Friday, June 27, 2008

Award For me? Cool!





I was very excited to be given this award by My new friend Polly From Random Ramblings Blog ( http://entrecard.com/t/oc/8776 ). I am quiet Happy to find that Polly enjoys my blog as I do hers. I visit her blog Daily to see what new photo she has posted or what new tidbit of wonder she might be talking about. She and I share a common love of Plants and animals!


This award was created and to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium. When you receive this award it is considered a "special honor". Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to 5 others."What a wonderful way to show some love and appreciation to your fellow bloggers!!!





The rules for passing this honor on are..
1) Pick 5 blogs that you would like to award this honor to. (This is the hard part--there are just so many good ones around it is very difficult to choose just five.)


2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.


3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.



4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award. http://arteypico.blogspot.com/.




Here are my five recipients:



1) Liza at Moms check NYO (http://mlizcochico.blogspot.com/) I love this sight. A work at home Mom Liza has interesting tidbits daily. She also shares my love of Coffee
2) Theresa At A Bumpy Path (http://bumpypath.blogspot.com/) I really enjoy this sight. A blog about the journey's we travel in life and how we rarely have a smooth path. But we can use those bumps to catapult us into the air and Fly!


3) Tina at The Zoo Crew (http://ruralurbandweller.blogspot.com/ ) A wonderful sight. Tina shares her thoughts on Grand-parenting, Writing, Living simply; Gardening and cooking fresh foods from her garden.


4) Nodin's Nest (http://nodinsnest.blogspot.com/ ) I love this blog as well.. I haven't laughed so hard since I myself cut my own son's hair. Check this one out for every day smiles and the treasure of being a Mom!


5) Brady at Hunting the Muse (http://www.huntingthemuse.com/ ) I greatly enjoy every post of his that I have read. He seems to have a great way with words. I wish him a great future as a free-lance writer. I KNOW he will make it!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Camping My Family style!

Camping is a great pass time. I enjoyed it when I had only one child.. I enjoyed it when I had three and then five; even more. The little ones are lots of fun when camping. But can you imagine going camping and taking along eight kids. Eight of your own kids. MY parents did it all the time. They loved it as much as we did. Daddy would catch so many fish.. We would fry fish and there would be a crowd of people around by the time they were done. Nearby campers would come and comment on the smell of Daddy's fish frying in the cast iron Pan. Mama would be steady crocheting. Us kids would be at one of the tables playing checkers or reading. Sometimes we could walk around the first loop of clay road nearest to where we were camped. But we didn't cause no trouble.That would have been trouble for us.


This is Camping week. I would really love to be camping at the beach Or at Some of the places we camped as children. Camping is very relaxing to me.. Quiet: near water and hopefully in the woods.. Peaceful time to me. I could tell so many great stories about camping. So many funny things and a couple of frightening things that we saw as a family while camping. I have so many that I couldn't choose just one for this posting. So instead I wrote an Anagram Poem
called Camping The Black's Family Style. I hope you enjoy it.. And to any sibling of mine who might accidentally read this.. I hope your memories of our camping are as great as mine! From Bell's Winter Park to the State Parks I loved every single camping trip! Get back to nature.. Take a camping trip.. Relax .. Rest.. smile at the stranger on the other side of the woods. ( Well, you don't have to smile at the stranger.. But I would!) Have a great Day!!
Patsy



Camping The Black's Family Style!!


Cot's for each of us
Army style
Made up
Perfectly
Inside of a
Neatly set up
Great big green and white


Tent.
Home to all 10 of us. For the weekend.
Everybody in one tent. Sleeping, Laughing.


Breakfast, eggs and grits on paper plates.
Lunch, cooked on the grill. Mama's Potato salad.
Always people to meet. Most to never see again.
Camping.. I am talking about Camping..
Kids tuckered out and ready for bed before Dark.
Soft. Soothing voices you hear from nearby.


Friends made and enjoyed for a few days.
Always something new to discover.
Mary even danced once in the pavilion.
I wanted to dance too but no body asked me.
Later I did win at Bingo though. Reuben won too.
Yes.. we did all those things deep in the woods. Down a long dirt road.
while we were camping!



Swimming in the lake.
Taking walks around the park. Clay roads. Dark.
Yet exciting to walk around at night. All together.
Listening; Laughing; Loving
Each other for wonderful camping weekends!
!!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
6-26-2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Picnicking!

“No, it is not only our fate but our business to lose innocence, and once we have lost that, it is futile to attempt a picnic in Eden."
~Elizabeth Bowen~





“We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics."
~Bill Vaughn~






“If the rain spoils our picnic, but saves a farmer's crop, who are we to say it shouldn't rain?"
~Tom Barrett~






June eighteenth, was Picnic Day! The last few days have been no picnic here. Yesterday was one of those aggravating; never ending; everything that can annoy you, will days. The day before was as well. I know you have had those days. We all do. I don't mind them every so often.. I do mind when I have a week of them all shoved together. What I should have done yesterday was hopped into my car and drove to the beach and sat there and had myself a personal picnic.







I have always loved to go on a Picnic. When we were small children, Daddy and Mama would load all of us kids into Their Falcon and off we would head for a picnic and fun at Hampton Park; In Charleston South Carolina. Many times Our Grandmothers would go along for the fun day as well. We would drive the couple of hours down to Charleston packed into the car and arrive just about time for lunch. Often times Grandma Morris would drive her own car and allow Jimmy and Frank to ride with her. Those times were even better because she aside from giving us more room in Daddy's little car also would bring a fresh Baked Pound cake.





Daddy would pick out a couple of picnic tables. Usually having to carry one; with the boys all on one end and him on the other; a few yards to put two together for all of us to have room. Then Mama and the two Grandma's would put on the table cloths while Daddy and the boys carried the boxes of food and coolers of drink from the cars. My grandma always said a table wasn't set without a cloth. The rest of us would watch the squirrels as they gathered around waiting for someone to offer them a bite of what ever you had. They were so tame that Jimmy a few times could get one to take food from his hand.





Once the tables were set with paper plates and Big cups of Tea or Cool-aid that Daddy had poured from jugs, that had made the trip shoved way down under the ice in the old cooler. We would all find a seat and Bow our heads for the blessing. Daddy would always ask a blessing on the food and thank God for the day that we had been given to enjoy together as a family.





Mama would serve Fried chicken and Big bowls of Potato salad. Bologna sandwiches with Mayo and mustard. Cookies and Potato chips. The food would be warm having made the long trip in the trunk of the car in a big cardboard box. You see, That was before the days when we were told not to eat Mayo or anything with mayo on picnics. But we would all stuff as much as we could hold in.. We would toss the bread crust to the million squirrels and pigeons that would gather around us hoping for a crumb. After we had finished every last bite and all the paper plates were carried to the big green cans nearby, we were ready for a walk over to the Zoo.



I do have to tell y'all that although we thought it was great when we were kids, That was about the most pitiful excuse for a zoo I have ever seen. They had lots and lots of Monkeys. And Not much else. They had a bear that only had three legs. He didn't get around much but he would eat a hot dog bun if you tossed him one. We would also hand them to the monkeys when they would stick their hand out through the Bars as you walked by. Mama almost always had a couple of bags of buns that we could give to the animals. They also had a few big cats but they were honestly too old to even roar. I especially remember a lion that had no teeth. I guess that by the time we discovered that wonderful Picnic spot it was sadly in it's last days. I was still a child when they closed the pitiful zoo. But we always enjoyed picnicking there. We would see the biggest cat fish and Bream as we walked to the zoo over curve backed bridges and we would laugh and laugh as the squirrels followed along chattering at us begging for hand-outs.
Grandma Morris would pose us in front of the fountains and on the bridges to make pictures of us with her old Brownie Hawk eye camera.

We would always end the Charleston day with a trip to the museum. It too was in bad shape and was later moved to become part of the State museum in Columbia. But we loved those days. When all of us along with our parents and Grand-ma's would spend time together.

When my own children were born I carried them on Picnics to the beach or even if times were tight just to the local state park. I would carry all the "Safe" foods packed in ice with no mayo, no eggs. But I always carried plenty of food and plenty of drinks shoved down into ice so that they would be icy to drink. I always bake a pound cake the day before. I still carry a table cloth on my picnics. I still Bless my picnic food in the same way that my Dad did. Thanking God for the time we spend together as family. Asking that we enjoy that day. Last year I even went on a Picnic with my son and his Family in New Mexico. It too was a wonderful day. They had almost all the same things that I had carried when My son was younger on our Picnics. I hope that some of that wonder will remain with him and even with his children as they grow older.

When I couldn't remember the name of the Park where we went as kids I asked My oldest brother.. He couldn't remember either the name but he did remember the park. He remembered things like the cannons and some other Military type things that I had forgotten about until he mentioned them.He remembered what impressed him. I was of course impressed by different things because I'm younger than him and just have different interests. My Mom did know the name of the park. She remembered mostly the beautiful fountains that were there. I remembered those too because even to this day I love the sound of a fountain.


If you get a chance go on a picnic with a child. Choose a place with something that will capture that child's interest and create a memory that will move on with them. Bless that picnic with prayer if that is your way. But just for a time leave the world's worries behind and enjoy a day with family or with a special friend. And remember that a Table cloth adds a special something. Even to a picnic table.
Have a wonderful day!
Patsy

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Today is Yo -Yo Day!

“Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string” ~ unknown~


In 1974 President Richard Nixon briefly played with a yo-yo at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.


In 1968, activist Abbie Hoffman was cited for contempt of Congress for, amongst other acts, "walking the dog" during a session of the House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities.


The yo-yo is a toy consisting of two equally sized and weighted disks of plastic, wood, or metal, connected with an axle, with a string tied around it. First becoming popular in the 1920s, "yo-yoing" is still enjoyed by children and adults alike. To use, the player pulls the string through the loop to make a slipknot, puts his/her middle finger through the slipknot at the end of the string and grasps the yo-yo. Generally, the player does not put the slipknot any farther up his/her finger than the first knuckle from the tip. Then the player throws it downwards with a smooth light motion. When it reaches the end of the string, the yo-yo can be made to "sleep," the axle of the yo-yo spinning within a loop of string.


My Brother Frank. always said if you couldn't make a yo yo sleep you wouldn't be able to do anything else with it either. Frank would know. He was the best yoyo-er I ever knew! He could do all the tricks. He could walk the dog and rock the cradle and many more. He simply loved yo yo's. I'd almost bet he still owns at least one. I well remember him saving his money to buy a special Duncan Butterfly yo-yo. They were what ever body else had when we were young. Frank was the best with all the tricks with the one he had but he wanted a new one. He wanted the Butterfly! I also know that he had two lighted yo-yo's too. One red and one green. But I can't remember if they were butterfly yo-yo's or not.


Once when we were in school; the rough boys wanted Frank's yo-yo. They told him to give it to them and he just kept on yo-yoing. They told him they would beat him up and take it and he kept on still. Finally they backed him into a corner and tried to take it.. He quickly shoved it into his pocket and grinned at them and said.. "Go ahead and try to get it and when I start to yell and holler you can explain why you have your hand rammed down in MY pocket." Needless to say the rough boys decided that maybe, just maybe Frank was not a person to pick on. They walked away and never looked back at him. He returned to his yo-yo-ing as if nothing had ever happened. One of them later told me that they didn't even like to yo-yo. They just hated that they couldn't get a reaction from Frank when they picked at him about anything else. And they figured taking his yo-yo would be easy. Frank is still a little like that. He looks and acts real easy going. He really is real easy going.. But you don't really want to cross him..


The history of Yo-yo's goes a long way back. Back to Before Christ. There have been many different companies to make them. I think Maybe Duncan was the most widely known yo-yo company for many years and still is world known for their yo-yo's.


The International Yo-Yo Open is the largest yo-yo contest in the world. It is held every year in August at South Street Seaport in New York City. This contest is hosted by YoYoNation.com and aims to showcase the best yo-yo players in the world. In the inaugural 2007 contest, there were over 8,500 people in attendance.


The World Yo-Yo Contest is held every year in Florida, USA during early August or late July. This contest takes the winners from national yo-yo contests around the world and pits them against each other. Countries such as the United States, Brazil, Japan and the UK hold competitions at the national and regional levels. In addition, national yo-yo contests, without regionals, are held every year by Mexico, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, France, Germany, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Australia.

It's amazing to me that a simple toy can be so popular to both children and adults and last for centuries as a popular item. I personally never learned to yo-yo. I can't walk the dog. I can't even make mine sleep. I do still have an old one from way way back. I take it out and try it every once in a while but I haven't learned anything about yo-yoing yet. Except that it's simplicity will fool you. It appears to be a very simple item. But it is actually not as easy to do as it appears. Most of us can toss it down and it will come back but can we make it do other things? I can't. Frank can! Can you? Never assume something that looks simple really is. Never assume that because some one appears easy to pick on that they are. And be sure to Never try and take Frank's yo-yo! Enjoy life! Try to find joy in some simple things. Try to learn to yo-yo. Have a great day!
Patsy

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Wednesday's Poem On Thursday?!? YEA!!!

OK I know what today is.. I know this should have been on here yesterday too. I guess I'm about normal; A day late and a dollar short. I'm sure some will forgive me.. Others will know I don't care!


This poem is about a young woman that I know. She hasn't recognized herself in this poem and neither has any one else. I will not tell who she is unless someone guesses. I have had many guesses as to who she is but none have been right so far. I would bet though that almost everyone knows a young person who this makes them think of. Please forgive me for being a day slack.. and enjoy this poem.



"Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young."
~J. K. Rowling~





"In case you're worried about what's going to become of the younger generation, it's going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation."
~Roger Allen~





"Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find his own."
~Logan Pearsall Smith~ (1865 - 1946)


I See!

I saw her
standing there
waiting
Her hair
in Bright green
Parrots feather waves,
Hanging tangled,
Down her spine.
Her yellow ducky
diaper pin, Pierced
eyebrow
Raised
in unasked question
Her pale hands
resting upon
her thin hips
Her long legs
Hidden
under layers of
Plaid.
Two sizes too big
Holes at the knee
Pants.
And I swallowed
My disgust
as I heard
Her say.
"I am making a statement!'
For Now I see!
'Tis no statement
she makes!
But a demand!
"Look at ME!"
"See ME!"
"I AM what is important!"
"ME! MYSELF! I AM!"
"SEE ME!"
a demand and a plea.

"Please see me!!"

and finally,
I did!
I Do!

written By: Patricia Sawyer2-28-2008

Be kind to the young folks in your life even if they look strange and act weird sometimes. We were once strange and weird our selves. I still am at times.
They will grow up and might be the one who chooses your nursing home! Here their statements. Even those they wear! Have a wonderful blessed day!
Patsy

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

June 3rd is Egg Day!

"Kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs." ~English Proverb~



"It may be the cock that crows, But it is the hen that lays the eggs."
~Margaret Thatcher~


"An egg is always an adventure; the next one may be different."
~Oscar Wilde~


Today is Egg day! I really like eggs. I love them scrambled plain or with cheese.
I like them in Omelets or poached. I will have to say though that I like them fried the best. Even though I love Dave's fried eggs and always enjoy them when he cooks them for us I still have to say; My daddy cooked the best eggs of any person I ever knew. His were perfectly fried and crispy in a certain way that I have never been able to replicate. When I was a teenager I would often get up early when I heard him cooking his own breakfast and Hurry to the kitchen and eat with him. He went to work very early and always ate breakfast. Daddy and I would talk as we ate fried eggs and grits and sometimes a sliced tomato or Cantaloupe. Sometimes he would have a slice of bacon or a sausage, But meat wasn't always a part of his breakfast. He would seem to know someone was going to join him as he always had enough for more than just himself. He would always be chipper in the mornings too. He used to say it's best to rise and shine; But if you just can't shine you have to rise anyway! I would laugh at him every time he said that and one morning he told me that when I was older I would understand that his comment had little to do with getting up in the morning.
I think he meant that sometimes we will have to rise to the occasion and many times do things we would rather not. I have had to rise many times in my life and each time I am able to rise with at least a little shine because I remember Daddy telling me that it was always best. He lured me with his eggs but he left me with memories.



One other memory I have to share about eggs is about once when someone told Martha at school that you could not squeeze and egg and make it break. Me and Reuben were sure that they were telling her a tale. We set out to prove that we could break the egg. We waited till Mama and Daddy were out of the house. They were still kids... I was grown.. I tried first....I squeezed and squeezed! With all I had in me I squeezed that egg. I opened my hand and there it was perfect as ever. Martha tried. Still a perfect egg. Then Reuben took the egg into his hand. He slowly closed his hand around the egg and squinched up his face and squish went the shell as egg shot out and covered the ceiling in the dining room. Yolk dripped from his hand and puddled on the floor as he started dancing around and singing.... "I did it, I did it, I did it....then suddenly his left foot hit that yolk puddle and up went his feet and he was suspended for just a split second upside down as if he were walking on the ceiling; then with a crash and a boom he hit the floor. Me and Martha scared he was dead and both about to cry, screaming his name.... finally he spoke and all he would say was did I break my glasses? over and over.. I handed him his UN-broken glasses and sat down beside him and Martha fell on top of us as we three laughed and laughed while egg dripped down on us from above. Needless to say by the time Mama and Daddy got home the house showed no signs of the egg game or the wild ceiling walking dance.


Sometimes Life seems hard. But it's the little moments that you seem to remember the most. Yes we recall the hard times too. But each laugh shared with a sibling or a Parent is important. Try to find a moment today to laugh with a friend or family member. Try to remember that if you must rise, try to rise with a shine! Have a good day!
Patsy

Sunday, June 1, 2008

A Lazy, but Peaceful Sunday!

"God almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures." ~Francis Bacon~




I haven't felt like doing much today. I have been kinda lazy. I have a school program for Emily tonight. I have ONE more school Program for Emily! EVER!!
She graduates next Friday night.



"There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
Today is also the Day Cooper is supposed to start his long drive from New Mexico to South Carolina. Feel free to Pray that he will be blessed with Traveling mercies. I won't be worth much till he is home. I will be in a rotten mood. Worried beyond reason maybe.. But, I think Most parents understand where I'm coming from on this! He is nineteen and driving this trip alone!









I think now maybe Y'all who are parents will understand why I have spent the day outside in my Garden. Dragging a rake or two around as I cleaned the garden and rested there having a little word here and there as I worked, with God! Seeking and finding a peacefulness today. Remembering when I moved here and all of this seven acres was a field of broom-straw. How my children and later, Dave's two as well, grew up here. Played here and worked here in the gardens with me many many times. I have decided to share this part of my Gardens with all of You! Please enjoy your journey to Patsy's Gardens.













"A garden is a delight to the eye and a solace for the soul." ~ Sadi ~


















"Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the Soul" ~The Koran~





















"Earth laughs in flower." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson~
















"If you seek a mind at peace, a heart that cannot harden, go find a door that opens wide upon a lovely garden." ~Unknown~



If any of my family and friends comes to my house and I don't answer their knock upon my door, they look for me in the garden before they leave. There is always a chance I am there. I have two friends who look for me there first. Deb And Thoi! I know they just want to sneak a cutting or maybe say a word to the man upstairs without me. I don't mind. If you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods you too will be welcome to walk through my Garden. where string beans grow in five gallon buckets and fish swim in everything from kiddy pools to barrels. I hope you have enjoyed my garden today. Remember to love the earth treat her with kindness. Stop and smell a flower every chance you get. And remember that with GOD ~ ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Have a great day!
Patsy !