Memories 2

Sally got down my scrapbook and I had a scorecard from the game that Jackie Robinson played in St Louis and he was on the Yankee team not the Cardinals. I hope to those who read my blog that they get the facts straight now. It is fun remembring what I did and what a nice life I have had. It makes me more content to be in a wheelchair watching TV, doing crossword puzzles and rereading the books I have and liked before. I find I have a tendency to drop me books and lose my place so I now put a paper clip on the page I am on and then move it when I am through. That way I am only a few pages away. Sometimes I move it along as I finish a page. Nice thing about being 87 some of the books are almost like being read for the first time. I do remeber if it is a book I disliked so do not bother to reread.

Memories

I could not think of a title for this. My grandson, Chris, asked my daughter about a baseball game I went to a few years back and I am going to try to answer it correctly but I think I get names wrong. One summer before our first child was born in October. My husband trhought we ought to go on a vacation. We would go to the Ozarks and then to St Louis where we would attend a Cardinals baseball game and the zoo and a golf tournament. My brother in law Roy did not think our car could make it so loaned us his and Helen's car. We went to the Ozarks and looked at the lake and then went on to St Louis. We planned to park the car at the hotel and use local transportation, However they had a strike. We got the cardinals baseball game and saw the first black baseball play on a white team. He did very well and then we went to a golf match and the zoo. I do not know where my scrapbook is located but am sure I collected something. However Ray would never let us ask for autographs so I do not have that. It was pretty exciting vacation. I wonder what is in my scrapbook. Was the ballplayer Jackie Robinson?

Camping trip

In July a year ago I wrote about the first trip parents took us on and now my daughter have redone our family movie films I found it was not correct. Susan wrote such a great book about her camping trip and I had forgotten some of the things until I saw the home movie. My dad had won a movie camera and when he found out that my brother was confushed at what color states were. He thought there ground was thw color they were on on mapa. We had a Packard at that time and and my Dad and Mother loaded it up with what they thought was the proper camping gear. We had three canvas cots for my parents and brother and we three girls were on a sort of medal cot and I was between Ethel and Helen. My mother made a sort of mattress for it and I slept in the middle. We had a wonderful cooking kit with 2 large kettles, 6 plates and 6 sets of silverware. The spoons were the size of tablespoons. I still have some of the set. We had blankets on the seats which made us taller. We had picnic lunches at noon generally in cemeteries so my Dad could read the tombstones. At nights we camped in city parks with the homeless. We went to Washington DC first and camped on the Potomac River where they built Jefferson's Memorial. I remember bumping my nose on the slippery slide. We visited Mount Vernon. Then we went to New York City. We climbed the statue of Liberty as we had climbed Washington's memorial and I was getting tired of stairs. We visited Ellis Island and then went up the coast to Boston to see Old Ironsides. We visited Philadelphia so we could see the Declaration of Independence. We went by Niagara Falls where my parents had spent their Honeymoon in 1913. We went across to Canada so Allan would know there was another country. As we neared Kansas City we could see a big fire and the amusement park,Fairyland, was on fire so had to go around another way. Now my brother knew the other states and countries were green like Kansas. My dad found he liked traveling and visiting places so we kept traveling after that year so I saw many things that became historical.

Kid's table with 3 legs

My parents had a large dining room table that seated 12 adults comfortable but I had lots of young cousins and we needed more room. My mother took a cardtable that had only 3 legs and using an egg carton box for the fouth legs my cousins and I ate. To explain the egg box my Dad had made a large wooden box to hold the eggs and every other week we visited Scranton, Ks where our relative that were farmers saved us 12 dozen, I think, It was sturdy and the correct heigth. Older cousins used the kitchen table. We younger ones had a good time at our on table without the frowning faces of older cousins. There was Betty, Don, Sharpe and I. Sometimes we had George from Clay Center.

Mowing

Hayden and Sally were mowing my lawn today and trimming the bushes and I look lovely now. I remember when I use to mow and I also mowed my mother in laws lawn across the street. I was very happy when they invented power mowers but it did give me lots of excersie. When we bought our house in 1951 it was not on the corner as a basement had already been dug for the house south of us. The 1951 flood hit and the builder decided not to build there as it was swampy so he gave us another 8 feet of land. It was not to bad mowing until they put us on sewers and then when we mow and still do the black snakes come out. I do not like snakes. Even this morning while Hayden was mowing one came out and crawled across the front sidewalk. I am afraid I use to love to mow over them but Hayden is kinder and give them room. I have worn out about three power mowers and am starting on one new. I think I got this one last summer. I have a large backyard which my dog loves but the mowers have to also mow the extra grass I have outside the fence.

Ray

Today is my wedding anniversary. You cannot use our when there is only one of you. Being married to Ray was an exciting life and never boring. Our only big problem he never understood money and you do not spend it if you don't have it. I met many people who were famous and lots that were not. He took me along as he liked to have someone who liked him. and writing politics was not always a good way to have people like you. We shared five great children and 13 grandchildren. One, Taylor turns 21 this week. I went around the world and visted Africa, Norway, China, Russia,Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Peru,all the states, Canada, most of the National Parks most Kansas Governors, some Presidents. He was fun to be married to and I was very lucky to have had such a delightful marriage considering when I met him in high school he thoughtI was a terrible writer.

My wedding anniversary

I think I was married in 1946. If so it was a long time ago. I got to celebrate our 50th but now I just have great memories of my wedding. When I was getting married the war was just finishing and when we went to look for wedding dresses they were not the kind I wanted. They looked more like a nightgown. My sister, Helen, had been married in March and she kindly let me wear hers. I had a different veil. At her wedding I wore the maid of honor dress so we changed dresses and went through a ceremony. I used to worry because my new mother-in-law wore black but over the years I no longer think she was in mourning because her only child was being married but think it was just her best dress.

My mother did not like the minister at our church which was unusual for her so we were married by the president of Washburn College who was a Congregational minister. My flower girl was my niece Ann as she was born on my birthday but should have used an older niece Martha Jean because Ann would not go down the aisle and then would not throw out any of the flowers. There was a Polio scare and I was afraid that the kids would get polio. They did not.

We were off to Colorado for our honeymoon. There was four stops for gas and while they served us dinner we had wooden utensils. We were late to the hotel so they had rented our rooms and got us a room in a hotel that was torn down soon after.

I like to remember all those things now and celebrate the day with a treat which I have not decided what yet as it will have to be on the door in the refrigerator as I have trouble reaching things in the shelves of the refrigerator.