Uncle Jess

8 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this back in 2013…and got a good laugh out of the story again.  I hope my readers do, as well.  Enjoy!

I have a really quirky family.  And most of them I have enjoyed through the years – or stories about them.

My Mother’s family is originally from Ireland, with a good old name of McBratney.  I don’t know a lot about the family history, but only some stories from my Great-grandfather on.  He was one of 11 children, eight of them male.  I know that they called themselves “The Boys” and got together occasionally. 

The McBratney Boys

About the time I was “aware” of life, there were only four “boys” left, my great-grandfather not being one of them.  I made a trip to Kansas once with my Aunt Jessie and Granny, and got to see them then.  However, my fondest memories are in 1958 when those four “boys” came to Albuquerque for a visit.  They were my Granny’s uncles, my Mother’s great-uncles, and so my great-great-uncles.  But they were fun and funny to be around.  

1958 – The Boys – as I remember them

While I enjoyed them all, I guess Uncle Jess was the one I remember the most.

Judy and Uncle Jess

And this story about him always delights me – and makes others laugh when I tell it.

Back in 1958, one of the favorite things to do was to grill steaks on the outside grill.  Big, thick, juicy steaks – lots of fat to flavor the meat – special seasoning to give it just the right tenderness and flavor.  You remember, right?

1967 – Fred and Judy = grilling steaks, Albuquerque, NM

Well, one of those times, after the meat had been cooked and all were seated at the table, Uncle Jess began to meticulously cut all the fat from off his steak….and then proceeded to EAT THE FAT!  My Mother exclaimed – “Uncle Jess!  The doctor told you not to eat the fat on your steaks!”  And he calmly replied, “No he didn’t.  He only told me to be sure and cut it off.”  

As I said, he was a sweetheart!

1958 – My Granny and Uncle Jess.  He always had that little stogie in his mouth!

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

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January Recap

5 Feb

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Well, here we are in February already.

Over Christmas we were blessed with a ten day visit with our daughter.We made low carb cookies and candies together. Working together in the kitchen is one of my great joys.

My mother and I did the same. In her later years mom and I would sit at the kitchen table and chop up pork for Eastern North Carolina style barbecue, peel potatoes and snap green beans together.

But I digress..

We have very poor cell service at our place in Western North Carolina. My cell phone uses wi-fi assist to make phone calls. When we tried to activate that on my husband’s phone it wasn’t there.Assuming we were simply not tech savvy enough, we went to the Verizon store for help.

Many attempts by the Verizon employee failed.

But wait! There’s more.

You guessed it. Verizon had a new and better service plan for us and would throw in a new iPhone.

After 4 hours of the salesman juggling numbers, adding and deleting phones, we left with one new phone, a new plan and exhausted. It was worse than buying a car.

Of course it didn’t end there. We spent the first part of January deciphering strange and exorbitant bills and oh, I forgot to mention, we also had to get the Verizon Visa to take advantage of $20.00 credit on bill, Like we needed or wanted another card.

Next came the big Verizon outage.We were leaving a visit to a neurosurgeon in Orlando when I noticed my phone was in SOS mode. I thought the problem was my phone and began checking all the settings.

The SOS message set off a mini PTSD moment from Hurricane Helene days.

None of the “fixes” put out by Verizon eliminated the problem. Apple tech told me the fix but said it was up to Verizon to do it. Too stressful to write about but it was finally resolved. Hours of my life gone.

Next up- The brutal winter weather in the Southeast.

The frontal rains of the first cold front was moving in the day we planned to return to Florida.

We staged our belongings at the garage door and waited for the rain to slack off. My husband was anxious to get started. As soon as the rain lightened, we threw our belongings in the truck.

We were fortunate to only travel around 100 miles before the rain stopped. When we arrived at our Air BnB we unloaded our overnight items then found a place for supper.

Meanwhile, the weather reports for the cold front in North Carolina were looking ominous. Not much snow but major ice and power outages.

We were concerned about our water pipes, but decided it was foolish to be worrying. The pipes and our house were in God/s hand.

Thankfully, there was no damage except a tree leaning toward my husbands shop at the bottom of our property

A few days later, a rare snow storm arrived. We are in a valley town and the snow tends to go around us. Not this time. Our neighbor said we received around 8 1 /2 inches. Due to the extreme cold the snow melt turned to ice. We are glad we missed that. Once again thankful that our home experienced no damage.

To our surprise the cold weather actually made its way into Florida. Some areas had snow flurries!

Yesterday was gorgeous and walking the granddad was delightful.

January wasn’t all stress, of course. But I think it is why the month seemed to fly.

The month ended with a special evening event. So much fun and the fireworks were spectacular!

Did January whiz by as fast for you as it did for me?

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother. I hadn’t practiced them for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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Kitty

25 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

My mother-in-law was a gem.  She was funny, cute, elegant, classy, down-to-earth, loved to laugh, and welcomed me into the family as a daughter.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that I married her first-born.  

Her name was Charlotte Emily, but I had never heard anyone call her anything but Kitty.  Occasionally a niece would mention “Aunt Charlotte” but that’s about it.  She rapidly became a second mother to me, and I loved her.

I was always curious as to where the nickname “Kitty” came from, and found it to be a most interesting and amusing story.  In her own words:

“…when I was in 7th or 8th grade, I was given a nick-name, Kitty!  This came about in the winter when we were skating on a small lake in Monroe, New York.  My sister Eleanor told some friends about an episode when we were living in Windham, New York.  Our Mother and her three daughters were enjoying the evening sitting on our front porch, when a small black and white animal came creeping up the front walk.  I began calling, “Kitty, kitty” and started down to pet him or her.  As I got up my Mother said, “That’s not a cat – it’s a skunk!”  Well, luckily, it turned and ran away without leaving the usual odor we associate with skunks.  That winter when we, El and I, were skating, El told this story and from then on everyone on the ice began calling “Here Kitty, Kitty!”  And I’ve been called Kitty every since!”

Mystery solved!  I’ve heard similar stories before, but not where the name stuck.

Her father was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, who immigrated to the United States from Scotland during the Potato Famine in 1910.  I remember her saying that she loved to hear the bagpipes play – it really got her blood up to a good boil!

She was devoted to her husband and their four children.  Being a U.S. Air Force wife, she moved and traveled frequently.  She had a flair for decorating, and her home was always elegant yet comfortable.  I remember the story of how, in 1947 after World War II, her husband was assigned to an installation in Italy.  He went over first, and then she made the trip with those four children in tow – ages 8, 4, and 2-year-old twins.  She was a brave woman!  They lived all over the world – many places in the United States as well as Italy, Japan, and Hawaii.

She was a great cook.  She taught me to make turkey stuffing the “New England” way – with bread rather than cornbread.  She taught me to make German Springerle Christmas cookies – the best I’ve ever eaten! 

She loved to have fun, and was a bit of a cut-up.  I will always remember her with me on the beach in northern California, dancing barefoot through the wet sand and kelp.

She left us in 2010, after about 10 years of dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, and so she actually left us many years before that.  I miss her, still.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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A Small Serendipity

18 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this post back in 2014, and in re-reading it, I enjoyed the memory of it.  I hope my readers enjoy it, as well:

I really love the serendipities that happen in our lives at times.  Some are so large they just overwhelm us when they happen.  Others are just sort-of average, but just enough different to make us sit up and take notice.  And then there are the small ones.  Those that just happen in a flash…and then are gone, leaving us to wonder how/why did that happen?

Fred and I experienced that just recently when we went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom.  Busy day – lots of high school bands around – lots of Senior Trips around – kids in the same color t-shirts.  We usually enjoy seeing these groups.  Most of them are not terribly rowdy, and are just having a great time.   Occasionally we see them doing the “flash” thing – breaking into song or the “wave” or something like that.  

We had just finished a ride and were on our way to lunch, when a young man caught up with us and said, “would you be my stand-in parents?”  We stopped and I asked why?  He said his parents had just gone on a ride but he couldn’t get on, so…..  I began laughing and ask him what we could/should do.  He hesitated a minute then said, “how about a hug?”  And so that’s what we did – a group hug for the three of us – all of us laughing at the same time.  

And then he was gone.

I told Fred he was probably dared to do that by some of his classmates, but that was okay.  It was a fun thing.

MUCH later, I told Fred we should have told this young man that we couldn’t be his stand-in parents, but would stand-in GRANDparents work?  Nothing slow about me!

Photo credit – Google search; Disney.com

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Sailboat

11 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

THE SAILBOAT – reblog 

Growing up in New Mexico, there wasn’t a lot of water around – no swimming pools (except at the public ones), no ponds or lakesides, no oceans, etc. So, consequently, I was not really familiar with boats of any kind. That really didn’t bother me too much as I had a lot of other interests.

Photo credit Google Search – New Mexico – Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque

If you have ever lived in government quarters – as we did on any military base where we were stationed – then you know that, when you leave that posting, you are required to have those same quarters absolutely immaculate! Better than when you moved into them! And there would be an inspection of those quarters by an official inspector. If they found anything wrong – you were required to “fix” it before you were allowed to leave the base.

We had lived in quarters on Tyndall AFB, Florida for five years.

Photo Credit Google Search – Tyndall AFB, Florida

That’s almost too long, actually. Our usual moves were about every three years. I told Fred that we needed to leave soon, because I was beginning to put down roots – in a government duplex!!

Photo credit – Judy Wills – our half of the duplex – 1974-1979

He was finally given orders to relocate. So then the work of packing up and moving out began. After the movers had taken our belongings away, we started cleaning the unit. We had always thought we could do that ourselves, rather than hire someone to come in and do it for us. So I set Fred and the girls to cleaning, and I thought I would tackle the kitchen. I had planned on the weekend to do the entire kitchen. Unfortunately, the stove was so old that, in taking it apart and cleaning it – it took the entire weekend just for the stove!

By the time we had finished, we were exhausted.

Now….you may think there is no connection to cleaning and boats…but wait….

There was a gentleman who worked in the Weather Station with Fred, who LOVED boats! And especially sailboats. Not being able to purchase one for himself, he had contracted with another gentleman from Alabama to care for his sailboat.

It was a 33-foot Hunter that would sleep six people. It had a full galley and full shower. It had a small auxiliary engine to get us in and out of port. It was set up for ocean voyages and was one-person configured. Whenever the owner wanted to “play” with it, he would call and come down and retrieve it. That usually only happened once or twice a year. The rest of the time, our friend could take it out whenever he wanted.

And that’s what happened with us. He had offered to take us out for a sail, on the last day we were in town. And so we did, along with a couple of guys from the Weather unit. I was a bit confused when we motored out of port, thinking “what does this have to do with sailboating?”

But then he cut the engine and unfurled the sail. It was the most wonderful thing – so very quiet, and peaceful, and RESTFUL…just exactly what we needed after all that cleaning.

He even let our 8-year-old handle the wheel for a while. She loved it!

Photo credit – Judy Wills – Janet at the helm!

We’ve never purchased a boat of our own – never felt the need to. But it was an experience that we savored and have remembered all these years.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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The Bearded Barbet

4 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

The Bearded Barbet – reblog

We have lived in Central Florida since 1995 – our retirement dream.  We had originally thought we would retire here and “work” at Disney, doing something mundane, so we could see the theme parks to our heart’s content.  Well, it didn’t work out quite like that.  Within four months we had found the church where we felt God wanted us to be members, and so we joined it.

Within another six months – much to my surprise! – I became the Church Secretary.  Fred wasn’t too sure about turning in my application for the vacant position, but it just “felt right” to me, so I did.  And was hired (I was Church Secretary for nearly nine years).  I think it helped that I was an older woman, and my last position had been a Financial Secretary, and had learned to keep my mouth shut.  Financial and pastoral stuff is just something one doesn’t blab about.  Within another nine months, Fred was the Church Administrator.  It was nice working together, and we made the distinction of working WITH each other – neither of us working FOR the other!  Even with our desks in the same room, we just worked together, as it should be.

In spite of all that “work” stuff, we found time to go to Disney, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios.  We especially enjoyed going to SeaWorld after a stressful day at work.

Photo credit Google Search and SeaWorld

It just seemed like it was more restful there – not as frantic a pace as at Disney or Universal.  Perhaps it was the animals…I don’t know.  I just know that we enjoyed it and felt refreshed after spending a few hours at that theme park.

After we had been going to SeaWorld for a few years, we happened to go around a corner that we didn’t usually go around – and saw a bird “cage” along side one of the buildings.  We heard a strange sound coming from there, and stopped to see.  Inside the large cage were two of the most unusual birds we had ever seen!  And the sound was a raspy croak – called a “growling scrawk”!  

Photo credit Google Search

  WOW!  What were these birds??!!  The sign said “Bearded Barbet” – have you ever heard of that?  They, along with Toucans are mainly from tropical West Africa.

I rubbed my finger along the wire mesh, and one of them hopped right over to the metal frame, and took a good look at my finger.  The mesh was tight enough that I couldn’t be bitten – and it’s a good thing!  Look at that beak!!  But it did try to “peck” at my finger.  And it scrawked at me a few times, before it flew back to it’s perch.

Photo Credit Google Search

Every time we went to SeaWorld after that, we would make sure we stopped to see the Bearded Barbet, and were thrilled each time.

Imagine our disappointment when we discovered that they weren’t there any more – and had been replaced by Australian Kookaburras.  Nothing wrong with Kookaburras, but they just weren’t the Bearded Barbet!

Ah – the wonders of God’s world.  They never cease to amaze me!

Psalm 8:1, 3, 8-9

Oh Lord, our Lord, how Majestic is Your Name in all the earth.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

 

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Christmas Once Again

21 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Yes, it is Christmas once again.  Comes around every December 25th.  I look back on all the Christmases that we have lived through – and they all bring fond memories to my mind.  The Christmases we experienced as children, my brother and myself.  My parents always did everything possible to make those times special to us. 

1952 – Bill and me – Christmas morning

My family didn’t have a lot of money, but we always had presents under the tree – and sometimes little ones hidden among the branches of the Christmas tree.  We really had to hunt for those!

I remember one Christmas that my Aunt Jessie had promised to give me a particular necklace that she had designed.  I was so looking forward to that!  Well, the only box left for me was a HUGE box!  I was beginning to feel disappointment, but began unwrapping that box…and found a smaller, wrapped box inside that one…and another smaller, wrapped box inside that one…you get the picture.  Sure enough, after about six or seven boxes, the last one was a small jeweler’s box – with that necklace in it!  What a fun memory that is.

I remember the Christmases were usually at our house, but as we got older (Bill and me) we would occasionally go to Aunt Jessie and Granny’s house for opening presents.  I loved that house almost as much as I loved ours, so it was a very special time.

1954 – Daddy opening his present – Aunt Jessie’s house

The gifts were more “grown up” then, but always wrapped wonderfully.  The idea of a “gift bag” had not been invented in those days, therefore much care and thought went into how each box was wrapped.  Aunt Jessie was particularly creative in that department!

1954 – Bill and me – opening presents at Aunt Jessie’s house

notice the wrapping on Bill’s present.

I remember that the first four years of our married life, we couldn’t afford a tree – even a small one.  Nor did we have room in our tiny apartment for one.  So I remember folding a small magazine (Reader’s Digest size) into tree shape then spray painting it green, and sticking small hand-made ornaments on it.  That was our tree.  I can’t even begin to remember how I folded that magazine!  I’ve tried several times with no success.  Oh well, it is a memory in my mind.

A.I generated image. Not the green painted mentioned above.

When we lived in Panama City, Florida (Tyndall AFB) one of our girl’s classrooms had a hamster as a pet.  At Christmas break, no one could take her home (Wheezer was her name), so Karen brought her home – plastic cage and all.  Unfortunately, she died just weeks before we moved to Heidelberg, Germany.

1984 – Virginia – Karen, Janet and Muffin

I found another hamster in Germany, but he didn’t last too long either.  So we kinda gave up on hamsters.  However, when we moved to Virginia, near Christmas time, I purchased a hamster in secret, and had a neighbor keep her until the girls were in bed on Christmas Eve.  They were both pleased and surprised the next morning to find her. They named her Muffin.  I can’t remember how long she lived.  They are called “throw-away-pets” because their life span is about three years.  But the girls got a few good years of enjoyment out of her.

Our Christmases in Florida have been many now (we’ve lived here 30 years now), and usually with one set of our girls and their families with us.  Only once or twice have both girls and their families been here.  But they have been wonderful times together.

1997 – Kissimmee, Florida – Forrest and Katie

2009 – Orlando, Florida – The Lawson family

This year we will have Janet, Tom and the twins with us.  Karen and Brian were here for Thanksgiving.  They helped set up our Christmas tree and the outside decorations – things I hadn’t thought about, and probably wouldn’t have been able to do myself.  With Janet’s family here at Christmas, they will help take the decorations down and put away.  How’s that for timing?!  

Fred and I wish all my readers a wonderful, blessed Christmas 2025.  While this year has been a hard one, we are thankful to be living another Christmas.  And we are so very thankful to God that we have family and friends who are so close to us.  God has blessed us mightily.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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Cruise Memories-Part 2

16 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

At the end one of Cruise Memories Part 1 I mentioned our active social life, meaning doctors, doctors and more doctors.

I had no idea how prophetic that statement would turn out to be. My husband developed pancreatitis which involved three procedures to clear it up.

Additionally, we drove a family member to Duke hospital in Durham, NC, a seven hour drive. Fortunately we were able to spend the night with family before repeating the seven hour drive. That was pretty rough on my husband’s strength. but we were happy to help.

Then we began another round of doctor, I mean social visits.

I am happy to say that we have ten whole days with no doctor appointments. And so, I give you, Cruise Memories Part 2

The final day of the cruise was a sea day. My plans for the day involved a trip to the Quiet Cove coffee bar and a lazy day of reading. The daughter had another idea. The Diaper Dash.

I’ve seen the race on the daily activity schedule on other cruises but it didn’t interest me. But hey, if my daughter wanted me to watch it with her, I was in. She promised it would be fun.

The race is held in the ship’s atrium. A specially made race mat is rolled out on the floor for the baby competition.

Point of order, Diaper Dash is the previous name of the event. It has since been “rebranded” but for the life of me, I can’t remember the new name.

As we waited for the event, I was stunned at the size of the gathering spectators.

The event even had an emcee who introduced each competitor complete with funny descriptions of their strengths as well as leading the cheering for the babies.

I hope the video above plays. The babies and their parents are so darn cute. I am now a Diaper Dash fan.

That evening we were treated to fireworks at sea. The fireworks were preceded by a deck party with lots of music. A crush of people went to the upper deck early to get a good viewing place. We didn’t want to be part of the crush so we held back. The husband isn’t a fan of crowds. He decided to stay in our stateroom.

It turned out that was a good strategy. The fireworks were directly overhead.

Off in the distance we could see lights from another ship. I assumed it was lingering for their guests to view the fireworks. I was wrong. To our surprise the ship in the distance began shooting off their own fireworks! It was another Disney ship.

After they finished their fireworks, our ship began. It was as if the sister ships were saluting each other.

We were in a perfect viewing area and the fireworks were spectacular. It turned out we were also in a perfect spot for going inside and grabbing an elevator before the crowds began surging in.

When we made our way back to our room, my husband said that he had a perfect viewing place during the display. The ships position placed the fireworks directly in front of our balcony.

The cruise was only 4 days but that was just right for us. Plenty of time to read, snack and enjoy delicious meals. It was fun exploring a new ship. I wouldn’t say no to another cruise on the Disney Destiny.

Christmas is only ten days away. We wish each of you the joy and blessings of Christmas. The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise

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Aerobics and Hearing Aids

14 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

AEROBICS AND HEARING AIDS – reblog

I wrote this back in 2013, but enjoyed re-reading it.  I hope you do, as well:

 I have been an “exerciser” for many, many years of my life.  As a matter of fact, I began jogging more than three months before I shamed Fred into jogging with me. We’ve never stopped doing something in the way of exercise.

 So it came as no surprise to me to find an “aerobic dancing” class beginning shortly after we arrived in Heidelberg, West Germany.  One of the military wives was teaching the class.  I took the class and loved it!  The interest was so great that she wanted to have a partner to help teach – and she selected me.  I taught the remainder of the three years we were in Heidelberg.   This was our logo and color.

During that time, there was one lady in my class who always stood in the front row and to my right (I was facing away from the students).  As we conversed, I thought she had a speech impediment.  After we got to know each other a bit better, she told me that she had been born with some hearing loss.  She wasn’t totally deaf, but enough so that she couldn’t hear the way most words were sounded.  That explained her speech.  But she had hearing aids that helped her so much, and she could understand all the cues I shouted out in the class.

As interesting as all that is – to me anyway – that’s not the end of the story.  We returned stateside and began our life in Virginia.  Our oldest daughter had met her future husband while in high school in Heidelberg (his father was our American pastor), and he had returned to the States to attend college – where she was attending, of course.  They married a few years later.

One evening, around Thanksgiving time, I received a call from our son-in-law, saying that, on their way to see his parents in South Carolina, our daughter had fallen asleep at the wheel and they had crashed.  I was furious that he would only say that she was “in with the doctor” and wouldn’t give me any more details – like…..is she still alive???!!!

I asked if he wanted us to come and take them back home (they were only about an hour from their apartment).  He agreed.  He then said, “wait, here is the paramedic who will give you directions to the hospital.”  This young man came on the phone and gave me the directions – with the very same intonation that my aerobic student had!!  I knew at once that he had hearing loss, and not a speech impediment.  And, by God’s grace, I was able to understand every word he said – the first time!  No repeats.  God had prepared me, all those years ago, for that very moment, when I would need my wits about me, and to understand this young man’s instructions.

I could end the story there – that is the main thrust of it – but I want to tell you of God’s gracious hand in all this.  You see, when our daughter fell asleep, the car drifted, and our son-in-law looked up and screamed, which woke her, and she drastically over-corrected.  That caused the car to roll several times.  Amazingly, there were no other cars around them – just down the road a bit – no other cars involved in the crash.  There was an off-duty ambulance behind them that stopped, and the paramedics gave aid.  They could have rolled off a bridge and crashed onto the road below them – but they didn’t – they just rolled to a stop on an embankment.  While the car was totaled, our children only suffered a few cuts and bruises.

Our God is loving and faithful and gracious, indeed.

O Lord, you will keep us safe and protect us…

Psalm 12:7

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possib

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Wood Inlay

5 Dec

SUNDAYMEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this back in 2013, but enjoyed reading it again.  I hope you do, as well

I’ve never thought I would be particularly interested in wood, types of wood, or just about anything related to wood.  I guess the first time I really became interested was when I was graduating from high school and a local furniture store gave a Hope Chest to every graduating girl in my class.  Now, I must say that the chests were VERY MINIATURE!!  More like a keepsake box.  But they were made of cedar, as a real hope chest would be, and finished beautifully.  After all these 50+ years since that time, my miniature hope chest still smells wonderfully fragrant.  That’s probably why I love the fresh smell of cedar so much.

When we were stationed in Germany in the late 1960’s, we came across some wood inlay pictures that really caught our eye.  The intricate “jigsaw puzzle” work of the artist…and the different color of the woods used…were fascinating.  We purchased just one picture, thinking that was all we could afford.  And while we cherished that picture, we couldn’t help but wish we had purchased more.

Marienplatz – Garmisch/Partinkirken 

Back to Germany we went in the early 1980’s – and we began our search for more of those wood inlay pictures, and especially by the same artist.  And we found them!  We snapped up two more.  All of the scenes are of places in Germany that were important to us and our memories.  We treasure them.  And we learned that this particular artist had cut enough puzzle pieces to make pictures for up to five years after his death! Amazing.  

Neuschwanstein Castle 
Konigsee 

But we’ve found other wood inlay that intrigue us, as well.  While visiting in the Chicago area, we stayed in a great old house that is now a Bed & Breakfast.

Roxana Bed & Breakfast 

It is situated on a lake that is reported to have been a playground for the likes of Al Capone and his cronies.  As a matter of fact, the room we stayed in was dubbed the “Al Capone Room,” and had pictures of him, one of his famous cigars, and two bullets he might have used.

Al Capone 

But what interested us the most was the dining room and sitting area.  When the new owners purchased the house, most of the rooms had wall-to-wall carpet.  When they pulled it up, thinking to replace the carpet, they found the most beautiful wood inlay floors imaginable!  So they left them uncarpeted, and open to admiration.  We most certainly admired them.  Just think of the imagination and planning that went into putting these floors down.  Beautiful!

Our favorite Mexican Restaurant in town has a gorgeous wood inlay Aztec calendar hanging at the front of the restaurant.  I’ve seen quite a few calendars before, but none this beautiful.

I’m still a carpet girl – and here in Florida, we have either carpet or tile.  But that doesn’t stop me from admiring the craftsmanship of those artists from long ago.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

 

 

 

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