On The Road

We are going away for a few days tomarrow, i am so excited! We will be staying with grandgirl, Princess O. I can`t wait to see her.

So, i`ll catch up on you when i return............have a fantastic week!

Sleepy Hollow

Several years ago, my sister in law and i went to NYC, one of my favorite places was The Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. It is a beautiful place, but creepy at the same time. Perhaps that had to do with the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. That is Washington Irvings grave, the author of the story. I don`t know what was creepier, the cemetary, or me, scooping a little grave yard dirt from His grave. Hmmmmm, i guess it would be me. But in my defense, it`s a great Halloween decoration.

We went in October, the leaves were changing, which helped with the atmosphere, not to mention it was close to Halloween, perfect time to visit this cemetary. This is The Old Dutch Church and old burial grounds. You`d never get me in this place after dark.

We spent a good deal of time reading the old tomb stones in the old part of the cemetary, so interesting. I just wish i had taken more pictures. Many of the stones were so worn they could not be read . The Mausoleums were extremely interesting, and again, really really spooky, each one a differant design. I know they still bury people in this cemetary but i don`t think i`d ever want to rest here, it would scare the bejeebies out of me, even dead.

The month of October always makes me remember this cemetary, and all the spooky feelings that went along with a walk through this old, cemetary. If you ever get to NYC, visit, you won`t be dissapointed. Just leave some dirt for the next guy.

A Secret Discovered

I remember a story my Mother used to tell, of a time long ago, well, maybe it has`nt been all that long ago.



When my Mother was a little girl, around the age of seven which would have been in the year 1932 her Father was involved in unsavory activities. Of course, no one was suppose to know about those activities as they were kept very secret, untill my Mother came along that is.



My Grandfather had this old box, it`s contents were a secret, and was never intended for young eyes or any eyes for that matter. But, my Mother was a hmmmm........a brat, to put it mildly. And the word NO, never did sit right with her.



One night, my Mother, her Sisters, and Cousins were playing. My Mom, knowing she was not to get into her Fathers things, got into them anyway. She was alone when she found this big white outfit, that looked like a sheet, with a funny pointed hat.



She decided to put it on and scare her Sisters and Cousins. She came running at them, the white sheet trailing behind her. They ran screaming into the house. Well, My Grandfathers unsavory past was no longer a secret, it was out now.


My Family lived in a small farming community, My Grandfather was a farmer. Back then, you`d be hard pressed to find a black person living anywhere in that area, so who do you suppose they were KKKing about? The Catholics, who else could they bother?


When i was growing up there, i was always aware of the tension between Lutherans and Catholics, always. I don`t remember having any Catholic friends back then, I don`t remember ever being in the Catholic Church there.


Holy Hannah, then my Sister married a......a Catholic! That was just not done in my family. There was alot of arguments with the future Son In Law, but my Sister had made up Her mind, and she was married, in the Catholic Church! I can only imagine my parents uncomfortableness of the situation back then, oiy vey! I just remember Me crying, i`m not sure it was because My sister was leaving us, or because she had married a Catholic. lol My sister is 9 years older than i am, so i was young and impressionalble back then, although, i too married.............yes, you guessed, a Catholic! Me and My Sister, total rebels.


Anyway, back to the KKK. I don`t know if my Grandfather burned any crosses in any Catholics yards , or hung them in a tree, or gunned them down on the streets, that is something My Mother never found out, but i would guess to say, no they did`nt. Well, maybe a cross or two,


The reason i thought of this story tonight , is because, even though i know i should`nt, i was doing some reading on the internet. The McCain/Palin town Hall Lynchings, oops, i mean meetings reminded me of that white KKK outfit my Mother found all those years ago. I imagine at my Grandfathers meetings, speakers fired up their followers much in the same way McCain and Palin are doing today, Screams of " terrorist", "traitor", and "kill him" coming from their followers. Sad and Frightening how low the Republicans have stooped, I am embarrased for them.



1932 does`nt seem so long ago anymore.

Change

That`s all I`m sayin

The Beast

We thought it was so cute when we saw Flynn sitting on top his dog house, keeping watch over the neighborhood. But then the sway on his roof became very apparrent, skip would go out each day and fix it, put it back to normal. Flynn would sit on his doghouse, looking at the back door, just hoping he could catch a glimpse of His master. Some days, when the sun was bright, he`d drape himself across it, basking in the sunshine. Kinda like snoopy.

Then, he started re-arranging the possition of his house, This is`nt a light house, Skip attached 2x4`s on the bottom of the house last winter to keep it off the ground and out of the melting snow, we could`nt let his feet get wet could we? He likes angling it either towards our ally, for security reasons we assume, never know when a burgler, or female might come waltzing down the alley. Above it is positioned so that he can see our street infront of our house, Who knows what may lurk there. You can also see that he has almost ripped the entire front panel off his house, innocently of course. To move his house he must grab hold of the doorway and pull his house. Well, night after night of pulling, has resulted in this. Skip will again have to use his carpentry skills to fix this, vecause there is no way i am buying that pooch another house!

See the guilt on his face? His ears layed back? This is when we went out the other morning to view his destruction. Cute huh?

This Old House

We have lived in this big old house for 24 years. It is drafty, creaky, spooky, and filled with memories, and i love it. It is`nt filled with memories from just my family, oh no, it is filled with memories that span more than 100 years.

I will never know all the memories this old house has held between it`s walls, but, over all the years i have lived here, i have found hints of memories of those people i have never known, people long dead.

Once cleaning out the basement, i opened an old box, stashed inside were two certificates, one was a baptizmal certificate, and one a confirmation. His Name was John, and He owned this house before us. He was already deceased by this time. They used to make these certificates very big and ornate, perfect for framing. Once, before i found these, his daughter was in town, and she always drove by her old home whenever she had the opportunity. One day, i was outside, and she stopped. We had a nice long chat, and she told me alot of stories about this house. I keep wishing she would stop in again so i could give her those certificates.

Today skip was fixing our old iron heater in the front porch , it weighs a ton, he had to take it out and get to the leak that had sprung. He lifted up one of the floor boards, and replaced a broken pipe, there between the floor board and the subfloor was a folded up paper, obviously used for insulation. It was yellowed, black from dirt on the top, and very brittle and wrinkled. I carefully unfolded it, ironed it, put on my magnifying glasses, and began reading. The date on the paper is sept 20, 1919. Above is a couple pictures of it. What a treasure! You could buy a sheet of music back then for 6 1/2 cents, and a pound of walnuts were 50 cents a pound.

I am still reading the paper, if is filled with stories. It makes me wonder, what other treasures this old house will give us in the years to come.

We had seriously thought of getting rid of this house a couple months ago, it is too big for us, too expensive to heat, so much work needs to be done on it, but, i just could`nt. So we started painting ............again.

This house is still known as the teachers house, when John and His wife had retired, there children moved out, they rented the bedroom upstairs to single female teachers. It was a law back then that female teachers could not be married. So, here is where many of them lived, for years. It is also still known but it`s original owners last name, maybe if we live her long enough, it will be known by our last name.

I raised my kids in this house, through good times and bad. I cried and laughed in this house. My heart was broken , and my heart burst with joy in this house. This is the place my kids and grandkids come home to. I love this old house, and i cannot imagine having my family come home to any place but this place. I keep remembering what Danibelle said to me a few years ago, " Grandma, i just love this house, it is filled with so many treasures." It sure is Danibelle.

Besides, i would`nt want to put my ghost through having to adjust to a new family, at his age.