications course, at least two English/writing classes, 6 credits in the Arts. Maybe it is only 46 credits, I just don't remember exactly now. But my son's argument here is that why should people HAVE to take courses in which they have no interest, which -in his opinion - have no bearing at all on the courses that person is interested in, which really ARE NECESSARY to do whatever it is that the person has for a career goal.
And my response to him - although I do understand what he means there (I never liked math or science at all either) -in part, the idea is to assure that the graduate has a "rounded" education and has some concepts in these various areas and also, because it is necessary to learn that in life, regardless of one's occupation, there is always going to be some aspect to any job that one doesn't like but you still have to do it and perform half-way decently at it too. And, to take on subjects you don't like, which may be more difficult than others - and survive -it gives you more of the aspect of being responsible and able to persevere in life in general.
Let me put this question out here then to those of you reading this post - what classes did you take in high school or college which you felt were totally useless, and did you just scrap and skate by in them or did you try to get a reasonable grade to get it over and done with? And why do you think this is a requirement of colleges for students to take these various classes that the student may believe will never be used in a career of that person's choice?
The floor is wide open here - both in respect to answer my son's questions as well as perhaps tossing out some advice that could be applied to the stepgranddaughter to perhaps help to open her eyes as to the foolhardiness of her attitude about school, education, coursework, etc.
So let's hear your thoughts now!
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