CATCHING UP

Since school started, I have not been able to sit down and write.....I was with the Life Skills class, Special Kids, High School, for several days....have known most of the kids for five years now, and they are SO wonderful.....you get a different slant on things from them, all the while, realizing they are average teenagers in some ways....and still so unique in their own special ways.....

Was great to get to see the high school kids again, as I was mostly at Junior High last year, and have missed seeing them. Even the ones from Junior High,  now at High School, had grown so much over the summer!!!!!!

My dear childhood friend, Gloria Dickson, a teacher for many years at Tyler Junior College, sent me some of her memories of my sister Sue and I visiting her in Dallas in the fities and sixties...funny how you do all these things as a little kid and never forget them!!! Glo was a big part of my growing up...we had SUCH fun together!!!!!  Life seemed so simple then, and maybe it really was!!!

 It has cooled down some, from the near 100-degree high today, so I am going out to feed the horses and fill all the water troughs......Can't wait for the cooler Fall weather to get here...Later!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Slower Pace

Have not had time to write! This week, I kept three of my four grandaughters. September is 9, Summer is 7 (almost 8), and Sunday is 6. Their mother, Esther, and their father,  my oldest son, Jimmy, flew to Columbus, Ohio, for a church convention, so I got to "keep" the girls. Actually, I am not too sure they did not "keep" me! It was a lot of fun having them here.

 Esther is the ninth daughter of a Pentecostal preacher who had 13 children, and they are practicing Pentecostals. I have attended their church services in Normangee, Texas, (near Bryan),and they have a fine church family. Attending church regularly is an important part of their life. 

For those of you not familiar with that particular religion, Pentecostals wear no jewelry except a watch or wedding ring, have no television or radio, and  the women do not cut their hair, wear any makeup, and wear only skirts or dresses, never pants or shorts.

When I visit them in their home, it takes a little time to get used to not having the television or radio playing in the background. IT IS VERY QUIET. After the first day, you realize there is a lot to be said for peace and quiet. The uncluttered background lets you think more clearly and get in touch with yourself and your inner thoughts. Life literally slows down to a slow pace that is quite enjoyable. All the "stuff' of the world is not intruding. You can read, play games, do jigsaw puzzles, draw, work, whatever you want to do that is within their guidelines.

 It really takes you back in time. I keep looking around for the wood cookstove and the oil lamps! (In reality, they have fine furnishings---Esther has excellent taste and could earn a living as an interior decorator!)  The girls have a keyboard (like a piano) they can play and that plays recorded instrumental songs. They sing a lot, mostly hymns, and Esther played the accordion as a young girl. They can use a TV as a monitor to look at instructive videos about wild animals, etc., and children's movies with good, clean subject matter. 

 Due to all the rain that fell in the five days they were here with me in Waco, we had to stay in most of the time.  We watched the movie, "Samantha, American Girl", at least 4 times, and my five "Little House on the Prairie" videos over and over, plus carefully screened cartoons on the PBS station.  Thank goodness I really liked them, too!

We all put on our mudboots and went to the barn twice a day to feed the horses and play with the cats. We stayed most of one day at the new Baylor Mayborn Museum, which trip I  will write about later. It was wonderful quality time! I was sad to see them go home, and I am lonesome without them.

John the Music Man

Got a reply from John the Music Man.....he sent a list of ten records worth $100.00 on up...he will send this list free each month if you ask for it.....None of mine are on this list!.....I am going to do an inventory and listing of my records, then do an appraisal twenty at a time.....have to have a credit card or can use snail-mail....another project on my to-do list......I told John I had heard him on the radio (the oldies station, of course!) and that I was Class of 1964..Waco Tx....he wrote that he is Class of 1964, Cheverus High, Portland, Maine.........he is a real expert!

Old Records

In a closet I have been cleaning, I found several boxes of old 45rpm vinyl records from the 60's, and maybe even a little earlier. Gonna go to moneymusic.com, and see what John the Record Guy has to say about them...Maybe some are valuable! If you come across a 45rpm that is by Jerry Butler on the Vee-Jay label and the song is "Your Precious Love", it is worth about $20,000.00. I think anything on the Vee-Jay label is worth a lot...It was one of the earliest recording labels and was not in business very long.

 Remember when you wrote your name on the record? Especially if you had siblings! Sure brought back a lot of old memories.....my sister, Sue, and I and our friends would lay on the floor and listen to them for hours, jumping up to dance if a really lively one with a good beat  was playing.

I have two or three record players stored somewhere...or maybe they are "stereos'..there is a difference , you know.  Marie, my mother, had a lot of old LP (long-play) albums and a few 33 records, too, that are now my possessions. A lot of them are great listening....a true blast from the past!