Palm Sunday – April 13th, 2014
When I was a kid we made sure that we had a couple pieces of Palm to make Crosses for “BOOKMARKS” and or braid to put over or on top of a Crucifix. Just as soon as getting home we would find a small towel and make sure that the towel was nice and wet. We would roll the Palm up in the damp towel to keep the Palm soft and pliable?
If we were not going to be able to get to work with the Palm on Sunday we would have to put the wet towel in a dish of some sort – to where we would be able to add water as needed until we were ready to start working with it.
We also did this while I was in the Orphanage –and we were always able to get more Palms whenever we needed. The Nuns had lots of ideas as to how to make something from the Palm – and if we made enough items – we always had our parents that were so happy to receive something that we made with our own hands.
When ready to work with a piece –you would carefully separate the individual pieces – up to about two inches from where this piece was taken from the Palm tree. You might have three or four individual pieces and with a pin point you would stick the point into the top about two inches from the crown – and just pull the needle point down to the end. Doing this with each leaf as you are ready to work it – taking one leaf at a time and starting near the crown – you will take one half of the leaf in each hand – fold each half of the leaf slowly and as doing so guide the fold into the fold in the other hand’s fold.
Slowly guide each hand’s small fold of the leaf – as you work your way down to the tip of the leaf. –Now you do the same with each leaf from the crown – braiding to the tip. When you have braided all leaves on the pieces of Palm you have – you can use some ribbons made into a nice bow placed around the crown and put over the top of your Crucifix hanging on the wall in your bedroom!
It is a nice reminder to have the Palm hanging over your Crucifix or somewhere in your home – where you say your prayers as a reminder that on PALM Sunday the people were wanting to Crown Jesus as their King – and within a week- everything changed to Hate – and they hung Jesus on the Cross – Friday!
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Buy or Make an Easter Bonnet?
Now that Easter – is just a week away- will you be buying a new “BONNET” – or could you try making something, terrific? With all the new types of stores selling every kind of material needed to make a “BONNET” – everyone really should try and see how “GLAMEROUS” you will look with your own hand-made creation! Today – with so many young people looking for work – what better way to show off all of your creative abilities than to make new types of Bonnets and Hats – that would match today’s young ladies wearing apparel?
When I first started working for the TELEPHONE COMPANY – in the downtown Saint Louis area – I was close to all the “BIG” department stores – and each of those stores had everything and anything you could possibly want? I was working a split shift – giving me several hours off during the middle of the day and time for me to checkout each of these stores as to the merchandise they had and compare styles and prices? Since I had hours to leisurely check out the items, that I was interested in – I could spend time to try on “HATS” and dresses for fit and compare which items would make me look better than I did?
What I was really interested in – was a hat to wear with the Powder-Blue Suit that I made in High School? I had taken three (3) semesters of clothing and really enjoyed making most of my own clothes. In my last year of High School – I was making clothes that would need to be fitted and glad that I had a teacher , Mrs. Servant -that really enjoyed helping her students and my Mother’s help investing in me with the purchase of a sewing machine that did everything!
So for EASTER, my search now, was for a “POWDER BLUE HAT” to match the suit that I had made in school! I did search each of the BIG 3 department stores and finally found exactly the perfect match in color hat! That EASTER – I wore that suit and new “HAT” to Church and on other Sundays – and I even wore the suit and hat to work – just to show off!
Evidently my “showing off” what I could do by making my own clothes – caught the eye of one of the ‘Gals’ that I was working with – and she requested me to make some clothes for her? She brought the material and patterns she wanted made up to fit her – and I was lucky to make some extra money. Besides the being paid to make the clothes – she also gave me extra material – to use for me or however I wanted to make use of those extras?
It is easy to make new outfits – and today you can even make your own beautiful “BONNET” if you like? I no longer have that suit – passed it on to someone else – as one does put on extra pounds with time! But, I still have the beautiful –“POWDER-BLUE Hat!”
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FOG and Storms pg. 8
Flying to build hours – you are also building up knowledge and attaining experience by the real “HANDS ON” only! The lessons we were learning – you will not get from the book! Experience is from real LIFE – with every messy thing that could possibly come up – does come up and hits you square in the face! Like my Mother used to tell me so often, when I was still living at home – “Live and learn – that’s the only way you will really understand – for me to just tell you – you will forget – “Experience is costly and everyone pays their own dues!”
The heavy rain and terrible “STORMS” with “LIGHTNING” flickering all around and us on the last of some of the “FLYING” lessons – that we were going to learn per this trip – we were getting to feel much better – we were now going through a clearing and better weather was in the path for us!
Blue Skies above us as we were flying into the FENTON, Missouri area – Weiss Airport just across the Highway from the Chrysler Plant – we are home! Checking in with the CESSNA Plane – unloading everything into the car – now only a couple of miles to drive home at 100 Cherbourg – and relax.
The house is a split foyer and as I was going up the steps to the upper landing – there are my “high heels” – I thought I had packed them and when I was looking for them to wear, one evening – could not find them and figured they were loss? All the time on the trip I counted the shoes as one of the things you will leave behind and forget about fretting over “SPILT-MILK” as they say? Needless to say I was very happy when I saw the shoes and figured everything that we did it was a good and happy time!
Have to give Almighty God the praise and honor for helping us each step of the way – as we sure had lots to learn and hope that all the lessons we were scheduled to learn – we did!
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FOG and Storms pg. 7
As we were enjoying a very good time in the CASA GRANDE area, now was the time to start checking the weather to figure out the air route back to Missouri – weather permitting? Now that we had been in and out of the mountain areas, we were for sure looking for a path – avoiding mountains – if possible?
We were lucky to have had a good time in CASA GRANDE and just about had time to see and visit everything that was important for us at that time, but now was the time for us to pack our bags, having made out our FLIGHT plan. We can truly say that we did enjoy some very good meals – there was a recipe that I had to get from the CHEF for a dessert dish – it had cherries –whip cream and I think pineapple in it. When we first got home I would make it quite often – but like all “GOOD EATS” – soon we had enough. Now that I think of it – it was like the “WATER GATE” recipe – but I would have to check that out – just to be sure?
Off to the airport and return the rental car – have all of our stuff into the airplane – and set our destination for MISSOURI! On our trip heading back home there is one airport that stands out, and that is Topeka, Kansas! Nothing on the trip between Arizona and Kansas made the exciting register on my brain – seems that we must have had “smooth flying”, till Topeka, Kansas!
Topeka, Kansas was the last leg of our flying trip – and when it is that time in your “LIFE” to learn lessons – may as well learn all of the important lessons at one time on one trip – so that they stick in your brain – for a LIFE-TIME!
Topeka, Kansas is where we ran into “Stormy Weather” and was she ever stormy! This was another time in my LIFE to keep my mouth shut and my eyes “WIDE-OPEN” – some new lessons? If I saw something – I would say “Heavy black clouds at two-o’clock!” “Heavy thunder at eleven o’clock!” It seem to me that adding the “clock” destination to my husband – that he would immediately know where to look and help him tokeep his eyes on what he was doing – without a lot of small talk that made no real sense at the time? It seems that while we were flying in the TOPEKA, KANSAS area – heavy rains and STORMS were all the people in that area were going to get for a very long time. Also thought that – that would be one area I would not like to live, due to the very heavy storms!
Thanks to Almighty God – that no areas get all the Storms – and none get all the SUNSHINE – “We all share all the good times with all the bad times – not too much of one without a fair share of the other!
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FOG and Storms pg.6
One evening while staying at the baseball “Giants Hotel” – we really had an embarrassing situation! We all took the elevator down to go to the restaurant – when my oldest son Lee saw that his younger brother Al was wearing his “white belt” and said to Al, “You need to take my belt off and take it back to our room!” So, when the elevator hit the Lobby – we all got out and headed toward the restaurant. Al took the elevator back up and went to our room – and as little kids do – forgot what he went back to the room for?
Not remembering what he went up to our room for – turned around and got back on the elevator. As Al was going down again to the Lobby – looking down – notice the “white belt” – thought to himself, -, “I can’t go to the Lobby because Lee will be waiting to see what belt I decided to wear instead of his?”And just that fast hit the RED STOP BUTTON – and the loudest ringing sound- blasted all over the Lobby area and in the elevator and Al was scared –thinking “what did I do now?” “How am I going to stop all this noise?” “I’m going to be in some real trouble, now?”
Al now tries to boost himself up on the rail inside of the elevator to reach the telephone – starts to dial “OPERATOR” not knowing what to dial for “HELP” and someone is telling him to push the RED STOP BUTTON in- to stop the noise! Al pushed the button in and yelled to “WHOMEVER” somewhere –“the RED STOP BUTTON is pushed in!” “SOMEONE” yells back, “PULL THE BUTTON OUT!” Al pulled the button out and the noise stopped! The elevator continued down and when the doors opened – the Lobby was full of people waiting to see who was making all of this noise on the elevator and “what in the world was the emergency?”
Little Al was embarrassed to have been the cause of all this commotion – but everybody was happy to see that he was alright! Today, I cannot really remember if the white belt was taken off and returned to the room –and what was really said – but we do all remember that only Al was able to let the world know that we were the OUT-OF-TOWNERS – that made a noisy splash – with everyone talking and pointing to Al as the only kid to get by with a “GRAND” entrance!
“All‘s well that – ends well!” We all went to the restaurant and had another delicious meal!
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FOG and Storms pg. 5
As we were taking off “Table Top Mountain” – I almost thought we just were not going to get higher – enough so to cross over the top and thru the opening in the mountains we were looking for? As we took off – we were looking right at a higher mountain than we were leaving? All I could think of – was my husband going to be able to get this small plane to muster up the power and speed to veer right and over and thru the opening – we were to look for? It is a miracle that we are here today – to even be able to talk about out scary experiences! I know that I will never be trying that experience again – I am now – too old?
Continuing on the trip to Case Grande, Arizona – to check out the property we purchased – we had more issues to come up that only “FIRST-TIME” dummies get to experience? There was suppose to be a small airport adjoining the property purchased – but it was not yet set-up? So, we had to find an alternative airport and immediately rent a car for the couple of days that we were going to check out the entire surrounding city of Casa Grande! But, our first stop was to check in at the “Giant’s Hotel.”
Our first tour of the property purchased was the area for the home we were thinking of having built – was on an acre of ground to where you could have two homes built. The one house would be for us and a second house smaller to be used for a rental and or for relatives. To have income from the rental was the plan. The second tour of property was on Candlestick Boulevard; this would be used for a shop in a mall or wait and see what other owners had in mind to do with their adjoining property?
We stayed a good week driving around every nook and corner on the maps we were collecting – we knew it would be a long time before we would be back? Sagebrush and Tumbleweed – very little grass growing – the landscape was nothing like Missouri. In time, I guess we would get used to the difference and as all the Pilgrims before us – we would get to love it?
One thing that no one knows – for sure – is what will tomorrow bring? Is this dream for today the same dream we will have – down the road of LIFE? What are the plans – which Almighty God has for us and that – we know nothing about? Without lots of prayer – LIFE is a lot of guess-work?
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