I love Wednesdays because it's simply the middle of the week. When I was a kid, I knew someone with the name Wednesday and back then, I wanted to change my name to Wednesday. I hated my name and was always wanting to change it. Of course, I remember one classmate who's name was Gail Elaine. I wanted to change my name to her name too, but just didn't know how to do it.
I guess we should always be satisfied with the name our parents gave us, but most persons seem to be not totally satisfied. The other day I ran across a woman whose first name was September. I think I would have found a way to change my name if I had been named that although my grandma's middle name was March because she was born in March. : > (
I can't believe we are almost at the middle of this month. Then comes August, the hot month. Yikes....if August is any hotter than July, we're in trouble. Today it's cooler, but the rain a few hours ago makes the air very humid and thick. But at least it's supposed to be a bit cooler today and tomorrow.....gearing up for a pretty hot weekend I suppose.
Hope your Wednesday is full of fun, delight and money.....not like the old poem, "Wednesday's child is full of woe".
Usually I Don't Post Controversial Issues
I usually try to stay a long ways from controversial or political issues, but this morning I have two I want to address. The first issue is the nation's debt ceiling fight in congress.
I saw a banner on the television last night that my Social Security Disability check could be late in August because of stubborness. Many millions of people and I depend on Social Security Disability money to pay our bills. I'm still not old enough to draw my retirement from the place I worked. Cuts in Medicare and Social Security are not the way to win votes. The rich could stand to have the tax cuts lifted....it has always bothered me that they were given these cuts. I'm not going to say any other thing about this....but there are probably other readers who might not get their August Social Security check on time if the politicians don't do the right thing.....it's time to write your congressman and ask him/her how you are supposed to pay your bills!!
The second item of controversy concerns Dave Baker, our former chief of police who was the Athens chief of police. The mayor of Athens has long had a vendetta against Dave Baker and tried to fire him in 2009. This week the mayor fired him against the vote of the city council, without stating defined reasons, and replaced him with a person who has much less credibility and experience. Dave has just had open heart surgery and only returned this week to work. The towns people of Athens are up in arms and are trying to get the Athens Mayor thrown out of office. In my opinion, personal vendettas have no place in personnel decisions. Also, in my opinion Dave Baker has always been a fine policeman and should not have been treated this way. I only hope our village of Greenview and our mayor never act in this type of despicable manner. The end of this discussion.
Continuing Story
The following is another chapter in the continuing story about a young girl's fear of death. The first chapters were posted in previous posts. Thanks for reading this story and for reading this blog. This story is a true story:
Chapter
"Here I am in the prime of my life as a kid. I’m almost age 13. Of course I became “almost 13” the day after I turned age 12. My mom and dad celebrated their 25th anniversary last year and that makes me feel they are really old. I don’t think they get along very well as I hear my mom crying when my dad is at the tavern. Almost every night, my mom has to call the tavern to have my dad come home for supper. Sometimes he does, but lots of times he doesn’t. That makes my mom cry. A few times, she has asked for me to ride my bike to the tavern to tell dad supper is ready. I didn’t mind going because the tavern was always cool inside but it smells like old stale beer. I always wonder if they empty half-full bottles of beer on the floor to clean the floor. How else would that beer smell be so strong when you walk in the tavern door. No one even cares that a kid walked in the door. That always seems funny to me. But, almost everyone in town knows who I am and I know almost everyone in town too. But I remember one time seeing a black man walking on the street coming from the train station. Someone told me that there were black people staying in a train car down by the elevator. That was scary at the time because I was really young when that happened. I remember my dad saying that there was a town law that said black people couldn’t be in town after 6 pm. Was that really true? I sure don’t know, but I know that up to my almost age 13 status, I only remember seeing that lone black person.
We always go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s on Sunday night to watch their television because it’s color and ours is black and white. Grandma fixes extra chicken at noon and we eat the rest of it for our supper. Then she gets the old sugar cookie stuffed iron pot out of the freezer. Those yummy cookies are out of this world. At Thanksgiving, Grandma will cook the duck that her sons or Grampa has shot. I hate duck because it’s dark meat and tastes like I’m eating mud. I’m not going to starve because she’s also going to cook a chicken so she can make chicken and noodles. I like to watch Grandma making those noodles and I know that some day I will make em just like her. Gram has the coolest stove, so huge and white. It has this big pot that sinks down into the stove. She says it’s a soup pot and it has a burner in the bottom. She always puts the homemade rolls in it to heat them. One time I about burned my nose when I tried to get my face close to look down into the hole in the stove top. How did I know that the dang burner was on. This same stove also has two ovens, a large one and a narrow one. That is so cool because on holidays there is always something cooking in both ovens. Usually a couple of mince meat pies or my favorite blackberry pie made from blackberries straight from the bushes to the freezer to the pie on Christmas. And Gram always has that yellow looking french vanilla ice cream to put on top of the pie.
During these last days, my mom is feeling pretty bad. One day I asked her if she was going to die but she said no, she didn’t think so. I also asked her if her heart hurt and she said yes she has pains a lot. I don’t want my mom to feel bad and I sure don’t want her to die, but she said she didn’t think she was going to die. Grandma comes to town every day to help mom with cleaning, laundry and cooking the meals. I try to help get some meals so Gram can go home early. Sometimes she starts the meal and I watch it cook the rest of the way or sometimes she lets me cook the entire meal. Depends on what we’re having. I don’t do really too well on some things and undercook it or burn it, but what the heck I‘m a kid. My brother is a really picky eater so he doesn’t like some things I cook but dad always make him take at least one bite. I always laugh when he makes faces and wants to spit it out. I’m lucky because I like everything but liver and when mom fixes that she always takes out a cow’s heart too because I love that.
This morning Grandma asked mom what she wanted for supper so tonight we’re having my dad’s most favorite meal, scalloped oysters. My dad isn’t going to be home tonight for supper, but he told mom earlier that he would have a small bowl of oysters with her before he went to the dinner meeting at Cranwill’s. Mom got up from lying down and sat at the table. I ate and ran to the ballgame at the high school. I wanted to see if I could find a seat by the coolest kid in school. No luck on that seat choice, but at least I was close.
I want to know the story behind my mom dying. Between grandma and our neighbor, the story started out that mom was watching Password cuddled up with my youngest sister. Apparently she began to feel bad and knew she was having a bad heart attack. She told my brother to call Grandma and tell her. Grandma called the Iron Curtain doctor to come to the house. Someone called my mom’s good friend and neighbor on the corner to come to the house. Grandma and Grandpa made a beeline to town and beat the doctor to the house. There wasn’t anything anyone could do as she passed away and is no longer in this world. Grandma sent my brother to get me and when I got home I told Grandma I would call dad at Cranwill’s. I made several calls that night. Here I was, a kid who had to grow up that night when I called my dad and two sisters to tell them our mama was dead. I didn’t want to cry but I couldn’t help it. When the funeral home came to get mama, we all went to the kitchen and then it was closed off. And when the funeral home men left with mama, all that was left was the couch she had peed on. I felt cheated that my mom was gone. I was just a kid with no one left to clean the house, or do the laundry or cook or to give me a hug. Grandma was getting old and couldn’t do it all. So I have become the chief, cook and bottle washer for a while.
Please watch future posts for the continuing story of a young girl who was afraid of death.
What's To Eat At Our House Tonight
Tonight we are having Spaghetti and Meatballs. Being lazy today, I will be using bottled spaghetti sauce, but making my own meatballs. I use my recipe for meatloaf (which I printed before) and make this recipe into meatballs and brown on each side and then throw the meatballs into the sauce. I typically add a bit more Italian seasoning to the sauce and throw in a can of mushrooms. Boil the spaghetti and spoon the sauce over the cooked spaghetti. Brush some garlic butter over some french bread slices and broil until brown. Homemade apple pie is also on the menu .... at least it will be if I find the energy to make the pie.
Thought For The Day
Minds are like parachutes.
They work best when open.
--Lord Thomas Dewar
On a sunny day, a person can hopefully feel that the cobwebs of the mind perhaps will disintegrate into the sunshine. Sometimes it's up to us to make sure we focus on exactly what we want to assure that the cobwebs get wiped from our mind so that we can proceed with life or whatever journey we are taking. Life can be a hard journey for some, and easier for others. Let's hope your journey in life has been and will continue to be straightforward and simple.
The memorial arch still stands strong and proud!
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