Several months ago I got "tagged" to do this post and it's been sitting on the back burner just waiting for the right moment to be served up. Well, today I have the time and inclination thanks to motivation derived from a variety of sources, all of whom I'm grateful to and who will remain anonymous. However, let it be known that blogs are a form of history as well as an outlet of expression and I am happy to be fulfilling both within one post.
1. The Christmas of my eighth year all I asked from Santa was an Easy Bake Oven, and to my joyful delight my wish was granted. My maternal Grandparents came to see us early on Christmas Day and I will never forget being able to cook my first teeny, tiny muffins for my cute Grandpa. He made such a fuss you would have thought they were something special, but you see, the muffins weren't what was special to him, I was- and he treated me like I was Julia Child. I was the luckiest girl on earth to have that Santa and that Grandpa.
2. Hands and art. Have you ever really looked at hands and thought about what a wonderful tool they are? When I was growing up both my grandma's had busy hands. Hardly ever did I see either of their hands sitting still but they had a basket close to them with some kind of art
that they were working on. I have this thing about people calling quilting, embroidery, crocheting, knitting, or other handwork---CRAFTS. It isn't a craft. It's handiwork. Take it from me, I learned it from my grandmothers, and they from their's and it takes skilled hands and it's an art.3. This past Christmas morning my eighteen year old son joined me in my favorite drink, well next to water. Most people think it's nasty and he ended up thinking the same, but I loved that he would try it. If you make it with milk and add just a bit of sugar and froth it up, it is the best thing in the world. It is somewhat hard to find in most of my local grocery stores, but I had a daughter point out that I could purchase an entire case online. Pero
4.PESTS. I grew up being very confident about killing any size of spider. Having a bedroom in an unfinished basement will do that for a girl. However, I never did get used to rodents, of any
size or shape, pet or pest. In fact I fear them and get a little faint when I think about them. Last summer we had some rather unpleasantness in regard to rats, (yes, rats- the kind that live in the ground and bushes and feed off of neighbors bird feeders, those kind of rats). They were dancing in our driveway at random times of the day and making me crazy. Thanks to a darling, daring husband who isn't spooked by rodents, the problem was tackled and we hope solved (all fingers and toes crossed).
5. The first car that my sister and I got to drive was a green Maverick. We lovingly referred to him as "Kermit" or "the Mav". It was more than great transportation, it was our very identy. We spent tons of time listening to the radio and dropping by the local Taco Time to pick up a Doctor Pepper and get the special cup of the week with the cartoon character on it. We "cruised" by more boys houses than can be imagined, honked the horn to the rhythm of the school honk and everyone knew we were coming when they saw that green car comin.
6. Bargains. You know how some people get a surge of energy when they climb a mountain, or others when then write a great poem? Well I get pumped when I find a fabulous bargain. I have to admit that the really big bargain days are mostly in the past-- but nothing beats finding a cut of meat that is quality, when the price is in the basement. I love it. It makes me feel, well, like I've beaten the odds. And I guess I have.
7. This past summer we had big decisions to make at our house. We had to choose the varieties of ten new trees going into our yard. For many that wouldn't be a big deal, but for city
dwellers- 10 trees is enormous! After doing some research we decided that we would love to have a couple of Ginkgo trees. They are one of the oldest varieties around, fight disease, have a very unique leaf, roots run deep and we just fell in love with them . . . over the internet. To be responsible we decided that we should speak with someone at a nursery and go and look at a mature tree and see if we really liked the tree in person as much as we did on the screen. After much driving and searching we were unable to come up with any full grown Ginkgo trees locally. We were so disappointed. I believe that very day we were outside our house and started talking with a neighbor from across the street about Ginkgo trees at which time he pointed out two beautiful specimans three doors down from our home. Surprise!
