I will sing you to me.........

I will sing you to me, is from the Aborigine. Sindi, Lauren & I went to see the movie Australia yesterday. It is an absolute 'must see'. Treat yourself by spending two and a half hours completely absorbed in the storyline and cinematography. I was moved to tears throughout; during one scene, a surge of emotion was absolutely uncontrollable. Lauren said it was the best movie she has ever seen. I'm fifty plus years older than her, and it has to be in my top five. Ashley will be here this weekend. We've made plans to get together saturday and bake Christmas goodies. Sindi makes beautiful gingerbread houses, so they are at the top of the list to decorate. Our plans are to leave our kitchen, include Vicki, Brittany & Ashley and head out to see it again. And I will hear you........

Bucky Smith from Kennebec

When I was only fourteen, (1953) I met a guy from Kennebec. This was a town about twelve miles away from Reliance, where I grew up. He was probably around sixteen, and had a car...... and half Sioux........HALF SIOUX INDIAN! This was surely going to get me in trouble with grandma, but it did'nt. Anyway, it was puppy love, and I'm sure it lasted a whole six months. He was my first boyfriend. That's about all I remember about 'that big romance'..........Forward to Thanksgiving Weekend 2008. My brother in law, Edwin & I were shopping @Al's Oasis in Oacoma. As we are about to back our truck out of the parking spot, this other person arrives to his vehicle parked next to ours, and Edwin hollers 'hey, Bucky,..... I have someone here you may remember'. Bucky peers into the cab of the truck & I tell him he was my first boyfriend eons ago. 'Frances, is that you?'..'....Oh, My God!, I can't believe it is really you...do you remember that we wrote letters?..whatever happened to?.....where do you live?, are you retired?, how many children & grandchildren and on & on......we laughed & carried on for thirty minutes. Going down memory lane was fun, but the truth of this story is..............If Edwin had not been there, we could have brushed shoulders, said excuse me, and gone on our way, never realizing who the other person was. Come to find out, he is a big land owner there in Lyman County...... I keep missin that damn boat.

I love you, pegge

This last posting regarding 'I love you a bushel & a Peck' brought up another memory. A year ago, come January, my sister, Pegge Smith died. It was a very heart wrenching moment. I remember being at her bedside in a hospital in Nacadoches, Texas. She had suffered a massive heart attack in the parking lot of the hospital. She & her husband, Marshall lived several miles away from this hospital. By the time Barbara & Edwin (my sister & brother in law from south dakota) & I arrived in Texas, she was already on 'life support'. I could not believe 'how she looked'..swollen, non responsive, swaying her head back & forth like she was wanting to communicate, but, really 'nothing there'....so, I just sang to her..................................I love you, a bushel and a peck........................

I love you a bushel and a peck.........

A couple of days ago my oldest grand daughter, Brittany, called & said 'taotao, I forgot one of the lines to You are my sunshine', she sang what she remembered & I sang the rest back to her. There are a few songs that were sung to me when I was very young, by my Grandma Black. (She is my mothers mother). When I was a very young teenager & lived with her for a period of time,( around 1950 ) she would wake me every morning with: 'Wake up you sleepy head, get up, get out of bed, when the red, red, robin goes bob bob bob'in along, along......the other song was 'I love you, a bushel & a peck, a bushel and a peck annnnnd, a hug around the neck. A hug around the neck, and a barrel and a heap, A barrel and a heap, & I'm talking in my sleep, about you,about you, frances ann, about you. Doodle, doodle, doo, doo, doodle, doodle, doo, doo, doodle, doodle, doo,do, do.........I love you, a bushel and a peck, ya bet your pretty neck, I do'. Then of course, there was 'You are my Sunshine', the Rock a bye baby, etcetra. Then came Vicki, (my daughter), Brittany, (my first grand daughter) Lauren,( my second grand daughter).........same songs, only I had to intercept her name into the bushel & a peck song. But, 'you are my sunshine' has always had a special meaning between lauren & I. I am singing all the same songs to Rileigh Shae (my third grand daughter) now. She is going to be three in February. I sang these same songs to my daughter, Vicki, when she was a baby. We lived in an old farmhouse in Chandler, Oklahoma @the time. As I would climb the stairs every morning to wake her, she would hear 'When the red, red, robin song & would be squealing in delight by the time I reached the top of the stairs.

Brittany will give birth to my great grand daughter in April, 2009. She says she is singing all these songs to her fiance, Jeff. I think she is just practicing for the arrival of Sara Presley Wells.

Knock, Knock, Who is there?

About an hour ago my doorbell rang. It is 7:30 pm & dark outside. I turned on the porchlight & peered thru my beveled glass window in my front door. I did not recognize the stranger outside. 'Yes', I said ....'Can you help me, Ma'am?.....I have run out of gas just below the hill in front of your house, do you have a gas can with enough gas to get me to a station? ' I think so', I responded without hesitation. 'Go around to my garage door, I will open it. There should be a gas can next to the lawn mower' There was a can with enough gasoline to send him on his way. Within 10 minutes he returned. ' Thank you, ma'am, I appreciate your hospilallity, I have knocked on four doors, no one would answer, so I appreciate your help......I can bring you some money tomorrow'. 'Never mind, ...I am happy to help you'. He was very appreciative & cast blessings upon me. I think it is a wonderful feeling to be able to help someone in need, even tho it is kind of scary during the onset. I always remember the phrase: Fear knocked at the door, Faith answered, 'and no one was there'.

Spend a day at the V A Hospital

When I was young, around 18, I moved to Farmington, New Mexico. My mother lived there with her second husband & I wanted to be near her. She had abandoned her children in 1951, when I was twelve...(the oldest of five). I loved her very much, understood 'why she would want to get away from my father', but did not understand the abandonment of her children.......still don't, but I forgave her years ago. It was in Farmington where I met my ex-husband, Gerald........ Oh, Man, I knew the day I met him, he was the person I wanted to marry ! We married in 1960, separated in 1970, and divorced in 1977. We had a beautiful daughter in 1962 and always stayed in touch during family get togethers, Birthdays & Holidays from the date of our separation and on, until our daughter was grown & married. By the early '80's, we both 'went on with our lives'. When I returned to Oklahoma to retire in the middle of 2004, things changed. Both of us were in our middle to late 60's. By the middle of 2006, he discovered he had cancer. Since I was retired 'with nothing to do', I offered to be the person to take him to his appointments, etcetera..........He is a Veteran, so Thank God, he has the V A Hospital to take care of him. He spent almost the whole year of 2006 in that hospital. We had very frustrating times, dealing with 'residents', having a new 'team' of Doctors every few weeks, (it's a learning hospital after all...) but he is rid of cancer. We still return to the hospital every six weeks for 'a procedure in radiology'. Today as we sat in the waiting room of the 'lab' for blood work, (it takes at least an hour for his name to be called), there was almost every disability under the sun... walking, riding a scooter, wheelchair bound, canes, canes, canes everywhere. Total & partial amputees, unkempt & totally unkempt, stinky & not so stinky people, low life & dignified people, they are all there, and they are ALL VETERANS.........GOD BLESS THEM. I Thank God each nite that I have good health, and not 'part of the troops that wander the halls of the V A Hospital'.

Bless us, O LORD, for these thy gifts...........

My niece Sindi & I made an impromptu trip from Oklahoma to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. We first surprised her son around midnite, picking him up & continuing on; showing up at her parents home @ three o'clock in the morning. It was a nice surprise for her parents as well. Her mother (my sister), was still awake & happy to see us. I've thought about this, & pray I will be as receptive as she, if family or friends knock on my door in the middle of the night unannounced. It is not good manners, & I was taught manners. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. My nephews have their mother's recipe's perfected & carried in their assigned dishes.

We stayed four days. Sindi's son Morgan, lives in Sioux Falls. and had to be @work at 4:30 A.M. for 'Black Friday'. So, Sindi drives him back (two hours) & started shopping @five A.M., spends more time with Morgan after work & returns to my sister's home @midnite. She & Barbara wrap gifts until three. She purchased 'several wonderful bargains' for everyone ......she had a long list. I'm just too old to go thru that mess, but loved it when I was younger.

We ate leftovers, we ate leftovers, we ate several varieties of Barbara's homemade SWEETS, we reminisced, we played scrabble, we reminisced, (I have to put this in twice, because Barbara & I don't always 'remember the same' , she sometimes accuses me of being on another planet during our childhood. We drove the countryside finding the farm we lived on during our elementary years. We drove the road to our 'one room country school house'. Yes, just like 'Little House on the Prarie', which is actually in South Dakota. And, yes, we DID walk two miles to school everyday. We went to the cemetary where daddy & all the Stallman's are buried, & to Medicine Butte where mama's ashes are scattered. The picture at the top of my blog was taken during the scattering. We drove every block of our little hometown, which does not EVEN resemble the town where we grew up. Main Street is gone, along with any pride familys used to have in their homes & yards. I'm ashamed of how our old hometown looks.

I'm thankful that I am in good health and can drive a 700 mile stretch without incidence, to be with family during Thanksgiving, and thankful gasoline was averaging $1.65 a gallon along the way. I am thankful to be back home. I am sure Barbara is thankful to have her routine back. :)