NANA'S MEMORIES

For those of you who did not know, my maiden name was Middleton (none of us got an invitation to the royal wedding). Sometimes our Southern dialect causes the beginning of the word and the ending of the word to run together.  During the time I felt I had been banished to Hickeytown, the Israeli and Palestinian conflicts were heating up with border raids, gun battles, and nightly reports of the "militants this and militants that".  I guess my little sister had finally heard enough because she got all huffed up and said, "I wish they would quit talking about the 'Middletons".

I've been watching "The Searchers". Martin tells Laurie, "Laurie, I was just thinkin' it's about time we's goin' steady." To which Laurie replies, "Martin Pawley, we's been goin' steady since we's three years old." Incredulously Martin asks, "We have?"

I have had a little bit of trouble keeping up with my blog reading. And why is it we have so little time to do the things we like? I did happen upon this in a round about way and wanted you to see it. I don't do "frou frou" but isn't this the prettiest thing you've seen in forever?    Can you tell they are arranged on a dress form? Sure would look good on my front porch. http://www.zsazsabellagio.com/

Television was big in the fifties as families began to be able to afford this new luxury. It was 1957 before we were able to get a television set of our own. It was a Christmas like event in the middle of the summer when Daddy climbed on the roof to adjust the antennae just right to bring in an almost clear picture of Silver rearing up as the Lone Ranger shouted, "Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!" I was hooked on television from the beginning and became the family's equivalent of the “TV Guide”. We only got two channels and had our favorites from each one. Daddy hurried home from work to catch the latest “Have Gun Will Travel” or “Rawhide” show. My brother liked "The Roy Rogers Show". I have actually thought about decorating a spare bedroom in a "Roy Rogers" theme. Mama liked Dale Robertson in "The Tales of Wells Fargo". Westerns were big in the fifties. Me? I liked them all and resented my brother getting to stay home to watch Captain Kangaro...

As you can probably tell by now my interests vary from day to day and week to week. I am kind of on a cowboy kick now. Well not actually any current cowboys but the fifties cowboys. The cowboys like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and John Wayne. Back in the fifties there was a different morality that dictated how television and movie stars were portrayed. Even back when Gene Autry had his Melody Ranch radio program, he expected his shows and public appearances to abide by a standard of ethical and moral behavior. I have asked to use his Cowboy Code but as I have not heard back from them, I am giving you a link to his website so you can read  Gene Autry's Cowboy Code  for yourself. I especially like #8 and #9. And how many times did we watch Roy Rogers when we were growing up in the fifties? He also felt he needed to maintain a code of conduct and even had  Roy Rogers Riders Club Rules  for his young viewers. I am not sure about John Wayne's personal life b...

It is Spring Break around here and all the kids (and teachers) are excited. I do not remember having Spring Break when I was in grade school. Perhaps we did and I have forgotten. We did not start to school until September and then we were out of school in May. Children have so much more to learn nowadays than we did. As I got older I would spend summers with my OKC Grandma. Grandma was a seamstress and made alterations at a large department store in the City. She owned a 1957 Chevrolet but usually rode a bus  to work. I thought that was pretty neat as a bus that was not a school bus was unheard of where I came from. Sometimes I would ride the bus with her and stay at the store while she worked. She let me pick out a really pretty Catalina swimsuit one summer. She paid a whopping $16 for it and it lasted forever. Sometimes I stayed at her house while she went off to work. Her neighbor, Mrs. Johnson, checked in on me during the day and let me read her Movietone magazines. I sur...

My brother in law is back in the hospital...bless his heart. This a flower he planted last summer when he was in relatively good health. Although I really have no idea what it is, I am calling it a rhododendron. 

My tax man, hairdresser, and doctor are all in my old hometown about twenty miles from where I now live. I took off work all day for appointments stretched out throughout the day.  Although I do wonder where all of my adjusted gross income went, the tax preparation process was relatively painless.  Nicole is well worth the trip to Clarksville as she is consistently good with my hair. In between appointments I saw my beautiful little Aunt, checked out a couple of consignment stores, and finished the day at the doctor's office.  It seemed like a family reunion at the clinic. My sister had my brother in law there and after I left my mother and father in law came in. My brother in law is back in the hospital. There are twin nurses at the clinic who both remember Mama. We were talking today about when Mama had lost down to only 77 pounds. I cannot remember whether it was PeeWee or Jane who after she had noted Mama's actual weight, lightly placed her foot on the scale...

Do you ever have those days  That all seems right with the world  And even if you are headed down the road For a day at work......it is all good.

My son-in-law sent me this picture of our oldest grandchild LEARNING TO DRIVE.  How on earth did I get old enough for that?  Her little brother once said as I was chauffeuring him around, "Nana, when I get big and you get little, I will drive you." He is also the one that says I can move with him to Miami when he gets grown. We are going to have a condo on the beach.

We have enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon watching it rain and catching up on old movies I have DVR'd. We first watched The Grapes of Wrath and then The Sacketts . I have been in a Tom Selleck mood and just finished watching his Jesse Stone series. Even though both of the movies we watched today are from different time periods, they both featured the song Red River Valley.  That song always reminds me of when Dr. Manley and Dr. Shrigley (I always want to add old doctor when I say their names) were preparing to set my broken leg the summer I turned thirteen. As I drifted off to sleep,  I heard Dr. Shrigley singing Red River Valley. I have wondered why that song was on his mind. Did he listen to one of Marty Robbins records? Had he seen an old western at the Strand theater? Did he hear it on this Roy Rogers film by the same title? Ranchers, with the help of Roy, raise money to build a reservoir but lose it to a gambler through a crooked stock deal. I remember dream...

So we moved from the less than five thousand population Big City back to Hubby's home place to build our own little house in the country. We had saved eight hundred dollars to begin building. In the early seventies, that went pretty far....not so much so now. With a lot of help from everyone, we moved into our tiny house shortly before our son's second birthday. We bought a few things as we could and finished it month by month and year by year. Maybe that is not entirely true. When we moved a year ago, the bathroom hallway still did not have ceiling trim. You can barely see our son in the front yard. It is obvious we did not have our front porch built yet. I cropped the old clothesline I used to hang clothes out on. Chiggers would get on the bedclothes. I swear! You could see the little red things all over the white sheets. You can see the television antennae we used to get channels 4 and 11....on our black and white television. I remember watching Sonny and Cher, La...

I do not remember much about the 1970s. What memories I do have are spotty - somewhat like childhood memories. I think childbearing and child rearing causes amnesia. Taken at the old church. Our pictures got lost in the mail. Glad we had Polaroids. Although I do not recall a marriage proposal, I do remember a wedding ceremony. Daddy asked if I just wanted to go out the back door. I did not. I remember Hubby being at the church before I arrived. That was the first time he had ever been on time and possibly the last. We did not have a television when we first married. We went to Mama and Daddy's house to watch Marilyn in the Miss America pageant. It was the first time I did not have to argue with my brother about whether we would watch the pageant or a football game. We did have a washing machine though. Grandpa vouched for us with Mr. Hammond to get a new washer and pay it out. It was a Whirlpool washer that lasted about twelve years and was our first purchase on cred...

It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It is very quiet now as the grandchildren have all left and Hubby is working back at the farm. I like being alone as long as I know it is not permanent. I have not done much other than a little laundry and the always unpleasant task of mopping the floors. Again, I apologize for the picture quality. I am reluctant to invest in a good camera or even to invest in the time needed to upgrade my iPhone. And yes, Elizabeth, I will get around to it eventually. I wanted you to see and hear the wind blowing in the pine trees. It seems so pleasant to me - just a soft, gentle breeze making a quiet whisper through the trees. There is a pretty cardinal up there but it did not photograph well. Then.....do you notice the picture has a slight jerking motion to it? That is my hand tremor. It is a family thing that is not much more than a nuisance. But now, my eyelid has started twitching. So, like I know you all do as well, I punch in hand tremor and eye twit...

Well, now I have gone and done it. The intent was to tell how I never got a marriage proposal but now I have thought myself back into grade school. At least I made it to the sixth grade as I am now remembering Miss Kraus. I would say the consensus is Miss Kraus was a favorite teacher. She was the Hurie School principal and sixth grade teacher as long as I can remember. She was a sturdily built unmarried woman who was probably in her forties when I thought she was elderly. She walked as if she was hurrying to an appointment - sort of bosom forward and bent at the waist. It was in the sixth grade that Gary played the Big Bad Wolf in our production of Little Red Riding Hood. His mother made a very realistic looking wolf's head out of paper mache. I am trying to remember who Red Riding Hood was. I think it was Kathy who wore a pretty little red cape that I am sure her mother made. Some boy improvised on the "shave and a haircut" part of a song and slapped his leg while...