memories....

I was washing dishes yesterday, and I got to thinking about my sister, Fran.  The above post card was one she sent in the 1960's...but that is not what I want to write about.  Though how I ended up with it is more than I know.  And it has been in my kitchen cabinet for a long time.  I get it out and touch it and read it every now and then.

Of our family, I think she was the favorite of us all.  Here is one story about her...and I thought I would share another story that again shows how she was.

For a few years when the kids were young, we were living pay check to pay check...I just had to plan every dollar.  Well, this one Christmas, I had to wait till the day before to buy groceries to do Christmas dinner.  I don't remember if I already had the ham or not, because I would buy it ahead if I could catch it on sale.  Well, Christmas Eve was my in-laws wedding anniversay and we had to go there to see them and take their anniversary gift.

I was thinking we could visit with them and run by Kroger's there near them to pick up groceries.  I don't remember if I actually went and left Roger there with the kids, or if I called, or how I found out, but Krogers was closed!  I called our local grocery here in our town, and they were open but would be closed before we could get home.  So I called my sister.

She made a list of what I needed and I told her how much I had to spend.  I don't remember the amount...but every penny was planned.  Well, we visit a bit more and then head home and stop by my sister's to pick up the groceries...I paid her the money and we loaded up and came on home.

My, oh, my what had she done!  I cannot remember what all there was extra...there were mixed nuts, there was ribbon candy, and I don't remember what all else was in the bags.  But she had probably come close to spending twice what I told her.  Just getting things she thought we would enjoy.   And would not think of letting me pay her.

Just such sweet memories.  I hope you have some to share...it would be fun to hear some good, heartwarming stories.

A little show and tell...

This shows the block before I totally finished the applique...  The black basting line is basting the leaf shape to the freezer paper base.  The white stitching stitches the shape to the background fabric.

Showing the stitching...the thread is more orange than it looks in the photo, but not as orange as I wish it were.

Here you see the stitches on the back of the block...

Above you see I have cut the background away from the behind the leaf and am removing the freezer paper.   One thing about this freezer paper, I don't think it is as good as what I used to get.  It does not feel as heavy and makes crinkling sounds.

And here is what it looks like after the basting is all removed and the freezer paper removed.

I have only finished the applique part of a few of them.  All the others I have finished still has the freezer paper and basting in them.  At the rate I am going, it is going to be a long time before I finish them all...have several things going and need to start another one...and yet I do so little.

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I raked a bunch of leaves yesterday...well, 8 big garbage bags stuffed full as I could stuff them.  But that is nothing to what I used to rake at one go.  I had raked 4 a few days ago.  I still have quite a few to go, and keep waiting for the rest of the leaves to fall from a neighbor's tulip poplar and another neighbor's maple tree.  Bubbie was my constant companion through it all.
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I think I am warming up leftover meatloaf for supper...we need to eat on it.  Seems like at times, I love meatloaf and will have made one that is on the small side.  Then I make one a bit bigger, and we don't seem to enjoy it as much.  Anyway, I need to get in there and at least set it out.  I will actually probably put it in the oven later and let it warm up that way.  Most of the time we just warm up what we eat in the microwave.

I should have been outside working in leaves...but I have sat here instead.  And I did sew a few stitches.

I don't know if it was real bad allergies or what, but was sick a couple days this past week...but it passed quickly.  My throat was sore and I blew and blew and blew my nose the first morn.  Normally, Roger never volunteers to stay home for breakfast, but he looked at me and said, 'We don't have to go anywhere this morn....don't even worry about it.'  I don't know if it was how I sounded or how I looked or both.  LOL  I always sound and feel worse early in the morn. 

I hope you all have a good week...I feel like I am forgetting something I wanted to ask but cannot think what it is for the life of me.

Deer season....a funny

Being that hunting season is here, and I have heard it mentioned elsewhere, it brought to mind this story.  It has been published a couple times before,  but whether you hunt or not, I think you might find this at least amusing...maybe even funny.  It is one of the stories that would only happen to my husband.  Or his cousin.

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A friend wrote a story about one of his hunting excursions. Being the wife of a hunter and sister to hunters before that, I could identify with a lot he said. About 5:00 being the witching hour for hunters, or for my husband when he is meeting fellow hunters it is sometimes even earlier. Also, unlike rotten apples to disguise the human smell, hunters now have doe urine. I wouldn't want to mistake that for my perfume, now would I, but that is besides the point.

This is a story of one of my husband's hunting trips. A few years ago he decided to hunt out on property near the orchard where I worked. It actually belonged to the brother of my boss. A day or two before the planned hunting trip, he and his buddy went out to decide where they were going to put their tree stands, and in so doing had to hack out a path through some of the undergrowth.

On the morning of the hunt, they met here before going out there...it is at the most 10 minutes from here. They get out of the truck out there and the farm cat greets them. It is young, not even a year old.  Roger pets it just a second and he and his buddy proceed down the path...they get to the 'y' in the path and his buddy goes one way while he goes they other. The cat follows my husband.

He is hunting with bow and arrows, and hunting from a climbing tree stand. So he gets to the tree he has chosen to use, and gets his tree stand situated on it and climbs up the tree. I am not familiar enough with the process to paint a good picture, but it is a tree stand that he does the physical climbing with. It has two parts....one part is the actual seat and the other is the part he stands on....THIS is a video from you tube and does show how his works.

When climbing up to a tree stand, he always ties his bow to a long rope and once he gets up as high as he is going to go, he pulls the bow up with the rope. He gets the bow up and gets situated...he hears this meow. It is still practically dark, so he kind of looks but doesn't see anything. He sits back, and he hears it again! And he can hear it so plain...he does not have the best of hearing. So he gets his flashlight out and bends way over the tree stand while shining it all around and still doesn't see anything.

He sits back again and hears it again! And he felt something on his legs...he looks down at his feet and there sits the kitty! It had sat by his feet as he climbed up the tree. It proceeded to climb up into his arms, purring all the while, and doing the rubbing thing that cats do when they are happy to see you. He held it out at arm's length and dropped it!

Did it run for home you might ask. The answer would be no. It played around the bottom of the tree my husband was in, chasing leaves or anything else that caught it's imagination. After a while of playing, it climbed out onto a dead log and went to sleep!

This is an honest tale; I don't have the imagination to make something like this up. And this is only the tip of the iceberg--things like this continually happen to my husband, my older daughter, and my husband's cousin.