Mamaw and Papaw's helper....

We have not been still since she came....or not for long anyway. She helped water the flowers when she got here yesterday evening,
and this morning she helped water the garden.
First look at the face above, then look at the expression below!
You can see a lot in those eyes!
Papaw got her squirt guns...
besides squirting us, she shot bugs and just anything else she could find.
She just now went to bed....it is 10:30....we had to catch fireflies for a while, and she had to watch a few little scenes from Max and Ruby...

This mamaw is too tired to do much of anything, so going to post these and then relax.

Waiting for Lorelei....

By the time you read this, she will be here. I am getting this ready to post beforehand, though, cause once she gets here we will be busy. I am betting she will want to play with playdoh or her bubbles first thing. She is growing so much...mentally and physically.

It has been quite a while since she has been here....I have no idea what she will think of the flowerbed. She usually notices stuff like that. And I also picked up a dollhouse at a yardsale...just like this one. When you press the phone, it sounds like a real phone ringing...and if you raise the lid to the potty, it sounds as if it flushes. It was like new...she has dollhouses at home and really likes them, so thought she would enjoy having one here.

We have been busy today...Roger did the yard even though it only needed it in spots. If it don't rain, it will be a long time before it needs it again. It is brittle to walk on. He also watered my new flowers for me while I tried to pick up and put up stuff inside. I do not know why we have got in this awful habit of piling stuff on the dining room table. I know part of the reason is we seldom eat at the table...from people I talk to it seems to be a common thing.

Lots of times we eat on the front porch, but if we are real weary, we might just sit in here and watch TV. Eating on the porch is one thing I really miss in the winter...

Well, the Belmont stakes will be starting here shortly. I am watching the pre-race part of the day. I just love to see the history and stories about the horses...was so sorry that I'll Have Another won't get a chance to race for the Triple Crown.

From the past...

I saw this in the Livery Stable Antique Barn I posted on Time Stand Still...
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When I was growing up, we had one similar to this in our kitchen. The one we had had the place for the flour on the left side....like the one shown here. Mom kept her flour in it, and her pan she made biscuits in sat under it. dishes and serving bowls were kept on the shelves in the upper right side, I think....glasses sat below behind the roll-up door. Some, if not all the pots and pans sat behind the big door on the bottom

I don't remember what were in the drawers when it was actually in use...

Besides it, we had a big, metal kitchen sink...similar to this one. Maybe some of you remember them...maybe not. The whole thing is made of metal, there is only one basin. We always used a metal dishpan to run water to wash dishes in, and just ran water a bit at a time to rinse with.

Oh, being in the country, we had well water. Which means we had an electric pump. After so much water is ran, the pump kicks on. Well, our pump was in the basement and we could hear it kick on. I don't know what happened and don't remember if or how it was fixed, but there was a short in the wiring somehow. And if we were running water, and the pump came on, when we touched the faucet to turn it off, we got shocked! I can remember that as if it happened yesterday.

Beside that sink, a homemade table sat that had the same height as the sink. It fit between the sink and the wall. Mom hung a curtain across the front of it, and behind it sat a big lard can...that is where she put her cornmeal. What else was there, I don't remember, but it did have more room. The top had linoleum on it to make washing it easy.

For a long long time our kitchen table was a home made one...again the top had linoleum on it--and it had this metal trim that went all the way around the edge...it capped down over the linoleum and kept it from curling up or getting torn I suppose. And we had a bench that two of us sat on...again, I am sure it was homemade, but I don't remember any details of how it was made.

Mom saved and had kitchen cabinets made...this was probably before I was in high school. She first got just the base...they were custom made by a cabinet maker. They were simple made, but they were made well. They filled the wall that the sink and other table were on and extended half way down another wall. A while later, not sure how long, she was able to have upper cabinets made.

Either when she had the base made or when she had the upper cabinets made, she also had a base made with two bins that tipped out...one for flour and one for cornmeal...I think I have talked before about how everyone down there used to always buy their flour and meal in 25lb sacks...so the bins were really used.

It was just so exciting to have all that room....it probably more than doubled her storage room. I really don't know how she made it before as far as space. And all that counter space to work on. Though we still used the table a lot...by then one of my sisters had given her a nice table with matching chairs.