Where I come from. . .

Reflecting on where I come from. . .

  • from stock that left Oklahoma to come to California for a better life
  • from a family that didn’t understand in-laws/out-laws —   just family
  • from being the oldest of 5 children and the only girl
  • from 4 of us sleeping in one bedroom and pulling the baby in bed with me when he fussed
  • from Sunday dinners at Grandpa & Grandma Ripley’s, you could smell the oven baked chicken in the driveway
  • from the adults playing cards and being allowed to watch if you were silent and didn’t touch anything
  • from having to eat everything on my plate, even the stone cold sweet potatoes
  • from hours of playing Aggravation on the board Daddy made
  • from a week with a cousin at G & G Ripley’s,
    • picking out any cereal we wanted,
    • riding the cultivator with Grandpa,
    • catching the clothes as they came out of the wringer into the wash tub,
    • picking and stringing green beans for canning
    • putting on good clothes for a trip 15 miles into town for errands and lunch out. Grandma wore stockings (she put on wearing gloves to protect from snags) and shoes with low heels
    • sleeping in a room with a bee hive in the wall
    • using the outhouse when the indoor bathroom was busy
    • eating grapefruit that had sugar sprinkled on it the night before
    • knowing I was loved
  • from coming home from school on Tuesday’s and smelling starch from the ironing done that day
  • from learning to embroider at 6 years old
  • from going to Sunday School and learning ‘The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock’
  • from learning to make cornbread from scratch at about 9 years old
  •  (I still use the same recipe)
  • from the year the Easter dress wasn’t new, and my only shoes were tennies with a hole at the little toe. Mom washed them white and darned the hole  and we had Easter dinner at Grandma Ripley’s.
  • from changing schools in the 5th grade and not liking riding the bus or the new school
  • from making my first quilt at 11 years old
  • from a Dad who could see the possibilities
  • from walking to the Sanger library every week in the summer and buying a brown paper bag of sunflower seeds from the bulk bin at the 5 & 10 on the way home
  • from driving Clif’s Triumph Spitfire to school my senior year for two week s until he got his license
  • from a Dad who built a 4 seat merry-go-round with a center platform for all
  • from a Mom who before I was born made me a rag doll from  a pattern, embroidering the face, adding yellow yarn for braids, picking the cotton for stuffing, sewing the dress and panties. I still have the pieces of the doll, body,  arms and legs, hair is gone, dress is gone………the love has never changed.
  • from suppers ready exactly at 5:00pm
  • from meeting a young man at 17 years old
  • from getting engaged January, 1967
  • from walking out of my family’s front door on my father’s arm, down the grassy aisle, to a gladiola decorated arch to exchange vows with the man who would become the Farmer

In this blogging world sometimes we play ‘follow the leader’. Mary (oldest daughter) followed Ann, a friend and  I’m following Mary, whose next?

Published in: on March 10, 2012 at 4:01 pm  Comments (1)  

One Thousand Gifts and a Scripture

Tonight I am adding to my list of gifts I’ve been given. Most of these gifts can be found around Cozy Acres. The Mother-in-law, squirrel and red tiger lilies can be found in Redding, CA.

71. A wonderful, happy Mother-in-law
72. The Farmer’s busy, hard-working hands


73. A sunrise74. A moon rise

75. A frisky squirrel

76. Planting of the corn with Grandpa

77. Corn growing -on far left side

78. Corn ending for the year

79. Summer home-grown tomatoes

80. A tomato of perfection

81. Sweaters waiting for new homes

82. My first quilt -1960 or 61

83. Red tiger lilies

84. Passing on sewing skills

               

85. More Summer bounty

   

85. Bobo and part of his flock, waiting for Bro Bob

86. Fresh Eggs gathered by the Farmer

87. Finished projects

for Jonathan

for Elizabeth

for McKenna

And a scripture:

 . . . Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.    Jeremiah 5:24b

Published in: on November 1, 2011 at 12:25 am  Leave a Comment  

On My Mind — The First Quilt

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. To take part, post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here

This is the first quilt I made. I remember starting it when my mother was making for quilt for one of my brothers. She was doing a nine patch, I was sewing squares together. The year1960 0r ’61, I was 11 or 12.

First Quilt 12″ x 15″ all cotton

I don’t remember when I finished it, as with alot of my starts they rest in a box for a while before being completed.

This my treasure was found when we were moving some of the last of our things out of the house we had loved and lived in for the past 15 years. I have good memories of this first quilt, and good memories of the many quilts made on Lincoln Avenue.

We have been in our new home a year and thankfully quilts have grown here also.

 

Published in: on October 7, 2011 at 10:08 am  Leave a Comment