After several hours of reading and trying to interpret all the instructions for upgrading my AT&T home page and e-mail, I finally was able to do so. The new homepage update lets me choose colors, content, and views that I enjoy. It also allows me to move the catagories around for my own enjoyment.
This morning I'd come to the conclusion that I'd have to end up calling AT & T about how to accomplish this feat, as I found myself unable to follow ALL their instructions and...not be able to use my homepage or e-mail. But, I just can't help but accept a good challenge. So I proceeded to try to get the homepage to respond, and I finally did it! But my e-mail was still a problem. After researching some more, I found my e-mail client needed to be updated also. So off to another challenge. More research and BANG, I was able to update the settings. Pays to read all instructions included when these updates come around!
I will now grant myself some relaxing time sitting outside on my back patio enjoying some root beer. When my children were small, I'd make a big pitcher full of sweet root beer for us to enjoy (especially after meeting a challenge of sorts on a hot summer day). Seemed that the bottom of that pitcher presented itself much too soon. Now I drink it out of a can! Times sure have changed.
Another challenge accomplished! Wondering what the next one will be.................
Friday, February 13, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
My Blanket
I'm anxiously awaiting Spring to arrive.
I'm anxious to be able to sit outside and drink a cold root beer (my favorite) on the back patio and hear sounds of springtime.
I'm anxious to watch the butterflies and birds dip up and down across the lawn in search of food.
As I recall springtimes of my past, I remember vividly going outside my parents' home and spreading a large blanket out on the lawn. My friend and I would lay on the blanket and listen to the outdoor sounds and smell the sweet aroma of a nearby baby magnolia tree. We would spend hours lying down on that blanket and talking.
Lemonade was the drink of the day at that time. My mother would make us some lemonade and we would enjoy a tall cool glass of freshly made very sweet lemonade.
When my friend's mother would call her home, I'd lay on my blanket and entertain myself with a good book...mostly fairy tales, as money was short and I didn't buy many books. The one I remember best was a large fairy tale book that one of my aunts had purchased for me in payment of babysitting her son for her. I also recall a Doris Day coloring book that same aunt bought for me for having babysat her son on another occasion.
As I got older, time was spent on a blanket in the summertime. With getting older, boys became a topic of our conversations. We became aware of cars that occasionally passed by blowing their horns. Our clothes began to take on a new look, too. No more ratty pants and shirts. Out came the short shorts and bathing suits. No longer did my friend and I lay on the blanket to pass the time, sunbathing became a must do, especially if you'd just gotten a new bathing suit.
Other times, friends in the neighborhood would join me on the blanket and we'd talk and laugh for hours. We discussed things of the past and plans for the future. The present was lived and we didn't get bored. Time would pass by and we'd all be so disappointed when our parents would call us to go inside.
Yes, much can be said about a girl and her blanket. My blanket proved to be a most useful article during my childhood days. It attracted many friends, many shared stories, lots of laughter, and so much comfort when you had nowhere to go.
I'm anxious to be able to sit outside and drink a cold root beer (my favorite) on the back patio and hear sounds of springtime.
I'm anxious to watch the butterflies and birds dip up and down across the lawn in search of food.
As I recall springtimes of my past, I remember vividly going outside my parents' home and spreading a large blanket out on the lawn. My friend and I would lay on the blanket and listen to the outdoor sounds and smell the sweet aroma of a nearby baby magnolia tree. We would spend hours lying down on that blanket and talking.
Lemonade was the drink of the day at that time. My mother would make us some lemonade and we would enjoy a tall cool glass of freshly made very sweet lemonade.
When my friend's mother would call her home, I'd lay on my blanket and entertain myself with a good book...mostly fairy tales, as money was short and I didn't buy many books. The one I remember best was a large fairy tale book that one of my aunts had purchased for me in payment of babysitting her son for her. I also recall a Doris Day coloring book that same aunt bought for me for having babysat her son on another occasion.
As I got older, time was spent on a blanket in the summertime. With getting older, boys became a topic of our conversations. We became aware of cars that occasionally passed by blowing their horns. Our clothes began to take on a new look, too. No more ratty pants and shirts. Out came the short shorts and bathing suits. No longer did my friend and I lay on the blanket to pass the time, sunbathing became a must do, especially if you'd just gotten a new bathing suit.
Other times, friends in the neighborhood would join me on the blanket and we'd talk and laugh for hours. We discussed things of the past and plans for the future. The present was lived and we didn't get bored. Time would pass by and we'd all be so disappointed when our parents would call us to go inside.
Yes, much can be said about a girl and her blanket. My blanket proved to be a most useful article during my childhood days. It attracted many friends, many shared stories, lots of laughter, and so much comfort when you had nowhere to go.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Our Camp
We'll be going to our Toledo Bend camp this weekend. I so love to go there.
Now that we've completed the repairs, we can now sit back and enjoy the facilities as well as the scenery.
Our children and older grandchildren enjoy going to the nearby community launch and putting in their boats to go fishing or riding innertubes pulled behind the boats. The younger grandchildren enjoy walking the road that loops around. Opa and I enjoy sitting on the front porch or back patio and watching the birds or fishermen in their boats.
Once while visiting there, our son went fishing early in the morning. As I glanced out of my front picture window, I saw a huge white mass following my son's boat on the water. At first, I couldn't understand what it was and then I was shocked when I realized what it was. I called out to Opa and one of my son's daughters to come see the sight. As my son fished and moved slowly along the shoreline of our cove, hundreds of white swans had landed behind his boat and was following him. As he turned the boat and drifted zigzaging along the water's edge, so went the trail of white swans. Then suddenly more and more swans began landing in the water behind the swans already following his boat. It was as if my son was pulling a huge white banner across the beautiful water in our cove. How great the artwork of the Lord!
Another visit, my son came in from a fishing trip and was really anxious to tell us what he'd seen that morning. Of course, my first thought was that the fog was so thick...how in the world did he see anything at all. He proceeded to say that as the fog was thick that morning, he was allowing himself to drift in his boat to allow time for the fog to burn off, so that he could get to his fishing. He heard something and looking up saw two eagles with claws locked together and tumbling up and down in the air as they performed their love dance. He said he'd read and heard about eagles doing this, but never expected to see this in his lifetime.
In April, I go to the camp with my daughter and the older granddaughters. We take in Hodges Garden, then we go to Natchitoches and shop. We try to make this an annual event. Then at Easter and Thanksgiving time we travel to the camp as we spend a week or so at North Toledo Bend Park. Opa and I commute between our camp and North Toledo Bend Park, while the children and grandchildren stay in their RV and Pop-Up Camper in the park. We meet with family and friends each day and play cards, play dominos, take walks, gather around the fire ring, and share laughter, recipes, and a community meal. It just doesn't get any better than this.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Cotton Fields of Home
I recall as a young child, going to spend summer months at my godmother's house in the country. My cousin and I would get up early in the morning to get started doing some of the "chores" that my godmother would let us do for her. Memories of going with my uncle out in the cotton field behind their house comes back so clear. Once he let us go out to the fields and "pick" cotton. Of course, my cousin had already done that before, so she knew the "ropes". We picked for about an hour or so, and then we were ready to quit...but, catch was, you had to weigh in your cotton sacks to be paid. Being young and not having picked very much cotton in only an hour or so...my cousin showed me how to add the not-so-ready to pick cotton in my sack. Wow! that made the sack really heavy. When we arrived for my uncle to weigh our sacks, he was surprised we had gotten so much picked in so little time. He weighed the sacks and OPENED them. We were not prepared for that! He poured out the sacks in front of us and saw the unopened cotton bolls mixed in with the cotton. THAT was one of my first lessons on how cheating never works out...only a good hard honest day's work pays off.
I remember having to bring in the water from the outside pump to fill the water jug on the kitchen counter, reaching under the soft warm bodies of chickens to gather eggs, using the outhouse behind the house when nature called, helping pluck feather off the chicken for supper on the outside porch, riding on horse saddles hung in the barn pretending we were cowgirls, bathing in a large washtub (no bathtubs) set in one of the smaller rooms of the house, chasing each other...the rooms all connected by doors...and having to jump over the couch that was placed in one doorway, sitting on the front porch (screens were all busted out) and feeling the cool breeze, picking pecans in the orchard, and so many other things we did on that farm.
Yes, those were the days of my youth. Looking back I realize how all that shaped my life. I lived in town away from the farm. I was blessed to have experienced both country and city life. My wish would be for all people to be able to witness some of the experiences I was fortunate to enjoy.
Country living taught me many things. One was patience, listening, and to work for what you get. I learned that you got out of life what you put into it. Henry Longfellow once wrote in a poem: A Psalm of Life
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
I remember having to bring in the water from the outside pump to fill the water jug on the kitchen counter, reaching under the soft warm bodies of chickens to gather eggs, using the outhouse behind the house when nature called, helping pluck feather off the chicken for supper on the outside porch, riding on horse saddles hung in the barn pretending we were cowgirls, bathing in a large washtub (no bathtubs) set in one of the smaller rooms of the house, chasing each other...the rooms all connected by doors...and having to jump over the couch that was placed in one doorway, sitting on the front porch (screens were all busted out) and feeling the cool breeze, picking pecans in the orchard, and so many other things we did on that farm.
Yes, those were the days of my youth. Looking back I realize how all that shaped my life. I lived in town away from the farm. I was blessed to have experienced both country and city life. My wish would be for all people to be able to witness some of the experiences I was fortunate to enjoy.
Country living taught me many things. One was patience, listening, and to work for what you get. I learned that you got out of life what you put into it. Henry Longfellow once wrote in a poem: A Psalm of Life
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Abou Ben Adhem
A poem by James Henry Hunt:
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold:
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."
The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!
Friday, January 23, 2009
It's Howdy Doody Time!
The first network kids show to air five days a week, first show on air each day, first television show ever broadcast in color, first show ever to air more than 1,000 continuous episodes was the Howdy Doody Show. Buffalo Bob and Howdy and friends entertained us (American children) back in the 40's & 50's.
I recall my parents getting us our first television. We use to go next door and use the neighbor's television before we were able to afford one of our own. My brother and I would sit on the floor directly in front of our television set and wait for Buffalo Bob's greeting - "Say, kids. What time is it?" We would join in from our living room with the aprroximately 40 kids that squeezed each day into the studio's "peanut gallery" and shout out: "It's Howdy Doody Time."
That little puppet dressed up in a cowboy shirt, blue jeans, gloves and bandana would grin at us and we would laugh out loud and rock back and forth on our folded legs. His blue eyes, red hair, big ears, and freckles kept you focused the whole time he was talking. Of course, as I look back, Buffalo Bob (ventriloquist) was not bad looking either.
Today, while shopping, I came across a DVD of 20 original episodes of the Howdy Doody Show. I was so happy to be able to buy this collection intended to reintroduce America's most beloved children's show to kids young and old. And I only paid $5.00 for it. I couldn't help but feel very proud of this part of my childhood, when I saw on the DVD case "IT'S YOUR DODDY" on top of Howdy's picture and underneath his picture "VOTE". Probably back then, we weren't too interested in voting, but they planted the seeds whenever and however they could.
I want to share with you, words of a poem by Henry Holcomb Bennett:
Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor,---all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
I recall my parents getting us our first television. We use to go next door and use the neighbor's television before we were able to afford one of our own. My brother and I would sit on the floor directly in front of our television set and wait for Buffalo Bob's greeting - "Say, kids. What time is it?" We would join in from our living room with the aprroximately 40 kids that squeezed each day into the studio's "peanut gallery" and shout out: "It's Howdy Doody Time."
That little puppet dressed up in a cowboy shirt, blue jeans, gloves and bandana would grin at us and we would laugh out loud and rock back and forth on our folded legs. His blue eyes, red hair, big ears, and freckles kept you focused the whole time he was talking. Of course, as I look back, Buffalo Bob (ventriloquist) was not bad looking either.
Today, while shopping, I came across a DVD of 20 original episodes of the Howdy Doody Show. I was so happy to be able to buy this collection intended to reintroduce America's most beloved children's show to kids young and old. And I only paid $5.00 for it. I couldn't help but feel very proud of this part of my childhood, when I saw on the DVD case "IT'S YOUR DODDY" on top of Howdy's picture and underneath his picture "VOTE". Probably back then, we weren't too interested in voting, but they planted the seeds whenever and however they could.
I want to share with you, words of a poem by Henry Holcomb Bennett:
Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor,---all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog...I'm still in the process of learning about blogging. As Winter is still upon us and Spring not approaching until March 20, I find myself still hibernating. I retired in 2007 after many years working for my church. The year of 2008 brought many relaxed, happy moments for me. Of course, along with happy memories come not so happy ones, but they are what we make of them. I choose to accept them and add them to the many memories of my life. I hope that I will be able to share some of my memories as well as what's going on in my world with you as I find my way through the blogging process.
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