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November 2005 - Posts
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At the request of my grand daughter Dana, I am writing a little bit about Thanksgiving. She was not particularly happy about our eating out, but she was also sad because her kitten had gone to Kitty Heaven the night before. Maybe she would have enjoyed dinner more under different circumstances. Our Thanksgiving this year was a little different in that it was the very first time in my life that I have had Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant. I know it was the case for everyone who joined us because we are usually at home together. The meal was very good and the service was excellent, but I guess it was not quite the same. I don�t know at this point if we would do it again, but we thought we would give it a try. Our family seems to be getting bigger all the time and it has become a small problem trying to fit us all in one place for dinner. This was one of the reasons that we decided to eat out this year. It turned out that some of the family decided to go off to other relatives because they did not want to spend Thanksgiving in a restaurant, so our gathering was smaller than usual. However, there was an upside; no dirty dishes and cleanup. Dana�s place of employment provided a turkey for Thanksgiving that we did not use. It has been put in the freezer for Christmas dinner. We will all be together, maybe a little crowded, but together. That should make everyone happy.
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While I was doing a little shopping in a local store, I heard this person call over to me and ask if I went to Central High School. I said �Yes, I did, and you are?� She answered that she was the other Diana from Central. I knew immediately who she was although I did not recognize her right away. I remarked that the last time that I saw her which was a very long time ago, that was how she introduced herself to me. Her memory is either a lot better than mine or maybe she has changed the most. Not sure. To back up a bit, when I was in High School (many years ago), there were lots of girls named Diane, but only two Diana�s (the person in the store and me). It did not seem that the name �Diana� became popular until Princess Diana (and we all remember her). When the Princess was still with us and people would ask my name and the spelling, I would reply �It�s spelled D I A N A just like the Princess�. I�m not exactly sure why my parents decided to name me Diana. I do know it was not after the Roman goddess (the virgin goddess of hunting and childbirth). The funny thing is that my maiden name was Backus (a variation of Bacchus) and Bacchus was the Greek god of wine. Guess not too many people can say that they carry the names of both a Roman goddess and a Greek god. Just a little trivia about me.
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Well, my favorite time of the year is almost here; Christmas. To me, there is no other time quite the same. I love the Christmas carols, the cards we receive from people that we do not see often, and having our family all together for the holidays. Also, there is always a lot to eat, lots of shopping to be done, lots of gift wrapping, lots of gifts to open, etc., etc., etc. As for the shopping part of it, normally, unlike most women, I do not like to shop. But when Christmas rolls around, that is different. I truly enjoy shopping and buying Christmas gifts. Last year at this time, I had foot surgery, but I still managed with my foot in bandages and surgical shoe to fulfill my Christmas obligation of shopping. It wasn�t easy, but it had to be done. My family makes fun of me (especially my husband) because he says that my Christmas shopping is never done. To be very honest, I have done some of my best shopping on Christmas Eve. It�s not that I�m looking for bargains on this last shopping day, but it�s just that there are always just a few more things to pick up. I have already started my shopping list (or should I say lists). I make columns of names of all our children, grandchildren, and in-law children. As I buy an item, I mark it down under the proper name with the price. It is important to me that everything is as equal as possible. There is also a list of all the other people that we buy just one of two items for. I put down everyone�s name that I buy for with my purchase for them. This list when completed is put away with all the receipts, just in case. I have managed to get in some shopping a little earlier this year than last due to the above mentioned foot problem. I like to have a prepared list so that I can just go out and buy, but my family has not been cooperating this year with suggestions. When this happens, I just keeping buying what I think they will like until I get some ideas from them. I love buying, but not as enthused about wrapping. Thank God for Christmas bags and computer-made labels. Sure saves a lot of time. However, there are some things that just do not fit in bags. My husband is wonderful about shopping with me and carrying all the bags, but when it comes to wrapping, I�m on my own. On Christmas Eve, we all gather at our house to eat, visit, maybe sing a few Christmas carols (if I can get Chris to play the piano), and open gifts. It takes a lot of work to get to this point, but when I see all the happy faces, it is worth every second of time that I have spent preparing for this special time of the year.
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A while ago, I mentioned that the very first poem that I ever attempted to write was lost. Seeing that this was my first try at poetry and I had written it just before my son was to be married, I was a little upset that I had misplaced it. While I was lying in bed very, very early the other morning, I think I may have come up with pretty much the same words as the original. I got up and jotted down my thoughts so that I would not forget them and then went back to bed. The poem itself is very short, but I feel it is meaningful. THE SEED OF LIFE The seed of life is a wondrous thing Given by God alone He puts it in a planting place Where love and faith are sown Soon the seed becomes a bud and then it starts to grow Until it's time to leave the planting place for it's become a rose
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"Good Morning this morning Tis a good morning this morning If tomorrow morning is like this morning Will be a good morning tomorrow morning" This is what my brother, sister and I would hear our father say to us in the morning hours. If it wasn�t that, to get us out of bed, it would be: Rise and Shine It�s daylight in the swamp My dad had many little ditties, tongue twisters, and sayings. He would get us to say tongue twisters and when we would make a mistake, he would just roar and laugh. A typical one would be: One little boy he felt smart Two little boys they both felt smart Three little boys and they all felt smart My mother would yell at him and tell him to stop, but he didn�t listen. To this day, my brother, and sister and I can rattle that off and others without making a mistake. My dad had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh at jokes. Now that I think of it, he never really told any, but certainly enjoyed listening. He and his brothers would sit around and talk about their growing up on a farm and the pranks they would play on an old farmer named Tom Hill. It was always the same stories, but each time the three of them would laugh so hard that they would actually start to cough and choke. It made you laugh just to listen to them. Most of the little ditties that Dad would sing, rhyme or just say to make us laugh made absolutely no sense. For example: I was standing on the bridge at midnight The night was full of air Somebody took the bridge away and left me standing there
See what I mean; just silly stuff. My children were fortunate enough to know their grandfather for at least a short time and he would tell them all the same stories that he told us. They too can rattle off the tongue twisters and repeat the little sayings, etc. Hopefully, some day they will pass on some of these little bits of nonsense to their children. I guess you could call this my Dad's legacy.
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A while ago, I saw an article in a Writer�s Magazine that the �Chicken Soup for Dog Lovers� publishers were looking for true stories about pets to become part of their next book. I wrote a story about my grandmother�s dog, Queenie and e-mailed it to them. I have not heard anything from them to date, but I am still hoping that they will accept it. The following is my story. I entitled my story �A Trick and a Treat�.
Did you ever wish you had a dog that could do tricks and help themselves to a treat at the same time? My grandmother did. With a little ingenuity and some patience, a walnut became a treat for her dog while we enjoyed the trick she performed for us. When I was a little girl I loved to visit my grandmother. She always had lots of snacks and fruits and a dog to play with. Grandma always had a dog, but this one was just a little different. Queenie was a tan and black German shepherd who was mild mannered, rarely barked and was very smart. She also was bilingual (if that is possible for a dog) in that she followed commands in both English and Italian. Grandma was short, barely hitting 4 ft.10 inches, had short curly hair, spoke �broken English� and always wore an apron. Attached to her apron was a row of safety pins just in case she needed one. More importantly, in the pocket of her apron, there was always candy of some sort for visiting grandchildren and herself. On occasion, the pocket would hold a few walnuts. Grandma loved to eat and snack, especially on nuts of all kinds. Queenie loved to eat too. She ate everything from meatballs to fried potatoes to little candy corns (God forbid, she would ever eat dog food). She did have some favorites though. One of her favorites was walnuts, as was Grandma�s. When Grandma decided to snack on walnuts, she would say �venuto qui� (come here) calling Queenie so that she might have her treat. Grandma would sit in her rocker and throw a walnut, shell and all, on the floor to Queenie. Grandma would then lean forward in the rocker so that the rungs were off the floor. Queenie would pick up the walnut with her teeth and place it under the rung of the rocker. At this point, Queenie would back up and wait while Grandma rocked backwards over the walnut to break the shell. This sometimes took a few tries. Once the walnut shell was broken, Grandma would lean forward so that Queenie could retrieve the walnut. She would then remove the walnut from under the rocker with her paw and then proceed to separate the nut from the broken shell. Of course, she never did put the broken shells in the basket. As I would watch her chew up the walnuts, she always seemed to have that little doggie look on her face which looked like she wanted to say �Yummy. Where�s the next one?� This was certainly a treat for Queenie and for me, lots of fun to watch.
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While we were on our way to a family gathering today, there developed a storm. Within a matter of minutes, the wind was blowing at a high speed, it was thundering and lightning, and there was hail big enough to make snowballs. As we approached the street where we were supposed to turn, lightning hit a transformer. We had to turn our heads as the flash was so bright it hurt your eyes to look at it. Within a few seconds, it happened again. My husband made the turn very carefully making sure that there were not live wires in the road. It was only 4:30 pm, but not much light making it difficult to see. When we reached our destination which was a very short distance away, they were without electrical power. Shortly after we arrived, the rain stopped, the wind stopped blowing, and the lightning and thunder ceased. We lit lots of candles and proceeded to have our family birthday party in the dark. For that few minutes (maybe ten) of a storm, the power was lost for hours in many areas. It gave me a very small idea of what Hurricane Katrina and all the hurricanes that have swept through Florida might have been like. I know perfectly well that this was in comparison absolutely nothing, but just a very small taste of what the people in these areas have had to endure. A few hours to us appears to be such an inconvenience, while these people go days, weeks and sometimes months without electricity, water, and the comfort of their homes. How very lucky we people in the North are. We may have lots of snow to shovel in the winter months, but we can look back from our driveways as we move the snow and see that our homes are still standing.
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