THE SONGS OF A NIGHTINGAIL

  I used a pair of knitting needles when I took on the role of a sassy granny in a play where I sat in a rocking chair knitting throughout the whole show.  But I was also the heroine who saved the day when I stabbed one of my knitting needles in the villain’s backside! J A crochet needle was used to make this gorgeous bedspread. A friend is very talented at using a needle in the art of cross stitch.  She does amazing work.  It must take tremendous patience which is why I could never do it! An embroidery needle did beautiful work on this tablecloth. Hand quilting takes a fine sharp needle making itty bitty stitches in a neat row.   We don’t do a lot of this anymore, but there are times when darning is needed. To do it properly you need a darning ‘egg’ and special needles with large eyes.   There are other types of needles, of course . . . . . . such as those growing on certain trees. There’s the needle on a speedometer . . .  . . . or the magneti...

  We tend not to save faulty photos, or use means at hand to tidy them up so I didn’t have all that many “in the way” photos to share, but I did find a few. Smoke gets in your eyes.  The smoke from our little picnic fire hid my brother wearing a dark shirt in this 1953 photo. In 1954 Mom was taking a picture of me, my Dad, my two sisters and brother posing atop Sonora Pass on our way from Pinecrest Lake to Lake Tahoe, not realizing the film used to take the photo before this one of me getting a haircut, had not been rolled forward resulting in a double exposure with my haircut getting in the way of the Sonora Pass photo, and that photo getting in the way of my haircut!  Whoever was taking this picture got in the way, via poor camera centering, of our heads in this 1957 photo taken during a car wash to raise funds for our youth group. If it weren’t for my youngest sister’s head in the way, I might be able to tell what I was serving the family for dinner in my apartment for...

  First, we need to go to the grocery store to purchase all the ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner.  It appears we will at least have milk and coffee. Dad will make his fluffy, extra creamy scrambled eggs for Thanksgiving breakfast. Sis will make her special pumpkin nut bread for the occasion. Mom will make the pumpkin pies.  I like mincemeat pie with hard sauce too, but no one else in the family likes it, so unless I make my own, I never have any.  My Grandma Louise also makes a yummy molded persimmon pudding with lemon sauce. Once the pies are in the oven, Mom will chop up the celery and onions to go in the stuffing for the turkey sitting on the table behind her waiting to be stuffed. And when it’s done roasting, Dad will take the perfect turkey out of the oven. When dinner is served, Dad will take the perfect picture of the Thanksgiving table before we sit down to eat While Dad’s taking the perfect picture of the Thanksgiving table, some of us will hide in th...