The decision making pipe

My husband and I have been told that his
great grandma and grandpa used to go out
to the field and smoke pipes when they had
a serious topic to discuss and make a decision about this
was a taboo and still a thing some old southern women
did, and they hid it well.

until I came across this photo and
Granny gave me a copy to tell me about her
parents I had never seen a women smoke a pipe!

Granny has told us all sorts of family history that
is interesting in itself. the lady in the photo
was born with a very unique name she was born
Dove Darkius Knight( I was told it to be a old family
name that had Native American and Irish roots.)the
man was named Houston.

Granny's parents taught the children well
they all know how to bake, cook, like most girls
learn but they also know how to hunt and
fish and clean and skin their prey.(yuck!) and do
all the chores for raising cattle, cows, goats etc.
those were part of their daily chores if
they wanted food on the table.
granny has told us many a story of her
and her pa going squirrel hunting in her
youth ( of course she would not do it now)

I stop to think about it when listening to it
it sounds like a " Little House on the Prairie" episode
but that was real that was how things were in
that era. it was not a Television show. and we
find it so fascinating to learn about the family that
lived it.

lesson learned family history is priceless and
worth its weight in gold.

My Roman Holiday

About 3 weeks ago my son and his friend and I
attended a showing of the original film
Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn
the boys being the old movie flick kind of
guys that they are( ok better choice of words
patrons of the arts) and desperately adoring
Ms. Hepburn as they
said: "she was a class act" ( I agreed).

I of course let them sit behind me
for fear I would not ruin anything for them
and they appreciated that. after the movie
we decided that they just don't make quality
films like that today it's all about violence
cursing words, and big Hollywood ego's.

the boys were enchanted with the old movie
theater & movie we all felt like we were
in Rome on Holiday! I was glad to tell them what it once
looked like when I was a kid and how I saw
such wonderful movies there including most
of the Disney movies my fondest one of all being
when I saw "Song of The South" which has never been
released.

the movie theater is being restored to it's original
format. the boys were thinking of ways they could
do a fund-raiser for their drama club in that theater.

we decided that the three of us would try to come to
support the arts and watch the old flicks they show once
a month the next one we will see is this coming weekend
it came out 6 yrs after I graduated but they say it is a
classic because it's an old 80's movie. ( that in itself made me
feel old!)

the flick we will see is FERRIS BULLERS DAY OFF!!

Mini Road Trip

Last weekend Jeff and I took a road trip
just the two of us no teenagers we took the
back country roads and ended up in Solvang
a fun little Danish town that we had visited plenty
of times in our younger years. it was the same yet
different. then we drove up the coast and ended
up staying in a hotel near Disney Land we did not
go to Disney land. we went out to dinner at one of
our favorite old southern eateries called Po' Folks
they make really awesome sweet tea! and after dinner
we strolled around found a little bar in one of the hotel's
and had a nightcap. it was kind of fun doing something
we haven't done in a very long time.

On Sunday we got up and went to one of my favorite
places we went to the swap meet it was unsually hot
there in the Orange County area and we were doing
our best to enjoy the swap meet with out dying from heat
exposure!!! after the swap meet we decided to call my sis
and surprise her, so we stopped at her house and ended
up visiting and having lunch for a few hours it was great
to spend time with them.

then we headed for home and on our way taking our time
we stopped at my husband's old homestead checked out
the old house and neighborhood it was the same yet very
different and we took a break and ended up at one of the
new mall's there it was a blast then headed on our road trip
once more and stopped at a quaint little BBQ joint in a town
called Buttonwillow .
we arrived home Sunday evening about 10:00 pm
and found the kids and house in tact. we were in constant
touch with the kids and they were fine.

we plan on taking more of these little weekend road trips
in the future.

A blonde thing

When I was little I always wanted to have
pretty blond hair( not as blond as the play wig)
so my mother bought me
a play wig for Christmas one year and when
I played make believe I would always wear it
I have always been dark haired and when I got
older I experimented with hair colors like Auburn
but that did not work so I began to put highlights in my hair
to this day I have my hair highlighted on a regular basis.
I like having blond highlights in my hair and to my surprise
I can wear it pretty well.

I am not quite ready to let it all go gray I think
I have a few more good years before I let that happen!!!

special ladies

above photo of my godmother, cele, and Mrs. Dando

I have known these three ladies most of my life
and came across this photo so thought I would do
a little blog about them,
they were always good to me two of them Cele, Mrs. Dando
are deceased and my godmother is still living I don't get to
see her often as she travels to her daughter's quite often
I think eventually she will move there to be close to her
which is a good thing. My godmother and Cele were sisters
and also my mother's cousins. I used to remember picking
blackberries at Cele's house when we visited her.
Mrs. Dando became a family friend to Mary and all of us
she had the most contagious laugh and twinkle in her eyes
she adored my little boy because of the way his name is
spelled and informed me that was the Scottish spelling.
in Scotland and Germany it is pronounced (KEEL) we just
pronounce it like the American version which is Kyle
even though we spell it differently.

I learned a lot from these women and I am
glad that I got to know them.

Daddy

This is me and my Daddy it is the only photo I have of
him and me alone. I won't repeat what I have already said
about my Daddy how he loved my Mom but I wanted to express
my memories and feelings about him.

Roberto

in his younger years he was a very handsome man
with piercing blue eyes and gorgeous red hair
( his ancestors decenseded from Spain.)

when I was born My father was in his 60's when I was
16 he passed at the age of 82! I said it before those
baby blues of his would get a smile out of anyone.
he was a family man through and through with mainly
daughters he did have three son's with my mother and
a son with his first wife whom he never got to know.

I think that is why he was such a family man
he was strict and when angry he meant business
but( he knew when my mom meant business too!)
he was also full of love. he did not speak
a whole lot of English he understood and spoke enough
with me to get by but stuck
with Spanish. to bad for me that somehow I
did not become fluent in speaking spanish
I can understand but can not think fast enough
to converse.

as stated before he enjoyed all his grandchildren
and would spoil them rotten. that was his job
speaking of jobs he worked for many years as a
coal miner and then in a plant nursery.

he had a very good "green thumb" and his vegetable
and rose garden would thrive with beautiful colors.

I remember he used to have this little dance
he would do kind of a jig of sorts and laugh/twinkle in his
eyes as he would dance those little steps ( looking back
kinda reminded me of a leperchaun jig!)

anyway, I miss my Daddy, he was there for
my siblings when important events occurred.
upon his passing he would never see me graduate
from high school, walk me down the isle, get to know
my children. but I learned at a very young age
that he his with me, always by thinking about him
remincising about my memories with him, and
I feel his presence when I think of those times
and some may think I am Loco as daddy would say
but I sometimes find myself talking out loud to him
as if he is listening and hearing me. ( maybe he his)
funny, because after I do talk out loud I somehow feel
a sense of contentment in my heart.

Whining

This past three days at work this is all I have been
hearing from parents and teachers calling in at work
with "whining complaints" and when I came home
I decided that I would take a photo of this old sign
I have hanging in my computer room.

I sat there staring at it thinking people
whine about something on a daily basis
I must admit I am guilty of it as well
then I imagined what if this were true
what if you were charged $5.oo dollars
for whining?