It's Friday! I call this Week Finished!!

"There will be a rain dance Friday.. weather permitting."
~ George Carlin

"Life is a zoo in a jungle."
~ Peter De Vries

"Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings."
~ Evan Esar

Friday My Town Shoot Out gives us a challenge each week to find and share images around our town that represent a certain theme.. This weeks theme is " Trip to the Zoo"..

I have always loved the zoo.. I adore the tiny spider monkeys and the tall elegant giraffe..

Emily always loved the zebras best and would beg to go see the zig zag horsey over and over.. I am pretty sure she meant striped..

at least these were striped..

I remember as a child that Mama loved the peacocks.. this one posed pretty for me.. I love the colors and patterns formed by any birds feathers..

Mason and I enjoyed seeing these guys.. Mason enjoyed it so much that when we came home from our visiting he told his Papa that he and I had dove right in and swam with those big old bears... actually we did stand right there and watch the bears sliding on their great big icy cold water slide and talked about how much fun it would be to jump in there with them.. I was hot as the devil that day and they were loving it!

I think Maya likes every single animal... I have seen her ride this guy a couple of times though.. They might even be on a first name basis.. I really wanted to ride myself but thought they would say I was way too old.. way to fat.. way to crazy...

I used to fuss at Cooper for growling at a lioness
just like this beauty.. he still like to growl at stuff.. my birds.. Dave's fish..

This colorful locomotion carried me on a wonderful hour of rest on hot July day.. around the zoo and over to the gardens and aquarium at the Albuquerque, New Mexico Zoo..

I couldn't have a better guide than my Son's family... Maya my beautiful Grand-daughter.. Tana .. my daughter-in-law... is a great planner.. the picnic was delicious.. Mason had so much fun there... and of course the king of the Chair is Anthony..

Well at least it is the KING as long as he sits there.. Even I took a turn in the chair..

I hope you have enjoy sharing my memories of a most wonderful day!..

Have a good night!

Patsy

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ZOO

Zany Menagerie...

Oasis to the endangered

Observatory for our future..

Written By: Patricia Sawyer

5-10-2010

Emily gets Married!!

"I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach."
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"True love stories never have endings." ~Richard Bach

"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage." ~Martin Luther



I know I have been missing from my blog a lot in the last few weeks.. I have been busy getting ready for the biggest day so far in my Baby girl's life..


Emily~ around 4 months old.. so sweet.. I wanted to squeeze you tight and hold you down so that you would never grow up!


At five years old you had just made a bargain with Anthony and Cooper that they had to give you a dollar if you could stay clean until time to go.. you outsmarted them by pulling your dress off and Coopers shirt on! They swore you
cheated.. You all fought about it and I would have made you kiss through the chair crack but the hotel room only had plush chairs..


Look at you holding tight to your Daddy's arm.. I wanted to yell RUN EMILY RUN!!! but in my heart I knew you were in Love.. You were a very beautiful bride!

Emily with Cooper and her siblings from other Mothers
David and Jennifer and George... we were missing two brothers and their families... I will have to ask what David said that made everyone laugh.. did I need to bring my switch to the wedding?


Emily.. Luke.. and Kirstin.. what a beautiful picture.. I love seeing the three of you together.. the three of you always seem so happy together.. rather it is at home or out shopping or even just watching TV I love the way you interact with each other.. I always hoped Emily would find a handsome prince....

and speaking of a handsome prince.. several people asked me who this guy was.. It is none other than my own handsome prince.. Dave almost looked like a stranger with a shave and a haircut..



I am Happy to have a new son and two new Grand- Daughters.. welcome to our family Luke.. Kirstin.. and Trinity..


This is where I have been.. I have been busy planning menu's and shopping for food for a wedding reception.. Chicken salad.. little smokies.. 150 devilled eggs... I made the food myself.. or at least most of it and I was told that it was delicious.. I was way to busy to eat.. when I came home all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and snuggle up and try not to cry..

I have so many wonderful memories of my children growing up.. as a single stay at home Mom for a few years I didn't miss much that my children did.. I went on school trips and always had a crowd of other children here.. some who even lived here.. I am so lucky to have shared so much of their lives.. Every day was a blessing.. I will honestly say that Emily was a beautiful bride.. I only hope that none of the other children decides to get married any time soon.. I will need to rest before I can do this again!..


I will be back on here soon with my normal posts of poems and stories and a photo or two.. Have a great Night!
Patsy

Who's in a Playful Mood?

"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature."~ Tom Robbins

"It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes." ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas


"Indian names were either characteristic nicknames given in a playful spirit, deed names, birth names, or such as have a religious and symbolic meaning." ~ Charles Eastman





Moody Monday has offered the Mood of Playful for today's challenge.. I am actually a very playful person.. Or at least I can be.. OK! OK! I used to BE!! I love games and am always making up my own wild and crazy games for parties.. below is the hop a mile with a beach ball game. And two of my beautiful daughters~~ (I had to update this after I was reminded that neither of these girls is actually my child... to the person who reminded me.. Bite me.. I raised one of them and the other is my daughter by marriage.. she married my son!)~~ competing to get there first.. Shoot!! I had lifesavers up there at the end of that race track.... you know you would hop a mile with a beach ball between your knees for those!!!


I also like to throw a twist into the game as in this one pictured below.. I gave two large fake needles and huge rolls of string to two of my sisters.. their job was to sew as many people as they could onto their own string..The very last rule I stated was that if one could sew their thread through the other team leader they would take over every person on the other string.. Trudy~ pictured here in the green lei ~was busy running around getting people to sew themselves onto her string..

Martha got a few people on her string.. she was only two or three short of being tied with Trudy.. suddenly Martha's eyes lit up as it dawned on her what the last rule was.. that is Martha's red string sewn quietly and quickly through the back of Trudy's shirt.. taking ownership of Trudy's string full of people and of the game!

We laughed so much that day.. Dave cooked a ton of food that day.. I had cooked for a week and all the visitors brought more.. I really need to plan a family play day at my house soon.. Times are trying for most people these days... Most of us forget that being playful is relaxing and rejuvenating.. I know I am not nearly as playful as I used to be... I guess it could be that I am getting old.. I don't like to think about that though.. I would much rather think about all the parties I have thrown for my children over the years with crazy made up games... candy and gum prizes...hot dogs and homemade birthday cakes... and Adults and children all hopping with clothespins on the toe of their shoe and roaring with laughter as they played silly games together.. all of us kids for just a little while... Just thinking about it all almost makes me want to be playful.... try to be playful.. have fun with your children if you have them.. Maybe you can borrow some if you don't??..Share a playful laugh with your best friend.... Have a great day!!
Patsy

Q&A : The Photographic Interview

"When you crop the photo, you tell a lie." ~ Doug Coupland

"A photo is a creation. " ~ Eva Herzigova

"Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter."
~Ansel Adams

Sh1ft.org Has been running some new and different Photo challenges.. The brains and the brawn behind the sight is Tracey a 28 year old wife and Mother of two from Sydney Australia.. she says that the sh1ft.org projects is her labor of love.. her own special way of bringing photography to people, and people to photography... Thanks Tracey for all the hard work you put forth for the ones of us who visit your Sight!!

1. What is the first thing you see in the morning? ~ Did Y'all really want to see a picture of the back of Dave's head? I thought not! I am pretty much blind till I have had a cup of coffee anyway....
The first thing I really see every morning is my chickens... I always have coffee in the chicken garden.. I know you think it smells bad but I have herbs and blooming plants planted in containers in all of the paths between the different pens.. It's a great place to watch the sunrise with coffee and sometimes a friend...

2. The biggest thing to happen to you recently/soon? ~ Someone .. gave me a pig... I have only rarely had the gift of a living breathing thing!.. I love animals.. I am tickled me to death with my new gift.. I love her.. Pork Chop.. she is still a little skittish around people.. but yesterday she took some pea hulls from my hand and today she let me scratch her hiney.. I happen to know that pigs love to be scratched..I'll win her over by scratching her back..



3. Your best mirror shot.. Let me tell you .. there are no good mirror shots when it comes to me.. I rarely look at myself in the mirror and My daughter almost fell over when she realized I had actually made a photo in the mirror for this blog thing..


4. The person that you see the most in a week ~ That poor over -burdened soul would be Dave.. I sometimes think we see too much of each other..Maybe tomorrow every time I walk passed him I'll close my eyes..I will have him close his too...



5. Your favorite shoes.. I really hate shoes..
I do wear flip flops when I have to.. or when I can get away with it.. I have them in all colors...


6. Your favorite meal.. I love Grits and eggs.. I prefer the eggs fresh from the hen too.. I also love a sliced tomato along with my meal of grits and eggs.. I will take bacon or ham or even sausage if it's there and cooked but I can make a meal off of grits and eggs..



7. The color of your eyes.. People always comment on my eyes.. to me they are just eyes and lately they are old eyes at best.. They are Blue.. Blue.. Blue..
My eyes are blue...


8. Your favorite place to be on a Friday night.. My favorite place to be every night is at my own home.. I love to sit outside under the car port/patio/gathering space in my hanging swing chair and swing as I listen to the sounds of nature..
I guess I am odd to some people.. I like home better than anywhere else!


I have managed to get a photo for the answer of each question..
Please visit sh1ft.org to check out their newest project ideas. I can think of a few people right now who love taking pictures and who would enjoy the projects.. I won't name you since I know... you know who you are!! Now I'm going to swing in the cool night air!
I hope you enjoy some small glimpses into my world!
Have a great Night..
Patsy

A Picture or two to Share ! ~ Some words for you to Ponder!

" A Photograph is a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art. It is a little better than the work of an Apache, but not quite so good as that of a Cheyenne." ~ Ambrose Bierce

"Photography helps people to see." ~ Abbott Berenice

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." ~ Oscar Wilde



winter sniffles

snow falls in thick drifts
whitening our green landscape
I need a hanky

written by: Patricia sawyer
9-16-2009

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

crocodile tears

hanky to dry eye
I join the thick drift
mourning my foe's death

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
9-16-2009

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






The Children..
front row.. Mary.. Me and Trudy on the right..
Back row.. Jimmy.. Frank.. and David holding Reuben..
I'm the cutey in the middle with the lace on my dress..They all seem to be in winter clothes except for me.. what's up with that? This seems to be a pattern in every family photo forever.. I never match! .. I love the old Photo's.. Wow no Martha.. can I fix that..??

Ah there she is and an older Reuben too..



I have so many photo's I love going through them and choosing what I want to share... I do have photo's of places and sometimes I might even share a few of them.. I really love people pictures though.. even tonight 35 years later I can see Martha hold out her hands and Say.."Me don't know!" I love my family.. Have a wonderful Night!
Patsy

It's Thursday! Today you get three!

"Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river." ~ Cordell Hull

"He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses." ~ Horace, 65 - 8 BC

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

1:) ~ a thought~ a memory~~~ Happy Thursday! At least I hope today brought you happiness. It has been extremely hot here today. You know that sweltering kind of hot that makes you want to find a slow moving; deep; Icy cold river and jump in head first. Then after a loud squeal that says.." Man this water is cold!!!"... Just relax and float along with the current for a while until you cool off. You will need a few things to do this though.. an inner tube if you can't swim... something to drink.. a six pack of coke ties just fine to the inner tube... something to eat if you plan to stay very long or if you are bringing the young uns. You might want some towels too and in some cases even a change of clothes. It Pays to have at least one Gator watcher.. That is the guy that stands on the shore and watches to be sure no alligators come your way...

~Dave and used to take turns pulling Gator watching duty when the kids were little. We'd pack up the kids and the fishing poles and a lunch... That was usually some sandwiches and what ever we had to drink in the fridge.. we might have some cheese puffs and some home made cookies or even a pound cake to take along too. The guys would dig bait out by the barn while me and Jenny got the food together.. Her job was to empty all the ice trays into the big old cooler while I poured cool-aid into empty drink bottles... We'd make everyone a couple of sandwiches and pack up towels for everyone.. Emily would get cold and shiver till her teeth chattered so she also had to have dry clothes and a shirt with long sleeves..


Pulling in to Little Hell I always scanned the crowd. We knew most of the folks there. They had all been there since sometime the night before.. Some even stayed down there almost every week-end during the summer... they even left their tents up the whole week sometimes... Lots of times someone would offer us a meal down there... I ate the best catfish stew I ever tasted down there on the bank of little hell..

~ But back to where I scanned the crowd ~ I was always on the look out for someone that was just a little too drunk or maybe a tiny bit ticked off. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt.. I had kids with me... Me and Dave almost always had at least one kid along.. They all loved Little Hell.... We would pick us out a spot and set the cooler down.. I would set myself down with some crochet and take the first watch for Gators. Dave would swim out to tread water under the big tree.. He would wait there under that big old leaning tree treading water and standing ( or treading) Gator watch while our children joined in the long line waiting to take their turn on the rope... Cooper was always the first to go... he'd walk up the tree trunk as far out as he could and then reach way out with his skinny little arms and swing and sway out over the water hanging on for dear life.. sometimes he would make three swings over Dave before he would let go.. he was always way out in the river and Dave would swim out and meet him as Cooper swam to him.. Emily was next and she would yell for Dave on her way down.. It was almost as if she just jumped from the tree... she would let go of the rope and yell "DAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE" as soon as her feet left the board nailed to the jumping off point! David would make a decent swing.. He didn't need Dave he told us once but we didn't listen and Dave was always there when he fell into the water.. Jenny would swing a few times and then come and sit by me.. I remember the day I realized she was growing up.. and yes... even away from me and her Daddy.... I think she was about thirteen then and so pretty....

I reckon it's the sweltering heat that makes one remember things like swimming in the river.. drinking from the flowing well there and not even caring if the icy water is clean.... I hope my children realize how lucky they were that we carried them to the river and that they had me watching for snakes and Gators and Dave there to catch them all as they fell... I realize that he and I were also Lucky to have them to share it with.. If not for them we might have been one of the ones people steered clear of.. the ones I looked for when I scanned the crowd.... The ones the Gators wouldn't eat... I am thankful for those times.. I might pack me up some cool-aid and a baloney sandwich and head down to the river any day now!

2:) a Haiku~ read carefully and think.. let me know what you think is going on in this haiku...
and No a Shepherd does not carry a WHITE CANE!

Summer Storm

white cane thump; thumping
he tries to outrun the rain~
I roll up my hose

written By: Patricia Sawyer
6-4-2009


3:) A Picture that I love!!!
























As I walked along behind Dave and His Only Aunt.... Aunt Ruth... I couldn't help but think how wonderfully Lucky I am to have a big family.. Dave hadn't seen Aunt Ruth in many many years and yet just look how alike they are.. Both with their hands shoved down in their pockets... walking in step.. talking quietly together as I tagged along behind them making secret pictures..

There ya go three things I have shared with you today.. three for Thursday! I hope you have enjoyed today's blog! I hope you had a great Thursday! Blessings to all!
Patsy

Happy Easter!

"Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there."
~Clarence W. Hall

" 'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Yesterday was good Friday I wanted to plant something yesterday. I didn't care what, It could have been anything. I would have settled for any flower or food plant at all. Needless to say yesterday got busy with one thing and another and Good Friday almost slipped by without me planting anything at all. But just before dark yesterday I was outside and thinking about how Daddy always planted on good Friday. Dave had put me off all day saying that his friend said the moon was haloed and that would mean more cold weather. I was sitting there in the almost darkness and to tell the truth I was a little bit angry with my own self. I asked myself why I had even discussed planting with a city boy. I knew I had married a city boy and he knew nothing about planting. Finally I had talked myself into a regular tizzy. I was mad because I hadn't planted anything and I was mad because just suppose I had tossed my good planting and growing luck to the wind. Everybody knows you are supposed to Plant on Good Friday! Well everybody but Dave and his friend.. I was about to bet myself that they were both city boys when suddenly I remembered the 6 pack of flowers that Dave bought for me a few weeks ago;
I hurried into the greenhouse room and grabbed them; next I ran back outside and grabbed a small pot. I filled the pot with soil and praying for a good growing season this year and asking God to bless me with both food and beauty again this year I stuck two of the small flowers into the tiny container. I noticed today while Dave and I were planting and filling planting boxes and planting and working our butts off; that the two plants I planted yesterday were putting on new blooms. Looking around I also noticed other plants putting on new growth and everything appeared to be doing just fine even though I still wasn't exactly satisfied about the whole not planting on good Friday thing. Even so tomorrow will be Easter ~ the promise of a new beginning. The promise of miracles!

A few weeks ago Camella sent me a word list and asked me to write a poem for her to use to invite my Family members to Mama's house tomorrow for an old timey Easter egg hunt and picnic. We used to all pile in on her and Daddy for lunch and spend the afternoon hiding and hunting eggs. This will be the first time we have done this in a long long time. This year it will be the Great-Grands who will be wearing the Easter clothes and searching for the eggs. I will be on the porch, with the old folks, rocking in a chair, enjoying the little children's laughter and thinking about Easters gone past! I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!
Patsy

"frilly, eggs, Azaleas, baskets, chocolate, bunny, hunt, spring, bonnet, Sunday, grass, duck, church,"
~ Camella

Easter Morning ( a vignette)

I:
Frilly dresses ironed
by Mama's hand.
Starched with a sprinkle
from the giant Pepsi bottle.
Four New spring Bonnets.
Four new Bow ties.


II:
Hen's eggs carefully dyed.
Daddy chose the best
Peeking and poking into each
and every nest.
One a duck egg.
Daddy called it a prize.

III:
Oh a special Sunday.
The day Jesus arose.
Every Church pew Filled.
Families together dressed
in their very; very best.

IV:
Ham and Mama's Potato salad.
Both Grandmas joining us
at the overflowing table.
Using our best Manners
we try to hurry.
We are ready for the hunt.

V:
The Azaleas burst forth
with bright blooms and
secret spots holding eggs
of lemon yellow and sea foam green.
Little feet Running with excitement;
baskets bulging with glittery grass;
Chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.

VI:
Collapsing with Laughter
we count and count.
Hidden too good
a few eggs will be
an opossums supper.
Long after we are fast asleep.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
3-4-2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

"What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? "
~Erma Bombeck

"There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American. "
~O. Henry

"Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seed time and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. "
~Ray Stannard Baker

Happy Thanksgiving! When I was a child Thanksgiving was when all the families came to our house. Daddy and the boys would be cooking a hog on a pit and The house would be filled to the brim on the night before Thanksgiving. Uncle RC and Aunt Martha always came to spend the night. She would sit around with Mama and talk and they would be knitting or crocheting some new pattern. Mama would put as many stitches in Aunt Martha's as she would her own because she had to keep on getting it straightened out for Aunt Martha. The men would be outside doing things to get the hog ready for the pit.

Daddy would have had Jimmy and Frank digging the pit by his specifications for the past two days . It had to be the right size to get all of the hog on at once. It had to be deep enough to keep the coals underneath close enough to cook but far enough away to cook slow. The wood would have been gathered from the woods. Fallen limbs and sticks first and then some small oak trees to get the good coals from. Now days most people use a barrel with a rack in it and a hole in the side to scoop coals but Daddy always had a fire going under the wash pot and would scoop his coals from around the fire. He would bend over then and scatter the coals under the pit with his flat shovel. The pit would have an opening on each end just for that purpose.

Trudy always helped Daddy make his mops. He would make a few and then use them all night to mop the meat as it cooked. I never knew exactly what was in his mop water. Salt and pepper and vinegar I think. We all had jobs to do. Each of us had something important that Daddy or mama assigned us. No one had to remind us either. We did our little jobs what ever they might be. All night Wednesday night we would be busy with getting everything ready for Thanksgiving. The boys stayed out in the yard with the men. I once was allowed to sit out there myself. I had to keep the fire going for a while. The men didn't talk about things that I thought were interesting. They talked about working and farming. Depending on what man had stopped by they might venture on over to hunting or fishing. I was always kinda glad when Daddy sent me back inside to help the ladies.

One Thanksgiving I have very fond memories of is the year that Grandma Black let me help her make the Lemon and Chocolate pies. She pretty much stood by and let me bake them. I even made the meringue. She would sometimes spend the night on Thanksgiving even too.. Falling asleep in the chair.. But most of the time she would have someone drive her home around midnight. She always brought pies for Thanksgiving dinner. Every once in a while she would also bring a cake that I always thought tasted like ants must taste. It was a spice and nut cake. Needless to say I hated that cake.

Mama, besides entertaining any Ladies that might be there, besides Aunt Martha, would also have a lot of stuff to do. Daddy made his own hash and Mama had to get all the stuff ready for it too. Daddy cooked the Hog Heads in the wash pot outside but Mama had to peal and cook all the potatoes and everything else that he would need to make his hash. She would also have to cook enough green beans and peas and dressing and rice and gravy, potato salad and candied yams and butter beans to feed Pharaohs army. Plus bake a turkey just in case someone would rather have turkey. Macaroni pie had to be cooked and peach cobbler. We didn't serve our guest any old box of dressing mix either. All the bread had to be baked, both biscuits and cornbread, celery had to be chopped and onions too. Eggs had to boiled and pealed for the potato salad and the plate after plate of deviled eggs. I can see those plates even now. White with a gold trim, hollowed out spaces where each egg nestled into it's own space. Cranberry sauce had glass dishes long and narrow to fit the can almost perfectly once it was sliced and spread out just so.

Daddy would have the meat covered with flattened boxes and every so often he turned and mopped the meat. I tried very hard to be out there when he turned everything. If he saw a small piece of skin or meat hanging, he would always offer you a sample. When the meat began to get close to done, we would all be out there trying to get a sample. Daddy would usually declare it done just after daylight. Then would begin the cutting up of the meat and the making of the hash and his special bar-b-cue sauce. Daddy always chose just one person to help by stirring what he put in the pot. Many of us think we know the recipe. Of all the sauces I have tasted, Tricia's comes the closest to Daddy's. Daddy used to say that we weren't holding our mouth right when we made it. I don't know what his secret was. I never ever saw him measure anything and I know he didn't have the recipe wrote down.

Thanksgiving Day our house and yard would fill up from early morning to late night. Mama and Daddy would cook breakfast for a crowd plus us and we were already a crowd. Grandma Morris would come not long after breakfast bring her Pound cake and fruit cake and tins with the best divinity fudge and chocolate fudge too. She would usually bring her knitting and I often wondered if Mama was glad that Grandma had arrived to take over the entertaining part of the Thanksgiving job that was my mama's. Uncle RC and Aunt Martha's grown children might come or Uncle Robert might come. Uncle Lewis , Aunt Christine and their family almost always came for Thanksgiving. It was a family feast. But it was a friendly feast too. People came and ate and sat around all over the house and yard enjoying the day. And enjoying the food. And I really believe enjoying the company. Aunt Lucy would always come. She always brought some food to add to the table. When I was very small I even remember one Thanksgiving that all of Daddy's family was there. We played football in the field and we had almost a whole team by ourselves. Uncle Royce and Uncle Bubba's kids made a team together but we beat them.

Thanksgiving Day has always been an important day to me. I loved it as a child. I once got married on Thanksgiving day, but that too has passed away. That was the first Thanksgiving we didn't have the family feast. Later I hated Thanksgiving day. I refused to celebrate it and would always cook spaghetti on that day. I would tell Dave we should go fishing. Just being contrary you see. My kids didn't care about Thanksgiving; They had friends to see and places to be. Last year Dave and I were busy getting me home from the hospital on Thanksgiving day. Thankful that I had survived. Grateful just to be back in out own bed. I am sure we ate something that day. Morphine has made me forget what though. Tomorrow I plan to cook a turkey, and dressing with Giblet gravy. Green bean casserole, candied yams, and maybe even in the spirit of old days, a peach cobbler. I have a regular feast planned out. I know Dave and I will enjoy it. Who knows I might even get him to play me a game of tag football.. But tomorrow I will be celebrating Thanksgiving. For I do indeed have a lot to be Thankful for. Have a great day and a Happy Thanksgiving.
Patsy

A Fairy Tale for Friday!

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." ~ Albert Einstein


"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." ~ C. S. Lewis

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. " ~Langston Hughes


Today it is drizzling rain here. I have always loved rain.I like to here it hitting my roof. I like to see it fill and overflow the buckets sitting on my step. I love the smell and the feel of rain. When others would run through a storm trying to avoid puddles, I would walk slowly through hoping to get soaked to the skin. Dave and I have taken all the children for walks in the rain. Once staying at the beach for a week in the rain we walked all alone on a deserted stretch of sand getting all the best shells. Laughing one night as Jennifer jumped around afraid of the ghost crabs that appeared to also enjoy the soaking rain. Everyone else who camped there that week stayed inside their snug travel trailers and missed all the fun of the giant waves crashing along the shore as the rain fell in softer waves from above. Today's Tale deals with rain and what life might be like without rain. I hope you enjoy My Fairy tale for today! Have a wonderful day!
Patsy



The Last Rain

Lila knelt there, in her shuttered garden room, remembering. She had been four Years old. the same age her grandson Ivan was now. The fat drops had sluiced through her long dark hair. It had fallen across her skinny back in tangles after the drenching. Her Grandma had set buckets out all over their house that day. They had bottled gallons and gallons of water. Scarce even then, Rain wasn't even believed in now. Oh how she wished to see the miracle again. It had been years now since the last rain. Years since she had tasted the lovely droplets. Her own sons had never seen rain. Her oldest Grandson had gone down to the well this morning and came back with only a few small bottles of the precious liquid. Lila wondered how she would water her few garden plants with so little water. But at least she still had plants. So many people didn't even have that much.

The last rain had been fifty years ago. The Grand Government had drilled the now crumbling wells in the third year after that. For a lot of years men and women had drawn water from the deep pits always under the watchful eye of a well keeper. Three years ago they had declared that the cities wells were running dry. People had left the cities and headed for the North. Lila and her sons had decided to stay in the nearly abandoned city. Always hoping for a miracle. Always praying for rain. Lila hoped that they had made the right choice. Picking carefully she gathered food to fix the families one meal of the day.

"Grandma," little Ivan called to her as she worked, " tell me again about the Rain!" "Come along " She answered, seeing the disapproving look her son was casting her way." I'll tell you as we work." Lila knew her children thought she was an old fool. She knew they didn't believe her stories about rain. They had never seen rain. They thought rain was a myth. Something made up by the old ones. But Ivan was young enough to still believe in an old woman's tales.

Late that night Lila was awakened by the squeak of a door. She quietly rose and watched from behind the tattered blinds as her oldest grandson slipped from the nearly vacant High rise and was swallowed by the darkness of the street far below. She knew he was sniffing around one of the few girls still living here in the city. She had seen him hide away a potion of his meal to carry to his secret lover. Lila reckoned that they would soon have either one more or one less mouth to feed. She wanted her family to stay together. She knew what the city held for them. But to go north? Was there more water north? Lila was afraid that the friends who had gone north had not found water at all. No one had come back to tell them. It was as if they had left the city and vanished. She crept quietly back to her bed to toss and turn through the night.

"Grandma! Grandma!" Ivan called; squealing fearfully through the rooms. "Come see the sky! It's turning all Black!" Lila jumped from her bed just as the first rumble echoed through out the city. "What is that her sons yelled at her?" Running from their beds with their hungry wives close behind."Buckets!" Lila screamed at them. "Get buckets and Barrels and pots and anything else that you can find that will hold water. Hurry now! Bring them to the roof. Put them out everywhere.""Grandma?" Ivan squealed as the thunder ripped through the city again, bringing the few remaining inhabitants running into the streets. "What is it?"

"Ivan," Lila said kneeling in front of him as she let loose her Bun, freeing her hair to hang in dark tangles around her hips. " You come with me!" Holding tight to each others hand, they ran into the dusty street just as the first fat, wet, drops splattered onto the parched ground. Together they danced as the buckets and barrels filled and the cities deep wells overflowed. They danced through the empty high rise they called home and Lila gathered all the family close around her as each of them experienced their own very first rain.


written by: Patricia Sawyer
11-8-2008

I love the lists! They Feed Imagination!

"Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family" ~ Virginia Satir


"There's no vocabulary For love within a family, love that's lived in But not looked at, love within the light of which All else is seen, the love within which All other love finds speech. This love is silent." ~T S Eliot

"Here is my List~ Granny Jean, Jack, Love, Hope, Family~ see what you can do." ~ Camella

" I give you the gift of one word ~Fire!" ~ Anthony



I love the lists. I get them from family and friends and strangers. I get them from old spelling books sometimes if I am out of lists from people. I also like the word search word lists because they usually all pertain to a certain subject. But I really like lists that people give to me. I know they are excited to see what I can do with their words. And I am always excited too see what I can do with their words too. There have only been a very few times that I have not wrote from a list that was given to me. I have even wrote from one word lists. Words like fire, Anger, and even the word whores have been sent to me. I wrote for each of them. But today I am posting two poems. The first is from a list of words that Camella sent to me. A short lists as you can see. The shorter the list the harder it is to write. More words for me to pull from my own brain. The Second poem is from a one word gift from Anthony. I hope Y'all enjoy today's writings.
Have a great day.
Patsy


Not What I Had Imagined!

Delightful Meaty, spicy
aroma's spilled into the air
from the red brick Building
and I felt sure that the People
boating, on the two blocks away,
Lake were sniffing the air.
Head tossed back In awe
of the wonderful smells.

"Jack's in the kitchen"
I heard him say as they pulled
into the empty parking space
next to mine. Smiling!
Glad to see us there.
Frank was in Love.

Coming around the red mustang,
grinning, in his new blue jeans.
Helping His new love from the front seat.
Settling the Child upon his hip.
Natural, the way the three of them
seemed to fit. A budding family.
Camella smiled eyes filled with hope,
reaching out for Anthony. Laughing
as he threw his year old self into
her welcoming arms.

Laughing her way up the sidewalk.
Passed the pots of vibrant blooms
resting there on the narrow steps.
" Welcome Home" they seemed to say
in the bland neighborhood. Yellows and bright
reds tumbling from their clay pots.

I was a little bit afraid. About to meet
My brother's, new Love's family.
What if they don't like me I wondered,
will it make them not like him?
I'll be on my very best behavior!
I promised myself silently.
Just before Granny Jean threw
open the front door. Standing there
with pocket novel in her hand
and a welcoming smile in her eyes.

I was about to be introduced
to my new Lifelong friends.
Not at all what I had imagined.
But oh so much more than I had hoped.
I was their new son's little sister.
That made me family in the Brown House!

written By: Patricia Sawyer
11-4-2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fire

fierce
inferno
raging and
engaging!

written By: Patricia Sawyer
2-18-2008

Happy Grandparents Day!

"Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old." ~Mary H. Waldrip

"Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven't thought of yet."
~Gene Perret

"You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mothers. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves." ~Seattle, Chief of the Duwamish, Suquamish and allied Indian tribes

Grandparents day is a modern holiday. It's another of those holidays made up to sell cards and gifts. I always forget about it unless some one reminds me or as in this year the inter-net reminds me. But in honor of the day I will talk about my own Grand-ma's a little bit. I'm sure I had Grand-pa's too.. I have even heard tales of them.. But they both died before I was born. I sadly missed out on those guys.

My Mama's Mother was Miss Janie Morris. Morris being the name of her third and last husband. Grandma was very particular about things. She was born a planters daughter and his favorite daughter at that. She was sent to a ladies school (Winthrop) to be educated as a teacher. Back then very few young women were educated. She came on the train to teach in a one room school house. It was there that she met My Grandfather and her first husband. He died very young leaving her to raise four children. She married twice after that but never lost her strong minded ways. I used to hate to go visit her because I knew with-out a doubt where I was going to be.. I was going to be sitting on the front step. She wouldn't get a switch or strike you with her hand....She firmly believed in the sitting on the step thinking about what you had done. My Uncle Robert told me that he never could figure that one out.. He said " Damn! she walloped hell out of me and Roberta : and she treats y'all like y'all's ass is glass." He then added that she didn't whip Aunt Dot nor Uncle JC either so maybe their "asses were glasses" too.. I can only assume that he got both his language and his sense of humor from My Grand-father. I assure you she wouldn't have laughed like we did.

She could sew like no one else though.. Making us special dresses for special occasions. She sewed for the public is what she called it. I remember sitting on the steps and looking through the window into her bedroom where she sewed.. she would be bent over the machine working away and humming Hymns to herself. I asked her once if she could make doll clothes and she laughed at me.. saying I was foolish.. "Go sit on the step till you can think of something smart to say!" Needless to say I sat there till time to go home.

But the following month was my 6th Birthday and she brought me a beautiful handmade rag doll in a bright red dress and a perky little hat. . Handing it to me she said " I can do anything I set my mind to and so can you... Take care of this doll to remind you of that." Janie Jane the doll sits right here where I work.. Just in case I need reminding. Grandma did so many things she went to college and taught school. She raised a family and sewed for the public. Her second Husband owed a store and she ran that too. In her older years she worked for the town as a clerk and ran the water office and still she sewed. If she wanted to go somewhere she got in her car and went. She spoke her mind. She even danced a jig that she made up herself.. her own happy dance. She also made the best pound cake and divinity fudge there ever was.. I learned from her that you can indeed do anything you set your mind too.

My Daddy's Mama was Grandma Black. Her real Name was Mozelle. They say I am very much like her. I think I look like her. Grandma Black was a very earthy person. She loved the outside. She too could sew but mostly she sewed quilts for everyone. When she lived in the big house we kids would lay under the quilting frames and listen as the grown ups talked to each other. She kept a quilt in the frames all the time ~ when she wasn't sewing on it she would pull it up to the ceiling on Pulley's and tie it off. Grandma kept chickens in a pen outside. She loved cats but they were outside too.

When her youngest son Married a Lady with three girls, Grandma gave them her house and moved to a little cottage in the woods. She carried her Iron bed; quilting frames and her chickens with her.Once me and Jimmy were at Grandma's house. I'm pretty sure Mama and Daddy had gone to get school supplies for the rest of the crew. Sheron came up the dirt road and told me and Jimmy that she knew where a snake was. Jimmy was excited about that and grabbed a big rock as they ran away to kill it. I followed along and got there just as Jimmy bashed him on the head.. I tried to tell that to Grandma as she was coming out of the woods ~with a switch already in her hand~ But it didn't matter to her. She switched us all a few times on our skinny little legs.. Running Sheron back through the woods to her house and me and Jimmy back up the dirt road to her cottage.

"You don't kill things" she said as she switched our legs.. "You only kill what you need to eat. If everyone killed anything they wanted to the world would be out of whack!" She didn't send us to sit on the steps.. she just said that next time she would tell our Daddy. When we all got back to her house and she washed our faces clear of tears~ she talked to us about nature being balanced and that we had killed a rat snake. I was afraid for a long time that the rats would take over....

Grandma wore a Bonnet and an apron always. The apron was magical. It had a special pocket that held an endless supply of chewing gum and mints. Whatever anyone needed would magically appear from her tiny apron pocket. Tissues for dirty faces and running noses or crying eyes~ a button and sewing needle to fix a shirt~ a few coins for a cold coke. I wanted that apron for myself. When she died they gave me her bonnet~ I really wanted that apron!

A few years before she died Uncle Emmett moved Grandma into a small Trailer almost in his Back yard. They brought along her chickens but she had long since passed the quilt frames on to my Mama. Grandma loved it there except that she was no longer surrounded by the woods. So she grew her own. Grandma could be found most days chopping around in her yard with a hoe. Planting something to feed the Belly or to feed the soul. She grew flowers and tomatoes and cucumbers all there together. Crowded in where ever something would fit. I reckon that's where I get my gardening style. I learned so many things from her. I learned from her that understanding is the hard part.. "Just accept" she said "it's a whole lot easier." I think she meant that for most things in life~ She also taught me how to Bake the very best lemon pies!

Both of My grandma's endured many hardships. They lived through things we can only imagine.
They were very different from each other and yet I believe they respected each other. I never saw them quarrel. One watched Lawrence Welk and one didn't really understand the concept of TV. ... One highly educated and one Barely educated and yet they both were very smart women. They raised my parents. They helped raise us.. They did a great Job! I hope to be as good of a grandmother to my own grandchildren.

If you have a Grandma ~ call her up and say Hi. It will mean more than you know to her.
If you are a grandmother~ Plan a special walk or talk with your grandchildren. Talk them about things that were part of your world but will not be a part of theirs. Tell them about life when your Grandma was young. Share with them of yourself. Have a great day!
Patsy

A poetic Wednesday! ~ Motherhood~

"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing. "
~Toni Morrison, ~Beloved, 1987~

" Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials." ~Meryl Streep~

"The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
~Jill Churchill~





Motherhood Miles

I change the diapers
wash the pot
scrub the floors
dust "what-nots".

I kiss the "boo-boos"
scratch little backs
make the beds
Pack lunch sacks.

I patch the jeans
darn the socks
dry the tears
comb curly locks.

I drink tea
with teddy bears
put on their p.j.'s
and hear childish prayers.

The price might be sanity
paid in milky smiles
but there is NOTHING I would trade
for my motherhood miles!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
4-12-1989

Today I have chosen quotes and a poem that fits my mood. I reckon I am missing them now that all the children are "grown" and gone. I try to offer advice sometimes but am quickly told they are grown. I am having a hard time learning "My Place" now that they are all adults. I now understand why My grandma said she had "got mad enough to spit" when my Aunt Lucy told her that she was grown. I hope and pray that I live long enough to hear a grandchild tell the same to my own Kids! I have felt like saying it to my own Mama; but I am smarter than that! She still has a stick somewhere I'm sure of it! And I'm too old to run. Besides she has been "grown" a whole lot longer than me and Just might know a little more than I do about life. Have a great Day! And remember grown don't mean much to your Mama!
Patsy

A Refreshing Run!

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" ~Peter Maher ~ Canadian marathon runner~

"Tough times don't last but tough people do." ~A.C. Green~

In Monday's post about the importance of recreation. I was debating with myself the fact that I was kinda maybe wondering if My older Brother Jim was trying to be helpful when we were young by making Reuben and I run from him as he attempted to lasso us. He really was quiet good with his rope and we often had rope burns on some part of our body where he would rope us as we ran away. He would chase behind yelling "Yah Bull Yah!" Reuben seemed to be Jimmy's favorite bull. And so with that refreshing recreation in mind I offer for your amusement this little Poem. Have a great Wednesday! I thank all my brothers for making my life "special"! Have a great day. Try to find something special in life every day!
Patsy.



A Refreshing Run!

"Run run as fast as you can."
"Everybody knows you can't outrun Jimmy!"
"Under the house! Quick! he won't follow you under there!"
~BAM! "Reuben ~ duck! You can't just run up under the house!"
"Eventually he will give up and go away. Then you come out!"
"Now Reuben! Come out Now.. But run for the house!"


"Curve and weave and he'll miss But don't you stop."


"Bet ya money he could lasso a bull."
"Lot's of practice make a bad boy good at what he does."
"Actually he ain't all bad. He gave me some of his candy once."
"Candy he dropped in the dirt I betcha! Or worse."
"Keep your eyes open. He ain't gone far! Run! Run! here he comes again!"


"Just let me lasso you one more time and I'll quit!"
"Ah shucks! I didn't hurt ya! why ya wanna cry for?"
"Mama better not hear about this!"
"Ever think you might grow up to be a Bull? You need practice!
"Someday when yall grown and learn about recreation ya gonna thank me!"

"Everybody knows recreation is good for ya! Even a dummy knows that.

"Babies cry and girls. Patsy's crying cause she's an old ugly girl."
"Let her cry by herself.. Hush that up! Ya better RUN!
"Alright, I won't rope yall no more today. Just one last time!"
"Come on, eat this candy; It taste like dirt; But ya will like it."
"Keep yall refreshed is all I'm trying to do.. It's just recreation.. It's good for yall.

National Recreation Month

"Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.” ~ Thomas Jefferson ~

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play at it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf." ~Bob Hope~


"The bow cannot always stand bent, nor can human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation". ~Miguel de Cervantes ~



July is Know as National Recreation Month. The Dictionary says that recreation is the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. It goes on to add that while leisure is more likely a form of entertainment or rest, recreation is active for the participant but in a refreshing and diverting manner. Wow that could cover a lot of stuff. I mean I have been doing a whole lot of recreation without ever knowing it.



Cycling, Dancing, Eating and drinking, Partying, Hunting and fishing, All are listed as recreation. Hobbies, Computer games, Reading a book, Shopping, Kite flying, Listening to music, Sports and exercise also all have a place on the list. Travel and tourism, Martial arts, Yoga, Using the Internet, Visiting an amusement park, Singing, Video games, and Watching movies are all also known as recreations. I am guilty of quiet a few of them. I have a few Hobbies like crocheting doll clothes and knitting hats or dish rags.. Recreation!! I love to read and normally read at least one book a week. Recreation again! I sing in the shower so I'm killing two birds with one stone there.. recreation and just plain bathing. That's gotta be multi- Tasking; right? Man I am getting good! And to think that years ago when I was a party goer I was doing something considered good for you..(well yea I know better but I thought...) I guess the Internet and the video Games would be the two recreations I do the most of. And so from now on when someone says to me that I stay on-line too much I will just smile and say that recreation is good for you!



I would like to add some recreations from Our childhood to my list. Hill sliding on the railroad hills. That was refreshing to both the body and the mind. Especially if you didn't hit a tree. I still love it today even though I'm grown. And I haven't hit a tree in years and years. Tunnel digging was always fun too. We would dig out rooms under the ground and furnish them with block chairs and lots of food from Mama's pantry. The jello we ate from the box there was surely refreshing to our sweet tooth.



Tree climbing and tree house building were always great fun too. We had lots of those. We had lots of woods for our recreation time. I guess you could say that we, as kids, had lots of recreation time. Daddy swore Hoeing the garden was fun and it was refreshing to finish.. I'm even going to stretch way, way out there and say that the times Jim looked at Me or Reuben and said "RUN" he was just helping us have some recreation. In Fact it was recreation for all of us as he tried his best to get the lasso around our necks and we tried our very best for him not to. Man all those years I thought he wanted to choke us and come to find out it was something else all together.. Recreation!!! I wonder if he knew that? I bet he will say he did! I guess we owe Jim a thanks!

In recent years, more 'exciting' forms of recreation have received more attention in the public eye, such as: skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping, sky diving, hang gliding, paintball, rock climbing, backpacking, canyoning, caving, base jumping, and motor sport. These would be called extreme sports. Or if I was naming them I would say extremely foolish sports. But then again they are Recreation! The only one of these I can claim would be the rock climbing and that was only to climb up the side of a water fall in New Mexico. It would hardly classify as rock climbing but to me and Mason it was scary. My sons snow-board. My oldest son's family all snow-board. I have a board here in my house.. I don't like the way it looks. I'd much rather come down the mountain on a cardboard box.. Flat on my butt.. Most of the others I would be petrified to even try. But I guess that the best part about recreation is that we all get to choose to do what we like.. what we enjoy.


Recreation- any activity that diverts, amuses or stimulates. That definition leaves room for a lot of things doesn't it. Now that I think of it I may tear that definition out of my dictionary.. Otherwise, all the things my kids got in trouble for will now be known as recreation. Choose your recreation wisely. But do choose to do something fun every day. All work and no play really does make a dull life. Try to have fun a little bit every day. Laugh as much as you can and if you are ever in my neck of the woods I'll take you rail road hill sliding. My all time favorite recreation! Have a great day!
Patsy

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

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

Animal Parade!

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.
~ Samuel Butler~


Money will buy a pretty good dog but it won't buy the wag of his tail.
~ Josh Billings ~


Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. ~Mark Twain ~


My first was Diablo. He had short brown hair and deep brown eyes. He had very short legs But he was perfect for me. I loved him with all of my six year old heart. He was my best friend for a few years. I cried as I searched for him one Cold November Afternoon. He was missing. I was certain My cousin took him because she didn't have one like him. I cried and searched till Daddy came home. Diablo was gone, Daddy had found him that morning on the back porch steps. Daddy took me out back near the chicken pens to show me where he had buried my friend. Daddy explained that Diablo was old But I didn't care. I said I didn't want another one! EVER! Daddy just laughed at me. He already knew what I would learn. Diablo was my first but he wouldn't be my last. I was an animal lover. I loved Dogs!


I have had many furry friends over the years. I think they are like people in a way. Some impress you more than others. Some you remember for a little while. Some you never forget. We all loved animals.
I was a country kid. That meant I lived outside of the Small town. My Daddy wasn't actually a farmer. My Uncles had farms growing hay and corn and soy beans. They had mules and tractors and Combines. My Daddy just grew food crops. Tomatoes, peas, some corn, String beans, Butter beans, cabbage and Okra. Daddy grew what we ate. That included some of our meat. That meat came from animals.


Daddy never let us name any animal that we might eat. We could name the Hens and Daddy had one old Rooster for years and years. He called the old Rooster Captain. Young Roosters were for the soup pot they were all known as pullets. My Sister named a pig once. We all loved that pig. When it came time to Butcher that year we all cried and begged and pleaded. We hated bacon, we didn't want any sausage that year. We weren't going to eat Madam no matter what Daddy said. Even Mama shed some tears. Daddy called uncle Oneal to come and get Madam. I am sure that he butchered her and ate her. My daddy was upset over the whole ordeal. That night he made the no naming food rule. But that was also the first time we were allowed pets. An animal of our own.


We still couldn't have just any animal. No snakes or Big lizards were going in Mama's house. Mice and rats were also out. No wild animals. Grandma swore they all had rabies and we ate rabbits and squirrels so they were already part of the food rule. We already had some cats around even though they were all half wild. I only recall two of them that ever had real names. They were "Old Black Mama," Called that because she was solid black and the mother or grandmother to every other cat there; And Tinkerbell. I found Tinkerbell after she was abandoned by Old black mama. She was half starved and I fed her milk with an eye dropper till she was old enough to eat on her own. She would purr and rub against me. Grandma said she thought I was her Mother. I liked her all right. I just wasn't really a cat person. I Still had Diablo then. I was a dog lover. I had already made my choice as to what would be my pets.


After Diablo came Dave and Bruno, Sugar and Lucky, Lady and Mister. We had Daisy and Doll, Doobie and Shadow. There was Red and Blackie and Brownie and Twitch. We had Piggy and Spanky and Sissy and once we even had one called Pot head. Not because she smoked pot, but because she had showed up at our house nearly starved to death with an old pot stuck on her head. Jimmy freed her from the pot and fed her and she stayed. We had lots of dogs that just showed up there. Daddy said the town folks dropped their unwanted dogs off in front of our house. He always said we weren't keeping any more but he always fed who ever was there at feeding time. Somehow we always had at least one extra dog.


After I was grown I had a parade of animals. We had horses and ponies and spiders and hamsters. We once even had a snake. We had lizards and gerbils and turtles. We had fish ... so many fish. I still have thirteen ponds full of Koi and gold fish and frogs. We have a blue million frogs. We have had rabbits and squirrels and ducks and chickens. We have had a few cats. But mostly we have had dogs. We have had all kinds of dogs. We have had purebreds and mixes and just plain mutts. We have had barkers and growlers and one that people swore could talk. We have had big dogs and little dogs and Middle sized dogs too. I loved them all. I love them too much. I want them all. I once had, including puppies, thirty-two dogs. Dave said they had to go. He was nice about it. We couldn't afford all those dogs. I got to choose their homes. I wasn't very happy about it, But he was right That was too many and they had to go.


Since then we only keep four or five dogs at the time. Usually having three outside and one inside dog. Last year was rough for us and our dogs. We had had all of them for a good while. Max was 14 years old, Hot-dog was 25 years old and Piglet was 4 years old. They all died. We think a car hit Piglet but the others ate tainted food. My heart was broken. That left only Buddy outside and Cocoa inside. Cocoa fussed and whined for days until finally we let her go out with Buddy. She refused to come back inside. Colt was brought to us by a friend to replace Hot-dog. He is crazy but he's lovable. Since Cocoa had decided she was a yard dog we had decided that we wouldn't get another inside dog. Then we met Little Man.


We debated it. Since all the children are grown and gone we could go places and do things. Not if you own an inside dog. They have to be let in and out and washed and brushed. They have to be petted and fed and played with. Outside dogs need the same things but inside dogs are different. You can leave outside dogs for a short time. Inside dogs are harder to leave. But< I argued he is so tiny and he won't get bigger and he fits in a coffee cup. We can take him with us! And we did! He'd sit on the console between the seats in Dave's truck or on the front seat with me in my car. He loved to go visiting and even went all the way to Tennessee with us to visit Dave's Aunt Ruth. We fell hard and fast for that tiny dog. He became Dave's friend. Dave's dog! I'd catch Dave talking to him when he thought no one was listening. He followed Dave everywhere he went. Until last week. Last week Little Man wouldn't come when we called him. He was no where to be found. I thought someone had stolen him. I searched till bedtime but couldn't find him anywhere.Dave found him the next day out near the trash cans curled up in a ball. At first he said he thought, (I feel hoped is a better word for here), that Little Man was asleep. He was not asleep. Our tiny dog had died. Our friend was gone.


Dave buried him out where all the others are. Hot dog and Max; Trigger, Boo and Smokey. All our animal friends who enriched our lives. Some for years and some for only short times. We agreed that we will rest for a while. Dave said he didn't want another inside dog right now. I agreed. I washed and cleaned his dishes and toys. I packed everything inside his kennel box and put it away. I had just carried it all out to the shed when Dave called from work. He had found out about some new puppies. They are tiny tea cup Chihuahua's just like Little Man. I reminded him that we are resting.We are he agreed. He just thought we should know where we can get one. Just in case he said. I figure that we will rest about five more weeks. By then the babies will be old enough to take from their mama and we will have rested from having an inside dog for about as long as we can. We are animal lovers. We are dog people.


Not everyone is an animal lover. If you aren't then admit it and don't have pets. There is no shame in not being an animal lover as long as you don't harm them. If you love animals but can't keep one, there are plenty out there in shelters who are looking for homes but need to eat Every day! Help them if you can. Remember to help control the strays by having your pets spayed or neutered if you can't or don't want to raise puppies. Train your animal to be a part of your family But never forget that they are an animal. Love them, Laugh at them, and enjoy them for how ever long they remain with you. We are resting, But only for a few weeks. We can't help it. We are Dog people! Be kind to animals! Have a wonderful Doggy Day!
Patsy