Fishing with my dad

Fishing with my dad was a real adventure. I'm not so sure he looked at it the same way. My sister and I were four and five and quite the problem kids ... I'm sure my dad thought. He would cut a cane pole for us and hook a horned toad to it for bait. Never caught a thing... and didn't even think to wonder why... It was just great to be with the best father in the world!!

Dr. Upchuck

My father had a visiting professor in town, so my mother being the best sort of hostess a man can be married to, they invited the professor to come for dinner. His name was Dr. Upchurch. My sister and I thought that was the funniest name. We were in junior high and at that age, everything seemed funny! The professor's name reminded my sister and me of the word "upchuck". We started giggling and wondering out loud, wouldn't it be funny if we slipped and called him, "Dr. Upchuck?" My mother warned us that if we kept saying that we were going to actually say it in front of Dr. Upchuck... er Upchurch.
I suppose my mother decided to get us out of the house for the afternoon since we had such a bad case of the "sillies". My sister and I sat in the theater watching a movie that I had already seen. (Wish I could remember which movie it was.) The theater was full, so I suppose it was a popular movie of the time. On each side of us sat adults. I remember telling my sister what was about to happen in many of the scenes. We were probably annoying everyone since occasionally someone would look at us. We just giggled. At the end of the movie I told my sister that we better leave since Dr. Upchuck was coming for dinner.
The professor arrived at our home for dinner. My sister insisted she thought he looked familiar. Not to me. As dinner began, the man mentioned that he had been in the movies that afternoon. He also mentioned that he had sat next to a couple of giggly girls, one obviously knowing what was about to happen in the next scene. Ooooops! I remember feeling my face growing very hot. My mother caught on right away. "Would you girls serve the dessert, please?" I suppose she was trying to get us away from an embarrassing situation.
I can't recall all that happened next, but somehow, Dr. Upchurch made a comment about how he had been called "Dr. Upchuck" before. My guess was that he had heard me say that. I might as well have blurted out our name for him during dinner.
Moral of story: You never know who is listening!! Hello Dr. Upchuck where ever you are!! lol

It was called the "cloak closet" at my maternal grandparents' home. It was located inside, near the entrance to the beautiful white, colonial style home situated on three acres of land in Dickinson, Texas. The cloak closet... probably called a "coat closet" now was not only for coats, but stored winter items such as hats, gloves and furs. Cardboard boxes stored items of mystery which were just too high for my younger sister and me to reach. There was no door to the closet, just a heavy, black velvet hanging curtain. My sister and I loved sitting in the cloak closet. The smell was a mixture of moth balls and scents of unknown origin. It was downright, well... spooky! We loved to sit in there, snuggled up together and tell each other horrific tales and stories of murder and cemeteries. It was like Halloween every day. Occasionally we would scare each other so badly we would run out of the room screaming, vowing that would not return... until the next time!

Under the table

I remember that when the peaches were being harvested at my grandfather's hobby farm in Midland, Texas, my mother and grandmother would busy themselves "puttin' up" peaches. This was before the fuzz on peaches had been bred out of them. I loved peaches, but after eating one all around my mouth would itch. I was about two years old. Standing on the front seat beside either my father or grandfather, I would have my left arm resting on their shoulders while they would check the peaches... and there I would be slurping peach juice from a peach cupped in a paper napkin. Life just couldn't get any better.

I somehow felt like the best spot in the kitchen was under the table trying to imitate my mother and grandmother peel peaches. They chatted away and I concentrated on imitating them, peeling and slicing. I think back on this and remember the cool floor and the smell of fresh fruit. Life was so good!!

From the beginning...

You would think that after mastering MySpace and Facebook I wouldn't be so intimidated by blogging. After all... My Space and Facebook are sort of like blogging... but this involves a lot more thinking and planning ahead. After all... does anyone want to know what I think?? Okay... you don't have to answer that. A friend told me today that I really needed to get busy and get my blog going... so here I am.

Recently, my parents passed away. June until now have been a blur of transition. My mother, so ill, in the hospital and being with her when she passed. My father equally ill and passing in the home he and my mother had built just a few years ago. This has produced a considerable amount of reminiscing and recollecting of events and stories from my childhood. I am the eldest of four ... a sister and two younger brothers followed. As we have gathered to pack up our parents' belongings, divide their possessions and prepare their home to be sold, many happy times were recalled... and a few stories that we just weren't quite sure if they were fact or lore. My hobby is genealogy and family history and through the years I have learned that where there is a wild family story, there is a speck of truth to the most bizarre of tales. Packing up pictures produced the most stories. Going through my mother's hope chest, full of clothes, linens and even old war medals and buttons from a wedding in 1899. These helped to recall other family happenings. A gentle touch, touch... feel, feel... a journey into the past.

So here is my beginning ... howling wind through cracks in a wood house, tumbling tumbleweeds across the plains. clouds, mountains and horses running!