Tag Archives: DiVoran Lites

Dad’s Music

14 May

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

Dad was tone-deaf and he hated music. He was tone-deaf, couldn’t sing a note, well, a correct note, he did go for: “Mary Ann, Mary Ann, down by the seaside sifting sand,” now and then. His rendering was unique. I can hear it still.

Dad’s mother never played music on a radio. I don’t recall her having a radio, so maybe he got the disability from her. I do know he became angry when I played mine too loud. But doggone it, I loved music, couldn’t get enough of it. I bought the, “Hit Parade,” magazine every week, laid on my bed and sang all the songs to myself until bedtime.

For our bar and restaurant, we had to have a juke box. What a wonderful, magical thing that was, beautiful too. And you know, even though Dad didn’t love music, I suspect that he must have loved his little daughter who delighted in song and dance. Sometimes when we had no customers, he’d give me the key to the jukebox (we called it a jute-box) and let me trip the trigger fifty times in order to play every single record on there. If it were winter the big table would be gone from the 10×10 dining room and I could dance to my heart’s content while Dad loaded bullets in the other room. There were a few songs he did like. I guess it was the words. He liked: “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette,” and, “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover.” I wonder how I know that.

Dad liked to load up mom, brother, and me, they called me, Sister, and go down the mountain roads to visit his mother and dad. The scenery made me want to sing, “When it’s Springtime in the Rockies,” and “C. O. L. O. R. A. D. O, (I love you.) quietly to myself. Sometimes I made up songs. I didn’t think anyone could hear me over the hum of the car, but I was wrong. One day my dad was taking Granddad somewhere and Granddad said, “She sure knows a lot of songs.”

“She makes some of them up,” said Dad. How did he know that?

“Well, well,” said Granddad approvingly and I thought, looky there, I’ve done something good.

One year when we took our annual trip with kids to visit Mom and Dad in California Dad had some cassette tapes in a holder on the front seat of his king cab. Of course I read the titles. You’ll never guess in a million years… Believe it or not, they were opera tapes! I hadn’t even learned to like opera myself. When taxed with the incongruity, Dad admitted it. He actually liked to listen to opera tapes driving down the road. Did that mean he missed the little music maker in the back seat? I’d like to think so. “Yep,” says he…”drives your mother crazy.”

I like opera now, too. I’m listening to Pavarotti, as we speak. You hear that, Dad?

 

Dad and I

Dad and I

DiVoran and Pavarotti at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London, England

 

DiVoran and Pavarotti at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London, England

A Mother’s Day Collage

12 May

I put out a request to the contributors to this blog to write anything they wanted to about Mother’s Day. I thought it would be interesting to read how each related to the day and it certainly was, especially since two of our bloggers are sister and brother.

So let’s start our Mother’s Day Collage with a “Match the Mother to Child” game. Enter your answers in comments to win a digital copy of one of DiVoran Lites  or Rebekah Lyn’s books. If we have multiple correct answers we will put your names in a drawing. You may also comment on  Facebook under comments.

Moms and Bloggers

No.6

No.6

No.2

No. 1

No. 5

No. 4

No. 3

No.

No. 8 Blogger

Mother's Day

No.9 Blogger

No. 10 Blogger

No 11 Blogger

No 11 Blogger

No. 7 Blogger

No. 7 Blogger

As an example in comments you would write: 1/7,2/8 etc. Good luck!!

Onisha

We hope you enjoy our Mother’s Day Collage. Choosing what to share brought back such memories and tears too. In her later years my mother told me “you will always miss your mother. I still miss mine” This surprised me since my grandmother had died many years earlier and she only saw her once a year on our family vacations. I understand that ache now. So I decided to share a poem from my mother. The date was 1964 and I was twelve years old

I said a prayer for you today

And Know God must have heard.

I felt the answer in my heart

Although he spoke no word!

I didn’t ask for wealth or fame

(I know you wouldn’t mind)

I asked that he be near you

At the start of each new day,

To grant you health and blessings

And friends to share your ways!

I asked for happiness for you

In all things great and small,

But it was for His loving care

I prayed for most of all.

Bill Lites

Thank You Mother

My mother was such a great influence and inspiration in my life.  She taught me that God loved me and wanted to guide me every step of my life, if I would only ask Him.  She taught me to be a gentleman in every area of my life.  She taught me to learn all the details and to never take anything for granted.  She taught me to always give the other person the benefit of the doubt, and to do to others as I would have them do to me.  She taught me to be observant, to work hard and to be patient with others, and to always be kind and loving.  She taught by example and there was never any question about her love, acceptance and forgiveness toward others and me.

Louise Gibson

                                                    Reflections
                         What does a Mother say to her children
                         At the end of her days-
                         Those she has loved in so many ways?
                         “Oh, what joy I felt in my heart
                         When I was informed that new life had its start!
                                Each of you was a blessing from above-
                        A gift of God, the symbol of love.
                        Each is unique, not one is the same.
                        You are loved for who you are, what you became.
                        Your talents are many-
                        Thank God for each one.
                        They will nurture your being
                        When the day is done.
                        God will supply the strength
                        To face each new day-
                        I will be with you in spirit
                       Every step of the way.”
                        I love you.
                        Mom
                       A quote from Max Lucado:
“God knows that we are only pilgrims and that
eternity is so close that any “Good-bye” is,
in reality, “See you tomorrow”.

THOUGHTS OF MY MOTHER ON MOTHER’S DAY 2013

Judy Wills

How do I describe my Mother?  She was so unique in all her ways.

One of the most unique things is that she met, fell in love with, and married a man who was 20 years older than herself.  And yet, the marriage was one that I hoped to emulate with my marriage.  She created a loving and secure home for her husband and her children.  She was heart-broken when her husband died.

                                    Judy Wills Mother and father

She loved to sing and to play the piano.  She had a great alto voice.  She had a good ear and would just go and sit down at the piano and begin playing.  I’m still frustrated that I can’t remember the names of the songs/hymns she played.  My brother and I tried to remember them, and have them played at her funeral, but neither of us could remember.

She was a good cook.  She made a pot roast that would just melt in your mouth.  And that’s something I’ve never been able to duplicate.  I never learned her technique.  My Dad used to tease her by saying “this meat is no good – it just falls off the bone!”  She made the best cherry pie.  She made home-made peach jam from the peaches in our back yard.

One time, as she and I were sitting in the living room watching TV, we heard a terrible sound!  We both ran to the kitchen – only to find that the pressure cooker had “blown” out the pressure valve and pinto beans were all over the ceiling!  What a mess!

She had the most giving spirit I’ve ever seen.  One morning, early, we were told that the husband of a friend of ours had died.  He was a gun smith.  He was carrying a rifle along his side, tripped over a rock, and essentially blew his head off.  As soon as Mother heard that, she was in the car and over to that house.  Not only did she comfort the widow, but she grabbed rags and bucket and began cleaning off the blood, bone and brains from the side of the house.

Although I suspect she would have loved to be a stay-at-home mom, she worked as an accountant at Kirtland AFB, to make money for “extra” things in our life.  She bought a new piano for our house.  But one of the best things about her working there, was that she would find young military personnel – usually men – who were away from home and homesick, and bring them to church with us on a Sunday, then home to Sunday dinner.  She kept in contact with many of them throughout her time there.  One time she broke her ankle and couldn’t climb the steps to her office upstairs.  The officials were so insistent that she not “retire” that they placed a desk and lamp under the stairway just for her.  They really liked her work.

                                                         Judy Wills mother

When my Dad retired and money was tight, Mother bought a Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio, trained for the job, and set to work.  She had a really good, strong work ethic.

Judy Wills Mother

5

Oh my………so many more memories, but these fill my heart and mind.

I miss her still.

May 12, 2013, My Fifty-First Mother’s Day

DiVoran Lites

“Mom, how do you feel?”

“Fine.”

“But really, How are you doing?”

“Divine:”

My hair is gray, my socks fall down,

And I’m not going out of town,

And I must say, I forget some things,

But what matters is: my heart has wings.

I hope you enjoyed reading out Mother’s Day collage. We all view our mothers and Mother’s Day with  our own unique perspective and  I love that.

For those who read to the bottom, here is a clue. There is one more picture than there are bloggers! Don’t forget to write your matches in comments here or on the Facebook post.

Happy Mothers Day

 

I Am So Sorry

9 May

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I would like to apologize to everyone who made their grand announcement “I just finished building my new website, come take a look” and I just yawned or if I was feeling generous I gave it a tweet. I had no idea what you were saying, how much work and creativity you had expended. I’m so sorry.Computer

I had no idea what building a website involved until I decided to give it a try. I am attempting to build a wonderful site to showcase the work of Rebekah Lyn and DiVoran Lites, both of whom are dear to me, one as daughter the other as Spiritual mentor and precious friend.  They are fine writers who tell great stories of faith adventure and hope.

I would still be stuck in Word Press tutorial 101 if God had not sprinkled Lynn into my life. We met in tenth grade and became life-long friends. Little did I know as we passed notes in class, giggled about boys and all those other things high school girls do, that she was going to be my life line for this website building adventure.

I think I might begin calling her my Philippians 4:19  friend,

Our Trip to Italy~Part 10

8 May

A Slice of Life

Bill LItes

After a wonderful Continental breakfast with the sisters of our convent lodgings, we started our day with a tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. 5

The Vatican Museums were founded under the patronage of two 18th century popes – Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI (1775-1799) – who were among the first to open collections of art to the general public.  The idea was to provide some of the Vatican collections for viewing, therefore promoting culture among the masses. As the decades passed, more popes added to the already impressive collection of diverse artworks owned and displayed by the Vatican.  Today, there are 13 museums in about different Vatican palaces that are now included in what is called the Vatican Museum Complex, and can be toured by the general public.

 

1

Our Rick Steves tour book says the tour leads you through almost four miles of galleries and art treasures before you get to the Sistine Chapel.  Well, we believe him now!   They provided a great self-guided audio tour, and we were absolutely amazed at the quantity of Great Masters’ art treasures in the museum.  I can’t begin to imagine the overall worth of all 13 museums.

2

In one of the corridors, DiVoran was especially interested in a woman copying paintings in miniature from some of the Master paintings there in the Vatican museum. She wore a fur hat and a heavy coat because it was so cold in there. The lighting was spectacular and all natural. What a way to make a living!

3

It was like being saturated with so much art, my brain couldn’t hold any more.  We spent a good 4 hours trying to see as much as we could before we were able to work our way to the Sistine Chapel, and that was by cutting short a number of galleries.  I can now better appreciate the pain and agony Michelangelo had to endure those 4 years (1508-1512) he spent, laying on his back, painting all those magnificent works of art.  Then, at the end of the chapel, is what many call his most crowning achievement in painting, The Final Judgment, which itself, took 4 years (1535-1539) to complete.

4

We had a delicious lunch in the Vatican Museum cafeteria.  Then it was on to St. Peter’s Basilica.  The basilica itself is approached via St. Peter’s Piazza (otherwise known as St. Peter’s Square) and is bordered on either side by semi-circular colonnades, which, according to Bernini, symbolize the out-stretched arms of the church embracing the world. The colonnades were built around 1660 and consist of four rows of columns with in total 284 Doric columns and 88 pilasters.  A total of 140 statues were installed on top of the colonnades, all created by Bernini and his students at the time. These statues depict popes, martyrs, evangelists and many other important religious figures.

The facade of the basilica stretches across the end of the square and is approached by steps on which stand two 20 ft high statues of the 1st century apostles to Rome, Saint Peter on the left side and Saint Paul on the right side.  It’s amazing for me to think of news reports, I’ve seen on TV, such as the appearance of the newest, Pope Francis, where as many as 250,000 people have been known to crowd into St. Peter’s Square for the special event.

6

—–To Be Continued—–

Down Home Down Town

4 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

jungle divoran

After World War II, when I was seven years old and my brother was almost four our parents bought a restaurant in a small town in Colorado that had only three hundred residents. I don’t know whether that included the ranchers and their families who came to town on Saturday night or not.

In this small town, called, Westcliffe, If I wasn’t at school, or outside playing, I was almost always doing dishes or waiting tables at the restaurant or going around to the neighbors—except our neighbors happened to be the other merchants on our two block stretch of Main Street.

The Luthi family and the Quicks owned restaurants, too. The Luthi’s also owned the one hotel in town. There was no competition that I ever knew of, just pleasant cooperation. I baby sat for the Quicks from when I was about ten years old and played, and went to Sunday school with the Luthi girls.

When I was out and about, I visited Mr. Cope at the drugstore, Miss Lily, at the post office or my friend’s mother Marie Erp at Canda’s grocery. She always played ragtime piano at the community dances. I liked to pop into the tiny library across the street from our restaurant. The librarian agreed that fairy tales were the best reading you could get.

Yesterday I got a taste of that kind of wandering downtown in my present hometown, which has more people in it, but about the same amount of old downtown. Once it was in danger of dying completely, but as Onisha and I walked from shop to shop to ask if we could leave posters about Rebekah Lyn’s and my book signing we realized that the downtown is coming back to life, and you know who’s responsible? Mainly it’s the food emporiums, the artists, the historians, and the boutiques.

I’ve lived here forty-six years and Onisha is native Floridian. The really wonderful and fun thing was that in almost every business someone recognized either her or me. At the historical museum a friend I hadn’t seen for a year met us at the door and in a little while when I looked around for Onisha she was in another room talking with her husband’s aunt. What warmth, what excitement, what love! It was a quiet, middle of the week, day, so no one was too busy to talk, in fact most of them seemed to relish the company.

It was so much fun in fact, it kind of showed me that in my heart I was a down town girl. Too bad it has taken me so long to figure that out, but now I’ve signed up to go down there for book signings and to paint in the garden of the Pritchard house which has been beautifully restored. Maybe Onisha and I will wander the streets together again some day just like my best friend and I did in childhood. Whether we do or not it was a lovely day and we’re very glad to see our town coming back in such a wonderful way.

Psalm 13:6

1

Westcliffe, Colorado

2

Titusville, Fl

 

 

 

 

Our Trip Across America – Part 9

5 Dec

A Slice of Life

   Bill Lites

Bill

 

As we headed East for the beginning of our return trip we decided to camp at the famous Donner Pass camping area along the Truckee River at over 7000 ft altitude.  It had been pretty hot on the drive from Fort Bragg, so we didn’t even think about the altitude being a factor.  We cooked supper and set around a campfire enjoying the beautiful scenery.  It started cooling off as we began cleaning up the supper dishes.   We kept thinking, “Hey, it’s mid-July, how cold can it get?”  Well, let me tell you, when the sun went down, it got COLD.  We ended up running our little electric heater full blast all night and sleeping in several layers of clothes and we were still cold.

Sign

   

I don’t know how cold it got that night, but the next morning a half glass of water next to my bed was frozen solid.  You would have thought that experience would have caused me to research our campsites a little better the next time, but of course, it didn’t, because back then we were young and indestructible.

 

Statue

Our trip East took us across the high desert to our next stop in Lovelock, Nevada, near the Ute Indian Reservation, where DiVoran was born.  We toured the small town and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the city park.  As we were leaving Lovelock, we passed a group of people riding turn-of-the- century big-wheel bicycles.  What a sight that was.

 

Mts

 

Then it was on East through Winnemucca to Elko, Nevada where we experienced our firs family style Basque dinner (including French fries?)at one of the local boarding houses.

 

boardinghouse

We later learned that Elko was the site for one of the annual “Cowboy Poetry Gatherings” and was honored on the Johnny Carson Show.  We recorded the show where Johnny was impressed, as we were, with some very unusual Cowboy poetry.

cowboys 1cowboy 2

 

 

 

This inspired DiVoran to write a poem of her own, and paint a picture to illustrate it.  The poem was about an experience that took place later in Colorado and goes something like this:

 

Bridget’s Mustang

  By DiVoran Lites

Horse trader come down the draw

In a boil of red-powder dust.

I saw he had three stallions,

And own that one, I must.

“I’ll take the paint;” I say,

“He looks like he’s got soul.

The mare’s in the corral.

Next year we’ll have a foal”.

“You keep an eye on him.” the trader says.

“He’s mustang through and through,

a wild one from the range.”

Foal next year? Maybe two.

“You’ve got fine boys and pups,” he said.

The trader wasn’t done.

You need to jaw around these parts.

It’s all that makes life fun.

“My little `un,” says I, “he’s four.”

My boys are twins—them two

I can’t keep clean clothes on their backs,

Nor none will wear a shoe.

“The pups? Well, one’s part wolf,” I said

“You see those pale, cold eyes?

He has to play the alpha.

Now that ain’t no surprise.”

“You ever want another horse,

I’ll bring one out this way.

Now, watch him close, don’t leave him

For at least a night and day.”

The pups dance all around,

The boys run to and fro,

the horses mill in the corral,

And oh, the dust does blow.

painting

 

—–To Be Continued—–