Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Wanda Robertson, Glenda Ford, Mary Lynn Horton (sometime in the 1980s). Today was a great day back in the fifties; it was when my lil' ole sister, Joan, entered this world.  Her life has been a roller-coaster ride, and she has changed our world along the way. She's still growing, still giving, still always there for me. Have a great day, Joanie, and we will celebrate on our road trip in March.

This week, Rose was much  improved and was able to join us for the class.  She told us about a beloved bird quilt that her mother embroidered.  She can remember watching her mom doing the embroidery at night after supper.  Rose is just amazed at how beautiful a quilt can be, knowing it is just a compilation of fabric, thread, and someones work and imagination.     One of the first things a beginning quilter has to learn is how to use a thimble. Pushing a threaded needle through two layers of fabric and one of batting can be difficult, almost next to impossible without a thimble. It only takes a few holes in your fingers to make you appreciate that little tool. I have quite an assortment, surely one that will fit any finger. We completed the quilting on our first quilt this week, and took it out of the frames. It will have to be trimmed and a binding put on next week. Also, we will start quilting our second quilt then. Rose, Daisy, Tul...

Yesterday was a good day. First, I went to church, which always makes it a good day.   Afterwards, I joined my friends Lynn and Gene to hear Peggy Allen-Downs present a program at the Tennessee Valley Historical Society meeting. Mrs. Allen-Downs has thoroughly researched and wrote a book called Duty Driven: The Plight of North Alabama's African Americans During the Civil War. It tells of Mrs. Allen-Downs ancestors who fought for the union after emancipation. One of them stayed with his former master; he was offered his own grey mule if he would stay and work. It was about supper time when it was over so we toured Tuscumbia, looking for a steak house, which was closed when we found it. We came back to Legends in Florence to celebrate Gene's birthday. We were also celebrating my birthday, which was two weeks ago but Gene and Lynn were not able to celebrate then. It was a sweet celebration, because for several weeks, we did not know if Gene would ever be abl...

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.     I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.   ~Louisa May Alcott

When I started working on the crazy quilt I told you about here: http://wandastricklinrobertson.blogspot.com/2013/01/recycling-crazy-quilt.html , I found many pillowcases that had never been used.  I can almost see someone working on this embroidery after supper, thinking it was too pretty to use and deciding to save it for someday .  I'm guessing someday never came for them, since the pretty pillowcases wound up in a box being auctioned.  Although some had been made nearly a half a century ago, they had been carefully stored and were in almost new condition.  It seemed a shame to cut them up in little pieces.  Previously, somewhere on the Internet, I had seen little dresses made from pillowcases.  The pattern is on several sites, so I gave it a try. Members of the church I attend make several medical missionary trips a year to third-world countries.  Not all of us have medical skills, but we can all do something.  I work with the wo...

God loves to look at us, and loves it when we will look back at Him. Even when we try to run away form our troubles... God will find us, bless us, even when we feel most alone. . unsure... God will find a way to let us know that He is with us in this place, wherever we are. ~Kathleen Norris

During the Thanksgiving holidays, I watched Gone with the Wind , again.  When we see those fabulous dresses and hats, the fine food, the stately mansions, and men with manners, who wouldn't want to live in antebellum south? When we see the movies of settlers moving west, crossing prairies filled with wildflowers, sleeping under the stars, it just seems idyllic.  Imagine what it would have been like to travel with Lewis and Clark, with the determined Columbus, or Marco Polo. I have often said that I was born too late, but actually, I was right on time. I am a compilation of DNA of many, many people; people who pushed their way from Europe to the Carolinas, then across the south in search of federal land grants.  These people possessed and passed on a work ethic acquired not from any religious fervor, but from the will to survive.  They worked and played and loved and grew stronger, with the goal of all living entities: to reproduce and make life ...

We were able to meet for our quilting class last night after missing last week due to weather.  No rain or icy roads last night, just blue-butt cold.  Poor Rose was in bed with coughing and a cold and wasn't able to attend. While we stitched the night away, we talked about why we do this. Daisy's mother was a wonderful quilter, and Daisy feels like it honors her mom to carry on the tradition.  When she moved to her current house several years ago, Daisy's mom was thrilled that she had a big, empty basement, and saw the opportunity for hosting quilting bees there.  Daisy was willing, but her time was spent picking up and dropping off the ladies, and feeding them while they were there.  It is a precious memory of time shared with her mom. Like me, Tulip fears that quilting will become a lost art, and she wants to do her part to see that it doesn't happen.  Besides, she says, you get to play with color.  Tulip had one of those nights where...

Northwest Alabama has four distinct seasons, with the summer being the most intense.  Friends in Alaska say they have three months in a year: July, August, and Winter.  We were in the Mayan city of Tulum, Mexico,  in February 2009 on a scorching hot day.  Our guide there said they had two kinds of weather--hot and hotter. Our spring is always fantastic, coloring our gray landscape with green and peppering the cold ground with wildflowers. We celebrate new and renewed life around us while we hide from storms.  Summer gives us abundant veggies from the garden and long days that let us play outside until nine, fighting mosquitoes and the 98% humidity.  We welcome the first cooling breezes of autumn and are astounded with the beauty of dying leaves and the harvest. Then, winter comes.  Winter forces us to stay inside, to settle down, to rest. Our lives go through seasons and changes, just like our planet, and some changes are more welco...

Thousands of Reasons            ~ Doe Zantamata If every morning, You can find a reason to say, “Yes, it’s going to be a beautiful day.” And every day , you find a reason to say, “Yes, it is a beautiful day.” And every night, you find a reason to say, “Yes, it was a beautiful day.” Then one day, You’ll look back and easily say, “Yes...it was a beautiful life.” After a week of dark clouds and biting wind and snow and ice and copious rain, the sun is shining brightly, just daring you to come out and enjoy. When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, I hope you can thank the Lord for a fabulous day, one that you will long remember.   Get up and make it happen!

I have always thought that this passage from the book of Ecclesiastes, written by the very wise Solomon, is one of the most beautiful segments of the Bible.  1.  To everything there is a season,                  A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born,                And a time to die; A time to plant,               And a time to pluck what is planted; 3 A time to kill,               And a time to heal; A time to break down,                And a time to build up; 4 A time to weep,               And a time to laugh; A time to mou...

It is January 17 and it has rained more than seven inches here since the year started.  I keep checking between my toes to make sure there is no mold growing. This morning, it is cold and nasty, with wintry weather on the way.  Enough, already! A body needs to see a blue sky sometimes to keep their thinking straight.  Old photos are not the real thing but better than looking a low-hanging clouds. The weatherman promises some sunny days ahead.  I am so ready! Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— ... soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God. Ps. 42.5

The peddler man sold these tins.  Fifteen cents was a lot for 12 little pills, but we bought them regularly.  I'm sure we could have bought a bottle of 100 for fifteen cents at Walmart...WAIT! There was no Walmart, and no Target, and no K-Mart, or especially, no CVS stores.  The peddler man brought it to road in front of our house, so I guess we were paying for the convenience.  This was at the same time that huge candy bars were a nickel each, and if you bought a quarter's worth, you got one free.  Buying an aspirin was a sacrifice, but you can't always think straight when you have a splitting headache. In those days, without parental consent, we built a lot of flying jennys.  I'm not sure that is the proper spelling, but if you were there, you know what I'm talking about.  It was an extremely hazardous contraption that was made by drilling a hole in the middle of a long piece of lumber about 12" wide. A huge nail or screw was put in the middle ...

The morning wakes cold with temps hovering just above or just below the freezing mark.  The rain continues to fall causing increased threat of flooding and icy roads.  Schools are opening late, and some in neighboring counties are closed for the day. Last Sunday, I celebrated my birthday (Thank you, Lord, I never thought I would make it this long).  The year I was born, there was a monster ice storm that covered the Southeast.  My family lived in an old farm house that was heated by an open fireplace.  Mama told of fearing that her infant would freeze to death during that storm.  Daddy moved the bed next to the fireplace to help keep us warm.  They told of hearing loud cracking and popping sounds as the trees near the house succumbed to the weight of the ice. When I had English composition in college, one of our assignments was to write a paper on the events that happened the year we were born.  I spent hours in the library...

When I make this salad, everyone asks for the recipe.  The original recipe is from my friend, Shellie, at allthingssouthern.com, but I have changed it up a little to make it mine. First, buy a bunch of broccoli, and clean it. Chop it up in small pieces.  This bowl is part of a set that Hub bought me about 35 years ago.  There has been a boat load of food prepared in it. The knife is a reflection. Buy a bunch of green onions and clean them, then chop them fine, including the green part.  I think Google is mad at me; it won't let me enlarge the rest of these pictures. Hub's family never ate the green part (the onion blades) and he was shocked to see me eating them when we were first married.  He thought I would surely die. Add the onion pieces to the broccoli. Add a cup of raisins.  Shellie's recipe called for the white ones, but I usually just use what I have.  It's all good. Chop up some crisp bacon.  This is s...

Every day we live is a priceless gift of God, loaded with possibilities to learn something new, to gain fresh insights.  ~ Dale Rogers Evans  

When auctioneers are packing up for an estate sale, they have to combine small items in box lots in order to get everything sold before all their customers get tired and leave.  There are always boxes of towels, sheets, and other linens that wouldn't get any bids if they were sold individually.  They usually sell for very little, especially if the items are torn and stained.  This is a good thing for me. I have bought boxes of old polyester fabric and blankets for under ten dollars and discovered  nice quilt tops at the bottom. Other times, there was nothing in the bottom but nasty stuff.  Once, I bought an old truck full of vintage dolls and thought I had really scored, only to find a dead mouse in the bottom.  I had to throw everything away because I couldn't get the smell out. After several years of buying these old linens, there was a large accumulation of hand embroidered items taking up room in a closet, where no one w...