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Granny~Part 2

19 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                    

I’ve mentioned before that my Dad was 20 years older than my Mother. When Mother had been dating Daddy for a while, she showed Granny a picture of Daddy, and Granny exclaimed: “Why…..he’s an OLD MAN!”   But that didn’t really make any difference to Mom and Dad, even though he was only six months younger than his mother-in-law.

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Granny was really a good cook. And back in those days, more women stayed home and did the cooking for their families, than we do now. For some reason, I remember being in San Antonio with Granny and Aunt Jessie, and the smell that I remember is one of Frito Lay Corn Chips™ that she had spread out on a cookie sheet and warmed in the oven, because they had become “limp” from the moisture in the air. Heating them in the oven would “crisp” them up again. It was a unique smell, and one I’ve not smelled since. I guess Frito Lay now has a better way of sealing their packaging.

I remember that whenever I had the flu or strep throat (which I had a lot as I was growing up!), she would make a pot of potato/onion soup for me to eat. It was so good and was just what I needed when I didn’t have much appetite. Unfortunately, I never got the recipe from her. I have a recipe for a delicious potato/leek soup (from my wonderful sister-in-law, DiVoran), but it just isn’t quite what Granny made, but as close as I can come without Granny’s recipe.

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One of my favorite things to eat is popcorn. I remember one time when I had either the flu or a very bad cold, and Granny was staying at our house. She asked what I wanted to eat, and I told her a BIG bowl of popcorn! She popped it up, fixed it just the way I liked it – lots of butter and salt – and brought it to me. Unfortunately, my sinuses were so stopped up that I couldn’t taste anything – and the popcorn held no appeal to me. To say that she wasn’t happy with me, goes without saying.

Granny had a terrific sense of humor.

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She could tell a joke with the straightest face – then just howl with laughter when I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.  I’ve seen this look of mischief on her face so many times. She was such fun.

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Aunt Jessie always had a dog around the house. And she and Granny both loved those dogs. They came to Albuquerque with Ginger, a beautiful red Cocker Spaniel.

I don’t remember just when Ginger died, but I do remember when they got Trixie – a little Pug. As my Mother said when Trixie was just a puppy – “She’s so ugly she’s cute.” And she was.

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As Trixie got older, along came Bubbles – a black Poodle.

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They were all fun dogs. We had cats at our house, and dogs at Granny and Aunt Jessie’s house – so we had the best of both worlds.

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Granny (Addie) with Judy and Bill Lites, 1956

~~~~~~~~~~To be continued~~~~~~~~~~

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Granny~Part1

12 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                  

 

I call her my “favorite” Granny, mainly because I didn’t know my other Grandmother very well. The “other” Grandmother lived two states away, and we only saw her once in a while – I would like to think we went there every Summer, but I’m not sure.

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But Granny lived in Albuquerque near us (with my Aunt Jessie), and we saw her quite often. She and Aunt Jessie moved to Albuquerque in 1952, but before that, Granny would come and stay most of the summer with us. One of my strangest memories, is of coming home from school and realizing that she wasn’t there anymore – she had returned home to San Antonio. It was a very empty feeling.

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But then they moved to Albuquerque, and she became a very real part of my life. They lived about 10 minutes away from us, and then in the years I could drive, I would spend nearly as much time at their house as I did at ours. So that house became as dear to me as our house did.

4I remember that Granny could make the best meringue pies ever. She could seal that meringue to the pie crust so I could never tell what kind of pie it was – until it was cut.

I would come home from school and she would have a pie cooling on the rack, and would challenge me to guess what kind of pie it was. It could be one of her wonderful chocolate cream pies, or perhaps her butterscotch pie, or then again, it could be her great lemon meringue pie. And by George – I could never tell what it was. When I make a meringue pie now, even if I seal that meringue to the crust, it ALWAYS pulls away from the crust as it is browning! Shucks!! I’ve never gotten the knack – and she never taught me how to do it. I have her recipes for the chocolate and butterscotch pies, but she died before I could get the lemon. I’ve never found any recipe to match the one she had.

One memory I have of her pies is a fun memory, but wasn’t too pleasant at the time. She had made a coconut cream pie especially for my Dad, since it was his favorite. He took one bite of it and didn’t really say anything about it – most unusual for him, as he always complimented Mother and Granny for their cooking. Then Granny took a bite and exclaimed, “Whoa! Who put the salt in the sugar bowl?” Apparently she had mistakenly replaced the sugar with salt and didn’t know it until she tasted it! Into the trash THAT pie went! And Daddy was too much of a gentleman to tell her how horrible it tasted!

I have mentioned in other musings that my Aunt Jessie owned and operated a small diner in downtown San Antonio in years past.

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It was small, but well attended and even earned a write-up in the San Antonio newspaper.

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While they had a “cook” for the diner, Granny made all the pies. And people would come in for a slice – or even purchase an entire pie to take home to their families! They were that good.

~~~~~~~~~~To be continued~~~~~~~~~~

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Janet and the Paint Puddle

7 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                          

Fred and I waited until he graduated from college before we married. We had known each other about three years and engaged for half that time (I invite you to revisit my October 5, 12, 19, 2014 posts on “How We Met”).

As soon as we left the wedding, we headed for Fort Worth, Texas, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Fred was to study for the ministry. While there for four years, I went to work, getting my “PHT” degree – you know – Putting Hubby Through, while Fred achieved his MDiv and MRE (Master of Divinity/Master of Religious Education).

When no ministry openings came available for Fred upon his graduation, and his Draft Board became interested in him, he began checking into the military openings. And so we found ourselves in the United States Air Force.

We spent one year in San Jose, California, while Fred studied Meteorology. We then spent three years in Wiesbaden, Germany. Our next tour was 13 months in northern Maine. And the follow-on tour was in San Antonio, Texas, where Fred was an instructor in the Air Force Officer Training School.

After living in apartments and government housing all that time, we decided it was time to finally own our own home. And we found one that was quite comfortable, and a new construction.

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The entry to the house was divided from the living room by a half-wall, with spindles to the ceiling.

After we had been in the house for several years, we thought of painting that half-wall and entry way, and set about to do it. We laid out a cover for the carpet, just in case. We had a step-stool to get the higher-up areas. We had our rollers, brushes, and paint trays that we kept filled with paint.

Roller
Roller
Brush
Paint tray
Paint

Karen was in school, but Janet was still at home with us. We were busy painting, and had warned Janet to stay either in the living room or her room, but do NOT come in the entry way. However, I frequently found her edging her way around one of the half-walls and into the entry way, rather than going the other way, through the kitchen and family room. And then, as you might surmise, I looked up, saw her squeezing by that half-wall again, and I yelled, “JANET!” Startled, she looked up, whirled around and lost her balance, and SPLAT! landed right in the middle of the “puddle” of paint in the paint tray!

Fred was rather furious, but I picked her up (she was bawling by this time), and took her to the nearest bathroom. While she was in the tub, with me “hosing” her down, the whole thing just tickled my funny bone. I began to giggle – as did she – and we had a great time cleaning up.

She survived the paint – and we survived the painting. And it’s a sweet memory.

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CLOWNING AROUND

28 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 Growing up in Albuquerque, my first friend was Shirley. She lived down the street, through the side yard of a house, down the alley, and into her back yard. We were fast friends. I was at her house so often, that her mother had a jar of dill pickles in her refrigerator, just for me.

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We were visiting with Shirley and her husband, Jim, a few years ago, as they live just one-and-one-half hours away from us. At that time, they presented us with a couple of pictures. Shirley said, “that’s you (Judy) and me, but I don’t remember what was going on, or why you are on the ground.”

And instantly, the memory came back. Shirley and I were with a youth group from our church (we were about 16 years old), and we had gone to Glorieta (New Mexico) Conference Center for a retreat. As you can see, I was a bit of a clown back then. Shirley was NOT impressed!

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As for my being on the ground:   Not only was I clowning around, but some of the others were, as well. One of the guys picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. Fun thing to do, huh? Something guys and girls do a lot for fun. Unfortunately, however, my nose met his back with such force that it gave me an instant bloody nose! So there I was, on the ground, swallowing blood and trying to get my nose to stop bleeding!

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Shirley remembered that she had been trying to get the attention of one of the guys – and he happened to be the one who hefted me over his shoulder! She was NOT a happy camper at that point!

But all turned out well….the nose stopped bleeding….the retreat proceeded successfully….and neither Shirley nor I married the guy in question.

But it’s a fun memory of a simpler time.

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Snow

21 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

Growing up in New Mexico, we had our share of winter snow. As a matter of fact, the mountains just outside the city, to the East, were and still are, some of the best snow skiing in the country.

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It’s one of those “best-kept-secrets.”

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Of course, some winter storms dropped more snowfall than other years (18″ one year in one night), but it seems like we always had snow.

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I was all but surprised to find that Fort Worth, Texas had snow as well! I guess I had always thought of Texas as hot and dry. But there was one winter when we were literally snowed-in for a couple of days. We were in an apartment building, with parking in the back, and we couldn’t get out of the driveway. Yea!!! We couldn’t get to work!

 

 

 

And, of course, when we moved to northern Maine for that one year, we had plenty of snow! More than we ever wanted.

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Karen was not quite four-years-old when we left there, and her impression of snow was that we were snowed in – because she could look out her second-story window, down on the roof of the stoop below and see the snow stacked high.

 

But for the five years we lived in Panama City, Florida, we didn’t have snow. Well, once it snowed about half-an-inch, but that was it. It was funny, actually: I happened to be driving by the elementary school at the time it was snowing, and one child was in the stereotypical stance of standing-spread-eagle, tongue hanging out, trying to catch snowflakes on their tongue! Our girls did a lot of their growing up years there, so they were unaccustomed to snow.

So it was, that when we went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, they had their first real taste of snow. It happened overnight, and we awoke to snow on the ground. Those of you reading this who are old enough to remember, many years ago Toyota had a little jingle that went: “You asked for it….you got it…..Toyota.” Well, I did a bit of improvising to that jingle, and woke each daughter up singing that tune: “You asked for it…you got it…it snowed last night!” They were up and out of their beds in a flash and dash to the window!

I don’t remember how much they played in it – probably more than I remember. There were other children in our little cul-de-sac, and I’m sure someone had a sled. But after wading through it to school every morning for months, they weren’t so thrilled with it. But that’s part of life, right?

It’s nice to have those kinds of memories, however. Adds a little spice to our life.

 

 

 

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Minute Meditations~9

14 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy WillsJUDY

                                                 

CONNECTION…

How do you connect with people? If you are in a business, you probably have some sort of “plan” to connect with people who could be your customers. We see ads in the newspaper and on the TV all the time for businesses selling their particular product. We see ads looking for people to work with a specific company, or in a specific position.

I’ve heard of people who attend benefits or parties or some such event just so they can “network” the system, and benefit themselves or their company.

But what is your connection to the one and only true living God? Is it an Easter and Christmas connection? Is it a once-a-month connection? Or is it a genuine, life-sustaining, personal relationship with God?

My brother Bill wrote about this recently. Here are his thoughts:

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Our connection to God is, quite simply, the only way we can live this life with any purpose or satisfaction. It allows us to walk upright without staggering or tripping or falling down. There may be bumps in the road, but if we keep our eyes on that connection to God, He will keep us from falling flat on our faces. He will help us see the direction we need to take – to be His children.

We are blest, indeed.

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Minute Mediatations~8

7 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                              

REST…

What gives you the most rest in your life? Is it just a good night’s sleep?

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Is it vegging in front of the TV after work?

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Is it sleeping in that lawn chair after a hard day’s work?

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Is it doing something other than work?

Fred and I have often agreed that, doing something different from your normal work day is a type of rest for your body and mind.

When I was working for a company in Virginia, one of my six (count them….SIX) bosses was a young man, very skilled in finance. It was a small company, and he was tasked to do a lot of things for the company. In his office, directly across the room from his desk, was a very large picture of a mountain scene, complete with snow, ski lift, and a bunch of skiers swooping down the mountain side. Snow skiing was his passion. I understood that, in a very stressful day, he had only to look at that picture for a few minutes, visualize himself in that picture-setting, and have a moment of rest.

Have you ever “rested” in the Lord? Have you ever just let yourself know that God is in complete control of whatever situation you find yourself in, and sit back, relax, and REST in God’s capable hands? WOW! Talk about rest!! That’s the ultimate.

My brother, Bill, wrote about this one time. Here’s what he said:

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I’ve written about God’s perfect timing before, and it still stands. It’s when we can allow God to have complete control of our lives that we experience true rest. The peace that comes with that rest is the best and most refreshing we will ever have. And if we wait upon the Lord, we will see that, indeed, His timing is perfect…and so is our REST in Him.

I am grateful.

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Minute Meditations~7

31 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

                                                

POSSESSIONS…

What is your most prized possession?

Your car?

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Your house?

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An instrument you’ve scrimped and saved for, for so long you wondered whether or not you would ever be able to afford it?

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That big-screen TV?

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That stereo system? That computer? That ipad or iphone?

What about a pet? Is that considered a “possession” to you?

How did you feel after you acquired that prized possession? Did the possessing of it complete your life, like you thought it would? Or were you “let down” now that you had it in hand?

My brother, Bill, wrote about a woman who desired something – something she considered more than life itself:

4In acquiring those prized possessions, if we consider how that possession can be used to God’s glory, then we can use it – “give it back to God” – and know that we have fulfilled God’s desire for us in that instance. We can give God the opportunity to bless us with our use of the possession.

The “essence” of this thought is that, what God gives still belongs to Him – to be used for His glory.

I had never thought about my possessions in that light. God really DOES want to give us the best, and to bless us with it.

WOW!

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Minute Meditations~2

26 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

                     

What is happiness? Or better yet…..what is your IDEA of what happiness is? Is it just a state of mind? Is our happiness determined by our circumstances?

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A pastor said once, that when we are God’s child, happiness is what resides in our hearts and minds always, and that joy or sorrow can’t really touch it; that the circumstances where we find ourselves do NOT determine whether we are happy or not….we have God’s abiding happiness within us.

Joy
Sorrow

 

Filling our hearts with God’s love gives us permanent happiness, that allows us to be happy, or content, in whatever situations we find ourselves.

My brother, Bill, wrote about this very thing. These are his thoughts:

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Can we see just how God wants us to look to Him for our happiness? No matter what happens, with God in our hearts, we can depend upon Him to give us the answers we seek to ALL our earthly problems. He is true and faithful to His word.

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New Series~Minute Meditations

19 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy WillsJUDY

                                              

I would like to do something a little different for a few weeks. Hope you like my musings.

As I have mentioned before – and he has posted – my brother worked in the space industry all of his career. He has shared so many interesting stories of his work. Recently, one that has impressed me the most is that, whenever one of our space shuttles docked with the International Space Station, it would “nudge” the ISS back into its orbit.

ISS  If that didn’t happen, then eventually the ISS would fall into the earth’s atmosphere and burn up. Did you know that? I didn’t. And it seems like such a waste to have spent all that time and money to make the ISS, and then stop the space program. Oh well.In any case, if you are old enough to remember the Challenger disaster,

Bill wrote a “Minute Meditation” about it, and I would like to quote it here:

Minute Meditation Challenger Bill Lites

So, even in tragedy, as Bill stated, we can know that God is there, is in control, and we can trust Him in all our ways. That is such a hopeful and reassuring thought for me. For you, as well, I pray.

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