Tag Archives: Family Life

Summer in Florida

15 Jul

I asked DiVoran for a summer poem. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do~Onisha

 Rainy Season

DiVoran Lites

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Overhead, gray clouds swarm and boil.

Trees whip and moan.

A mockingbird flies fast, trying to avoid the storm.

All of a sudden it is here, drumming on the porch’s aluminum roof

Lightning flashes. Thunder rumbles and booms.

The storm passes.

 

Cats run to hide.

 

Tree frogs sing like bawling cattle.

Sun slants through pink muhly grass

Emeralds sparkle on green leaves.

The cats come meowing for their supper.

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening, we hold hands.

 

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My Diet Journal~Part 3

14 Jul

A Slice of Life

DiVoran Lites

My ten extra pounds, and my egg choir.

My ten extra pounds, and my egg choir.

When I started journaling this morning, everything in me felt low from energy to emotions. Usually when I start writing I tell the Lord what I’m unhappy about, so I planned to complain for about five hours. My routine had changed. I slept in until seven and then it was starting to get hot, so I thought I’d skip the coffee and the writing and hit the trail.

I’ve become able to drink coffee with Stevia and one quarter grain saccharine, but I still need the creamer, which is 2cheating. I tried to do without it one day, last week, taking Anacin with its 32 mg of caffeine, in order to avoid the withdrawal headache. It didn’t work, so I had a cup of coffee in the afternoon. I know I’m addicted, but I don’t want to give it up because I enjoy it, feel that it clears my mind, and have more energy when I drink a cup. I drink two a day. Some studies show that a moderate amount is good for most people, but if doc says no, then it’s no.

We bought some new Stevia called Truvia and we like it much better. I still want a quarter gram of saccharine, in fact I wish I could stay on that combination, even though Dr. Simenon discovered that artificial sweeteners are truly bad for people.

Flashback — Okay, I’m ready for my walk. Hat, key, phone, “sticky” note-pad, church pew pencil, (I found it in my car), tissue, iPod, and dark glasses. At first it’s not unbearably hot. I start listening to a book. Some days I don’t listen, I just enjoy the fresh air and observe, and maybe I’ll listen on the way home to make the journey shorter. It gets hotter as I go. By the time I head home I’m thinking about calling Bill to ask if he’ll come get me. But no, that would be wimpy. I didn’t drink water because you’re supposed to take the hcg and give it a chance to get into your system without interference. What if I pass out from dehydration?

When I do get home I lay on my bed for a while getting lower by the minute. Here comes the addiction withdrawal headache. I think I’ll lie here like this all day. This must be how it feels to be in deep grief, just wanting to stay in bed.

I decide that for a cup of coffee I can make myself get up.

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Now I’m writing. Bill comes in for a minute and we talk about his weight. To our great surprise he has already reached his goal, though he didn’t realize it and wants to keep going, He lost ten pounds his first week. The way I understand it, you don’t go off the diet when you reach your goal weight, you continue with the hcg until the three weeks are up, but you eat more. When you reach your goal, you can eat as much of the designated foods as you wish. You don’t have to count calories, anymore, just stay away from starch and sugar.

After our chat and three quarters of the cup of coffee, I didn’t feel down anymore, so I started writing and here you see the result.

Oh, by the way, in case you’re interested, I have lost 6.05 lb. this week. Thanks for listening.

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The Classic

13 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

I’ve mentioned before how my brother was always fascinated with model airplanes. How he would build them, fly them, fix them up and fly them again. He was really good with his hands.

Another thing he liked to do – as I remember – was to work on car engines. I remember a time, after we began to become friends instead of just picking-at-each-other siblings, that he bought an OLD car and brought it home to work on. I believe he totally removed the engine and other parts and re-worked them. I’m proud to say that I helped him with that a bit – I actually HELPED him! When it was back together, he painted that car a gorgeous turquoise.

When Fred and I met, he was a sophomore at the University of New Mexico (UNM). He lived on campus and so didn’t need a vehicle. He also didn’t have his driver’s license. So if we went anywhere, I was the driver.

It didn’t take him long to remedy that situation – at least in that he obtained his driver’s license. However, he still didn’t have a car. He either walked or took the bus. Albuquerque had a good public transportation system.

Long about Springtime of 1960, he purchased his first car – a 1957 Chevrolet Belaire V8. He paid a grand total of $1,100 for it. It was a soft green, four-door, bench seats, automatic transmission.  It was a beauty! It didn’t have air conditioning, but in Albuquerque’s climate, we didn’t need it. He was so proud of that car.

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In 1960, we, and my parents, drove in that car to Englewood, California for Christmas with my brother Bill, and his wife, DiVoran. We discovered that Bill was working on another car. Fred helped him put the engine back together and everything back in place. We had a grand time with them there. We took in Disneyland

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and Knotts Berry Farm.

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Great memories. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner at Bill and DiVoran’s little house, along withher parents.

 
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On New Year’s Eve, we drove to Pasadena, to spend some time with Fred’s Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Bob. One of Fred’s cousins and his friends, took two picnic benches and some bedrolls, and set them up on the sidewalk at the starting point for the 1961 Rose Parade, scheduled for the following day. They slept on the benches to keep our spots. After the parade, we went back to their house and had a lovely lunch, then we headed out, back to Albuquerque.

That next summer – June 20, 1961 – 53 years ago – we loaded up that car and, following our wedding – headed to Fort Worth, Texas, where Fred was to study at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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While it was a smooth ride, we really wished for an air conditioned car! Texas climate is NOT the same as New Mexico!!

We drove that un-air-conditioned car for several years before trading it in on another, newer vehicle. As we look back on those times, Fred continues to say that he wishes he had kept that car. It is now considered a CLASSIC. Of course, we were dirt poor at the time, and couldn’t possibly keep that car and have another one. And we couldn’t possibly know that, that particular car would turn into a CLASSIC.

But it’s fun to look back and remember those times.

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Love’s Concentric Circles

10 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

It seems my circle of love is not becoming smaller but concentric. A side benefit of having eleven aunts and uncles is a whole bunch of cousins. It doesn’t stop there as those cousins have children, creating even more cousins.

This week we were blessed to have a visit from my cousin, Susan and her children who live in Georgia. Her three children combined with our two grandchildren created some awesome and chaotic “cousins time” On the first day of their visit the children from teens to tweens had a blast at our local entertainment complex, “The Factory”.

The Factory

 

The second day we loaded up two cars with picnic supplies, chairs and towels and visited a local swimming hole, Sliding Rock in the Pisgah National Forest.

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Susan is the granddaughter of one of my favorite aunts during my childhood. Her grandmother Della, her husband and boys spent a lot of time with my family as I was growing up. We were a musical family and would “make music” when the families got together. Della sang a beautiful high soprano while my mother a strong Alto. Together with their boys and my brothers we had music voices covered all the way down to deep bass. Dad and mom also played the guitar. Oh the sweet hymns they sang. There was one they sang, that I still sing in my heart when I am feeling down, Come Unto Me.

My aunt Della died of a brain tumor when she was forty-seven. I was heartbroken but she left a legacy of love. I still miss her almost fifty years later.

 

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My Western Trip~Part 10

9 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

 

Heading for the Point Loma Peninsula, I checked out the Cabrillo National Monument, which commemorates the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in the San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. After that beautiful drive, I visited the famous San Diego Maritime Museum, Seaport Village, the Seafood Grotto, the Tribute to Bob Hope wartime tours, and the WWII V.J. Day Monument. The tribute to Bob Hope was unique, in that it consisted of a group of bronze figures representing all the U.S. Military Services, gathered around Bob, while he told many of his funniest jokes (via recordings) to anyone who was listening.

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And then, there was the gigantic WW V.J. Day Monument, depicting the famous 1945 Time Square celebration picture of a sailor kissing a dental technician. Many, along with me, had always thought she was a nurse, because of her white uniform, but the base plaque said she was not a nurse, but a dental technician. I finished the day with a wonderful visit with our high school friends Jim and Charlene, while we ate dinner at the Brigantide Seafood Restaurant.

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The next morning I headed east to visit the Pacific Southwest Railroad Museums in La Mesa and Campo, Ca. Unfortunately, they were both closed, so I just kept heading east toward Yuma, AZ where I planned to visit the Yuma Territorial Prison. Now there was a place you would never have wanted to be incarcerated, as a criminal, in the late 1800s. Amazingly, even though most inmates were sentenced to do time at the Territorial Prison for violent crimes, some were sent there for things such as polygamy, forgery and violations of the Neutrality Act. While in Yuma, I also visited the U.S. Quartermaster Depot which was used by the U.S. Army to store and distribute supplies for military posts in the territories of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas from 1864 to 1883.

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Next, it was on East for another 240 miles of desert, thru Gila Bend and a lot more desert, to Tucson, AZ where I was looking forward to visiting the Pima Air & Space Museum and AMARG (Better known as the Bone yard). The next day was Friday, and I was up bright and early so I could be first in line for tickets to both the Museum and the Bone Yard, since they only gave Bone Yard tours M-F. What a great time I had there! The Museum itself encompasses four large hangers of beautifully restored aircraft, and 30+ acres of static display aircraft outdoors. The Bone Yard consists of over 300 acres, where literally thousands of discontinued U.S. Military aircraft are stored, reclaimed or restored to flying condition when needed.   Luckily, the Museum provides bus tours of both the Museum grounds and the Bone Yard, so people like me can see most all there is to see in about 4-6 hours. It really boggled my mind to see acres and acres of airplanes stored like that, all in one place!

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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Diet Journal Entry~2

7 Jul

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

DiVoran and her mom

Mom-Dora, Me-DiVoran probably at my highest weight, several years ago.

 

Day Four

I can’t believe we’re starting day four on our diet. That means we only have two weeks and three days left, and then three weeks on maintenance when we have more food choices and won’t be limited as far as calories go. If we follow the rules adequately, we will keep it off for a good long time, who knows, maybe forever.

The diet has been in existence for over fifty year after Dr. Simeon researched and experimented with it on his willing patients for over fifteen years.* I think it was the diet Bill and Judy’s mom went on many years ago, only she had to go the a doctor’s office and get hormone shots. Nowadays we don’t use the real hormone, we use a homeopathic, which the body perceives in exactly the same way. Agnes was thrilled with the results, and we were thrilled for her. She never went back up to her original weight.

The rules are detailed because while the hcg triggers the body to let go of the fat, the chemical make-up of various foods either aid or hinder the loss. The website we use has counselors online to help.

We spent half an hour after lunch yesterday hashing out the directions, our experiences with the diet, and our needs (or wants). Both of us are first-born, perfectionist, control freaks so we have many discussions over almost everything. Certain words such as sorry, say, again, I blipped, and let me see if I understand what you’re saying, are vital to the discussions. The cats don’t like it if we raise our voices.

We appreciate every bite we get, except at this point we still can’t stand the Stevia we have on hand. We’ve had it since the first diet about five years ago, though, so we’re thinking of getting a new package, hoping it has improved and will be better when it’s fresher.

This morning the scale put on a light show of flashing numbers ending with an ERROR message. Yesterday, my first day, I’d lost two-and-a-half pounds. Bill has lost four. The scale is working fine now, maybe it had to change its mind from continually showing gain, to showing loss.

By this time, you may be thinking that we’re rich and fussy about food. Are you thinking of the poor, the homeless, and the people dying in countries where their governments deliberately starve them to death? I need to pray about all that again, will you join me?

Dear Lord, only your omniscience can know how deeply grateful we are to have so many varieties of food and drink to choose from. We thank you that we can buy what we need and what we want. We don’t have the power or the resources to supply jobs, farms, and sustenance for everyone in the whole world, and as you say in your word we will always have the poor with us. However we do ask you to show us where and when to share, and to give us the wisdom, the power, and the love to obey you. All we do know to do is to trust you with all our hearts, to thank you, and to help us not to depend on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The way I wrote part one it sounded as if MAINTENANCE consisted of no oils at all. That’s a false impression. It’s the diet that lets you have no oils. Maintenance give you all the fats you’d want: dairy, cheese, cooking oil, butter, etc. The way I’m understanding it, our bodies are supposed to run on the fats they break down. What gets us into trouble is combining them with starch or sugar or both. After three weeks on maintenance, the directions explain, you may start back with carbs, but carefully.

For more information here is a handy link to a PDF

http://www.yourhcg.com/poundsandinches.pdf

 

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An Amazing Surprise~Part 2

29 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

JUDY

A few years after we arrived in Virginia, as Christmas was approaching, the wives of the officers were invited to help make up cookie bags for the enlisted personnel who were stationed at that Air Force Base, but would be alone and working over the holiday – unable to go to their respective homes.  We were asked to bake about six dozen cookies (or more), and then bring them to a certain place on a certain day, and a bunch of women would make an assortment and bag them up.  That was something I enjoyed doing, so I set to work.

When the appointed day and time arrived, I went to the assigned place.  As we were working (I didn’t know anyone else there – we were just a bunch of wives working together), one of the women looked at me and said, “Judy, are you by chance from Albuquerque?”  A bit startled, I told her yes.  And then she proceeded to ask if I had gone to Highland High School in Albuquerque.  Again I said yes.

 

 

Then I asked her what her name was.  When she told me her maiden name, I literally had a jaw-dropping moment!  This woman had not only grown up in Albuquerque, but she had lived just across the street from our elementary school.  And, as I recall, I had been in her house.  I had actually known her at some point in my life.  She was two years ahead of me in school.

SURPRISE!!  Amazing!!

After we finished up, I ran home and dug out my old high school year books, and then my brothers year books (he had entrusted me with his books – he had graduated three years before me).  And there she was.

My questions were:   after all these years and worlds apart, HOW did she recognize me?  And how, after all these years, did we wind up stationed at the same AF base?  Fred was in the Weather Wing there, and her husband was commander of one of the flying units, so we had no other connection together.  But it was fun while it lasted.

 

I do SO enjoy these kinds of happenings!!

 

 

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Circle of Love

26 Jun

Thrive

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

When we left Florida last week, we traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina to celebrate the 80th birthday of my uncle, the youngest brother of my mother. My mother came from a family of twelve children and these aunts and uncles have been a blessing to me as well as to my children. I never doubted their love.

My mother and her ten other brothers and sisters have all passed on now, each one dearly missed. I’m not a poet but I wrote the poem below many years ago as my precious aunts and uncles began slipping away.

 

My circle of love grows smaller

As one by one, they fall,

The molders of my life

The molders of my soul.

 

Once so strong and sure

They led me from child to middle age,

Now they are shrunken, unsure or gone.

 

Still, memories of them-

Their laughter, scoldings and love

Echo in my heart.

 

Looking at those remaining,

My heart is heavy with dread,

They are so fragile, even frail.

I want to cling to them.

 

Yet, they loved me and released me

Allowing me to live my life,

So must I release them to live

A new life with God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Florida Whirlwind.

19 Jun

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

It has been a busy three weeks in Florida, kind of a whirlwind. It’s so much fun to re-connect with some of the best friends one could ever be blessed with, leisurely chats on the porch or lunch at the Cracker Barrel and dinner at the local pizza ristorante. Precious times.

Then there is all the work that was accomplished. Rebekah and I work well together through iChat and Dropbox, but sometimes, it is just better to be in the same place. July 16,17 and 18 Rebekah will be on a virtual book tour, her words traveling around the country and maybe even the globe, as she prepares to launch her new release Jessie. Even though she hired a tour company, a lot of blog posts and interviews had to be written and perfected. She still has a few more to write, but I believe we are over the hump. Thankfully, our friend Pam joined our  team and pulled together a great media kit for the tour.

Along with the work was a lot of fun. Elaine Wessinger  opened her home to host one of Rebekah’s Tea with the Author events.  The table theme was an elegant Victorian tea and conversation and laughter flowed easily.

Tea Table at Elaines

The following weekend was the Titusville Sea Turtle Festival and I wish you could have been there. Rebekah had a table displaying her books as well as DiVoran Lites novels. Pam Gheen and DiVoran, wearing an adorable sun hat, visited the various vendors chatting them up. Rebekah dubbed them her “streetmosphere”.streetmosphere-feature

Since the festival targeted children, Rebekah’s father built a spinning prize wheel to attract people to her table. While I helped the children, Pam talked about the books and loaded the parents up with rack cards, book marks and paper bags to hold it all. Of course the bags had Rebekah Lyn Books logo on them, working on that brand angle. Then a thunder-storm rolled in and like a  knock off  purse seller running from the law, the festival cleared out.

As much fun as this has been, Florida is getting too hot and it is time to head for the hills. Before we get there though, we will make a visit to eastern North Carolina to visit with family plus Mike wants to check on the progress of the Cabella’s sporting goods store being built near my aunt’s home.

Rebekah’s new release Jessie will be releasing July 20, 2014 which is the forty-fifth anniversary of the first moon landing. She is offering a pre-release price of $1.99, Regular price is $4.99

 

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Behold How Good and Pleasant

9 Jun

My Take

DiVoran Lites

On my way home from my walk I met one of the neighbors, Chuck, who had helped another neighbor remove the tree that fell on our house during Hurricane Charlie. Chuck was walking very slowly

Author, Poet and Artistallowing his ancient dog to saunter and sniff all he wanted. We spoke as we passed. When I got to the curve in the trail where I leave it, I stopped to make a note of something. There I heard a forlorn meowing from the bushes. It had to be a lost domestic cat. It was. Chuck’s cat big male tiger kitty.

“Your cat is here.” I yelled. He started back and I went back on the trail to meet him. He wasn’t going anywhere and I was on my way home so we turned around and sauntered back toward the neighborhood. The cat came out and twined around Chuck’s ankles.

“He follows us out here, but he doesn’t like to go too far.” Chuck said. We started slowly making our way back into the neighborhood. I told him I’d been walking past his house since his kids were small. The first time I ever saw them they had run out of the house with no clothes on—just little kids being free and happy. Chuck now had all the time in the world to talk to me. His major kid rearing days were about over. They’re off to college next year. He and his wife have been excellent parents. I’ve heard swimming parties from behind their privacy fence, I’ve seen the family coming home from camping, and watched as boy scouts gathered for projects.

When we got to Chuck’s house right off the trail. I said goodbye and Chuck took his dog over to greet a weenie dog they knew and his master.

I felt so blessed to walk with him, pet the cat, greet the dog, and hear about the kids. How wonderful to have watched a family rear good, happy kids who will become ordinary fine Americans and hopefully rear theirs kids the same. How great that this young man, who probably is quite busy during the week, had all the time in the world for an old dog, an old lady, and a cat who clearly adores him.

Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in one neighborhood where people get along and kids can grow up in safety and in love. Paraphrase of Psalm 133.1

 

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