The Green Hornet

After I taught Ray to drive he wanted a car of his own. He brought one from a friend that was green and old. He named it "The Green Hornet". It was very old but still driveable. However it was always having troublr and when he brought me home on a date we made a little noise. My father would hear it and tell him to bring it to the shop. My dad would go to the junk yard and get another part for it. When the war ended Ray was working but I drove down Kansas Avebue honking the horn with everyone else. I had his mother and his Aunt Helen in the back seat. When we got married his parents were driving the car to see us off on our honeymoon and the car gave up at the edge of the airfield so they did not make it to wave at us. I don't think it was fixable noe and we went to driving my 1932 Chevy until we bought the electric car.

Electric cars

When Ray and I were first married our 1932 car gave up the ship and we were in the market for a new car. They had an ad in the paper about a new car costling $950. We thought we would try it. It was very small and we had to recharge it everynight. Ray drove it to work at The Topeka Daily Capital and the printers liked to pick it up and hide it from him. Once they put it in the lobby of the Orpheum Theater which was in the same block as the "Capital". My mother was afraid we would hit a dog and have a wreck. Riding in was like riding inside my mother's sewing machine. At the end of a month we advertised it and sold it for just what we had paid for it to my mother's relieve and brought another car. I cannot remember what kind. It was an interesting month.

To Keep me Humble

My husband Ray was great in taking me along places with him so I got to see many great people from presidents on down and I guess I bragged about it. So I think it was my mother but it could have been someone else. I was sent something to put on my refrigerator. It said "It is nice to be important but it is more important to be nice", It has brought me back to earth many times when I got carried away for I don't think I have really done anything important for many years but I'm working on it and may do something "important" when I get older if I could just think of something. Maybe I should ask my older sister, Helen, as she has always been smarter than I am.

New Year's Day

When our children were small they thought it would be nice to stay up until midnight and greet the New Year but always fell asleep before midnight so we told them you could also do it at noon the next day. Then the next day we had poppers ready and horns and firecrackers and started the New Years. Than we had ham for lunch. As they became older they stayed up to midnight and celebrated but still did lunch and they are doing it again this year because I can't stay awake until midnight. It makes it seem like a fun holiday and does not interfere with their plans to be wild on the real New Year's Eve. I hope some of my grandchildren and children will turn up and help me celebrate this year.

We have a huge Santa Claus we put up at Christmas that Ray brought back from the Orange Bowl the year KU played and put 12 men on the field and lost. This Santa Claus hung in the Hotel Lobby where the Kansas Press was staying and Ray decided to bring it home. It was very stormy on the fligtht home and the plane landed in Kansas City and they came back to Topeka by train. Steve was only two so put him in the car and we went down to meet Ray's train. Governor Carlson saw us waiting for the train and told me they would have brought Ray home. Steve was enjoying it so it would have been a shame if we had not gone. Every year we hang it up at Christmas.

Under the kitchen sink

In cold weather I have to leave the doors under my kitchen sink open so the pipes will not freeze. I see I have my electri frying pan, cookie sheets, two hamers, an assortment of vases and small bottles that use to have something in them but as years went by I saved them and put koolaid in them. There is a long handled fork and a long handled pancake turner, bait to catch mice that they go home and die. It is back far so my dog, Buster does not care to taste it or the mice it might kill. I have an assortment of thngs to wash windows, clean the sink and anything else I cannot figure where to put. Some of the vases have things written on them. Maybe later I will find out and write another chapter.

Christmas socks

I used to love to knit Christmas socks. I received a card from my daughter Susan with Christmas socks in a neat row. She is a great knitter. My daughter Sally had socks on her blog yesterday. One of the fast ones I knitted was for my first granddaughter as I think I knitted on the plane ride to Washington when she was born. I have had them on the cover of a magazine and they gave me a lot of pleasure to knit. I have cards on everyone and I have knitted almost 2000. I do not knit well now so have retired from knitting. During the last war my sister, Helen, and I knitted scarfs for the army. After the war I tried knitting other things. We had a fair in Topeka and I went to the knitting showcase and looked to see what had the fewest entries and then by the next year I knitted something, I think it was men's gloves, and won a blue ribbon and five dollars. My sister Ethel gave me a pattern for the socks and I was off on my new hobby. I wish I could still do it.

Cookbook

They use to have a group of people that did a cookbook called "Celebrity Cookbook and it would have recipes from famous people. Ray was honored one year and asked to submit a recipe. He chose one of my mother's called "Bavarian", I cannot remember what charity got the results of the sale but think it was children. One of the women newscasters of WDAF was the editor. Ray was very honored. I still have the cookbook but at the moment cannot find it.

Christmas Santa's

My daughter Sally has painted Santas. He is always friendly but sometimes he is in red and sometimes in green. He is how Santa has changed over the years but he is always friendly looking. I tried to knit one and a snowman and put them over Styrofoam but mine are not has good. Santa never takes anything away from Baby Jesus, he only shows love. He never scowls. Santa shows children how to get gifts they want but they grow up with the idea of giving not just receiving, which is sort what Christmas is about. It is nice to gaze at the Santas and remember past Christmases.

Christmas trees

In the time I was growing up everyone did not have Christmas trees and fancy wrapped packages. My mother used plain brown sacks and they were laid on any chair you were assigned. My chair was my desk chair, My sister Helen had a child's rocking chair, You generally got essentials like underwear and socks and a doll. Our church had a Christmas performance and a rich family gave trees to decorate the church and you could have one. We would take it home and decorate it. It stood in the middle of the front room under the chandelier so we could plug in lights. The lights did not last long and when one burned out the string went out, My job was the lights. The day after Christmas my mother took it down, I leave them up until New Years Day. One year we had two blue trees left over from my sister Ethel's Sorority dance. When my brother had a girl friend he later married she wrapped gifts in blue tissue paper that were beautiful. You hated to open them. They were so pretty. We generally got a new doll and underwear. Once I got a new bike. I think Helen got to ride Ethel's. It wore out by the time I could ride. At school I think we drew names and you had to buy something under twenty five cents which meant the dime store. New dresses were only at Easter and I was 12 before I got one that was not worn by older sisters. I use to like one they had and hoped it did not wear out before I got it but at 12 I had a new one at Easter that cost $1.98 at J C Penny's. We always had our own shoes you did not inherit them. I use to hope that certain dresses would not wear out. I loved Christmas. We exchanged gifts with cousins and one aunt always made us pajamas if she got our name. The same aunt also got books from the state library since her husband was attorney general of Kansas. She did not like to waste money at Christmas unless for her three sons. I loved Christmas as I still do.

Tinsel

We use to put lots of tinsel on the Christmas tree when we had a natural tree but we do not on the artificial tree as you have to take it off and with the natural tree we could just leave it on the tree and throw it out. Our daughter Sally loved to put on tinsel and one occasion she was standing on the kitchen step stool to get closer to the top and stepped back to admire her work which was a big mistake and she fell. She was not hurt and never did again. She waited until she was on the ground to do her admiring of her work.

Two Santa Suits

My husband Ray loved to be Santa. When we were first married the war was just ending and they were still trying to help people. We still had stamps for everything like meat and gas and letters. Across the street from my mother's house in the Junior High, they had a free sewing class. It was taught by a friend's mother. I enrolled and first I made a coat for my son Steve and then I tried a Santa suit. Ray loved it but tried never to wear it where our children were involved. One exception was our home's association had Santa go though our area in a convertible throwing candy to the children. As they grew up they never told him that they knew him. After we had grandchildren he attended a cookie party Cindy had and handed out small gifts to our grandchildren and their friends. It was sort of threadbare so I made him a second one. Which still exists as I think our son, Scott, has it in Lawrence

Another Christmas Eve

Our oldest son, Steve,wanted an electric train for Christmas one year. My husband Ray had a great idea to buy boards and hinges and put it out of the way at night. He painted the board and on Christmas Eve with his parents help we brought it up. I'm not sure how he did it as he would be sleeping but anyway we did and got it up with a pulley to bring it up which it immediately crashed on the floor. His father and I sighed in the front room and then helped him take the board to the basement and put it on the ping pong table. Steve liked it down there and later the board became boxes for our camping trip. I had a doll house to put together also but his mother was good at that. The kids loved Christmas and did not hear any of the swear words I think.

Another Christmas story

When our oldest daughter was in the sixth grade at school she had a great teacher. I think our second daughter Sally had her the next year. The depression was on and the teacher was teaching them how to make something inexpensive for Christmas. She had them bring wire hangers. They made them into a sort of bird cage and them put something in the center. They wired them so they stayed open. She put a ribbon on pine needles in the center and a ribbon on the bottom. I hung in the front room on the chandler. The chandler is not there now so we hang it on the heater/air conditioner when we can find it. Find the decoration not the air conditioner. We are looking.

Another Christmas Eve

When our oldest son, Steve was in the Cradle Row in our church in Topeka they gave him a plan for Christmas Eve at home. It required a few candles, a Bible and some reading. We used it all the while our children grew up. We set up a card table and found all the candles in the house. Then my husband, Ray, read what it said. We did not start to go to church on Christmas Eve until our granddaughter, Hayden, was baby Jesus in their program. We always had eggnog after the reading. It made for a pleasant Christmas Eve setting.After the children went to bed I climbed the ladder to the attic where their gifts were stored. I wrapped them in whatever color tissue paper they had chosen and put together anything that had to be assembled like doll houses and the such. My husband had four holidays a year off from the job at the KC Star and he always took Christmas Eve as one of them.

Fairy Princess

When my children were in school they passed a rule that Santa could not visit school so we turned to one of the pretty mothers and asked her to visit in a pretty dress all the rooms her children were not in, It was very successful but the school board frowned on it so that ended that. Another time with the official Fairy Princess we were in line when my granddaughter Morgan broke out with chicken box while we were in line. We figured the princess had had it already so we stayed in line.

Christmas Eve

The year (1981) that Hayden was born and George Torhmolen became Colonials' Minister was the first time we attended the Christmas Eve service at Colonial. Up until then we had a candlelighting Service at home. There we gathered all the candles in the house that we could find a holder for and followed a service Steven had gotten from his Sunday School teacher while we still lived in Topeka. After doing the service we drank eggnog and the kids went to bed. The year that Hayden was born in September they asked Sally and Howard if she could be Baby Jesus in the church pageant so we all went to church that year.

The pageant had already been held at least one year with adults. Joni Holcomb and Gail Heath had been in charge. Gail Heath said Dave Kenicott was Joseph and his red headed daughter was Mary. The kings were Frank Roberston, Russ Waesche and Bob Starcke. Jan Parkinson was a shepherd. One of the angels was Chris Ericson. Jan said that they all had to get their own costumes and he was a shepherd and found a bathrobe that had fur down the front that he used. Joni didn't like the costumes very well so she worked on it during the year and has kept an eye on it ever since. They used high school students in it for shepherds and angels and wisemen. The first year they had a king - Russ Waseche and he sang. We don't have a king anymore. We call them wisemen. They baby she was not sure of but thinks it was Sharon and Denny Horns son. Gail didn't have pictures of the baby as she said it cried and the mother took it back. Gail helped with it until 1985 when she moved. She had fond memories of it. They year Hayden was the baby they decided to just use high school students. George Torhmolen's comment that he had not realized Jesus was a girl. We enjoyed it so much we have always attended since. In that time Stacy, Hayden, Frances, and Morgan have been Mary, Frances was baby Jesus the year she was born. Jason, a stepson, was Joseph and a wiseman for a couple of years. They have all been narrators and angels and shepherds. Alex, another stepson, was involved but didn't want to do it so he did lighting, which is very important.

The year Morgan was Mary the angel standing beside her fainted and it scared the baby. If the baby cried it was given back to their parents and Mary held a doll. Last year there was a mix up on getting the baby to Mary and Hayden could not stand that so she went and got the baby and put it in Mary's lap. This baby was older tan some and was wearing tennis shoes. They baby should be born in October so who will be this year?

Mary and Joseph are always high school seniors. The middle school students are the shepherds and sometimes an angel. The wisemen are generally boys and high school but they have used tall girls. The narrators are sometimes college students home for Christmas. Holly has been an angel and a shepherd.

There are two other services on Christmas Eve. I've only been to the eleven o'clock one as Ray agreed we would usher. It is all music. I'm not sure what the eight o'clock one has. At first the family had dinner at one of our houses but they have been stopped for quite a while, as they were too busy on Christmas Eve. If we had it at Huggin's house we used the candlelighting service we had used when they were small.

In 2008 my granddaughter Holly was an angel with a speaking part. We had to use a doll for Jesus as the baby who was waiting on the front row parents changed their minds. I liked the doll.

I think it might have been 2002 Hayden was Mary again. Our minister wanted an outside Nativity scene separate from the one inside. Someone loaned us real sheep and we had them in a pen outside the church on the lawn. The week before Christmas Eve we put on an hourly nativity scene, I volunteered as a Wiseman. The rest of the family were in on it. I had trouble being a Wiseman because I thought they came from the east and who wrote the play had us come from the west. Hayden was Mary. We put it on about three times every night in the week before Christmas.

Sheep and Christmas

One Christmas our church had some real sheep on the lawn in front of the church so some of us volunteered to be shepherds and wisemen four times an evening. I was a wiseman. My daughters were also characters. Hayden was Mary. I know Stacy was something. Somebody were shepherds. I think we were assigned eight p.m. It lasted about 15 minutes. It was cold but fun. I do not know who thought it up and where the sheep came from but it was different.

Christmas Memory

One of my fondest memory is of 1960 one of the last Christmases with a strong downtown Kansas City now they are in malls. The streets were decorated with festive lighted garlands and the stores stayed open until nine. Ray and I took our five children, Steve, Susan, Sally, Cindy and Scott dressed in their best Sunday outfits to see the sights. We had supper at the Forum cafeteria on Main Street so each could find something they liked and we could get a full meal as parents Then we started the walking tour, stopping first at the Jones Store on the corner of 12th and Main, where there was a Santa wonderland with a train carrying children and adults alike thru snowmen, frolicking elves, reindeer and other sites. Then it was on to Klines to see the fairy princess, a beautiful young woman dressed in a gorgeous princess gown and crown with a magic wand. For a small fee each the children could line up in front of her thrown, sit on her knee and tell her what they wanted for Christmas. At the end she would wave her wand
and a brightly covered gift would appear beside her throne as if by sorcery. It would contain a coloring book, a tin whistle, a spinning top or some trinket. From there we went we made our way thru the crowded streets to Emery Bird Thayer the department store on Walnut Street, Eleventh and Grand. There two giant inflated figures of Santa and Mrs. Claus shook and rolled like a bowl of jelly with recorded laughter. A smaller Santa was handing out trinkets. Then down to Harzfields to see the animated figures. A woman stepped to us and wished us a "Merry Christmas" and handed us a box of Russell Stover Candy. The kids wanted the candy right away but we wanted to check out first. Fortunately for newer generations, Hallmark brought the inflated Santa and put Santa on display. The Fairy princess went to the KC Museum for a couple of weeks in December.

Christmas gifts

When my children were small they like to buy Christmas gifts for their brothers and sisters. Ray and I would take them to the dime store on Shawnee Mission Road and giving them each a dollar would take them in the store one at a time, Since we were with them they did not duplicate their gifts. When they got home with their five gifts I gave them wrapping paper and they wrapped them. I don't think they ever told but it was hard for some of them who wanted to tell. On Christmas morning they had such fun opening them. Their gifts we bought from either Sears or Wards which had catalogs. We told their grandparents what they wanted so we would duplicate the grandparents told us what they had for them. We had trouble two Christmas with our order. The one at Sears left off our first letter of our name and made it Organ, One of the clerks figured it out, The other order was at Wards and did not come in. Ray was covering a story with the President of Wards and told him our problem. That night a truck pulled up. They rang the bell and delivered our order. The new Christmas dresses we had ordered for the girls had been packed down too long and we could never get the wrinkles out of their lovely Christmas dresses but everything else was fine and we still had one day before Christmas. Nerve wracking but successful.

Snowmen

The first Christmas we had in Shawnee I wanted to do something. I found a magazine article about a wooden snowman and my Dad cut one out for me and then and made one of me and our three children, We put them out about December 10 and put a couple of spotlights on them. Then we put lights on the house and a sign in front of the snowmen "Happy Holidays". We did not use Merry Christmas as we had many good Jewish friends and we thought it might irritate them. Later after we had two more children my brother in law, Roy, made the other two. Cindy's snowman was stolen once and we found it in the ditch up the street. Probably by her boyfriend. My children are still good about putting them up and making me feel it is Christmas. I have one granddaughter, Hayden, who even repainted them for me.

Christmas

I love to write things I remember about Christmas when our five were growing up. We use to have a grocery store on the corner of 67th and Nieman. Before Christmas they use to display some large toys. One year they had a cannon and Scott fell in love with it. We bought it and on Christmas morning Steve showed his little brother how to shoot it, At that time we ate on the North side of the living room. Scott loaded it and shot the canon ball across the room into his grandfather's cereal.

Cherry trees

When I was growing up I made my mother happy when I picked cherries. One of the houses north of us had nine cherry trees in their backyard. No one in the family liked to pick cherries. I did not like to do household chores and so I picked cherries, I picked one bucket full for the lady of the house and one bucket for my mother. My mother canned hers and we had delicious cherry pies all year. I thought I would write about something not Thanksgiving before I started on Christmas.

Old Thanksgiving

When I was young Congress could not decide what Thursdayto have Thanksgiving on so they left it up to the states. Missouri took the 4th Thursday and Kansas the third. My parents decided we should go to Kansas City on our Thanksgiving. We took Highway 10 through Lawrence and went in the Plaza way through Fairway. Fairway still had brick streets which impressed me. We went on downtown and visited the stores and ate at the Forum Cafeteria. Then my father decided to go back to Topeka on Highway 40 which ran north of the Kaw River(now known as the Kansas River). We stopped at the big Katz Store in Kansas City, Kansas and bought chocolate kisses. Then over the bridge to Highway 40 and home.

chickens

When we went to my father's sister Myrtle's farm where she lived with her husband and a daughter Erma and a son Wilbur they put a chicken or two in a gunny sack and put them in the backseat of the car with us kids, They chickens were alive and pecked my sister Helen so she did not like to be in the backseat with them and must have been moved to the front one with my parents. I am not sure which of my parents chopped off their heads with an axe. I think my father did Then my mother had to clean them. You know take the insides out. My dad had several brothers but only one sister. My mother plucked the feathers, washed them real good and then roasted them. I had a class in high school where we had to do everything but kill them. I did not like chickens for awhile. I do now especially drumsticks.

Moments I wish I done something else

I few times in my life I had things happen which I rather did not. One time I was returning from San Diego on the train and I had a lower bed that had a window. The train stopped out in unpopulated area and it was time to get up, I started to dress and was putting on my bra when I got a round of applause. I had not noticed but a troop train had come up beside us, I pulled the curtain and was always grateful that one soldier applauded so I was alerted, Another time I had a wreck and had to go to court, The judge asked my name I replied " I don't know but I know where I live". The other time I was on a train with a high school group that went to Emporia for a football game. The war was on and elastic had gone to war so your uinderwear was buttoned on. My button fell off. It was still hot in Kansas and thanks to my sweating my underwear stuck to me and did not fall off.

Thanksgiving when I was younger

When I was younger our Thanksgivings are kind of hazy. The war was on and we always had soldiers. One year my mother tried a duck instead of turkey but we all thought it was too greasy. She made good cranberry sauce and her pumpkin pies were good. Later we had girl friends and boy friends and later their parents. We had a big dinning room table with great extensions that were under the table and pulled out. I hope my sister Helen still has it for it is a treasure. The more people that were there the better my mother cooked for she always did better when there was a crowd. She always had trouble cooking for just six. Like I said they are hazy but were always nice and I looked forward to them just like I still do.

Washburn College in Topeka

My parenis only lived four blocks from Washburn when I was growing up. If my dad was out of town my motther would take us up for a picnic supper. My dad did like picnics. We would sit on the hill of the football field and mother would tell us stories. Later when I was old enough a friend of mine and I would ride our bikes up and ride around the campus. Once we climbed in a windowwn of MacVicar hapel and tried to play the organ. Another time we crimbed the fireescape on Rice Hall. There we met a biology professor who showed us snakes and a skelton. He then showed us a crate of dead monkeys. Later both building were blown down in a tornado, Aside from my experiences were my parents. When my Dad went to Washburn he was Captain of the football team and beat KU. He told me once Rice hall caught on fire and they threw the chairs out but carefully saved the rocks. My attending of Washburn was more like meeting old friends. It was nice to be a gradute of Washburn.

Thanksgiving

When my husband was alive to roast the turkey this is what we did. We ate in the basement recreation room on thr ping pong table. I bought paper plates and napkins, We used real silverware as it is hard to cut anything with plastic. I used a seasonal tablecloth--which is four yards of material. On Tuesday I fixed the potatoes and store them in the crockpot. Wednesday I baked the pies==3 pumpkin and one mincemeat,. Before we went to bed Ray fixed the turkey in a bag and put it in the oven. It comes on by a timer on the stove. At eleven with the oven available. I heat the oven and make pepperidge stuffing, I add some drippings from the turkey and lots of water. The group brings in things like Green bean casserole, corn casserole and yam casserole. Someone brings home made bread. Sally brungs Waldorf salad. We eat at 12 so about 11:45 we put on the Kraft dinner. We open the canned cranberry sauce and cut out little turkeys. We open the olives--both kinds. We open canned gravy and heat, We have the pie on paper plates and birthday cake as we have four birthdays. Sometimes we have wine if someone brings it. We have plastic sacks for everything but the silverware and serving dishes. Some times someone bring chocolates and we pass thay around.

Lost children

I watched TV and they have an amber alert for lost children and I think of the three occasions when I lost children. First one was my daughter Sally. I counted my kids when I got in the car and Sally was missing. I rushed back in the store and she was by the counter waiting. Second one I lost was Susan. We were using two bunk beds together in one room. We had the neighbors looking and when I went back into the house I checked once more. She had fallen asleep between the two top bunks. The third one I lost was Steve our oldest. During Easter vacation he and two other neighbor boys went on a hike west. They picked up some glass bottles and stood on a bridge and broke them on the rocks below. They were arrested and taken to Olathe where Ray found out they were at the Sheriff's office. It is not good to lose children.

Dancing

When I was about 13 my parents thought I should develop some social graces and there was a couple that did dancing lessons in your home. They had the same number of girls and boys and the partipants furnish the house. When my turn came my parents rolled the rugs in the living room and the dining room. I generally danced with John Hesip. We did a great two one way and one the other. Later my huisband who was a good dancer taught me a little more. The second year you graduated to a lesson at the Hotel Jayhawk with other of their classes. John and I still did one way two the other. Ray.was a good dancer. "The Big Apple" was a popular dance at the time where the whole group went in a circle. Now that I don't walk well I have given up dancing.

When I met Joyce Hall

I use to go to meetings with Ray so he had someone who liked him. They always put him at the press table and stuck me somewhere. Goldwater was making a speec and Joyce Hall was there to hear him. I was served and started eating. He said: "You are eating my food". They brought him another plate. I saw him many times later but I am pretty forgetable and he did not remember me. He really was quite nice. I bought is book. "When you care enough".

Radio career

I had a short radio career. A friend of my mother wrote ads for the Topeka radio station and she had an ad for Coleman lanterns that needed a kid. Now an adult would imitate a kid but I went to the station and stood on a wooden box that was used for Cokes and read my piece. I do not think I was paid but my career was short but fun.

My Dad

My dad was clever. He had a friend that he worked with and they gave us a refrigerator before they were on the market. --- He put a motor on my mother's sewing machine and her washer and the furnace so it fed it's self coal all day. We had to take the clinkers every morning, He made my two oldest children great toy chests a train for Steve and a wagon for Susan. He invented a great marble game and made children picnic table for children. When I was in school they had to teach me how to do their sewing machines as I did not know how to pedal. My children are good at figuring out how to fix things but my husband believed in calling some one on the phone to come repair things. That was good for one thing he tried to fix still does not work.

M&Ms

One of my favorite candy is M and M's. Maybe because it is my initials. I met the widow and son of the inventor. He was killed during another experiment. They were invented in Kansas City at Midwest Research and was for soldiers to have when they were in the desert as they would not melt. The Mars company bought it and named them.They are great to hand out on Halloween as most kids like them.

Our Neighborhood

We live in a nice neighborhood but we have wild things happen. The president has visited us on the way to Northwest high School and we have had two murders, two sucides but otherwise we are quiet. When we moved here in 1951 we still had milk and bread deliverys. The bread was Manor bread and the delivery person fell in love with a customer and murdered her husband. A nephew got tired of waiting for his aunt to die so he could have her money. We had two sucides. The boys in the corner house did not like the man in the house east of us and painted their opinion on the west side of his house in black paint. They were required to repaint the west side of the house and they were required to repaint that side. Then to have President Reagan drive on 67th Street we are really something. He even waved at us.

Another entertainment in the thirties

During the depression across the street at the Junior High they made the playground into tennis courts and had craft classes in the Junior High each day where we learned all sorts of crafts. Once a week the firemen came and on 13th Street they had and my 2 sisters a big hose that went in a circle and we ran thru it. It was fun. I never was old enough to play tennis but my mother and two sisters and brother played. One summer polio hit and children were not allowed to leave their yards. That took care of activites.

Swimming

My mother loved to swim and taught us all early. We went to Gage Park where it cost 10 cents. The changing rooms had no roof and were just boards. I sat on a wasp nest once which was not good. When I was 2 my mother thought it was time for me to learn to swim. We went to Gage Pool and I got a Hershey square every time I swam about ten feet. I didn't like to touch the bottom as it was mossy since they only cleaned the pool on the 5 of July. Later we swam in the Kaw River with my older cousin watching as the river was full of holes. She was teaching swimming at the YWCA and my mother enrolled me so I would swim correctly but I was a pain to her as I would go under water and grab her ankles. Later I took life saving class which I passed 3 times until I got old enough to make it count. My brother had a good friend who worked with kids. The Depression was on and Topeka decided to let poor kids swim for free in Garfield Park in North Topeka. They got to ride free on the trolley. We helped out. My sisters and brother were life guards. I had the showers. Every kid had to have a soap shower before they went in the pool and I supervised. Once they got in the pool they blew a whistle every five minutes. Each kid had a buddy and they had to hold up their hands together. No one drowned.

The River Road

There was a gravel road that went near the Kaw River and was scenic. My uncle Percy had a cabin on it. My mother loved the road. When I was about 4 or 5 and not in school my mother liked to go on rides. She took along the minister's wife and their son Ernie who was a year younger than I was. One nice day we went out for a ride. Ernie fell out of the car (we weren't going fast.) I tried to get my mother's attention and when I told them Ernie fell out we went back. He was sitting there crying. I did not push him. Later on this same road I taught my husband to drive. He drove us into a ditch and we had to be be pulled out by a farmer and his tractor. A lot had happened lately at my house. My niece Jean was born and Helen, my sister, had an accident. My sister and sister-in-law were in different hospitals and people sent cards to the wrong hospital so my sister-in-law got cards saying "sorry to hear about your accident." My sister-in-law did not think it was funny. My sister and sister-in-law had the same name as my brother married a Helen. I wanted to tell my parents in person about ending up in the ditch so they could see I was not hurt.

One of Ray's adventures

Among Ray's many adventures was a trip to California in the Tin Goose. TWA was having trips across the country. They still had 2 planes left from form years and they brought one into Kansas City and the fixed it with tape and stuff and were going to fly it west. Three reporters were due to fly. Ray boarded the plane and about 30 minutes later I got a call from the city editors that the plane had gone down in a field in Concordia, Kansas When they took off again the gasoline came pouring down the aisles. When they got to Denver the other two reporters left. On the other side the plane went down again but in a small airport this time. They made it to San Francisco. From there a new plane flew to Los Angeles where Ray was to be in a movie with Jane Fonda called "Sunday in New York". When the movie came out it was X rated but we got permission to take the five kids. It was x-rated because of one line Jane said. "Do you believe in sex before marriage?". Ray's part was his shadow riding an escalotor.

Ray told me about his Halloweens when he was a kid. He lived on the edge of Topeka where the trolley cars ended. He liked to hang around with the older boys who liked to turn over out houses. One Halloween the boys were able to get the wires down so the trolley could not run. They were chased by the operator who only caught Ray. His mother was hiding behind a tree and saw what happened as the driver put Ray on tot ride to the police station. He got the wires back up and took Ray with him. His mother ran to get his dad and they rode the next car down to rescue him. He was let go after a scolding.

Scariest Halloween

Karl Menniger had a hospital in Topeka for the people with problems. He also had one for children. The children attended our church. One Halloween they were going to have a party and invited other children from our church. They would not go. However, the minister's son and I were forced to attend. We were very scared. I think I was eleven and Ernie was 9. We two hung together. They had great refreshments but they had fun scaring the two of us. We were the heart of the party. We were very happy when my parents picked us up.

Halloween many years ago

My oldest son, Steve, and his second Halloween. His first Halloween he and I were still in the hospital. When Steve was born we lived in Topeka where the streets are named after the Presidents. We were living at Sixth and Harrison. The main street is Kansas Ave and we were three blocks away. Steve was not very old and slept in a fancy buggy. My husband who was a reporter on the morning paper called to say that the Walgreen store at 8th and Kansas was on fire and did I want to see it. Steve was asleep and the weather was warm so I went out the door and was off to see the fire. It was pretty scary but I was more afraid to go back so I went the three blocks to Kansas Ave and the two blocks to 8th and Ray was waiting. I got a spot across the street to watch. One fireman said to Ray "Look at that crazy woman over there with a baby buggy" and Ray told him it was his wife. Next door to Walgreens was a men's clothing store that had a male statue of a man and the fireman kept apologizing to the model like he was real. So Steve went to his first fire.

On the real Halloween I had made him a little clown suit and we went to visit grandparents. He had a little pumpkin which I put a candle in. As we knocked on the door his candle flamed up and caught his clown suit sleeve on fire. We put it right out so he was not hurt.

Hello, I am back

I have been letting my friends relax but now I am back and shall write things as I remember them. The thought happened but I might not get the facts correct. My sister, Helen, just had her 90th birthday and she is the only one who might know I'm wrong and she has promised not to tell. My husband had many accidents and one was on the 4th of July, He got on a ladder in soft dirt trying to get something off the roof and the ladder went down with him. He broke his leg. We celebrated the fourth a few days later as the fourth was his favorite holiday except Christmas when he liked to be Santa in a costume. He went to work when he got home from the hospital with me driving him back and forth. One day on the way home we were at a traffic light and the police came around the corner chasing a car and the car they were chasing hit the truck behind us.

Wedding anniversary

Today is my anniversary. We were married in 1941. World War two was still on so there were a few shortages. I wore my sister's wedding dress but had a new veil. I was gorgeous. I wore white but my mother-in-law wore black. It was a wonderful wedding if I do say so myself. In Topeka after you were married you rode down the main street honking your horn. My brother was the last car and I think he got arrested. We flew to Denver for our honeymoon. The plane ride took four hours and our hotel room was not saved for us. We went down the why we were late to the hotel. The next day we flew to Estes Park but I think we took a bus. On our honeymoon we took time to fly to Cheyenne for a rodeo. That ride was exciting. We were able to celebrate our fifty before he died. I think we had a very good marriage. I liked it.

Fourth of July

This weekend is a great holiday. When I was growing up we always had breakfast in the park on the Fourth. My mother would have scrambled eggs and bacon. After I got married my husband loved the fourth and always got a permit from the city to have fireworks in our backyard. After he died they would not let me have one. When I was at home we got our fireworks from my uncle, who was a druggist. My sister Ethel had a roman candle break in half which kind of ruined the day. I use to collect coffee cans for my children to put in lady fingers and shoot them. Sparklers were wonderful. My grandchildren use to put on plays in the backyard to entertain us until dark on the fourth. As their cousins got older they were added to the cast. If it rained it dampened the night but we shot off night works anyway. One year we went to the fireworks display in Prairie Village that was being held by the swimming pool. It was very short as the first thing they fired felling into the rest of the fireworks and blew it up. We attended many displays there over the years but that was the most exciting although short. When we were in China we watched them making fireworks. I saw a little girl sitting on her stepping fixing lady fingers and thought I should take a movie and run it backwards and I would be able to undo my own lady fingers at home. Ray had worked in a stand growing up and later the man who ran it had wholesale fireworks so Ray would our fireworks at a discount. They are company I think does the big displays around town.

Mottos

I have two things on my refrigerator that help me with life. The best one is. "It is nice to be imortant but it is more important to be nice. I love that one. The other I am not exactaly sure of. "We the willing led by the unknowing are going doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much with so little for so long we are now qualified to do anything with nothing, I love them.

Two screws

I live in a wheelchair and I have two arms to my wheelchair that helps me a great deal. I could not get along without the arms. It has screws but for some reason they like to fall out and are very difficult to get back in the arm. Right now the right arm has tape over the arm so the ones in there do not fall out. When the tape gets loose I get nervous. I am nervous right now, Wheelchairs get a lot of use when you do not walk well. You have to remember many things like being sure your brakes are locked. The most important rule. It is the same wheelchair my husband used many years ago so I have fond memories of it and him grateful it gets me around my house. Maybe it is just getting old like I am.

Marigolds

I do love marigolds. They bloom alll over my patio between the cracks of the patio blocks. I don't plant them theyn are voluntires. I grow plants in my barrels and the seeds fall out and plant themselves. I have zinnas too but they don't reseed themselves. They are such a happy plant and don't ask for much. That sort of sums things up for they speak for themselves everyday.

Flag Day

Flag Day is coming up. It always seemed like a fun day with no pressure. I have a great flag. I received it from when I worked to help Larry Winn go to Congress. After the election was over and Larry Winn won he gave me a flag that had flown over the U S Capitol. I had a flag but it lacked a couple of stars for Hawaii and Alaska. I don't know if anyone will have time to put it in the flag pole hole and also come back and take it down. The neighbors across the street fly a flag all the time with a light on it so I may just salute it.

Fireflies

They have arrived in my yard and I do enjoy seeing them. They are still mostly in my neighbor's yard but they are in the area. I have great memories of catching them as a child, We put them in jars with holes in the lids. I know how the Japanese loved them and if they happened to be in the area during their time that were overjoyed. I'm not sure but think they only go as far west as Manhattan. I don't think western Kansas has them. I do not know how far east they go either. I do love firefly season and am sorry when they leave.

More Mwemorial Day memories

After I was married we use to take my in-laws around to the cemeteries. They were originally from Valley Falls so we visited a small cemetery there near Dunavant, Kansas where my husbands older sister was buried and many of their older relatives. We went year and it was a mess. The fence was falling down and the flowers from the year before were laying dead on the graves. The road into was awful. His sister's grave had a peony bush on it and looked good. Ray was covering the legislature at that time and he got some of his Senators and Representatives to pass a bill making counties take care of cemeteries in their own counties. The next year we went back and the cemetery was mowed, a new fence was up a new flagpole and it was very neat. The road was now gravel and not dirt. One of his relatives graves had been by the fence and was not there anymore. It was really quite a pretty one now. Then we would check out the Valley Falls cemetery and go on our way to Topeka. I remember one year we put flowers on a relative's grave only to have an aunt turn up and say we had put them on the wrong graves and throw our flowers into the road. We gathered them up and put them on a grave I hope it was maybe a correct one. The best thing was I got to visit my sister and I loved that. We had lunch and then drove back to Kansas City. My husband was cremated and his ashes are in a place at our church. You can't put flowers on it so have flowers on the alter sometime in the year in his memory.

Memorial Day

I remember one of my first memorial Days I went my mother to the cemetery to put on flowers. When we were done I did not want to get in the car so my mother drove off and left me. She actually never had me out of her sight but I was scared and crying when she returned. As I was growing up we went many places and different cemeteries. Her twin was in one of the original cemeteries in Topeka. Her parents, uncles and aunts were all right together. Later my parents were buried in a new section of the cemetery where you had to climb a small hill but was near a bell tower. As years went by the flowers became plastic flowers. After I was married we went to several cemeteries as my husbands family had lived in Valley Falls, Kansas and we had two cemeteries there. My mother-in-law would pick the buds on her peony bushes and put them in the refrigerator and take them to the cemetery as she did not like plastic flowers. My neighbor still does that and takes them down to Missouri on Memorial Day so it is still being done. One year on Memorial Day weekend our oldest daughter was married. That was really special and we had to pay extra to the florist because of the holiday. It was well worth it.

Confirmation

I was talking to my sister, Helen and trying to remember when I joined the church and she could not remember any better than I could but I know I joined. I think we had classes at the minister's house which was only two blocks from the church and I think we visited Dr. Charles Sheldon who started our church in Topeka. He lived out by Washburn College and was very nice. He ran the Topeka newspaper for one week as Jesus would have run the news. The church was near the black community and they were always involved in his preaching as he believed God and Jesus accepted all of his people. I grew up with very little prejudice about people and their beliefs. So I must have joined the church at some point. Now the group at out church has a very involved path they follow to become members. I know when my husband to be joined the church in college it was much more involved and he was hampered the day he joined because his suspenders broke during the ceremony.

My Mother's birthday

Today is my mother's birthday. She was a twin but her twin did not live long. She named my oldest sister after her twin. She never liked her name much as it was Ethel Bessie. My mother's name was Edna Jessie. I was named after one of her sisters. She lived just short of a hundred so she lived well. She was a very active person. She drove for the Red Cross during the war. She was very proud of her graduation from college and they honored her for her many years before she died. She loved to cook at the church and was good at that. She wanted all her children to go to college and we went to Washburn and all graduated. I was not as smart as the rest but my brother was in my ability also but my two sisters were smart. She taught many women to drive because they had no way else to learn. My sister Helen took very good care of her. She had a great sense of humor.

More history of Johnson County

I have a good friend who was kind enough to share another city in Johnson County-Lenexa. Howard Lee tells me Lenexa was platted in 1869 by a young man James Butler Hickok who had staked a claim of 160 acres on what is now the corner of 83rd and Clare. It was the Santa Fe Trail and wandered through the southeast part of Lenexa on it's way to Santa Fe. Later he became a scout for the Free-State Army and was eventually known as "Wild Bill Hickok". The railroad went thru the town and there was a depot. One of the residents was Blackfoot. She was the widow of Chief Blackhoof, who was the 2nd signer of the 1854 treaty that ceded 1.6 million acres of the Kansas Shawnee reservation.
Legends has it the town was to be called Bradshaw but he refused and the name was Na-Nex-Se. I appreciate Howard telling me why the town was named Lenexa.

May Day

I think May Day means a disaster now but earlier it was when you made pretty paper baskets and put in flowers and sometimes a piece of candy and hung the baskets on neighbor's doors and hid. The spirea is in bloom and it was perfect for May baskets. I know when our daughter Susan was ill we had a group of Girl Scouts who brought her a May basket and I have had grandchildren bring me May baskets. Sometimes the tulips were still available and you could add that but I think they have already bloomed this year so it is back to spirea.

Other cities in Johnson County

I forgot some of the cities in Johnson County so want to add them. Two have Mission in them--Mission Hills and Mission Woods. The other is Westwood. How can you forget Mission Hills when it is where all the rich people in Kansas City live? It has a lovely city hall and everything. Now Mission Woods does not have a city hall. If it does I don't know where it is. Westwood has a nice city hall and is the area three of my grandchildren attended grade school. A wonderful school called Westwood View. All three areas have beautiful homes and are close to the state line between Kansas and Missouri. I thought of these in the middle of the night and if I remember any others I will let you know.

Names of cities

I grew up in Topeka and we early learned that Topeka was an Indian name meaning "a good place to dig potatoes." They grew lots of potatoes on the banks of the Kaw river than Topeka was on. Now I live in Shawnee and know it is named after the Shawnee Indians. My daughter lives in Fairway and I think that got it's name from all the golf courses that are in that city. Mission is from the Indian Missions, Overland Park for all the wagon trains that went through there. Olathe is an Indian name meaning Beautiful. I'm not sure about Merriam so expect it was named after an early settler who lived there. I know Merriam had a lot of history as they even had an amusement park there that President Teddy Roosevelt visited so it had an early train that use to go to the park to visit the Bear Pits with real bears. My father's parents lived in Scranton, Kansas which had a lot of soft coal and was names after Scranton, Pennsylvania. Now if you go south to Wichita it was an Indian name. We have a busy street named Quivera Road which was named after the exployer who never got furthur north than Wichita. I think Prairie Village was because there were very few trees and lots of open country.

Hopscotch a game

When I was growing up we loved to play hopscotch. In my present neighborhood they do not have sidewalks but do have driveways. As I remember the rhyme that went with it after you drew the game frame was 1,2 button your shoe, 3,4 close the door, 5,6 pick up sticks, 7,8 lay them straight. 9.10 the big fat hen. Then we turned around and went back to the first. Do kids still play hopscotch or has it gone the way of the past? I use to get pretty good at it. Much better than I did at tag where I was generally the first one caught.

TV audiences on Game shows

One of the many activies Ray was involved in was the Kansas Lottery commission.
One thing they had was a show where they gave prizes and Ray being the local commissioner where the show was held gave out the prizes. His mother and I any grandchild who was available attended. It was held on Channel five in Fairway and was fun. We sat as a group and a man stood in front of us and told us when to applaud and when to shout and when to be quiet. We always minded and yelled when he told ua. The show was okay but nothing too exciting but we yelled and clapped anyway. I think most game shows do that.

Easter egg hunts

When our children were growing up until they got too old for such thing on Easter morning they ran around the house with baskets looking for nests with eggs in them. Since there was a difference in ages after they were thru we put everyone's together and balanced them, Steve always wanted the Jelly beans so when it came to picking he always got a lot. Then they were put up and doled out for a week after meals. Now they go in for plastic eggs and have the hunts outdoors but we never quite reached that as the outdoors is not recommened if you have a dog or a yard that has lots of squirrels and rabbits. They do not like plastic eggs so you are safe there. Now I decorate sacks with my grandchildren's names and fill with eggs. I sample a few on the way to be sure they are good. Eggs have improved over the years and think Cadabury eggs win the prize for the best. I was glad Hershey bought the company after they went bankrupt because they had a good recipe and it would be a shame if it was lost. However Russell Stover has some good flavored eggs.

Hot Cross Buns

It is Good Friday and one thing I use to love was the Buns we got to eat that day. "Hot Cross Buns" I tried to make them without success and found that bakerys did a much better job. It was one thing my mother could make but mine came out bad. I think my daughter Susan probably could make them as she is good with that sort of thing. I hope I get one someday.

Dinner in the 40's

When you had guests to dinner you like to have something specdial and when I was first married we were still under rationing so when you had guests you served a good dish xcalled "Tuna Fish and noodles" I have not had any for a long time but remmeber it was good. It took a can of tuna, cooked noodles, cream of mushroom soup and something grated over the top. I think you either served canned peas or green beans. It was very festive and I have not had any for a very long time. Do you suppose it is still good or I just have pleasant memories of the meals with friends. I know I enjoyed it with my sister Helen and her husband Roy. Maybe it was the fellowship or my dessert was good.

oatmeal

I love to have oatmeal for breakfast and never mess around with anything else unless I am out. When we traveled Ray tried to get us in Sheraton Hotels as they always have oatmeal. Mr. Sheraton liked it so insisted they always servr it in his hotel chain. Even in Peru when we stayed in a Sheraton they had oatmeal. They liked to put my milk on it in the kitchen which I did not care for and told them so. When we went to visit our daughter Susan in Wichita we always tried to stay in the Sheraton there. One time they did not have Oatmeal so I wrote the headquarters and complained. The next time they had it. Sometimes I will eat Shredded Wheat but perfer oatmeal.

The Prom

I notice in the news they are giving away prom dresses. When I was in high school back in the 40's only popular girls got to the prom. I knoe my husband to be went but girls did not go without a date. However the Junior class put on a play before the dance and the year I was a Junior I had the lead. It was the story of the old woman in the shoe. That was me. I had fun practicing and being the lead but after the play I just went home unlike some of the cast members. Now girls can go anyway. I don't know if they are asked to dance or not. I expect they are. I think it is better that everyone gets to go. Girls can always dance with each other.

Movies and admission

It says on the news this morning that tickets have gone up $4:00. When I was growing up that was a high price. Maybe it was because they were still silent. In Topeka we had many theaters. I use to baby sit so I could go to the movies. You got thirty five cents unless you sat until midnight and then it was fifty cents. The Grand and Jayhawk were our first run movies., The Gem was twenty cents and you could go to the Crystal or the Cozy for a nickel. At the Gem they gave a dish away on certain nights. Who cared what the movie was. My best friend, Martha, had a grandmother who loved to get a free dish. She would take Martha and I out to eat at the "Chocolate Shop" and then to the movie. We had a local theater calleds the "Coed" that was about twenty cents. We had the "orpheum" which was right by the Topeka Daily Capital and there was another theater down on Quincy and 8th Street. Black people had their own two theaters which were on 4th and Kansas Ave and they could sit in the balacony at both the Jayhawk and the Grand. When Shirley Temple movies came to town there was a ticket line that went clear around the block. Just before school started they had a movie you could get in free if you brought a school book. They had that every fall they had a schoolbook movie you could get in free if you brought a used schoolbook. They discontinued that after they had a movie that scared all us kids. It was a doctor that every moonlight night went out and strangled someone."Gone With the Wind" cost more. My father always set in the back row. I remember the first talkie. I saw it at the Jayhawk. The Newsreel was good.
When they used our car for the pallbearers at vice-president's Curtis funeral we went to the movie so we could see it.

Haircuts

When I was growing up girls always wore bangs at least us beauties did. We had our hair trimmed every two weeks at a barber shop located on 5th Street in Topeka a shop under a bank and across the street from another bank. I read all the signs from "Lucky Tiger" while I was waiting. Later when Ray was in College the football team did not like one of his editorials in the school paper and cut off his hair. He soon was in the army and they cut it off again, Then when our first son, Steve, was born I took him to barbershop in College Hill near my parents house and they used bad combs and his hair fell out. I went to the doctor and they suggested I change barbers as the barbers evidently had bad combs. His hair grew back very fast. After I was married and went to a great hairdresseer he cut Ray's hair every six months whether it needed it or not. It was a great occasion every time. He just never liked having haircuts after the barbers he had in college. He wrote an article called "Haircuts are Free".

Ray and being president of an organzation

Ray loved joining groups and eventually he always became president. One of his first was when we were first married and he joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He loved the orgazation and when he became president at his first meeting he started it out by pulling a cap pistol and shooting it off and stated "My administratiion may go out on its back but we are coming in with a bang. He eventually became a member of the Board of Directors and we attended many conventions. Evey PTA he was a president except I'm not sure about Shawnee Mission North or Shawnee Mission West but he was the first president of Shawnee Mission Northwest. After he started writing a daily column he would end up joining the groups he wrote about so we became Japanese, Welch, Sister Cities to name a few. The Chinese Society they made him tresurer. He never knew how to balance a bank statement so I became the unofficial treasurer. He never understood money or where it came from so ended up having to take bankruptcy. I think he liked to sit at the speakers table as the service is always good there. Some organizations he would remain as president for three years I went along to everything and took notes as he seldom trusted the groups secretary. Consequently when he died I attended many things in his honor. The Rotary planted a tree in his honor at their camp and I made the mistake of asking what kind was it and found they really did not know. I have maany plaques he received and some pictures. He was a fun person to be married to. He was on the board of the theater leaque so we got to meet lots of stars who appeared in plays. He was crazy about fireworks and made friends with the wholesaler so we always had a family fireworks display. He would get a permit from the city so it was legal but they would never give me one. I have just been thinking about him today and remembering all the things he liked to get envoolved with so a blog lets me share and you are not required to read this it was just fun to write.

ST Patrick's Day

This is a day that I made sure I wore green so I would not be pinched. My sister Helen, taught first grade and always had her pupils make green shamrocks to wear on St Patrick's Day so they would not get pinched. My husband, Ray, loved the day since he had an Irish mother. On the Sunday before he volunteered to do the children's conversation at church and rented an Irish outfit. I don't remember what he spoke about but he had great fun doing it and we have pictures of him in his outfit. I'm wearing my green blouse tomorrow so I will be ready and to you all Irish and non Irish "Happy St Patrick's Day".

A light for the front room

I love the house I live in and like adding things to it to make it nicer. At a church rummage sale a few years back I got a great light for my front room. I had it on a timer and set for after I went to bed so it turned itself off. It finally wore out and one of my granddaughters, Stacy, gave me another. The first one had a fancy bulb but this one just had a light bulb. It has finally burnt out and I can not find a bulb that wants to work in it that is strong enough to read by. I have a bulb in it but it could do with a little more power. I have tried to fix it, my friend Ann has tried and my next door neighbor Richard have all tried. I have a light but it could use a little more strength. I'm sure some great person with knowledge will turn up and my dog Buster and I will relax until then I may spend time in the kitrchen watching TV. At least I will be able to the Basketbasll tournament.

Coky Pa

The year before Ray and were married Ray gave me a blonde cocker spaniel to replace the black on I missed so much and we named him after a cartoon character--Cokey. When we were married my dad had gotten attached to the dog and said Ray could havwe me but not my dog. After we moved to Kansas City my father became ill and my sister, Helen, moved to my parents house to help my mother take care of my dad. Chris was not very old and had two grandfathers so he called my dad Cokey Pa. My dad really enjoyed having my sister and her family there. In the mornings when Chris would come down my dad would ask him. "Are you up for all day?" and Chris would answer. "If I don't fall down." It might life pleasant for my dad to have them there and much easier for my mother. When we visited he would ask Sally and Sue. "How are you boys doing?" and they would giggle and respond with "We are not boys we are girls".

Rodeo animals

Topeka had a "Free Fair" every September and they had many things to attend. At night they had the "Night Shoe" but in the afternoon they had the rodeo. The same yar our daughter, Susan, was born, we were invited by the owner that furnished the brahama bulls to visit his ranch in Seneca, Nebraska. We were accompaniwed by the female photograher from the Topeka Daily Capital, Saralena Sherman. I was very impressed by Saralena because she had been the Drum Major when I was in high school. I don't know exactaly why I was included but Ray took me along a lot so he would have someone who liked him. We drove to Seneca and stayed all night as the ranch did not have roads you just drove across prairie. Soon after we were there the owner was killed in a car accident when he drove into a gulch but we did not have any trouble in our Lincoln in daylight. They had a huge herd of brahama bulls and while the rest of them did not seem to mind standing out there with them I was sort of scared. I always stood near the car so I could jump back in. The rancher had four children but they lived in Seneca so they could go to school. The rancher's wife was also the cook for guests and cowboys who were not married. We had a lot of delicious steaks so some animals did not make it to the rodeo. There was a railroad across the ranch. They loaded the steers right there. They had other cattle so think our steaks were not from the rodeo stock. We went into Seneca for a dance while we were there so it was all a pretty exciting weekend. Susan got along fine while we were gone. She stayed with her grandparents in the daytime and my sister Helen lived in the next apartment so Susan aslept in her own bed at night.

Squirrels

When I sit by my patio door windows and watch the busy squirrels I think about the ones I have seem everywhere. They are like Bluejays they are everywhere. In my yard I have gray squirrels. Down on the corner of Barton and 68th Street they often have white squirrels they trapped in Lamar, Missouri and brought back. If you cross Kansas City into Swope Park the squirrels get darker. When we go east or into Canada we see lots of black squirrels. They all seem to do the same things and are fun to watch. When I was growing up my father use to hunt squirrels for meat. I never liked it or rabbit either. I put it in the class with liver to be ignored and never eaten.

The Harmonica

I love the harmonica. I use to have them around for my grand children to play with me. I even had a banana one I got in Hawaii. I finally got a real one with numbers on it. If you hold it correctly and blow on the numbers you can actually play tunes like "London Bridge" and other greats. MY grandaughter, Hayden got me the music for "Happy Birthday" which I love. I'm not very good and never will be but have lots of fun playing it. I practice (I actually I DO practice) when no one is around for even the dog leaves the room when I get it out). It is fun I sit and look out my patio door and play for the birds and the chipmunk who sits on my back step.

Pictures

I love the pictures on my walls and re enjoy them every day. There are pictures that the K C Star photogrhaers took and paintings by a niece, and paintings by two friends. one of three chickens, one of Raggedy Ann, one by brother of Fourth of July but I painted it for when I took it in to be framed the framer had the picture duplicated on film and made it larger as we only borrowed the painting the orgiginal was the property of our nephew,Chris, and he wanted it so I don't know where the original is but I love my copy. Some of the paintings Ray brought back from trips whrn he was on assignments for the paper, some are gifts given to us by artists after he wrote stories about them. One is kind of strange as it is lottery tickets from when Ray was head of the Kansas Lottery. One is an Indian that you have to get at the correct angle to see. Some are emboirded pictures that our daughter Sally made. They are all important reminders of neat things in my life. Some are really big like the leather buffalo in the hall or the painted tapestery in the dining room that has jello marks left over from grand children in high chairs that sat next to it. They are all smaller than the swordfish which is on the basement wall where it is happy. Even Ray did not want to have it upstairs. We have too many circus posters to put up. Our things from China are in our bedroom walls along with all the M & M things I have collected.

Chris and the peppermint stick

Somewhere my brother-in-law, Roy, picked up a huge peppermint stick--probably a bar--and brought it home. My nephew, Chris, loved it. He was not very old, probably not quite one but he set in his little chair and licked it. My husband thought it was great and had a photographer come and take a picture. Newsweek magazine picked it up and he was on the cover of Newsweek licking his large peppermint stick. I guess they had to eventually throw it away for there was no way he could ever finish licking it.

Helen's anniversary

Yesterday was my sister Helen's wedding anniversary. Most people at that time had weddings at home. Ray and I had a wedding at the church because he had so many relatives and we could not decide who we should invite. Helen had a best friend, Penny Baker, who she was the maiden of Honor for and when Helen got married she borrowed the wedding dress and the maid of honor dress for me. When you shopped for dresses there was not much to choose from and they were not very attractive. Penny's mother either knew a good dressmaker or did it herself for the dress and maid of honor dresses were great.

It was a warm day in March and we were outside after the wedding in front of my parents' house. Ray stepped on the skirt of my dress and ripped it off. That is not a nice feeling. I hope my underwear was attractive but I covered up fast. Four months later, in July, we changed dresses and the maid of honor dress was mended and I was the bride. I think we did not wear the same veil as I remember mine was different, sort of Romeo and Juliet like. I bet the dresses liked being in three weddings and not just stuck in a box. I know Penny moved to Nebraska and the dresses went with her so maybe they are in an attic there being treasured. I know we had our three daughters' dresses cleaned after their weddings by a special cleaner and I guess they are in their attics.

More Chile

The country of Chile was really interesting and I am sorry it is having trouble. Two other things I would like to mention. While we were there, many tourists came in as they wanted to go to the shore and see the Green Flash. That is something that happens when the land is on the carnival we visited and they were selling clown noses. Ray and I liked to dress as clowns for grandchildren's birthday parties and run the games. We had great clown suits but no noses. The town we entered was having a carnival and selling noses. We bought two. I think I still have them. If I was a better housekeeper I could check but that room is a little cluttered with junk.

Chile and the llama

A few years back Ray and I went to Chile to see the comet go over with NATO. They let me go along. It was an interesting trip. I'm really sorry about the earthquake for we had a great time and it is a beautiful country, much more advanced then many of the South American countries. We had to go north where we were going to be close to the desert to view the comet. We had lots of instruction so we would recognize what we were seeing and we visited many interesting places. Before we left, our doctor had us get tetanus shots as he did when we went to Africa. One day at lunch we noticed that they had a llama on a rope who was eating the grass. I was standing beside a man who had saved his roll from lunch for the llama and gave it to him when he came up to us. Then the llama looked at me for a roll which I did not have so he reached over and bit me. It hurt. When I got home it still was there and I went to the doctor but since I had my shot before I left I was in fine condition. Not even a scar but it really hurt at the time. I had seen the llamas in Peru when we went and even thought they were very attractive but now I'm not sure I like them. They used to have a herd of them in south Johnson County across from the park where my granddaughters played baseball but I keep my distance in case they are hungry for something besides grass.

Baby buggys and car seats

My sister, Helen, and I had two boys close together and lived in small apartments in Topeka. Our mother went looking for a buggy for us and found just the thing at a Topeka furniture store. It was a navy blue canvas buggy but it had a section that dropped down in the front so when they got older their feet could dangle. It folded up good so could go in a car and was canvas so was not heavy. It was great to have beside your bed. It must have been rainproof also as it was great on a rainy day if you were caught out away from home.

I used it through all five children and I think my grandchildren slept in it when they visited. When Ray worked for the Topeka paper and we lived four blocks from the paper he called one night to say a drug store, Walgreens, was on fire and did I want to come down. Steve was asleep in the buggy so I put on my coat, added another blanket and went out the door the three blocks to the fire on the corner of Kansas Ave and 8th street. Steve slept right through the excitement and Ray walked home with us at three in the morning. I really should give the buggy to someone as it is under the bed in one of the back bedrooms and is as good as it was when we got it, although the canvas is a little faded now. Maybe they don't put children in buggies anymore. I think they are generally in strollers or car seats now. As I think about car seats and how they have improved over the time from the first ones that came out. We bought the first ones of those in California when we were visiting my sister Ethel and her family and it would have not held the child in if there was a bad wreck.

Kansas turns 100

Earlier I wrote about Shawnee and its birthday. Now Kansas had a birthday too a few years after. A committee picked 10 famous Kansans in TV and business. I guess they did not take on Eisenhower. The business ones are a little hard to remember but the TV ones are easier. We had Milburn Stone from "Gunsmoke" and Vivian Vance from the "I Love Lucy" show. There were others from business. One I remember was a banker from New York who when they went up on the podium at the dinner in the Municipal Auditorium in Topeka pushed his chair to the back of it and fell off backwards. He was not hurt but it was a little awkward for awhile. I hope he was a better banker. I think the little girl from "It's a "Wonderful Life" was a Kansan but don't remember if she was there. They had a pageant at the fairgrounds but it was in the summer as Kansas' birthday is January 29 along with our daughter, Susan. She is much younger than the state. I thought I had a unique way to celebrate with having a daughter. I controlled not naming her Kansas but named her after myself but she always used her middle name.

Raggedy Ann Dolls

Whenever I went to the hospital to give birth to a child I took along something to give the kid or kids left at home when I came home. When our fourth child was going to be born, I got the idea of making Raggedy Ann dolls. The three children we already had loved the stories. I got my pattern and went to work. It was fun. We had had a bad incident with a doll with Sally when she was young inhaling the stuffing so I looked around for something safer that I could use and I got the idea of nylon hose. I asked my friends and relatives to give me their cast off nylon hose when they had runners in them and stuffed a Raggedy Andy for Steve and Raggedy Anns for Sally and Susan. They loved them. I can't remember if I did any more or not and expect the patterns are still on the shelf over the washer and dryer.

balloon sticks

For Christmas I received a lovely amaryllis and it has many blooms on it. It is now reaching the end and is bent over. I knew I still had some balloon sticks in my closet so got one to hold it up. It did not work. I was thinking how I got the sticks.

We moved to Shawnee in 1951 and Shawnee was founded in 1856. In 1956 we were celebrating and my cub scouts were to sell balloons at the parade. I don't remember how we blew them up but we stood by the parade route and were assigned a spot on Shawnee Square. It was nice little park. It now has Shawnee City Hall. But then it was a small park in the center of Shawnee. The town jail was across the street north of the park. It had been built by the first prisoner. They later moved it to the new Shawnee park west of the original one but changed it so much it did not look the same. Two blocks south was the street that led to the Indian cemetery. It had been on land that the Methodist church owned during the Civil War. Across the square was the Shawnee Bank on the corner of Johnson Drive and Nieman. Nieman Road was named after the first banker. The second president was named Pflumm and we named things after him also. Of course Johnson Drive is named after the man who started the Shawnee Mission Indian School in Fairway where they taught the Indian children. He was killed by some robbers from Missouri who thought he had money. Cantrell must have camped in the little square before he went to raid Lawrence. There are many springs in Shawnee and I expect there was a good one in the park at one time.

My mother and cutting off the head of the bed

We moved into our new house that my father had helped draw the plans for when I was three. My two sisters and I had a southwest large bedroom. We had new iron beds. I was not long out of a crib. My mother thought we looked like a room at an orphanage because of the many beds. She decided it was the kind of beds with high headboards. She took a hack saw and sawed off the heads and made the foot of the bed the head of the bed. She had bedspreads that covered up her work and we looked very fancy and up to date like a picture in "Household Magazine." It really did improve the appearance and we did not look so much like a dormitory. Ethel and my bed now had their heads against the west wall and Helen had the head of her bed against the east wall and closet. In the summer time to get the breeze the three beds were lined up with their heads against the south wall. If we had guests they moved the beds closer together and I was generally picked to sleep in the crack between the beds. I generally fell in the crack. It wasn't bad. It was fun to be close to my visiting cousins.

Be the secretary of an organization

I learned early that I was not really presidential material but liked being secretary of a group. Presidents have to go to all sorts of meetings that secretaries do not have to attend. I loved taking minutes and reading them at meetings and since you read them yourself you did not have to spell correctly. My husband, Ray, liked to be president and I don't think he ever joined anything without ending up president. Once he was elected treasurer and that was not good as he never understood bookkeeping and I was the unknown treasurer. He did a better job as president. Over the years he was president of the Shawnee Mission Indian Society, the Sister City Committee of Kansas City, many PTAs (with five children you are a member of many PTAs). As president of Sister Cities, we went to Spain and Japan for Kansas City. We went to China but that was a trip offered us when the China government was taking travel agents to show them what they had to offer for customers. Other places we went like Africa and South America he was covering them for the Star and they let him bring me along. I still enjoy writing minutes but since I do not hear well it is not a career so I think I will become a famous writer instead. Now if I could just think of a plot I would be on my way.

Doors

I am really mad at the way they have made doors. In my father's house which was built in 1926 they knew the width doors should be but lately they have made doors smaller. We did have one small door on the downstairs lavatory which was not good but the other doors were the correct width that a person in a wheelchair could roll through. The doors on the house I live in now was built in 1951 and the doors in the back bathroom are narrow like that. However they are all correct for my walker. The walker I have for being a short person are just right for the doors, but not the wheel chair. However they used to be wrong if I was an inch taller. When we added on to our house the neighbors were changing their house and did not want their doors so our contractor purchased the doors. They were like the original ones in the house. It was nice to tell the world about doors and now I will relax and just let them be what they are meant to be--divide the house in parts.

Birthdays

Today is my granddaughter Holly's 18th birthday. I remember when I had mine how important it was. Now you can do thing earlier but then there were many restrictions which no longer existed when you turned 18. Holly says one bad thing is you can not rent a car until you are 25. I never thought of renting a car so that did not matter. I just used the family car or truck. I was very good with the truck. You get to sit up higher and see the world from a different angle. I generally just rode my bike. I had a fancy bike. I had applied for it as the war was still on and got a really nice one with balloon tires that I would ride the two miles to work at my father's garage in the office and then at night he would put it in the back of the pick up and go home. I did not have to ride the bus that way unless it was snowing or rainy. Happy Birthday Holly.

Another flag

I forgot my cold weather flag. It is penguins. I love it for it is so happy in cold weather. It likes the snow and likes flying from the house and reminds people there is a time between Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's day. This is short today as I got everything said yesterday about flags.

Holiday decorations--flags

I have a flag pole on the northwest corner of my house and I like to fly flags of the season. I have a New Year one, a Valentine cupid, flowers for spring and that sort of thing. It is nice to let the neighborhood know what season it is. Of course someone has to put it up and take it down for me anymore. I love the big firecracker one I have. They will be taking down the Valentine one but I'm in no hurry because it is nice to let a little love last longer. Inside my house I still have Valentine's Day and am in no hurry for the hearts to be put away because it reminds me of all the people I love and who is in a hurry to lose that feeling at the moment I do not remember. My husband's family were Irish and Welsh but I was of German descent and don't know the holidays there. My mother was of English descent and I don't remember her celebrating anything special. She just liked American Holidays so I have an excuse that I don't know others.

Other holidays

I've tried to remember what other holidays we celebrated. I know on Arbor day I used my Christmas tree pan for a cake, Valentine's Day I had a heart shaped cake, Easter I did not do because my cousin Laura made a cake which my granddaughter, Grace, still does. I think it is a roll to make like a big egg. We had pumpkin pie and a cake for the five birthdays we have at Thanksgiving. One relative only wanted cherry pie and that was good. Christmas is pumpkin pies again. If it was your birthday you got to pick so it was a surprise. Sally makes a great Fourth of July cake. Then sometimes we bought the dessert and had an ice cream cake. Now I just use the frozen pies and they are good. Birthdays are generally celebrated in the person's home and they get to decide what they want. Holidays are fun.

Lincoln's birthday

In our household we celebrated every birthday with a special dessert. This being Lincoln's birthday we had a Lincoln's Log.
4 egg yolks
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 t salt
1 t baking powder
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored, gradually add sugar and vanilla. Beat egg whites until stiff; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until stiff. Fold yolks into whites, then add sifted dry ingredients, folding it in carefully. Bake in wax paper lined 10 1/2 by 15 inch jelly roll pan at 375 degrees for 12 minutes. Loosen sides and turn onto wax paper. Trim crusts. Roll quickly with fresh wax paper. Wrap in XXX sugar towel, cool and unroll. Remove paper and spread with Richmond icing. Spread outside with frosting and sprinkle with almonds,
Richmond icing
1 cup sugar 3 T cornstarch
2 squares of chocolate 1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
1 cup boiling water
3 T oleo
1 t vanilla
Mix sugar and cornstarch, add chocolate and salt, add water. Cook until mixture thickens. Remove from heat, add oleo and vanilla. Spread on cake while still hot. Remains smooth and soft

Valentine's Day

I have always loved Valentine's Day even when I got mean valentines. My husband loved the day and one year gave me 30 Valentine's. I have many decorations up around my house. I have a lovely Heart on my front door and a flag with Cupid flying. I have a cute clown doll on a shelf that I received at a dinner that Ray was the speaker. I have things hanging from the heater vents in the front room and I look forward to the mail each day to see if I might receive one. I have already received two and who knows someone may turn up with chocolates. On my linen closet I have a group of three hearts that tried to stay outdoors but kept blowing down. I have mailed some with leftover Christmas stamps to my grandchildren and two great. It was fun making them out and thinking about the people they were going to like my sister, Helen. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ANY BRAVE SOUL HE READS THIS.

Vacation at Potato Lake

My father was a great believer of vacations and thought everyone should take a couple of weeks to do something different. Sometimes we traveled and saw America and sometimes we did what he really liked to do--fish. When my Dad fished we went to Minnesota to Potato Lake. It must have been named after they had airplanes as the map drawers had to show it was shaped like a potato. My dad would go out in his boat and fish. The fish he caught was stored in an ice house. When we were ready to go home the owners put the fish in a barrel with sawdust and ice and we took it home in the trunk of our car unless my dad had them ship the fish. We went back to Kansas and ate fish for awhile. It was good. One year my sister and her husband went with us. He was never very fond of me but liked my sister Helen. We played cards a lot and the owner of the camp had a son about my age and we had a great time. After my sister Ethel died, Harold asked Helen to marry him as she was a widow also but she refused for did not want to move to San Diego and he did not want to move back to Kansas and I don't think she wanted to anyway. We lived in a cabin while we were there and slept on cots. The days would be hot but the nights were cool. The mosquitoes were terrible as they were larger than Kansas ones and it hurt when they bit you.

Nancy Drew

I loved the Nancy Drew books. I had a few. I loaned them to my friend Martha and she liked them also. She told her rich grandfather and he immediately brought the whole set and a bookcase to store them in. She would loan them to you but she had rules. Wash your hands before reading. Don't eat when you read. Use a clean book mark. Be careful when you laid it down. Return it immediately upon finishing it. Don't loan it to anyone else. I think she let me allow my sister Helen to read them but I'm not sure. It was worth it and I loved it when Nancy Drew stories came on TV. It was nice after reading the Bobbsey Twins to have something with a story and mystery to it.

Driving lessons

When I was in High school my mother thought it was time for me to learn to drive. My first lesson was in one of the trucks that my dad used at work. As time went on I got better. I think it was July 15th in 1938. My second lesson I drove up to Washburn College, July 18th I drove to church and then I got to drive to Scranton, Kansas to visit my dad's mother. I got my license when I was 14. It had limits on it. My mother was a better teacher than I was as when I taught my husband to drive he drove us into the ditch on his first lesson. My mother taught many women to drive over the years. I don't think there was anyone to teach people in those days. It is too bad I had to end my driving career at 85 by driving into a building and breaking my knee. The building was not hurt and is still doing well.

Front porch

The area we moved into in Shawnee in 1951 had houses that were kind of alike. We had a three bedroom house with a front stoop as did all the houses here unless they were two bedrooms and they still had a stoop instead of a front porch. Ray's uncle was good with things and he told us he could make our house look different by putting a rail around the front stoop. Sounded good to us. I think Curtis made everything himself and soon we had a stoop that was different then the others. It was great to decorate at holidays. As the years passed the south side fell off and we moved it around to the backyard until we could replace it. We never got it replaced but it is used for birds to perch on and they look happy. It sits on the wall that surrounds our patio so we still enjoy it,

Sleeping on the front porch

You read where there are so many rapes and they say to keep lights on, shrubs cut and lock doors and windows. When I was growing up those things were going on but not often. Kansas was hot in the summer time and on really hot nights we slept on the front porch on army cots. It was not much cooler but seemed like it was. When our children were young and it was hot we slept in the basement. That is still quite safe but front porches? Of course there were several of us maybe that made it safe.

Clothes chute

My father was very inventive and would see something that he could duplicate but he invented many things himself. In the house I grew up in he sort of designed it and thought of things to make life easier for my mother. One thing that most houses do not have is a clothes chute. Upstairs in our two story house he put in a clothes chute right in the center so my mother did not have to haul things down two flights of stairs. She put either a bag or basket below it in the basement. It was nice to holler down also and your voice carried nicely. My present home does not have one so we solved that and moved the washer and dryer upstairs into one room.

Bedroom sets

When I was first married we lived in a duplex that had been made into three apartments on each floor. At home I had shared my bedroom with two sisters and as I remember it the room was crowded with three single beds but I know our bureau was in the closet and I had the bottom drawer as I was youngest and shortest. Plenty of room for underwear and socks. We had a mirror on the back of the closet door and there must have been a dresser but I guess it was forgettable. I think I had one drawer there. Maybe I put my socks there. After we moved to 6th Street to an apartment my parents owned we had a three room apartment but eventually the people moved out upstairs and since the apartments were connected by a stairway we got it.
My sister, Helen already lived there and at first we shared their bathroom and a room in between our apartments where our two oldest children, Chris and Steve had their cribs. The two boys did well together. In the new apartment we had lots of room so we went to the store and bought a beautiful bedroom set. It had a vanity with a huge mirror and three drawers on either side and a big drawer in the middle. I still have it and still think it is great. My mother believed in lots of mirrors as she felt that mirrors kept you from thinking you were more gorgeous than you were. Now I have trouble getting the middle drawer on one side open so don't know what is in there but maybe I will look someday and find it is full of socks. You have to get at the correct angle to get it open. It has a great chest of drawers and must have many things stored in it but don't think clothes. I think it is more of a file cabinet. My bed is not the original as I remember getting this one at the J.C. Penney outlet store but can't remember why we got a new bed.

Church Library

Today I'm mad about what they have done to my church's library. They have repainted it which it needed and then thery have ruined it. I was the second librarian at our church and followed a good one. It already had a beautiful table and comfortable chairs. After Ray died I gave the church his rocking chair and it was there. The church put in a sound system so babv's who were unhappy their parents could sit in the rocker and rock the child and listen to the sermon. I added a small child's table so when they had meetings there and had to bring a child the child could sit there and look through books from the children's section of which I had many. An air conditioner was added so meetings on hot night could be cool. Then one church member instisted on giving us a huge class doored bookcase that had belongerd to her son and he did not want it anymore but wanted a tax reductiion on his income tax. It had a couple of large drawers and a place for the computer. One member gave us a small bookcase for under a window with great books. However people did not check them out and it made her mad so she came and took it back and took it back home, We had the Third grade Bible class there and they were awed by sitting in such a nice room they were well behaved. Now I understand the children's table is floating around the church looking for a home, The fancy bookcase went into the archieves room where it is good and helpful and the beautiful table as wandered off into one of the other rooms. They are very proud of what they did but they should be ashamed of themselves for it is just another room now. They still have meetings there but the whole point of the room has disappeared. I understand they are even going to have a meeting and show people through it and probably brag about what they had done, but they should be ashamed. I am annoyed.

War Bond Queen

When I was in college World War 2 was on and one year we had a contest for War Bond Queen. Each sorority had a candidate and then we sold war bonnds. I represented the Zeta's. Ray was master of ceremonies and it was held at the Jayhawk Theater in Topeka. I wore my $45.00 fur coat and looked gorgeous. I was beaten out by the Delta Gammas. The candidate's father owned and insurance company and the Delta Gammas sold $3800. My friend Martha's grandfather bought $3550 but I was runner up. Martha should have been the candidate. She would have won. It was fun.

Reflector vests

The year we went to Africa to count elephants for Earthwatch they told us that we had to be able to walk two miles a day. It was summer time and hot in Kansas so we liked to walk at night. We bought two vest that reflected light so cars would not hit us while we were walking. I watched the news the other night and they have tail lights you can put in your back pocket to do that. I wonder where those vests are now?

Triple A

I"m not sure when Tripe AAA was started but remember that Ray and I were very involved with Clive Lane who I think started the Kansas branch. We would go along with him sometimes. I remmeber one time the Topeka Free Fair was going to honor Rene Gaigon who was in the picture raising the flag on Iwo Jima. We went with Clive to Kansas City and picked he and his wife up at the airport, They were very nice. Rene was in the picture but did not really raise the first flag. The photograhper asked him to pose and he did but he always gave the other soldier the credit. I kept my AAA until I gave my grandaughters my car after I ran into a building. I thought it was a great invention.

Japan

Ray and I went to Japan a couple of times and had a great trip each time. The first time we went we went with Sister Cities group from Independence, Missouri. We stayed in homes and learned a lot about Japan. The first home we stayed in had three year old twins. They are great teachers. If we did something wrong they always commented on it. One thing I thought was interesting was that the toilet seats were heated. In all the countrys we have been in that is the only place. It was nice. It seemed to be a winter thing as when I returned in the spring a few years later they were not.

One lamp

They hve invented a great lamp that you can turn on or off with a clap of your hands, Sounds great but some of us don't clap correctly and the lamp knows. We had one many years ago that minded me but my son, Scott one for me with personality that did not like my clap. My dog Buster liked the lamp because he could turn it on with his bark. He never turned it off just on. I would go back to my room and the light would be on so I watched and he would stand at the door and bark and then when it went on he would turn with a smug grin (my dog grins when he wins) and leave. Cindy finally had to put a button connection that I could just turn off and lies by my pillow. That works fine and it no longer responds to Buster's bark. He has given up trying as it only minds me.

Love letters

When my husband went into the army. He was in four months in the Field artillery in Oklahoma he wrote me everyday. Sitting in my wheelchair now as I look into my closet I can see a box. I think it is the letters he sent me along with the ones to his parents. I wonder what they say. I remember how pleased I was to receive them. I remmeber one class I was in in college that the professor said "Old lady Burkhardt seems happy today. She must have received another letter from Private Morgan". His asthma got him out of the army. I always loved the comment that the comedian , George Gobel said. "The Japaneses never conquered Oklahoma while I was stationed there." In my writing class people mention finding old letters of their grandparents and I wonder what we said and if I even want other people to read them.I havwe a nice feeling looking at the box.

My Flag

I have always loved hanging the flag out for special days. However since I have grown up the country has added a few states. A few years back I realized I was out of date. I always hoped the wind did not blow too much to expose my flag. One year I helped in the office of Congressman Larry Winn and after he was reelected he gave me a flag that flew over the country's capitol building and had 50 stars. I had a hole in the front yard and put up my flag proudly. Martin Luther King day is coming up this week but with the snow piled over the flag pole hole it will stay in the front closet and stay warm. Maybe it will be nicer on President's Day. Of course how do I get the flag in the hole from my wheelchair? I think it will stay in the house. The neighbors have the flag up everyday and I will admire theirs.

1940

I found a notebook in my stuff. it was 1940 and my list of money keeping. I started out with .15 cents I borrowed some money from my mother=$7.09. I paid 19 cents for buttons. I went to a movie for 16 cents. I bought some peanuts for 37 cents. I was working for my Dasd in the office and was paid $6.00 a week. I went to the Topeka Free fair and spent $1.26. I bought a notebook for sewing for ten cents. I gave the church 40 cents. I paid aregistration fee of $2.00, I spilled a coker and had to pay 49 cents to have it cleaned, I had joined a sority so had to pay $5.00. I bought some notebook paper for ten cents. The list of things goes on. I even put in what movies I went to. I went to a lot of Deanna Durbin shows.
and seem to eat a lot of peanuts.I was also buying war bonds. I shall -probably come back to thias as I discover more things in the book but I will let it rest now. Budgets were a necessity when you are a Freshman in college

Christmas trees

The snow reminds me of the Christmas trees when I was young. My parents never bought a tree. We had a family in our church who decorated the santuary with live trees. After the Christmas service on Fridays before Christmas you could take a tree if you wanted. We always took a tree. The family owned a seed company and sold the trees. One year we had blue trees. That year my oldest sister who was in college Sorority, The Zeta Tau Alpha, and whose colors were blue and silver for their Christmas dance they had sprayed small trees with silver and blue. I really did not care for blue trees. Silver is not bad. I think we had two and they sat in front of the fireplace. Since my mother always removed things early we did not have them too long. I think I'll let Christmas past alone for awhile and take on January 2010.