Tuesday, February 24, 2009

HOME



This is the house I grew up in. My maternal grandparents home. My children had this watercolor done for me on my 60th birthday. It was such a special present.
This was a small house, we were on top of each other. My mother and I moved in with my grandparents when my father died. It was the center of the family. All my cousins
would come visit all the time. They ate my treats. I had to hide them.
My cousin/sister came every summer and lived with us all summer.

Such memories.

This house has been in our family for close to seventy years...until today. I found
out tonight it has been sold. I am sad...

The artist is Lizi Beard.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentines Day. I read on another blog about how you can become quick friends through blogging. I wonder why that is? I don't know...but, I have many friends from blogging and care very much about them. I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Friday, February 13, 2009

That Meemaw Is One Great Photographer






A day in the life of a ballerina.

Putting all your hair into a ballerina bun.

Having mama put your makeup on just right.

Having to sit for your grandmothers to record the moment. And Aunt Shannon, too.

Perform a scene of the Nutcracker...just like Miss Anna taught you....

FEBRUARY 13,1895

Mama Gooch's was born on February 14, 1895. That sounds like such a long time ago. She was the matriarch of our family. Everyone loved her. Very much. I think she was the nicest person, besides my brother, I have ever known. She had four children and they had children and we all lived very close to each other. After my father died my mother and I moved in with her and PawPaw. Everyone came to our house, it was the center of all the family activities. I grew up with all my cousins coming around. It was so much fun, until they got into my stuff. But this post is not about them. It is about Mama Gooch.

She told me that when I moved in with her that I would follow her around in the yard while she gardened. She said I was her shadow. I remember always wanting to go uptown with her when she shopped. She would call a cab, and we would head to the stores...I loved to go to W**lworths, JCP*nny, and the N*tional Store. So much fun...One time I had a cold and she decided I should stay home this time. I cried to go too. She finally agreed, but I had to rub V*ck's Salve under my nose. Of course I read this week that you should never do this. Anyway, I rubbed it in my nose and off we went.

I hope that her influence on my life made me a nicer person. I will never be her, but I hope I can be like her, when I grow up.

She lived to be 99 years old. She was right on the money until the last few months of her life. I wish I could interest you if all my stories of Mama Gooch, but, I will save that for later.

Happy Birthday Mama Gooch. I love you.....

Saturday, February 7, 2009

RAIN



I had a wonderful chance to almost see the Beatles. It was like I was a teenager again. Only this time my best friends were with me and we were transported back to the days when we had no cares, no responsibility. We were just screaming and fainting, clapping our hands to the beat, and singing with the band.

What I am talking about is a night out at the Orpheum to see "Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles". I felt like I was a sitting in my living room watching the Ed Sullivan show. Really, I swear I did. Then, songs and time progressed and I was in my dorm studying for an exam while Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was blasting from another room reaching every room on our hall.

There were big screens to each side of the stage with pictures from my past, images of the bright swirling colors, and we all collectively sighed, laughed, clapped, or moaned at what we saw. We were encouraged to sing with them, but we needed no encouragement because we already were singing. From the balcony, I looked down at the whole floor clapping in time to the beat and I got chills.

I had a wonderful night, and came home, got in bed and it was nice to have the tunes stick in my head, and sing me to sleep.