On a Fall Night... Monday

It was a fall night in Nampa, Idaho. The wind is blowing 60 to 70 miles and hour. Limbs of tree's are flying along with all the golden leaves from our many old tree's. Baxter our Tabby cat just ran upstairs which might be the wrong thing to do if this ole Cottonwood were to come down. I am sure he is under the bed and we will not see him till morning. Baxter has fear issues when it comes to wind, rain, snow,cars and people. Arney drove home in the wind and said that it was not much fun. Not happy to find our trash cans almost to the neighbor's yard. And our Lawn chairs on their backs. I told him it was time to put them away....Men, they do not listen. The sky dark and the leaves falling like snow, it is a reminder of things to come. Mattie Anne and LB are cuddling on their bed. LB looks worried. But the sun shinned yesterday and we have about a foot of leaves except for the ones that blew into Mr. Johnsons yard, she must hate our tree's. I must run now and watch the Great Pumpkin Charley Brown.....It isn't Halloween until the Great Pumpkin appears.....Has anyone ever seen the Great Pumpkin? click to enlarge:)
LB is a Blue Tick Beagle and Mattie Anne is a Lemon Beagle, but don't say that to loud, no one wants to be called a Lemon, or is that cars???? Happy Everyday, Mary

And a shout out to Bandit....from one glasses eater to another.....MA

A little fun for Halloween:)

I thought it would be fun to do a little more Halloween! We live out of town so there are very few if any come to our door. When the kids were small it was a favorite time for us all. Just getting ready was half the fun. So to all the kids at heart, Happy Halloween from our house to yours. click to see it better.

Bazaar set up day & my unpainted window seat

I will be painting this weekend, probably Sunday evening. The front is bead board, so it will look good when painted. I have to seal it and then paint, I am so excited to have this done. I think it will look really nice when the pillow top is on it. I think the fabric will be red pillow ticking. It is cream with a little double red line. They use blue to make pillows, at least there was a time that they did. Arney just went to get us dinner, I am being spoiled today. Love, Mary

Tomorrow morning these tables will be filled with baked goods and homemade candies. Hi Martha, you look ready! Alice looking to see if there is anything she will want in the morning.....get here fast girl!!

Ruth and her team making turkey noodle soup. We make our own noodles....Yummmy!

Happy Fall ! It was a wonderful morning. It is so nice to

see the tables filled with things our ladies have

made with love for Church Bazaar. It takes a

whole bunch of ladies to make this happen. We

had lunch together too. Life is good when you

can spend time with old friends.

And tomorrow we will be selling things and

serving lunch to Our Town. We also have a

country store, people who do not make

things bring things to sell. I was

going to take pictures there also....forgot.

Good things happen when we work

together.

There is a cow in my house and some charms

Friday I will be taking these to our church. There are 75 necklaces. I am done making charms for awhile. It took a whole lot of my time. But if a few sell that will be really good. So I am done with all the Bazaar crafts....OH MY what shall I do?????

I know that you are all so creative and probably would not have gone with this traditional Cow, but it had been ages since I painted anything, and this was what I had in me. Tilly will be traveling all over the region with my friend Brenda. She will be taking donations for real milk cows. Then they will be bought and sent to places where milk cows will help a family or families. I am not sure what Brenda will do to her next. But it will be fun to see what she comes up with, maybe a hat or a bell, if I get a picture, I will share it with you. Happy Fall, Mary and Tilly

I just had to put socks on her, it is cold!

Window seat/storage

This was my craft room. But it is also our entry room and what is called here, a mud room from the backyard. I could not keep the craft room looking neat, and everyone comes to the back door. So here is the framing of the window seat. We are using bead board on the front and sides. The top will open. I will be searching for fabric to cover the pillow top. I have a couple of things in mind. I will be painting it white to match all the trim in our house. It isn't a pure white, it is a little creamy. You can see that our tree's are starting to turn. I will take more pictures as it comes together.

In this picture inside the frame on the left side, you will see a place where there is gray putty.

When we were working on the floors, we found a can lid that was nailed over the hole. It had 5 cents on the lid. No pipes or anything, so after some thought we think it was where the old fashioned washer was drained. This room is right off the kitchen, divided by a island with my stove. We like that it is really open and yet still with some modern stuff. We think the kitchen had some TLC in the 50's. But you can tell that at one time there was a wood stove. The brick chimney is still here. We have had so many mysteries about our old cottage farm house. Most of them have been salved in remodeling.

One of those days....

I woke this morning ready to ride my exercise bike, but I didn't. I was going to finish all my crafts for Bazaar, I didn't. Instead I spent the day cleaning, and spent most of my time in my bathroom. I know you have heard about the tooth brush cleaning....well today was mine. I detailed my bathroom. Every inch is cleaned with bleach which I hate to work with, but it was time. I know this is not a subject we would normally talk about, but when you have a bad back things don't get done when and as often as they should. I took my step stole in there and the rest is history. I told Arney when he got home not to use the bathroom until I had enjoyed it a few more hours. He seemed to understand and laughed.... House or crafting?????? Often I just do the basic stuff and the rest will have to just wait. The holidays will be here before I know it and I am so far behind that I would love to just hide for the next few months...I can blame it on Arney for being home for 4 months, but that is just one more excuse. So what is on the list for tomorrow, the kitchen. It isn't dirty, but it isn't as clean as I want, the places no one sees but me. I need to throw some things away or give them away to make more room for the next stuff I pile in there. It is just a endless job. I got my laundry kind of caught up, but until the remodel is done upstairs, it is where everything I need is. Add to all this the fact that I have moved everything out of my craft room. Arney is building me window seats in this room. I am tired of all the clutter, soooooo he is building this for me with storage. I can put all my crafts inside the window seats. I am going to buy a very pretty fabric and make large cushions and throw pillows. We have a back door family and friends. It will be nice to have this as a place just to stay pretty. This entry room has been many things, I hope this will be what I really want. So where will I do my art and stuff?At the kitchen table where I always find myself anyway. I have one of those tables that has been used for everything anyway. When I lived in a larger home, it was easy, but a small house is complicated. Could getting my house really in shape a art project? Maaaaybeeeee!

When The Cotton is High....short story 5/4/2005

left to right...Aunt Sugar, Grandmommy, Uncle Buddy, Mama, Sweetie.....and down at the bottom is me about 5 years old.

It is September of my 5th year. I am called Doll by my Grandparents, but Mary Ellen is my name. My Grandmommy loved to nickname kids. I lived with them most of the first 7 years of my life. Aunt Sugar, Aunt Sweetie, and Uncle Buddy lived here too. My Mother was the oldest, she was called Sweetheart. So many stories of my days with all this family, but we will save that for another time. My Mama & Dad were busy trying to grow up.
We lived in a farming town named after the founder Tipton, in California. The street where we lived was tree lined, no sidewalks, a lot of picket fences and everyone knew each other. It was a friendly town. Hot and dusty in the summer, cold and wet in the winter. Grandmommy would talk to the lady next door over the back fence. They had the same laundry day so they would hang clothes and chat. Ross Graham was the only person we didn't talk to, Grandmommy did not trust him. He walked all over town with his pants half down sometimes and this made her nerves. If you see Ross Graham coming you get into the house.
And so my story begins....
The car is going very slow down a dirt road throwing a cloud of dust behind us. We are heading to the cotton fields in a little town near Bakersfield, California called Pixley. It is still dark except for a golden glow way off in the distance. Soon the sun would be up. Granddaddy had carried me still half asleep to the car wrapped in a quilt Grandmommy had made. Five days a week while the cotton lasted this was our routine. I could see the lights from the other cars as we reached the section that would be picked that day. You cold smell the cotton, a clean woody scent mixed with the morning dew hanging over the field. In the distance the shadows of the Eucalyptus trees seemed to stand like soldiers. I love the smell of Eucalyptus. They were windbreakers to help keep the earth in place during the windy season. As Granddaddy parked the big black car with the red seats, I could hear the sounds coming from the other pickers and their families. I would settle back down on the mohair back seat and complete my morning sleep. Meanwhile my Grandparents would prepare themselves with hats and canning jars filled with water for the morning picking. They would walk all the way to the end of the row, slipping out of my sight and then work all the way back to the car with long cotton sacks made of stiff caves strapped to their shoulder. The cotton wagon with the high wooden sides sat waiting for the long sacks to be hung on a hock that would weigh the cotton. Then Granddaddy would climb into the wagon and throw the sack high into the air to release the cotton from the sack. White fluffy cotton would then fall like snow into the wagon. I loved to chew on cotton seeds. The nutty taste was really sweet and a common treat for us kids.

The red handkerchief was a common sight as the morning turned into noon and the heat burn through their heavy clothes. Even if it was hot, they had to cover their bodies to protect them from the sun and the sharp ball the cotton rested in. Their figures were bloody from the picking out the cotton from their sticky ball. I remember the smell of medicine that they would use to help them heal. But no ones hands healed till the end of the season.
There were rules that had to be followed when you are left at the end of the row. Don't leave the car. You can get out of the car, but stay right by it. Don't talk to strangers, and if anyone bothers you...scream for help. Drink your water from the jar, and use the coffee can to pee in. We will be back at lunch when the sun is straight up in the sky.
Cars were parked in a row and each morning we would swing open our doors and out would come kids. All of us were little, if you were 7 or 8 chances are you were in the field picking cotton. Black and white men and women along with all ages of kids worked side by side in the cotton fields of California. Although I played with most of the kids, my best playmate was Ulan. He was a dark skinned boy about my age. He would say to me, " you is as white as the cotton."
And I would say that he was like looking into a cup of coffee. He called me Doll because that is what he heard me called. When I think of Ulan, I think of the towns we built in the dirt and how he would laugh when everything we had done would fall down. I wonder if he ever thought of that cotton skinned redhead that was so dirty you would not know what her color really was at the end of the day.
Lunch was special. Grandmommy packed enough for an Army, that's what Granddaddy would say most every day. Hard boiled eggs, fruit, cookies and left over chicken, and sometimes a piece of cake. Everyone came out of the field about the same time. You could hear soft talking, laughing and sometimes a spanking was heard. Someone probably didn't follow the rules. Granddaddy would lay back on the blanket and Grandmommy would put everything away. Soon they would head down another row and work their way back. The day was long, so I would crawl back into the car and nap. It made the day shorter, and the sun was so hot.
The pickers sometimes would start singing church songs, or humming. The sun would be going down as we left the field heading home. They must have told funny stories while they worked, because you could hear laughing too.
The old kitchen table was the hub of the house and soon all the wonderful smells of food filled the house. Beans that had cooked all day, fried potatoes, biscuits and corn, lots of butter and milk with ice put in it. Granddaddy always said a prayer for the food, and gave thanks for another good day. I loved it when we were all together at the table. It was where everyone talked about the day, somethings good, and not so good. The front door and back would be open and a soft breeze would come through. It was not always perfect, but it was good. Like any family we had our hurts and misunderstandings, questions and often the answer was we will see.
I missed my Mama.
So at the days end when we were all washed, Grandmommy got out her Bible and began to read.
there was honor in doing a hard days work. Never having a lot, just enough. The day ends and another begins.....To my Grandmommy who was the heart of the family.

I am done with the dressmaker for this year...

This is the back of the dress...a very large bow. I put small crystals on the shawl to dress it up. and the big over done jewels to give it sparkle. So we will see what happens at the Bazaar???? I saved number 3 for next year, I am running out of time. The velvet was fun to work with. I kept thinking that I should just go nuts and put lots of stuff on this little number, but I am a plain Jane at heart....Happy Fall!

The bell of the ball, maybe not, but she will have sparkle:)

Here it is!

My son and his wife (Trevor&Terri) loaned me this exercise bike. It is really nice. Now to see if I will be faithful to it's use. I need to lose 50 pounds. It is for me, for my health and feeling better about me. The bike is really nice. It tells you how far, time, cals, and so on. The only thing it doesn't do is say," get your butt up and peddle!" It moves arms to which is really nice. Okay...I went one whole mile today. I know it sounds like so little, but if I do to much to soon and I get to much pain, well you know the story. It will set here and I will be dusting it like a piece of furniture. I will keep you posted, Mary's big adventure. Peddling, Peddling!

The Dancer

As you know I have been working on charms. This one is for the Granddaughter of a friend of mine. Dawn is a professional dancer in New York. I haven't seen her since she was a little girl. It is 3 inches by 1 inch, with very thin glass. The back of the charm has a sheet of music I cut out of a old music book. I was lucky to find this lovely tassel at Micheal's. It is probably used more for ear rings, but it seemed to be the right choice for this charm.
It got down to 31 degree's last night, so the heat is on. It is supposed to be about 60 today. The leaves are turning on our tree's and soon our yards will be filled with them. Happy Fall!

Thank you for coming with us page#5

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A walk through our town...Pretty in Pink #4

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