F is for Family

Another Wednesday ABC....

Up to the letter F. Which I naturally associate with Family. The picture above is from 1983. I found this picture (Which is a reprint fro a scan of the original which I can not lay my hands on therefore the grainy quality) I realized that 27 years later, we are all each other age! Making me now my Mom's age at present date and my daughter is now the age I was captured in that moment!

At a Thanksgiving dinner in 2009 my Mom got up, tapped her wine glass with a fork or knife, whichever she happened to have in her hand at the moment, to get the attention of the 20+ family members at the table!

"I just want to say a prayer to thank God for having us all together on this day", and then she began her infamous "F" prayer....

It ended this way, "Thank you for good Food, Family and Friends....and all things that begin with the letter F" she paused and added with her eyes closed and her hands untended up towards the heavens, "Except that." We all sat and meditated on it for a split second then I made eye contact with my nephew across the table and he burst out laughing. My Brother in law quickly seized the moment, "And thank God for Fruit", my other BIL chimed in "And football" and so it went around the table everybody carefully avoiding what was on every ones mind.

Ben & Jerry Flavor of the Month

I have been thinking why as of late I have so little to write about. I think that my life has perhaps become boring and nothing out of the ordinary every happens anymore! I think that I work way too much and that the small amount of time that I have left over is spoken for, prearranged and well thought out. I think about all the books I do not read anymore because I have no time and anyway, I have become obsessed with magazines.

And if I am not reading Time magazine and scaring myself silly about the condition of the world and where we are headed I am watching amusing TV shows and laughing, chuckling and snorting over Jimmy Fallon. And if I am not sleeping I am loosing myself in yet another fantasy of some way I am going to get rich quick in the near future - this time by opening up some type of Vintage jewelry business. I see myself with my tiny booth covered by some smart and fancy yet stylish tent selling my wares on the longest yard sale, be it the Route 66 or the 127 or most recently discovered, Lincoln Highway, which incidentally I once lived off of!

And so it goes, my mind jumping from one thought to another all the while worried about not taking care of my skin, thinking about saving money for Christmas next year and praying for my Mom, missing my Dad and missing my brother-in-law. Missing the jaunts to the "farm",not a working farm, but a farm all the same.

Missing a lot of things and looking forward to a new adventure, a new shake up, a new direction. One never knows from day to day what unexpected happiness or tragedy will greet us if we are lucky enough to step out our front door.

I think the announcement can finally be made. I have informed all the people who will be impacted by the news and I believe that Joe has done that same - and on that note let it be known that we are Back To Memphis. Joe is to begin running things on April 1st and I am excited and concerned all at the same time. Mixed together like some weird Ben and Jerry concoction, Memphis Beat Blue-berry.

I know that in time, maybe not too soon, but in time I will miss the landmarks of this military town and the friends that I have made here and the characters that have endeared themselves to me. And all the people I meet daily and make a brief connection and learn a little bit about them and it stays with me. It becomes a tiny little bit of my being. Today it was an 88 year old lady who told me about her quilting club. Twice a week, depending on the weather (Missouri) they get together and quilt. The leader, a woman of 92 years, get the ideas. "I can only sew little stitches" she demonstrated to me in the air. And when they finish their creation they give it to the church to sell or auction off. They produce about three a year. I inquired at how much they sell for. "We are happy if they get $100." I was shocked. I wish I lived in that Missouri town, I would give $200 for it! I would make their year! I would have them talking for a long time about how much money they made from that one quilt on that crazy Kentucky woman.

I'm going to miss all those people just passing thru. And I am going to miss all those people who I see over and over through out the several years (can you believe I have been here almost two years??). Who talk to me for awhile as they wait for their name to be called to eat dinner or breakfast at the Bucket. The mortician who lives in a house with his ex-wife (his third) because he does not have the heart to throw her out because she has no where to go and is pretty disabled. She will not cook or do anything for the privilege of staying - so he buys dinner to take home with him on a very regular basis. And I will miss the Mayor, who did not run for reelection but moved on to much greener pastures much to the public outcry - hardy har har - he comes in I always say "Howdy Mayor!" and he always gives me that two handed hand grasp thing that gifted politicians do. And the other Mayor from a little old town in KY who stops in for breakfast on their way to Nashville when he is escaping his own town. And the "Fair to Middling" guy who came in every night, I mean every night since his wife died. He has to sit at the same table every evening and if is occupied he waits. He orders the same thing every evening, clear soup. Then he heads home, which is another little town in KY about seven miles over the TN border. Until one night he did not make it home, but pulled off the road and died of a massive heart attack. I was stunned, I had just spoken to him asked how he was doing and he said, as he always says, "Fair to Middling". And the little short guy who was trying on the Alan Jackson cowboy hat and I told him how handsome he looked in it and he confided in me that he had a cowboy hat at home, a good one a Stetson and then several days later he wore it in, all dressed in black and wearing that hat, fitting him like he was born in it. Smiling at me and then he tipped his Stetson.

I'm going to miss all that.

What is waiting ahead for me, that is what I am looking forward to.

ABC Wednesday Round 8

E is for Epithet.

Can it really be six years ago we were hurtled up North to a strange land in the upper north east part of Indiana? At first I would wander around his amazing city which was taken from the Indians and claimed for those brave enough to endure the flat land and severe winters. As I explored this fasinating city I took hundreds of pictures of my new surroundings. I remember this beautiful spring day on river walk in the the downtown area. I thought immediately of the Gene Pitney song Town without Pity until later.

Later, after we left and I realized how much I truly did like that city.

And as I remember it, it's not the statue of Mad Wayne Anthony I think of. It's not the dozens of photo's I took of their old and very intact downtown. It's not the whimsical pictures of New Haven shrouded in the ever present fog.

No when I think of Ft. Wayne I remember this one picture and that beautiful spring day I was warned about around my new city.

ABC Wednesday

D is for Dublin!



Joe and I went to Ireland in 2004 right after we got married. This is the the River Liffey with the Ha'penny bridge in the background. A beautiful sunny day in May. As the weatherman says in Ireland, "A cloudy day with intermittent sunshine." We can't wait to go back.

Check out more ABC Wednesday here.

Story

Sunday Scribbling for this week is story...Here is mine in six words.


Rapidly aging southern belle with stories.



Check out Sunday Scribbling here.

ABC Wednesday

C is for Crosses in Cemetery

Posting in ABC Wednesday even though I know its Friday! I'm running behind.

New Friend Exchange

I stumble around the Blogesphere seeking out interesting blogs and intriguing personalities I occasionally run across one or two every so often. This is one right here, the Kitchen Bitch Ponders. With a name like that who can resist?

Her and her friends are having this swap thingie that is fascinating and fun all at the same time and I quickly jumped in on the action and got myself on the receiving end with this extraordinary person The Pollinatrix. So this is what I have to do...Pass it on.

I promise to send something I make myself to the first 5 people who leave a comment on this post and who, in turn, promise to make the same offer on their blog. The rules are that you need to make the items personally and send them to your 5 folks within 2011.

So, leave a comment and I will send you a one of a kind set of Alphawoman earrings that I make with my own little hands! It'll be fun.

Join in.

Just do it.

You know you want to.