THE CHERRY TREE

One summer day we had no school. All the kids were trying to find something to do..we had parade, we caught insects and put them in jars to watch them fight to see who would win. We captured fire flys and there used to be so many praying mantises. These days I don't see any at all...I don't know what happened to them. They were ugly and we used to put them in and watch them fight one another...Cruel and unusual punishment.. I don't remember the ladies name but she had a huge very old red cherry tree. It was just loaded down with cherries. All the kids were anxious to eat them but being in the ladies yard nobody dared. Then one day, the lady came out on her porch and invited all the kids to come and pick as many as they wanted..It was one of the greatest days I can remember all the kids ran to get buckets, cups anything they could carry cherries in...We climbed up, up, into the huge boughs of that cherry tree...we ate as many as we picked and spit the seeds at one another laughing and enjoying our afternoon...The lady was very pleased to see us all have a wonderful afternoon..and glad that we were able to practically strip that tree of it's fruit before the bird got a hold of them...It was a gift that I know I will never forget...

LIFE IN A TRAILER PARK

My first years until third grade were spent living in a trailer, the kids made fun of us  and called us trailer trash...none of us cared, we had more fun than any of the other kids. We had so many playmates and we all played together...release was our favorite. We played long into the night...and we hid everywhere in the park. Our summers consisted of every evening long games of release. Life was good! We had a red coca-cola machine up near the new wash house. People there got showers, did laundry, there was a long  line of toilets and sinks in the block building. The coke machine was the hang out spot and it was the place where the kids decided who was who. So many wonderful memories of that place. Across the highway, Lebanon Church Road there was a small little grocery story called Shorty's. He had all kinds of snack, popsicles and food and penny candy. We took our chore money, if and when we got any and went right over to Shorty's to purchase some chips, or candy. It was great. At  the bottom of the cement steps on the side of the new wash house was a place to hang your laundry after washing them n the Double Dexters...back then there were no automatic anything...the washing machines were as modern as any of us could imagine. The clotheslines were heavy wire and made great tightropes for the brave at heart...One of which I was..My mother used to tell the story when she went back to hang clothes she found me walking on the wire.. Daring not to yell,  for fear I would be startled, fall and literally split myself up the middle...she stood frozen waiting for me to come down...I fell out of a tree that stood behind our trailer...20' in the air...not once but twice and completed knocked myself out...my father had to cut it down to keep me out of it....There was an incinerator toward the back of the park where people burned their trash.. It was the home of the neighboring rats that would scurry when anyone passed at night...Nobody was afraid we all just ignored them. I remember the day I learned to tie my shoes. I remember so many things so well. Memories that all stored away in the recess of my mind...soon those memories will be gone and forgotten forever...and only these that I write will remain...

A NEW YEAR...1946-2010

This is a new year..I will be 65 this January and know that everyday I live is closer to the last. So I better get busy because I have so much to tell..NEW is all about life, the newness of life is in Christ but I don't want to get ahead of myself. So back to when I was a kid!...When I was small, New Years Eve had a different meaning..In the early fifties people felt new hope. The war was over and our country was on a new track. New inventions, new ways of life. Old things are now passed away and now women could stay home with their families and men worked...Unlike during the war..people stood in line for sugar, gas was rationed and people live everyday as if could be their last! That was over now, finished, everyone had new hope to move on. That is why there was such a baby boom, women wanted to get out of the factories and back in the kitchen. Therefore the apron was a new and most popular attire of clothing...Women baked, cooked, canned, and cleaned with joy! It was their place, a place they desired. Men felt like the bread winner and had a sense of pride that our country was back on track. We had conquered and been through another World War. Men came home bent and broken but with a new heart and a new sense of pride..Life was good again babies and more babies were born to be nurtured in their homes that now would be rebuilt. Life reinvested, children happy to play. There was NO TV.. only on Saturday cartoons and all in black and white. Early morning cowboys...the good cowboys always wore the white hats! I remember so well getting up at 7 am and turning on the 5' screen to watch a black and white cowboy show. Saturday was TV day, morning only. The rest of the time a round circle overlaid in black circles and a piercing loud high hum...called the test pattern was shown. After a while a few new shows would appear in the evening...But they were few and far between..It was an amazing thing to be able to see anything right in your living room...on a small little screen. People were happy, things were simple and life was good! Men had jobs, women were happy to be Moms and kids played and ran and had no fear of the evil ways of the world..Most everyone was thankful to be alive. Happy for life and able to once again survive. It seems strange now to look back and see the difference in attitude for a people that were thankful for everything. An attitude of gentle suffering and life worth living....to the present attitude of being owed everything. Greedy and selfish. The "ME" attitude that people carry around so prevalently now...So a NEW YEAR now a total time of complete celebration...A CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND SURVIVAL!! Thankful and joyful for a new beginning. Another chance to start over and make new!!

NEW YEARS EVE'S TO REMEMBER

New Years Eve never really was a huge holiday in my family even when I was a kid!! I do remember we were allowed to stay up past midnight and our big night was to take my mothers pots and pans out of the kitchen..with big spoons and bang them until our little hands were numb...We also greeted the new day with a display of clanging lids...pounding like cymbals...any kind of noise, yelling, emotion was allowed that night and we seemed to do our share!! But as wild and crazy as those New Years Eve's were, the most memorable were the ones I spent after I was a Christian...We would attend "Watch Night Service" at our church. Our pastor, Ron Bailey, would spend the evening greeting everyone and then we would pray the New Year in at the Altar...On our knees, we would as a church, lay our requests, praise, and adoration of getting us through the past year unharmed and blessed to laying our new praises, and adorations to God for a new and upcoming year...We prayed for one another, we prayed for our families...People just prayed out loud as the Spirit led and it was a wonderful warm time of fellowship. We spent the entire evening with worship, singing and at midnight we all were on our knees...desiring all that God had for us!! Opening our hearts to listen to His voice and lay on our hearts His direction for our lives during another up and coming year...After the service..some families went home, or invited a few friends over for snacks or late supper...But most of us with small families decided to finish off the night with entertainment...Some years we went all night bowling, some years it was roller skating, always a wonderful time of fellowship with the families of those you loved and spent many hours with during Sunday and Wednesday services...It was a family, a family of believers..a family of like people that laughter, excitement and enjoyment filled the night...A magical night that ended with the sun rising, babies sleeping and parents heading home after a long cold winters night of exercise of one form or another...Those were the most precious times seeing another year in with people around me that I loved and loved me!!...Those days have passed and memories of a closer tie to people you knew... will never be broken...For those days and times I am thankful for the close and warm fellowship!! A fellowship that only God and his love can present...Only on a special day like a NEW YEAR!!...I will always remember the fun, the joy and the love we shared year after year!!!

IT'S ALL ABOUT CHRISTMAS

It's been too long, I've been away and now I have to catch up!...Visiting, holidays, and a busy life have dragged me away from my daily blogging...Christmas Eve is too important not to share some good memories. So here we go..

When we lived in the trailer park, back in the early 50's...We had a small edition built onto our little, blue, round trailer. It was white and the size of one room. This served as our living room and this is where we set up the Christmas tree. Every year, not one thing ever appeared until Christmas Day. No decorations, no presents, no wrapping, everything was just a normal day...Then on Christmas Eve, magically, everything came into play. The world turned into fantasy land. When you awoke you anticipated the wondrous sights of blinking lights, presents under the tree, stockings full of goodies. All done in one night..That was the miracle of Christmas..Besides the baby Jesus, the secular Christmas was as much of a miracle to a little kid!! The wonder of it all...and it happened all over night. Santa had arrived and he did all of this magically...One Christmas my father hid the Christmas tree , the same one he just picked out and bought home on Christmas Eve, behind this little room so we would not see it...Then after we all were in bed asleep, on Christmas Eve my mother and father dragged it in, set it up, and decorated it...all over night. However, this year, our tree would not see a New Year. Christmas morning everyone woke up..parents very sleepy!! My sisters and I anxious to open presents and mull over the ones we saw just sitting under the tree...My mother reached to plug the lights on. All big colored bulbs, multi colored and glowing. These big, old, colored lights created alot of heat. After the screaming of how beautiful everything was and the wonder of a cold, crisp, Christmas morning a strange but yet familiar odor began to flow throughout the little room we sat in. It was not pine! All crowded in this room, now with a decorated Christmas tree, parents, three girls and all the presents...this repulsive smell came spewing out into what should have been the wonderful smell of a holiday morning. Cinnamon rolls, coffee brewing, breakfast cooking...No, instead it was the familiar smell of CAT PEA!!... Oh no, the entire house began to smell like cat pea...Obnoxious cat pea...Had a cat sneak back in the middle of the night and sprayed his scent on our Christmas tree...Apparently so! We all walked around with our thumb and finger clenching our nostrils...and saying...EWWWW!!!...Hurriedly, my mother unplugged the beautiful lights that shined all around the room and gave a glow of light and a spirit of warmth. Suddenly our Christmas that year turned into a fiasco. The smell permeated the entire house...the heat of the lights brought the strong smell out and about. There was no way of containing it...Not now, not ever!!!...My father, insisted the tree had to go! We could not live smelling that odor for weeks. So before we even were able to look and see what was on the tree...the undecorated began...The garlands, balls, lights, icicles, and finally the tree was dismantled and dragged out to be placed back in the fresh air for all the neighboring cats to enjoy...and it could smell all it wanted...Thanks to a random act of a roaming cat..our Christmas morning turned out to be one of the most memorable I can ever remember...There are others that come to mind but this one was the one that will always stick in in front of wonderful Christmas memories...We ran the train, we opened our presents, and we enjoyed the rest of the holiday, but without a Christmas tree...Oh well, it didn't quench our spirit...We just went on and were thankful ...when the tree exited...so did the aroma of the fresh, the undeniable, scent of CAT URINE went too...and the rest of Christmas went on without so much as a twitch, but it sure was a story to be enjoyed. It brought many a smile to those we loved that wonderful Christmas Holiday!