Home / Blogs / lulu1107's Blog / History and People /

Whoa, That's Snow!

Category: History and People | Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:31 am

---

I guess it would take a couple of feet of snow to get me to sew again! I used to sew entertainers' costumes as my third job...usually costing me much of my sleep. Since then sewing has lost much of its charm for me. It has been snowing for almost 24 hours straight now...and I mean SNOWING. We can only get out of two of our doors and I haven't seen piles of snow like this since about 2002. So the nesting instinct kicked in.....
Today my grown kids, dogs, cats and I hunkered down and stayed inside. I spent most of the day sewing three fleece dog coats out of an old waterproof fleece lined jacket that a neighbor had given me. (I cooked and caught up on Inspector Morse episodes in between.) I found two fake fur collars from old coats and decided to add that to the dog coats. They are ADORABLE! Each one is slightly different, depending on what I had to do to make the portion of the "people" coat I used work. I dressed up my three dogs like little dollies, anxious to try these devices out against the snow.
In the meantime, Charlotte is furious with me for putting her in that contraption, Spiffy likes her coat, but is a bit miffed that she can't reach the fur to play with it, and Wilbur absolutely sulks if he has to wear his. Luckily his coat still needs a bit of work...I broke the sewing machine needle at the end of his little project!
How are the coats working in the snow? Once our little guys get used to the snow, I think they'll start to warm up to the idea a little! At least they aren't dressed in toddler cast-offs from Goodwill anymore. (Hilarious, but practical.)
Tomorrow we will dig out. I'll just pretend I'm doing some serious snow gardening! It IS beautiful.....

This blog entry has been viewed 244 times

---

Archie Lives On

Category: History and People | Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:06 pm

---

I always find a way to tell people about others who are now gone. It's a way to honor them and keep them a part of our lives. Even though I never met Archie, I especially like to tell about him. He was my dad's best friend and was a couple of years younger, about the age of my dad's younger sister. Archie, Robert (my dad) and Margory (my aunt) were inseparable.
When they were children, my grandma (Lucky 13) would take them places and would often be asked if Archie and Margie were twins. She'd smile and say, "No, they're six months apart!", and leave it at that! Granted, in THIS day and age, a mother could pull that off, with the help of some doctors and incubators, but THEN?!
Archie was one who loved to gross people out. He put together a sandwich of grape jelly, abalone, gravy and white bread that turned the stomachs of all who witnessed him eating it. That's why he did it! After a while he actually enjoyed them. Hey, don't knock it, as they say...
The trio continued in their childhood rich with fun, friends and promise, until WW11 hit. Archie was 17 and he talked his folks into letting him join the navy. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor and was trained to be a gunner.
On that fateful day, long before I was born, Archie manned the gun turret on one of the doomed ships in the harbor. As one of the Japanese pilots realized his plane was going to crash, he aimed it straight for the ship. He hit Archie directly. The ship sank soon after.
I'd like to meet Archie someday. I know I would have liked him a lot. I even thought to include him in my parents' 50th anniversary celebration. We had a big graffiti board that people signed and added comments to. I put a little something down on Archie's behalf, thinking that Dad would be touched by it. Unlike me, he feels better trying to forget. The memory is too painful, even to this day. You have to really tune in to see when my dad is upset. He won't out and out say so, but I know he was. I'll respect that.




This blog entry has been viewed 246 times

---

Home / Blogs / lulu1107's Blog / History and People /