by jphilo | Nov 25, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Disclaimer in the interest of family unity: #3–5 actually tied for third place…but in the interest of counting down, they were arbitrarily numbered 3, 4, and 5.
10. In less than a month, the days will start getting longer.
9. Good health.
8. The Mayflower Pilgrims who began the Thanksgiving tradition and believed in religious freedom.
7. Celebrating the holiday with our large, noisy, quirky, enthusiastic extended family.
6. Tuesdays with Mom and Camp Dorothy experiences.
5. Our four adult children–two biological and two who experienced our large, noisy, quirky, enthusiastic extended family and still said, “I do.”
4. Our sweet grandson who melts my heart when he asks, “Grammy Jo, need another hug?”
3. Two more grandchildren coming in January and April.
2. My patient, encouraging husband who believes and supports my crazy writing dreams.
1. A God who loves the world so much He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Nov 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
The Top Ten Tuesday list will be back next week. This week’s Tuesday post is dedicated to remembering the veterans in our family with an updated version of a piece written for Veteran’s Day, 2012.
Yesterday was Veteran’s Day, and in my world it went out with more of a whimper than a bang. However our state’s major newspaper, The Des Moines Register, in a moving salute to World War II vets, had the soldiers tell their stories in their own words.
That story, combined with the passing of my husband’s Uncle Harold, a World War 2 pilot in October of 2012, was a reminder of how little time remains for our nation to say thank you to the men and women who risked their lives in that great war. Here are the heroes in our family–some still living and some gone in the past few years–I am proud to call my uncles, and for whom I am grateful today.
Harold Walker, Hiram’s storyteller uncle, and pilot in the Pacific Theater near the end of the war. He died in October of 2012.
Marvin Conrad, my piano-playing and very musical uncle. I believe he served in the Navy in World War 2. He died in 2010, only a few months after visiting Washington, DC on one of the Freedom Flights.
Ordel Rogen, my cattle-raising uncle. He served in some branch of the armed forces in World War 2, though I’m not sure of the details. He died several years ago in December.
Leo Hess, who told harrowing tales of fighting during the Battle of the Bulge in World War 2.
Jim Hoey is my history-loving uncle. He was also a dedicated friend to my dad during his long struggle with multiple sclerosis. Jim served as a Navy medic in the Korean War. He turned 80 in June of 2012 and still loves to travel and write letters to his grandkids and great-nephews and nieces.
Dear uncles, our thanks for your service is not enough, but it’s all I have to give. Thank you for fighting for freedom.
Because of you, our shared family histories continue.
Because of your sacrifice, our family is able to reunite in the summer to reminisce about old memories and create new ones.
Because of you, little children play without fear.
Because of you, elderly men and women are cared for and safe.
Because of you, we live in peace.
Because of you, we are who we are.
Because of you, we are blessed.
Because of you.
by jphilo | Sep 29, 2014 | Uncategorized
You know those pictures about the good old days that keep making the rounds on Facebook? The ones about kids playing outside more way back when? Or about how we ate raw cookie dough and didn’t die? How the present generation has been coddled by their parents?
But not us.
No, siree.
Not us.
We’re tough.
Because we grew up in the good old days.
With emphasis on the word good.
But how good were the good old days really? Maybe not as good as we remember. Or as our parents remember. Or their parents, for that matter, as this recipe for wash day shows. Mom found this 1900s washday ‘receipt’ as they used to be called, in the 1970s. She’s taken our grandparents to Illinois on a genealogy trip. The ‘receipt’ was in an old church cookbook from Lenarch, Illinois. Someone was throwing the cookbook away, so Mom tore out the page and brought it home.
My sister found it in 2008 while helping Mom sort through her treasures before selling her house. Recently, she gave me a copy, complete with the original spelling. Which got me to thinking about how good the good old days really were. See what you think:
Grandma’s Washing Receipt
- bild a fire in the back yoard to heet kettle of rain water.
- set tubs so smoke won’t blo in eyes if wind is pert.
- shave one hole cake soap in bilin water.
- sort things, make three piles: 1 pile white, 1 pile collord, 1 pile work britches and rags.
- stur flour in cold water to sooth then thin down with bilin water.
- rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard. Then bile. Rub cullord but don’t bile–just rench and starch.
- take white things out of kettle with broom stick handle then rench, blew and starch.
- spred tee towels on grass.
- hang old rags on fence.
- pore rench water in flower bed.
- scrub porch with hot soapy water.
- turn tubs upside down.
- go put on cleen dress–smooth hair with side combs–brew cup of tee–set and rest and rock a spell and count blessings.
I don’t know about you, but that receipt and front loading, water and energy saving push button washing machines make the good new days look mighty good!
Photo Credit
by jphilo | Sep 16, 2014 | Family, Top Ten Tuesday
10. While watching a Mad Men wannabe show, we like to critique the clothing and talk about elementary teachers who dressed like that.
9. She and her husband recommend the best books, authors, and recipes.
8. She checks the routes mapped out by her country sister, who has to drive around the big city, and recommends better ones.
7. She scopes out the best shoe store in the metro area and suggests a shopping trip.
6. She provides excellent and honest feedback about the shoes and clothes tried on.
5. We talk about our work, and then she emails ideas and websites related to what we discussed.
4. She puts life in perspective by reminding me that our kids need time to figure grown up things like buying houses and finding jobs just like we did.
3. We react the same way to certain hot button issues, and we both know why.
2. Though I was a fussy baby who upset her only child world, she still loves me.
1. We share memories of early childhood that no one else has. The older we get, the more that means. I love you, Sis. Thanks for a wonderful visit!
What do you appreciate about your siblings? Leave a comment
by jphilo | Aug 12, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Modern conveniences make our lives so much easier. Here are ten I’m determined to not take for granted.
10. Door knobs. Laura Ingalls Wilder did her darndest to make latch strings sound cozy in the Little House series. But have you ever tried to work one? Door knobs are a vast improvement.
9. Comfy shoes. If your job doesn’t require much standing, this one sounds pretty lame. But teachers, sales clerks, nurses, and other people who stand most of the day never take comfy shoes for granted.
8. Bedsteads. The older a person gets, the more a bed on legs is appreciated. For people who live where creepy, crawlies consider your castle their castle, this appreciation comes much sooner.
7. Gardening gloves. A welcome replacement for fingernail brushes that scrub the skin raw and still leave dirt under fingernails.
6. Heating and cooling units. They beat chopping wood all winter and sweating all summer to pieces.
5. Running water. Need I say more?
4. The garden hose. As contrary and twisty these snaky green wonders can be, they are much better than packing pails of water hither and yon across the lawn.
3. Drain strainers. If you’ve ever poked a plumber’s snake down a bathtub drain, you know why this one’s on the list.
2. Gas and electric stoves. How did cooks in the olden days regulate the temperature to bake cookies and pies with a wood stove? That’s a skill I’m grateful not to have learned.
1. Window screens. Can you imagine the days before before air conditioning and window screens when people had two options in the heat of the summer? Open the windows to cool off the house and share your bedroom with hoards of skeeters, flies and other flying pests. Or shut the windows and cook all night in solitude. The thought makes me grateful every time I open the windows to let the breeze in our house.
What modern convenience do you not take for granted? Leave a comment.
Photo Credit: Gualberto107 at www.freedigitalphotos.net
