In 1976, Joe and I and our 3 boys flew from Texas to Los Angeles where we visited Disney Land and Knotsberry Farm. Then we rented a car and drove up the California coast, stopped to visit friends in Fresno then (loaded with sacks of grapes), drove to San Francisco where we feasted on crab at Fisherman's Wharf, explored the Exploratorium, went to the Presidio and walked on the beach near where Joe spent his army years at Fort Baker. We also went to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream treats.  I kept the menu, loving its graphics and mouth watering listings.  I framed it and hung it in our kitchen or pantry for several years.  I found the menu a few weeks ago, and thought it would be fun to Google their current prices.  If you really ever wonder how much more things cost now than almost 40 years ago, here is your answer.

I don't remember exactly what we had, but it is likely that one of us had (or shared) a Golden Gate Banana Split, featured on the above menu for $1.85. The 2015 menu lists the same banana split for $11.45. I am sure there was a Hot Fudge Sundae on the table, priced at $1.65 and now sells for $10.95.  And a Root Beer Float, another family favorite was 75 cents, but now would set you back $6.25.  

I know, everything now costs much more than it did then, and our income was less, too.  Enjoy those ice cream treat special occasions!

Changes

2016 is already proving to be a year of great change. We are readying our home and garden for sale, with plans to buy a home with our youngest son and his family. Our oldest son and daughter - in - law have changes in their household with their oldest daughter moving to an apartment.  Our son Jeremy and his wife and daughters have moved from Texas to Nevada.  Plain to see this last from the photo, since they never had snow to dig this deep in Fort Worth!  I miss their being in Texas, of course but I am thankful they are settling into their new home and are having fun with all the snow!
I only have to watch the Monarchs in our back yard as they go through their cycles of caterpillar, chrysalis, and metamorphosis to be reminded that change is necessary for growth.  Enjoy your wings, sweet girls!

Family Time

In all my sorting through hundreds of family pictures from many years, I often think, "Why didn't I take more?"  I know, of course.  Family life was busy, it was hard to catch just the right candid shots, and our equipment for photography was not very good.  I take such pleasure in being able to pick up my cell phone and catch a moment of unexpected happiness. We went out house hunting this afternoon, and Ben, Kristen, and Nora took this few minutes to sit for awhile on a bench.  I am passing some of their sunshine on to you!

Happy Birthday, Mignon!

I always thought having a birthday on Valentine's Day was very special.  So here's to my long time friend and lovely lady, Mignon.  We became friends in 2nd grade.  That was in 1947, which makes our friendship one that has lasted for almost 70 years!  When we moved back to the U.S. and settled in our area of the Texas Gulf Coast, we once again lived near enough to see each other more often. Ours is the kind of friendship that bridges gaps in time, so even though months may pass when we sit down to lunch together, we pick up conversation easily almost where we left off!

Mignon was my first friend for after school play times and overnights where we "roasted" crackers over a flashlight and put doll dresses on her kitty.  Her dog was a chow named Taffy. We got matching baby dolls and named them matching names.  I went on campfire cookouts to a place called Fry's Gap with her family.  Her older sister Charlotte and her parents were gracious and kind to me.

 Through the years, Mignon has remained a beautiful, charming woman and faithful friend. She is a woman of faith and has been a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother. She is one of the most creative and talented people I know.  Happy Birthday, Dear Friend!

Ky and Clyde

Ky and Clyde

In the week that leads up to Valentine's Day, I am reflecting about the couples and marriages that have been part of my understanding of love and commitment. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents and my parents had the "until death do us part" kind of marriage.  And since they lived a fairly long time, that meant many years together.

The photograph above is one of the last ones I have of both of them.  It has been stored away for many years, and Joe's scanning project brought it to my attention again.  I am so grateful for these two and their love for me.  I remember Papa's hearty laugh, his toothless grin, the way he bent down low over a small radio to listen to baseball games. I remember Grandma's hands kneading biscuit dough, scattering scraps for the chickens, tucking me into a feather bed, doing fine needlework and quilting, the way she lived out her faith.  Life was not easy for them.  They had few comfortable amenities, and a great deal of heartbreak. But they did their best and shared what they did have. Ky's birthday, February 17(1885), and Clyde's on March 15 (1887) prompt me to think of them with great respect and admiration. They were married in 1905, and were together until Ky's death in 1965, a month short of his 80th birthday.  Clyde lived on for another 12 years, dying in 1977.  Their 60 years of marriage is a tribute to making a life together.

Family Photo

 Ben, Joe, Sean, Mary Ann and Jeremy on Nana's couch, probably 1979 or 1980

My last posts have been about postcards, but along with all the other saved things, there are plenty of photos in the boxes I have been sorting. I also found a number of 35 mm slides, which Joe has been busy scanning and converting to digital images that we can store on our computers. I am often less grateful than confused at all the techology we use in our home, but I am most grateful for his work on these photo prints and slides.

For awhile after we were married, I continued using my 35mm camera, but then we began using polaroid cameras - great for seeing the photos right away, but terrible for their quality and durability. Then we switched to a very simple point and click camera, which involved developing and negatives. Many of those have faded terribly. I was not a great photographer, and was usually in a hurry to capture a moment, so many of our pictures are poor photos.  I confess to having had very little organization with photo storage, with only a few making it into albums - which certainly makes it hard to organize them after over 50 years of family life.  We want to keep the ones we have in a way that allows us to view them easily, and digital storage allows us that plus ways to organize and share with all our family.

There are so many more ways to turn out great photographs now. My smart phone works better for me than my good camera most of the time because I have it with me, and it is so quick and easy to get good candid shots. I can capture an image of a granddaughter, view, edit, and post it on FaceBook for friends and family to see more quickly than I used to be able to take off my lens cap, focus, and click!  I take more photos, and have learned so much about cropping and editing. These, too, will be stored in files on my computer I am finally organizing pictures!  Old dogs really can learn new tricks.

More Postcards

As mentioned last week, major cleaning and sorting continues here.  This is more than Spring cleaning, but it will serve as that as well.  Some boxes are easy to sort into Keep, Discard, and Donate containers, but others take time because they are full of little pieces of memories, seeds of stories. One thing obvious in boxes of family correspondence, notes, and cards are the picture postcards. I am holding 3 postcards that Joe mailed to our sons when he traveled to Japan in 1983. There are similar postcards he mailed to my mother in that box and letters to me. It was a good way for them to see what he was seeing. I love the way he chose different things to say to each boy.  He knew them well.

Each card is addressed to our home, 2224 Old Orchard Court, Plano, Texas.

Sean's card is a photo of "Nijubashi" of the Imperial Palace, Tokyo -the double arched bridge hanging on the moat of the old castle. 

 Dear Sean,
I miss you. I know you are taking care of Mom and your brothers. Keep it up.

You would enjoy TV here. Lots of videos and Solid Gold. You would laugh to hear Michael Jackson in Japanese.

I love you, Dad


Jeremy's card has a photo of the same bridge from a different angle.

Dear Jeremy,
I wish you could be here to see all the sights with me. You would enjoy the fish and birds in the park near my hotel. Funny thing...the crows speak English...They say the same thing as Plano crows.

Love, Dad

Ben's card is a picture of Nagoya Castle. Originally erected in 1523 and rebuilt in 1959. Famous for a pair of dolphins on its roof.

Dear Ben,
How's this for a castle? It is beautiful here. Wish you could be here to share it with me. I miss you and can't wait to see you again.

Love, Dad

I was grateful then and am grateful now for the ways Joe kept us with him when he traveled!

Postmarked Santa Barbara, California, July 16 1986

I have been doing some serious opening of boxes and sorting and clearing. Family correspondence, greeting cards, memorabilia from years past that some might have discarded long ago become not only memories, but stories that surface.  I am glad that my Mother saved many things that remind me of details of family story.  I prefer to pass on some things, discarding others after a photo and passing on the story itself. A large picture postcard featuring the inn above in Pismo Beach, California, is postmarked Santa Barbara, California, July 16 1986 and contains the photo and following description:
                                  Shore Cliff Lodge & Inn (Best Western and Triple A logos)
                                                       2555 Price STreet
                                               Pismo Beach, California  93449
                                                     (805) 773-4671
                                          "Your complete Resort at the Beach"
Restaurant open from 7a.m., Cocktail louge.  Banquet facilities, Heated swimming pool.  Hydrotherapy pool, 2 lighted tennis courts, Spiral staircase to the beach, Cable,color TV with bedside remote, Air conditioning. Claming, fishing, dune buggy riding, All rooms and kitchenette suites overlook the ocean.

Addressed to:
                         Mrs. Opal Teal
                         413 Tena Street
                         Jacksoville, TX 74766

The content is in pencil, in my handwriting:

Hi!  We stayed here last night & the boys & Joe (notice I omit me) rode 4 wheel motor bikes on the beach today.  Ben hurt his leg but still had a good time.  We went to Hearst Castle yesterday & Joe took Jeremy to sight see at the local emergency room last night.  Some kind of allergic reaction, probably from eating too much shellfish.  He is OK today but had to have 3 shots.  We have had good food-lovely meals- Ben got a birthday balloon at dinner tonite. We will spend tomorrow (the 15th) in Santa Barbara - then back to Thousand Oaks. Love, M

This was the year that we lived in Southern California prior to moving to Indonesia.  That summer we drove up the coast on "the 101."  I am remembering several things about that time - 1. We knew we would be moving out of the country soon.  2.  We wanted to see more of California before we left, planning stops at several places on the beach.  3. Ben celebrated his 13th birthday on July 15, our last night of the trip in Santa Barbara,  the postcard was mailed.

In just over 2 months, our family said goodbye to California 1 day after an earthquake shook the Los Angeles area.  As the blog subtitle says - the joy of journey as a family!

Apparently, the Shore Cliff Inn is still in operation, although their website no longer mentions a spiral staircase to the beach!

Builders

The days following Christmas and the turn of our calendars to a new year are full - finishing and beginning, putting away and choosing new starts, savoring what is and planning for change.  I love choosing times to settle, reflect, assess, and value.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the times we stop being busy to enjoy a book and each other!  Nora loves to sit in her Mom's lap and "read." She lifts her arms to her Daddy, delighting in knowing he will pick her up and hold her close. These times, of course, last only minutes for a toddler who is off to explore new adventures quickly. But the minutes are some of the most important in her day, and theirs. She reminds us all of the deep importance of taking time to pay attention to the smallest of needs. I am thankful Nora has parents who give her this attention.  I am also thankful to have one of the laps she asks to sit in!   I am thankful we are builders - doing homework together as a family.

The Builders

All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Gifts from the Past

This necklace and bracelet of cowrie shells was sent to me from Taraway, Gilbert Island by my uncle, whom I loved dearly. Travis Terrell was serving his country in the Navy in WWII.  He printed my name on the above pictured note, but the handwriting below is my mother's, Opal Terrell Teal. As mentioned, I received the jewelry September 4, 1944. I remember handling the tiny shells and loving the jewelry as a little girl.

Oddly enough, it is only now, well over 70 years later, that I consider the circumstance of how and when my uncle obtained the shells, how homesick he would have been, how much he longed for home and his family. (His 2 oldest children are slightly younger than I).  It would have taken some time for a gift to arrive in Texas, putting the shells very near the months less than a year prior when

More than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed in action and some 2,000 were wounded in only three days of fighting at Tarawa. Word of the heavy casualties soon reached the U.S. and the public was stunned by the number of American lives lost in taking the tiny island.


http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-tarawa

Finally, I am understanding more of the meaning of my gift of shells.

Christmas Collage

If one picture is worth a thousand words, this is a very long (and happy) post!  More comments about our Christmas Day next week, but for now, please enjoy our gathering and celebrating!

Gingerbread House

Today is the day my father was born in 1909. He left us in 1982,  too soon to see any of his grandsons or great granddaughters learn to love to cook as much as he did. My sons are passing me up as gourmet cooks, Lauren (22) cooks meals for the family now, Skye (13) is a great pastry cook, Maddie  (9) tried her hand at chicken curry recently, even making the curry blend herself, and Jordann (7) loves to tie on an apron and help to bake.

I am often asked where I learned to love cooking. A great deal of that became a part of me because Mother and Daddy owned a cafe most of the time I was growing up. Mother worked there and cooked more at home, but Daddy cooked for the cafe, creating the best hamburgers and lunch plates.  He got up early and went in to make scratch pies and hot rolls. So as I watched Nora and her Mom, Kristen, make a gingerbread house, I thought how much Daddy and Mother would have loved to see this project!  At 21 months, Nora was intrigued by putting the little candy dots on the house. Perhaps it is a good thing she does not eat candy yet.They did a fantastic job.  There was not much cooking in this kitchen project, but she will be standing on a stool helping me make cookies soon! You made your great granddaddy proud, Nora! It was Kristen's first gingerbread house, too!  But she bakes beautiful cakes, so she knew how to handle that frosting.

Christmas Wonder

 “For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” 
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

It is also good (wonderful!) to be a grandmother at Christmas. To share in the wonder of twinkle lights and cookie baking, to give even your tea table a Christmas dress and  cover tiny trees with pretty decorations. Nora brings us the delight of her joy this season, making it all new again for everyone in our family. She runs around discovering every tiny manger scene, angel, and Santa. She loves dancing to all the sweet carols.  I find myself being astonished and full of wonder in new ways and saying it just like she does:   "OOOH!   Wow!"  

Bringing the Garden Inside

Ben and Kristen gave me a small herb drying rack for my birthday.  Last week, I hung it from the center of my pot rack and added a few bundles of herbs. I love reaching up to pinch a bay leaf, some rosemary twigs, or crush a basil leaf into a pan on the stove. Christmas music is playing, the tree is up, and it smells like Christmas. Last week when Maddie and Jordann and their mom arrived to spend a few days, the first thing I heard when they came inside was "It always smells like Christmas here!" I like that.

Blessed

Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, Advent begins tomorrow. The 2 days are not always so close together, but it seems appropriate to move from the posture of marking gratitude to these next weeks of waiting and expectancy. I love so many things about these celebrations. There is the time set aside for personal reflection and recollection. There is time for family gathering and celebrating. This Thanksgiving has brought a keen awareness of how precious our times together are and how much I appreciate the occasion because it draws people home. The coming year brings great change for all of us, some already known. Jobs and homeplaces are relocating, our grandchildren are growing up. Next year gatherings may be different in numbers and place. So I need to say one more time how grateful I am that all our thirteen of our sons, their wives and our grandchildren were together for hugs and laughter, fun in the kitchen, remembering, and circling our great feast for Joe to pray a blessing and thanksgiving for our family, our food, our being together.  Not many pictures, but so many, many good memories.

Thanksgiving 2015. Blessed.

Skye is 13!

Today is our lovely granddaughter's thirteenth birthday.  From the moment of her parents' excited news of her tiny beginning, she has been so much joy and gladness for me. In the months before her birth, I wrote a journal to her in the form of a letter, given to her parents on the day she was born, a tradition I have continued with each new grandchild.  I simply wanted to tell her she was already a part of our family story and would always be.  I wrote about happily we anticipated her arrival, of all the things we looked forward to sharing with her, and how we celebrate faith and family. From rocking and lullabies to planting flowers, building fairy gardens and baking macaroons, Skye continues to add delight to our time together. Thank you, and Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Maddie mailed me a note with a gift inside and the instructions "Here is a sticker you can add to almost anything..." I grinned as I attached it to the pumpkin on my counter. P for pumpkin, P for pie, but also P for Parker!  Our family has grown to number 13 Parkers (and alot more counting extended family.)  With a grateful heart every day, and Thanksgiving gathering coming soon, I am glad for our times together as a family.  See you soon, Maddie!

Making Music

I enjoy making music with my choir and handbell friends, but there is a different kind of pleasure in music with my grandchildren.  I have had so many good times with each of my granddaughters:  rocking and singing lullabies, swinging and singing,  playing CD's and singing along in the car as we drove somewhere, marching around the house singing and sounding out with everything from pot lids to maracas, trying out recorders and harmonicas, making drums out of boxes and cookie tins.  I remember Lauren's "Poor Mr. Spider" tape she loved playing over and over in the car and dancing with her. I played handbells with Skye's youth handbell group.  Maddie loved singing from the time she could talk and could sing Amazing Grace with perfect pitch when she was 2. Jordann loves making up songs on the piano and Nora does too.  Whether it is singing "Skip to My Lou" 20 times in a row or "A, You're Adorable" or tunes from The Sound of Music, music with these girls fills my heart!

A Song and a Dance

In all the cleaning and clearing projects I have been working on, I sorted through a drawer that held piano music that belonged to my Mother.  My grandparents lived very modestly in a white frame farmhouse on a hill in East Texas.  There was an outhouse and a water well  because there was no indoor plumbing, even as late as the 60's when my grandfather died and Grandma Terrell moved to town.  But Opal was their only daughter and there is much evidence to prove that they doted on her. They bought her a piano and gave her lessons, many done by a mail order music course, but also piano lessons given in person by Mrs. Moss. The music I inherited has been a delight to me. I have enjoyed playing through it and thinking of other hands that played those songs.   I have not treated it with the care I probably should have, but I have done something I think Mother would like more - I used it.  In previous posts, I have talked about the story of this music.

www.tinyurl.com/pzmjxj2  

www.mappingsforthismorning.blogspot.com/2013/02/marriage-in-model-t-love-story.html

When I was sorting through the crumbly pages this time, I was doing so in order to pass the music on to Nora Opal Parker, since she carries Mother's name.  Knowing that I might not be turning the pages again myself, I may have looked more closely. But I don't recall ever seeing this title before.  It is a piece in a book of waltzes and fox trots. There must be a story in that title!

 Before the music goes into a box to pass on to Ben and Kristen to keep for Nora, there is one more way to use it.  A few pieces of  love songs will be used to help decorate for a wedding in about a week,  I also think I will sit down and play through some of the old songs again. I think Nora's great grandmother will be listening.

Steel Magnolia

October 20 will always be Mother's birthday on my calendar even though it has been 9 years now since she left us. I took this photo two years ago when we visited hers and Daddy's graves, along with the many others of our family who were laid to rest here in the Bullard, Texas cemetery.  The giant magnolia tree reminds me of Mother, who was indeed a steel magnolia, a true lady, a eautiful, strong, courageous woman with deep roots who deserved the name long before anyone thought of making a movie!  She would have laughed at my calling her that.  That is one of the things I miss the most - laughing with her. Remembering!   Opal Auntionette Terrell Teal October 20, 1913 - September 21, 2006.

Autumn

"The heart of Autumn must have broken here, and poured its treasure out upon the leaves."=

Charlotte Fiske Bates

Books are everywhere in our home. Even though both Joe and I read many books on his Kindle and my iPad and listen to audio books as well, we have stacks and shelves of printed books. Bible study books, theology books, gardening resources, mysteries, memoir, poetry, and fiction. In the kitchen, 50 plus years of our cookbook collection keeps growing, mostly due to gifts from those who know my love of cooking. In the spirit of cleaning, clearing clutter, and paring down, I have filled boxes to donate to the library, and have passed down a number of cookbooks to family members.  Honestly, I don't know anyone else who has both their mother's and their grandmother's cookbooks!  Treasures, these.  I have written about them before and will again, but soon it is time for them to go to one of my own granddaughters.

There are a number of favorite books of different genre that I keep and go back to regularly.  The little book in the above photo is one of those.  Autumn. by Susan Branch, "From the Heart of the Home." This wonderful collection of whimsical drawings, quotations, celebrations, and recipes was given to me.  It is autographed by the author: "To Mary Ann - Happy Fall! Susan Branch 2004."  But I value more the note written under that - "Thanks for all the nice things you do for others. With love, Jen."

As the title announces, the book is an invitation to celebrate this time of year in magical ways.  I love to settle down with a cup of tea or hot cider and turn the pages one more time.  And yes, we do follow up with "doing" and enjoy some of the recipes. I particularly enjoy the seasonal quotations sprinkled throughout.

Hang bunches of fresh herbs, pepperberries, yarrow, and hyrangea.
Candles, candles, candles! Lots of votives in green or gold glass. Pop a votive in a citrus shell.

"If you were to ask what is most important in a home, I would say memories."  Lillian Gish

"In the village store someone says 'I heard the geese go over,' and there is a moment of silence.  Why this is so moving I do not know.  But all of us feel it."  Gladys Taber

Recipes for Spiced Pecans, Garlic Shrimp, Red Chili Onion Rings, Corn Pudding, Indian Shuck Bread, and Maple Butter!

Bring leaves and pinecones in for a Thanksgiving table.

Fun gifts to assemble in baskets and old bowls for Christmas.

"Display old books!  Heidi, Pollyanna, Wuthering Heights, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  And all your favorites!"

"Autumn is the best season  in which to sniff, and to sniff for pleasure, for this is the season of universal pungency."  Bertha Damon

Progress?

I promised last week I would make progress and post some results of my clearing out project.  The first thing to know is that it is going to take much longer than this one week. But a promise is a promise, and something is better than nothing to show!  Starting is slow business.  I am hoping to pick up speed and will power as I continue. These are some of the ways the sorting and simplifying is happening. Most of these I was doing already, but not as intentionally.

Over 50 years of cooking and gathering people around to enjoy our home and hospitality, we have not surprisingly gathered a great many things related to cooking and dining:  cookbooks, cookware, utensils, dishes, glassware, serving pieces of all shapes and sizes.  Appliances for mixing, beating, baking, broiling, grilling, poaching, steaming, and brewing!  Trays, bowls, bread baskets, centerpieces. Table linens, candleholders, flower frogs, and napkin rings. Honestly, no one but a restaurant really needs several woks, one of them a giant! And does anyone even know what a flower frog is anymore?

Time and circumstance change the need for using all of these. Since the arrival of young grandchildren, most of our larger family gatherings avoid tablecloths and crystal!   Entertaining business guests at a long table in Jakarta might have needed fancier trappings, but it is so much more fun to gather around Grandma's oak table with our little ones. It is time to pass things on that we do not use.  Note that I am not adhering to the 200 things to throw away style - I am able to throw away when no one else would be able to use something, but I am determined to pass on and recycle and repurpose every time I can.

So I started with my kitchen cabinets, pantry, pot rack, cooking utensil drawers, and the armoire where I store table cloths and napkins. One drawer at a time, one shelf at a time. I am giving many of my cookbooks to family, in particular ones that belonged to my mother and grandmother.  My 12 year old granddaughter went home with baking pans to fuel her passion for cake baking. Her mom left with a box full of copper pans and skillets; she will be happy that the stemware in the above photo is hers when she comes next time.

I have switched back and forth to other areas in the house - all the board games other than the ones our granddaughters like to play when they are here are going to 2 church groups - Youth group and our Young at Heart group that meets monthly to play....board games!   The pick of the garden books went to my daughter in law who loves to grow her garden!

I am posting photographs of some items on our neighborhood FaceBook page "For Sale and Free."  If it does not sell, it will go to the curb for free.

And (still not throwing away!) I have taken boxes of magazines and seed catalogs to a preschool for art supply.  Boxes of books to the public library book sale.  Donated sweaters, pillows and bedding.

Electronics, cords, etc. are going to a neighborhood girl scout troop for their recycle drive.

Results from paring down clothing and pantry supplies go to Helping Hands, our local food and clothing pantry.

And yes, some things, do go in the recycle bin that sits at the curb once a week.  I always have twice as much recycle as trash.

And I don't miss a thing!