Tag Archives: Memories

Pictures

2 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

I think I’ve mentioned several things before:

 

  1. My Aunt Jessie – my mother’s only sibling, collector of plates and other items

 

  1. I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

  1. I did scrapbooking for quite a while

 

  1. Fred and I eat at Cracker Barrel quite often

What brought these things to mind, is that we were at Cracker Barrel recently and I saw a picture that I had noticed before. I kept telling Fred that it reminded me of pictures I have of Aunt Jessie as a small child – actually wondering whether or not it actually was my Aunt Jessie. I know that Cracker Barrel collects odds and ends of “old times” to display in their restaurant/store. I suspect they travel far and wide at antique stores, and such, to find the treasures they want. They have items on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. I keep forgetting to “look up” and see what they have. Interesting stuff.

1

Credit Google search and Cracker Barrel website

 

2

Credit Google search and Cracker Barrel website

 

I have also mentioned the deer head hanging above the Cracker Barrel fireplace in every Cracker Barrel I’ve been in. It reminds me of the one we had hanging in our dining room all the years I was growing up (please see my post of July 10, 2016 – Family Treasures – Part 6).

The particular picture I have of Aunt Jessie that reminded me of this picture connection, is on a 3″ x 3″ piece of glass, and is literally painted on that glass. It has always fascinated me.

I probably would not have made any connection between those two pictures, had I not done a lot of scrapbooking, and that glass picture was there for me to place in a book. I always thought it was a neat thing to have – a picture painted on a piece of glass – but it wasn’t until I saw the picture in Cracker Barrel that I made any connection.

My shot of the Cracker Barrel picture
Picture on glass

So I thought I would show my readers what prompted me to write about it. I told Fred recently that when I got the pictures together, I would probably say, “oh, they don’t look anything alike after all!” But it’s fun to think about.

Who knows? It could be a long-lost picture of one of my family members! Stranger things have happened!

And here are a couple of other pictures of Jessie, that actually look more like that Cracker Barrel picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

My Love Affair with Disney~Part 3

4 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

Because Fred and I have Disney running through our veins, we have a LOT of Disney memorabilia around our house. Last time I shared some of our Disney memorabilia. I would like to share a bit more this time.

Fred’s sister and her husband came to visit us a few years ago. We did take them to EPCOT, which we all enjoyed. We also took them to (then) Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs). We usually enjoy taking visitors there – especially if they don’t really want to do one of the “parks.” It gives them a “taste” of Disney, without feeling like they must spend an entire day there, to justify the cost of the ticket. If they don’t want to purchase anything, that’s okay. We do enjoy showing them our favorite eatery there (the Earl of Sandwich), as it is probably the most inexpensive spot to eat within the Disney complex. And the hot sandwiches are GREAT!!

 

1

 

In any case, when they came to visit, as we wandered through some of the shops, Jim pointed out a Mickey Mouse figurine to Sally, and they purchased it for us as a thank-you for all we had done for them on their visit. A few days later, after they returned home, we went back to Downtown Disney and purchased another figurine – one that I’d had my eye on for a while. They aren’t a true match, but I like them both, just the same.

 

2

 

And then there’s the Precious Moments® figurine with Bambi in it. Really sweet.

3

 

Anyone remember those old “E” tickets at Disney? They are long gone now, but we remember those tickets from the 1970’s when we first went to Disney World (which only had the Magic Kingdom at that time). Little pieces of papers littered the ground just everywhere you looked. Disney finally got smart and stopped that nonsense! However, they have brought them back – as magnets! And so I have them on our refrigerator door. Gives us a great opportunity to explain them to our grandchildren.

 

4

 

And since we sail with the Disney Cruise Line as often as we do (our favorite cruise line, by the way!), we have reached the Gold level – five cruises with Disney. And we got this great magnet for it! We used to feel really honored to have sailed that many times with Disney – until we met a couple who had sailed 18 times with Disney!! Yikes!

 

5

 

One last magnet for this posting – we had seen this magnet on several cars, and liked it. When we finally saw it at Downtown Disney, we snapped it up. And now it resides on our refrigerator door. I think it’s adorable!

 

6

 

 

More next time.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: , , , , , ,

My Love Affair with Disney~Part 2

28 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

  

As I said last time, I’ve been in love with all things Disney for about as long as I can remember. Consequently, we have a LOT of Disney memorabilia around our house.

 

One of my favorites is this plate.

 

1

 

Approaching the year 2000, Disney erected Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice’s hand with the wand stretched over the top of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT (we affectionately call it “The Ball”). It was there for about 18 months, and we were sorry when they took it down. They never had the “2000″ on Spaceship Earth – only on this plate. If anyone is into “collecting,” I suppose this will be a collector’s dream in the future. But we enjoy looking at it, in any case.

I think most have heard of Norman Rockwell. His paintings – especially for the covers of magazines years ago – are famous. My Aunt Jessie was a collector of things, and plates and figurines were in her collections. (Please see my posting for July 21, 2013, titled Aunt Jessie’s Plates, for more information on her collectables) While I have some of her plates (she had hundreds!!), I was also interested in the porcelain figurines she had. I’m sure you remember Norman Rockwell’s Self Portrait painting. It’s one of my favorite things he did. Aunt Jessie had a Rockwell figurine of that same thing, and here it is.

2

 

How does that relate to Disney? Well, Disney’s artists have fashioned one of their own Self Portraits in porcelain, and here it is. I am amused by it, and think it is really cute. It sits proudly on a shelf, just below Norman Rockwell’s version.

 

3

 

Another Norman Rockwell painting is called Puppy Love. While I don’t have a porcelain figurine of Rockwell’s, I do have Disney’s version of it. Here is the front and back view of it. I don’t ever remember seeing the “front” of it in Rockwell’s painting or porcelain – only in Disney’s figurine. Really cute.

 

Our youngest daughter, Janet, gave us this Mickey figurine many years ago, and it has a special place in our house as well as our hearts. While it’s called Mickey’s Adventure, I like to call it “Let’s Fly Away!” It’s so light-hearted and fun. It is a treasure, for sure.

 

6

 

Another piece of artwork by that same artist is this figurine of Lumiere and Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast. Another whimsical Disney thing for us to admire and enjoy. (Sorry, I can’t remember the artist’s name [Ron something-or-other] – just very heavy stone with the figurines atop)

 

7

 

There are more Disney treasures for me to share, but that will have to wait until next time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: , , , , ,

My Love Affair With Disney~Part 1

21 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Will

 

I’ve been in love with all things Disney for about as long as I can remember. I believe the first Disney movie I ever saw was Cinderella – and I was sold! As I grew older, I kept wishing there was some way I could – personally – have a copy of Cinderella and watch it whenever I wanted to! Fast forward to this hi-tech generation, and I have Cinderella on my bookshelf! Of course, I don’t watch it all the time, but it’s there for the watching if I care to. I usually have to do it when Fred is gone!

When we moved down to Florida, it was more-or-less with the intention of either or both of us working for Walt Disney World, so we could visit the parks just any time we wanted to. God may have wanted us down in Florida, but His plans for us did NOT include working at Disney World! And His plans are so much better than ours!

So we content ourselves with annual passes to Disney World. Fred jokingly says they are our Christmas/anniversary/birthday (and any other special event in our lives) gift to each other. They are rather expensive. But we get free parking with them, and we can come and go just any time we want. Sometimes it’s for nothing more than to have a supper meal there. And we consider if we stay about two hours, we consider it a “visit to the park.”

In 1999, we thought it would be fun to keep track of how many times we went to a Disney park during that year (38 times). And we’ve kept on with that tradition. Our peak year was 2005 when we went 64 times! If it’s raining? We don’t go. We know we can go another time.

And on our anniversary each year, we stay at the Shades of Green resort, and go to each of the parks, one each day. So you can see – we REALLY like Disney!

Because we’ve been enamored with Disney for so long, we have quite a bit of Disney memorabilia around our house. And we thoroughly enjoy it all. Our youngest daughter, Janet, worked at a Disney Store once upon a time, and she supplied us with quite a bit of Disney stuff. One of my favorite things she gave us, were figurines of some of the characters from Disney’s 1939 original Fantasia. I enjoyed them so much, that I had a friend (who is a wood worker by trade), fashion a shadow box for them. That box and those figurines now grace a wall in our house. I think they are adorable! Unfortunately, I have broken one of the pieces, but have substituted another Mickey in its place. And another friend who worked for Disney, presented us with “Mickey’s House” snowglobe that rests upon the top of the shadow box.

1

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Coral

15 Aug

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Recently, I had a look at some coral, but only in a nice safe aquarium shop where the tanks shone with black-light and displayed tiny bits of coral growing on bases. It was a delightful, cool place to be and a young clerk was kind enough to answer my questions without pressuring me to buy. I never knew that such a thing as a coral farm existed and I realized that if I ever got a yen to see coral again, the coral farm or a public aquarium were the places for me.

I’ve accomplished the two things that were on what is now called a bucket list. I can’t think of anything else I want to do because I’m living the life I want and I’ve been lots of places, already. One thing I wanted to do was to SCUBA dive. There wasn’t much chance of that as you had to take classes, be certified, and buy a lot of expensive equipment, and don’t forget, practice, practice, practice. Frankly, I didn’t want to bother with it or pay for it, even though undersea videos and experiences with snorkeling had always fascinated me.

Then Bill and I went to a Caribbean island on vacation and lo, they offered SCUBA diving! We only had to take one class in the resort’s pool in borrowed equipment. Piece of cake. After our lesson, we were excited about the next day when we’d go to the beach, get in a boat and be outfitted for our dive over a coral reef. Yes, I can swim. Not a great swimmer, but okay. I’ve always been able to float pretty well if I needed to rest.

2

The water at the beach was almost body temperature so our bathing suits were fine. There were about six other people on the boat who would take their turns. The trainer gave me a mask. I knew about using a mask from snorkeling. Then she put a lead-weight belt around my middle. Next the flippers and air tank went on. By the time they got me outfitted, I could barely hold myself up, let alone walk. Two native crew-men one on each side walked me to the gunwale where they lifted me over onto the ladder.

I’m the one with the pink flippers on.

5

Underwater I was so amazed by the beautiful colors and patterns of the coral that it took a few seconds to notice that I was sinking and would soon crush coral. My mask was fogging up so I couldn’t see. I swam hard trying to stay off the bottom. There was no one in my range of vision. Finally I decided I needed to make my way back to the ladder and when I got there, the trainer and Bill came right away. I gave the signal to go up, and the trainer mimed for Bill to stay at the ladder. He hovered, but knowing Bill, I figured he would need to explore a bit in the short time the trainer was getting me on board. Doing that, he could get into trouble or get lost and there would be no one to save him, so I motioned that I had changed my mind. For the rest of the short time we were down I clung to the ladder and concentrated on breathing.

When our time was up, Bill and the trainer returned. I climbed the ladder and two crew members lifted me into the boat. They took off the tank, mask and flippers and set me down. They threw a towel over my shoulders because they could see I was shivering. I pulled it close and soaked up the warmth of the sun.

The next day Bill wanted to go for a longer tour. Of course, Bill came back safely, raving about all the wonders he’d seen. I was glad for him, but I mentally crossed SCUBA off my want-to-do list, and eventually found other ways to enjoy the wonders of the deep. Oh, by the way, “Finding Nemo” is one of my all-time favorite movies. I can hardly wait until “Finding Dorry,” comes on Netflix.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Wheat Weaving

14 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

There are a few crafty things I enjoy doing – some I’m rather good at, some that try my patience at times, and some that I do because I have to.

One of the things I feel I’m rather good at doing is crocheting. I enjoy doing it – can practically do it in my sleep, or rather do it and watch TV at the same time. I enjoy making things for new brides, such as pot holders and kitchen towels that can attach to the stove handle or a rack on the cabinet door. I crochet the top of the towel with a flip-over “handle” that includes a buttonhole, then I add the button for attachment. Unfortunately, my hands are becoming a bit arthritic, and the really tight hold I use for the pot holders have become uncomfortable.

I was into scrap booking for quite a while, but was rather slow at it. I had set up the card table in our home “office” but that left very little room for anything else in the room, what with the computer desk, my sewing machine table (with machine), and two file cabinets. So all that equipment is now out in the garage in a storage cabinet. Perhaps someday I’ll get back to it, but not right now.

But there are other crafts that just don’t interest me. Quilting is one of them. The people I know who quilt are enthralled with it – and usually turn out some really gorgeous quilts, whether small wall-hangings, or full-sized bed quilts. I attended a quilt “show” once, many years ago, and asked that they show me one that took very little time. It was rather uninspiring and plain. When I asked how long it took, I nearly dropped my teeth when the answer was….wait for it….nine months!! I can crochet a full-sized afghan in three weeks!! So that one is out!

When we arrived in Germany for our second tour of duty, I found some of the women in the wives’ club doing something called wheat weaving. I had never heard of it before, and it fascinated me. Not so much that I wanted to try my hand at it, however. But I thoroughly enjoyed the items that were made. I admired the skill involved in the craftsmanship, so much so, that I purchased two of them. Surprisingly, they have held up for over 30 years now! No moisture or moves have damaged them, and no critters have invaded our house to devour the wheat.

I have hung them on the doors in our house – the “double wedding ring” is on our bedroom door. The heart weaving is on the guest bedroom door. I still enjoy them, even after all this time.

What do you think?

Tags: , , , ,

Missing Mother

11 Aug

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

We attend an old-fashioned country church. You know the kind, where the preacher gets excited and everyone stands to sing the Doxology. When our daughter visited she said there was so much standing and sitting, she felt like she was in a Catholic service.

I wonder what the pastor and the people in the choir think when they see my face and body language during congregational singing. Do they wonder why my stance appears poised to chase some invisible being and why my face has an attentive listening expression?

I would gladly chase the invisible being if she was indeed there. Yet, while death can take away her physical body, it can not take away the memories of my mother’s voice. She sang with the prettiest alto voice I have ever heard and she was not a timid singer, whispering the words to the hymns. She belted them out joyfully.

 When the older hymns are sung, it’s like amidst the voices of those around me,  I can hear her voice.  I tilt my head and close my eyes, trying to capture it. That is when my singing gets really funky. Have you ever tried to sing with someone who isn’t there?

I always wanted an alto voice like my mother, but was born with a low soprano. I may have been able to develop an alto voice but our family of five, needed a soprano. I think my voice became confused because when our family would sing together, my patient dad would frequently shake his head over my lack of ability to stay on key. I can carry a tune, I just carry it in many ways!

I don’t think mother approves of using the over head screens to display the song lyrics without the notes because lately, when we sing hymns  like Standing on the Promises, her voice fills in the alto part in the chorus while the sopranos hold the note.  I decided to do it too, but I do it softly…..standing on the promises, standing on the promises. I felt awkward the first few times so I decided to stop singing and listen. Sure enough, there was a faint echo of other folks singing it the old-fashioned way.

Standing on the Promises

Photo from Church Hymnal 1979

Maybe one day I will be brave enough to ask the pastor if he notices my odd expressions during the singing.  Or maybe I won’t. I will keep sitting in the back of the church and hope he can’t see that far!

Tags: , , ,

Paw Prints

7 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

 Fred and I have arrived at the point in our lives where several things have happened:

1… I no longer cook as often – nor do I desire to

2…we both thoroughly enjoy eating out often

Consequently, servers at a bunch of restaurants and eateries know us by name, and smile at us when we enter their establishments. I don’t want to say that they fight over who will get to serve us, but they all seem eager. We must tip well…..

One of our favorite restaurants is Cracker Barrel™. We enjoy their food – just good old country home-style cooking. Their prices are reasonable, and the same food for the same price is for both lunch and supper. Since we have cut down on how much we eat, since we are older, we are pleased to find that we can order from the “kids” menu, as it is advertised as for “kids of all ages.” And it includes a drink with it. We have had several servers suggest that we get two kids meals instead of the same thing off the main menu and split it, as it would be cheaper for us. That says a lot about the integrity of the place, to us. And keeps us coming back.

But there is another aspect of Cracker Barrel™ that we enjoy – and that is the “store” part of the restaurant. I have purchased several t-shirts from there, and they are always top quality material. I’ve purchased other clothing for our grandchildren there, and found the quality to be quite good. They have some of the fun, old-time toys that we played with as children, still available.

So all-in-all, we find our experiences at Cracker Barrel™ restaurant to be most enjoyable.

Some years ago, as I was perusing items in the “store,” I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a 6″ square tile, or plaque, of an animal paw print. Fascinating! One was of a grizzly bear cub (unbelievable how huge a cub’s paw print is!!), and the other was a grey wolf. I purchased the grey wolf paw print, with the intention of purchasing the grizzly cub print soon thereafter. However, as with most things you see in stores – if you don’t get it right then, it probably won’t be there the next time – and the grizzly cub paw print was gone when I next looked for it. I was so disappointed.

Fast forward a year or two, and we went on our first cruise with Fred’s family to Alaska (please see my blog of November 11, 2012 titled Our First Cruise). Our final stop was in Anchorage, where we celebrated Fred’s dad’s 86th birthday before departing for our respective homes the following day. As I was browsing through a gift shop in the hotel, low-and-behold – there was the grizzly cub tile!! I snapped it up as fast as I could – I wasn’t going to let it get away from me this time!

So now they sit proudly on a shelf in our house, and I am amazed by them, each time I look upon them, and thank God that I was able to gather these “things” to myself for nothing more than enjoyment.

Such a fun memory for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Family Treasures~Part 5

3 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

Last time, I introduced some things that were in my Aunt Jessie’s house. Since she and Granny lived so close to us, I spent a great deal of time at her house. When she died, I wished I could have just taken everything in her house and put it in mine. But then Fred said, “where would we put it?” and I had to let it all go. That’s probably the hardest part of it all – letting it go.

Jessie’s house
The stair-step divider between the dining room and the living room – Christmas candles made by Jessie
Jessie and her Geisha dol
The table top was one piece of wood

As I mentioned before, Aunt Jessie never married, and so “things” became the focus of her life.

Jessie told me this was a Duncan Phyfe drop-leaf table.
An antique display cabinet – dressed for Christmas

 

Grandpa started her on the road to loving antiques, and she never quit. She would go to estate sales around Albuquerque and pick up what she wanted. Occasionally, I would go with her on these jaunts. She furnished her house with some REALLY good antique furniture. She was, at one time, the President of the Antique Club in Albuquerque. After she died, Mother was given the name of an estate auctioneer that might be of some help to us. He came to Jessie’s house, and his gaze was going from this-to-that the entire time he was talking to us. He finally blurted out: “this is some of the best Victorian I’ve ever seen!” Jessie really knew her stuff.

 

We held the auction – and the auctioneer suggested we hold it in her house, as it was the best setting to showcase what was there, and so we did. He advertised the auction in papers in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. From what we understand, there were about 500 people who came for the auction – and they did, indeed, sell everything “down to the carpet.”

While I don’t have any of these antiques in my house now, here are some of the beautiful things Jessie had. We know they are scattered to four winds now, but we hope and pray that everyone who found something, loves and enjoys them as much as she did.

The table top was one piece of wood
Jessie told me this was a Duncan Phyfe drop-leaf table.
An antique display cabinet – dressed for Christmas
A cherry-wood china cabine
An old pump organ and an antique wind-up record player
An old pump organ and an antique wind-up record player
The dresser in Jessie’s bedroom
The dresser in Granny’s room, with an ice-cream chair
An old “Secretary” with green leather pad

 

All these “things” remind me of my Aunt Jessie, whenever I see them. They might not have been in my parent’s house, but they are still family treasures to me.

Tags: , , , , ,

Dad:Worst Enemy, Best Friend~Part 4

27 Jun

My Take 

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistFunny how many times I could have lost my dad, but didn’t. He was always there for me, and I had the deep security of knowing he always would be. I took him so much for granted, though, that I didn’t realize until much later that his caring for me in the ways that he did were the foundation for my trusting God.

Dad and I went more rounds over the years. We moved to Los Alamos where he became a courier for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

Then we moved to Albuquerque so he and Mom could continue to work for the government. Dad still traveled.

2

 

I ran away to get married, but Dad called the florist in faraway CA, to order an orchid for my bridal bouquet. He wasn’t able to attend because of the job.

We moved to Florida for Bill’s job at Kennedy Space Center. Mom and Dad never failed to visit us once a year, and we also joined them on their fishing vacations at Salton Sea (now defunct).* After Salton Sea came Marrowstone Island in Puget sound, then Sapinero-Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado. The vacations were memorable, but I’m afraid I didn’t appreciate them as much then as I do in retrospect. The living was rough, fishing was all, but Mom the kids and I could always go to town (except at Salton Sea which was out in the desert by itself.) And once we did some old-fashioned clamming. That was great fun!

All those vacations were good for getting to know each other, especially the children. I’ll always be grateful that Mom and Dad went to that much effort to stay in touch.

When we first arrived in Florida, the woods that border our home seemed scary and exotic. I’d heard so much about snakes and insects I didn’t want to go out there.

1

When Dad came, though, he wasn’t daunted. He started walking every day. Our dog and I soon joined him and we learned the way. We’ve been walking the trails in those woods ever since, first with our kids and dogs then with our grandkids. It is a chief enjoyment in life.

Mother always told me to have plenty of things for Dad to repair when they came so he wouldn’t get bored. The year we had no TV he threatened never to come back again, but we got one and he did. One job dad did was to put up a jar opener under a cupboard for us. He was having a lot of trouble with carpal-tunnel syndrome by then. I use that gripper now because I need it sometimes. I wonder, if he realized what a favor he had done for us by installing it.

With maturity, my grievances have melted away. I’ve realized that I deeply loved my Dad in spite of our lifelong battles. The first time I went to visit when he was in the nursing home unable to do anything for himself we both broke into tears. Dad was aware enough to ask, “Is this who I think it is?” Later, I sat alone with him and held his wrist in my hand so I could feel his pulse because I didn’t know how to talk to him as others seemed to do.

This year, on Memorial Day Sunday our pastor asked people to call out the names of their kin who had died in wars. At first there were only a few and then it became a chorus of jumbled names. I felt sad knowing how difficult it is to lose any member of your family. But I also had a halleluiah feeling that I did get to know my Dad for the rest of his life after he came home from WW2. He carried signs of what we now call PTSD. I believe that most families whose parents have been in the military during wartime do. Thanks Dad, for coming back and living a long life in which I got to know you and your true value.

DiVoran and Dad with coats

 

Read more about Salton Sea by clicking HERE

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →