NANA'S MEMORIES

My Uncle Morrice Dean - we always say the Dean - was 10 years old when mama and daddy married. He was 11 when I was born and still young enough to get a kick out of pushing a giggling toddler around and around the house in a plain ole' cardboard box. Mama was only 16 when she married and left Oklahoma City and made her home with my daddy in Arkansas. Although she was welcomed by her new family, she was frequently homesick and would send for her baby brother to stay a few weeks with her. Clockwise from the top: Tallest is My Uncle Bob, My Grandpa, My Uncle Toby, My Mama Virginia, My Uncle Morrice Dean, My Grandma, My Uncle Ted. Morrice Dean was pretty much informally adopted by daddy's family and was a frequent visitor at the Middleton family home. He and Uncle Paul became great friends. He is most remembered by his always present glasses, wide smile, and free and easy disposition. Mama, Morrice and Paul (Paul says Mama's knees in his back really hurt) With ...

After only seven short years, our new house no longer has the minimalist decor I swore it would always have. Although I fully intend to have garage sales this summer to clear out the clutter, some things I will always keep. The saying is, "I wouldn't take a million dollars for it." That is how I feel about this small handmade table I believe my grandpa made. As I am now an orphan with only younger siblings, I have no way to authenticate this sweet table's history. But just in case, it is not for sale. Table Made by Grandpa G Although this pretty print in an original frame is not the same one Grandma had at the farm, it is still precious to me. I must have been seven or eight years old when Grandma gently explained the meaning of the picture. She said Jesus sent an angel to watch over the two children as they crossed the broken bridge. I think she wanted me to also notice how the older sister was helping her little brother in hopes I would be kinder t...

Grandma Middleton almost wasn't my grandma. The story she told me was that she was born a twin. She was named Dena while her sister's name was Gina. Gina died at birth and as grandma's daddy was going to town to bury the tiny baby, he was told to hurry back as the other one would die before he returned. He intended to buy a goat to milk for grandma but while in town someone told him to feed her Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk. He did and grandma survived to marry and bear nine children. My grandparent's first child was born in 1926. She was my Aunt Inez. Grandma said when they were staying in Tulsa, she was so afraid someone would steal her baby, she pinned Inez's nightgown to her own. My daddy was the second born child. Grandma, Daddy, and Aunt Inez Grandma raised her younger children during the Great Depression. Daddy said they never had much but they never felt poor.  Grandpa worked hard, grandma grew what they ate, and they made do with what ...

It is just me and The Man today. Portent of things to come, I guess. We are binge watching NCIS as I scroll through all of my Facebook friends' Christmas posts and photographs. I wonder why we did not take more pictures of our Christmas celebration? The only picture I have of our food is this "thing" Laura found inside of a pepper she cut for her vegetable platter. Kinda' looks like a bull's head doesn't it? More than once this year, I had to get Don to lift a heavy pan or pot from the oven or stove. I've become a weakling in my old age. I also let the potatoes boil dry and nearly scorched my pan twice. Now that is something not many can say they accomplished. Dinner was ready to eat just as everyone arrived. We had plenty to eat without much waste. I wrestled an hour with that fatty ol' shank ham before I got the bone out to season my New Year's Eve black eyed peas. Although I don't think any of us spent much on gifts, they were ...

This time of year I start remembering Christmas holidays from when I was a kid. Things like the smell of a new vinyl doll on Christmas morning. One of my favorite Christmas memories is of the year my Grandma bought me twin boy and girl dolls for Christmas. They didn't have lifelike hair but they came complete with full wardrobes that she had made. It snowed that Christmas and I dressed and undressed those dolls all day long. I remember not wanting my two year old brother to play with them. That was the year Daddy was working in Oklahoma and I went to first grade for part of the winter. That was also the year I told my teacher Daddy didn't have money to buy me a new coat. Someone at the school bought me a beautiful red one. Mama and Daddy took it back and told them they had just been waiting to go to the city to buy me one. I have no recollection of the one they bought but still remember that pretty red coat. I remember Daddy telling me to step in his tracks through t...

Last month we had a steam locomotive watch party in our back yard when Union Pacific's 'Living Legend' No. 844 made its trek from Tennessee back to Wyoming. While it did not stop behind our house, the engineer did blow the whistle long and loud. My cousin Rob took this fabulous photograph as the steam engine rounded the curve by our house.  We had a perfect view and an even more perfect get together with about twenty of our friends and family awaiting the train's arrival.

After becoming quite disillusioned with Facebook, I am returning to blogging. I am looking forward to reading and writing about quiet everyday matters. I plan to resume dropping in on my favorite blogs to see how you all are doing. My life is still hectic as I am working full time. I have worked the last 14 years with the state of Arkansas in the In Home Services nursing program. On August 1, 2016 we were bought out by a large home health agency. It was a traumatic event. I am sure I will rant about this later. For now, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Day. Our children and grandchildren have scattered and we will be having a quiet Thanksgiving Day with just my mother in law with us. She has developed Alzheimer's since my last post. A cruel and heartbreaking disease. We will talk about this later as well. It is late and I need to go to bed so I can go to work tomorrow. Good Night All.

Well, today is my birthday. Actually it is a birthday milestone of sorts as I can now draw my "rocking chair" money. That is if I didn't want to eat or pay bills. I've told you stories of my early years, haven't I? About how my hospital bill was only $25.00? And how I was named after Rita Hayworth? Did I ever tell you that back in the early 1950's the new mothers were encouraged to stay in bed for ten days? That meant Mama and Daddy stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for ten days after I was born. My cousin was born nine days after I was. Just as Mama and Daddy were leaving Grandma's, my Aunt was beginning her ten day confinement there. Did I ever tell you that my youngest Uncle is only two years older than I am? (He is the "three words the whole way to Oklahoma City Uncle). Mama said he thought I was his baby and would have crossed Main Street to bring me back to Grandma's if a neighbor had not called to ask h...

Although I spent a big part of my childhood at my grandparents' farm, I was actually a city girl.  Mom and Dad always rented houses in town where the streets were paved and well lit. It was a safe and friendly town where children walked back and forth to school.  Mama walked me to Michie School my first day of second grade and I walked alone afterwards. I cannot imagine allowing a seven year old out of the yard nowadays. It was a different world then. This is a picture of my second grade classmates at Michie School. I am sure Mama would have dressed me in a cute little dress if I had told her that pictures were being made that day. I remember Toni reassuring me Danny would stand in front of me and hide my shorts but I guess we forgot to tell him. Look how cute Scotty is in the second row. And look how sweet and cheerful Toni is. We have lost both of them now. These, and the ones I made at Hurie School, were ...

Bear with me as I re-post from last Valentine's Day. I rarely get a Valentine's card from my hubby...but he always changes the oil in my car. He rarely buys me candy either...but he always saves the last Twizzler in the package for me. I do not remember him buying me many cut flowers...but he digs the holes to plant my azaleas. He does not take me out to eat much...but he never complains if we have scrambled eggs for supper. We do not vacation together very often...but he will travel anywhere I am to change a flat tire on my car. He sometimes tracks mud in on my clean floors...but he takes his boots off every night at my house.

I was thinking of Valentine's Day gifts today and wondered whether Uncle Howard bought romantic gifts for Aunt Dorcas. If he did, she did not tell me about them.  He used to go to the corner store every morning to buy her a six ounce bottle of cold Coca Cola. I remember Dorcas was crazy about him. Uncle Howard dated the Mother of one of my high school friends. I won't say who...just in case. Aunt Dorcas and Aunt Lizzy shared the same anniversary date. It was not planned that way but the two couples often went out to eat for their anniversary. She and Uncle Howard came to spend the night with us when we lived in Flat Rock. They chose the bedroom with just a twin bed. She said they liked to sleep close. It was a big family joke that when Howard came to visit he brought his chain saw and cut back all of Grandma's trees. We wondered if they would survive each new cut. They camped at Piney Bay every summer. Before they paved the road to Piney Bay, Dad...

The pelicans have returned to the Arkansas River. I don't know where they are wintering here from. Photo courtesy of 123fotography The pelicans line up along a sand bar between our bank of the river and Goose Island. I don't have a camera that will capture a good image so I am using a photo my cousin took of the pelicans up river from our place.

My daughter Laura and my niece Debbie attended the same day care when they were 3 and 4 years old respectively. As with most day cares, they served nutritionally balanced lunches that many of the children did not like.  Jody, Debbie, Jason, and Laura I learned years later that my niece would eat my daughter's spinach so she could have a second helping of chicken.

My youngest grandaughter was recently grounded from television and all electronic devices. When I asked her what she did all day her response was, "Oh, I just dance."

I know I have not been blogging lately so have no right to be bragging but.......I wanted to tell you about my grandson's budding basketball career. You remember Blake, don't you? He and I share the same birthday and sometimes vacation together. Ten year old Blake began playing basketball last year but broke his arm on Thanksgiving and had to sit the season out.  This year's season just completed with his team undefeated. Blake is small but very quick and able to steal the ball quite well from the bigger boys. He rarely shoots the ball but did make a fantastic hook shot that one of the parents captured on video.

This is an apron Grandma gave me when I first married.  I'm not sure whether she actually wore it or made it especially for me.  While I hate to admit I rarely wore it, all of my grandchildren have wrapped it around themselves when we baked cookies - even my grandson. I remember watching from a rusty metal gate overgrown with orange trumpet vines as Grandma carried two heavy buckets of frothy warm milk toward the shingle sided house. Escaping the tightly braided knot at the nape of her neck, one long wispy tendril of Cherokee Indian black hair trailed around the thin earpiece of her wire rimmed glasses. An ever present bib style apron covered her plain cotton shirtwaist dress. The apron was as white as the milk in the buckets and had been laundered so often she could have easily used it to strain both buckets full of milk. As she stepped inside the too warm kitchen, she kicked off the black rubber boots she wore to the milking shed and ...

Wishing all my friends a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years. I promise to get you all caught up on the Arkansas River Valley news very soon.  Be safe and be blessed. Nickolas Muray 1936

My Uncle Jack was serving in the Korean War in November 1951 during the time Monica Lewis and Danny Kaye were touring with the USO in Korea. He says he was close enough to the stage that he thought about asking Danny Kaye if he could go back home with him.  In this cropped photo of Monica's performance, there is a young soldier sitting in the audience with his cap pushed back off his forehead and seated just above the microphone. He looks like my uncle.  Of course, I do not remember him then as I was a newborn when he and my Aunt Lizzy first met. She waited for his return from Korea to marry him and they now have five children who are my "same as siblings cousins." Would that not be exciting to find out it was him and we have this photo? I have ordered her book "Hollywood Through My Eyes: The Lives and Loves of a Golden Age Siren" in order to get a better look.  Regardless...I appreciate his and all of the men and women who have served ...

Sometime near the end of April, 1970 the soon to be graduates of business school were called together for an important presentation. Two men wheeled in a file cabinet sized machine and placed it against the wall. We were instructed to squeeze into the now very small room to hear about something called hardware.  I remember thinking I had already learned all I wanted to know and as my thoughts were primarily on my wedding plans, I did not pay a lot of attention. The one thing I do remember them saying is, "Someday, there will be a computer on everyone's desk."

Just wanted to show you this picture of Mama, me, and my little brother. I'd say it was taken around 1958 or 1959. Definitely before 1960 when my little sister was born.  Mama's hair is in pin curls without the chiffon scarf she usually tied around her head. I have dog ears and my brother is sporting a burr haircut. I think they are called a buzz cut nowadays. We are all three in bare feet. It's funny about these old photos. Sometimes it seems I can remember the picture being taken. I'm probably only 7 or 8 so it is probably just my imagination. I don't know why I think I can remember something from 50 years ago when I can forget someones name in less than five minutes.