Happy Mother's Day

 Insert picture of mom here, I promise I will after I go to Nita's next week.

Our mom was a spit-fire of a little woman. Born and raised on the English Bayou in Southwestern Louisiana.  Moved away from home early in life but didn't marry all that early as was done in the early 50's.  She was an awesome dancer and loved to dance.  She had a sense of adventure and loved to travel too.

Married a man who also loved to dance and had a sense for adventure and travel, they never failed to take a nice long vacation every year.  She was June Cleaver and Martha Stewart before either of them even knew who they were.  She could have written the book on being the perfect homemaker.

She was the PTA mom, the fun mom, the Room Mother, the neighborhood mom who could fix a broken bike chain when the dads were all at work.

She'd jump rope with us tried to teach us how to Double Dutch but we were just too clutsy,  play basket-ball with us, let us swing on the clothesline (it was the kind shaped like an octagon and spun around.) She'd break up dog fights with a broom and hose down a Peeping Tom with a garden hose in the middle of the night.  She wasn't afraid of anyone or anything.  I once saw her whack a 5 foot Alligator Gar in the head with a hatchet for trying to take the fish she and my dad were cleaning at the edge of the lake besides the catfish we had gar for dinner that night too.

If we argued she'd put us in the backyard to spar and she'd umpire and never take sides she did even the odds for me once when she let me use a tennis racket on my older brother, but he could run faster than me.  She taught my sister and to take up for ourselves but to always act like a lady.

She could gut a fish and chop wood as good as any guy and was a fashion designer not only for my sister and I, but for our Barbies and quiet a few Majorettes in the High School band too.

So as I read other blogs giving tribute and thanks to Mom's, I can't help but think of all the times people have told me "you are such an awesome Mom" or "your kids are lucky to have you for a Mom."  All I can say is that I learned by example.

We miss you mom!

WIP Wednesday

I've been inspired.  Not recently.  I was inspired... oh, about 8 or 9 months ago.  Every week I get inspired all over again when I read Turtlegirl's  Wednesday blog, which she calls WIP Wednesday.  Check it out and you'll find the longest blog roll of knitting blogs you could ever wish for.

Time for a knitting quiz. Do you remember what WIP stands for in knitting language?  Knitters are not eligible to answer this question.

While you think of the answer, here's the WIP.  It's a shawl for my sister-in-law Di.  It's made from Patton's Bamboo Silk. Care to guess what the yarn is made of?  Knitted in the Fan and Feather pattern. It feels so good and it's going to be so versatile, a true year around shawl.

It's getting so big, it will barely fit in the finished project... felted bag. 

Jeff went to Ft. Stockton to on a job this week and took this picture of the house I grew up in.  Doesn't it look like shat?

This kills me!  My parents always had the best looking house in the neighborhood.  Dad painted the house every other year and the grass was St. Augustine totally unheard of in West Texas that was as thick as carpet. Mom always had tons of flowers and many times we'd look out to see people taking pictures, especially when she started growing Oriental Poppies.

I do believe they have replaced the picture window with a sliding patio door and a screen.  Maybe that's just a rusty screen to make do for a solar screen.  Uuughhhhh.  I hate to think of what the solid hardwood floors look like.  I wonder what they did with the huge Magnolia tree that was where that dead stick is?

Oh well, let it go. Two more days until the weekend and I really don't have anything to do at work tomorrow. What's up with that? 

Jeff just called to inform me that one of Jolea's friends is stopping by on her way from California to Florida, I better dig the loose change out of the couch.

Please stand by for this important message. Your regularly scheduled post will be seen tomorrow at it's scheduled time.

This post is all about our newest family member... our own Lady Di.

Di joined our family over 2 years ago, closer to 3 years ago.  She was with us on our trip to the USVI in 2008.  She's the one who suggested we go see Jolea the Christmas before and put that seed of thought in our brains.   That's Di, sitting between Michael and I, and that's Michael's daughter Andee on the end by Jolea.  This picture was taken on Tortola, having Pain Killers for lunch.... talk about your GOOD TIMES!

Back to Di:   Michael and Di made it official last Feb. 14th on St. John in the USVI.  (I'm still kicking myself over that one.) I'll have to insert a picture later.... the one I have won't load, probably because it was bootlegged from the professional photographers....

Michael and Di love to garden together. Although her work takes her away from the vegetable garden, herb garden and her flowers from time to time.  They dive right back in when she gets home.

Di is a Producer.  She produces TV commercials, such as those with the duck and some with a famous Tiger, and also for Texas Tourism, just to mention a few.  So she sometimes has to shoot out to California for a month at a time or down to Florida, or out to New York or some other remote location.  But that doesn't change her down to earth country girl values and ways.  Which makes her a welcome addition to our county-fied family.

She's also the most fantastic chef.  She has plans to write a cookbook someday so you won't see me posting any of her recipes on this blog.  She and Michael spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking together.  They are an awesome team.

Martini in hand.... she's good!

An awesome rice dish she taught me to make. Don't even ask.... it's a family secret.  Nanny, nanny boo boo... I'm in the family!

Halibut.... with a crunchy crust.  It's a secret.... and it's even better the next day!

She also does unbelievable things with asparagus and green beans and blackeyed peas and salads and .... I could kill myself eating at their house!   

She's also into just hanging out by the pool and doing yoga or going on long all day shopping trips (considering it takes 2.5 hours to get to a town large enough to go shopping, it's good that she likes all day trips)  or riding off into the sunset on a big motorcycle.  Mikey is planning on building a bike with a sidecar next!

Yeah, we're really happy to have Di in the family.

What's the best thing your father ever did for you?

  Think back... think back to one of your earliest memories of what your dad did for you and then start your list.  Some of the best things my did for me were:

• He taught me to ride a bike, Then I went so fast he couldn't run fast enough to keep up with me. I learned to be adventurous.

• He helped me study for tests.  He made a game of learning so I became a life long learner (he had wanted to be a teacher.)

• He gave me a love for music.  He'd sing at the drop of a hat, and would try his hand at any instrument.

• He gave me lessons in shooting a pistol, a shot gun and a rifle. It was gun safety lessons a girl never knows when this could save her life or put food on the table.   He was always teaching.

• He taught me to throw a lariat, roof a house, paint a house, tackle any house-hold chore, and guided my sister and I in removing and replacing the engine in a 1968 Ford Mustang.  I hope I don't have to do anything to a Mustang again but if I do I know I won't be afraid to try.  This was a lesson in helping others.

• He gave me a love for home and country. Dad was a WWII disabled Vet.  He taught me patriotism..

• He taught me to fish and a love for camping.  I learned to love nature and all it had to offer and how to take care if it so I can continue to enjoy what I love.

• He taught me what it meant to be friendly and be a good neighbor.  He never met a stranger. 

• He show me how to have a good work ethic.  Work hard, but not too hard... take a vacation now and then.  We would go on 6 week vacations when I was a kid. 

• He gave us a wonderful home and taught us how to take care of it. We started early with a huge playhouse in the back yard. We grew up in the first and only house my parents ever bought.

• He showed me how to work hard and be wise with my paycheck.  We didn't live 'high on the hog' but we never wanted for anything.  If we didn't have the cash to pay for it, we didn't need it right then.

• He showed me how to deal with what life gives you when you are sick and not to be afraid to stand up to an illness.  The power of one's mind can make them well again. 

• He gave me a brother and a sister, and taught me how to get along with them. 

• But the best thing he gave me, rather us....  he was married to our mother for almost 50 years. He showed me how to be a good spouse and parent.

Thank you Daddy.   Robert A. "Freckles" Nelson  1918-1993

 

Happy Wedding Day, Michael and Diane!

May you enjoy a long and happy life together.

We wish we were there to celebrate with you.

Love,

Jody, Judith, Jolea and Jeff

I'm wasting daylight!

Now that I've out lasted the flying insects who love the computer screen, it's time for me to go in and take care of a few things before getting Jeff up to head West.

My next post will be from the far off land of West Texas. Yeah, we're not leaving the state, but have you noticed how big the state is?

That reminds me of a funny story. From the time our kids hit the ground they were traveling. Jolea went on her first road trip at the age of 4 weeks old. So when they got older and began asking "are we there yet?" I would give them a map and tell them to figure out where they were and where we were going and then they could see how much farther we had to go. They also learned that maps are our friends, learn to fold them correctly.

The summer before Jolea was starting 3rd grade and Jeff starting Kindergarten, we moved to Memphis, TN. The kids and I made the long trip to meet Jody who was already there getting our apartment and starting his new job. When we got to the apartment Jody had assembled a little 'welcome basket' (more like a welcome pile of stuff) for the kids, candy bars, water guns, nick nacks and a map of their new home state.

Let me first explain something about the Texas map. It unfolds lengthwise about 5 or 6 times and then about 5 or 6 times from top to bottom. It then may be used as a table covering, sun block blanket for small children or to change clothes behind in the back seat of your car. Yeah it's sort of large to say the least.

Our kids were quiet used to the size of the map they had grown up with, so as they inhaled bags of Skilttles and M&Ms they eagerly opened the Map Of Tennessee...... and fell in the floor laughing. To this day I remember Jolea saying over her little brother's roaring laughter, "You call that a map?" To which Jody replied, "they can't help it if they are skinny!" That poor little map only folded out length wise 4 or 5 times and didn't fold out any farther. One strip was all it took.

So as Jeff and I take off to the left side of the map. Jody will be holding down the drought here at home, and Jolea will be waiting for her boat to sail to Rhode Island. I hope she get's her hands on a map there! This should be good! It's probalby the size of a dinner napkin. I'm not making fun.... that's so handy, fits right in your pocket! Doesn't kill as many trees.

I'll leave you with this lovely photo of Jolea.... this was sent to me the other day by my neighbor. I have no idea when this was taken.... quiet a few years ago for sure. That's Jolea covered with wrapping paper (not a map.) She was at the neighbor's house, clearly having the time of her life. Look closely, she's wearing Grinch slippers. Must have been in December.

Don't you just love how old pictures come back to haunt you?