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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Drawing a Blank



Looking out this morning through an old grapevine wreath that Poppy made me when we first started clearing a spot to have a yard.  That makes me think of Aretha Franklin's song that said:

                  "Looking out on the morning rain
                   I used to feel so uninspired 
                   and when I knew I had to face another day
                   Lord, it made me feel so tired"  :)

Drawing a blank!!!  Exactly!!!    I've simply had nothing to talk about lately!!   Lynn and I met last Sunday and we enjoyed the afternoon together doing a little shopping and looking...more looking than shopping, and lots of talking and laughing!!  How fortunate I am to have two daughters who call me every day!  Two daughters who actually don't mind spending time with me, or me spending time with them!!!  How special is that!!!


 Of course, my favorite subject to talk about is growing up in the small town of Robbins, North Carolina in the 1950's.

The Robbins town sign has changed since we lived there.  Unless there is more than one  sign now.  The sign I remember said, "Welcome to Robbins, a Friendly Little City Still Growing"

Lots of mornings I wake up thinking about those days in Robbins.  Even this morning I was thinking about when my best friend Becky and I used to take our twenty five cents and walk down the hill past the mill to a small cafe run by her uncle.  We would each buy a "zero" candy bar, a pepsi, and play a song on the jukebox.  We sat together in a booth, feeling pretty grown up !!  "The Yellow Rose of Texas" must have been popular at the time because that's the song we played!  Becky's uncle hated tomatoes and told Becky that he would buy her a dress when she grew up if she would never eat a tomato!  I wonder if she ever got that dress


Jackie and I were close growing up.  He was only fourteen months younger than me.  I was bashful and shy, Jackie was not!  Jackie didn't mind asking anybody anything!!!  One Halloween...we loved Halloween...Jackie and I left our house with our sacks, going "trick-or-treating".  We walked down the hill and decided to stop at this one dark, unlit, no porch light burning house.  We walked up the front steps and Jackie knocked at the door.  No one answered.  Jackie knocked again.  No one answered.   Jackie looked around and said, "okay, we've got to play a trick".  We each picked up a chair from the front porch and started down the steps.  We were just going to set the chairs in the yard, nothing mean, but the front door opened and a voice said, "YOU PUT THOSE CHAIRS RIGHT BACK WHERE YOU FOUND THEM"!!  Well, I was scared to death!  We put the chairs back and ran.  I never liked walking past that house.  It was always cold and unfriendly looking and we never saw a human being there!  We still had lots of fun and got back home with a bag of treats! 

Halloween night in Robbins was just the most fun!!!  The street were roped off and it seemed like everybody in town came out.  There was music and dancing and all sorts of games and fun things.   There was a cake walk...I didn't know exactly what that was, but I remember mama and daddy encouraging me, "it will be fun, all you do is get in there walk around in a circle with the others until the music stops".  When the music stopped, guess who was on the right spot and won the cake!!??  I was so embarrassed, but went home with a cake!! 

 Well enough about me, and Robbins, in the 1950's!!!  I think these pictures of Jackie and me were taken while on a trip to Charlottesville, Virginia.  That was a fun trip...I remember Jackie was proud of those new dress pants he's wearing in the picture.  The pants were a very pale yellow.  Bless his heart...I spilled my pepsi and it went all in the cuff of Jackie's new pants...and I got tickled...it just looked funny seeing the cuff filled with pepsi!  I'm sure I got fussed at!!!

Thank you if you're still here.  Hopefully, I will improve!  :)

Love,
Henny Penny







8 comments:

  1. Dear Henny,
    Yesterday I started to clean out my office here at home, where I have been putting papers and all kinds of thing for a number of years. Now the big trash bin outside is half full of things I didn't need to save, and lots of magazines that I had to shut my eyes to toss away. I love my magazines, but there were too many and I had seldom looked back through them all. I was enjoying your story about growing up in Robbins with your sister and brother and your good friends. I lived in a couple of small towns when I was young, and remember helping some girls I knew to haul the empty soda bottles and wooden crates from their house, down to the market. We got the money from the deposit, and they would let me have some. Then we would go to the drugstore and have a cherry coke, or a rootbeer float. I didn't get an allowance at the time, so it was awful nice of Betty and Ruth to share their money with me. Thanks for jogging my memory!

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  2. Dear Pam,
    I love that story! I remember those bottles and wooden crates, and we used to get cherry cokes at the drug store too. About the magazines! I have almost all of the old Country Living magazines from 1987 thru 1990-something. These are stacked in a single stack against the chest of drawers in the sewing room, collecting dust. I can't throw them away but never look at one. I think you may have just encouraged me to throw them out! Thank you!
    Love,
    Henny

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  3. I love your post and I run out of stuff to say all of the time.
    Love Vicki

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    Replies
    1. Hey Vicki, Are you home from vacation? Hope it was relaxing and a lot of fun. If you went to the beach, you're probably pretty and brown!!!
      Love, Aunt Henny

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  4. Hi, Don't worry if you don't post everyday, when you do post it's always worth reading ! you have much interesting stuff to pass on.
    I absolutely love your first pic - like looking through a magic frame into a mystical world !
    Do you decorate that wreath ? it would be lovely hanging on the door for Christmas.
    xxx

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Wean. At Christmas, I do cover the wreath in pieces of fresh cedar but the wreath is getting old and brittle now..
      Love,
      Henny

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  5. Dear Henny,
    With stories of things such as Pepsi-filled pant cuffs lurking in the recesses of your mind, how could you possibly be short of things to write about???

    How about sharing what quick fix dishes you enjoy with Poppy in the different seasons? Do you have a go-to recipe if you find a friend is stopping over for a porch visit? What do you do to prepare your garden beds for winter? What natural or otherwise products have you found that you always like tucked into your night stand?

    How about share how you came to be involved in the farmer's market?

    How about ten random things. They don't even have to be related. Ten Things. Like this:
    1. It is hotter right now than it has been all summer.
    2. Our soccer team got crushed in the big kick off.
    3. Our Captain was super duper, even though he pulled his quad. *ouch*
    4. School supplies are purchased and put away!
    5. I am looking forward to the sound of quiet this evening.
    6. My hair was trimmed up yesterday for the first time in a long time. I always wonder if I did the right thing!
    7. My mom looks like my sister. I hope I age as well as she does.
    8. I am thankful for our church and the great leadership that loves us so well and serves the Lord there.
    9. Chinese food is always tasty to me.
    10. I love to ride my bike. (ever see that episode of the Walton when Olivia got a bicycle? *identify*! Haha!)

    Have a wonderful evening. Hope you're not roasting down there in the south!
    Love,
    Jen

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  6. Dear Jen,
    Thank you! I needed a boost! Every idea you suggested got me to thinking. I don't remember that episode of Olivia and the bicycle but we used to love that show. Wish there were more shows like the Waltons now. Well, let's see... :) Thanks for the help, Jen.
    Love,
    Henny

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