A few teeny tiny thoughts from Henny Penny Lane

 

We mowed and mowed and mowed today! Poppy on the riding mower and me, walking my legs off with the push mower. Wouldn't have it any other way...I like walking behind the mower.

But HOT! My goodness, and HUMID! I do a lot of thinking while pushing the lawn mower and today I thought of Mama and the funny things she used to say. Tell you what I was thinking in a minute, but first...

The chickens, enjoying a big clump of grass. Funny how this ball of grass grew. It was in the half barrel where last year the Bee Balm grew. The Bee Balm was looking awful so I pulled all the plants then dumped the whole thing and found a big nest of black ants living in the bottom.

hated to break up the ant's home but left the ball of dirt and ants in the edge of the woods up at the garden where it sprouted nice green grass. Had to get Poppy to help me lift the big heavy thing. The chickens sure enjoyed it.

Oh, look who hung around with me at the garden...

Anyhow, guess it was because of being so hot and sweaty today that I was remembering a time back in the 1950s...Do you remember the glass water jugs folks used to keep in their refrigerators?

Ours looked something like this, but I was thinking ours had the metal cap in the center...that was a long time ago!

Anyhow, it would make Mama so mad to come in hot and thirsty and go to the refrigerator for a cold drink of water and the jug be empty. I remember Mama saying one time, "if the durn house would catch on fire, that water jug would be the first thing to burn"! 

Dear sweet Mama. I miss her every day.

Was thinking too about the early 1960s, two men, named Henry and Bishop...they both were bulldozer operators. In fact, they built the ponds on our farm....but they used to stop by the house after a hard day's work to see Daddy and have a drink with him. You can probably imagine how dirty they would be after running a bulldozer all day. Anyhow, one day after they had stopped by, Mama said to me, "Lord Melba, they were both so dusty and dirty, you couldn't see anything but the whites of their eyes".

Good grief! I started this post on Saturday and here it is Monday afternoon. Why didn't I go ahead and publish it?

Anyhow, here's Eli and Ellie, rushing Poppy to get his shoes on and out the door for our early morning walk...

Sometimes it's hard to see your feet. I will leave you with a very short little video of Eli walking. Wish it had been longer...He has always had the cutest little twist...

Ellie girl and I were walking behind. Sure sppreciate your visiting. 

Love,

Henny

An odd post!

Couple of things here...well maybe three, or four!

Sure enjoyed your comments and thoughts about going barefooted! Got me to thinking about the dangers, and the injuries I've had because of running around without shoes...

like here in my bare feet...we were living here when, riding on the back of Shelby's bicycle, my heel caught in the bicycle chain. I remember my cut heel and the screaming and crying and scaring mama half to death.

And do you remember how easy is used to be to find broken glass on the ground? Seriously! We played Hopscotch, a lot! and the first step in playing was to find a piece of glass to throw. It was easy finding a piece...probably because back then, late 1940's, folks had trash piles where they dumped their garbage. There was no plastic, so it would have been just broken dishes, wood, paper, metal cans. It was fun looking for a pretty piece of a broken dish to play with. 

Then in the 1950's after we moved from South Carolina back up to North Carolina...I was playing barefoot in the back yard and stepped on a jagged piece of a broken drinking glass. A jagged edge went between my toes, making a pretty bad cut. 

Oh, and wading in mud puddles after a big rain. Now that was fun, except for mama telling us over and over how we would get worms.

And stepping on honey bees in the clover! The many stings I've had on the bottom of my feet!

And next friends, somehow, I deleted the main picture I wanted to show you of the strawberries Shelby and I picked. Duh! So, it will be at the bottom of this post.

And, thank you to my new follower. :) Whew! am I about caught up?

Now, I am not trying to sell anything here, but simply wanted to show you...

how my daughter Lynn...

is making junk journals. This must be the thing, now!

I was just watching and listening to her YouTube video about her latest journal, "The Lusty Month of May", springtime junk journal. When she finished the journal and listed it in her Etsy shop, it sold in two minutes! and all her journals sell like that.

Anyhow, if you would like to see that springtime journal, or how she makes these journals; it amazes me,  go to youtube and enter abitofbirdsong then click on the one titled Lusty Month of May. I think it's pretty neat! She sure got her confidence and nerve from her dad and not from me. Goodness no!

Shy and backwards growing up; that was me...and haven't changed much over the years. Why, I used to ask mama if it was alright if I ate one of the biscuit she had cooked for breakfast. Once, when I was a teenager, I walked all the way to the garden where mama was busy chopping to ask if it was alright if I took a bath and was it alright to use the bar of soap laying on the bathtub. Scared to death of doing something wrong! 

Don't you bet mama got tired of my questions? If she did, it never showed.

Now, here's those strawberries...

Bet you could hardly wait. :)

Okay, now I'm off to finish vacuuming, then it's outside to pick up sticks and limbs. We were under a severe storm warning late yesterday afternoon. Got high winds and lots of rain!

Thank you all!!

Love,
Henny

Doll and two Recipes,

It almost feels like Santa brought me a doll for Christmas.

I will never ever forget the excitement of picking out a doll from the Sears Christmas Wish Book. It took days of looking and dreaming, to decide on the perfect doll, and Santa always brought the right one,

but this doll did not come from Santa...

Isn't she adorable?

Only once, did Santa fail to bring me the doll I had circled in the Sears Wish Book, and that was the year of the Tiny Tears doll. Every little girl must have asked for one and Santa simply ran out. That's when my daddy stepped in. He had a business trip to New York City. Not only did he bring me the perfect Tiny Tears doll, but also brought me one of the new 22" walking, "Saucy Walker" dolls.

Back to my new doll...   

she has the sweetest face, and just look at that baby fine, wispy hair

she is the size, and has the feel of a real baby

perfect to hold in my arms. I gave her the hat and booties. 

Nope, Santa didn't bring this doll. Shelby and I were in the Goodwill store in Wake Forest a few days before Christmas, and there she was, this beautiful baby doll, thrown in a plastic bin with the stuffed animals. Lucky me to have spotted her there.

and here is a very special picture...Daddy, showing me the right way to hold my doll's arms to help her walk...

and in this next picture, a birthday party for my doll...

that's me holding my baby brother Randall, and Becky, the little girl who lived next door. 

That sure is a raggedy old card table and the room we're in doesn't look much better. That room was the den, where we played and watched TV. At that age, I was torn between playing with my dolls, watching The Mickey Mouse Club, or American Bandstand, that came on every day at 4:00.  Most of the time the dolls came first.

Now to the recipe...those darn crock pot chocolate covered peanut clusters!! I could not rest until the last one was gone!! and that eight pounds I had lost, well, it's back!! 

These are absolutely delicious!! Salty nuts covered in chocolate...

(Donna, hope you try these)

CHOCOLATE PEANUT CLUSTERS

(2) 16 oz jar dry roasted peanuts

(2) 12 oz bags milk chocolate chips

(8) blocks white chocolate

Pour peanuts into crock pot

Add chocolate chips (not to touch sides of pot. chocolate will burn)

Add white chocolate on top

Heat on low for 1 1/4 hours

Stir until mixed well

Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper lined pans.

The clusters harden quicker is you sit the pans in the refrigerator for a while.

and...

BROWN SUGAR CHEW BREAD

(1) stick butter

(1) box light brown sugar

(1) tsp. vanilla (pure)

(3) eggs

(2) cups self-rising flour (sifted)

(1) cup chopped pecans

(1) cup Angel Flake coconut

Mix in order given. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 x 13 pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes (til toothpick comes out clean) Do not over cook!

Goodness, what a post. Thank you for putting up with me!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love,

Henny 

Memories of school

Thinking about old times this morning and that's probably because a classmate from the 1960's called me last night. Hilda, her name is Hilda. Actually, there were three Hilda's in my graduating class. That's kind of unusual as we were a class of only thirty five...I'm thinking that's correct. After we had talked and then said our goodbyes, I remembered that somewhere in an old box was a really good picture of Hilda. Hey, she must have liked me to have given me a picture.

It was an honor to have Hilda call me and so good to talk with her again. You see, my last three grades in school, I felt like a nobody and very inferior. Good grief! and do I not still deal with those same feelings on a daily basis!

Third grade through ninth grade, my family lived in the booming little town of Robbins, where my heart remains even today. Shelby, Jackie, and I went to school there. However, in 1956 Daddy bought the farm. I completed ninth grade in Robbins then had to change schools and ride the school bus to West End School every day. It was not changing schools that damaged my poor brain as much as it was our family life so totally changing and falling apart. The 50's were happy times...the 60's brought sadness. Teenage years are hard enough, but throw in watching your loving, caring, perfect parent's marriage falling apart. Oh wow!

Hilda called to tell me about our upcoming class reunion set for June 4th. Hopefully I can talk Poppy into going with me.  We did go to the first class reunion held in 2008.

Here we are and that's me in the pink, trying to hide, (the story of my life), behind Mrs. Thompson, our English teacher, on the far left. 

Dear friends, here you go! An example of my high school days, or daze!  In English class one day, Mrs. Thompson called me to the front to read, or recite, a poem. Panic swept over my entire body. I somehow walked that long mile to the front, turned around, and faced the class. With my heart in my throat I spoke maybe two words of that poem, looked up and saw two cute boys sitting in the back of the class with their heads together, whispering. In the class picture, see the one with a yellow shirt and the guy beside him with a touch of blue shirt showing? Those guys. It was those two! Probably neither one of those boys even knew that I was standing up there like an idiot, but my thinking then was that they were whispering about me. Not another word did I speak, not one! Looking down at the floor, I walked that long mile right back to my desk and sat down. The heck with that poem! The heck with school! The sad part is that I love poetry and had memorized that poem...but felt only anguish and pain standing there in front of the class. And by the way, the guy in the yellow shirt had been my boy friend. :)

That's me and my brother Jackie in our front yard at our happy home in Robbins. We were ready for school and waiting for Daddy to drive us. I was probably in seventh grade there.

Good gosh! I've simply got to get busy. Poppy gets off work at 12:00 today.

Thank you if you have somehow managed to stick around this long. :)

Love,
Henny 

Looking back...

Did you sing to your children when they were young? I did, and I can't sing a lick. I sang to my sweet daughters, Lynn and Andee.

they were convinced their mama could sing. Even today, I've heard Lynn say, "yes you can sing mama, remember the song you sang to us about the doll". I'm their mama, they are supposed to feel this way about me. :). 

There was one very special song...they loved it. It was The Mama Doll Song by Patti Page.

Back in the late 50's, we had this old Patti Page 78rpm record. It was a favorite of mine and I must have listened to that thing a hundred times. No wonder I knew it by heart and could sing the entire song to my daughters.

Daddy loved Patty Page too and his favorite was The Tennessee Waltz. Oh my goodness! Such a beautiful song. I remember dancing with daddy to this song. We had a juke box in the basement of our house in the country. A fun place to have parties. I remember dancing the polka with my cousin Patty one partying night...I've never laughed so much. We tore the floor up!! And speaking of tearing the floor up...now my sister Shelby could dance! We all danced and had fun!

My ninth grade school picture. Pardon the coffee stains from many many years ago. It was along about this time or a year or so later that I danced with daddy...

and this was daddy along about about that time too.

Funny how I woke up this morning thinking about all this. No wonder I woke up tired and feeling a little sad.

Guess I need to get back to work. Got phone calls to make and lots to do. Hope to back here soon. Appreciate your visiting.

Love,
Henny

Worrying once again!

"Oh, d-d-d-d-dear me"  says  Piglet in Winnie-the-Pooh, and that's what I'm saying too!  Lynn and Andee both have always said I remind them of Piglet! Friends, I feel like Piglet this morning, with warnings of this severe weather we have headed our way. It is so scary! Thunder and lightening and wind and tornadoes...it scares me terribly!

My great fear of storms came from my dear sweet mama...bless her heart. Daddy used to say to mama, "I had rather something go ahead and get me, than have to go around scared and worried all the time".  Well, I don't want something to go ahead and get me!

You have probably seen this old picture of mama and daddy posted here before. It was taken in the late 1950's...truly the good old days. I remember there being the occasional thunderstorm back then...I do not, however, remember there always being some kind of severe warning. Why, you can't turn on TV  these days without hearing some kind of warning.

Wonder where mama and I were headed here....running from a storm maybe! Actually, mama didn't start running from storms until she was in her seventies and living alone. She kept a little overnight bag packed and if it thundered or the weather looked threatening, she jumped in the car went to a neighbor's house.

You know, my hiding places from storms have been in the Goodwill store, lots there to keep one's mind off the lightening and thunder, and the Hospital waiting room...nice sturdy building! Now, however, Poppy says, you need to stay put...what if something happens and the animals need you.

Last night I called my friend Nellie to tell her my worries about the bad weather predictions for today. She said, "I don't even have the TV on, I'm ironing".  She said, "as soon as I feed up, in the morning, I'll come on over there and stay with you". Thank you Nellie! 

Okay, just sharing with you my woes and worries this morning. Hopefully, I will be around to post again soon. :)

Love,
Henny    

A new baby! and then some other stuff...

The biggest news of this day is little "Addie", my new great granddaughter! Born last evening at 5:39 p.m. I won't steal Lynn's sweet picture of Addie for my blog...since Lynn is Addie's grandma, and that of course, is the highlight of Lynn's blog, Side Tracked. I sure would love to hold this little Addie!

Back to my dull routine...while in Henderson at Tractor Supply a day or so ago, I did make a quick stop at the Salvation Army Thrift Store...

I picked up this picture for $2.00. I love the beautiful heavy frame, and the white kitty is so sweet. 

also found three pieces of solid color cotton fabric. These come in handy for lining sunbonnets. The white basket was less than a dollar, fabric pieces .25 each.

always a curious kitty snooping around...

This small porcelain doll was $.49. Sometimes it is hard to tell if something is old or just simply dirty. Her apron and bonnet are stained. I never could walk away from a poor dolly needing a home.

another, not so nosy, kitty sleeping in the sun.

Ironing always, always, gets me to thinking about mama. Mama thought everything needed to be ironed...sheets, pillowcases, towels, washcloths, daddy's boxer shorts...everything. Growing up, Mama would say to me on Saturday morning, if you want do something to help, start ironing the clothes in that basket. All the flat pieces were fun to iron and fold. Shelby probably had to iron some of the harder pieces...well, I'm sorry,  she was older than me. :)

Even into late 1950's Mama was still mixing up starch for  the shirts, blouses, and dresses. After the clothes were brought in from off the clothesline, mama would carry the pile of starched pieces to the kitchen sink, turn the cold water faucet on low and with her hand sprinkle water on each piece of clothing until it was damp. She then rolled each piece into a smooth ball that looked like dough and covered them with a cloth and put them in the refrigerator.  Once the sprinkled clothes were cold, they ironed easier and looked better. I can just hear mama saying, "I've simply got to get the clothes sprinkled and in the refrigerator".  Yep, I remembered all this when I got out my can of spray starch to use on that dresser scarf.

Goodness,  didn't mean to write this much. Poppy is probably waiting for the computer. I'll end this now.  I did want to show you how close little Rosie and Asa have become...

Pardon the mess. I swept the teeny tiny barn twice today. :)

Love,
Henny

Decorations along the way

I was looking at Christmas decorations on my way to Henderson yesterday. Yep, some days I turn right instead of left at the end of our path which carries me to downtown Henderson, instead of downtown Louisburg. Henderson has a Walmart too. Same old stuff, different crowd...but they do have a fabric department. :) Henderson also has Belk's and JC Penny.

Some of the decorated houses and yards I saw along the way were beautiful but then others made me appreciate my decorating a little more.

Anyway, I was looking at Christmas decorations and remembering mama and daddy.

Natural Bridge, Va. 1940's

It would have back in the early 1950's. We were in the car on a Christmas Eve going up to see Mary and Clyde and their children. It was at the edge of dark, and mama was pointing out all the lighted Christmas trees you could see in the homes along the way. "Oh, look at this one", she would say. "The blue lights are my favorite, blue looks so cold"! Remember those old plastic tiered lights. You could see a little house sitting way off the road with blue candles burning in the front window. I remembered daddy too that same night seeing a deer by the road. He said, "look, a reindeer! That might be one of Santa's reindeer"! Oh the excitement! 

I miss them even more this time of the year. I just may buy a set of those old plastic candles and put blue lights in the front window. Most thrift stores have these old Christmas candles. Speaking of thrift stores, I went in a small one in Henderson yesterday. Didn't find much except this pretty sugar bowl and cream pitcher for $3.00...

You know my plans yesterday were to gather cedar and pine and finish decorating. Well folks, it rained all day. All day! Not even once did the rain let up. At bedtime the rain was coming down even harder. We've had lots of cold, dreary, rainy, windy days lately.

But wait...here's the view from our bedroom window early this morning... 

Wow! That's the sun coming up on this cold wet winter morning!

Better get busy before this day is gone too! Hope to be back soon!

Love,
Henny

Riding through Robbins

Here I am in Robbins again. Reckon I will ever get over this and grow up? This is Elise High School. Still in use, but now it is Robbins Middle School...

Entrance to the school was at the top of this circle drive...that's where daddy dropped us off every morning on his way to work.

When the school system moved all the eighth grade students and part of the seventh grade students to the high school, I was one of the seventh graders picked to move. Just as sure as the world, I was sent to Elise High School to embarrass and drive Shelby crazy. Now tell me, was it my fault that I was bashful and backwards and scared of everything. Nobody will ever know the fear I had of climbing onto one of these school buses parked here at the top of a cliff overlooking the railroad tracks down below.

Back then a sixteen year old student with a driver's license could drive a school bus. Why if he didn't let that clutch pedal out just right we would have rolled back and down that cliff. That would have surely been the end of us! Today there are trees growing back behind the buses.

Shelby was loved by all the teachers. She was popular, had lots of friends, always in the Beta Club. Me, not too smart. Oh, I did pretty good until they sent me to the high school...

Have I ever told you about the lint on the girl's back? We were at a basketball game. A home game here in the gymnasium. Daddy told Shelby she could go to the ball game with her boyfriend Garland, but they had to take me along. I tagged along behind them as we walked that beloved sidewalk to town.  Now I didn't care one thing about basketball. I had much rather been home putting my dolls to bed, but here I was up on the bleachers with Shelby and Garland. Coats and sweaters were piled between us, probably so no one would know I was with them. Well friends, I went to work picking those little lint balls off all those coats and sweaters...every color you could think of. Sweaters used to knot up worse back then than now. It turned out to be a good size ball of lint...and kind of pretty. I flattened it out real good and when that horn went off at the end of the game...I gently placed that lint on the back of the girl sitting in front of me. How funny it would be when someone said to her, "hey, you have some lint on your back". Makes you understand why Shelby ignored me in school.

Let me show you one more building, run down now, but beautiful when we were growing up. The Community Building. This building was down the hill from our house...within walking distance...

Upstairs was the skating rink, downstairs the bowling alley, the windows on the left was the library, on the right downstairs was where we met for Brownie Scouts, and also downstairs where Shelby met with the Girl Scouts. We were here many many times roller skating. In fact, we were here the evening Daddy came walking through the door. He called Shelby aside to tell her that he was on his way to the hospital with Mama. She was in labor. We were soon to have a baby brother.

Better get off this computer and check on things. Eli has been mighty quiet. Thank you if you have managed to read this mess, these times that are so near and dear to my heart.

Love,
Henny Penny 

Visiting Robbins

I've been on a little trip, of sorts. That's right. Things fell into place this week making it possible for Shelby and me to visit our beloved little home town of Robbins. What a fun day we had, but you know what? As the title of the book by Thomas Wolfe says, "You can't go home again". That longing in my heart to relive those sweet childhood memories just can't be. 

We drove the old familiar street past the grammar school and along the sidewalk that we so often walked, all the way up past the mill where Daddy worked, on up to the houses on the hill and there it was. Our house! The same little house, upgraded a bit, but the same little house.

The land and the big trees look the same and the little houses are the much the same...

That sidewalk came all the way down the hill at the side of our house and then went all the way around the block. We wore out many a pair of roller skates and suffered many skinned knees and elbows on this very sidewalk. Shelby and I laughed when she reminded me of the time she walked a barrel down that hill! 

Back down the hill and across the street was Kennedy's store. With a dime we could buy a pepsi and some candy...

As Daddy moved up at the mill, and in the Textile world, the family moved from the small house to a bigger nicer home just up the hill and across the street. I was saddened to see that this home was rundown and not nearly as beautiful as it was in the 1950's.

This is the home I want to go home to, but never can...

Those lovely bay windows, now covered with blue curtains, were in our living room. The living room where mama and daddy entertained friends and family...

The living room where mama played the piano and sang the old songs that I remember and love today...

The living room where mama held Randall when he was less than a month old...

And the textile mill where daddy worked, the mill that made Robbins a booming little town. Nothing now but a pile of bricks...

It was sad going back because so many things in Robbins have changed or disappeared completely.

Shelby and I left Robbins and drove to Seagrove...ever heard of all the potters and pottery shops in Seagrove? Anyway, we stopped by to see our niece Vicki and take her to lunch, which made the day even more special.

I have more pictures and stories, and hope to be back soon.

Thank you for stopping by.

Love,

Henny Penny

Robbins, North Carolina