My grandfather used to order his three piece suit from the tailor and say:"This is the suit I will be buried in so make it nice".
He wore out 4 suits before it was his last one.
I bought a Maytag washing machine yesterday which is ultra modern in comparison to the old lady in the semi basement.
This one "weighs" your laundry and adds just the amount of water needed to wash the load, all automatic. Lowes had 10 percent off and State of N C had 100.00 off
if you buy ecology responding items.
So right there I had a great discount and they deliver for free and pick up the old one. Sears always charges for delivery!!!!
So I said to my daughters : "This is the last washing machine I will buy".
Answer came" "well they last about 20 years so that will be about right!
"Say what?"
I am excited, this old machine served me well, bought it at some estate sale years ago and the last 3 years of Bob's life I had to wash ALL the bedding of our Queen size bed ,every, every day!!! The girl worked hard.
Thank you Maytag you deserve kudos for that old lady and I will enjoy the new one.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Flags and the law.
I thought that Whitney was a power house singer with a voice so pure...I can't truly say that I was a big fan who followed her career because I did not know that in her last concert people had asked for their money back.
I did not know that the fall had been so enormous on her vocals , I read about the abuse now and then and shook my head hoping she could stop the down fall.
Not another Presley was my thought.
I watched about an hour of the funeral, no question about it, this is a different culture that I am not familiar with. The singing tributes never stopped and I hope that this would help her Mom and her child. It was an impressing lot of talents and expression of love.
I am just very puzzled about the flag at half mast in New Jersey.
What are the rules about that?
Do we have laws, suggestions, rules, put down somewhere on how to treat the flag and when to put it half mast???
My personal opinion is that NJ did go a bit over the top on that one.
I did not know that the fall had been so enormous on her vocals , I read about the abuse now and then and shook my head hoping she could stop the down fall.
Not another Presley was my thought.
I watched about an hour of the funeral, no question about it, this is a different culture that I am not familiar with. The singing tributes never stopped and I hope that this would help her Mom and her child. It was an impressing lot of talents and expression of love.
I am just very puzzled about the flag at half mast in New Jersey.
What are the rules about that?
Do we have laws, suggestions, rules, put down somewhere on how to treat the flag and when to put it half mast???
My personal opinion is that NJ did go a bit over the top on that one.
Friday, February 17, 2012
WOMEN AND THEIR RIGHTS
I am beginning to wonder what in the heck is happening with our politicians and
how they stand on understanding our rights.....
I have experience in this matter ....October 28 1956 I delivered full term twin boys, healthy babies in all aspects but they arrived still born. I had an Xray 3 days before I delivered (on their due date) , first of all the xray did not even show I had twins, Dr. did not know I was having twins. BUT I stopped feeling life right after the Xray. Next day I rushed to the dr. and told him something was wrong. His answer was that just before birth the baby is quiet....did I believe him? Absolutely NOT.
I KNEW, I just knew something was wrong , this baby had been extremely busy (of course with 2 of them!) now the large expanded stomach felt like a rock, heavy and not moving.
This was my first pregnancy. The American child I wanted so very much.
Not much after this I read in the paper that John Hopkins had announced that Xrays were damaging to pregnancies.....I knew they hit it on the nail. I knew from experience.
Then on April 28 1960, 4 years after the loss of the twins I was expecting and in pain in the hospital. The baby was just not wanting to see this world.
Push as hard as I could, no baby.
The same dr. who had delivered my twins (and in the interim my first American girl in 1958) said he just needed an xray to see the position ...I started to tell the dr. that he just was NOT going to give me an Xray. Do a C section, do whatever but NO X Ray....he turned to my then husband and asked :"Joe, what do you think? You can sign for her, we do not need her signature!". Joe signed.
I screamed all the way down the hall to the Xray room and twisted and turned
when they wanted to do the work. I just KNEW I would loose this baby too and I was not going to give in.
But they (the MEN with their rights) won.
Lucky my Sabrina was a fighter too and she decided to come and join us, she had yellow jaundice but was OK after a few days.
For the young ones: they did not have ultra sound in those days and Xrays were common....the women had no say so or rights about their bodies.
I even picked a Jewish doctor because I knew the doctrine of the church , I was still a Catholic then, a Catholic Dr. then would have to save the child before the mother. I was not a selfish human being but I just did not see how my irresponsible husband who was still a child himself was going to take care of a baby without a mother.
My best friend and I often laughed at that time because she was Jewish and she
picked the Catholic Dr. The two OB-Gyn's were the best in the town.
I am not sure of the laws updates at this point, I would truly hope that in ALL cases the woman has a right what should be done with her body.
I would never have been able to have an abortion that is not in me but that is not to say that one should not have the right to choose. The church can dictate what they want I am my own person, I have to take responsability for my actions.
I listened to priests in my youth only to find out that they did NOT follow
the rules of the church ....they did not lead by example. Why tell me what to do,.. furthermore why should a government tell me what I can do about my personal life.
I am on a soap box and have a hard time telling what I feel but I will never forget the birthday of my daughter when 2 men took over and they won.
how they stand on understanding our rights.....
I have experience in this matter ....October 28 1956 I delivered full term twin boys, healthy babies in all aspects but they arrived still born. I had an Xray 3 days before I delivered (on their due date) , first of all the xray did not even show I had twins, Dr. did not know I was having twins. BUT I stopped feeling life right after the Xray. Next day I rushed to the dr. and told him something was wrong. His answer was that just before birth the baby is quiet....did I believe him? Absolutely NOT.
I KNEW, I just knew something was wrong , this baby had been extremely busy (of course with 2 of them!) now the large expanded stomach felt like a rock, heavy and not moving.
This was my first pregnancy. The American child I wanted so very much.
Not much after this I read in the paper that John Hopkins had announced that Xrays were damaging to pregnancies.....I knew they hit it on the nail. I knew from experience.
Then on April 28 1960, 4 years after the loss of the twins I was expecting and in pain in the hospital. The baby was just not wanting to see this world.
Push as hard as I could, no baby.
The same dr. who had delivered my twins (and in the interim my first American girl in 1958) said he just needed an xray to see the position ...I started to tell the dr. that he just was NOT going to give me an Xray. Do a C section, do whatever but NO X Ray....he turned to my then husband and asked :"Joe, what do you think? You can sign for her, we do not need her signature!". Joe signed.
I screamed all the way down the hall to the Xray room and twisted and turned
when they wanted to do the work. I just KNEW I would loose this baby too and I was not going to give in.
But they (the MEN with their rights) won.
Lucky my Sabrina was a fighter too and she decided to come and join us, she had yellow jaundice but was OK after a few days.
For the young ones: they did not have ultra sound in those days and Xrays were common....the women had no say so or rights about their bodies.
I even picked a Jewish doctor because I knew the doctrine of the church , I was still a Catholic then, a Catholic Dr. then would have to save the child before the mother. I was not a selfish human being but I just did not see how my irresponsible husband who was still a child himself was going to take care of a baby without a mother.
My best friend and I often laughed at that time because she was Jewish and she
picked the Catholic Dr. The two OB-Gyn's were the best in the town.
I am not sure of the laws updates at this point, I would truly hope that in ALL cases the woman has a right what should be done with her body.
I would never have been able to have an abortion that is not in me but that is not to say that one should not have the right to choose. The church can dictate what they want I am my own person, I have to take responsability for my actions.
I listened to priests in my youth only to find out that they did NOT follow
the rules of the church ....they did not lead by example. Why tell me what to do,.. furthermore why should a government tell me what I can do about my personal life.
I am on a soap box and have a hard time telling what I feel but I will never forget the birthday of my daughter when 2 men took over and they won.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
BIJOU SHOP
After Bob passed I felt so lost, no one to take care off anymore but myself and that was boring. In a foolish moment I remembered how in the 1970's we did a loot of beading, actually knotting beads of all colors. We sold them in Bob's shop.
It was the age of Acquarius and hippies loved beads!!
Bob and I even went to Venice and came back with a suitcase of Venetian beads.
They were gone as soon as we came home. We laughed and thought to make it a career to fly to Venice and come back and make necklaces.
The scenario came back to me and I figured I could do some "knotting" for my own jewelry which needed a lot of work.
The thought did not end there. Jeannot has retail veins. My first adventure being that I sold chewing gum in school from the soldiers who came to our house
and gave me the gum for free. I hated chewing gum. So I became the "dealer" in school for a bad habit.
My francs bought me chocolate.
Anyway....I started to visit bead shops, they are in every town, even in our small town, I looked at the necklaces for sale and the wheels started to turn.
I actually thought that I had the talent to put some necklaces together in the style of today. A friend recommended Fire Mountain Gems and I started to buy stones like jasper, onyx, agate and smaller glass beads.
I sat at the kitchen table gathering all these goodies and could hardly sleep anymore. Beads came into my dreams and I decided I would sell them at Etsy or eBay.
Then Sabrina heard of a shop opening up as a craft/antique mini mall on her town.
She said she'd help set up if I wanted to try. I doubted myself, I started to do some simple necklaces and got more and more adventurous. By Feb 1 2011, I had a space of about 9 x 10. Furniture for display was acquired at the thrift shops and
I was in business.
Being so in love with my Maltese named Bijou, I decided to call my shop "Maison Bijou". It rattles my french side of the brain a bit. Bijoux with X is plural jewelry, Bijou without the X is simply "Jewel" but I am still going with that as
I had my little friend Bijou in mind.
As summer came along I got braver and started to buy large quantities of vintage jewels, I repaired, renewed some stones, clasps etc...and started to sell them
as 3.00. I figured I was not going to go for BIG bucks , this is a recession and women do like to get a new "bling" or two. With 3 and 5 bucks they can find something in my shop which is better that the junk now on the markets made in...whatever.
I did well. I was not going to buy a yacht or even have a Belgian trip but I was so busy and so dedicated that even my own health did not bother me so much as did me breaking my back. That put me to rest for awhile. The cancer and kidney was just a quick thought.
By end 2011 we found out that the store was going to get bigger adding another wing. I have no idea what my BP was doing, I was not going to check it, I was doubling my creations and gathering other stuff from my storage. I was ready for shop 2.
Opening was last Saturday but I could not make it due to bad weather but here is a bit of an idea of the second "Maison Bijou shop"
It was the age of Acquarius and hippies loved beads!!
Bob and I even went to Venice and came back with a suitcase of Venetian beads.
They were gone as soon as we came home. We laughed and thought to make it a career to fly to Venice and come back and make necklaces.
The scenario came back to me and I figured I could do some "knotting" for my own jewelry which needed a lot of work.
The thought did not end there. Jeannot has retail veins. My first adventure being that I sold chewing gum in school from the soldiers who came to our house
and gave me the gum for free. I hated chewing gum. So I became the "dealer" in school for a bad habit.
My francs bought me chocolate.
Anyway....I started to visit bead shops, they are in every town, even in our small town, I looked at the necklaces for sale and the wheels started to turn.
I actually thought that I had the talent to put some necklaces together in the style of today. A friend recommended Fire Mountain Gems and I started to buy stones like jasper, onyx, agate and smaller glass beads.
I sat at the kitchen table gathering all these goodies and could hardly sleep anymore. Beads came into my dreams and I decided I would sell them at Etsy or eBay.
Then Sabrina heard of a shop opening up as a craft/antique mini mall on her town.
She said she'd help set up if I wanted to try. I doubted myself, I started to do some simple necklaces and got more and more adventurous. By Feb 1 2011, I had a space of about 9 x 10. Furniture for display was acquired at the thrift shops and
I was in business.
Being so in love with my Maltese named Bijou, I decided to call my shop "Maison Bijou". It rattles my french side of the brain a bit. Bijoux with X is plural jewelry, Bijou without the X is simply "Jewel" but I am still going with that as
I had my little friend Bijou in mind.
As summer came along I got braver and started to buy large quantities of vintage jewels, I repaired, renewed some stones, clasps etc...and started to sell them
as 3.00. I figured I was not going to go for BIG bucks , this is a recession and women do like to get a new "bling" or two. With 3 and 5 bucks they can find something in my shop which is better that the junk now on the markets made in...whatever.
I did well. I was not going to buy a yacht or even have a Belgian trip but I was so busy and so dedicated that even my own health did not bother me so much as did me breaking my back. That put me to rest for awhile. The cancer and kidney was just a quick thought.
By end 2011 we found out that the store was going to get bigger adding another wing. I have no idea what my BP was doing, I was not going to check it, I was doubling my creations and gathering other stuff from my storage. I was ready for shop 2.
Opening was last Saturday but I could not make it due to bad weather but here is a bit of an idea of the second "Maison Bijou shop"
My Valentine
Bob and I married on Valentine Day 1969.
He was my everything and I was his.
We were attached at the hip and when he became ill with Alzheimer it devastated our life.
He never understood it nor acknowledged it.
I closed my antique shop and started to sell on eBay.
For awhile he was my mailing manager, he did a good job too, with the exception that he used o9ur bath towels packing the fragile stuff. I figured that out when people wrote me thank you emails. Then noticed the closed getting very empty!
He did not understand my objections, he thought this was what he should do.
I bought cheaper rags!
In 2002 on our anniversary, I hugged him with best wishes and kisses all over his face, he looked strange, I repeated "Anniversary"! "Marriage"!
He smiled ran to his mail room and came back with our label and his message,
he was so proud ! I glued it on my kitchen wall, I see it dozens of times a day.
Then I am reminded that he loved me so much and if he could he still would.
I miss him more every day and I thought it was going to get better but I am mistaken.
I love you and I always will!!!!
He was my everything and I was his.
We were attached at the hip and when he became ill with Alzheimer it devastated our life.
He never understood it nor acknowledged it.
I closed my antique shop and started to sell on eBay.
For awhile he was my mailing manager, he did a good job too, with the exception that he used o9ur bath towels packing the fragile stuff. I figured that out when people wrote me thank you emails. Then noticed the closed getting very empty!
He did not understand my objections, he thought this was what he should do.
I bought cheaper rags!
In 2002 on our anniversary, I hugged him with best wishes and kisses all over his face, he looked strange, I repeated "Anniversary"! "Marriage"!
He smiled ran to his mail room and came back with our label and his message,
he was so proud ! I glued it on my kitchen wall, I see it dozens of times a day.
Then I am reminded that he loved me so much and if he could he still would.
I miss him more every day and I thought it was going to get better but I am mistaken.
I love you and I always will!!!!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Elderly parents and kids...
I write to several of my peers and the daily emails I get are mostly about problems we are having with children.
Now our children are mostly in their 40's or 50's or later but are having problems either with spouses, money (that especially) emotions, changes in the hormones,friendships, health for sure, and the list goes on.
We are near the end of this journey and are not able to help.
Most of us are on limited income, have doctors who are retiring on us and can't advice on the new load of MD's and gadgets to get us alive and stay alive, our journey's into matrimony were quite different and when we bought a house we thought it was the best investment we ever made.
Decades ago my mother in law who was then 83 years told me that she was
happy to be near the end of life as she could not keep up with the changes.
I try to keep up but I am exhausted when I hear their problems.
Life goes on with different challenges.
It is how we can deal with them without 24 different Life Masters and Guru's.
If these Master planners are doing so very well, check out their household when the doors are closed, is everything perfect there? I doubt it.
If a financial advisor is so good, ask him how his portfolio is doing? Does he need an advisor too?
100 years ago both my grandmothers were beaten on a daily basis.
The husband was King, the supporter of the family, the man who could have mistresses and the wife look the other way.
How much has changed???
In every town in this country there is a shelter for battered wives....
say no more.
Now our children are mostly in their 40's or 50's or later but are having problems either with spouses, money (that especially) emotions, changes in the hormones,friendships, health for sure, and the list goes on.
We are near the end of this journey and are not able to help.
Most of us are on limited income, have doctors who are retiring on us and can't advice on the new load of MD's and gadgets to get us alive and stay alive, our journey's into matrimony were quite different and when we bought a house we thought it was the best investment we ever made.
Decades ago my mother in law who was then 83 years told me that she was
happy to be near the end of life as she could not keep up with the changes.
I try to keep up but I am exhausted when I hear their problems.
Life goes on with different challenges.
It is how we can deal with them without 24 different Life Masters and Guru's.
If these Master planners are doing so very well, check out their household when the doors are closed, is everything perfect there? I doubt it.
If a financial advisor is so good, ask him how his portfolio is doing? Does he need an advisor too?
100 years ago both my grandmothers were beaten on a daily basis.
The husband was King, the supporter of the family, the man who could have mistresses and the wife look the other way.
How much has changed???
In every town in this country there is a shelter for battered wives....
say no more.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
party time
Rhonda had a party for her birthday / Chinese New Year.
We had a very good time, ladies only and all the Chinese food enough to open a restaurant.
It was quite pleasant, I was the only old bird among ladies on menapause.
Guess that is why we all had fans on our plates.\Chinese fortunes were read and it seems that I will make money this year...how about them apples...said so also last year and I did have a great start with my shop.
On to pricing and beading enough with the chit chat.....there is work awaiting this old gal...
PS MY quince bush is starting to bloom..usually in March...
We had a very good time, ladies only and all the Chinese food enough to open a restaurant.
It was quite pleasant, I was the only old bird among ladies on menapause.
Guess that is why we all had fans on our plates.\Chinese fortunes were read and it seems that I will make money this year...how about them apples...said so also last year and I did have a great start with my shop.
On to pricing and beading enough with the chit chat.....there is work awaiting this old gal...
PS MY quince bush is starting to bloom..usually in March...
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Absence
I have been AWOL ....because...I am so damn busy with the new shop opening Feb 1 and grand opening the 12th.
Purchased a large lot with heart jewelry , over 258 pieces, they are still to come.
Meanwhile I fret over lights and display cases....yesterday between dr appointments rushed to thrift stores...found 2 nice lamps at Hospice (thank you Celia who works there as volunteer) found some old beads there too. Locals should try the stores in Asheville, they are nice too.
Dr said his tests are fine and now on to the scan again.
Then we will also have a complete check up and that I do not like they always find something. After that I should be MD free.
Have neglected my friends very sorely and hope they know I am rushing in head and on foot to find what I need.
Meanwhile also making more necklaces and stuff....Bobby has been neglected my cooking is anything I can put together in 10 minutes.
Fast food on Valley St.
I will come bck to normal (did I say normal?) in a few weeks.
Today we celebrate Daughter Rhonda birthday she has a Chinese New Years party and
it is all ladies, should be fun.
Dr. Cargill, the urologist, and the best, gave me a "You go girl" when he found out how busy I am.
Nick, grandson, and I decided this week that I should try for 90.
A year ago I would have said:"NO WAY" I did not want to live beyond 83.
Today in my frame of mind 90 sounds pretty good but with conditions:
I have to keep all my marbles, and be able to walk, I will even take a
cane, have done that and wearing the T shirt.
Nick said I will make it, he should know he will be a dr in 1 1/2 years.
Enough said I need to get dressed for a party!
Purchased a large lot with heart jewelry , over 258 pieces, they are still to come.
Meanwhile I fret over lights and display cases....yesterday between dr appointments rushed to thrift stores...found 2 nice lamps at Hospice (thank you Celia who works there as volunteer) found some old beads there too. Locals should try the stores in Asheville, they are nice too.
Dr said his tests are fine and now on to the scan again.
Then we will also have a complete check up and that I do not like they always find something. After that I should be MD free.
Have neglected my friends very sorely and hope they know I am rushing in head and on foot to find what I need.
Meanwhile also making more necklaces and stuff....Bobby has been neglected my cooking is anything I can put together in 10 minutes.
Fast food on Valley St.
I will come bck to normal (did I say normal?) in a few weeks.
Today we celebrate Daughter Rhonda birthday she has a Chinese New Years party and
it is all ladies, should be fun.
Dr. Cargill, the urologist, and the best, gave me a "You go girl" when he found out how busy I am.
Nick, grandson, and I decided this week that I should try for 90.
A year ago I would have said:"NO WAY" I did not want to live beyond 83.
Today in my frame of mind 90 sounds pretty good but with conditions:
I have to keep all my marbles, and be able to walk, I will even take a
cane, have done that and wearing the T shirt.
Nick said I will make it, he should know he will be a dr in 1 1/2 years.
Enough said I need to get dressed for a party!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
busy busy
opening new section of store Feb 11
just bought 254 vintage heart pieces, necklaces, earrings, pins, watches, yikes...keep pricing Jeannot do not sit here.....
just bought 254 vintage heart pieces, necklaces, earrings, pins, watches, yikes...keep pricing Jeannot do not sit here.....
Friday, January 6, 2012
Vertigo day....
I am thinking that the way I walked Bijou this morning my neighbors peaking behind the curtains must have been thinking that I was hitting the bottle a bit early.
Damn vertigo! As I tried to just concentrate in front of me, not turning the head,
(I can't hear cars behind me, good luck with that J.) and walking a straight line, I started to giggle I had a picture in mind of a cop stopping me and ordering me to walk a straight line. That would be a hoot.
Think my choice of day will be to sit still or just go to sleep all day if I can.
Darn crystals in the ear, I have necklaces to make with real crystals.
Damn vertigo! As I tried to just concentrate in front of me, not turning the head,
(I can't hear cars behind me, good luck with that J.) and walking a straight line, I started to giggle I had a picture in mind of a cop stopping me and ordering me to walk a straight line. That would be a hoot.
Think my choice of day will be to sit still or just go to sleep all day if I can.
Darn crystals in the ear, I have necklaces to make with real crystals.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
new collection started for 2012 and second shop:
I thought I had more pictures but that is the beginning anyway.....
Had my saints mixed up on last post
It was St Simond I think or Simon or whatever but not St Thomas Island.
Yikes...I am getting old.
Yikes...I am getting old.
2012
Holidays gone, done, over with.
They were not as bad as I had thought , I had not made any plans at all and everything that was needed came in perfect order.
Sabrina has a lovely Christmas party, her house decorated to the max, felt warm and lovely. Rhonda and grandsons invited us all for the Christmas eve dinner, her new apartement is charming and the table was darn right gorgeous, the meal spectacular.
We all had a nice calm evening and I was asked to read my last story about Red.
I felt uncomfortable but then got into the swing of it and finished it with some tears. Tears of great memories of the ones no longer with us.
Christmas day was calm for both Bobby and I. He has had some set backs and Shannon could not come just yet until he is calmer with new medicine.
He missed all the parties but he is better that way without commotion.
Boxing day Sabrina and I took off for a few days at Jekyll Island.
If I cant be on the Hawaiian islands then I want to be in Jekyll.
It is quiet, one road around the island so to speak the rest is closed with some strategic parking lots among the giant old trees decorated with tons of
Spanish moss. I love Spanish moss, so do the chiggers. I did not tell Brie that as I made her take a photo with a moss wig.
I will post photos too.
We went to the other well spoken about St Thomas island but I like Jekyll better.
The best meal was at 31 latitude, I had Alfredo sauce with plenty of shrimp and
(can't find the word) the round white oh! scallops.
It was delicious, sauce no doubt made with pure cream, back on the hips I'd say.
We returned the next day for lunch so Brie could have her crab legs.
What we had not planned or knew is that L and C were there for Christmas and leaving the day after we came. We planned to have dinner together on the Monday but the traffic had other plans. From Columbia on 26 to 95 the Florida route it was
bumper to bumper, what usually takes 7 hours took us 11 hours so we had to cancel our engagement. L and C visited us in our room (they had the same hotel too) and brought a bottle of fine wine, I was also drunk from swaying in the car one yard at the time.....never again on Dec 26 will I leave the house...unless I fly somewhere...years ago Bob, young Bob, and I flew on Christmas day and the plane was virtually empty, we went to Belgium, of course.
The island trip was a jewel for me as it was quiet and the shops had nothing to make me spend money (that is rare) so it was all about walking the beaches and between the fantastic houses built around 1886 to 1900.
J P Morgan came there on his yacht and decided they need a club there.
They being the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers.
The club house is now a gorgeous hotel, we had lunch there and I watched the all white clad gents playing croquet on the lawn. My imagination took me to 1900 and I saw the ladies mix with the gents in gorgeous white lace dresses and big hats....oh what a sight it was...then I had to open my eyes again and settle for what was there now still enjoying the good life.
I did not find out what the rate was at the hotel, besides that I always want to be on the beach and ours was indeed right next to the beach and dunes, only 10 steps from our room. The rates were do-able but I am sure that when we left they went up as there was a Blue Grass Festival this week end and the hotel was filling up very fast.
It was a perfect get away, Brie drove a long distance to give me this thrill.
New Years week end, Shannon came but had to go home yesterday on Dec 31st.
Bobby at long last had a friend to talk with about all the latest in their lives.
Shannon gave me a gorgeous portfolio and in it I found most of my stories neatly typed and sorted. She called it "a work in progress". It was very sweet of her to
think so much about my stories.
Life is good....
2012 lets keep it good!!!!
They were not as bad as I had thought , I had not made any plans at all and everything that was needed came in perfect order.
Sabrina has a lovely Christmas party, her house decorated to the max, felt warm and lovely. Rhonda and grandsons invited us all for the Christmas eve dinner, her new apartement is charming and the table was darn right gorgeous, the meal spectacular.
We all had a nice calm evening and I was asked to read my last story about Red.
I felt uncomfortable but then got into the swing of it and finished it with some tears. Tears of great memories of the ones no longer with us.
Christmas day was calm for both Bobby and I. He has had some set backs and Shannon could not come just yet until he is calmer with new medicine.
He missed all the parties but he is better that way without commotion.
Boxing day Sabrina and I took off for a few days at Jekyll Island.
If I cant be on the Hawaiian islands then I want to be in Jekyll.
It is quiet, one road around the island so to speak the rest is closed with some strategic parking lots among the giant old trees decorated with tons of
Spanish moss. I love Spanish moss, so do the chiggers. I did not tell Brie that as I made her take a photo with a moss wig.
I will post photos too.
We went to the other well spoken about St Thomas island but I like Jekyll better.
The best meal was at 31 latitude, I had Alfredo sauce with plenty of shrimp and
(can't find the word) the round white oh! scallops.
It was delicious, sauce no doubt made with pure cream, back on the hips I'd say.
We returned the next day for lunch so Brie could have her crab legs.
What we had not planned or knew is that L and C were there for Christmas and leaving the day after we came. We planned to have dinner together on the Monday but the traffic had other plans. From Columbia on 26 to 95 the Florida route it was
bumper to bumper, what usually takes 7 hours took us 11 hours so we had to cancel our engagement. L and C visited us in our room (they had the same hotel too) and brought a bottle of fine wine, I was also drunk from swaying in the car one yard at the time.....never again on Dec 26 will I leave the house...unless I fly somewhere...years ago Bob, young Bob, and I flew on Christmas day and the plane was virtually empty, we went to Belgium, of course.
The island trip was a jewel for me as it was quiet and the shops had nothing to make me spend money (that is rare) so it was all about walking the beaches and between the fantastic houses built around 1886 to 1900.
J P Morgan came there on his yacht and decided they need a club there.
They being the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers.
The club house is now a gorgeous hotel, we had lunch there and I watched the all white clad gents playing croquet on the lawn. My imagination took me to 1900 and I saw the ladies mix with the gents in gorgeous white lace dresses and big hats....oh what a sight it was...then I had to open my eyes again and settle for what was there now still enjoying the good life.
I did not find out what the rate was at the hotel, besides that I always want to be on the beach and ours was indeed right next to the beach and dunes, only 10 steps from our room. The rates were do-able but I am sure that when we left they went up as there was a Blue Grass Festival this week end and the hotel was filling up very fast.
It was a perfect get away, Brie drove a long distance to give me this thrill.
New Years week end, Shannon came but had to go home yesterday on Dec 31st.
Bobby at long last had a friend to talk with about all the latest in their lives.
Shannon gave me a gorgeous portfolio and in it I found most of my stories neatly typed and sorted. She called it "a work in progress". It was very sweet of her to
think so much about my stories.
Life is good....
2012 lets keep it good!!!!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Christmas eve 2011 and the future
It's that time of the year but I am already looking forwards in 9 weeks,
to be exact, when I will turn 80!
There is something magical to me about becoming 80.
I just never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever see that number.
When Bob and I first dated we both had this idea that most of our lives were
already lived. I was 36 and he was 42.
I do not know why we both felt this doom hanging over our heads for a short life.
We decided that no matter what the remaining years would be heavenly...
they were until he became ill. But, we had 42 years together, so much for the negativity of our youth.
Bob read palms in his spare time away from astrology charts.
He kept showing me that he was going to live till about 50.
He made it till 84, he did not want to read mine afraid to see
when I would leave, he was serious about it.
Made my chart before he took the notion seriously about dating me.
"dating" was just going and have some coffee in a coffeehouse full of hippies. It was the late sixties after all and neither of us had money to pay for a dinner.
My mother read palms, she was serious about it too and told many in our office about what would happen, she was on target too. I begged her time and time
again to read my hand and she would just take a slight peak and refuse.
She would have tears in her eyes. I thought "Its that bad!".
So my hands may have told a story but no one would tell it to me
and surely I thought I would be gone by age 50.
Now I am telling every living body that moves and speaks to me that I am going to be 80 soon. It is like a trophy!!!Well, I did have a brush with cancer, suffered years in my twenties and thirties from rhumatoid arthritis. Some times I could hardly walk with the swollen feet.
So this past year I started again to make jewelry, I had done some in the sixties with the hippy craze. I opened a booth in a small mini mall and to my surprise people liked what I did. So come Feb 2012 I am opening my second shop.
It keeps me extremely busy but that is what I want.
I often try to just sit and relax and read a book, love to read, so the problem with that is that I fall asleep. Fault of the writer? Maybe. Fault of the thyroid? Possible. Fault of 79 3/4 age? Perhaps. Having to be busy and counting beads and trying to find a 1mm hole is a challenge which needs me to be very awake.
I love the result because I only make what I would love to wear.
That the whole female population will agree with my taste is impossible but at least a percentage of them will. Besides that I do not overprice.
If I counted my hours I would say that I work in the red BUT most crafters work in the red. It goes with the territory.
My only problem with being 80 and semi retired is that I love to travel, love it, no matter how close or how far I like a suitcase in hand. Now I have the time and a tiny budget but no HEARING. I am very deaf. Yet to find hearing aids which are even 80 percent giving back my hearing. I cant take long trips. I can hear the blaring announcements in airports nor the waitress who wants to know if I like a, b, or c on my salad. I often say the first one and have no idea what I will get.
I am tired of telling people that I can't hear.
I am tired of my kids telling me that I am yelling at the table in the restaurant and people around us just found out what was left in my account.
I am grateful that my eyes are good , thanks to the cataract surgery I can see without my ugly thick glasses. Just need reading glasses...when I read.
The skin is shriveling (is that a word?) and the wrinkles multiply overnight.
For some reason that does not bother me. So I look 80, so what ? I am 80.
I am no longer looking for a mate or to win beauty contests, I am looking to see how long I can stretch that 80. Do I think I will become 90? Absolutely not but
83 would be nice or maybe 85. With the condition that I have all my marbles and can walk on my own and continue to make necklaces.
The world needs more necklaces!!!!
to be exact, when I will turn 80!
There is something magical to me about becoming 80.
I just never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever see that number.
When Bob and I first dated we both had this idea that most of our lives were
already lived. I was 36 and he was 42.
I do not know why we both felt this doom hanging over our heads for a short life.
We decided that no matter what the remaining years would be heavenly...
they were until he became ill. But, we had 42 years together, so much for the negativity of our youth.
Bob read palms in his spare time away from astrology charts.
He kept showing me that he was going to live till about 50.
He made it till 84, he did not want to read mine afraid to see
when I would leave, he was serious about it.
Made my chart before he took the notion seriously about dating me.
"dating" was just going and have some coffee in a coffeehouse full of hippies. It was the late sixties after all and neither of us had money to pay for a dinner.
My mother read palms, she was serious about it too and told many in our office about what would happen, she was on target too. I begged her time and time
again to read my hand and she would just take a slight peak and refuse.
She would have tears in her eyes. I thought "Its that bad!".
So my hands may have told a story but no one would tell it to me
and surely I thought I would be gone by age 50.
Now I am telling every living body that moves and speaks to me that I am going to be 80 soon. It is like a trophy!!!Well, I did have a brush with cancer, suffered years in my twenties and thirties from rhumatoid arthritis. Some times I could hardly walk with the swollen feet.
So this past year I started again to make jewelry, I had done some in the sixties with the hippy craze. I opened a booth in a small mini mall and to my surprise people liked what I did. So come Feb 2012 I am opening my second shop.
It keeps me extremely busy but that is what I want.
I often try to just sit and relax and read a book, love to read, so the problem with that is that I fall asleep. Fault of the writer? Maybe. Fault of the thyroid? Possible. Fault of 79 3/4 age? Perhaps. Having to be busy and counting beads and trying to find a 1mm hole is a challenge which needs me to be very awake.
I love the result because I only make what I would love to wear.
That the whole female population will agree with my taste is impossible but at least a percentage of them will. Besides that I do not overprice.
If I counted my hours I would say that I work in the red BUT most crafters work in the red. It goes with the territory.
My only problem with being 80 and semi retired is that I love to travel, love it, no matter how close or how far I like a suitcase in hand. Now I have the time and a tiny budget but no HEARING. I am very deaf. Yet to find hearing aids which are even 80 percent giving back my hearing. I cant take long trips. I can hear the blaring announcements in airports nor the waitress who wants to know if I like a, b, or c on my salad. I often say the first one and have no idea what I will get.
I am tired of telling people that I can't hear.
I am tired of my kids telling me that I am yelling at the table in the restaurant and people around us just found out what was left in my account.
I am grateful that my eyes are good , thanks to the cataract surgery I can see without my ugly thick glasses. Just need reading glasses...when I read.
The skin is shriveling (is that a word?) and the wrinkles multiply overnight.
For some reason that does not bother me. So I look 80, so what ? I am 80.
I am no longer looking for a mate or to win beauty contests, I am looking to see how long I can stretch that 80. Do I think I will become 90? Absolutely not but
83 would be nice or maybe 85. With the condition that I have all my marbles and can walk on my own and continue to make necklaces.
The world needs more necklaces!!!!
Friday, December 23, 2011
December 23 2011
My oldest grandson is 26 today...where does the time go???
I can still see him, gorgeous eyes, gorgeous lips and blond hair with a POUT. Oh! Could he pout!!!!He also told you as soon as he could talk if he liked you or not.
He had an opinion, now he is very quiet, graduated from VT, yes that one, and works in the Triangle in computer science. He can cook and is now learning about wines.
What he tackles has to be to the minutest detail.
A brain in working order to be sure.
Looking for the perfect wife!!!!Yep! Could luck with that one cause she has to deal with the perfect mate.
He will cook our dinner tomorrow night at his mothers house.
I am told it will be a feast!!!!
Here in the Valley it is a quiet day.
Shannon could not visit as Bob is not doing well at all.
The dr. is playing guessing games to what medicine will help him.
I guess that is the only way to find out. There is very little concrete knowledge on how to cure agoraphobia and severe panic disorder.
My heart breaks when I look at him.
I am glad it is quiet. I am not in a party mood this year and looking forward to a mini vacation next week.
Christmas for sure is not the same without my partner. He was the nut for all that stuff.
Found myself walking Bijou and just crying and crying....what is up with that?
I asked myself and then I laughed for when I was little and crying my mother
would say :"Go ahead and cry then you will not have to pee so much".
That then turned my crying in anger but I did stop crying.
Now it is different Dr. tells me I must pee a lot to work the lonely kidney...orders..orders...always orders...if not mother talking to me from wherever then there is the expensive surgeon giving orders.
One thing I know for sure (Oprah!) is that no matter how old you get to be you still hear your mothers orders. No matter how old your children get to be
you are still a mother and try to let them live their lives but would love to give more orders.
Peace on Earth is my wish this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can still see him, gorgeous eyes, gorgeous lips and blond hair with a POUT. Oh! Could he pout!!!!He also told you as soon as he could talk if he liked you or not.
He had an opinion, now he is very quiet, graduated from VT, yes that one, and works in the Triangle in computer science. He can cook and is now learning about wines.
What he tackles has to be to the minutest detail.
A brain in working order to be sure.
Looking for the perfect wife!!!!Yep! Could luck with that one cause she has to deal with the perfect mate.
He will cook our dinner tomorrow night at his mothers house.
I am told it will be a feast!!!!
Here in the Valley it is a quiet day.
Shannon could not visit as Bob is not doing well at all.
The dr. is playing guessing games to what medicine will help him.
I guess that is the only way to find out. There is very little concrete knowledge on how to cure agoraphobia and severe panic disorder.
My heart breaks when I look at him.
I am glad it is quiet. I am not in a party mood this year and looking forward to a mini vacation next week.
Christmas for sure is not the same without my partner. He was the nut for all that stuff.
Found myself walking Bijou and just crying and crying....what is up with that?
I asked myself and then I laughed for when I was little and crying my mother
would say :"Go ahead and cry then you will not have to pee so much".
That then turned my crying in anger but I did stop crying.
Now it is different Dr. tells me I must pee a lot to work the lonely kidney...orders..orders...always orders...if not mother talking to me from wherever then there is the expensive surgeon giving orders.
One thing I know for sure (Oprah!) is that no matter how old you get to be you still hear your mothers orders. No matter how old your children get to be
you are still a mother and try to let them live their lives but would love to give more orders.
Peace on Earth is my wish this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christmas 2011
OK so I am not in the mood for Christmas, New Years, Ground Hog Day, Easter, Valentine's Day, St Patricks day and all the rest of it including mothers day.
That is just me.
My husband made sure that every nook and cranny was filled with red berries (his favorites) red bows, ornaments and anything red and green he could find.
Now I am thinking about decorating since Sabrina's house was so inviting (it was the candles!!!) and I keep thinking if I should dig up some old ornaments somewhere...then I think : "Gosh I have to take it all down again in a few weeks"
Nah! Fogettaboutit!
I wrote in several publications and here in this blog about the childhood Christmas which was the very best for me in 1944, unfortunately it also co-incides with the Battle of the Bulge about a 4 hour ride from the Flanders. BUT still occupied.
I will not repeat my story as I know most of you know it by heart.
My second best Christmas was about 14 or more years ago.
The story starts in my youth, in fact in January 1945 when a ship by the name of "Seapower" parked on the Canal of Terneuzen right in front of my house.
The corps of Engineers aboard where there to fix the electrical plant a 100 yards or so away (in my back yard so to speak, or was I in their backyard?)
The plant had been bombed many times and was not operating yet.
My father had decided to leave my mother and join his mistress a few miles away leaving us with a broken down house, roof and windows broken from the bombing and no food, garden empty except for some Brussels sprout and rutabagan. The cats were now all wild and the rabbits we had let go when we fled before the battle started in our neck of the woods.
My mother was very Victorian and in awesome pain that the only man she had ever known had deserted her for an ugly bar lady who owned her own bar and several houses too. So mother decides to keep the green shutters closed and sit around with candles as to pretend that no one was there. She was sure we would be raped,
2 women alone she would say.....then she summoned my grandfather to come and stay with us to show a male presence. Albeit by now not so young male.
One day a knock on the front door, no one ever used that door, a shiver up our back..remembering that the SS had done that too when they came to search our house, in front of us a Master Sergeant not that we knew about his stripes but we found all this out later. He asked my mother if she knew anyone who could iron his shirts to his satisfaction, evidently the laundry man on board were not doing a good job.
My mother was suddenly coming to life and invited the man in and told him that she would iron anything while she showed her coal stove and old fashion irons which always sat on the back of the stove. He was a bit puzzled by these antique instruments and brought his shirts. Before the week was over mother had a traffic of some very picky soldiers who liked her ironing even with an antique iron.
The Sergeant was Walter E. S. he had a wife and two girls in DC working at the Pentagon and a son in State of North Carolina playing football and studying engineering. He was from Boston, told us his wife had been a beauty queen and was from the same region.
The second soldier who became part of our household was a bright red haired young kid of 20 who had married Lois the day before he left for the army. He was from coal country in PA. his father and a bunch of relatives all coal miners.
He told my mother that he had never seen so much poverty as there was in our house (imagine he came from coal country, not exactly chateau country). He decided to bring us food. It was "ferbotten" by the Captain a Republican to the core man who decided that there would be no fraternizing with the locals.
"Red" decided to chance it, I still see him coming down the path to our backdoor with his Eisenhower jacket on , he opened it up and dropped an enormous large piece of meat on my mothers table and said: "My hands are clean, Mrs Droesbeke"
Mrs. Droesbeke was in awe, what difference did it make if his hands were clean?
This much meat she had not seen in ages and surely could not afford it if we found it. Red continued to be our supplier, he "procured" a grey all wool blanket from a British soldier and mother made a coat out of it for me. I remember it being itchy as hell but warm and with sleeves that were long enough to cover my growing long arms. Red brought us "Camay" soap, we had made our soap for years now, this was LUXURY and mother made me smell it , I waited anxiously for her to open the paper and lets just try it...not my Mother...I do not know if she was waiting for WW3 but she quickly put it in the drawer of the armoire her father had made.
This armoire is in my dressing room and guess what is in the drawer????
During the war it was "de la mode" for young girls to have a "Poesie" book.
It would be a small book with empty pages so your friend could fill it with poetry.
I dragged that with me (and will write about it soon) wherever I went, not having many friends and thinking the grown ups were my equals I would not leave one soul untouched. I approached the engineers when we sat in the bunker waiting for the bombs to fall, I approached anyone to write anything in my book.
It is my most precious book of my 80 years and I will try and take it with me when I leave this earth, do not have a plan yet but I am thinking.....
No , it can not be burned with my ashes, back to the drawing board...
So, naturally I presented my book to the soldiers and they wrote poems or just wrote words like :"Paddy from Liverpool"
How I explained all this must have been via my mother who was fluent in English, I had just learned a four letter word which I had no idea about and it started with F... SOldiers would often yell it out as their trucks drove by.
Good thing Mom told me it was not "good morning".
My "Red" friend one day picked me up at my school downtown , he sat in front of the school building as we came ready to run for the street car and I stopped in my tracks, saw the red hair ,grew 3 inches taller and felt like he was my boy friend who came to rescue me....he drove me home and mother yelled at him that I could have fallen out of the Jeep.....but Red wrote his name under someone elses drawing, a very unusual name.
By june 1945 the factory was working , we had electricity and mother had a job in the office of the paper plant near us. Grandpa stayed for quite awhile.
My heart was broken. No one had told me the ship was leaving, they knew how attached I had become to the new fathers in my life, men who cared if I had something to eat, men who gave me chewing gum by the dozens of packages so I
started to sell it at school and introduce my friends to the wonder of chewing all
day long on a piece of rubber (while I hated it) I became the "dealer" of gum.
These men taught me Canasta and I soon was an expert at the game, the sergeant left us his decks and container so we could continue to play with grandpa.
It was great being liberated and knowing this new security of men in uniform.
The Sergeant I had named Uncle Pam and his wife Aunt Julie, the family in DC had started to send clothing for me and I became the American model, I could not fill the tops of the dresses but Mother would readjust and sew and sew.
I was 13 that year , very tall for my age but flat as an ironing board, I did play catch up later...So the family promised me that if I ever wanted to come to America they would be there waiting for me and sponsor me.
My dream had started. I wanted American children.
So in 1955 I walked the streets of NY with my Belgian husband, I was 23 and had married at 19 and waited in Montreal for the last 2 years for a permanent visa.
It took 4 years in all to get to come here to the USA and get the coveted green card.
Over the years we got to know the whole Uncle Pam clan and visited all their relatives and became part of them.
Both of the elders are now buried in Arlington. They were extremely giving people.
Gave me my life here.
in 1957 I had my first American daughter.
The story does not end there as I was totally indebted to "Red" he had been such
a fun guy and had given us hours of his company and goodies from the ship.
Being underfed he had taken me to see the ships doctor and with vitamins I had become whole again. I had suffered 6 months from pleurisy and that had knocked me on my knees.
I lived in New Jersey, Campbell CA, Brookdale Ca, Nerja, Spain for 5 years, NC for the last decades but in every town I went on all the travels we did in different towns and states I would check the phone book for Red's name. Never found it UNTIL my son introduced me to a WebTV and I began searches on there in 1997 , found nothing until I emailed with a man who ran the site for Marauders (my brother in law was a Marauder) the man gave me 4 names which could have been Red and I was on a mission. I wrote to a man in Harrisburg PA remembering that he had come from coal mining country in PA. Did not get an answer for awhile and was ready to start all the other names. But the holidays were coming and I was very busy making Father Christmas dolls and doing shows every week end. So Christmas eve came along and all the kids and grandkids piled into the house full of joy and noise admiring the
"red berries cottage" and all the packages under the tree. I had been cooking for 3 days, I always cook for an army. The phone rang and I looked around and wondered who it could be as my gang was underfoot, all of them, picked up the phone and a voice said : "Janet (they called me that) I am back in your life after 52 years...by the way this is Red!". I ran to the quiet bedroom and started to cry,
he said "Merry Christmas girl, I often thought about you and your mother".
I was in a total shock, I found out he was indeed still in PA and was now retired from the telephone company where he had worked all his life.
I was so afraid to ask about his wife "Lois" I had a photo of her on a stamp which he had given me in 1944. So...I stuttered and said a lot of hm hm hm "I have to ask about Lois, Red, what happened?" He said:"She is sitting in a chair right here knitting for the grandchildren". We promised to visit each other which we did but Lois had Alzheimer and he did not want to know it, he just took care of her and hid what he truly knew in his heart. Both passed on within a year from each other. My children and grandchildren all got to hear his war stories and stories about me.
A lot I had not remembered, the ship's crew had shot down a German plane and it fell within yards of my house totally in flames and he said: "remember that day?"
I have not. I have many other incidents burned into my brain but that one I choose to forget.
I honor every soldier , the last wars were not so great for returning Vets, we have ignored a lot of them, even today as I write this ,many are in hospitals without limbs, memory and on and on. At their homes without work and with a mental memory that no one should have to endure. I think about the kids in Iraq and all what they saw and one day when they turn 80 will they write down about the pains and about the joys of seeing Americans ?????I Wonder.
My second best Christmas in my lifetime was the night Red called. My hero!
That is just me.
My husband made sure that every nook and cranny was filled with red berries (his favorites) red bows, ornaments and anything red and green he could find.
Now I am thinking about decorating since Sabrina's house was so inviting (it was the candles!!!) and I keep thinking if I should dig up some old ornaments somewhere...then I think : "Gosh I have to take it all down again in a few weeks"
Nah! Fogettaboutit!
I wrote in several publications and here in this blog about the childhood Christmas which was the very best for me in 1944, unfortunately it also co-incides with the Battle of the Bulge about a 4 hour ride from the Flanders. BUT still occupied.
I will not repeat my story as I know most of you know it by heart.
My second best Christmas was about 14 or more years ago.
The story starts in my youth, in fact in January 1945 when a ship by the name of "Seapower" parked on the Canal of Terneuzen right in front of my house.
The corps of Engineers aboard where there to fix the electrical plant a 100 yards or so away (in my back yard so to speak, or was I in their backyard?)
The plant had been bombed many times and was not operating yet.
My father had decided to leave my mother and join his mistress a few miles away leaving us with a broken down house, roof and windows broken from the bombing and no food, garden empty except for some Brussels sprout and rutabagan. The cats were now all wild and the rabbits we had let go when we fled before the battle started in our neck of the woods.
My mother was very Victorian and in awesome pain that the only man she had ever known had deserted her for an ugly bar lady who owned her own bar and several houses too. So mother decides to keep the green shutters closed and sit around with candles as to pretend that no one was there. She was sure we would be raped,
2 women alone she would say.....then she summoned my grandfather to come and stay with us to show a male presence. Albeit by now not so young male.
One day a knock on the front door, no one ever used that door, a shiver up our back..remembering that the SS had done that too when they came to search our house, in front of us a Master Sergeant not that we knew about his stripes but we found all this out later. He asked my mother if she knew anyone who could iron his shirts to his satisfaction, evidently the laundry man on board were not doing a good job.
My mother was suddenly coming to life and invited the man in and told him that she would iron anything while she showed her coal stove and old fashion irons which always sat on the back of the stove. He was a bit puzzled by these antique instruments and brought his shirts. Before the week was over mother had a traffic of some very picky soldiers who liked her ironing even with an antique iron.
The Sergeant was Walter E. S. he had a wife and two girls in DC working at the Pentagon and a son in State of North Carolina playing football and studying engineering. He was from Boston, told us his wife had been a beauty queen and was from the same region.
The second soldier who became part of our household was a bright red haired young kid of 20 who had married Lois the day before he left for the army. He was from coal country in PA. his father and a bunch of relatives all coal miners.
He told my mother that he had never seen so much poverty as there was in our house (imagine he came from coal country, not exactly chateau country). He decided to bring us food. It was "ferbotten" by the Captain a Republican to the core man who decided that there would be no fraternizing with the locals.
"Red" decided to chance it, I still see him coming down the path to our backdoor with his Eisenhower jacket on , he opened it up and dropped an enormous large piece of meat on my mothers table and said: "My hands are clean, Mrs Droesbeke"
Mrs. Droesbeke was in awe, what difference did it make if his hands were clean?
This much meat she had not seen in ages and surely could not afford it if we found it. Red continued to be our supplier, he "procured" a grey all wool blanket from a British soldier and mother made a coat out of it for me. I remember it being itchy as hell but warm and with sleeves that were long enough to cover my growing long arms. Red brought us "Camay" soap, we had made our soap for years now, this was LUXURY and mother made me smell it , I waited anxiously for her to open the paper and lets just try it...not my Mother...I do not know if she was waiting for WW3 but she quickly put it in the drawer of the armoire her father had made.
This armoire is in my dressing room and guess what is in the drawer????
During the war it was "de la mode" for young girls to have a "Poesie" book.
It would be a small book with empty pages so your friend could fill it with poetry.
I dragged that with me (and will write about it soon) wherever I went, not having many friends and thinking the grown ups were my equals I would not leave one soul untouched. I approached the engineers when we sat in the bunker waiting for the bombs to fall, I approached anyone to write anything in my book.
It is my most precious book of my 80 years and I will try and take it with me when I leave this earth, do not have a plan yet but I am thinking.....
No , it can not be burned with my ashes, back to the drawing board...
So, naturally I presented my book to the soldiers and they wrote poems or just wrote words like :"Paddy from Liverpool"
How I explained all this must have been via my mother who was fluent in English, I had just learned a four letter word which I had no idea about and it started with F... SOldiers would often yell it out as their trucks drove by.
Good thing Mom told me it was not "good morning".
My "Red" friend one day picked me up at my school downtown , he sat in front of the school building as we came ready to run for the street car and I stopped in my tracks, saw the red hair ,grew 3 inches taller and felt like he was my boy friend who came to rescue me....he drove me home and mother yelled at him that I could have fallen out of the Jeep.....but Red wrote his name under someone elses drawing, a very unusual name.
By june 1945 the factory was working , we had electricity and mother had a job in the office of the paper plant near us. Grandpa stayed for quite awhile.
My heart was broken. No one had told me the ship was leaving, they knew how attached I had become to the new fathers in my life, men who cared if I had something to eat, men who gave me chewing gum by the dozens of packages so I
started to sell it at school and introduce my friends to the wonder of chewing all
day long on a piece of rubber (while I hated it) I became the "dealer" of gum.
These men taught me Canasta and I soon was an expert at the game, the sergeant left us his decks and container so we could continue to play with grandpa.
It was great being liberated and knowing this new security of men in uniform.
The Sergeant I had named Uncle Pam and his wife Aunt Julie, the family in DC had started to send clothing for me and I became the American model, I could not fill the tops of the dresses but Mother would readjust and sew and sew.
I was 13 that year , very tall for my age but flat as an ironing board, I did play catch up later...So the family promised me that if I ever wanted to come to America they would be there waiting for me and sponsor me.
My dream had started. I wanted American children.
So in 1955 I walked the streets of NY with my Belgian husband, I was 23 and had married at 19 and waited in Montreal for the last 2 years for a permanent visa.
It took 4 years in all to get to come here to the USA and get the coveted green card.
Over the years we got to know the whole Uncle Pam clan and visited all their relatives and became part of them.
Both of the elders are now buried in Arlington. They were extremely giving people.
Gave me my life here.
in 1957 I had my first American daughter.
The story does not end there as I was totally indebted to "Red" he had been such
a fun guy and had given us hours of his company and goodies from the ship.
Being underfed he had taken me to see the ships doctor and with vitamins I had become whole again. I had suffered 6 months from pleurisy and that had knocked me on my knees.
I lived in New Jersey, Campbell CA, Brookdale Ca, Nerja, Spain for 5 years, NC for the last decades but in every town I went on all the travels we did in different towns and states I would check the phone book for Red's name. Never found it UNTIL my son introduced me to a WebTV and I began searches on there in 1997 , found nothing until I emailed with a man who ran the site for Marauders (my brother in law was a Marauder) the man gave me 4 names which could have been Red and I was on a mission. I wrote to a man in Harrisburg PA remembering that he had come from coal mining country in PA. Did not get an answer for awhile and was ready to start all the other names. But the holidays were coming and I was very busy making Father Christmas dolls and doing shows every week end. So Christmas eve came along and all the kids and grandkids piled into the house full of joy and noise admiring the
"red berries cottage" and all the packages under the tree. I had been cooking for 3 days, I always cook for an army. The phone rang and I looked around and wondered who it could be as my gang was underfoot, all of them, picked up the phone and a voice said : "Janet (they called me that) I am back in your life after 52 years...by the way this is Red!". I ran to the quiet bedroom and started to cry,
he said "Merry Christmas girl, I often thought about you and your mother".
I was in a total shock, I found out he was indeed still in PA and was now retired from the telephone company where he had worked all his life.
I was so afraid to ask about his wife "Lois" I had a photo of her on a stamp which he had given me in 1944. So...I stuttered and said a lot of hm hm hm "I have to ask about Lois, Red, what happened?" He said:"She is sitting in a chair right here knitting for the grandchildren". We promised to visit each other which we did but Lois had Alzheimer and he did not want to know it, he just took care of her and hid what he truly knew in his heart. Both passed on within a year from each other. My children and grandchildren all got to hear his war stories and stories about me.
A lot I had not remembered, the ship's crew had shot down a German plane and it fell within yards of my house totally in flames and he said: "remember that day?"
I have not. I have many other incidents burned into my brain but that one I choose to forget.
I honor every soldier , the last wars were not so great for returning Vets, we have ignored a lot of them, even today as I write this ,many are in hospitals without limbs, memory and on and on. At their homes without work and with a mental memory that no one should have to endure. I think about the kids in Iraq and all what they saw and one day when they turn 80 will they write down about the pains and about the joys of seeing Americans ?????I Wonder.
My second best Christmas in my lifetime was the night Red called. My hero!
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