Moody Monday!

"Growing up, I was the plain one. I had no style. I was the tough kid with the comb in the back pocket and the feathered hair." ~ Cameron Diaz

"A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

"It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without soup or bread in it.' ~ M. F. K. Fisher







Moody Monday has given us the word plain for today..

The picture above is of two apparently plain ladies.. One of them is me.. I bet you can guess that I am the fat and plain one.. the other is my cousin Sheron.. I love her to death.. she is my longest time friend.. I would be friends with her.. if she would let me.. even if we were no kin.. neither of us wear makeup.. well maybe every once in a great while we might.. but it has to be something special.. we have gray hair and we are too plain to get that erased.. we both laugh to loud and say what we think and don't care too much about our clothes.. we fish.. and garden and keep chickens and dogs and all the things that plain women do.. we like to grow our own food.. we wear tank tops and cut off blue jeans.. we go barefoot.. we do brush our hair.. but I can't tell you how long it's been since mine was actually styled.. Maybe I am a little plainer than her.. She doesn't write but she can do the best story jokes of anyone I know.. she is funnier than me.. But I will say for plain folks we are both pretty funny.....

Plain~
•unadorned, without decoration; simple and ordinary
•clear and obvious; easily understood
•not beautiful

just above is the definition of plain according to Moody Monday! I agree with the first two.. I am simple and ordinary.. I am clear.. I am easily understood because I speak my mind.. I have always considered myself.. just Plain old me.. I am what I am.. you get what you see.. Sheron fits that too..

but I don't always agree with the last part.. not beautiful.. some things even when they are plain have a deep or hidden beauty.. Sheron is such a beautiful person..
she loves her family and friends deeply.. she would do anything ..and I do mean anything.. for any of her loved ones..she is very artistic.. she decorates her yard for each holiday with decorations she has designed and made.. most are wooden cutouts that she has draw then cut out and painted.. Ghosts for Halloween and Candy canes hanging from every tree for Christmas and Hearts for Valentines day..

Remember that those of us who appear plain.. me and Sheron included.. are not always what we seem.. if you ever got a half a chance to see inside our lives you would realize that there is way more that you never knew..in some cases .. more than you could have imagined.. and behind our plain wrapper.. there might just be a very fancy person.. Have a great Night!!
Patsy

Under the Quilt

Love if you have it you don't need anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter what else you have. ~ J.M. Barrie~

While we may be of different faiths, we have a strong sense of faith, family, community. We hold the values of freedom and human rights very high and I think that those are all a part of a very strong quilt that binds us together. ~Robert Menendez~


My first memory of My Grandma is of her legs and feet. We would go to her big old house every Saturday night just before it got dark outside.Daddy and the Uncles would be outside doing things around the place. I was never quiet clear on the mysteries of what they did. I know they had pigeons out there because we could see them fly sometimes. I also know they had hunting dogs in big pens. Us kids weren't allowed to befriend the hunting dogs. Uncle Neal said it would mess them up. My Mom and Grandma and the aunts would gather around in the hot, wood heated, Kitchen and soon they would lower the frames from the ceiling and they would quilt. They Made a few quilts every year each of them sewing dainty little stitches as they sat and talked. No one in Our Family would be cold.

Us little kids would all be sent to play on the floor beneath the quilt where they could know where we were. There was no room for us to play anywhere else. Sometimes My cousins would be there and we might play Barbies or sometimes Go fish cards. Sheron even had a checker board and some drink bottle caps that we could play with when she was there. The Older children always gathered on the back porch. There were cousins of all ages too But you had to be what was considered a big kid to get out from under the watchful eyes of the women. By the time I was a big kid the gatherings had stopped but I'll always remember those wonderful days. The days when I was sent to play under the quilt!

I loved my cousins a lot. Sheron was my favorite. She still is in a lot of ways. She is just a tiny bit older than me. Not quiet a year But she was a lot of fun. I loved Playing under the quilt with Sheron. But Most of all I loved it when the cousins didn't come.

When The cousins didn't come I would lay quietly under the quilt tent by myself and listen to the grown ups talk. I couldn't see their mouths but I could see their feet. My Grandma would pat her foot up and down as she told some tidbit of rumor to my Mom. Sometimes if she was trying to make a strong argument for something she would even stomp her foot up and down. My Mom didn't move her feet too much. She mostly kept her feet crossed and still. But Every once in a while she would uncross her feet and slide them back and forth over the hardwood floors or raise and wiggle her toes. Aunt Rose had pink painted toe nails. Aunt Lucy always wore white socks. Aunt Frankie didn't quilt. She wore loafers and stood propped by the counter sometimes. But most of the time she would go outside with Her husband Emmett. Or on the porch and look at a magazine.


Grandma always wore the same thing on her feet. Plain brown slip-on shoes, over stockings that came just above her knee. She wore plain brown garters around those to hold them in the exact spot that she wanted them. I would watch her feet and listen to her tell the most wonderful stories. Sometimes I would imagine her feet dancing or running although I never saw her do either. She loved to walk and I walked with her many times. I would have liked to see her run though.

I learned so many things laying under the quilt surrounded by feet. I learned that the preachers widow was courting the school teacher when I was too little to care about courting. I learned that Babies take forty full moons to come long before I knew what a full moon was or where babies were coming from. I learned that homing pigeons could be trained to bring and carry important messages or secrets. And that wearing red to a wedding or a funeral meant bad luck to the wearer. I learned recipes for foods that I have never cooked and I learned that Women who love each other share a special bond. A bond that brings them to share their thoughts and opinions with each other without fear of shame or censure. Their words to each other have a flow that becomes over time almost poetic. And that their feet often keep time to the music that only their hearts can hear! Let your heart music Move your feet. If you have family or friends in your life share with them in a relaxed place. Be open with them. If you have children, let them learn form seeing you interact with your family and friends. Let them learn about what moves your feet and your heart.
Love Many! Trust a few! Harm None!
Have a great Day!
Patsy