Archive by Author

Enmu

25 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 Enmu

Is that title intriguing? Does it add a touch of mystery? You might figure out the “U” is University, and you would be right. Remember I said in previous musings that I grew up in the great state of New Mexico? That’s where the “NM” comes in. The only letter left is “E” – and – you guessed it – it stands for Eastern. Okay, all together now: Eastern New Mexico University.

1

credit Google search and ENMU website

2

ENMU Admin Building – credit Google search

 

 

3

Concept Art for ENMU stadium – credit Google search

 

That was my first venture into the collegiate world. It is located in Portales (por-tal’-es), New Mexico, about 18 miles from Clovis, NM – also Cannon AFB – and a little farther to Texas. Several girls in my dorm had come over the Texas line to attend ENMU. Portales is about a four-hour drive from Albuquerque, so it wasn’t somewhere where I could hop home very often.

 

4

Photo credit Jimmy Emerson

 

5

Photo credit Google search

 

I tend to be a “people person” so it would not have mattered too much to share a room in the dorm with someone new.

 

 

However, as God planned it, my best friend, Billie Ann, decided to attend ENMU as well, so we were roomies. Too many times, that situation can break apart a good friendship. I’m pleased to say that Billie and I continue to be super good friends to this day. Here’s a picture of Billie and me the first day at ENMU, before we headed off to church. We hadn’t even had time to unload our bedding and suitcases. (See…we wore those pointy-toed shoes back then! Nothing new here!)

 

8

 

Back in high school, Billie’s older sister, Becky, Billie and I formed a singing trio. As a child, Becky had contracted polio, and wore braces on her legs, and walked with crutches. Billie and Becky are not very tall people, so it was funny to see us – two shorties and one tall girl in the middle. Actually, Billie played the piano for us, so she was sitting during our singing times. Becky and I sang along with her. We were actually pretty good – not bragging or anything, of course. Fred said he thought we could have cut records – but we never did.

Here is a picture of us at my house, during one of our rehearsals. I’m the tall one. Becky is 4’7″ tall, Billie is 4’9″ tall, and I am 5’6″! Can anyone say “Mutt and Jeff?”

 

9

 

We did imitate some of the current trios, and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. I remember Moon Over Miami, Mr. Sandman, and several others.

However, back to ENMU – I was not a terribly good student in high school. And I really can’t remember why I didn’t apply to UNM right there in Albuquerque. But I didn’t, and so went to ENMU. It was a small town, and a fairly small campus, and my first experience with dormitory life. Interesting – and not one I cared to repeat. Fortunately, Billie and I returned to Albuquerque after one semester.

But I found the academics to be quite good, and felt that I learned quite a lot. I actually made good grades while there, but of course, Fred wasn’t there to distract me!

Billie and I attended the BSU on campus (Baptist Student Union), and made some good friends while in that organization.

It was a fun experience, and I’m glad I had that opportunity.

 

 

Tags: , , ,

Surprise!

18 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

Fred and I have just returned from a nearly-two-week stay with our youngest daughter,

Janet, and her family in Virginia. You see, since Janet and her husband both work,

our 10-year-old grandtwins go to a before-and-after program at the local YMCA during the school year. During the summer, when school is out, they go to the Y every day. However, the final week before school starts, the Y closes down. They either “clean” everything, train new employees, or…..we don’t know exactly what they do during that week. Consequently, the twins have nowhere to spend their days. Upon several occasions, Fred and I have gone there to watch over the twins during that week, since they aren’t quite old enough yet to stay alone.

Before we left home for our trip, Janet had told us that the Saturday we were there, Tom had reservations for supper at a fairly nice restaurant, so we should bring one set of “nicer” clothes with us. Sunday “best” do? Yep.

Saturday was a nice day – a bit rainy, as the tropical depression was headed to North Carolina and heading up our way, and we were getting rain from that, but a nice day, all-in-all. Come time to go eat, we all dressed up and headed out. We arrived at the restaurant and waited in the foyer while the guys parked the cars.

When the hostess asked us to “follow me” we proceeded down the corridor. When she stopped at a large table, she held out her hand, as if to say, “Here ya go.” I glanced at the table, and my first thought was, “there are other people already seated there. Why is she seating us here?” Then I did a closer look at the “people” sitting there grinning up at me – and gave a screech! Sitting there was our other daughter, Karen, her husband, Brian, and also our granddaughter, Katie – all the way from Chicago!

Turns out, they all had planned this for a couple of months, as a belated surprise for my 75th birthday! We had a great meal time with them, then back to Janet and Tom’s house for dessert and just some fun visiting together. They stayed through church on Sunday, then until about 3:30 p.m. when they had to head back.

I am nearly in tears to think that my whole family was there, together, just to celebrate me (well, our grandson and his wife couldn’t make it, but everyone else was there!) Even Fred knew about it and kept it quiet for all these months.

 

judy-family

 

I love family!

 

 

Tags: , ,

My Love Affair with Disney~Part 4

11 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

 

Just a few more Disney items to share with you this time. As you can tell from the previous musings, we really like all things Disney!

During the time our daughter worked at a Disney store, she purchased and gave to us a cell of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. He is my absolute favorite Mickey character! And this cell is just the thing for us to enjoy. He hangs proudly on our wall.

 

1

 

And this picture just caught my attention the first time I saw it. Walt Disney had such a wonderful imagination, and this picture, superimposed on another of Walt himself, is the ultimate in his imagination. He is walking through Florida dirt and sand, but picturing Cinderella’s castle in his mind – where it would go, and what it would look like. This, to me, is imagination at its best.

 

2

 

After September 11, 2001, and the terrorist attack on our country, Disney’s animators came out with a couple of figurines that spoke to me. I’ve only purchased one, but I treasure this one. It represents Mickey Mouse honoring and thanking the firefighters from that horrendous day. The other one represents the same, but for the police officers that worked so hard that day. Beautiful.

 

3

 

There are a few other things – especially Disney t-shirts, but I didn’t think that would be of interest to many people. But they are fun to wear!

I hope you have enjoyed this little jaunt through our Disney memorabilia – as much as I have enjoyed writing it. All things Disney are fun things for us – to have and to do.

 

4

Credit Disney World website

 

NOTE: My apologies for the reflections in the pictures above. I just didn’t want to capture my own image in the pictures, and therefore, the pictures I took are a bit skewed. But perhaps you can see the main focus anyway.

 

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

My Love Affair with Disney~Part 3

4 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

Because Fred and I have Disney running through our veins, we have a LOT of Disney memorabilia around our house. Last time I shared some of our Disney memorabilia. I would like to share a bit more this time.

Fred’s sister and her husband came to visit us a few years ago. We did take them to EPCOT, which we all enjoyed. We also took them to (then) Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs). We usually enjoy taking visitors there – especially if they don’t really want to do one of the “parks.” It gives them a “taste” of Disney, without feeling like they must spend an entire day there, to justify the cost of the ticket. If they don’t want to purchase anything, that’s okay. We do enjoy showing them our favorite eatery there (the Earl of Sandwich), as it is probably the most inexpensive spot to eat within the Disney complex. And the hot sandwiches are GREAT!!

 

1

 

In any case, when they came to visit, as we wandered through some of the shops, Jim pointed out a Mickey Mouse figurine to Sally, and they purchased it for us as a thank-you for all we had done for them on their visit. A few days later, after they returned home, we went back to Downtown Disney and purchased another figurine – one that I’d had my eye on for a while. They aren’t a true match, but I like them both, just the same.

 

2

 

And then there’s the Precious Moments® figurine with Bambi in it. Really sweet.

3

 

Anyone remember those old “E” tickets at Disney? They are long gone now, but we remember those tickets from the 1970’s when we first went to Disney World (which only had the Magic Kingdom at that time). Little pieces of papers littered the ground just everywhere you looked. Disney finally got smart and stopped that nonsense! However, they have brought them back – as magnets! And so I have them on our refrigerator door. Gives us a great opportunity to explain them to our grandchildren.

 

4

 

And since we sail with the Disney Cruise Line as often as we do (our favorite cruise line, by the way!), we have reached the Gold level – five cruises with Disney. And we got this great magnet for it! We used to feel really honored to have sailed that many times with Disney – until we met a couple who had sailed 18 times with Disney!! Yikes!

 

5

 

One last magnet for this posting – we had seen this magnet on several cars, and liked it. When we finally saw it at Downtown Disney, we snapped it up. And now it resides on our refrigerator door. I think it’s adorable!

 

6

 

 

More next time.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: , , , , , ,

My Love Affair with Disney~Part 2

28 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

  

As I said last time, I’ve been in love with all things Disney for about as long as I can remember. Consequently, we have a LOT of Disney memorabilia around our house.

 

One of my favorites is this plate.

 

1

 

Approaching the year 2000, Disney erected Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice’s hand with the wand stretched over the top of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT (we affectionately call it “The Ball”). It was there for about 18 months, and we were sorry when they took it down. They never had the “2000″ on Spaceship Earth – only on this plate. If anyone is into “collecting,” I suppose this will be a collector’s dream in the future. But we enjoy looking at it, in any case.

I think most have heard of Norman Rockwell. His paintings – especially for the covers of magazines years ago – are famous. My Aunt Jessie was a collector of things, and plates and figurines were in her collections. (Please see my posting for July 21, 2013, titled Aunt Jessie’s Plates, for more information on her collectables) While I have some of her plates (she had hundreds!!), I was also interested in the porcelain figurines she had. I’m sure you remember Norman Rockwell’s Self Portrait painting. It’s one of my favorite things he did. Aunt Jessie had a Rockwell figurine of that same thing, and here it is.

2

 

How does that relate to Disney? Well, Disney’s artists have fashioned one of their own Self Portraits in porcelain, and here it is. I am amused by it, and think it is really cute. It sits proudly on a shelf, just below Norman Rockwell’s version.

 

3

 

Another Norman Rockwell painting is called Puppy Love. While I don’t have a porcelain figurine of Rockwell’s, I do have Disney’s version of it. Here is the front and back view of it. I don’t ever remember seeing the “front” of it in Rockwell’s painting or porcelain – only in Disney’s figurine. Really cute.

 

Our youngest daughter, Janet, gave us this Mickey figurine many years ago, and it has a special place in our house as well as our hearts. While it’s called Mickey’s Adventure, I like to call it “Let’s Fly Away!” It’s so light-hearted and fun. It is a treasure, for sure.

 

6

 

Another piece of artwork by that same artist is this figurine of Lumiere and Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast. Another whimsical Disney thing for us to admire and enjoy. (Sorry, I can’t remember the artist’s name [Ron something-or-other] – just very heavy stone with the figurines atop)

 

7

 

There are more Disney treasures for me to share, but that will have to wait until next time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: , , , , ,

My Love Affair With Disney~Part 1

21 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Will

 

I’ve been in love with all things Disney for about as long as I can remember. I believe the first Disney movie I ever saw was Cinderella – and I was sold! As I grew older, I kept wishing there was some way I could – personally – have a copy of Cinderella and watch it whenever I wanted to! Fast forward to this hi-tech generation, and I have Cinderella on my bookshelf! Of course, I don’t watch it all the time, but it’s there for the watching if I care to. I usually have to do it when Fred is gone!

When we moved down to Florida, it was more-or-less with the intention of either or both of us working for Walt Disney World, so we could visit the parks just any time we wanted to. God may have wanted us down in Florida, but His plans for us did NOT include working at Disney World! And His plans are so much better than ours!

So we content ourselves with annual passes to Disney World. Fred jokingly says they are our Christmas/anniversary/birthday (and any other special event in our lives) gift to each other. They are rather expensive. But we get free parking with them, and we can come and go just any time we want. Sometimes it’s for nothing more than to have a supper meal there. And we consider if we stay about two hours, we consider it a “visit to the park.”

In 1999, we thought it would be fun to keep track of how many times we went to a Disney park during that year (38 times). And we’ve kept on with that tradition. Our peak year was 2005 when we went 64 times! If it’s raining? We don’t go. We know we can go another time.

And on our anniversary each year, we stay at the Shades of Green resort, and go to each of the parks, one each day. So you can see – we REALLY like Disney!

Because we’ve been enamored with Disney for so long, we have quite a bit of Disney memorabilia around our house. And we thoroughly enjoy it all. Our youngest daughter, Janet, worked at a Disney Store once upon a time, and she supplied us with quite a bit of Disney stuff. One of my favorite things she gave us, were figurines of some of the characters from Disney’s 1939 original Fantasia. I enjoyed them so much, that I had a friend (who is a wood worker by trade), fashion a shadow box for them. That box and those figurines now grace a wall in our house. I think they are adorable! Unfortunately, I have broken one of the pieces, but have substituted another Mickey in its place. And another friend who worked for Disney, presented us with “Mickey’s House” snowglobe that rests upon the top of the shadow box.

1

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Wheat Weaving

14 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

There are a few crafty things I enjoy doing – some I’m rather good at, some that try my patience at times, and some that I do because I have to.

One of the things I feel I’m rather good at doing is crocheting. I enjoy doing it – can practically do it in my sleep, or rather do it and watch TV at the same time. I enjoy making things for new brides, such as pot holders and kitchen towels that can attach to the stove handle or a rack on the cabinet door. I crochet the top of the towel with a flip-over “handle” that includes a buttonhole, then I add the button for attachment. Unfortunately, my hands are becoming a bit arthritic, and the really tight hold I use for the pot holders have become uncomfortable.

I was into scrap booking for quite a while, but was rather slow at it. I had set up the card table in our home “office” but that left very little room for anything else in the room, what with the computer desk, my sewing machine table (with machine), and two file cabinets. So all that equipment is now out in the garage in a storage cabinet. Perhaps someday I’ll get back to it, but not right now.

But there are other crafts that just don’t interest me. Quilting is one of them. The people I know who quilt are enthralled with it – and usually turn out some really gorgeous quilts, whether small wall-hangings, or full-sized bed quilts. I attended a quilt “show” once, many years ago, and asked that they show me one that took very little time. It was rather uninspiring and plain. When I asked how long it took, I nearly dropped my teeth when the answer was….wait for it….nine months!! I can crochet a full-sized afghan in three weeks!! So that one is out!

When we arrived in Germany for our second tour of duty, I found some of the women in the wives’ club doing something called wheat weaving. I had never heard of it before, and it fascinated me. Not so much that I wanted to try my hand at it, however. But I thoroughly enjoyed the items that were made. I admired the skill involved in the craftsmanship, so much so, that I purchased two of them. Surprisingly, they have held up for over 30 years now! No moisture or moves have damaged them, and no critters have invaded our house to devour the wheat.

I have hung them on the doors in our house – the “double wedding ring” is on our bedroom door. The heart weaving is on the guest bedroom door. I still enjoy them, even after all this time.

What do you think?

Tags: , , , ,

Paw Prints

7 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

 Fred and I have arrived at the point in our lives where several things have happened:

1… I no longer cook as often – nor do I desire to

2…we both thoroughly enjoy eating out often

Consequently, servers at a bunch of restaurants and eateries know us by name, and smile at us when we enter their establishments. I don’t want to say that they fight over who will get to serve us, but they all seem eager. We must tip well…..

One of our favorite restaurants is Cracker Barrel™. We enjoy their food – just good old country home-style cooking. Their prices are reasonable, and the same food for the same price is for both lunch and supper. Since we have cut down on how much we eat, since we are older, we are pleased to find that we can order from the “kids” menu, as it is advertised as for “kids of all ages.” And it includes a drink with it. We have had several servers suggest that we get two kids meals instead of the same thing off the main menu and split it, as it would be cheaper for us. That says a lot about the integrity of the place, to us. And keeps us coming back.

But there is another aspect of Cracker Barrel™ that we enjoy – and that is the “store” part of the restaurant. I have purchased several t-shirts from there, and they are always top quality material. I’ve purchased other clothing for our grandchildren there, and found the quality to be quite good. They have some of the fun, old-time toys that we played with as children, still available.

So all-in-all, we find our experiences at Cracker Barrel™ restaurant to be most enjoyable.

Some years ago, as I was perusing items in the “store,” I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a 6″ square tile, or plaque, of an animal paw print. Fascinating! One was of a grizzly bear cub (unbelievable how huge a cub’s paw print is!!), and the other was a grey wolf. I purchased the grey wolf paw print, with the intention of purchasing the grizzly cub print soon thereafter. However, as with most things you see in stores – if you don’t get it right then, it probably won’t be there the next time – and the grizzly cub paw print was gone when I next looked for it. I was so disappointed.

Fast forward a year or two, and we went on our first cruise with Fred’s family to Alaska (please see my blog of November 11, 2012 titled Our First Cruise). Our final stop was in Anchorage, where we celebrated Fred’s dad’s 86th birthday before departing for our respective homes the following day. As I was browsing through a gift shop in the hotel, low-and-behold – there was the grizzly cub tile!! I snapped it up as fast as I could – I wasn’t going to let it get away from me this time!

So now they sit proudly on a shelf in our house, and I am amazed by them, each time I look upon them, and thank God that I was able to gather these “things” to myself for nothing more than enjoyment.

Such a fun memory for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

The Sand Dollar

31 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

As I’ve mentioned before – I grew up in the land-locked state of New Mexico. Those of you unfamiliar with New Mexico – it really IS one of our 50 states. Get out your atlas and look. See? Find Texas…go west to New Mexico…then west again to Arizona. I can assure you that there is a state between Texas and Arizona. Heard of Albuquerque? Or perhaps Santa Fe? Those are two of the main cities in New Mexico. The New Mexico Magazine, in every issue, has a page dedicated to “One of our 50 is Missing.” Most of the antidotes are hilarious – but some really get my temper riled up! I’m afraid our teachers aren’t teaching U.S. geography these days!

 

All that to say that, when we moved to Florida (Tyndall AFB, Panama City), we were living within 100 yards of the Gulf of Mexico. What a change! And we loved it. Fred had lived on Tyndall AFB with his family in his youth, when his father was stationed there as Base Chaplain in the 1950’s.

2

 

One of the things I learned about and enjoyed so much was the Sand Dollar. It is a living creature – according to Wikipedia: refers to species of extremely flattened, burrowing sea urchins…Related animals include other sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and starfish.

The legend of the Sand Dollar states: Visit a shell shop and you may find poems or sand dollars with the Legend of the Sand Dollar, which references Easter, Christmas and Jesus. Some references say that the 5-pointed “star” in the center of the top of the sand dollar’s test [skeleton] is said to represent the Star of Bethlehem that guided the wise men to the baby Jesus. The 5 openings in the test are said to represent Jesus’s wounds during his crucifixion – the 4 wounds in his hands and feet and the 5th in his side. On the underside of the sand dollar test, it is said that there is an outline of a Christmas poinsettia. The legend also says that if you break open a sand dollar, you’ll find 5 “doves of peace” inside. These doves are actually the 5 jaws of the sand dollar’s mouth (Aristotle’s lantern). (Credit About Marine Life)

In any case, I found them to be fascinating. When our oldest daughter, Karen, went to a camp one summer, she brought home a large sand dollar (some might call it a sea biscuit, because of its size). I still have it, and treasure it.

3

 

 

As we were leaving Panama City, one of the ladies in our church, an artist, painted a beach scene on a sand dollar for us. I think it’s beautiful, and reminds me of her, whenever I see it.

4

 

But I think my favorite sand dollar was one I found in a shop in Panama City. It is a pendant, dipped in gold leaf, and I thoroughly enjoy wearing it. It is so very delicate, and I always receive comments about it when I wear it.

5

 

I’ve heard about the legend of the sand dollar, and can definitely see where it might be a reference to Christ. I’m all for anything that brings Christ to the forefront.

God’s creation is beautiful – all of it. I hope you agree.

 

Tags: , , , ,

The Lady and the Cross

24 Jul

Sunday Memories

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

I know the July 4th, our country’s Independence Day, has come and gone, but it’s never out of style to be patriotic. Because of the service to our country that my Father, my Father-in-law, my husband, and his brother have done, I find myself fiercely patriotic. I weep when the National Anthem is sung or played. And I am not ashamed of my patriotism.

Many years ago, while in the church choir, we were given a song to sing that touched my heart so much, that I’ve never forgotten it. I would like to print the words below and hope you feel the same patriotism I’ve always felt.

The comparison between our Lady with the Lamp, and the Cross of Christ is absolutely breathtaking.

 

2

 

In New York harbor, stands a Lady

with a torch raised to the sky.

And all who see her

Know she stands for

Liberty for you and me.

 

I’m so proud to be called an American,

to be named with the brave and the free!

I will honor our flag and our trust in God,

And the Statue of Liberty.

 

On lonely Golgotha stood a cross

with my Lord raised to the sky;

And all who kneel there

Live forever

As all the saved can testify.

 

I’m so glad to be called a Christian,

to be named with the ransomed and whole!

As the statue liberates the citizen,

So the Cross liberates the soul.

 

Oh, the Cross is my Statue of Liberty.

It was there that my soul was set free.

Unashamed I’ll proclaim that a rugged cross

Is my Statue of Liberty.

My Liberty!

Credit to Lillenas Publishing Company

Composer and Lyricist Neil Enloe

Arranged by Tom Keene

 

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →