A Long Time Ago

Holidays are fast approaching. I found this picture of Marie's children. I believe posing with their Christmas presents. The picture has a date on the bottom December, 1955.

Why Is She Doing This?

We went to visit Fran’s mom the other day a couple of days after we had delivered a box of yarn for her. People know that she loves to crochet and knit so if they quit that hobby or have too much yarn they give it to Fran. Of course, I don’t do any of that so we give it to Marie. When we walked in with more the other day she said, "No more. I can't use what I have!" So we will not take her any more for a few months.
We gave her a toilet paper box full of yarn last summer and she is still working on using that up. She even made me little rugs out of some of it. They look cute under Maggie’s food dish and underneath crocks I use for sunflowers.
The expression she always uses when we walk in is, “What’s cooking?” Her eyes just sparkle like diamonds when she asks that.
Anyway she showed me what she was doing with yarn the other day. She was making a gazillion stocking hats all at the same time. The patterns were all different. Some were serviceable and some were very fancy.

I wonder why she is making so many stocking caps at the same time? Oh, she did say she had to get cooking. Could it be……..
2018: She made all of her grandchildren and mine stocking hats that year and of course, Fran. Hmm, she didn't make me one.





The Flying Fish

Before her children were born Marie and her husband, Ray went to New Bedford to visit. Marie told me it was such fun to go there. They had all day clam bakes under tents. All kinds of seafood was served, all you could eat for two dollars. The area they went to was called Achusnet Bay. I may have that spelled wrong, but the way Marie described it, it was all I could do to keep track of the story because she used so many descriptive words. I could almost hear the seagulls and see the fishing ships and the noise.
Marie and Ray were there to see his brother and his wife and they thought that they would like to cook some fish chowder. They went down to the pier and they started to ask the man on the boat for a fish. He said, “ What are you, beggars?” Marie, said, “No, we are visitors.” All of a sudden the man threw this big fish at them. It was at least a five pound haddock. They took it home and cleaned it. They made a wonderful chowder with potatoes, onions, and fish, clams, scallops. The clams and scallops were frozen and were alright because they were an hour and a half from home.
She was telling me that the lobster tails were so sweet that she wanted to eat them until she was sick, but of course she loved all the rest of the seafood too.
The second time they went to visit, Marie had children and the clam bakes were still going on and continues to be sharp in her memory. I asked Fran if he remembered going there and he did.
I have always lived in the Midwest and have never been privy to such wonderful food.

It's Really Fall!!

When we had Marie's birthday party this summer she got a variety of gifts. She even got a big bird feeder and a big bag of bird seed and a hummingbird feeder and some yummy looking red nectar for them. Every day when I go down to visit I sweep nuts off her sidewalk. This year is completely different than other years. The squirrels are finding the nuts that fall from her English walnut tree and cracking them right on her sidewalk and porch. It makes a terrible mess and difficult to walk on. When I don't sweep then Fran does, or Marie does.

The other day Marie was complaining about the mess and then she started complaining about raccoons and cats, and squirrels. It was so funny to listen to her I couldn't help but laugh. She said that the raccoons knocked down the bird feeder, the squirrels started eating the bird seed and the hummingbird feeder had been knocked down by the cat.

Soon she will have o'possum and deer and raccoon and oh let's not forget.....mice. Oh, yes mice that love to get in the house to keep warm if Marie's cat, Callie, will allow it.

Marie Saves The Day!!

The other day Fran and I took his mom to the doctor for some blood tests. Like normal we were worried because the doctor called her for a re-test she said.
When we got there, there was a wait, of course. While we were sitting there one of our neighbors came in for a blood test as well. I introduced the two ladies and they began to visit. Fran’s mom started talking about Fran when he was in gymnastics. I have written about that before in the blog called Marie's Memories.
This story was different. Yes, she had told me that she had been a chaperone at times when the kids traveled. That day at the doctor office we laughed and laughed at the tale that she told. I asked her if I could put this story on the internet. She said that she didn’t care and to go ahead.
Marie was an excellent seamstress and always planned ahead for the kids’ gym clothes. They were tight pants and a t-shirt type top. She was used to handling boys as well as girls. The kids stayed in cabins on this particular trip.

At one point she went to check on them and here they had gotten some squirt guns. I laughed and laughed I didn’t even know they had squirt guns fifty years ago! Well there was nothing to it than to confiscate their guns. They put up a terrible fuss and wanted their guns back. She told them if she let them carry on they would not get any trophies etc. One boy even had ripped his uniform. It was a very good thing that Marie had come armed with new uniforms and shoes that were like slippers for the gymnastic performers. She was so talented. Fran and I were just sitting here visiting about how lucky the kids were.
However, the end of the story is…… she gave back the guns in the morning and Fran came home with a trophy!

What A Difference A Day Makes

Marie has had the same hearing aide for ten years. During those years her ability to hear has decreased. She and I just live less a block away from each other, but I cannot call her on the phone. I always needed to walk to her house to talk to her. I also want to add, I had to either yell at her or talk very loudly. Sometimes I had to write her notes.
One day she was here for a family dinner and could not hear at all because she had forgotten to put batteries in her hearing aide.
I did a little digging around and found that there was actually a man that would come to our little town twice a month. I found that he would go to the senior center and test hearing aides. I think we all were hoping that hers could be repaired. We took her to see this young man. He was very nice. He did a lot of testing and kind of shook his head. Marie realized at that moment that her hearing aide was shot. Medicare does not pay for hearing aides, so this was something that needed to be paid for.
She settled on a digital hearing aide. This type should allow her to talk on the telephone. She was not able to talk to her family before.
She has been waiting for almost a month for it to arrive. Yesterday was the day. I was not convinced it was worth the money. She kept saying “what?” Then I thought it could have been habit, but I still wasn’t convinced.

When we got her home I told her to sit by the table because I was going to call her. I did that and she said, “ You’re talking too loud, I have to hold it a foot away from my ear!
We both laughed, in fact I almost cried I was so happy. Now everyone can call her all the time. Just remember, let it ring several times because it takes her awhile to get to the phone.

Then There Was THE Party!!!

The first birthday party Marie can remember is her seventeenth birthday. She had aunts and uncles and cousins attend. Her birthday presents were yards of material so she could make herself some dresses. Marie was an excellent seamstress, so everyone knew that the yard goods would be very much appreciated. However, not too exciting.
This year the company and the gifts were very different. Some of her grandchildren and friends and son from Texas came to visit for a couple of days. This kind of thing happens when you turn 95. There was a big supper at her son’s of brisket, salads, and fruit.
The next day a birthday party complete with decorated cake and ice cream was served. The whole group sang happy birthday to Marie and the flashbulbs lit up the room. She has a fun sense of humor and said, “Cheese” every once in awhile.

She had beautiful gift bags full of gifts including linens, pots and pans, bird feeders and personal items. I think one of  her favorite gifts was from her grandchildren. That was frames of pictures of them wearing hats that Marie had made from plastic bags, pictures of them surrounding her, and pictures of her and two of her children.
Marie loves to reminisce and tell stories from the past. The stories she tells are inspiring to everyone who listens.
Actually her stories are history lessons from the early nineteen hundreds to World War Two to the present day. Marie holds audience with young and old with her stories; most are fascinated.
When Marie is tickled, she has a fun little giggle that is very infectious. Most everyone laughs with her.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of Marie and her family and friends on a very special day for her.
If you would like to take a look at more pictures and posting click on Lu's Place
mrsfrenchie1.blogspot.com just across the street. We enjoy having you visit.

Green Stripes On Uniforms

One day Marie was at our house visiting. Fran was in the living room watching television, and Marie and I were out in the kitchen visiting. She was telling stories and I was laughing.

I asked her for a new story, well you could just see her eyes sparkle. She has the most fantastic memory so she pretty much knows what she has told me. Then she smiled. She told me that Fran played baseball when he was about thirteen years old. One day the city painted the bleachers green. They did not tell the people that came to watch the game that the bleachers were still wet.  Well....the moral to this story is don't sit on really shiny bleachers without testing them with your finger.

Marie said that her telephone rang off the hook with people trying to get green paint stripes off their clothes and the boy's white uniforms.  I guess they thought if anyone could help them get the paint out, she could.