This Thing Called AGE???

As I see my reflection each day and look at my hands and skin, covered with wrinkles and age spots that are more like my mothers, it looks like a woman 90+ years old. I can accept that reality BUT I can't wrap my mind around the fact that it is ME! 

This time of year takes me way back to the times when it was so exciting, as the weather started to get a chill and it was time for the first fire in the grate fireplace ,the only form of heat, other than the coal burning stove in the kitchen, that had been covered with plywood during the summer. It was my job to pick up chips from around the wood chopping block to help start that first fire for the winter. Once it was started as the weather got cold it was kept burning using coal to keep us from freezing.   Sometimes we would bake whole potatoes by putting them in the ashes, so good when they were done, covered with real "cow" butter.

Fall brings more memories than I could mention, like gathering black walnuts after the first frost, smashing the green hulls that left a stain on your hands that couldn't be washed off for quite some time. After this they were put on the top of a shed, maybe even on the outhouse, to dry.   Then there was cracking them and getting them ready for delicious cakes, candy or just eating.

Lots of other work to be done, besides all the canning, pickling, making preserves, jelly etc. to have food for the winter.  There was dried corn to be gathered and shucked, fodder shocks to keep the cow, horse and chickens fed. It was all done the hard way for all the people I knew. All this seems like not so long ago, until I think of all the "in betweens" during those years.

I enjoy "remembering" most of the time except for the sad times and the mistakes I've made and the things that can't be amended. These are the thoughts that keep me awake at night. It would be so nice to have a switch that I could turn those off kinda' like the delete on a computer.

It's not all bad, still caring about others, trying never to judge or change anyone else, just always being thankful for the life here at Creekside Terrace. Wishing ALL a wonderful EVERYDAY of THANKSGIVING!!

 

Happy 2019 From Lois

 

​Does it seem to you like time itself is moving faster, or is it just that I am moving slower? Each year passes like it is in overdrive. I remember back when we looked forward to the next season that came much slower. 

Early fall as the weather started to get a chill in the air, I was always excited when my dad first opened the grate fireplace that had been covered for a long time during the summer.  That was the only heat in our house except for the coal stove in the kitchen. It was my job to go out to the wood chopping block and pick up chips to use to start that first fire. As the weather became colder the fire seldom went out, it was kept burning using coal to keep it going.  At night when it was bedtime my dad used what was called "slack" coal on the fire that kinda smothered it, that kept it slow burning during the night than in the morning all you had to do was use a poker to stir it up and get it going again.  After that larger chunks of coal kept it going.  We never used wood except to get it started.  Remember the big boxes of "strike anywhere" matches?

This was a time to start wearing shoes after the long summer days of going barefoot it seemed strange to have them on, except for going to Sunday School.  As soon as I would get home off they would come, felt so good.

Soon after Labor Day, school started, to begin another long stretch in time.  Until 4th grade I went to a little one room school that was in sight of our house.  After that I had to walk quite a way and cross the creek, if there was a bridge, to catch the bus to Pratt Jr. High. Sometimes the creek would rise and wash the bridge away.  At those times I had to miss school. The time seemed so slow, it seemed forever before late May when school would be out for the summer.

In the early years I remember we had no electric.  The only lights we had were kerosene lamps, that didn't seem so bad because that was all we knew until later years.

Even from early Fall, it seemed that Christmas would never come and from one Christmas to another was like forever. It seemed like birthdays would never come, back when we looked forward to being another year older, what a change now.

I still smile when I remember May 1st was the first day we could go without shoes and other changes could take place, like changing from long underwear, no matter what the weather this was the magic date.

The spring and summer work had already begun as people used the Farmer’s Almanac watching the "signs" for planting crops, except for planting potatoes, that had to be March 17, St. Patrick's Day, maybe because they were Irish potatoes??

The summers seemed long and enjoyed when we could wade the creek and puddles after a rain. Playing games using sticks for bats, pictures from catalogues as paper dolls, running, playing tag, hopscotch using a piece of broken glass, all sorts of fun things to do.

Time was so much slower back then, we took advantage of every minute.  When night came we were ready to rest.  Always patiently waiting for the next season. Now things move so fast that it seems that seasons are almost gone before they get here so we have to grab every minute use it and make the best of it before it is gone forever. There is nothing sweeter than showing love and understanding for each other.

I am so Blessed to have the chance to be able to say HAPPY NEW YEAR one more time.