Archive by Author

OUR FIRST REAL CHRISTMAS TREE

23 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Judy

                                                  

 Growing up, Christmas was really special to our family.  We usually stayed at home in Albuquerque, and my brother and I woke up to “Santa” and all the presents our parents, Grandmother, and Aunt Jessie had gotten for us.  We always had a tree, loaded with those huge lights in multi-colors.  Such neat memories.

So it came as a bit of a surprise to me that my new husband and I didn’t have room in our tiny apartment for a tree!  Of course, we were both working – and he was in school all day – and so there was hardly any reason to have a tree.  I did learn how to make a “tree” out of a magazine and spray-paint it with silver or green paint.  Add some tiny ornaments, and there it was.

 

And there were some Christmases that we went to visit our respective families, and we didn’t need to have a tree.  That “tradition” followed us through the early years with our daughters.  After we moved to Florida (Panama City/Tyndall AFB), we usually made the trip down to Titusville to spend the holiday itself with my brother and his family.  After a few days there, we would drive across the peninsula to Clearwater and spend a few more days with Fred’s parents in their retirement condo.

 

One year had been especially difficult and tiring for us.  I remember Fred making the statement that for five cents, he would stay home that year.  I handed him a nickel.  We stayed home that year.  We decided that, since we were staying home, we needed a tree for ourselves – and this time we would get a live tree!!  The girls were so very excited about that prospect.  We went tree hunting and brought home a lovely big tree.  It made our house smell wonderfully fresh and piney.  We put Christmas music on the stereo, and began decorating our first real Christmas tree!  We made cookies.  We bought or made presents for each other.  It was a lovely time together.

 

Christmas tree

At this time, Karen was 10 years old, and Janet was six.  One day, while I was sitting at the piano working on a piece of music, near the rocking chair, which was next to the tree, Karen was sitting in the rocking chair reading….her favorite past time.  All of a sudden she let out a scream and jumped out of the chair, flinging her book across the room!!  WHAT????

Apparently the wonderful tree we had purchased was home to a LOT of inch worms – and some of them had made their way onto the chair, and onto the book she was reading!  I then realized there was an inch worm on the piano, as well!!

WELL!!  That tree didn’t last much longer in OUR house, that’s for sure!!  It was out the door in no time!

I think Karen didn’t sit in that chair for a month after Christmas!!

At least it was a Christmas to remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , ,

Early Christmas Celebration

20 Dec

Sometimes God answers our needs and wants before we even think to ask. I really needed someone to fill in for me today on the blog and before I could ask, this appeared in my inbox. Thanks so much, DiVoran. Onisha

My Take

 DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites

 

I gotta admit I was a little nervous about having everything perfect for our family Christmas. Daughter helped plan, came up with protocol for gifts, organized the dinner, and wrote the back and forth emails. Husband vacuumed, mopped, got tables and chairs ready on the porch, and repeated “everything is going to be all right,” on multiple occasions.

It’s Time (at last)

Sister and Husband arrive with food, gifts, and good will. Daughter and Husband come in the door (son-in-law made delicious ribs and we accessorized around them). We hear a car and migrate to the front window to watch Son, Wife, and college age Grandchildren emerge with plenty of pretty gift bags and comestibles.

Perfect weather for porch. Holly-jolly time at table. Conversation pops and sizzles. Delicious chocolate chip cookies for pre-dessert, made by Granddaughter.

Move chairs into living room, a place for everyone. Grandson plays Santa, handing out gifts. Suggestion: pay no more than three dollars per gift and buy one for everyone. Only a suggestion, re-gifting, re-cycling, and trading perfectly acceptable. Someone trades mint kisses for dark chocolate, kisses and from there, for special dark–trading up.

Elders tell ancestor stories. Rapt attention for a while. Soon family members close eyes in order to picture the stories better. Everyone gets comfortable, Grandson stretches half way across living room floor, granddaughter curls on couch with head in mom’s lap, Son-in-Law leans head back in easy chair. Son makes strong coffee to go with dessert, demonstrates bell playing technique, hands out tiny bells upon which to play tunes. A person wearing Christmas earrings asks to be a conscientious observer. Okay. Sister conducts Jingle-bells, one note at a time. Watch for video on YouTube.

Two more parties to attend. Grandson receiving texts from spies telling about new roomie moving in to dorm. Mom says, “We can run  by and check it out on the way home.”

Goodbye hugs all around. Chase son-in-law to Jeep for one. Truly, truly, a great time was had by all. Thank you Lord, from the bottoms of our hearts.

Psalm 71:18 The whole Psalm is frabjous!

 

early Christmas

 

 

Tags: ,

Our Trip Across America Part 11

19 Dec

A Slice of Life

  Bill Lites

Bill

 

From there, we made a side trip to Westcliffe, Colorado, located in the Wet Mountain Valley, just east of the San De Cristo Mountains.  Westcliffe boomed in the 1880s with Silver mining driving the economy.  The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad ran through Westcliffe, at the time, making it the only rail link in the valley.  After the mining interests ran out, the Westcliffe portion of the railroad was finally closed in 1937, and the town began to settle into the quiet valley community it now is.

1

 

DiVoran’s parents moved to Westcliffe after her father came home from WWII.  Then in 1946, DiVoran’s parents opened Min’s Café in downtown Westcliffe and she and her brother David spent many hours working in the family owned restaurant on Main Street.

2

 

Later, her parents bought the old 1880’s Westcliffe train station, and converted it into their home, where DiVoran had an unobstructed view of the San De Cristo Mountains from her upstairs bedroom window.

3

 

DiVoran remembers Westcliffe as a most wonderful place where she lived, rode horses in the open fields, and went to grades 2 thru 4 in a one-room schoolhouse, and where she made some lifelong friends. By the way, she still corresponds with one of those friends, and that very schoolhouse is still standing, and has been converted into a very interesting museum.

4

 

One of our most memorable experiences during that visit was our trip from Westcliffe up the County 160/Hermit Road into the mountains to spend the night at Hermit lake.  As DiVoran remembered, the road had been maintained by the county, for the popular summer lake activities.  However, we found the road in poor condition as we headed up the mountain toward the lake.  The first part of the road wasn’t too bad as we came out of the valley, so we thought we could make the trip without any problems.  The picture below shows you how deceiving that road was.

 

5

 

It wasn’t long before we realized we should be driving a 4-wheel drive vehicle like the other people we saw up there, not a Ford LTD station wagon pulling a tent camper.  In some places the road was so steep and bolder strewn that I thought, for sure, we were going to tear the oil pan out of the bottom of the car.  But, once we started up the mountain, there was no place for us to turn around, so we had to just keep going till we got to the lake.  The picture below of Hermit road is no exaggeration, I couldn’t believe we actually made it!

6

 

It took us two nerve-wracking hours to travel the approximate five miles to the lake.  By the time we got there, it was starting to get dark and we were all hungry, so we leveled and set up the camper, ate dinner and spent a cold night in the lake parking area at near 11,400 feet elevation.  The next morning, we waited for it to warm up enough for to have a leisurely breakfast, then we walked up the trail, and took in the beauty of the lake.

7

 

When we got ready to begin the trip back down the mountain to Westcliffe, the car wouldn’t start.  It seems we had developed tiny cracks in the sparkplug wires.  Now, with the air at this high altitude being so thin, the spark was jumping from the sparkplug wires to the block, and not to the plugs.  I removed the wire from each plug, cleaned and dried it, wrapped electrical tape around it, and reinstalled it.  That coupled with the rising temperature, seemed to do the trick.  With the car running, we now embarked on our two-hour adventure back down the mountain to Westcliffe.  WOW– What a trip!  I sure don’t want to ever have to make a trip like that again.

 

 

                                          —-To Be Continued—-

 

 

 

Tags: , ,

Old Books, Cheap

17 Dec

My Take

 DiVoran LItes

At the SPCA thrift store yesterday I found four books to buy.Fortunately, I wasn’t looking for new and popular, but for old and loved.

Lately Bill has been helping me proofread the second novel in the Florida Springs Trilogy, Living Spring. He reads over it, chapter by chapter at my computer explaining his suggestions, and I lie on the couch with the back of my hand to my forehead thinking and discussing. That process reminded me of a writer who so thoroughly knew her material that she also lay on a couch to write, except she dictated to a cotillion of secretaries, and ended up writing a book a day or a book a week . I can’t recall exactly which one. Also, I could not remember her name, but lo and behold, from the depths of the SPCA bookshelf it sprung out at me and drew my hand to its lovely golden spine which said, Barbara Cartland’s, Three Best Loved, 1975. I bought it for thirty-two cents.

Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart: Thirty True things You Need to Know Now, 2004, by Gordon Livingstone, M. D, was also a hardcover and cost thirty-two cents. Living in a small German-based community as a child, I heard that saying a lot and agreed with it more and more as time went on.

I looked at all the old paperback Thesauri, a dime each, but the one I liked was Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, 1992 with Tweety-Bird and Sylvester on the cover. I already have a huge one, that weighs 4.5 lb and I love it, but when I want a quick fix, I usually won’t haul it out of the bookshelf and find a place to look at it. The Tweety-Bird issue is an inch thick, and so beautifully arranged that I looked up words just for the fun of it.

No Promises in the Wind. by Irene Hunt, was one thin dime as well. It’s a children’s book about The Great Depression. The author is a relative of mine. She won the Newbury Award for Children’s Literature with, Across Five Aprils, about the Civil War. Irene Hunt is Aunt May Hunt’s daughter. Aunt May Hunt is Grandmother Marie Bowers’ aunt. Grandmother Marie Bowers is my grandmother. The miracle in all this is that I actually got to know my grandmother’s aunt May and, when our daughter was a baby, she met Aunt May who was her great, great, great aunt. Aunt May taught me how to sew a featherstitch for a quilt and also she told me that ladies didn’t have to shave their legs in the olden days because the homespun petticoats were so rough they rubbed the hair right off. I have a feeling they wouldn’t have shaved them anyway, don’t you? The sad thing is that when I moved to Florida, Grandmother Marie urged me to drive over to the west coast and meet her cousin, Irene Hunt, but I was too awed, too busy, too something. Now, of course, I wish I had. By the way, Irene Hunt’s, No Promises in the Wind received excellent recommendations from The Chicago Daily news and from The New York times. Oh please, let me have received a soupcon (pinch) of her talent in my genes.

Habakkuk 2:2

 

Tags: ,

WIESBADEN, WEST GERMANY

16 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Judy

                                                     

After my husband had completed his meteorology training for the U.S. Air Force, he was assigned to an AF Weather unit in Wiesbaden, West Germany.  We were quiteexcited about the prospect of living in that country.

 I was seven months pregnant with our first child at the time we were due to depart.  There was just a short window of time that I would be able to travel/fly that far.  If I didn’t make that window, then I would have to remain state-side until after my six-weeks postpartum exam before I could join him in Germany.

Part of the problem was that my passport had not arrived yet!  So, in addition to the time we were to spend with my family in New Mexico (Fred’s family was visiting there to see his brother graduate from the University), we had to schedule a stop in DC to pick up the passport.  And it was HOT in DC in June!  We flew from there to Philadelphia for an overnight with Fred’s relatives.  Expecting to have a nice, cool, stay – we discovered they lived in a row house – without air conditioning!  We nearly melted!

However, all worked out and we flew out to Germany the next day.  We found a second-story apartment on the “economy” (military talk for non-military housing).  We had two bedrooms, and even a balcony!  The German owners lived downstairs.

1

The house was on Albrecht Druer Strasse. If that name is unfamiliar to you, just think of the “praying hands” sketch you’ve seen.  Albrecht Druer was the artist.

2

 

The area where we lived was quite nice.  Just down the street was a lovely park, where the two of us used to walk.  And after Karen’s birth, we walked there again, with her in the buggy.  She loved the outdoors – and the Germans we passed oohhed and aahhed over her.  There was also a church nearby that chimed the hour.

Fred’s dad retired on August 31 that year, and his parents flew over the next day to visit with us.  Our daughter made her appearance the very next day!  And how nice it was to have the grandparents right at hand to take care of us!

Our first Christmas in Germany was lovely.  Fred brought home a table-top tree, and he purchased some German ornaments, that we still have – all these 50+years later!  They aren’t fancy, but they bring back so many memories of such a wonderful time in our lives, every year as we place them on our tree.

 

3

 

Tags: , ,

…one of the saddest days the world has seen for a long time…

15 Dec

Sharing the words of a friend. I think he speaks the words the hearts of the world are feeling.

Seumas Gallacher

TO THE PARENTS AND FAMILIES OF THOSE TAKEN AT SANDY HOOK

If I could give my soul to you
To replace the ones you’ve lost,
If I could for just one moment

Become the Holy Ghost
I’d swiftly bring them back for you
And step into their place
But we know that that just cannot be,
Instead I wish you Grace
Mere words are not enough to fill
The pain that you must bear,
So please accept from me, from us
Our heartfelt love and prayer.
R.I.P
from Seumas Gallacher, Abu Dhabi

December 15th, 2012

This is one of the saddest days I’ve known for a long time. Please spare a thought or prayer for those so terribly affected  by this horrific killing.

View original post

Our Trip Across America- Part 10

12 Dec

A Slice of Life

   Bill Lites

                            Bill

The next major attraction we visited was the Great Salt Lake.  As we neared Salt Lake City, Utah we discovered the city is skirted by some of the most formidable looking mountains we had ever seen.  We swam (or I should say floated) in the super salty water of the lake, bought a package of freeze-dried brine shrimp, and took pictures of the famous Mormon temple.  That night at the campground, we were surprised to be entertained with, of all things, an outdoor movie, and even popcorn.

12

The next day we headed Southeast, through the Southern Utah and into Western Colorado mountains.   After an overnight stay in Grand Junction, we headed East, on US-50, which runs along the Arkansas River.  This was familiar territory for DiVoran as she and her parents had made many trips along this route.  This leg of the trip took us through Montrose, Gunnison and Salida to Canon City, Colorado to visit some of DiVoran’s relatives. This was where she spent a lot of her growing up years with her grandmother and her grandfather who had worked as a guard at what was originally the Colorado State Territorial Prison.

3

It became a Colorado State Prison in 1876 and operated as such until it was closed in 1988. At that time, it was converted into a very interesting museum, showing conditions at the prison during those early days.

4

An aunt and three cousins and their families were still living there. We had some great visits with them, and enjoyed a wonderful walk along the Arkansas River that runs through town.

5

Canon City is well-known for the America’s highest suspension bridge, which spans the Royal Gorge.  Amazingly, we discovered the total cost of building the bridge in 1929 was $60,000 and only took 5 months to complete.

6

The railroad that runs alongside the Arkansas River, at the bottom of the gorge, was originally used by the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) Railroad in the 1870s & 1880s as the transcontinental bridge between Denver, Colorado  and Salt Lake City, Utah.  Use of the Royal Gorge portion of the track system was ended in 1997.  Then a couple of years later it was purchased by a private corporation and reopened by the Royal Gorge Route Railroad to provide daily scenic excursion trips from Canon City to Parkdale and return.  On one of our many trips back to Canon City, DiVoran and I took that “Scenic Excursion Trip” and it was an outstandingly beautiful experience.  We can highly recommend it.

7

Another less known attraction in Canon City is the Skyline Drive, located on the western edge of the city.  This is a 3-mile long road that runs, one way, along the top of a 800 ft. high ridge overlooking the city.  Skyline Drive was a prison project started in 1903, and was built entirely by hand by the prisoners.  The road has been improved over the years, and offers a glorious view of the city below.

8

—-To Be Continued—-

 

Tags: , , ,

Living Like a Princess

10 Dec

 My Take

DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites

I’m God’s totally spoiled little princess and he doesn’t mind me asking anything, he knows how abysmally ignorant I am, he likes me that way. He likes me to be as dependent as I possibly can be. To me Christian maturity is complete dependency. That’s nothing like human maturity.

You know something else that I think is cool? He doesn’t like to do anything by Himself, and he enjoys simple fun. One day I walked into Hobby Lobby and out of the blue I thought, okay, Lord what shall we look at first? I felt his pleasure and anticipation of doing something fun together. It blew me away and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

He created us because he was lonely. He can’t get enough of us no matter how puzzled and slow-witted, compared with Him, we may be.

Also, He is open to my experimenting with all kinds of ideas and thoughts so he can expand me as He wishes. Our ways are not His ways and our thoughts are not his thoughts. I’m ecstatic about learning to listen and think as He thinks instead of how I have always thought and been taught. It’s so freeing

Isaiah 55:8-9

Related articles

Tags: , , ,

Fiesta Dresses

9 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills  

Judy

Growing up in New Mexico was a great experience.  Of course, we moved there when I was only four years old, so I didn’t know any different.  The Indian/Mexican culture was just something that was normal to me.

 When I was old enough to learn how to sew, my Grandmother and Mother began teaching me the sewing machine by having me sew row-upon-row-upon-row of trim on yards and yards of fabric.  It was all straight stitching, but some rows were metallic trim, some were rick-rack, some needed only a single stitch to hold it down, others required stitching on the top and bottom edges of the trim/braid.  Very boring.  But it gave me a sense of what sewing was all about.

All those yards and yards of fabric would eventually be made into a Fiesta Dress, or Squaw Dress, as some called it.  Three tiers, each one “longer” than the one above it.  Those dresses could be made from just about fabric and color combination.  I remember a royal blue fabric with nothing but copper trim – one of my favorites.  I remember a winter dress made from blue corduroy – no trim needed.  I remember one made from fabric that looked like bandana design – no trim needed on that one, either.  I remember one that was made in light cotton – white – with red and red-and-white trim.  It was great – until I washed it the first time – and the red ran like crazy!!  So my Aunt Jessie took the dress (blouse and skirt) and dyed them beige.  For some reason, the red didn’t show where it had run, and really looked rather classy with the red trim.  Another favorite of mine.  Oh, so many dresses.

And the skirts were not left “pouffy” like they might be today – they were hand-pleated after being soaked in starch!  And to keep the pleats in, we rolled the skirt into itself and stuffed it into a nylon stocking.  Jessie’s dogs LOVED to get at those to fight with them!

Dogs fighting

But those dresses were considered in good taste no matter where they were worn.  They could be worn to a very casual setting…..they could be worn to work….they could be worn to a fancy dinner setting – all worked equally well.

I’ve never seen them worn outside of New Mexico, however.  So when I took them with us to Texas, they were not the “in style” to wear.  I still have them, but can’t seem to find the right place to wear them now – even if I could fit in them anymore!

But they were just right for New Mexico.

Blue skirt

red skirt

                    

                    

Tags: , , ,

A Christmas Appointment

6 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Onisha

In 2010, we spent our first Christmas in our home in the North Carolina Mountains. We had owned the home for a couple of years but were still working and hadn’t had the opportunity to get to know our neighbors. I was excited but also anxious about leaving our life-long Florida friends as well as our church. This is an email I sent to my friends.

December 17, 2010

Yesterday was an icy day up here in the North Carolina Mountains, but by mid morning, the ice gave way to rain and washed away the snow and ice. We had received a call on Tuesday inviting us to a neighborhood Christmas Party being held Thursday night. Reluctantly we decided to attend. You know Mike and I don’t tend to be party people especially with strangers.

Parking at mountain homes is not the easiest task. The driveways tend to be long and narrow often having ditches on each side. Mike wanted to park the truck facing out so we could put in our appearance and make a quick exit. Not an easy feat under the circumstatnces but it seemed Mike managed just fine or so I thought. I opened my door and gingerly stepped down from the truck only to find something pushing against my leg.

 “Uh Oh” I muttered.

 “What’s wrong? Mike asked tensely, thinking I had managed to injure myself getting out of the truck. Well Ha! The problem this time wasn’t ME being klutzy.

 “You just ran over one of these people’s shrubs.” Did I mention this was a beautifully landscaped driveway? In our quest for a quick get away parking place, we failed to notice the three-foot shrubs.

 “Oh man” Mike mumbled, getting back into the truck. I stood behind to guide. Him. As he pulled away from the shrub, there was an ominous screeching of the shrub running along the bottom edge of the truck. I walked over and checked out the damage.

  “The shrub seems to be fine,” I told Mike. “Hope the truck is ok.”

As we walked up the drive, I was thinking, well one strike against this evening being a success.

  The door was opened by Pat, the smiling, white haired owner. We told her our names and she just beamed.

 “I’m so glad you could make it she said then turned to a group sitting in the formal dining room and called, “hey everyone, this is Mike and Onisha and I am so glad they came.” She proceeded to introduce us to the three couples at the table, then led us to the kitchen to put out the dish I had brought and help us get loaded up on finger foods.

 For me, trying to decide whom to sit with at a party of strangers is traumatic. I mean, how do you know where to sit? Pat took care of that by announcing to the group in the dining room, “these seats are saved for Mike and Onisha” God truly knows our fears and literally holds our hands.

  We were chatting with the other three couples, beginning to relax when Pat announced that everyone should come sit in the living room so that the group could introduce themselves again and tell a little about themselves. Mike and I moved our chairs into the living room, looking forward to getting to know these people but nervous about our turn to share. It’s not like we had exciting lives.

 The first couple told how they came to live in Franklin, and then Sue opened her heart, telling how she had strayed from fellowship with God before they moved into their home. One day she was out and drove past a church. God spoke to her heart and right then and told her to visit that church when they were settled in their home. It was a wonderful testimony.

 Then the next couple spoke telling how God had blessed them and drew them to this community, and then the next one, and on until each had spoken. They all had a leading from the Lord to settle here. I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

 Then it was our turn. I wish I could say that we said something spiritual and wise, but I was so blown away, I could just get out a short bio. Inside, our hearts were praising God for his goodness and amazing provision.

 Pat’s husband finished the group telling how God had worked in their lives and then he suggested we end in prayer and asked Opal if she would mind standing in the middle of the circle. Opal had recently lost her husband and was soon leaving for the winter. As we joined hands to pray, it was all I could do to not start shouting. Opal wasn’t sitting in a chair and we didn’t have our hands on her but it was the same spirit of our Sunday School class in Florida when one of us  “got the chair.”

 As the prayer ended, Mike and I looked at each other and grinned.

“That was awesome’ we said to each other. As we stood talking to one of the couples, my eyes were tearing. Not only had God brought us to a new place he brought us to a new group of friends who love the Lord.

 We started the evening looking for a quick exit. How many times have we missed God’s Divine Appointments, as my friend Wanda would say, because we are looking for a way out, instead of a way in?

Tags: , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →