February 10, 2011

OUT HOME

For years my Mom and I joked about 'homes'. She always referred to where I grew up as 'OUT HOME", which is the road in the photo shown in the picture above. When she and Daddy lived in California that was 'DOWN HOME' and growing up was Eastern Washington and Oregon, 'OVER HOME". 

It's the quirky little things that give great value to our memories and our feelings. So here's a picture of 'OUT HOME'. The little corner at the crossroads on the left used to have a busstop that Daddy and my Uncle Willy built.  A place to stand under during the cold winter months.  Remmeber in the 60's no matter the weather girls wore skirts and dresses, not pants to keep little legs warm in the early rural mornings waiting for the school bus.

I left here at 20 to get married it always seemed so large in my childhood eyes and now when I snapped this picture just a couple of weeks ago it looks so small.  The trees and shrubs have overtaken the pristine mowings of the side yard that Mom always tended.  The house has changed, the huge maples that adorned and covered the front lawn with their leaves are now but another memory.  

It's hard to be in your 60's and find you need to move on. Perhaps I will someday move on, but for now I cherish the memories of 'OUT HOME' and the peace and love it fills my souls with. Do you have an 'OUT HOME' in your memory?

Momma

Momma

Dear Friends, for those of you who have followed my blogs over the years you've come to know my Momma through things I've written, Pages I've done, cards I've made.  Momma passed away on Tuesday January 18th, very peacefully and with many friends and family near her.  I will be with my family until February so my posts will be very far and few between for the next month.  Thank you all for all the love and kind words you've offered about this remarkable lady.   And for you new to my blog, Momma would have been 100 on July 10th.  The night before she went to Hospice she still sat at her computer and played Scrabble for 45 minutes.  She never complained, never said a harsh word about anyone and always had time for you.  A truly genuine lovely lady!  Update 1/30/2011 - The Daily News, the local paper in my hometown, ran a wonderful article about my Momma in today's paper it's here if you care to look.

365/97 Thursday April 9, 2009

These bags were used by my Dad in the late 50's or early 60's when they left Palmdale California headed to Death Valley. It was the heart of summer, rest stops and gas stations were far and few between and a friend of Dad's gave him the one bag, he had the other with him. I can remember that year, very faintly, and getting a sip of water from the bag, probably just to try it more than needing it. You wonder how it kept the water in and kept it cool. Now they hang in my garage, a piece of nostalgia that I'm not yet ready to part with.

365/78 Saturday March 21-2009

When I was young the Columbia Theater was always a place of excitement. I remember at a very early age going to see North to Alaska with my Aunty Bea. This was a very rare occurrence, first to go to the theater and second to be with my Aunt. I remember how crowded it was and we had to sit in the balcony. It was hot and stuffy and wonderful. Childhood memories, I just had to take a picture to preserve them when I was home last week. You should take shots of things that trigger good memories and make note of what they meant for others who will come along later and wonder about 'that place'.

365/58 Sunday March 1, 2009

This little Kewpie was my Grandmothers and was given to me after she passed away in 1964. Always a reminder of those early years of growing up. It never matters when I look at her, whether I'm happy or sad, she's always there with her dimples and smile waiting to greet me. Next to her is a little fridge, Grandma got this years and years and years ago, it was a Promo given away at one of the stores. Actually it's a bank with a slit in the back. Grandma lived next door to us and kept this bank on the small built in dresser in the spare bedroom. She'd put loose change in it and when it was your birthday you got what was in it. When Mom gave it to me it was filled about half way. I like to think it's the coins that Grandma put in it, but I'm really not sure.
Memories, wonderful things aren't they?

365/22 January 22-2009

365/22 January 22-2009 I was very taken with a photo I saw on a 365 blog yesterday. It was ice cubes and coke in a glass but you'd never have known, it was clever. I thought today what do I have in my house that I can take a photo of. A new challenge to see the everyday with new eyes; a lesson we could all tend to use. So I went around and spotted the marble jar. When we moved into our new home last April I wanted to try and unpack all the boxes that had been stored since moving from Washington 6 years prior. I ran across an old denim bag that had originally held my ball and jacks when I was very little, inside were these marbles, I thought they had long ago disappeared. What a happy site. I've since taken them from the bag and put them in a tall glass vase. The marbles had been my brother Bills perhaps Georges as well (my other brother). I remember as a very little girl of perhaps 5 or 6 watching Bill and his friend Ed play in the dirt shooting marbles. Long before IPODs and cell phones, MP3 players and text messaging. Back when a few marbles and a circle in the dirt were enough to satisfy the imagination of a couple of boys growing up in the country. What a long way from those fields, those boys, those times. But the marbles, they have persevered and are still with me today, a wonderful snapshot of my past.