Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
December 17, 2015
Today is dreary and wet. The rain started last night and continues. It will be in the mid 50’s today and for the next few days. There will be no white Christmas this year in New England.
I have a picture of me standing on the front steps of our house holding on to my new bike. The picture was taken a couple of days after Christmas. I was glad for no snow that year. Had I gotten a new sled, I wouldn’t have been smiling.
The sleds we all used had metal frames, metal runners and a steering device near the top we could move from side to side though it didn’t steer all that well. The rest of our sleds were wooden slats we’d lie on to ride downhill. We had to bend at the knees so part of our legs and our feet were in the air. If we needed them, our feet acted as brakes though most times the hill ended and so did our ride. I was lucky to live on a hill, a really good hill. I could choose to walk to the top or just go from my street which would still give me a good ride. We had to be careful at the bottom because our street was perpendicular to another street, and if we slid across that street, no cars could see us. Sometimes one of us would stand there and give warning if we needed to stop. We all hoped to keep going because sledding over that street into the field was the best and the longest ride, and having the longest ride was in no small measure a matter of pride.
I remember getting dressed for sledding. I wanted to be warm but not bogged down by clothing as I did have an uphill trek pulling my sled behind me after every ride down. We all wore leggings tucked into our boots. They were waterproof and made that swishing sound when we walked. Our jackets sometimes matched but most times didn’t as we’d grow out of one or the other. The jackets had zippers and were always hard to zip so my mother would do the honors. Our hands stayed warm in mittens. Most of us avoided hats, but if my mother insisted, I’d wear a wool hat which mostly covered the back of my head and tied under my chin but would ditch it as soon as I got the chance. I didn’t care if most of my body heat escaped through my head as my mother claimed.
I remember speeding down the hill and thinking this is what flying must be like. I never wanted to go inside, but when I was chilled to the bone, I dragged myself home, parked my sled in the pile of snow by the back door, went inside to the cellar, got out of my wet clothes, hung them up to dry and went upstairs for a cup of cocoa with marshmallow floating on the top. That was the perfect ending to a day of sledding.
Categories: Musings
Tags: cocoa, dreary and wet, feet brakes, flying down the hill, going down the hill, leggins, marshmallow, metal frames, mittens, new bike for Christmas, sleds, trekking up the hill, winter jackets, wooden slats
Comments: 14 Comments
December 15, 2015
The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the day is quite warm. I’m thinking winter has forgotten to come. Not that I’m complaining, but there is a certain expectation here in New England about Christmas and winter and maybe even snow.
My mother was always the architect of Christmas. She bought the gifts, did all the baking, trimmed the tree and decorated the house. My father did his best. He’d help my mother wrap, do the outside lights and put the tree in the stand. He used to do tree lights, but one year they were so tangled he refused to hang them. He just threw them on the floor and sat down. No one wanted to remind him he had put the lights away the year before. The lights then became my responsibility. I was quite fussy about where they were hung, and I tried to vary the colors of the bulbs so same colors wouldn’t be together. My father also helped by being the official taster of Christmas goodies. He did love his sweets. He knew he could count on having sugar cookies, her peanut butter balls, a pie or two, and some different cookies, whatever struck my mother’s fancy from a magazine or a cookbook. I remember her Auntie Mary’s, a chocolate cookie with a cream in the middle.
I began baking and bringing the goodies to my mother’s. I made fudge which was grainy and was my father’s favorite. I made my grandmother’s date nut bread and one year I made orange cookies. My mother liked them so much she hid several so they’d be some left just for her. My English toffee always disappeared quickly.
One year my sister and her family from Colorado came for Christmas. She bought goodies including whoopie pies, one of our all time favorites. What was amazing and extraordinary was she brought spritz cookies because my mother always made them when we kids. She’d add coloring to the dough and we’d have white, red and green cookies. I also made spritz cookies for the same reason. We were all going to be together for Christmas for the first time in many years and spritz cookies was a connector to our childhood Christmases. My mother remembered those years, and she too made spritz cookies. The three of us through those cookies celebrated the shared memories of Christmases past.
Categories: Musings
Tags: architect of Christmas, baking, blue sky, Christmas goodies, decorating, family Christmas, goodies, no snow, Shopping, spritz cookies, tree lights, warm day, wrapping
Comments: 17 Comments
December 14, 2015
The rain is coming and should be here by the afternoon. It is welcomed as we are down from our usually rain amounts. The summer was pretty dry. Gracie and I were out early because we scoped out the kennel where she’ll be staying. The owners are quite nice and Gracie was on her best behavior. On the way home we stopped at the vet’s where Gracie got a shot against kennel cough and had her nails trimmed.
I was out the other night and meandered home so I could have a short see the lights ride. It is amazing how many houses have lights, the most I’ve seen in a long while. My street with only eight houses, including one which is empty all winter, is ablaze of lights. The houses are beautifully decorated some with white lights, some with colored lights and others, like mine, with a combination. We’re talking fences, wreaths, trees and houses lit for the season. The house at the end of the street has a train lit up in its front yard. Blinking lights are wrapped around a tree, and they look as if they’re floating in air as the tree trunk is too dark to see. They have four kids who must be so excited to see their house decked out for the holiday. The other house with so many different lights has stars of light hanging from their tree. They have a tree of colored lights in their front yard. They too have four kids who must be delighted.
I remember how excited I was when my dad put the outside lights on the front bushes. They were the big bulbs which shone so brightly and were always so hot to the touch. After finishing outside, he’d find the window candles and tape them to the sills. The bases were made of plastic and had a tendency to be top heavy because of the bulb, always an orange bulb, so tape was a necessity.
At Christmas time the lights shine brightly against the dark of winter. They seem hopeful and remind us that winter will end. The days will get longer. We’ll all soon be back in the light.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bushes lit, Christmas lights, colored lights, dog shots, house lights, orange bulbs, orange lights, rain, Train, tree lights, trimmed nails, vets, white lights, window lights
Comments: 10 Comments
December 13, 2015
Today is a grey day but still warmer than it should be. Last night my house was ablaze with Christmas lights. My neighbor from across the street called to say she loves the lights and can’t stop looking at them from her window. Most of the house has colored lights, but a giant white star sits atop the fence to the backyard and strands of white flow from the star. I love that star.
When I was a kid, we had turkey for Christmas dinner. With it we had creamed onions, mashed potatoes, stuffing and another vegetable or two. Over time my mother changed the menu. We’d have some sort of a roast, fresh vegetables and always those mashed potatoes. We’d eat dinner in the dining room instead of the kitchen. First came the festive table cloth which changed from year to year. My mother and I would then set the table with her Christmas dishes. The centerpiece was made of boxwood and decorated with red balls and ribbons. The middle of the table groaned under the weight of all the dishes. We’d pass each dish and fill our plates. We’d compliment my mother on how delicious everything tasted. The mashed potatoes and gravy never had lumps. The vegetables were just right. It was every time a perfect feast.
I had been my mother’s sous chef for dinner and after dinner I was her cleaner upper. My mother would stay in the kitchen, dry the dishes and keep me company. We’d put on Christmas music. My mother loved the Carpenters Christmas, Frank Sinatra’s and Andy Williams. It was a treasured time for me. My mother and I chatted the whole time. Everyone else was in the living room, but they’d appear every now and then for some more desserts. The table was filled with choices: whoopie pies, cookies or candies, all made by my mother and me.
My mother made Christmas a joy. We all honor her by doing the same.
Categories: Musings
Tags: centerpiece, Christmas dinner, Christmas dishes, Christmas lights, colored lights, dreary day, red balls and ribbon, warm day, white lights
Comments: 13 Comments
December 12, 2015
The Christmas lights are going up right now. Skip is hauling the boughs out of the cellar and putting them on the front fence. I will no longer have the darkest house in the neighborhood.
We’re still in that warm spell. Today’s high here on the cape is supposed to be 59˚. Last winter was crazy because of all the snow. This winter has its own brand of craziness with the warmth of December.
I bought some ribbon candy the other day, the thin kind, the sort which carries a whole bunch of memories. When I was a kid, we didn’t have all the choices of candy decked out for the holidays that we have now. Boxes of chocolates were around, but they were more for gifts than for our consumption. We had lots of hard candy. Some of it came in a box similar to the animal crackers box including the string. The boxes I remember best were blue and had the Three Kings and the star on each side. I liked the peppermint, the cinnamon and the green ones which tasted of spearmint. My mother also bought hard candy for the house. I remember the candy would stick together in the bag, but she’d put them out anyway. We’d pick through to get our favorites. I loved spearmint the best.
The thin ribbon candy stuck to our back teeth so we used to click our teeth together to hear the sound of the candy, a sort of thud. I liked the green ones best and then the red.
We used to get lollipops in our stockings. They were the see through types made in a mold and were mostly Christmas trees. It took ages and ages of licking to finish them so sometimes we’d get to the point where we couldn’t lick one more time. We were done. They’d get tossed.
I buy my sister thin ribbon candy every year. It is a connection to all of our Christmases. It is a tradition.
Categories: Musings
Tags: boxes of hard candy, Christmas candy, Christmas lights, cinnamon, decorating, hard candies, lollipops, peppermint, ribbon candy, spearming, warm day
Comments: 24 Comments
December 11, 2015
The middle of December shouldn’t be this warm. Yesterday set a new record high and today is already in the 50’s. I have yet to see my breath this winter. Santa will probably arrive wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Bermudas.
Yesterday was my most industrious day. The to do was completed. All the presents got wrapped and were put in boxes ready to mail. They’ll go out tomorrow. Gracie and I went to the dump, to Agway and finally to a grocery store so I could buy dinner. Last night I was totally exhausted from all the up and down the stairs and the hauling of boxes and presents.
My mother didn’t drive when I was a kid so I can’t imagine how she got all her shopping done. I don’t remember her ever being missing on a day when my dad was home to drive her. Maybe my mother did mail order shopping as our reference book for Christmas presents was the Sears catalog. My brother and I would look through the toy section time and time again and we’d circle what we wanted. The gifts probably arrived when we were in school. I know she hid them everywhere: the attic, the ironing board closet, the next door neighbor’s and the trunk of my dad’s car. We’d sometimes come across them but not because we looked.
I always did my shopping up town at Woolworth’s, Grant’s or the drug stores. The biggest drug store, the Middlesex Drug, sat on one side of the square. It had a soda fountain which had stools and a marble counter. They made the coke the old way by putting in the syrup then the fizzy water as we used to call it. In the middle of the store was always a display at Christmas. It was filled with perfumes and powders in festive boxes. I always checked them all out, but they were too expensive. I usually only had only a dollar or two, too poor for the drug store but rich enough for Woolworth’s.
Giving presents to all my family was really a big thing to me. I spent so much time walking up and down the aisles looking for something special for each of them. My sisters sometimes got baby bottles for their dolls. I remember the nipples were always pink. My brother was happy with his balsam plane. My mother made a big deal over the perfume I’d bought despite how inexpensive it was. My dad welcomed new handkerchiefs. He always carried one with him. I remember him pulling one out and blowing his nose with a great deal of noise.
I’d wrap my own presents and put them under the tree right in front. I was so proud of them.
Categories: Musings
Tags: baby doll bobbles, balsam planes, Bermudas, cheap perfume, Christmas shopping, coke syrup, drug stores, Grant's, hankerchiefs, Hawaiian shirt, hiding presents, Middlesex Drug, perfumes and powders, Scotch tape, Sears catalog, soda fountain, warm December, Woolworth's, wrapping gifts
Comments: 14 Comments
December 10, 2015
Fern, Gracie and I slept in this morning. It was 10:30 before we dragged ourselves out of bed. After two papers and two cups of coffee I am awake. Notice I didn’t say alert. Fern and Gracie are having their morning naps. They are exhausted. I have no idea why.
I have a to do list today. The wrapping might just get done so I can send the packages to Colorado. I need animal food so Agway is on the list, and I need a bit of people food as my larder is empty. I really want to get outside as it is warm and the sun is beginning to appear. It isn’t winter despite the date. Today is already 54˚.
When I was a kid, Santa never wrapped presents. He left them under the tree in a pile for each of us. My pile was aways the first one on the left. The only wrapped presents under the tree to be opened on Christmas Eve were the pajamas and slippers. The tags were signed from mom and dad.
When I was an adult, my mother wrapped every gift and signed the cards From Santa. Those gifts were left around the tree on Christmas Eve just as they had been when I was kid. My spot was next to the chair and the overflow was in front of the fireplace screen, first pile on the left. Wrapped gifts made for excitement and surprise as if we were kids again. I remember picking up a package, feeling around and shaking it so I could guess what it was.
I don’t remember having breakfast on Christmas morning when I was a kid. I suspect we were too involved with our gifts so it was catch as catch can. Our adult Christmas breakfasts were wonderful. We all sipped mimosas as we opened gifts. The breakfast, a casserole made the evening before as per the directions, was cooking in the oven so we could give all our attention to the pile of gifts.
I wrap everything, even the small gifts. It takes a lot of time, but I figure I’m keeping the spirit and the excitement alive.
Categories: Musings
Tags: animal food, breakfast casserole, Christmas morning, empty larder, From Santa, mimosas, sunshine, to do list, warm day, wrapped presents under the tree, wrapping
Comments: 10 Comments
December 8, 2015
Today is colder than it has been, and it’s raining which adds a bit of bite to the chill. A strong breeze is blowing the leaves and some of the branches. It’s a day to stay inside and be warm and cozy. I’m thinking Hallmark movies.
The Christmas tree has sometimes been a prime target. One of my cats loved to climb it. I remember the first time I saw her halfway up the tree. She was peeking out from the branches and looking at me. I didn’t know if she wanted help or if she was just letting me know where she was. I decided to let her figure out the way down. She did and took a few ornaments with her. That same cat also loved sleeping on the tree skirt under the warmth of the lights. By the end of the Christmas season the tree skirt was black with fur.
My mother put food on her tree. Foolishly we didn’t think of it that way. We saw decorations, but Shauna, my dog at the time, another boxer, saw real sugar cookies and strands of popcorn. We have a picture of her pulling a cookie off the tree. She was quite adept as only the cookie came off the tree and not any other other ornaments. When the cookies were gone, Shauna decided the popcorn looked good. She grabbed the closest piece of a strand and pulled. It wasn’t the best plan as the strand was around the tree front to back. She might have gotten away with it, but the tree shook and a few ornaments fell. We found her munching on popcorn still attached to the strand and having from the tree. We decide that surrender was the best response so we took the rest of the popcorn off the tree.
Gracie doesn’t touch the tree. She gives it a few sniffs, finds nothing and moves on. My cats were five when I adopted them and were too old for tree climbing though Fern does love to sleep on the same tree skirt under the warmth of the lights. At the end of the season the tree skirt is now white with fur. Cats do love to be cozy.
Categories: Musings
Tags: ;;;t, brisk breeze, Christmas tree, climbing the Christmas tree, cold and rainy, eating ornaments, popcorn strands, sugar cookie ornaments, warm and cozy tree lights
Comments: 10 Comments
December 7, 2015
Today is wonderfully warm. The sky is a bit grey. There is no breeze so the dead leaves sit quietly at the ends of the branches. I have one errand today, and I was with my neighbor earlier for our Monday session of talking English and learning questions for the citizenship test. She is from Brazil. Her husband is already a citizen so she is hoping to become one. We covered a bit of early America and the few questions about World War II. “Why do I need to know that?” was her question about the Axis powers of World War II. I gave her an answer she didn’t seem to understand then I said because it’s in the book and they might ask you. That answer she accepted.
I got two Christmas boxes of goodies when I was in Ghana. Both arrived about a month after Christmas. They weren’t filled with the usual presents like clothes or jewelry or books. They had Mac and Cheese, sauces, ready made dinners, beef jerky and some fun stuff like origami and paddle balls. To make all those goodies last longer we had them only one day a week. Sunday was eat from the box day. The rest of the week we ate Ghanaian, and on Saturdays we often bought the food from chop bars in the lorry park. Chops bars sell food. Most are small shacks with a few wobbly branches and tables. We usually bought fufu or T-zed.
Sunday was always a special day. We’d go through our boxes and decide what we wanted to eat. Kraft macaroni and cheese was a feast. Noodles with Alfredo sauce almost made us swoon. We’d eat a few M&M’s after dinner, but only a few so they’d last longer. We were in food heaven.
I never thought that I would consider macaroni and cheese sublime, but in Ghana I learned to appreciate so many things because I didn’t have them. They were little things and they were food things. I still remember how much I wanted cole slaw.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Axis, beautiful day, citizenship test, dead leaves, food nd diseases, no breeze, Peace Corps volunteers, WWII
Comments: 12 Comments
December 6, 2015
It is 51˚. The sun is winter bright. The privacy of summer is gone. The trees are so bare I can see the neighbors’ houses and they mine. A breeze chills rather than cools the air. Old Man Winter may not be here quite yet, but there are signs that he’s waiting impatiently in the wings.
When I was a kid, I always wanted a white Christmas because of Santa. I never saw him pictured flying over houses with green lawns. He always traveled in the snow. Reindeer too belonged in the snow. They lived way up north in the Arctic Circle, and any picture I had ever seen of the Arctic Circle always had snow. I remember Eskimos wearing jackets and thick mittens covered with fur when they harnessed their dogs to their sleds. Christmas needed snow.
We had a nativity set made of chalkware. It had all the necessary figures: kings, shepherds, animals including a donkey and a couple of sheep, Mary, Joseph and the Baby. The stable was wooden and had pieces of hay around as if real animals lived there. Over the years the chalkware chipped. Shepherds were missing noses and just about every other piece had a chip or two. It never mattered. Out came that nativity set every year. I remember the Baby had outstretched arms and was sleeping on what appeared to be swaddling clothes though I didn’t know what swaddling meant until I was a little older. My sister has that set now.
I always think each new Christmas stays connected to all the other Christmases of our past. My mother made decorated sugar cookies and so do we. I even use some of the cookie cutters she had. If I make a pie, it will be lemon meringue, not usually a Christmas pie, but it was one we all loved so my mother made it. I put old ornaments on the tree and one of those old big ones way up high because that’s where my mother would hang it for safety’s sake.
Christmas is wrapped up in family. Traditions are passed down from one generation to another and along the way new traditions are added. They connect us across the years. In every Christmas I see my mother. That is one of the joys of the season.
Categories: Musings
Tags: animals, bare trees, chalkware, chipped pieces, hay, kings, nativity set, Old Man Winter, Santa and lawns, shepherds, warm day, White Christmas
Comments: 13 Comments
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 