Memories

This box comes with memories of the girls drawing pictures and coloring in their favorite coloring books. It says it is a crayon box, but on the end it states, "one gross, dustless crayons, American Art Clay Company, Indianapolis, Indiana." So, it most likely held chalk. I think I must have picked it up in an antique store somewhere to use as a container for the girls crayons. What you see are crayons, pencils and even some chalk from when the girls were young. I found this box packed away and decided to keep it for the grandkids to use when they visit. And I get to use the colored pencils when I have the need. I like the tin. Kinda cool.

Whenever I would visit Mary and Daddy, I would usually end up telling Mary how much I liked the old Pyrex Flame Ware she used to cook dinner. They were old enough that they had turned blue. Well, I think they turned blue. The detachable handle is still clear, so maybe it is newer than the bowl/pans? I loved the old handle and the nesting glass pans. She gave them to me when she moved so I have the handle and three or four pans of different sizes. This is the smallest one. She would use one for vegetables, one for rice or potatoes, one for gravy, and make jello or salad in the other. They make great bowls for mixing scrambled eggs, pancakes, or making french toast. They came with lots of great memories.

I found this little book ( here ) in a used book store when the girls were small in 1978. The book was copyrighted 1902 and an inscription, "Dorothy, November 1st, Nineteen hundred and three," is on the front fly leaf. That link should take you to a copy online at google books. I loved the illustrations and the stories were interesting to me since they were so different from the stories I was reading the girls. The girls were not really very interested in the stories, but that was ok, I enjoyed looking through the book, and imagining, Dorothy, happily reading. The book lives in the hoosier and they make a match being of about the same era. I just like the book, and it comes with the memories of the girls siting on the rug in the used book store going through stacks of childrens books looking for book treasure. For not too much I could get them both 5 or 6 books or more. I found books too. We were all happy!

I remember, Tom's Grandma Lillian, used this bowl to make her special beans. No, she didn't chop the beans. She would have this bowl full of parsley and then she would chop bacon into the parsley until they were all blended and chopped fine. ( I can't remember if she chopped onions in too?) Then she would add the chopped mixture to the bean pot. Wow! Those beans were sooo good! She would make them for the weekly family meals when the extended family would all show up. Good old Italian family. Hard to beat all that family love and togetherness. Lots of memories there too. When I got this bowl it was in perfect condition, but it flew off the counter during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and it now has a small crack on the rim. I have been afraid to use it since then because I don't want to cause the crack to grow. I used to enjoy chopping up stuff in it. Worked great!

Mary gifted me with this cornbread pan because she knew I loved it. I think that you can go to the store and buy a pan that would look just like this, but this pan, this pan, had been in her family and used for many years. I think it might have been Nan's? Maybe? Anyway, I really like it, especially since it has made cornbread for the family for many years. Neat!

Memories - I remember with respect and pay honor to those who died, or suffered and endured 9/11 and its aftermath. I'm not good at all expressing my feelings, but I will say that I feel a love and gratitude toward everyone who was swept up by the immediate and consequent events.

I am guilty of keeping memories in the form of things. Tangible memories are fine as long as I don't accumulate too many of them. I am pretty good about getting rid of stuff, and just keeping the memories. But sometimes, especially if it is something I can use, I enjoy having the thing around. I was originally going to post photos of old stuff I found around here, but I decided to just post some photos of things that I especially care about.

I locked up the chicken feed again tonight. Gee, two nights in a row. I'm getting better at remembering. Tom said that he has seen two skunks on the property when he is out at night walking Lucky. So,I'm also counting the hens and making sure I'm not locking up the little skunk in the coop. The hens didn't mind the skunk at all, in fact, for awhile the skunk disappeared under about three hens and they were fine. Buddies. I wonder if I've been locking the skunk up in there and it was the skunklet who was eating the eggs?

[5 eggs today]

Smiles

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Ewww! That smell...

It's amazing, but it seems that everyday that goes by the skunk smell gets worse! The smell didn't bother me that much the night it all happened. The basket got skunked, and the broom and the shovel, etc., so the poor basketless hen laid her egg on the skunky straw. Why don't I clean this up and nail the basket back up? Because it all smells too bad. Bad enough that it hurts my nose and makes me feel a little sick. So, I run in, check for eggs, and run back out. Well, I don't run, but I do hurry. Maybe it will smell better tomorrow? Or I should paint? Or, what? Then the place would smell like skunky paint. I guess I will just wait the smell out.

I wonder if the skunk smell works something like poison oak? I remember falling off a tire swing when I was a teenager and rolling down a hill covered with poison oak and not getting a reaction. Neat! But, after that experience, every time I would come in contact with poison oak I would have a worse reaction. Maybe that's what's happening with the skunk smell?

This is a photo that shows the chickens on the porch yesterday eating lettuce and melon, but it also shows the screen door that I got for 10 dollars. Only problem was that it had a doggie door in it, and people find out in a hurry when they move up here that doggie doors are a no no. All kinds of wild critters will come in your house if you have a doggie door. So, my solution was to unscrew the dog door and add some screening. I have seen screen doors for 4 foot sliders going for over 100 dollars. This was much cheaper. I have another screen door that I need to re-screen and I will use it here. The metal panels on the bottom of this door make it sturdier, but I like the more open look.

Tom put this solar light in the shed. There is a small solar plate that catches the sun on the outside and provides the power for the light. It always seems to be on, none of the off and on as you open and close the door, at least I think that is how it works. I haven't shut myself in the shed to find out if it goes off. Not yet. That's the chicken feed in the garbage cans.

This is the blue sky we had on this the last day of August. Some days the sky is so blue it is hard to believe. Here it is only about half as intense a blue as it can get. I remember Mary looking up at the sky one day and exclaiming, "What's that!" She was startled by how blue the sky was. There is this feeling in the air that fall is on its way and cooler days will be here soon. And rain!

The fire in Auburn is 70 percent contained, fire info here, and there are photos and a photo gallery link at that site too. There was a bad fire in Auburn in 1988 called the Auburn fire, so there was talk of changing the name of this fire to the 49'er fire, but I don't know if they changed it yet. If you google for the Auburn fire, you get info on both of them.

[5 eggs today]

Smiles

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