chesire cat

My son got the part of the Chesire Cat in his
upcoming high school production of Alice in Wonderland
he really wanted this part and he studied for it everyday
during the summer months he would put on our old Disney
movie and watch how the animators made the cat move.

though the play won't be like the cartoon movie
my son came up with a unique version of this character
which I am looking forward to seeing the play in Nov

if he did what I heard and saw over the summer it is
going to be great of course I know he will change things
because he also has a talent of being a magician.

I wonder what kind of magic he will conjure up in this
production. I have seen him portray in his acting career
a wealthy proprietor in the crucible, and also a judge in
the crucible, a politician in the play rumors. so this will
be an awesome character to watch him portray
I can not wait.

poems. prayers, & promises

I've been lately thinking about my life's time
all the things I've done and how it's been,
and I can't help believin' in my own mind
I know I'm gonna hate to see it end.
I've seen a lot of sunshine slept out in the rain
spent a night or two all on my own
I've known my lady's pleasures had myself some friends
spent a time or two in my own home.

Days they pass so quickly now, the nights are seldom long
time around me whispers when it's cold.
The changes somehow frightens me, still I have to smile
it turns me on to think of growing old.
It's tho' my life's been good to me there's still so much to do
so many things my mind has never known
I'd like to raise a fam'ly I'd like to sail away
dance across the mountains on the moon.

Ref.) I have to say it now it's been good life all in all,
it's really fine to have a chance to hang around.
and lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire,
while all my friends and my old lady sit and pass a pipe around
and talk of poems and prayers and promises
and things that we believe in, how sweet it is to love someone,
how right it is to care, how long it's been since yesterday
what about tomorrow and what about our dreams
and all the memories we share

John Denver was a talented folk poet you can read his lyrics and see that.

I was fortunate enough to see him in concert once.

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.