Thoughts From The Past

How spoiled I am! Yesterday, while loading the dishwasher, the thought occurred to me that before dishwashers all dishes were washed by hand. Living alone, I could probably wash my dishes in the same amount of time it takes me to load the dishwasher (or less) but it sounds like such a chore to put water in the sink, add some soap, wash the dishes, dry them and put them away! However, as it is, living alone I usually don't run the dishwasher but every week to ten days (depending on if I have run out of bowls, plates etc.) so usually I rinse the dishes as I put them in the dishwasher!

This got me to remembering, also, doing the dishes as a youngster. Until my sister and I were old enough to reach the sink, we dried the dishes for our mother. Being the oldest, I was the first to do the washing, but my sister, being only a year younger, soon was able to do that, too. That, of course, caused many an argument as to who's turn it was to wash or dry. Mom tried several methods of settling the arguments, however none ever lasted long enough to completely do away with the spats.

I now think of my grandparents and great grandparents, who would have had to pump water in their early years, and what a joy it must have been to have a home with running water. I think my grandparents in the "city" had running water from as far back as I can remember, but my grandparents in the smaller rural community had a pump right outside the back door where water would be drawn in buckets and brought into the house. That meant that the city house had bathroom facilities, but the rural home had an out house for as long as I can remember. I am sure the present owner of that house has indoor plumbing but I am not sure that my grandmother ever did while living there.

That created other problems, such as doing the laundry!! Today, we have our nice automatic washers and dryers and forget that the forerunners of those appliances were galvanized tubs, wash boards and later, the beautiful Maytag electric machine with the attached wringer!!! Until automatic washers, laundry was done usually once a week - for most on Monday. For my mother, it meant, going down to the basement early to stoke the furnace and make sure the attached water heater would be sufficiently hot enough to melt the soap. She would fill her Maytag machine with water, put in the soap (sometimes granulated, but usually she would chip bar laundry soap into pieces),  load the clothes (always sorted - whites, colored clothes, dark clothes and work clothes, which were the dirtiest.), one load at a time. After agitating them for the appropriate length of time, she would go down and wring each piece out through the wringer, into a large basket; load the next group of clothes, go up and hang the items in the basket on the clothesline strung from pole to pole in the backyard. In the winter, when it was too cold to hang them outside, she would hang them in the basement (which was not as finished as basements are today). As each load was washed, she would remove the dry ones from the line and hang up the next group of wet ones. You can see, this was an all day job. The clothes that were to be ironed, were sometimes taken down from the line, slightly damp, rolled up for ironing the next day. If they were too dry, they would be laid out on the kitchen table and sprinkled to dampen them for ironing. Ironing had to be done within a day or two, or the items would begin to mildew. Today, we can wash anytime we want to (for some families this can be a load daily), automatic dryers make it unnecessary to consider the climate, and our modern fabrics make ironing almost unneeded.

Bathing was usually a weekly, sometimes twice a week event for our ancestors. Rain water was caught in barrels to be used to wash your hair, since it would be softer water and make it easier to rinse the soap out. I remember that my mother would always have us rinse our hair with rain water, with some lemon juice added, to make our hair healthier and shine nicer. Today we can shower or bathe everyday, washing our hair as frequently.

And nobody washed their car!!! If rain was predicted, the car would be left out to let the rain do it. I don't remember car washes springing up until in the 1960's but after World War II when automobiles became more a necessity than a luxury, hand washing them came into fashion as a way to earn extra spending money.

How much we take water, and the luxuries it provides us, for granted - as well as our wonderful appliances. I can't help but wonder what my aunt, who lived to be 102 (born 1894 - died 1996), would say of all the changes she saw. We are marveled at the changes we see, but she saw electricity invented, telephones become staples in our homes, rail and air travel developed and flights to space, as well as the evolution of radio, vacuum cleaners, automobiles, television, computers, and countless things I can't even recall because I have not been without them in my life.

Well, enough rambling for today. Hope you have enjoyed this walk through the past. Perhaps it will jog other memories for you as well as for me. Till next time, hugs and love.

Such Fun To Be Bowling Again

I love Tuesday mornings! That is when my bowling league meets. I am so grateful that I am able to be a part of a bowling team again.

I have always loved to watch people bowl. My father and his sister were very good bowlers. However, I usually watched them bowl, with a little bit of envy, since time didn't permit me to do it. 

Then September of 1960, I had a three year old child and had considered putting him in a nursery school program to learn to play with other children. There was four years between his older brother and him, and his sisters were older too. When I talked to the lady running the nursery school in our area, she proposed that because he had older siblings, he may find nursery school boring, and suggested that perhaps my taking a class at the YWCA could benefit us both - I could take a class and he would be in the nursery with the other children. Sounded like a good plan for me, as I had wanted to learn to play bridge and the Y was offering beginning bridge classes. It was while I was taking that class that another member of the group suggested that I might like bowling with their team and they had a very good nursery program that afternoon too. Wow, I thought - bridge and bowling, how much better could it be!

So the following week, I started bowling with a house league every Tuesday afternoon. I bowled with this league for several years. I seemed to be a natural at bowling and after a couple of years was invited to join a league where each team was sponsored by a local bowling alley and we would rotate weekly among those houses. I bowled with that league through the spring of 1980, when my husband and I were making plans to move to California. My husband and I bowled on a couples' league also, which was a lot of fun. It was sponsored by the Detroit Zoo and had originally started as a league of zoo employees, but over the years had taken in other friends and relatives of the bowlers, not connected with the zoo. Again, we bowled with this league for several years, until making preparations for our move. 

After moving to the San Diego area in California and getting settled in, my husband joined the Elks lodge and I became a member of the Women's Auxiliary and they had a bowling league, so once again I was able to enjoy the sport and make many new friends in the process. Later, after moving to Whittier for my husband's work, I bowled with the Old Newcomers group for a couple of years. 

Do to some bad business decisions we had made, it became necessary for me to work, which is when I became the archivist for the Whittier museum, which meant having to give up the bowling. It wasn't a hard trade, as I really enjoyed my work. 

In 2003, we moved to our present location and I was having difficulty with my legs and had begun to use a cane regularly. The idea of bowling was not even in my thinking. At this time my husband was going through the serious illness that took his life the following June. The many changes that had taken place in those few months made bowling not even a thought. 

I became active doing other things and through friends that I made, I was able to get back to playing bridge again. In the past two and a half years I lost some of the weight I had been carrying and through the grace of God, my legs were responding and I found I did not need the cane any longer. Then a year ago a friend mentioned that they were going to need a new member to their bowling team. I wondered if I could do it. The friend was very patient with me and we went to practice a couple of times. Now mind you, I had not held a bowling ball in nearly twenty years and those first few games were nothing to write home about. I asked my friend to give me another week to practice a little more and I would either be ready to bowl or let her off the hook! WELL - the rest of the story is history! I began bowling with the team when it resumed in August of last year and even though I had to go with a lighter ball, and don't have the speed on my approach that I used to - I WAS BOWLING AGAIN!!!

And I am a member of the team and league again this year and am so grateful for the ability, such as it is to be able to do it. I will never carry the large average I once did, or throw the heavier ball, but that isn't important - I am bowling again and loving every minute of it. And through this league have again, made some wonderful new friends. I don't know how many years I will be able to do this, but I am going to relish every Tuesday morning that I can, hopefully for years to come. 

I do play bridge occasionally too - and did I mention - many of our bowling group usually go to lunch after we finish - can life get any better??? Perhaps, but for now - it is great! Hugs and love to all. 

The Gaither Vocal Band

As I sit here, listening to tonight's program (one I have heard many times before, but never tire of), I think of all the years of pleasure I have received from this group.

I have been a fan for many years, hearing them for the first time back in the early 1980's and then watching them on tv ever since their first show. I don't remember when I first became enthralled with gospel music as I remember listening to it on the radio as a youngster.

For years I would hear them announce where they were going to be performing live and think to myself, "someday I will go to one of their concerts" but it never seemed to work out. When we moved to our present location, one of the first announcements I saw on the tv was for the Gaithers going to be in the area on November 16, that would have been 2004. Being one month new to the area, I had no idea where the venue was and of course, knew no one to go with. The next opportunity was in Louisville, a couple of years I go, I think, but again, had no idea where it would be or who I could go with.

However, this past early spring, a couple of very dear and special friends called and asked if I had seen the ads for the Gaithers and they would be coming to the area in May. I had not seen the ad and told them if they got tickets to be sure and get me one - and to my wonderful surprise - they informed me they already had our tickets purchased and I was being invited to go as their guest. This was sometime in February or March, which meant that I had to be really careful that nothing changed in my health to prevent me from going!!! I counted every day away and then finally - the 22nd of May came and what a day - it was one of the most unforgettable days in my life. Thank you, thank you Kathy and Clint for this most wonderful day. Now when I watch them on tv I can feel myself back in the arena enjoying it in person. So I guess, thanks to those two dear friends, I have chalked off another item on my bucket list!

What is so crazy about all of this is, that as much as I enjoy gospel music, I am also a big fan of opera!!! I have admired anyone who has had the blessing of being able to sing. I spent many Saturday mornings from my teens through the past few years, listening to the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. While living in the Detroit area, I could hardly wait until May when the Met would come to the Masonic Temple for a week. That was my week when everything else took second place and I went to nearly every performance that week. I would tease my husband that if I failed to come home after the last evening performance of the week, that I may have been lucky enough to be packed with the scenery and on my way to New York! Never happened, but I could dream. Each year from 1959 when the opera weeks began in Detroit, I would get a record album of one of the operas I had seen that year from my husband.

The worse part of all of this is that I was not blessed with a good voice. But I take comfort in enjoying the beautiful music around me and know that someday I will sing with the angels and I will finally have the voice I desired all these years. And then watch out!!!

Well, enough about this tonight - but thank you, Bill, Gloria and your wonderful troupe and special thanks to you Kathy and Clint. Hugs and love to all.

Faces of the Past and Future #2

 I’m back!!! And tonight I want to talk about your older photographs. Have you looked at the photos made from the 1936's to about the 1980’s?  Many were done in kodachrome, early color processing by Eastman Kodak Company. I have been surprised to see how many of my early photos are fading away and most are becoming a gold color. Many of my early Polaroid photos are fading away too. I have started scanning these before I lose them completely.  

Black and white photographs are still the best, but it is hard to find black and white film. My older black and white photos are nearly as good as when they were taken and developed, because of the established archival permanence of well processed silver halide based materials.

If you have ancestral photographs made in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, many of them are fading because at the time they were printed, they were not completely developed. Again, to preserve them, they should be scanned and the originals put in archival sleeves and kept in a safe place, with little to no humidity.

And a word of caution – if you have put your photographs in the magnetic albums, so popular about ten years ago (and still being made), GET THEM OUT OF THOSE ALBUMS! That is the very worse way to keep your photos. If you find that your photos are sticking in those albums, when you try to retrieve them, use a hair dryer to release them. I am sure there are other ways to loosen them, but this has worked for me. Blow the air at one corner of the photo, and slowly, work the photo loose.

If you don’t scrapbook, the best way to store them is to use an archival quality sleeve, open at both ends. Store them in an acid free box, if possible. If you scrapbook, then you are probably aware of the advantages of that type of album.

I heard a lecturer recently, who spoke about digital photos. The main focus was on printing them. He stated that if you print them at home, you should always use the paper that is made by that company, i.e. Cannon, should be printed on a Cannon printer, on Cannon paper and of course, using the Cannon ink that printer would call for. If you have to have them printed commercially, use the highest grade of paper they offer.

One last thought on photos – if you have photographs that are taken in the city, or township, that you or members of your family grew up in, be sure to take them to the Historical Museum in that area and either donate them, or let them make a copy. I worked for a historical museum and am now volunteering at the one in my residence city, and people have no idea how many photographs are thrown away daily, that should be in that repository. Pioneer families, changes in the landscape and way the territory has grown are so important to future generations. I always say, “if you are going to throw them away, bring them to the museum. We can throw them away if they are not pertinent to the collection focus, but if you throw them away before we have the opportunity to see them, it is too late.”

Well, think I accomplished this in two nights, instead of three! I guess the most important thing I am trying to convince you of is – take lots of photos, sometimes it may be the only or last chance to capture that special one, and enjoy the memories!!! Hugs and love.

“Faces of the Past and Future”

Many of you know that I am a photograph “nut.” I have always been crazy about photos. I was always the one who could sit through the display of slides about anything and truly enjoy it or look at photograph albums for hours. And I am still a “nut” about photographs.

If you are my friend on face book, you know I am trying to take one photo a day. I have found it much easier to do than I thought it would be. Some of the subjects are not very exciting but it makes me realize that everyday is special and at least one thing a day is important.

This blog will probably be continued in several blogs, as I seem to have a lot to write about photographs. First and foremost, photographs record memories that become dearer as we get older. It is dealing with photographs, of the life with my husband and children that have eased the pain of losing him to a brain tumor six years ago. A couple of years ago I decided to sort all of our photographs in chronological order. At first it was difficult to look at each one without feeling a terrible sense of loss. However, as I kept working on it, I realized that in almost every photo of my husband and myself together, he either had his arm around me or was holding my hand. This was a comforting thought to me. But as I continued with the sorting, I was also reminded, by the gaps in time of some of the years, that there had to be opportunities to take photographs when we didn’t.

True, using film that had to be developed was more costly and many times several events would be on one roll sent to the developer and we were conscious of the cost being incurred. I am so grateful for the digital camera today. I don’t take nearly so many bad photos as I used to, but even with the digital, not every photo is perfect. I am getting older and find that sometimes my photos look good on the digital camera screen, only to be found later to be out of focus or blurry (usually due to my being unsteady in holding the camera).

I am able to carry my small digital camera with me at all times, so I really do not have any excuse not to be ready for that “unusual” or “special” photograph. I have become very good at shooting through the car window (both as a passenger and when driving – well that is not as bad as texting!!!) But many a beautiful sunset had to be caught at that right moment, regardless!!!

Of course, there are times when I am not very popular with my family and friends – I hear remarks such as “here we go again, “ “Don’t show me below the waist,” “I don’t take a good picture, leave me out” etc. At those times I have to become very inventive and snap when the opportunity arises. And as a rule, those photos are the better ones than the posed ones.

I do urge you to take more photographs and to always remember to identify them. Again, with digital that is much easier, as when you download them to the computer, you can right click on the photo with your mouse and select “properties”. When the window opens you will see a tab showing summary and when you open that you can identify your photo,  as to name, where it was taken and other information you want to include. If you prefer to print your photo out, use a photograph pen (can be ordered from Creative Memories or any other scrapbooking supplier) to identify your photo. Using a ball point pen, or even some pencils, will show through on the photo side of the print.

Tomorrow I will continue this talking about older photographs. Don’t want to bore you with all of this in one night!!! So will end tonight with hugs and love to you all. 

What is a Friend

Recently, while transferring information from a forty year old birthday book into a new one, I realized how many of my friends have passed away over the past few years. It made me think of the word friend, and a couple of definitions I found in a dictionary were: a person attached to another by feelings of personal regard; a person who gives assistance; a patron, supporter; a person who is on good terms with another; a member of the same nation, party, etc.

I have been so blessed with friends and acquaintances who have played such important parts in my life. I remember friends from school, but am still in touch with only one of them. Having moved many times in my life, I have had to make new friends wherever I went. Again, some of them have remained friends ever since, while with others, we have drifted apart, only to receive the annual Christmas card with the update (which I eagerly enjoy). But I know that every friend, especially those I have had a close relationship with, and every acquaintance has made some difference in my experience. Some of my friends were neighbors, some were members of organizations I belonged to, and many I have become friends through my church activities.

When I married and moved out of my home state, to the area I would live in for the next twenty-five years, I was received into a lovely group of friends of my husband's, and always felt included in everything they did. Many of the friends in that group are still very dear friends, but sadly some of them have, like my dear husband, passed away. When we moved to California in 1980, friends of my family, who lived there, welcomed us into their groups and activities, making the adjustment more easy for me, and again, many of them are still very dear friends.

I have been blessed with an ability to make friends rather easily, which has helped many times to make the moves much more doable. I can honestly say that in the seven years (this October) that I have lived in my present community, that I have not felt a sense of homesickness. I was once asked how I liked it here, and my reply was that I love it! I have never been called "honey" and "darlin'" so much in my life, but I have never met more friendly people than I have here and am so grateful for the opportunity to see these new friendships and acquaintances grow into something more lasting and endearing.

If you are reading this blog, then you are at least an acquaintance, but I hope you are more of a friend. And I hope that I have been a person that you are pleased to call friend. I hope, that in some way, I am sharing, at least, one of the above definitions with you. And I do hope that you know how much your friendship and/or acquaintance means to me. Hugs and love.

Being Grateful for the "Little" Things

Today I have been thinking of how many "little" things in my life I am grateful for, along with all the "big" things. I wake up every morning thanking God that I have His grace, mercy, and love for me, and the Christ spirit within me, for family and friends and the love they share with me. I ask Him to bless them all and to show His love and mercy to those who are suffering through illnesses, distresses, and grief, and I thank Him for the abundant supply he affords me for all I NEED, not what I want. And at night when I go to bed, after this, I think of the "little" things that have been given to me today - such as tonight I will thank Him for the badly needed rain we had this morning, that I was able to drive to Walmart and back without incident, conversations with my neighbor about some computer technicalities. Oh Lord, I am so grateful for what limited computer skills I have - it is such a source of fun, enlightenment, contact with other family and friends, and sense of accomplishment for me.

Having just come back from a few days in Knoxville, TN at a genealogy conference, I realized even more how much our computers mean to soooo many people. One lecturer made the statement that family historians make up one of the largest users of computers and have been behind much of the progression and advancement in computer programming. What is so neat about it is - that most people don't become family historians until in their later years - so senior citizens make up one of the larger units using their computers on a regular basis.

This is my first attempt at blogging, but am doing it at the urging of several of my friends, so to them I say "Remember what you ask for!" I love to write and this may get out of hand!!!!

So till next time, I'll sign out with my mantra - Hugs and love.