Monday Monday

• a new month and a new week
• and spring is coming
• today was a good weather day
• but weather man is teasing us
• about snow tomorrow-
• papa hubby went home on a Monday
• but I still enjoy Mondays- he was a monday
• kind of guy.........we never had a blue Monday
• I like every day of the week and
• I am thankful we have 7 days to enjoy
• some thing new every day
• today was bill paying day and I
• had enough to keep the house
• going one more month and then
• I trust the Lord for the next month-
• today is our robyn's 14th birthday
• and I can remember what we were doing
• the day she was born
• waiting with her dad who was waiting
• for her to come join us as a family member
• she was cute as a button and still is
• made her a nice dinner yesterday and all she
• wanted was her mashed potatoes- she lives
• for mashed potatoes- yes, her dad is Irish
• and yes, I let her eat mashed potatoes to her
• hearts content........it is her first birthday with
• out her papa so she is feeling some blues
• she wanted to know how papa will know her (?)
• but Miss Ashley told her that papa will still know
• her when she leaves this earth as a wrinked old lady
• some times kids word things just a way that
• makes you want to laugh-- sigh-
• It is hard for the kids to understand
• change as they want
• papa to know them
• we forget that kids see things differently
• at times than we do.....
• _________________
• update on Jordan- the man posed as a policeman
• with flashing blue lights and a uniform and a gun
• and now we are all stunned that this
• could happen in our little town - and area
• we continue to pray for her
• huggles from Meme is going to make a left over supper
• -------------------

sense of safety

• one of the things I do miss about the old days is the sense of safety
• that we had
• brother Bill and I would walk to grandpa's farm 3 miles away
• 1/2 mile was side road
• and the rest was the main road
• there was no phone to use to say
• we were coming or
• that we had even got there
• and the next day we would walk home
• we walked to our friend's houses miles
• away and again no phones
• we were never afraid
• and our parents were not either
• they had taught us road safey and we
• all walked to school every day
• and nothing happened
• all the kids in our area could do the same thing
• now I am afraid to walk to church
• after dark and this week-end added
• to the fear
• in town next door to our town or about 8 miles away
• a young lady-age 16 - was kidnapped from the back
• of her home
• she had gone to the store to get some apple juice
• due to a sore throat
• an hour later her dad looked out the window
• and saw her car sitting there with the lights on
• and the door open
• when he checked it out- her purse and juice were
• in the car and he immediately called in the police
• great police work -20,000 posters put out with
• in hours and loads of volumteers to help
• they knew she was in the city due to pings
• off her cell phone
• they could not pen her down to a place
• as the kidnapper kept her on the move
• they did not give up and
• the good news is after 46 hours she got away and
• got to a pay phone for help
• she called her daddy-- daddy daddy-
• I begged for my life--
• she had been kidnapped and raped by a man
• 56 years old- the girl had begged for her life
• and finally ran for her life
• she was smart in that she took something
• of his with her to help identify him
• sigh-
• they got the man today-
• how sad is this world that a young lady
• can no longer drive to a store and
• safely come home again with out fear
• pray for the young lady whose name is Jordan
• honor student and so very hurt
• she did receive injuries but the doctor let her
• go home as that was where she needed to be-
• this is such a sad story and true to
• how we have to live today -
• I often think how our world has changed
• and some for good and some for bad
• hugs from Meme who is praising God for this
• girl coming home

missing meme

• I have been missing out here
• writing some of the things
• we did in the old days and
• not even that far in time ago--LOL
• I like remembering == how it was,,,,,
• but I also remember how hard it was
• and I feel we are indeed blessed
• to be where we are today
• ----------
• I miss mama and I am glad that she
• did get a new house with running water
• and electricity and all the things
• that I now take for granted
• and all in doors- (smile)
• she did not get the house until later
• in her life but she so enjoyed
• it and yes, she missed some of the old ways
• but was thankful for her new ways
• some times the old days sound romantic
• but there is nothing romantic about
• sitting up all night beside the heater
• to keep the home fires going
• and making sure that there is no
• chimney fire and your nest and
• family are safe......
• mama did this often in the winter
• and then had to sleep during the day
• ------but mama was a homesteader-
• and that was just one of the ways
• of the way it was....
• thank God that we now have furnaces
• that keep us warm and we can sleep
• at night,,,
• warm hugs from Meme

daddy's coffee

I remember how daddy made coffee in the old days. Coffee was low on the list of groceries so often daddy had no coffee. Coffee was considered a luxury but when he did have coffee this is how he made it....
- we had a wood stove to cook on- and he used a small coffee pot-blue enamel similar to the old cowboy type we see on westerns only smaller.
He used fresh well water in the pot and would bring the water to a boil- then he would pull the pot closer to the back of the stove and add the coffee grounds plus an egg shell and a pinch of salt- then simmer for a minute and take off the stove and let the grounds settle- I do not remember how much coffee he used but he always used the Nabob brand-
He would pour the coffee into his favourite cup which came with a saucer- not a coffee mug nor a teacup- - The coffee cups were larger in size and not made of fine china.
- He always took 2 sugar cubes and would place one between his teeth and drink the coffee while the other one cube went into the cup- - he always drank his coffee quickly and never more than one cup. The coffee grounds and left over coffee were fed to the rose bushes at the end of the day.

HOT WINTER APPLES...

I spoke the other day of our hot apple snack at bed-time in the winter
mama always felt hot food would help us to stay warm
during long cold winter nights
so I can only tell you how she did them
-----------------
the apples were kept on top of the cellar steps
she always picked out 4
rinsed them in water and then polished them with a towel
we always polished apples before we ate them
she cut them in half--
scoped out the core with a teaspoon
put brown sugar in the holes
and topped the brown sugar with butter
always butter- we never used margarine for anything
she used a cake pan- one of her two-
I think it was called a 8 by 8 inch square cake pan
she put a shot of hot water in the base of the pan
popped the apples in the pan
and sprinkled them with cinnamon
and put tthe pan in the oven
on top of 4 bricks-the kitchen stove was wood
so the oven was always warm to hot
and the bricks were in there heating up to place in our beds
always at the foot of the bed after they were
- covered with a clean gunny sack
I do not know how long the apples baked
or what the temperature would have been
mother just stuck her hand in the oven
to gage the temperature-
after our apples were done
she knew how to eye them and
knew when they were ready
she set them on our kitchen table for 5 minutes
then put into our breakfast bowls and poured
real cream over them- the real cream was what came
from our milking cows-
we ate every bite including the skins-
while they were baking a syrup of the juice mixed
with the butter and sugar would form
and she always shared the syrup equally
----------
I have often tried to bake
my apples
like mama's
but they just do not turn out the same
I think that the wood and mama are missing
- she just made them this way for ever
- and that is her story and mine
huggs from Meme