Tag Archives: Friendship

Spring Cleaning Fling~Part 2

7 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

 

 

House with Flag

 

Spring Emails from Onisha and Patricia Franklin

Onisha
I’m kind of glad you felt the same way about the classes as I did. It makes me feel better about myself. My mother wasn’t in to the cleaning thing. Whenever we would be cleaning the house when company was expected she would get side tracked and begin building something, a new closet, or shelves, whatever. I ended up doing the cleaning. I often wonder if there are cleaning tips that mothers passed down to daughters. My brother in law’s wife was a professional cleaner for many years and I often wanted to ask her about tips but didn’t want to appear dumb. I did get her potato salad recipe though. The secret to it was the number of eggs used plus some sour cream. I had to iron for free at home as well as basically run the household during my teen years. Fortunately by then, permanent press had been discovered.  For that, I got lunch money for schook, fifty cents per day plus $2.50 for a total of five dollars per week. I saved that up plus some babysitting money to buy my first prom dress.  I also ironed for some of mom’s friends. One lady had a lot of baby clothes, 5 cents a piece is what I think I received.

Patricia

Monday seems like a good day to put in a “cleaning” blog.😉  I can’t recall doing much cleaning as a child.  In fact, I had one dresser drawer with all my stuff in it.  We did not have much “stuff.”  As far as housecleaning, I think my Mom did most of it.  I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house.  In fact, I do remember “penny dusting” at her house.  She would go around and put a penny on each item that needed dusting and I would make a little spending money that way.  It wasn’t much, but seemed like a lot in those days.  We usually spent it on penny candy. You could get a lot of candy for a penny from my aunt’s Biggest Little Store in the World or from Mrs. Motts store on Main Street.

I did help her more with the yard work later on, raking, pulling weeds and even mowing.

We now have a lot of stuff to go through, including a closet full of pictures.  Husband and I are both collectors, so we have a hard time getting rid of things.  He is better than I am about it, but I know my kids will not have any use for it so I ought to just pitch everything. It seems like I can’t find time enough to do anything extra, except my usual everyday things.  Hopefully we will be able to get at it soon.  It drives me crazy thinking about it.

 

Fly Lady http://www.flylady.net/

“Build My Mansion Next Door to Jesus,” written and sung by Dottie Rambo

 

 

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Colorado Adventures

22 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

and

Patricia Franklin 

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Patricia and I have been corresponding for years. We first met when she was in first grade, just before she was promoted to second and moved one aisle over to the second grade aisle where we five second graders sat. She got promoted because she was the only child in the first grade, and because she was smart. It was my first time in that school because my family had recently moved to town. This letter starts where my last blog, “Shelf Roads,” left off. I liked the extra details she shared so thought I would pass them on.

DiVoran

 The Altmans started coming to our school after the consolidation. (Before that they had gone to a small country school closer to their ranch. The consolidation was when all the students from valley schools were bussed to town.)

Marjorie and I were friends in high school, and we actually were roommates our first year in college in Gunnison.  They had a ranch at the foot of the range, near Alvarado, (a mountain meadow where the community had field days and picnics). We used to go horseback riding on the trails up there. That was so much fun.

One time we came upon this old cabin.  We looked inside a broken window and something white moved inside.  We screamed and ran, then went back to look again.  It was a white goat, and was inside standing in the middle of the bed. The cabin was old and still furnished.  The cupboards had been taken over by rats and any other creature that could get inside.  I guess it had been abandoned, as everything in it was a mess.  We never did find out who the owner was, or what happened after that.  Although, I remember my Dad had me write up an article for the Wet Mountain Tribune about the adventure, and it was on the front page of the paper.  We sure had some great, fun adventures in those times.

There is a shelf road between Canon City and Cripple Creek.  It is named the Shelf Road and is used a lot.  It has been closed various times, due to rock slides and erosion, but is still one of the main roads up there.  That and the Phantom Canyon Road are the two most used from Highway 50 to Cripple Creek I would say.  I have not been up those roads for a few years, but I love them.   After driving all over the “jeep roads” in the San Juan and Gunnison mountains, I do not mind them anymore.  We have been on some very narrow and scary roads, but I love it so much, I got over my worst fears.

I still do not like being on the edge and looking down though.  Once Frank and I had to pull way over to the side because some 4 wheelers were coming down and would not move over.  (As we were going up, we were supposed to have the right of way).  Our Jeep was so close to the edge, I could see the pebbles falling out from under the tires and rolling down the mountainside. And there was a pickup upside down about 1000 feet down.  Now, that was scary!!😕 One time we started up that road when it was raining. A lightning bolt hit a nearby mountain, and then some rocks started rolling down the side of the mountain above us.  Needless to say, we backed down and did not make the trip that day.

The Shelf Road from Canon City to Cripple Creek

 

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The Shelf Roads

15 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

My friend, Patricia has been commenting on the serial I’m running on Rebekah Lyn Book. It’s called Go West and I asked her particularly to comment because we have a shared childhood from 1945 to 1951. If anyone could keep me straight, or answer questions, it would be Patricia. Those were wonderful childhood years. She has done a bang-up job.

At that time of life most kids are interested in everything. Patricia and I were avid learners so we got a lot out of school. Patricia’s family had been in the valley from the time they first came to America. Her mother’s family was German and her dad came from Canada and was of French ancestry. She has some good tales to tell about them.

My parents moved to the small town right after dad came home from WWII. He bought the restaurant on the G. I. Bill. We lived in a railroad worker’s duplex, but before we moved away, Dad bought the old train depot and remodeled it into an apartment house. The railroad was defunct, but some of their buildings still stood.

Because I had the Go West characters in a shelf road situation for the last episode, Patricia remembered some shelf-road situations she’d been in herself. Here’s what she said:

The shelf road was very scary and reminded me of a couple of trails that I know!Remember the Dieckman girls?  Or did they just come to school during high school?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, I used to go horseback riding out on their ranch and along some of the mountain trails with them.  They kept wanting to ride up along Phantom Terrace, which we never did, although they had ridden it many times.  Just the name scared me. They said that horses are very surefooted and it would be perfectly safe.  I’m glad we never went, as I would probably have fallen off just looking over the cliff.

Shelf Roads OTRN

 

I wrote back and told her I did remember one of the Dieckman girls who came to our school after classes moved to the other small mining town a mile away. The school had about five rooms and you had to go through one to get to the other. It was unpainted wood. We had no bathrooms, only outhouses, but that was no problem, we’d had outhouses at the two room schoolhouse where we’d gone before.

It’s wonderful to have a friend from such a long time ago. Both sets of parents are gone. I still have one brother and she still has all five of hers. We’ve moved on to other locations, other lives, but it’s as comforting as can be to have someone to reminisce with and to still be able to remember the past even though we both think often of the hereafter. We think about Heaven and we think about going from one room to another and saying, what am I here after?

 

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My Friend Ray Part 2

30 Dec

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Cross Plane

 

As the word spread, and Ray’s air conditioning business increased, it wasn’t long before he had to start hiring help to keep up with all the work. At one point he had 5 trucks and 5 people working for him. Things were going really well for Ray, and as a matter of fact, during one year, Ray says he made more money with his sideline air conditioning business than he did working full-time for Leaver Bros.

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One of Ray’s employees approached him one day and mentioned that the owner of the Friggitt Lounge had an air condition system that needed repair and wanted to know if Ray was interested in the job. When Ray inspected the A/C unit, he discovered that it had (what appeared to be a bullet hole) in it. He took the job and repaired the unit, after which he and the owner, Joe, became good friends. Things were going well with the Friggitt Lounge and sometime about 1970 Joe asked Ray if he would like to be a partner in the lounge. Ray knew a good deal when he saw one, and bought 1/2 interest in the lounge. Business just got better and better.

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Then one day (sometime later) out of the clear blue sky, the local Mafia paid the bartender a visit. They informed him, that from then on their protection fee would be $1200 each week. When the bar tender told Joe and Ray about the Mafia visit, Joe said he wasn’t going to bow down to that kind of extortion, and that they could kiss his behind before he paid them one red cent. Ray tried to tell Joe that these were bad people and that he shouldn’t try to fight them, but Joe wouldn’t listen. Ray finally told him that he didn’t want to get involved with those people and wanted Joe to buy back his share of the business. Joe agreed to honor Ray’s request and just that quick Ray was out of the lounge business.

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Ray continued to work at Leaver Bros. and his sideline A/C business. According to him, it wasn’t 3 months later that the Friggitt Lounge became one of many businesses in the area that burned to the ground. That fire made Ray wonder if that original bullet hole in the Friggett Lounge A/C unit might have been the first warning that his friend Joe had received from the Mafia about his refusal to pay their weekly protection fees.

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After about 3 years, one of Ray’s original A/C customers, seeing how prosperous Ray’s Air Conditioning business was, approached Ray, telling him how he had always wanted to own a business of his own.   He asked Ray if he would be interested in selling his business. After some consideration, Ray quoted him a price and the man agreed to Ray’s terms, and the deal was done. (Keep in mind Ray has been doing all this while working full-time with Leaver Bros.)

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Some people have the most interesting life stories. Ray is one of those people, and I consider it a privileged to have him as a friend. If you have liked this story, stay tuned for more interesting blog stories to come, in the near future, about

“My Friend Ray.”

 

The End

 

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My Friend Ray~Part 1

23 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Small Red Plane

 

One day in the mid-1960s, while Ray was at work, his daughter decided to clean their refrigerator and get rid of the ice in the freezing compartment. The only problem with this good-will gesture was that she used a knife to break up the ice in the freezing compartment, puncturing holes in it. When she finished her task, the refrigerator wouldn’t cool. When Ray got home from work that evening, she told him what she had done and that she couldn’t understand why the refrigerator wouldn’t cool. It didn’t take Ray long to discover the problem. But now, what to do? He called the Hussman’s refrigeration parts store to see how much a replacement freezing unit would cost and was told $100 + $50 for a service call to have it installed. Well, in those days a person could buy a new refrigerator for around $200. Ray figured he could repair the unit himself for less than that. He went to the local salvage yard and found a refrigerator similar to his and of the same make and asked the man how much he would charge Ray for the freezing unit. The man said, “$2.00, but you have to remove it yourself.” Ray removed the unit, took it home and installed it in his refrigerator. Once he had everything back together, he charged the system with Freon, and his refrigerator worked fine.

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Sometime during this scenario, Ray had told his neighbor what had happened to his refrigerator, but not what he had done to fix the problem. The next time Ray saw his neighbor, he asked Ray, “Did you buy a new refrigerator?” Ray said, “No, I fixed the old one.” Then his neighbor said, “Really, do you think you could fix my window A/C unit?” Ray said, “I don’t know, I can take a look at it.” He took it to his shop, cleaned it up, added some Freon to the unit and it worked fine. When Ray gave the A/C unit back to his neighbor, the man asked, “How much do I owe you?” Ray said, “I’m not going to charge you anything for that.”

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Well, evidently Ray’s neighbor told his friend what a good job Ray had done on his A/C unit, and the next thing Ray knew, the friend showed up at Ray’s house wanting to know if Ray could fix his window A/C unit. You know how word of mouth stories can get around. As could be expected, when people found out there was a reliable and reasonable air conditioning repair man around, it wasn’t long before Ray had more neighborhood air conditioning work than he knew what to do with.

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Then one day Mike, who Ray was buying his air conditioning parts from, asked Ray if he would consider opening an air conditioning dealership to sell Bryant equipment. Ray told him he didn’t have the space for a dealership. Mike told Ray that if he would rent or buy a building, he would set Ray up with a Bryant dealership. Next thing he knew Ray was the owner of the Koolway Refrigeration Company.

 

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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You Can’t Outgive God~Part 3

19 Aug

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Red Spot Plane

 

DiVoran remembers that when it was time for lunch that day, we went upstairs to a fancy Trattoria. After we were seated, Erika discerned a small spot on the white tablecloth. When the waiter came to take our orders, she insisted, in rapid Italian and much hand waving, that the waiter immediately change the tablecloth for her American friends. DiVoran and I really felt sorry for that poor waiter but, the way Erika brow beat him, it was all we could do to keep from laughing out loud.

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On the train back to Venice, we joked and laughed so hard, about all of our experiences of the day that the four hour trip passed like one. We were each given a small package of cookies as a snack and, later, when DiVoran said she wished she had more, a young man who had been listening and enjoying our jokes, tossed his package of cookies onto her small table as he walked past to get off at his stop. That brought on another round of giggles.

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That day’s experiences will give you just a small idea of how many of our wonderful Italian vacation days went for us. Some were better than others, but they were all marvelous and we treasure the memory of each one of them. We really hated to leave when our vacation time was up, but all good things can’t last forever. We also learned that Marcia was instrumental in helping Erika’s father Lorenzo get a job with DCL as translator and Italian coordinator with the shipyard workers. She really had her hand on the pulse of that DCL office.

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So, when construction on the “Wonder” was finished Marcia and Erika, along with Lorenzo and his wife Ornella, were among the Disney team members who worked their way across the Atlantic, on the ship making it ready for its first Disney cruise from Port Canaveral, FL. DCL had made some special arrangements for their two cruise ships to arrive at Port Canaveral at the same time for PR purposes. The “Wonder” was arriving from Italy, and the “Magic” was returning from a regularly scheduled cruise. Our whole family went to the port to see the two ships arrive and it was quite a sight. There were news helicopters everywhere, “Welcome“ signs towed by airplanes, daylight fireworks fired off from the two ships, and “Mickey” hands for all of us to wave at each other with. It was a typical Disney gala event.

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DiVoran and I invited Marcia, Erika, Lorenzo and Ornella to a birthday dinner for my sister Judy, where they were able to meet our entire family. Judy and her husband Fred, our daughter Charlene and her husband Ron, our son Billy and his wife Lisa, and their two children Jacob and Lacey all crowded around the dinner table, getting acquainted while we ate. It was Lorenzo and Ornella’s first trip to America and they were interested in everything they saw and heard.

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We all had a great time and Erika invited DiVoran and me to be her guests on the first training cruise to the Bahamas on the “Wonder.” You can imagine our surprise! Neither of us had ever been on a pleasure cruise of any kind, so this was too wonderful for us to believe. And let me tell you, it was every bit as WONDERFUL as you might imagine!

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As you can see, that original gesture of love and acceptance DiVoran showed Marcia way back in 1987, began a friendship that has lasted many years. And, for us, has been returned many times over and in many different ways over in the years since then. Our God is so good about keeping His promises to us when we listen and follow His instructions and directions.

 

Luke 6:38

 

—–The End—–

 

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Take Time for Pie With Friends

12 Feb

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

It’s Thursday again and I really( I have been editing so I MUST take out that adverb) don’t have much to write about. I had some thoughts this morning, but dealing with insurance company issues stripped my brain. So when my friend called and suggested going to get some pie, I went.

We nibbled our pie, sipped coffee and talked about all kinds of things from funny to serious.  It was a blessed time and I am so glad we made the time for each other.

This morning I read the blog of my cyber friend, Lia. She loves the savior, as we do and is a wonderful author as well. She wrote about her lack of progress on her next novel. The final paragraph in her blog, touched me. She gave me permission to share it here.

When life gets in the way, and we take time to think about what it means, we become deeper, richer human beings.  That will pour into our writing.  If we give ourselves to others in service with compassion, that will show up in the pages of our blogs, books, poetry or journals. We cannot improve the world around us without improving ourselves, and we cannot improve ourselves without improving our message.

One doesn’t have to be an author to feel frustrated when we don’t accomplish our “to do” list. We may not be writing books, poetry or blogs, but we are writing the story of Christ in our lives. Mike and I have started Tai-Chi with a You Tube instructor.  There is a move, that finishes with one pushing their arms forward and releasing their spirit to mingle with other people’s spirits.  Well that is too “new agey” for me. As I exhale and push my arms forward, in my mind I say. “I am pushing the spirit of Christ that lives in me into the world, may His light shine through me.

Click here if you would like to read the rest of Lia’s blog. Is Life Getting in the Way? | Lia London Books.

This in not me. I needed a picture!!

This in not me. I needed a picture!!

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An Amazing Adventure~Part 14

25 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

After our venture into the mountains, we drove back to Denver. We parked and walked some of the downtown area. It is a lovely city. We walked through Lincoln Park.

 

We saw, across the way, the County Courthouse, decked out with pink ribbons on the columns.

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We saw a statue memorial to a Medal of Honor Recipient from World War 2;

 

we saw a cowboy and an Indian warrior.

 

We saw bronze statues,

 

and the library, and a cow!

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In front of Katie Mullins bar were some bagpipers.

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We went through the library and were fascinated by it. Very modern. It was of great interest to Karen, as she is a librarian in her hometown. We rode the downtown bus—free—for several blocks, just to take in some of the town, and the architecture.

Finally, tuckered out, we drove back to the hotel. Actually, we stopped at the Texas Roadhouse Grill for supper. The food was really good, but there was an enormous amount of it! We were stuffed! Then back to the hotel to pack and sleep.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel, then went back to Rosie’s Diner for one more breakfast. Then Karen and Brian drove us to the airport, where we said our goodbyes to them. We then flew home. Karen and Brian had most of the day to do with, and they made a full day of it.

So, as you can see, the whole thing really was an A…M…A…Z…I…N…G adventure! One we would happily repeat!

As promised, one last word about the friends we stayed with our second night (I invite you to revisit my November 2, 2014 post).

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Ruth Anne and I have known each other since early childhood. We both lived in New Mexico: she was in Deming, and I was in Albuquerque – about a four-hour’s drive apart. Our fathers played college basketball together in Louisiana (early 1920’s). We are fairly convinced that her father was partly responsible for bringing my father to Albuquerque. I would spend weeks in Deming in the summers with her, and she would spend weeks in Albuquerque with me. We met up with her and her husband while studying at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in the early-to-mid 1960’s. Charles went on to become a pastor, while Fred went into the Air Force. We visited with them and their family once when we were all living in Kansas. After their daughters were grown and away from home, Charles and Ruth Anne went to the mission field, in Malaysia. They were invited back recently by the Malaysian Christians to help them. They are absolutely lovely people, and we rejoice that our family has stayed connected with them all these years.

~~~~~~~FINALLY…..The End…of an AMAZING adventure!~~~~~~~

 

 

 

The whole earth is filled with awe at Your wonders…..

Psalm 65:8

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Old Things R New Blogger Dinner

22 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

Our Old Things R New annual blogger dinner was last night. I spent the week looking forward to  the laughter and fellowship. As I thought about the blog and the wonderful people I blog with, I realized again how blessed  I was and I wanted to do something to  recognize their work and faithfulness. My daughter, Rebekah suggested certificates. At first, I balked, but as I thought about it, I grew to like the idea. It was something I could create  for them.

Since we don’t all live in the same town, we met at a High Tide Harry’s Seafood restaurant. It’s location was convenient for those coming from the east and the ones from the south.photo

We started the dinner off talking hard and fast. It was a challenge to  find an open moment to say a few words about the blog and give them a quick overview of the progress we have made. Our goal has always been to write and share, having readers is a lovely bonus. Our one disappointment was that our blogger/poetess, Louise Gibson  did not feel well enough to attend.

I had been looking forward to this dinner all  week and it did not disappoint So here is our “official” blogger dinner photo. (subject to change if someone took a better photo)

Fred (husband of Judy) Divoran,Bill, Judy, me and Janet

Fred (husband of Judy) Divoran,Bill, Judy, me and Janet

I held off giving out the certificates until the dinner was over . I mean how can you hold  a certificate and eat at the same time? I almost waited too long because suddenly everyone was leaving!  I went for drama and cried STOP!  It was fun giving them out and each one had a gold seal of thanks on it. Since Louise wasn’t able to attend I decided to post a photo of her certificate.  We were pleased her daughters joined us. as well as my husband and daughter. We really are a blogger family.

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I’m already looking forward to next year’s dinner.

Here is a quiz for you. Match the award to the blogger. I already gave you one free!

Most Comments

Most Adventourous

Most Nostalgic

Most Inspriational

Most Viewed

Leave your guesses in comments and you just may win a prize!!

ps…. If I had created an award for myself it would have been Most Procrastinating!

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I’ll Have a Bite!

15 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

Have you ever been around one of those people who, no matter what you’re eating,they want a bite? Well I am one of those people.

Day before yesterday my husband was eating a yummy looking hot dog and I couldn’t Hot_Dogresist. I had to have a bite.The next day he came down with  a stomach bug, feeling all nauseated and yucky, and guess what I have today? You guessed it! The next time I ask for a bite of his hotdog or any thing else he’s eating, I’m going to bite from the opposite side.

Since I’m on the subject of eating, next week the blogging family of Old Things R New will be having our second annual bloggers dinner. I’m excited. Last year was the first time we  all  met face to face!  A lot of talking went on and I  know that this year will be the same.

Old Things R New Family

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