Slice of Life: Easter with the Utah Grands!

I'm not a scrapbooker, but I do like tracking my latest adventures here. Please indulge me while I share the fun we had and more than a few pics from our latest trip. We were greeted at the airport by a jubilant Teddy and a son who had wrenched his back just that morning.

We spent time in the backyard, swinging, running, playing in the playhouse, climbing on top of the playhouse and in and out of the windows, harvesting dandelions, drawing with chalk, and blowing bubbles. We read books and played Break the Ice and enjoyed several neighborhood walks.

 

 

 

  

Teddy had a T-ball game on Saturday and hit his first coach-pitched ball. Since he was last man at bat, he got to run all the bases. He ran so fast that he got ahead of some of the other players and had to wait a bit on 3rd base so his teammates could get into home before he finished his run.

 

We loved attending church with Blake and his family. He sang in the choir as part of a lovely Easter program. Lily and Ruthie amazed us with their ability to sit still in church. After church we discovered the Easter bunny had mysteriously stopped by. Grandma and Grandpa even got an Easter basket with Grandma Siddoway's favorite chocolates. Stefi sure knows how to spoil us. 

Lily plays contentedly surrounded by her toys and charms all of us with her happy smiles. Ruthie has started calling Grandpa, Papa. She and I enjoyed cuddling, reading books, and singing before naps and bedtime. Ruthie and Papa spent time playing chase (in the house) and practicing their lion roars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teddy joined us at the 'vacation house' for a sleepover on Sunday evening. He and Grandpa enjoyed reading Nate the Great and a new dinosaur book (Teddy helps Grandpa pronounce the names correctly,). Monday morning I awakened to Grandpa and Teddy giggling uncontrollably as they read the tongue twister "the tutor who taught two tooters to toot" and enjoyed a new round of knock knock jokes from Grandpa's joke book. We tried to play a new game, but decided we really needed Aunt Sara there to explain the rules. We'll play it when we all get together this summer.

It would have been a perfect visit, if only Blake hadn't hurt his back. But we were glad to be there and help out while he was out of commission for a bit (with continuing daily improvement). And now we count down to our August visit when Ruthie will have celebrated her second birthday, Teddy will have celebrated his sixth birthday, and Lily will have celebrated her first birthday! Where does the time go?

Sharing Our Stories: " ... the fine mingling of letting go and holding on"

As soon as I read the quote that Ruth shared with this week's prompt, I knew I would write about books. We've arrived at that age where we know that downsizing is in our future. For some time, I've been weeding my books. But it's a long process. 

First, I worked with my educational books. I've prided myself that I had moved from four shelves of professional books to one shelf. But that's not really true, for I've scattered my poetry books onto two other shelves where they gladly mingle with my memoir writing books. 

Then I worked with the books that I haven't read. I created one shelf of them sometime ago, but I made myself drag out the box of books in my closet and add them to the shelves. And now I have two shelves of books I want to read someday and that was after I donated more than a few to the library book sale. I made trips to the donation bin at our library almost every day this past week.

And for my middle of the night meanderings, I emptied my nightstand which has a shelf full of visible books and a door which conceals (you guessed it!) more stacks of books. Many of my books have come from library book sales or were given to me as gifts. I've tried really hard not to purchase new books, but it's a slippery slope. Just yesterday, I phoned my favorite indie bookstore and ordered a book that I need to own since I plan to read and highlight and discuss it with a friend. 

What on earth prompted me to empty the nightstand in the middle of the night? I was in search of a certain book that I borrowed from my brother and will return to his daughter when I travel to Texas at the end of the month. And I found it - Pat Conroy's My Reading Life! My brother and I share a mutual affection for books. I loved opening the book to his embossed book stamp, running my fingers over the KES stamped inside, and knowing that he had lovingly placed it there. Our love of books has been a constant through all the years we shared together.

Here are the results from Saturday's early morning book harvest. If you look very closely, you'll see that the stack on the left (keepers) is just barely lower than the stack on the right (books to donate). I welcome tips from fellow bibliophiles on how to let go. Because for now, holding on and letting go are in a neck-to-neck race.

 

To savor the magic of story, join our open group of writers

and link your post at Sharing Our Stories.

Slice of Life: Meet, Ella, April's Featured Ancestor!

I am participating in a challenge from Megan at Modern Genealogy to focus and learn more about one ancestor each month. 

Happy 121st birthday (April 12, 1901) to my grandmother, Ella Martin Duff and her twin brother, Elvis Martin. They were born to William Martin and Mary Ann Wilson in Talihina, Oklahoma. They joined three siblings - Leonard (9), Rebecca (6), and Madeleine (4). Three more siblings - Melvin, Palmyra, and Woodrow later joined the family. Two other siblings died in infancy, Carl and Catherine, and one sibling was stillborn. 

Ella married William Orson Duff on March 2, 1918 just before she turned 17 years of age. Granny’s twin, Elvis, died of the flu on December 25, 1918. Ella and William Orson ‘Bud’ Duff were the parents of 5 children: Raymond, Lillian (my mom), Natalie, Ruby Dee, and Edna. They farmed and raised their children in McNally Flat, Pittsburg, Oklahoma. Bud died in 1960 at 58 years of age. Ella left the farm & moved to McAlester in 1964 where she resided until her death in 1983 at 82 years of age. My middle name is Ella, after my grandmother. I’m in two of the photos. Hint: Granny is holding me in each photo! #ancestorofthemonth #moderngenealogy

Here's a link to one of my #52stories about how Granny passed her love of puttering and genealogy to me.

 

One of my favorite pics of my granny, Ella Martin Duff.

 

 

SJT and Poetry Friday: Words of Hymns to Guide My Way

It's Spiritual Journey Thursday, an open gathering 

for bloggers who write on the first Thursday

of each month about spiritual topics. 

 Karen is our host for this month and provided 

this prompt: "I bind unto myself today..."

The words of a favorite hymn, (Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing) arrive, unbidden, to help me write this post.

Carol's tanka provides the form.

Ken Nesbitt explains it to me. (Did you know tanka means short song?)

"Inspired by a hymn"

Stymied by a prompt

"Bind unto myself today"

 Words from a hymn come

Oh, let thy goodness, Lord, bind

 my wandering heart to thee

 

There's nothing quite so delightful as being inspired by other bloggers. Thanks, Carol, for inspiring my very first tanka. And thanks to years of singing hymns so that their lyrics are written in my heart.

I bind unto myself today

the words of hymns to guide my way.

Sometimes, I participate in Poetry Friday. Our host for this week is 

Janice who blogs at Salt City Verse. Thanks for hosting, Janice.

SOS and SOL: Sharing Morning Joys

 I awake at 5:45 with joy in my heart. I slept through the night! It's the fist time this has happened since I screwed up my sleep cycle mid-March by commenting and blogging in the middle of the night.

I reach for my cozy black "O State Cowboys" fleece to ward off early morning shivers. 

I listen to the swish swish of tires on wet pavement as early risers head to work.

I reach for my computer to meander and wander willy-nilly through a few blog posts. (I still can't bring myself to use blogs as a noun to refer to a single post.)

I discover that Carol is posting poems for NPM.  

I sorrow as my alarm sounds and I realize that my meandering time is done. I have a doctor's appointment that forces me to leave my cozy morning joys.

I write this post of seven joys (okay there was one sorrow amidst the joy) in fourteen minutes. I couldn't write without a nod to my obsession with numbers.

SOL 31/31: Reflecting on this month of slicing

It's here, the final day of March 2022 Slice of Life Challenge. We have one day left to slice. I'm not sure what compelled me to start a seven-day countdown, but it's been a delight.

While I worked on this slice in the wee hours (think 2 am) of Wednesday morning there was one other family member awake. The youngest member of daughter and son-in-law's family, Oliver, was chattering contentedly in his walk-in closet accommodations. He was directly under the upstairs bedroom and his babbling provided a lilting accompaniment for my writing. 

 

 My babbling buddy! 

 

Hot chocolate staches are the best!

 

When I appeared on the scene at 7:15 am, 

Jack accused me of sleeping in. We 

love combining books and breakfast.

This was our second reading of 

Charlie & Mouse Lost and Found.

One of my favorite ways to end the month is to count my slices by topic. With no further ado, here's my numerical wrap up of this month's slices (with the #1s in bold, a nod to this last day of slicing):

One slice with no comments (Not any more! Thank you, Julieanne!)

One slice responding to the invite for Leigh Anne's slicer party  

One walking slice

One rambling farm woman slice (AKA if you give a mouse a cookie slice)

2 collection slices

2 spider slices

2 cookie slices 

3 ancestor slices

4 poetic slices

5 spring slices

5 book slices

7 memory slices 

8 grandchildren slices

11 numerically linked slices

20 slices with pictures

And just in case you're wondering, I recognize that the total is more than 31 slices (some slices fit in more than one category). Add them all up and you get 73, the year I graduated from high school (I know, most of you weren't even born then!).

This was my eleventh year of participating in the challenge, but I almost stopped at ten. Thanks to Leigh Anne Eck's  post on Facebook, I reconsidered my decision and jumped in at the last minute.

SOL 30/31 & Sharing Our Stories: Cheerios Collection

My one little word for 2022 is "clear.". With the year almost 1/4 over, I realize it’s time to pick up the pace. Sometimes I plan a specific clearing project and sometimes one chooses me. That’s what happened when I was digging around in a kitchen drawer and decided it was time to deep clean.

It's one of those odd drawers that becomes a catch-all drawer (AKA - junk drawer). But there are several things with a permanent home in the drawer. There’s a box for stashing gum when I find it on sale. There’s Ollie’s food: a pouch of banana squash, two packages of banana peach Teethers (Num Nums) and the guilty culprit, a baggie of fine baby oatmeal, which became unsealed and led to the necessity of cleaning out this drawer

I probably pulled fifteen pens and pencils out of the drawer, each one with fine flakes of oatmeal baby cereal coating them, seemingly magnetized to the writing utensils.  

 

I pulled out the weekly grocery ads and my stack of xeroxed shopping lists. 

 

I pulled out a leatherbound WW journal only 1/4 used and actually threw it away. Good for me! 

 

I pulled out several spoon rests. I guess I have another collection here. My favorite, blue and yellow from Sorrento, Italy, exudes memories of gelato, bright ceramic shops, shopfronts filled with leather purses, and hot chocolate in Florence (where Nancy flirted with our handsome waiter). I had forgotten about my bunny spoon rest, so perfect for this season. I replaced the Sorrento spoon rest with the bunny one.

 

I reached into the far corner of the drawer for the most important item in the drawer. A long time ago, perhaps a decade or so, I discovered an unusual Cheerio. My son consumed many Cheerios during his growing up years, but never had I seen a Cheerio like this one!  I've kept it all this time, in a plastic baggie. Only this month, it morphed into a collection.

 

It was a regular Friday morning with three of our grand boys gathered around the kitchen table for breakfast. Jack discovered the “funny” Cheerio and called me over to see it, which of course led to my telling the story of my very unusual cheerio and retrieving it from aforementioned kitchen drawer for all to see. And then I asked if he would allow me to add his cheerio to mine, thus beginning my unusual Cheerios collection of two.

Admit it. You were hoping for a picture, weren't you?

  Top row (left to right): Grandma's Unusual Cheerio

 and Jack's Hugging Cheerio(s)

Bottom row: A normal Cheerio for size comparison

 

My slice of two Cheerios is my latest contribution to my countdown to the end of this challenge. We have two days until we finish the 2022 March Slice of Life Challenge. See you tomorrow for the all important final post! This is my eleventh year of participating in the challenge. This year I'll be mining my memories (some of the time) for stories to share.

 

 Joining my friends at Sharing Our Stories 

with this question, "Does acquiring two of 

something constitute a collection?"