Second Blooming

The Rawhide Legend

According to legend...

Mama was working in the garden, planting some new rose bushes. She was not wearing gardening gloves, because she liked the way the moist dirt felt on her hands. She would come to regret this.

It was mid-March, and the weather in Texas was starting to warm up, so she had decided to garden at dusk, when it was pleasantly cool outside.

She was wearing a large and not particularly attractive muumuu, which her sister-in-law, Verna, had sent her from Hawaii. It was the only thing that still fit her, as she had outgrown all of her maternity clothes.

Oh, did I fail to mention that she was pregnant? She was. Quite pregnant, in fact. But she still had a couple of weeks until her due date, so she was pretty surprised when labor pains started in fast and furious. She sunk down to her knees.

"Roy!!!" she cried.

Nothing.

"ROY!!!" she yelled out, louder.

Nothing.

She managed to get up and stagger into the house. Daddy was sitting in his big chair in the living room, watching "Rawhide" on television. Daddy loved a good Western.

"Roy! It's TIME!!" Mama cried. Mama was often melodramatic.

"Now?" Daddy asked calmly. Daddy was never melodramatic.

"Yes! Now! The baby is coming now!"

"Well, why don't you go lie down and let me watch the rest of "Rawhide". It will take a while for that baby to get here. We'll drive in to the hospital after the show," declared Daddy, ever the pragmatist.

"But this baby is coming NOW!"

A rather large fight ensued.

Mama, of course, won, as pregnant women in labor tend to do, and Daddy turned off "Rawhide" and drove her to the hospital.

When they got there, they whisked her into the Maternity Ward, and told Daddy to go home. They would call him when it was closer to the time for delivery.

Once Mama got into the Maternity Ward, they stuck her in a bed in the corner and refused to call her doctor. It was far too early, they said, it will still be many hours until that baby was ready to come out.

"But this baby is coming NOW!"

 "Oh my goodness, you older mothers..." scoffed the nurse. Mama never forget this line.

Because she was, in fact, an older mother - almost 40. Which was rare in those days. And the nurse in charge seemed to think that Mama was a silly, over-reacting older mother, who clearly didn't know anything about birthing babies.

Mama became convinced that they just weren't taking her seriously enough because she was wearing this terrible muumuu and she had dirt stuck under her fingernails. She was afraid that they thought she was some kind of low-class woman, who didn't know any better than to go into labor with dirty nails.

"I was gardening! I'm not usually dirty!" Mama tried to tell the nurses, "I should have worn gloves!  This baby is coming NOW!"

Finally, after a few hours, she convinced a nurse to come and examine her, and sure enough the nurse took one look and said "This baby is coming NOW!"

They called her doctor, and Daddy, who both rushed down to the hospital. Within an hour, the doctor found Daddy out in the waiting room, and told him he was the father of a healthy baby girl. Me. It was just after midnight on March 18, 1961.

 

Notice that by now she has washed her hands and put on a little lipstick. And a bow.

Daddy never got to see the end of that episode of "Rawhide". And Daddy, having the wry sense of humor that he did, complained about it for the rest of his life. Every year on my birthday, he'd mutter sadly, "Never did see the end of that "Rawhide". Every time the show was on, he'd watch, but after a few minutes he'd shake his head sadly, "Nope. That's not the episode."

But Daddy didn't have Google. Or IMDb. Or YouTube. Though he would have loved them - all that information at his fingertips. And I, being very much my father's daughter, did a bit of research.

I Googled "Rawhide March 17, 1961" and sure enough..."Rawhide" Season 3, Episode 19, Incident Near Gloomy River  popped right up on IMDb! The legend has been confirmed! And John Cassavetes was the guest star, so I guess it was a good episode!

My next stop was YouTube, and guess what? A scene from Incident Near Gloomy River. Gotta love the young Clint.

And so, this is for you Da.

 

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This post was inspired by...

 

Prompt #3 - Tell us about the story of your birth.

Spin Cycle: Geek Warning

I am a game dork.

I play a wide variety of dorky online games. All the time. Like, really, pretty much all the time.

It's compulsive. I can't stop myself. At this very moment, I have open, on other tabs on my computer, both Zynga, where I'm playing Farmville 2, and Club Pogo, where I'm playing something called Mahjong Gardens. During the time it took for me to write this post thus far, I have gone to both of those sites and played both of those games. Twice.

Which isn't really that crazy, because, you know, there is a County Fair going on at my my tiny virtual farm, so it's pretty important that I keep my crops watered and fertilized. Because if my crops are fertilized, I'll get prized crops, and if I sell enough prized crops, I'll get a medal. I mean, not a real medal or anything, it's a...virtual medal. And Mahjong Gardens has a daily challenge going, and if I earn enough tokens, they'll give me even more tokens. Which aren't actually worth anything, but...

Okay, it really is crazy.

I have always been this way, since I was a kid. I remember compulsively playing jacks on the floor of my bathroom for hours and hours, working my way from onesies to tensies to Eggs in a Basket and Crack the Egg. I can still remember the clatter of the jacks when I tossed them on the tile, and the satisfaction of raking all the jacks up in one hand and catching the ball before it hit the floor.

After jacks, I became a Solitaire nut. I knew all sorts of types of Solitaire - Klondike, Pyramid, Seven Up, Spider. I'd play it on my bed while watching tv. I would sometimes watch tv, do my homework and play Solitaire at the same time. I was a multi-tasker.

Later, I got into word puzzles. I'd buy these puzzle magazines - I had one with me at all times.

 

I may have put the Dell children through college.

 

Crosswords, Anacrostics, Cryptoquizzes. I loved them all. And I always used a pen, never a pencil.

And then along came the computer and then the iPhone, and it's all been downhill from there.

Back before Jude was born, I bought these PC games which I played all the time. I played my way through the entire Diablo series, leading my tiny sorceress through the many levels of hell to defend the world against Mephisto and Baal. It was very gratifying. I also obsessed over the Myst games, and about 20 other puzzley adventure games. I would stay up late at night solving virtual mysteries and saving virtual worlds.

The list of dorky games goes on and on, and I know this is already becoming a little monotonous, and...embarrassing. So I will stop the litany of dorkdom.

Why do I obsess this way?

A friend of mine once read my palm. As she was running her finger over my various lines and rings, she suddenly asked "do you play a lot of games?"

"Yeah. A lot," I answered.

"Hmmm. Yeah, you're one of those..." she replied mysteriously.

According to this friend, certain people have minds that won't shut off. They just think and think and think and think. And the only way to relax and renew and...go to sleep, is to occupy the mind with a problem or puzzle.

YES! THAT IS ME!

I can't turn my brain off to go to sleep. I have to give myself something specific to think about, a story or a problem or a puzzle. It's something to do with occupying my conscious mind and freeing my unconscious mind. Or maybe it's the other way around. Playing a game or working on a puzzle actually makes me relax. And it also strangely frees my thoughts. I find that if I'm writing, and have a problem to solve, if I zone out playing a game for a while, my mind opens up and all sort of useful thoughts slip in.

At least that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Have I shared too much? Do y'all still respect me?

Oh look, my livestock is hungry. I'd better get to it.

 

Check out all my animals and crops!

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More extremely obsessive spinners...please don't judge them...

Suzicate at The Water Witch's Daughter

Nain at View From Down Here

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

Lynn at Curly Girl's Music World

Jan at Jan's Sushi Bar - NEW on FRIDAY

Janice at I Got Nothing - NEW on FRIDAY

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Pets

Ahhh. We love 'em don't we. Do you have a favorite non-human member of your family you want to show off? Put them front and center.

Or maybe there's a beloved childhood pet who you still miss every day?

Or maybe...you had some pet disasters? Did your family experience a run of dead hamsters? Or a dog who ate his way through all of your shoes and panties? Or an ornery cat who everybody hated but lived longer than any other animal you ever had?

Pet name? Pet project? Pet cemetery? Pet Sounds?

Write your spin on Pets. Post it. Tell me. I'll link it here.

Check back on Friday for my spin on "Pets", and to find out the next week's Spin topic.

If you've never joined The Spin Cycle, now's the time! Don't worry, we won't bite!

 

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Moonwalk

July 21, 1969

I remember it well. I was 8-years old.

I had put on my nightgown and gone to bed at 8:00 pm, my usual time, and gone to sleep.

But then, at about 9:30 at night, Mama came into my room and woke me up. Something important was about to happen.

She led me into the living room, and snuggled up with me on the sofa with a blanket and a pillow. Daddy was sitting in his chair, and our big console color television was tuned in to a news program.

Earlier that day, Apollo 11 had landed on the surface of the moon, and everyone in the world was tuned into their television sets, waiting for a miracle to happen.

At 9:56 pm CST, Neil Armstrong made his way out the door of the tiny lunar module, and we all held our breaths...

 

I remember Mama starting to cry, and Daddy getting stoicly quiet as we watched these two amazingly brave Americans erect our country's flag on the surface of the moon, so far, far away.

Through my life, I've watched many memorable events on television - the towers crumbling on 9/11, the Challenger disaster, the OJ car chase, the funeral of Princess Diana, the levees breaking during Hurricane Katrina, the LA riots. But all of those events were tragic and shocking. 

July 21, 1969 was a triumph. It was a moment when everyone in America tuned in to proudly watch our country's success. We all cheered along with those men in the shirts and ties gathered in that huge room at Mission Control in Houston, not far from where I sat in my living room with my family.

I wonder if I'll ever again see an event which brings our country that much pride. I fear not.

What television news story made the biggest impression on you when you were a kid?

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This post was inspired by...

 

 

Prompt #1 -  How old were you? Share one of the first news stories you remember caring about.

 

Spin Cycle: Springtime Things I've Been Thinking About

Ah, Spring...

Daffodils

When I was a little girl, every time I got sick and stayed home from school, my sweet Daddy brought me a little present when he got home from work. Usually, it was a coloring book or paper dolls (I'll never forget when he brought me a Julia coloring book - remember that tv show Julia with Diahann Carroll? She was a groovy widowed nurse raising her little boy Cory all by herself. Okay, I just veered wildly off topic...) or when I was older, a Seventeen magazine. But once, when I was about 10-years old, he brought home a bouquet of daffodils. Just for me. It was the first time anyone had ever given me flowers, and it has led to a lifelong love of daffodils. And every Spring, good old Trader Joe's has them on sale for 99 cents a bundle, and I go crazy and buy 5 or 6 and fill the house with them. I loved my Daddy!

 

I wish I'd taken this picture

 

Favorite shows are back!

Woohoo! Game of Thrones premiered on Sunday, and the tension is mounting in the Seven Kingdoms. My man, Peter Dinklage has a fabulous new scar...

 

Chicks dig scars.

 

And Mad Men returns for it's 6th season THIS Sunday! They're promising that the focus will be more on the women this season, which is fine with me. Can't wait! Y'all should definitely check out my Cocktail Guide, and get ready to make Betty's favorite drink, a Tom Collins, while you're watching.

 

Produce

For about a year now, I have been getting a box of organic produce delivered to my front door every other week from Farm Fresh To You . I have LOVED it. Every time I get my box, it's a culinary adventure. It's like that tv show Chopped, because I never know what's going to be in the box, and it completely inspires my cooking for the week. Here's this week's box -

 

This week's haul - strawberries, asparagus, chard, lettuce, carrots, onions, apples and a wacky mushroom!

...now that is Spring, y'all! If anybody lives in So Cal, and is inspired to join the fun, click on this Farm Fresh To You link. And if you tell them that I referred you, you'll get $10 off your first box, and I'll get $25 applied to my account! Use the promo code 6164, and tell them my name. I promise you'll love it!

Pasta Primavera

Since I have all this yummy produce, I made Pasta Primavera this week. It's one of Jimmy's favorite things in the world. This is the recipe I make, but you can throw in pretty much any vegetables you have. I would have put in zucchini if I'd had it. And maybe yellow squash. It's all good. Every time I make this, I am reminded that the doctor who delivered Jimmy, long ago in Brooklyn, was named Dr. Primavera. Don't you love that?

Pasta Primavera

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion (or one small leek) chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup broccoli, cut into very small florets

1 cup sugar snap peas

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen peas

10 to 12 asparagus spears, sliced in 1-inch pieces

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth, if you're so inclined)

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3/4 lb. farfalle pasta

Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large pan. Add onion and saute until softened. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add broccoli, sugar snap peas and carrots. Cook for 1 minute. Add frozen peas, cook until defrosted. Add asparagus and tomatoes. Stir for 1 minute more, then add chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, and cook about 5 minutes. Everything should be pretty al dente.

In the meantime, cook pasta. Drain. Serve vegies over pasta, and top with lots of Parmesan.

It's good and good for you!

Whish Shave Crave Blueberry Shaving Cream

I am LOVING this stuff. I got it as a sample in my Birchbox, and I'm kind of crazy for it. First of all, it smells like blueberries, which is kind of a revelation. But the best thing is how it works. It's not like the same-old, same-old shave cream. It's so moisturizing that when you shave, you feel like it must not be working because there's absolutely no friction. But then, it does work, and when you rinse it off, you don't even need to put on lotion. It's amazing. Oh, and if you want to start getting Birchbox, you can go to THIS LINK HERE, and I'll get free Birch Points for referring you. Man, I'm all about the kickback today, aren't I?

Rockin' Robin Nail Polish

Is this the cutest nail polish ever?!!!

 

What could be Springier than robin's egg, y'all?

 

This will be my toe nail color from spring through the summer. I LOVE it!

Strawberry Daiquiri

Did you notice that box of strawberries up there in my produce picture? Well they were not long for this world. They were made into an excellent and terribly Springy cocktail, which I enjoyed oh so very much. Please follow suit...

Strawberry Daiquiri

2 oz. white rum

1 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. triple sec

1/2 tsp. sugar

5 - 10 strawberries

ice

Dump it all in a blender and whir it up. Is that a word? Whir? Well, you know what I mean. Serve it in a margarita glass. Yum

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Hop on over to our other Spring spinners (Get it? Hop? Spring? Sorry.)...

Janice at I Got Nothing

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

Nain at View From Down Here

Jan at Jan's Sushi Bar - NEW on FRIDAY

Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie - NEW on FRIDAY

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration? What do you find inspirational? A place? A song? A picture? A poem? Is there someone who you have been particularly inspired by? Does inspiration come from inside? Outside? Above?

Write it. Post it. Let me know. I'll link it here.

I expect to be quite inspired by your posts!

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Dear Diary

When I was 10 years old, Mama gave me this...

My Diary. For many years, I protectively locked it, hid the key and then carefully stowed away the diary itself. I never used it as a journal per se, not a daily record of my activities. It was more of a...dumping ground. A place for me to spew forth my preteen/teenage angst, safe from judgment or recrimination.

I fervently wrote in it for short spurts of time, first when I was 10 and 11. I then lost interest for a few years, returning during my traumatic puberty years, then again during my senior year in high school, when I wrote loooong, angst-ridden, gossipy diatribes about who did what to whom and how sad it all made me. Much time was spent on various boys who I had crushes on, but didn't know I was alive. Sad.

It's all very embarrassing stuff. But I'm always up for a challenge, and seldom shy away from public humiliation. So when Andrea at Maybe It's Just Me e-mailed and invited me to join her My So-Called Teenage Life Blog Hop, I just couldn't resist.

And so for your enjoyment, dear readers, I am now opening up my Five Year Diary of old. I tremble and take a deep breath...

Diary arrived during the summer after 4th Grade, just in time for our summer vacation car trip...

 

Yes, trailors are nice. I should note that not only did I think Brandon Cruz from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" was grose (sic), but I also thought his name was pronounced "cruzz" like "buzz".

 

5th Grade seems to have been quite traumatic. First off, there was this problem...

 

The much-loved Mrs. Middlebrook left to have a baby, and we ended up with the grose (sic) Miss Shepard. Shudder....

 and then there was...Robbie Dobbs...

Much thought was invested in Robbie Dobbs.

 but then there was this...

Oh Happy Day, indeed!

Fifth Grade Peyton Place

Our next stop in my diary's Sturm und Drang tour of my childhood is 8th Grade, when I next put pen to paper. I will spare you my tiny and almost indecipherable handwriting...

January 29, 1975

Dear Diary,

It's been since 5th Grade when I last wrote you. I decided that it was about time to start again. A lot has happened, but I can't tell you all of it because it would take too much time. Mama and Daddy make me really mad a lot. Mama does more than Daddy. She's always complaining that I'm never doing anything right. She just makes it worse. Everything is changing so fast. Everybody else is changing too. Last summer, almost all of the guys voices changed, and they have all shot up in height. I like a lot of guys and have a lot of boys that are friends, but no boyfriends. It really makes me mad that all of the more popular guys are so predudice [sic] against all of us girls in other cliches [sic] besides there's [sic]. Why is our grade so split up? Now it's better than it was last year, but it's still terrible. There are a lot of more popular girls that are really nice and I can understand why they are popular, but there are also girls (like Claudia) that are perfectly boring and have no personality, yet they are cute and flirty and have a lot of friends, not because they are nice to be around, but because people think that if they are around them, they will be popular. And it probably true. But I'm not going to be a hypocrite!!

Wow. Think I was jealous of Claudia? Much?

August 15, 1975

This summer has been really strange. I really have done a lot, yet I feel as though I haven't done anything. I guess that it is because I really don't know what I want to do, but I know that I'm not satisfied with what I have.

I went to a party at Mark's house. It was fun, and was probably the only time all summer that I've felt satisfied. Mark is a really sweet person, but he's just not what I want. Mary has a terrible crush on him, but I'm afraid that he is beginning to like Flavia.

Of all of the guys in our grade, I think that Blair is probably the sweetest and cares the most about other people's feelings. He is such a love. I think that he thinks that I'm a nice person, and I think of him as a good friend. He is always making cracks about my height. I really don't like them though. It makes me mad that I'm taller than him. We would be a lot better off together if I wasn't.

Oh my, oh my. I can't get no satisfaction. Sadly, I really don't remember the aforementioned Blair ever really paying much of any attention to me. And yes, by this age I was already an Amazonian 5'10". Dances were deeply painful. But despite that...

January 9, 1976

Dear Diary,

I've decided that 1975 was a pretty good year. A lot of changes have happened. I had a lot of problems (I still have them) but I think that I've really matured a lot. I also think that I've made a lot of new friends, and one way of having a good life is having a lot of friends. Here are the major good things that happened to me in 1975 -

1. Teahouse of the August Moon. I had a great time doing this play. All of the people in the cast were wonderful. We were all so close and are still good friends. Joe Evans became a great friend. He goes to Crockett [another high school] and is extremely good looking. There was a lot of backstage fooling around. Kaysie was in it too. She and I always fought over Joe. I was in a lot of other plays too, including 1776 and The Ugly Duckling.

2. Mark's party (mentioned before) was really fun, and so were a lot of other party's [sic]. Mary and I had a party at her house. It was a lot of fun for her and me, but I don't know if it really was for all of the other people. I think it was.

3. The Pizza Place has become a local "hang-out". Mary, Flavia and I go down there often on Saturday nights. One Saturday, we were down there and everybody decided that we should all go somewhere and have a party. Well, Mary somehow let Blair know that Mama and Daddy were out of town and then Blair conned me into letting a bunch of people come over to my house! Robin was the only one who could drive us, so in his Mustang was in the back seat David, Flavia, Me and Mary. Worth and Jimbo were sitting on our laps! In the front seat was Robin, Blair, Keith and some high school guy. On top of them was Kelley. I don't know how we did it, but we had a good time at my house.

I'm fairly sure that my parents never knew about this party. Fairly.

Okay, that's enough for today. I'll spare you senior year. Or maybe I'll just save it for the next blog hop. Andrea? When's that happening? I suggest you head over to Andrea's place and check out more teenage angst!

Did you keep a teenage diary? Please share!

RTT: Birthday, Corned Beef and Graffiti

Oh hello there! Yes, I DID have a happy birthday, thank you very much for asking. It was a lovely, lazy day. Jimmy made me breakfast in bed...

 

He needs a little work on his plating technique, but it was tasty. And yes, I broke the old "never eat anything bigger than your head" rule.

...then he set up a spot for me in the living room - complete with roses and a fire in the fireplace. Jimmy does good birthday.

 

View from my spot.

What did I do in my little spot? Well, as I may have mentioned before (mmm...possibly a number of times), I have given up my video games for Lent. HOWEVER, as every good little Catholic child who was unfortunate enough to be born during the Lenten season knows, it is absolutely fine and dandy for you cheat on your vow on your birthday. That's what my Mama taught me anyway. I'm not sure if this is actually written somewhere in Catholic dogma, but I choose to believe it is correct. So...I played me some games. Hehe.

 

In order to share my day more efficient, I have created for you a pie chart, a la Becky...

 

How I spent my birthday...

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How was everybody's St. Patrick's day? I made the best damned Corned Beef and Cabbage that I have ever made. It was like butter, I tell you, like BUTTER. I just mixed up a bunch of recipes I found on the internet and I am gonna tell you the recipe because I'm afraid that if I don't write it down here, I won't remember it next year! Also, I'm pretty sure that one reason it was so tasty was because of that homemade Sweet & Hot Honey Mustard I made for Christmas gifts. So check that out too. And then stow this recipe away for next St. Paddy's.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

2 - 2 1/2 lbs. corned beef

little packet that comes in the corned beef package

1 large onion, sliced into wedges

10 cups water (I was gonna pour in a bottle of beer, but decided tlo drink it instead)

10 baby potatoes (halved)

3 carrots (peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces)

1 small cabbage, sliced into thick wedges

Remove the corned beef from it's wrapping, and rinse it well in a colander. Place in a large Dutch oven with a lid. Arrange onions around the beef, then sprinkle the top with the package of seasoning. Pour water all around it. Cover, place on top of the stove and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove lid and add the potatoes and carrots. Simmer for 15 minutes more, then add cabbage and simmer for yet another 15 minutes.

Slice across the grain, and serve with au jus and vegies plus some of that good mustard.

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Jude and I went and saw Oz the Great and Powerful the other day.

I was pretty disappointed. I don't know what I expected. I mean it wasn't as bad as the dreaded Space Chimps (the thought of which still makes all the muscles in my neck convulse) but I wasn't impressed. I mean, the special effects were pretty outrageous, but seriously, I am SO BLOODY TIRED OF 3D!! It just gives me a stinking headache! Hate it! James Franco was horribly miscast. He's very cute and charming and all that, but he just couldn't wrap his mouth around the dialogue. It was sort of embarrassing. And Mila Kunis was so terrible it was startling. At one point I actually said OUT LOUD "She's just horrible!" and people turned around and looked at me and nodded. Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz were pretty good though, they both had the chops to pull off the style of the piece. But it all just seemed like a kind of sacrilege. They should have just left The Wizard of Oz alone.

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These cracked me up - 15 Signs Improved By Hilarious Graffitti. My faves...

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And I LOVE this! Detailed Floor Plans Reveal Apartment Layouts of Fictional New York Characters. This artist has accurately and artfully rendered floor plans for tv sets...

 

No way she could have afforded that!

She should have drawn in the cereal boxes.

 

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That's all the random for today! Go see Stacy!

Cedar Choppers

The neighborhood where I grew up, the hills west of Austin, Texas, has changed tremendously over the last many years. Nowadays, its green, rolling hills are filled with subdivisions of million dollar homes and trendy shopping centers, but back when I was a little kid, it was much more rural. That's not to say it was poor or even blue collar, in fact our closest neighbors were a newspaper editor and a county judge. Many people owned acreage (I grew up on 16 acres) but the land wasn't farms or ranches, it was just scenic.

However, back in the '60's, deep in the woods of cedar trees, down long dirt trails that snaked off the Ranch Roads, you could still find rickety shacks inhabited by families referred to in the local vernacular as "cedar choppers". This was probably a derogatory term, but it did refer to the way many of these people made a living; they would chop down cedar trees on their land, and sell it for firewood and fencing. Rumor had it that they were also the local source of moonshine. The houses were often doorless and windowless, and the yards were overrun with dogs and messy little children. I always found these folks a bit scary, but fascinating. Think a little Beverly Hillbillies and a lot...Deliverance.

I remember the man who ran the dump. This was before the City of Austin's sanitation department began garbage collection out our way, and once a week, Daddy had to load all of our garbage into the back of his pickup truck, and drive it out to the County Dump. I used to love riding along with him because the dump was just such a big, nasty experience - acres of giant piles of seething trash. The Dump Man lived in a rickety house on the edge of the garbage, and his entire place was filled with "perfectly good" junk he'd salvaged from other people's trash. I loved it! I can only assume that the Dump Man's had lost all olfactory perception, because that place stank!

Mama used to take me with her to visit the Egg Man, who sold her fresh eggs every week. The Egg Man lived in an ramshackle house surrounded by chickens. I always thought it was apropos that the Egg Man was the egg man, because he had a shiny bald head that looked like...an egg. He also had a bunch of peacocks, who wandered around freely, screaming and occasionally showing off their tail feathers. Once, the Egg Man gave me a peacock feather which had fallen out, and I treasured it for years. I kind of can't believe that Mama let me keep it, as who knows what kind of bugs and germs must have been on it.

But the cedar chopper family which we had the most dealings with were the Johnsons. The Johnsons were a large family who lived back in the woods not far from us. They would often be seen driving around in a dilapidated old truck, which looked very much like the one the Clampetts drove on The Beverly Hillbillies. The leader of the Johnson family was Grandma Johnson, a weathered old woman with long, grayish/yellowish hair, which blew out behind her as they drove along with the windows open. Daddy regularly bought our firewood from them, and had developed a peculiar friendship with the oldest "Johnson boy", Duane, who must have been in his twenties. I say peculiar, because there could not have been two less similar men. But Duane would often drop by our house, and though I don't remember him ever coming inside, Daddy would go out and sit with him and chat. Daddy was that kind of man, he always had a number of young people who liked to just sit and listen to him talk.

At some point, Daddy, who was not a hunter, let Duane go deer hunting on our land. I suspect Daddy felt okay about it because the Johnsons would certainly have used the deer for food, not just as a trophy to mount to the wall. The story goes that once, when I was about one, Duane pulled up and said "Mr. German, I know you've got that new baby girl, and you need to come out and see what I just shot on your land." And there, in the back of his truck, was a dead mountain lion. Which was probably a good thing, since Mama sometimes used to leave me outside on a quilt with just the German Shepherd as a nanny. Though now that I think of it, that German Shepherd may have been able to take on a mountain lion.

My favorite of all the Johnson family stories is a tale I once overheard Duane tell Daddy, which for some reason, I still often find myself thinking about. It's a really, truly disgusting story. Which might have something to do with my lifelong obsession with it.

Duane had owned some kind of souped up muscle car, which he'd been tinkering on for many years. Think The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. One day, he was driving along the Ranch Road that went past our house, speeding much too fast, rounded a blind curve, and there in the middle of the road, discovered a dreadful sight. Some critter (probably a raccoon or a possum) had previously been taken out by a car, and a huge, mean ol' buzzard was chowing down on the road kill, it's belly stuffed full of all the dead goodies it had been eating. Duane was driving too fast to veer around the critter/buzzard, and had run straight into it. The buzzard had smashed through his windshield and kind of exploded all over Duane and the car, its stomach contents covering everything.

 

It's amazing what disgusting images you can find on the internet if you Google.

This image was a little much for a 5-year old to take, and has created in me a lifelong fear of road kill.

I don't have any memories of the Johnsons or really any of the other "Cedar Chopper" families after the late '60's or early '70's and I don't know what became of them. I guess that the area became too gentrified and they were pushed farther out into the sticks and just became run-of-the-mill rednecks. Only a couple of kids I went to school with were from what could have been considered cedar chopper families, so I'm guessing they were long gone before the big Austin Hill Country real estate boom.

But I like to think that some of those families like the Johnsons held onto their land and ended up making a killing, selling their acreage to builders and developers. And I'm sort of sorry that they're not still there, because the Johnsons would, no doubt, have made an excellent Honey Boo Boolike reality tv show!

For more on the cedar choppers of the Austin Hill Country, check out THIS and THIS.

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This post was inspired by...

Prompt #2 - Tell us about a "character" in your town or neighborhood who left an impression on you.

10 Reasons You Should Be Glad I Didn't Blog When I Was in My 20's

I worry sometimes that my rapidly advancing middle-age makes me less relevant and contemporary than many of you other, much younger mommy-bloggers. So just to prove to myself (and you) that I'm a much better blogger now than I would have been when I was a carefree 20-something chippy, I give you 10 posts that I most certainly would have written if my blog was called "First Blooming" (in no particular order)...

1. My Fascinating Career as a Regional Catalogue Model

Look y'all! I booked a new modeling gig! It's for a catalogue they send out ALL OVER Texas PLUS Louisiana and maybe even OKLAHOMA!

I'm a Christmas hostess named Joyce!

Want this blouse!

2. How to Survive on Nothing But Coffee, Cigarettes and Stove Top Stuffing

It can be done, y'all! This new Stove Top Stuffing is SO easy! You just mix a box with a little water and margarine and VOILA! It's a week of meals! The water makes the little freeze-dried onion and celery sort of rehydrate - YUM!

3. Another Day at the Book Store

First, I straightened Fiction (my fave), then Self-Help/Medical (boring...) and then the Hardcover/Best Sellers - whew! Finally got a smoke/coffee break, then worked the cash register for almost TWO hours! Good news? Only screwed up somebody's change once! Bad news? Called my agent twice, but NO auditions or go-sees. Totally bummed!

4. Bushy Eyebrow Tutorial

Brooke Shields! Madonna! ME! We've all got the look, and now, so can you! All you need is a toothbrush and a little spit...

Brush up those brows! It wakes up your face!

5. Sign My Petition to Bring Back Real Coke!

I am SO upset about this New Coke thing, that I've started a petition which I'm going to send to the Coca-Cola Headquarters in Atlanta!! I have it on the front counter of the book store, and so far I've got over 100 signatures!! I won't give up until my Coke is back to normal!

6. Fun With Gold Spray Paint!

Y'all know my theory on home decorating - everything is new again if you give it a coat of spray paint it or cover it with material. Well, the other day, I went CRAZY with GOLD spray paint! Everything is gold! The furniture, the curtain rods, the picture frames, the lamps! It's like living inside the movie Xanadu!

7. Update Any Outfit With Shoulder Pads!

The other day, I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics picking out some new material to cover things with, and I discovered that they sell shoulder pads there. So I bought a bunch of them and have been updating all of my clothes by sewing in shoulder pads! You can do it with anything - jackets, t-shirts, dresses. It's an instant style update!

8. I LOVE This Outfit!

Wore this for these modeling "test shots" the other day (no money, but I get a copy for my book), and I loved it so much they let me keep it!

9. More Cat Pics!

 Mama wuvs her precious babies!!!!

Welcoming Mama home!

 

Mama's sweetest boy!!

I've taken a bunch MORE pictures of my three cats, but you'll just have to wait until I get the film developed!

 

10. My Boyfriend's Band

I know I talk about my boyfriend's band all the time, but I just can't help it! They are getting so good! They had TWO gigs this month. And with one of them, they even got paid in MONEY, not just beer! He works SO HARD, it's really time for things to pay off for him. I'm so happy that between my full-time job at the book store + my babysitting jobs + my occasional modeling gig + the money Daddy kicks in, I'm able to pay the rent and support us so he and his friends can practice and write songs all day and night. He's SO talented! I hope that one day I don't stupidly marry him, then kick his lazy butt out after which he finally gets it together and becomes a multi-millionaire songwriter. Yeah, as if!

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This post was inspired by...

Prompt #2 -  10 reasons you should be glad I didn't blog in my 20's. (Inspired by Wendi Aarons and friends)

Acceptance and Release

For the last 15 or so years of her life, my Mama had a dear and wonderful best friend named Gaynell.

Gaynell was the epitome of those wonderful Texas women I grew up around. She was smart and funny and strong and Christian in the best sense of the word. She was a wonderful cook and homemaker, a mother and grandmother, a powerful volunteer and fundraiser and always had her hair perfectly coiffed and her nails beautifully manicured. She was also a lot of fun, and she and Mama consumed quite a bit of bourbon in each others company.

She and Mama met at church, and were both active members of The Ladies of Charity , in fact, between the two of them, they pretty much ran the whole shebang.

When Daddy died in 1987, Gaynell was one of two of Mama's friends who came to the hospital and sat with us and his body while waiting for the funeral home to show up and take him away. After Daddy's death, Mama and Gaynell became even closer, and after Gaynell's dear husband Dow's death a few years later, they became virtually inseparable.

After Mama died, I stayed in touch with Gaynell. We called and wrote each other. While Gaynell had children and grandchildren of her own, I know that she felt a responsibility to Mama to be there for me. I'd call her and let her know whenever I was going to be on tv, and she was one of my biggest fans. She's the one I would call if I needed a good Southern recipe, and she never failed to provide a tasty one.

At some point in the mid-90's, I went to visit friends and family in Austin. I had written Gaynell a couple of weeks before, to let her know I was coming, and told her I'd call when I got in town. I hadn't heard back from her, but didn't really think much of it.

When I got to Austin, I gave her a call, and was surprised when her daughter, Pam, answered the phone. When Pam heard I was in town, she started to cry, and said "Thank God, you can come and say goodbye to her!"

It turned out that Gaynell had had a catastrophic stroke, from which she would not recover. She had a living will which stated that she did not want to be put on life support or fed by a feeding tube, but chose to die naturally. And so, her family had taken her home, surrounded her with beautiful things, and had come from far and near to tell her goodbye. She was only expected to live another week or so. I rushed over.

When I got there, Pam told me that the doctor claimed that Gaynell wasn't really aware of what was going on around her, and was unable to communicate, but Pam knew that this was crap. She said Gaynell recognized everybody who went in, and though she couldn't speak or write, she was very expressive. She also told me to prepare myself.

I walked into Gaynell's bedroom, and was greeted by a beautiful sight. She was lying in her bed, her hair and nails done, wearing a lovely white nightgown. A rosary was draped in her paralyzed right hand. The room was filled with the fragrance of the many flowers, and a CD player played soft classical music. The walls were covered with pictures of her family and sweet drawings by her grandkids. The room was filled with grace, peace and acceptance.

Pam said softly "Mother? Look who's here."

Gaynell turned her head toward the door, and when she saw me, she gasped and reached out to me with her one good hand, a huge smile on her face. Pam left us alone, and for the next 30 minutes, we held hands, laughed, cried and said goodbye.

When it came time for me to leave, she held tight to my hand, her eyes filled with emotion, and I paused, unsure of how to take my leave. Finally, I said quietly, "Mama is going to be so happy to see you again, she loved you so." Again, Gaynell  gasped, smiling and nodding her head emphatically. We both started to cry, but the tears weren't from sadness. She knew where she was going, knew she'd see Mama there, and knew it would be wonderful. It was the most perfect example of grace and faith that I've ever witnessed in my life.

She passed on a week later.

I have thought of Gaynell's death often since then. Of the amazing synchronicity that I just happened to be in Austin when she was dying. Of her expressive eyes. Of the beautiful death her family arranged for her. And I hope and pray that when it's my time to go, I will be able to muster the acceptance that Gaynell had, and the faith to release and move on with such grace.

___________________________________

This post was inspired by...

 

Prompt #2 - Release

and

Prompt #4 - Acceptance

Spin Cycle: Playing Favorites

All of my life, since I was a tiny girl, I've said that my favorite color is red.

In every other area, I am terribly wishy-washy about naming a "favorite". A while back I did a Spin Cycle list of my favorite things, and in order to come up with answers I had to qualify everything very specifically. Instead of naming "Favorite Movie" I named "Favorite Meryl Streep Movie In Which She Uses An Accent".

But when it comes to favorite color, there's never been any questioning or wavering.

"What's your favorite color, Gretchen?"

"My favorite color is RED!"

The other day, for the first time in my life, I actually asked myself "Why is red your favorite color?"

And the answer is..."I don't know."

And what's more, I don't even know if it's true!

This revelation has shaken me to my core. If my favorite color isn't red, what else am I delusional about? How well do I actually know myself?

I mean, I like red. But is it my favorite? Hmmm.

Red was always my Daddy's favorite color, Mama was blue (to match her eyes), but Daddy was a red man. We were always buying him red sweaters and socks. I was such a Daddy's girl that I must have snagged his favorite color for myself.

I've owned a long string of red dresses in my life...

 

Early red dress.

More recent red dress.

 

...but when I look through my closet today, I mostly see blues and greens and browns. And black. A lot of black. But that's not because I particularly care for black, it's just that I think it's "slimming"

So...if my favorite color isn't red, what is it? I feel so lost.

I've always gravitated to rich, dark colors - pine green, burgundy, navy blue, chocolate brown. Those are the colors that comfort my eye and...please me.

But in decorating, I tend to lean toward yellows, greens and blues. One of our bathrooms is a lovely shade that I like to call Tiffany Box Blue, and the other one is a crazy, bright, almost-day-glo green apple color. The living room's a buttery yellow, the office is sage green, the bedroom is terracotta. No red.

Back in the '80s, I went to one of those Color Me Beautiful parties and had my colors done. I was told I was a "Winter", which was all jewel tones. But when I look at the "Winter Swatch" from the Color Me Beautiful website (there still is such a thing) now...

 

Photo stolen from website without permission.

 

...I kind of go "Ewwww." And this seems to further debunk the red thing.

So I started poking around the internet and found a website of "favorite color meanings" - what your favorite color says about you. Here's what they say about a red personality...

Red - The color of strength, health, and vitality, red is often the color chosen by someone outgoing, aggressive, vigorous and impulsive [well, I guess I'm outgoing and impulsive anyway]...It goes with an ambitious nature but those who choose it can be abrupt at times, determined to get all they can out of life, quick to judge people and take sides. [So completely not me that it's crazy.] Red people are usually optimistic and can’t stand monotony; they are rather restless and not at all introspective, so they may be unaware of their own shortcomings. [Huh?] They find it hard to be objective and may blame others for any mishaps...Red is usually chosen by people with open and uncomplicated natures, with a zest for life. [I fear I am terribly complicated, and not so zesty.]

So very not me.

I scrolled through the other colors, looking for myself -

White - Purity, innocence and naivete [Yeah, right!]

Green - Harmony and balance, refined and civilized [Not so much.]

Blue - Soft, serving, patient, self-controlled [Uh, no way.]

Yellow - Happy, sunny, clear and precise thinkers [Oh good Lord no.]

But then, I found this...

Maroon - Harsh experience has probably matured the Maroon person into someone likable and generous. It is often a favorite color of someone who has been battered by life but has come through. It indicates a well-disciplined Red personality—one who has had difficult experiences and has not come through unmarked but who has grown and matured in the process.

THAT'S ME!

I'm a red, who has been battered by life into a maroon!

And it's so true! Suddenly, I'm noticing maroon and burgundy all around me. Maybe it's been my favorite color for years and years, but I've never named it.

"What is your favorite color, Gretchen?"

"My favorite color is maroon!"

Do you have a favorite color? Has it changed over the years?

_________________________________

Please visit and read my fellow "Color" spinners...

Janice at I Got Nothing

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

SuziCate at The Water Witch's Daughter

Kendra at Life in the slow lane

Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie - NEW on FRIDAY

Nain at View From Down Here - NEW on FRIDAY

Sarah at 32 Flavors - NEW on FRIDAY

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Winter

I think we are now far enough into it to have a few things to say on the subject.

What are you doing/thinking about/planning/playing/enduring this winter?

Do you love it or hate it?

Are you a snow bunny or snowbound?

Winter Wonderland, Winter Solstice, winter white, winter games, winter recipes, Winter Warlock, "Now is the winter of our discontent."

Write your spin on "Winter". Don't be afraid to think out of the box! Post it. Let me know. I'll link it here!

Share your spin!
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