time passes quickly

Time passes by too quickly. It is the weekend and soon it will be next weekend. The older I get the faster it goes. Today I am resting as tomorrow will be a busy day. I am going into the church craft show. I hope I make some money and that we have very little to take home.

I don't remember the last time I posted some memories of when I was growing up. I believe it was when I lived in Florida at "Azalea Courts". We had four motel units. Motels were different in those days as most were not large. Some had separate rooms and some were joined together. Ours were joined together and had a bedroom and a bathroom. There was a small shower, a toilet, and a sink in the bathroom. The bedroom consisted of a bed a lamp and a dresser. The motel was built of cement blocks and none of us had air-conditioning in those days. I don't think air-conditioning existed in those days. Next to the units was an attached building or I should say room that housed the hot water heater. The washing of the linens, towels, etc was done by my mother or I sometimes would be bored and wash the clothes.

The wash machine was outside of our house. It was a wringer type wash machine and there was a rinse tub outside too. Clothes driers didn't yet exist. We would have to hang the sheets, towels, etc on the clothes line. When I would do it it was always difficult me hanging the laundry as I was a kid, maybe 11 years old. I do remember sometimes stepping in a red (fire ant) hill and getting my feet and legs eaten alive until I knocked them off of me.

We had an iron mangler in the home and the sheets and the pillow cases would be ironed that way. I always enjoyed doing the ironing on it. That is when I felt like it.

It was hard on my Mom helping to run the business and then doing the striping of the motel unit and then washing, drying, ironing and cleaning the units just to go back to making hamburgers, chili, etc. She would sometimes work to 1:30 in the morning just to get up and start all over again.

From the time I was 11 years old on, I would always get up by myself in the morning, get washed and dressed and open the business, make breakfast for myself and go to school. Deciding what to wear to school was easy and we always had to wear a dress or a skirt and blouse and I had very few to choose from.

Aunt Fran Funeral

Today was Aunt Fran's funeral. Aunt Dorothy and Uncle George was there. They did not know who I was in the beginning. They look great for being 86 and 89. Aunt Rose was there too. She is 93. That means I have at least 20 years to go. All my cousins were there also. I wish family lived closer. I miss having them around. My cousin Karl who I used to write you when I lived in Florida is married to Peggy now and she seems really nice. I know we would get along fine. Ted and Pat look good also. Ted is really thin and Pat looks the same. I also sat and talked with Frankie who is Randy's age. It was nice talking to him. I didn't go to young Teddy's house as my breathing was getting bad so it was easier for me to go home but I wish I could have visited longer. I sure do miss them all.

A lot of memories were brought up today but too tired to write them down right now. I will write them down later.

Aunt Fran

Aunt Fran passed away a few weeks ago and will be buried tomorrow at Clarendon Hills Cemetary. What a great Aunt she was. She worked for Marshall Fields downtown, the original one on State Street. She was a detective or a floor walker. She watched for "shop lifters" and caught many of them. She also had great stories of the shop lifting episodes. I will miss those stories.

Aunt Fran also loved to dance. At any family function where there was a band, Aunt Fran wanted to jitterbug. She would drag you out on the floor and throw you around. She was always the leader and you would have to follow her steps. She was just a fun aunt.

She was good friends with my mom and really missed her until the day she died. Talking about my Mom would always bring a tear to her eye. When Uncle Ted was alive, Aunt Fran would always be bitching at him about something and she was usually right about the bitching. LOL They would bicker all the time, but they were a wonderful couple. My uncles eyes always twinkled. He always seemed to be full of the devil. I will miss my Aunt Fran and she was my favorite aunt. Some day I will meet her again.

Aunt Fran

This morning my Aunt Fran passed away. What a wonderful aunt she was to me. I missed her when she moved to Colorado and would call her every once in awhile but when she went to the nursing home she wouldn't hear the phone. She was so good to my Mom and they seemed to enjoy each other's company so much. She really missed my Mom after she passed on and would cry every time she would talk about her. Aunt Fran loved to dance and would jitterbug with anyone who would dance with her. She would always be the leader and would throw you around the floor. LOL She was so much fun at parties. She loved life and was a kind and generous person. I know her family will really miss her alot. She was my favorite aunt and I will miss her a whole lot. Rest In Peace Aunt Fran.

I haven't written here for awhile. The weather has been mostly overcast until the last couple of days and the sun came out and it was over freezing so some of the snow started to melt. But now, last night we have a dusting of snow and they are calling for about 3" of snow on Sunday/Monday. I am sick of winter this year. It seems so long and dragged out. We haven't really had a bad winter but am really ready for Spring this year.

I have been longing for a trip to Florida even though I know it is out of the question. I have no money and two of my bills have increased and that is almost another $100 out of what I get in each month. I don't know how I am going to do it. It just gets worse and worse. I have shut off the lights and put the temp down to 65 at night and the bills still keep going up but the social security check is still the same. I never thought I would be struggling this bad at this age. Poor me one more time. LOL At least I am alive and kicking so they say.

When we moved to Florida there was very little around us and no friends. There was a house next door with a couple of other houses which I believe they rented out. On the other side was a large building that became an auction house. There were businesses across the highway (Alternate Route 41 or Nebraska Avenue) but little else close by. My address there was 100007 Nebraska Avenue, Tampa, Florida. I believe the first real girlfriend that I had there was Pat Pless who lived on the next corner down the sand street. Pat's dad repaired semi's. Pat's mom was a stay at home mother and had a wooden leg. I have no idea how she lost her leg. She had an older sister Olive. Pat and I would go to the sink hole and grab the rope that someone had tied to a tree and would swing out over the sink hole. Thankfully I never fell into the water as I didn't know how to swim. The last time I was in Florida there are fences around the sink holes in the area. A sink hole is a large pond that is connected usually to another sink hole by underground water. Pat and I would also play in a cement block building that someone had started to build and never finished. If a snake was in the building we didn't go back there for a long time. We usually walked on the top of the cement blocks.

Pat's mom was Italian and the house always smelled of spaghetti sauce. I remember one time going out to the causeway with them and going crab hunting. We collected buckets of crabs and then when we got back they were put in the spaghetti sauce. From what I remember the sauce had a wonderful taste.

Pat was younger than me and went to Catholic school so we didn't see each other too often.

I was alone a lot living in Florida. My mom and dad were always busy with the restaurant and motel. When I had nothing to do I would sometimes wash the clothes from the motel. Our washing machine was outside. It was a wringer washing machine and we had one utility tub out there. I would wash the clothes and then hang the stuff on the clothes line. I was about 11 at the time.

There was very little to do in the neighborhood we lived in so I went to the movies quite a bit. The theater was in the town of Sulphur Springs which was a mile or more away from our place but it was only about 8 blocks from school so many days I would walk from school to the theater. I also went just about every Saturday. One Saturday I met a boy there and really liked him. He was nice to me and we talked through the movie. I met him there a few times and then never saw him again. He probably moved away. In those days, did not realize that his parents were probably pickers or worked on someones farm. His name was Gabriel Rodriquez.

Because I liked the movies so much I started writing letters to the studios for photographs of the movie stars. I still have many that I collected. I also collected pictures from movie magazines. Naturally Mom eventually threw them away. She didn't like anything extra laying around. I used to keep the pictures in a cardboard doctor's kit (it was a toy). My favorite star was Cornell Wilde. Funny I never sent for his picture.

Super Bowl Sunday

Today is the Super Bowl. I haven't watched a football game in years. The year that the Bears were playing was a great year for Illinois. We all had parties and everyone was doing the Super Bowl Shuffle. I probably won't watch the game but will switch back and forth to see the commercials.

I went on a web site that had things that were happening on the day I was born. It said that "gas Masks" were classed as "wearing apparel". I don't ever remember anyone walking around with a gas mask on. LOL "DDT" was also used to fight bugs and later found out to be harmful to people. Maybe that is why I have lung disease along with the smoking I was doing. Everyone sprayed their gardens with DDT in those days and for many years to come. The new invention that year was the military helicopters. My first president was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Joe Lewis was the boxing champion. Bobby Riggs was the Wimbledon men's winner and he sure played for many years after that.

Judy Garland was the most popular singer and the movie of the year was "Gone With The Wind". Vivian Leigh won the Oscar for that movie. The the most popular song was "We'll Meet Again". That song I don't think I ever heard.

An average house cost was $8985, WOW. A car was $1328. I take one please. Gas was
$.15, bread $.09, flour $.04, a dozen eggs $.16, bacon $.26 and eggs $.16. Gas for the $1328 car was $.l5 a gallon. If those prices were now, I would be a rich person.

The other statistics were that my name Pat means Well-born and I was born on a Sunday. I am a Gemini and my birthstone is an emerald. My flower is Lily of the Valley which is one of my most favorite flowers. I can almost smell them now. I used to pick 2 or 3 bouquets at Teta Kubat's house every spring. My color is Saffron but I don't think I have ever had anything that color. It says that I am loyal, loving and energetic partner for whom romance is important. My relationships must be varied to interest me. Boy that is for sure. LOL It also says that I am imaginative, charming, quick-witted, and vivacious I guess that is enough trivia on me.

February 6, 2010

It is a weekend again. Time is going so fast. I have so many things I want to do and I just don't have the energy or the breath to do them all. Last Thursday I went to a quilt shop in Lockport. I love fabric. I wish I could buy it all. There are so many beautiful prints and colors. I want to make a couple of applique quilts that I have the patterns for. They were from a web site called bunnyhill.com The quilt from last year has a basket for each month with different things by the basket or in the basket. The one she is giving out this year is snowmen. They are BOM or Block of the Month. You get one block for every month. I have decided to make both of them. It will be a great way to use up a few scraps and not have to buy alot of fabric. I only had to buy the snowman white fabric so far. I hopefully will start getting the fabric together for each square today. I also want to finish my raggy quilt so that I can get it finished.

Now back to growing up in Florida. When I got to Florida I was around 10 or 11. I am not sure what month we got to Florida but I believe it was at the end of 4th grade. There were not many kids around as there were not many houses in the area. The first person I met was Rosalind. She lived down the street and was a few years older than me. She invited me to a party and it was a party of boys and girls and they played spin the bottle which at 10 or 11 I had no idea what it was all about. They also played hide and seek but when you got found by a boy you got kissed. I left the party pretty quick as these kids were too grown up for me. I never went to Rosalinds house again and I believe within a few years, I had heard that she was expecting a baby. For the first year down there, I was pretty much alone and was young enough that I could play with my cut out dolls and collect my movie star pictures. Mom and I would go to the movies at least once a month in downtown Tampa. After the movie we would stop at this drive in that made milk shakes, I believe they had 34 flavors of milk shakes. I always got vanilla and it is still my favorite. I used to look forward to going to a large theater in Tampa with the treat afterwards.

Chuck had a girlfriend across the street and if I recall she was pretty but she also had another boyfriend and dumped Chuck for him. Chuck only had a couple of years before he graduated high school and I don't remember him being around too much. I do remember he got the large bedroom and I got the small one.

Things were different when we moved to Florida. Most of the time I would take the keys and open the restaurant and make my own breakfast and get myself off to school. Mom and Dad would be sleeping as the restaurant/beer joint was open until
1 AM and by the time it was cleaned up it was probably 2 AM. I was pretty much on my own when we lived in Florida. I would have to occupy myself and take care of myself. When I got home from school Mom would make me a hamburger on the grille or I would make myself one and I would have a coke and a hamburger almost every day. Naturally I gained weight from eating the snack after school. When supper time came I usually sat on a beer case and used a couple of other beer cases for my table. We rarely ate in the restaurant and if I did I would sit at the end of the bar.

I started school in the 5th grade and went to Sulphur Springs school. The classrooms in the lower grades were barracks. My 5th grade teacher was Mrs. Miner, I believe. I was way behind everyone and had to learn my times tables as they were almost through them. It was hard for me to get used to the school down there. If you misbehaved the teacher would hit the back of your hands with a ruler and if you really misbehaved you would be tied to your seat with crepe paper and if you broke that crepe paper you would be spanked in front of the class. Fortunately I was very good and never got hit. We also started out the day with a Pledge to the Flag, and a prayer and a bible quote. Where I lived was called the "Bible Belt". I was a good student and got very good grades and eventually caught up with the rest of the kids. Even in those days, Chicago schools were behind and what I didn't realize at the time, Florida schools were also behind.

Today we are having snow flurries with 1-2" accumulation. I cut out the batting and the fabric to work on my new quilt and will probably work on it this afternoon. The groundhog saw it's shadow so naturally we are having 6 more weeks of winter. I knew that before he even looked. LOL We are bound to have 6 more weeks of winter. Spring can come fast enough for me. I just want to go out in the sunshine.

This morning when I was looking in the closet for something to wear a thought of my Mom came to me. I don't remember when I was young my mother wearing pants. She always had on a dress or a skirt and blouse. When she was at home either cleaning the house or baking she wore a dress that was called a Mickey Apron. What a strange name for a dress. It was made out of cotton and was very plain. It had cape sleeves and a tie belt that started on the sides and tied in the back. It was always of a print. I remember Mom wearing them a lot. Mom's in those days were stay at home wives/mothers. I only knew of a few women that worked in those days. My aunt Anna I believe worked at a factory during World War II as a lot of women did. My Aunt Dorothy who was the youngest, only 3 years older than my brother John, worked as a buyer for Marshall Field and Company. She bought clothes for the children's department.

Anyway, getting back to the dress, my Mom always wore them and even in Florida. When we got down to our new house, everything had to be cleaned starting with the business and there was remodeling to be done. I don't remember the beer joint or tavern, I don't really know what to call it. Only beer was sold no other liquor was allowed. My dad worked on the windows first as Mom started scrubbing the kitchen and organizing it the way she wanted it. They had decided to make hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chili and occasionally soup. Mom also made breakfast which was only bacon and eggs and I think pancakes. But I am not sure about the breakfast. After Dad removed and replaced the windows, he started working on the bar and changing a few things around and changing it a little. Within a short time the beer joint was clean and running. There was beer on tap and coke and milk for my Dad. My Dad was not a drinker and only occassionally had a beer.

My mom got the lovely job of cleaning the bathrooms but I know when she came to the Men's bathroom she made my Dad help her. Her next job was the motel rooms. Dad also had a neon sign made for the front and they planted Azalea bushes in front of the motel units. Dad also made a planting area around the one side of the Joint for lack of another word to describe it. He also out of cement block made a fence around the patio. Things were starting to shape up.

Sunday is here

I don't remember what time of the year we moved to Florida but I remember the disappointed look on my Mother's face when my Dad showed us where we were going to live and what he was going to do. My Dad bought a small cement block building with a beer joint in it. Cob webs were everywhere. The building was divided in the middle by a wall. In the back part was a restaurant type kitchen with a grille and the other part of the back room was for storing beer cases. The front part is where the bar was. The bar went across the wall and had many bar stools around. There were three or four tables with chairs and in the middle of the floor was a pot bellied stove with a tea kettle on it. I guess that was used for heat when it got cold in the winter. There were no windows in it. It has chicken coop windows covering on the pull up windows. Chicken coop windows you couldn't see through. They had a wire cage type weaving in the middle and it was covered by a thin type paper that would let the light in. You would have to pull up the window by a cord and secure the cord. The bathroom was outside and there was a men's and women's toilet and sink. Leading to the bathrooms was a red cement patio.

There were 4 motel units on the side standing by themselves. In the far back part of the property facing the next street was a house. There really wasn't a street back there. It was mostly sand and seldom did a car go down it as it would get stuck in the sand.

The house had a small kitchen, a living room, bath room, and three bedrooms. I don't believe the house was that old. My Dad had great ideas for that house but I hated it from the time we moved down there and I believe my Mom did too. Dad thought it was great and they started cleaning and remodeling the place right away. Since my Dad was originally a carpenter when he was very young, he knew how to do all the building and replacing. He was a "Jack of all trades" meaning he could do just about anything.

I remember the first night sleeping there. We had only pillows and our jackets and it was a little cold. We had beat the truck down there that was carrying our few items that we brought there. I remember being cold that night. Our radio, bedding and clothing came the next day. By then, since we were the new owners, my dad was tending bar. Beer is all that was sold except for cigarettes and snacks, like chips and pickled pigs feet, (Yuck). There would be a large jar of them sitting on the counter. My parents didn't keep the pig's feet after the jar was emptied. Mom and Dad started cleaning and fixing up the place and they named it "Azalea Courts".

Yesterday I looked through my scraps of fabric and came up with enough scraps to make a quilt that I had bought a pattern for a few months back. Today I will do a few more cuts of fabric and will start sewing it together. It is a raggy quilt so it will look better when it is washed and dried. I also want to dust mop the floors today. Cleaning the house is a pain as I have to keep taking breaks to catch my breath.

I have put down a lot of memories of growing up in Hinsdale, Illinois. The memories of growing up there with my brothers around and the family, the whole family of aunts and uncles, cousins are wonderful memories. Christmas's, family cook outs, family picnic's in Rocky Glen (now Waterfall Glen, named after a friend of my fathers, Bud Waterfall), playing with friends, are all such wonderful times that I had growing up. I sometimes wish I could go back and relive them all. It was a real happy time in my life. There are a million more memories buried in my mind and occasionally one sneaks out but by the time I start to type this, it disappears back into my memory section of my brain. LOL

When we sold the house in Hinsdale, everything got sold, all the furniture, dishes, all that we took was bedding, a stand up radio and clothing. We moved to Chicago as I said before and I hated it and couldn't stand not having anything to do. I went to school which I hated and came back to Grandma's house, which I hated. Nothing was the same. I don't remember seeing my Dad too often either. With him living at Aunt Anna's and us living at Grandma's, there never seemed to be time to see my father. He was also taking trips to Florida to find a business that he could go into. I remember him looking into a Trailer park but know of no other ventures. I sometimes wonder why my father looked only in that area. Was it because the dog track was only a mile away?

Anyway, Chicago living was miserable for me and was glad to finally hear that we were moving to Florida. When we traveled, Mom always fried up lots of chicken so we would have something to eat on the way. I don't believe there was a cooler in the car, we just ate the chicken until it was gone. It is amazing that we never got
E Coli. She would also buy a lot of fruit. And my Dad would stop at every ice cream stand on the way. My Dad loved ice cream. In those days ice cream stand were quite popular. They were everywhere.

My Dad bought a 1947 Cadillac and we drove that to Florida. I hated driving through the mountains. In those days the roads were narrow and only two lane. I would try to sleep the whole trip. We would wake up really early in the morning about 5 AM and get on the road and drive for about an hour and then stop for breakfast in a small diner either on the side of the road or in the middle of a town. There were no expressways and you traveled from town to town. Dad would drive and stop for ice cream.

My dad always drove fast and always wanted to be first. He was always passing up a bunch of cars just to come across another bunch of cars. He was not always the most courteous driver. I remember him cutting off someone because he didn't like the way he drove. I also remember him making someone go off the road so that he cold punch him. Dad was scary at times but never at home. I would usually sleep on the floor of the car when we went through the mountains because I didn't like driving on the side of a cliff. If we were to go over the side I didn't want to see it. LOL Interesting, we always made it over the mountains in one piece.

My Dad would drive until about 3-4PM and then would stop for a motel or a hotel if we were in a big city. We went out to eat and then usually we would go out to see a movie and then back to bed. I believe it took us over 3 days to get to Florida in those days.

Friday January 29, 2010

It has been a boring last few days. The weather is cold so I don't feel like venturing out and I really don't need to many things. I will eventually have to go out and pick up a few groceries but I am trying not too. I need to save some money so it is best to stay home. I have gone into the sewing room and straightened the room and did a few small projects but just can't seem to get into anything. I want to make a quilt as you go quilt next but have no idea what pattern to use and I want to be able to use up some scraps. I also thought about making a doll but just can't seem to get into anything. I haven't seen people in days. Carol was here last Sunday but that was the last day I saw anyone. Poor me. LOL

It has been interesting reflecting on my growing up in Hinsdale. What a great feeling to be young and not have to worry about anything. Hinsdale was a great place to grow up and things were so different in those days. A young child could go out by themselves and would only have to worry about bullies which were far and few between. To walk a mile by yourself when you are only 6 is amazing. Now you have to worry when your child is just down the block and in some neighborhood the child can't even got out and sit on the front stairs. Holidays were always so much fun. And playing in the snow and building snow forts by packing snow in a cardboard box, using it as a mold for a brick. Christmas when Mom made a full wardrobe of clothes for a doll that I found out later in years that she had put a new wig on an old doll. She even knitted a snowsuit for the doll. I was about 5 or 6 then and I remember losing some of the clothes at a friends house and she said she didn't have them and I found out she did. She didn't stay a friend long.

Under the Christmas tree would be a town with ice skaters, sledders, houses the train running around the tree. The ice skaters, sledders, etc were made out of lead in those days and so was the paint on the walls. I survived the lead!!! Yea!!!!

Our house always smelled of bakery. My Mom was a great cook and a baker. She would make tons of stuff on Saturday for the company we would be having the weekend. The house always smelled wonderful. Strudl and Hoska were made weekly.

On weekends we would go into the city (Chicago) to see Grandma Triska and sometimes Grandma Krech although we didn't see Grandma Krech that often. Grandma Triska was warm and cuddly and alway rocked the babies, me included. She had long grey hair pulled back and twisted into a bun. Her house always had wonderful smell of cooking too. We always spent Thanksgiving with her. The whole kitchen would be tables as the family was so large and I remember the dressing tasting so good. Wish mine tasted like that. I know I am using the same ingredients but never seem to get that taste. I also remember Strawberry soda. It was such a treat getting the strawberry soda. I carried out that tradition for many years but I was the only one that cared so eventually quit it.

When we were in the city visiting my grandmothers, Mom would grocery shop on 26th street. My uncle had a butcher shop so we would get out meat there. We would go out for lunch at Lurie Brothers. They had a counter in the front. I loved their mashed potatoes and gravy. Mom and sometimes Teta would always have a bohemian meal of some sort. We would stay at Grandma's what seemed to be late to me and on the way home we would always stop at White Castle for hamburgers. I would be tired but never too tired to go in and get some burgers. Yummy!!!

Monday the start of a new week

It is the start of a new workweek for most people but for me the start of doing whatever I feel like. Today may be a sewing day and it may not be a sewing day. I have a friend in Florida that would always give me inspiration but she is in Florida and even an email from her doesn't give me the inspiration that I used to have years ago. The weather is getting cold again today and snow is expected but not too much or so the weather forecasters say. We are expecting under an inch of snow today with dropping temperatures. At this time of the year it seems that everyone is ready for warmer weather, at least when you live North.

So far today I do not know what I am going to do, the clothes are washed, the house is as clean as it is going to be. Maybe it is another day to walk into the sewing room and either sew or do a little straightening. Time will tell.

I don't think I talked about the Fourth of July in Hinsdale. When I was young there was always a parade in town and then from there would go to the park, I believe it was Madison School where they would have all kinds of races and contests for the kids. I remember my brother Chuck always going in the pie eating contest. I don't think he ever won but he got his share of pie eating for that day. In the evening we would all go to Madison School to sit on the hill and watch the fireworks. I always hated the ones that made a large bang. The fireworks were held there for many years, even took my babies to see them there but they had a mishap one year when it was damp and a firework didn't go up right and ended in the crowd and burned a bunch of people. Thankfully I wasn't there at the time. I was down the street at my sister-in-law Marian's parents house. Fourth of July was always a fun holiday.

Today was a cleaning/wash clothes kind of day. I let my laundry go to long and ended up with 4 loads to wash which is a pain with me trying to go up and down the stairs. I did get 3 loads done and the 4th load is in the dryer. I also need to wash some area rugs but I will do that next week.

The weather was warmer today, in the 40s. I can finally see the sidewalk again. The driveway has two icy patches and I hope the rain that is expected tonight will get rid of them. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to start turning cold again. I guess that winter is still here.

Now for some more memories. We used to go into the city to my Uncle Joe's bakery on 25 and I believe St. Louis but not sure. I know that it was only a few blocks from my Grandma Triska's house. Aunt Fran and Uncle Joe had a house on the lake in New Buffalo, Michigan. We used to go there for the weekend. It was a small cottage and I remember sleeping on the second floor in a room that had twin beds and it was really hot in there. You could hardly breathe when the weather was hot outside. Aunt Fran and Uncle Joe were not really Aunt and Uncle. They were my Dad's cousins, at least Uncle Joe was. Their last name was Karlovsky. The had a daughter named Ellen Ann who was a couple of year older than I was. It was alway fun to go to the beach and play in the sand and Ellen Ann had a large log that we would take into the water and hang on. We also used to have inner tubes (the inside of car tires) that we would put over our heads and under our arms and float in with the waves. Ellen Ann and I would also go to the Sokol Camp that was next door. There we could play ping pong and there was always a bunch of kids there. When we went to Michigan we always went very late at night as my uncle had to bake the pasteries and bread and Hoska before he left as he only had one other man helping him bake. The oven was a brick oven with wood fire underneath it, I think. It seems as if it took all night to get to New Buffalo in those days as there were no expressways and we had to take two lane roads to get there. We always had a good time there, playing games, laying in the sun and day dreaming of what our life was going to be when we got older. I was probably 4-9 years old when we went there. I always wonder what happened to Ellen Ann. Aunt Fran and Uncle Joe moved to New Buffalo, Michigan after they sold the bakery. I was much older than, high school, I believe. Uncle Joe got killed on the expressway on the way into the city (Chicago) where he had gotten a job after he sold the bakery. There was road construction and someone made a mistake and caused a 13 car accident killing Uncle Joe and another man in the van. Aunt Fran stayed in Michigan until she passed away many years later. I remember many family picnics there and we always had a great time.

I tried to download this picture on the last post but I couldn't get it to work. After I decided to try again I realized what I had done wrong. Oh well, at least I learned what to do next. i also realized today after I took pictures of the deer that my camera is also a video camera. I guess I should read the directions now, LOL My motto is, "If all else fails, read directions". I guess that is really a bad habit. I usually try first and keep trying to figure it out when it is probably easier to just read the directions first and learn that way.

A few posts back I thought I was through writing about growing up in Hinsdale but the more I think about Hinsdale the more things I remember.

We had a large field across the street then. Now the field is filled with houses. In the beginning of the field nearest to the street were gardens that alot of the neighbors planted vegetables in the summer. The rest of the field was filled with daisies and Black Eyed Susans. I would love going there to pick a bouquet of flowers but was always afraid of snakes. I HATE snakes and still do. In about a block was a little swamp with tree trunks you could walk on to get to the other part of the swampy part. It was a nice place to play.

My Godmother Teta' (not sure if that is spelled right)which means aunt in Czech lived in a beautiful house that they build off of Ogden Avenue in Hinsdale. It was called "The Pines". The house is still standing and has been in the newspapers many times because the house is so unique. You would go down a long street to the house and once you got near it there was a circle driveway. The sidewalk was cobble stone. You walked into a kitchen through the back door and by todays standards it was a small kitchen. It had green cabinets and there was a table in it. I remember making cookies or baking and helping Teta make something. The kitchen also had a spot on the floor by the cabinet to sweep the floor into and it would go in the furnace and burn up. There was also a paper shoot in the kitchen which also went into the furnace. Off of the kitchen was a very large dining room. I wonder if it was ever used. The dining room led into a huge living room. The walls were hand scupted with grecian figurines. The room hand a two story bay window that looked like a large spider web. The living room also had a balcony which was off of the master bedroom. Off of the living room was a greenhouse where some of the outside plants were kept in the winter. She also had a parrot that would sing "Let me call you Sweetheart" and "You are my Sunshine". He also would call "Ma" all day long. He was kept in the greenhouse.

Next to the living room was the front door which was rarely used. Off of the front door was a stairway to the basement and also one to the upstairs. The staircase was spiral up and down. The basement had a very large kitchen where the canning and a lot of the big cooking was done. Off of that kitchen was a large knotty pine room, like a family room. Hidden in the wall was a safe but you had to look really close to be able to see the safe.

When you went up the staircase off the front entrance you came to a bedroom. It was a really large room with build in seats by the windows. The room also had a full bath and it was a really large one. I think it was in green tile but not sure I remember. I do remember playing in that room alot. This room, I believe, was Frankie's room whom had passed away.

Up another level was two bedrooms and the master bedroom. I don't remember much about the bedrooms. I do know that the furniture in most of the house was hand carved and I believe some of it was done by my godfather. The master bedroom is the room with the balcony over the living room. There was always a shawl that hung on the railing of the balcony.

In the middle of the hallway of the upstairs level was a trap door in the ceiling. When you pulled the chain a stairway would come down. When you went up the stairs into the room there it was filled with stuffed animals. I don't know if my godfather had killed them or where they all came from but there was fox, birds, deer heads, etc.

There was a sprial stairway even up in that area and the stairway lead to a tower that when you went up to the tower which was outside you could see all the way into Chicago. I believe now you would not have that view because of all the building that are now built. To me the tower was scary as there was only a short wall up there and I never like heights and still don't.

The gardens in the yard were beautiful. The had a live in gardener who had his own small house down the hill from the big house. There was also chickens raised there and woods behind the house where we went mushroom hunting. There was a large swimming pool and also a large cabana but I never saw water in the pool. There was also a gazebo in the yard which was always fun to play in.

The front yard was beautiful with flowers everywhere and the beds were immaculate. There was a flagstone walkway to the front door and there was also a pond with goldfish in it. In the middle of the pond was a large statue of a boy and girl under an umbrella. In the summer Teta used to let me walk in the pond with my bare feet.

On one side of the front yard there was a grassy area that went between pine trees all the way to Ogden Avenue about 1 1/2 blocks from the house and on the other side of the front yard there was a garden for vegetables and a vineyard with grapes everywhere. I loved eating the grapes in season. I also loved the springtime as I could pick Lilies of the Valley, Peonies, Tulips and Daffodils and Lilacs. It was wonderful going home with large bouquets of flowers.

As I have said the house was magnificant and very impressive to a young girl to remember all the details of the house and gardens. It would be wonderful to go back to those days just to go there.

Teta was always good to me. She always either slipped me some money, or bought me clothes or just plain let me bake with her. She was a great Godmother. I know that she was always good to my Mom too as she kind of adopted her as a young girl.

When my Mom was young and living in the city, Teta had a milk store across the street from where my mom lived. Teta took a liking to my mom. They would do many things together as I was growing up. The used to clothes shop on 22nd Street in Berwyn and go to Madame Slavka. Not sure of the spelling but she was a dress designer and she would custom make my Mom's clothes and also Teta's clothes.



Then you went up some

It is Friday and the weekend is almost here

I want to start today with saying how much I enjoy talking on the forum at Quilt 'N' Stitch. Although I know I will never see any of them, I feel that they are becoming my friends.

I had a pleasant surprise when I walked into my kitchen this morning. I had two doe in my front yard within 5 feet of my kitchen window. Then I watched them walk around the house and go into the back yard. One of them came very close to my office window. That is what is nice in this house. I love the wild life. And I also love my birds. I will have to keep my camera ready and take some pictures of the birds also. I have a very large variety of them.

While I was playing games on my computer I happened to think of some old friends of my parents. I wondered what had happened to their son and I went to bing.com and found him in Downers Grove. I guess some of us never wander far from our next. He does home improvements, siding, gutters etc. I had heard years ago that he was some how involved in one of the office companies or in computers but never looked for him them. I thought that I was through with my memories of growing up in Hinsdale and i keep remembering little things. It is a strange thing how our brains work. I sometimes can't remember where I laid things down a few minutes before but will remember many things when I was growing up.

My parents hung around with The Pleshars who lived in Westmont. George Pleshar was a pharmasist and owned the drug store in town. In fact he gave me my first job which will be discussed later on in the blogs. George and Helen had a nice home build for them in Westmont. In the 50s it was a really neat house. But when I was living in Hinsdale they lived in a building with two apartments in it. George's brother Al lived on one floor with his family and George and Helen lived on the other floor. I remember Al having a lot of kids and I would occassionally play with them but never knew them well. George Pleshar also from what I had heard had gambling done above the drug store. Apparently they owned the whole building. My father used to fix the slot machines that were up there. Dad would fix them so they wouldn't hit the jackpot. As I got older George and Helen had a son which they called Georgie. Georgie is the one that I looked up this morning. Georgie was quite a bit younger that I was. From the story that I heard, George ended up getting into alot of debt and started taking drugs. He eventually killed himself in the basement of the store. Helen eventually moved from the house they had to one of Rose's apartments and lived into her 90s from what I had heard. None of this may be true but this is what I had heard.

My parents also hung around with Paul and Toots Frayer. I am not sure of the spelling of the last name. Paul was also in underground gambling and I heard that at one time he was in hiding as he had told on mobsters and they were looking for him. He moved his family to Punta Gorda, Florida. Paul and Toots had a daughter named Sharon but she was much younger that I was also.

They also hung around with Al and Vi Martini. Al's nickname was pony was he liked to gamble on the horses. I remember Pony always having pistachios in his pocket. Vi was such a nice person. Vi was 6' tall or so it seemed to me. I know that she was taller than Pony. Vi and Pony never had kids and eventually moved to California. Pony died of emphesema in his 90s. I remember having lunch with Vi but not sure if it was before Mom passed away or after. Vi had a niece in Lisle and she would come in to visit her.

I believe my parents hung around with these people as they were gamblers and my Dad was a gambler also. My dad was the greatest Gin Rummy player. He knew every card that went out of the deck and could almost always tell what you had in your hand. My dad also liked the horse races and the dog track. It was part of his life but I don't believe that my dad ever used up all of our money. When he won he always game my Mom extra money. We never did without because of his gambling although I do remember my Mom getting really mad at him for not being around and she would be left taking care of the business and he would blow off a job to go to the track or play cards.

Mom and Dad did a lot with the above couples. They would have New Year's Eve parties and they would go downtown for pizza. In those days, downtown was the only place you could get pizza. I remember many a card game going on around the kitchen table as I got older. I wonder how many arguments my parents had because of my dad's gambling.

I had an offer from Quilt N Stitch today for a free web site for 3 months. I wish I had things made as I would love to have a web site and be able to make some extra money but I am afraid that after the 3 months the cost of the site would be too much money which I can't afford. So for now will put that on hold. The last few days have been kind of boring. I did some house cleaning but just couldn't get into sewing something. I did do some embroidering on my Halloween quilt and have the square I am working on almost done. I also remembered a cute story about my parents that happened while we lived in Hinsdale.

My Mom and Dad very seldom argued. If they did, we sure didn't know about it, but one time when I was about 6 or 7 or who knows maybe I was younger. My mom and dad were arguing about something and my Mom threaten to leave with me. She started to go to the car and my Dad raised the hood of the car and pulled some wires. He told my mom "You're not going anywhere". (I remember my Mom grabbing my hand to go to the car. After my Dad pulled the wires we went back in the house. What I found out later is the wires he pulled were car horn's wires. LOL

I also remember one Christmas with the whole family at the house, aunts, uncles and cousins. There was a noise at the front door and in walked Santa. Wow, I was so excited. Santa gave us all paper mache' boots with candy in them. When Santa left he forgot his bell that he was carrying so my Aunt Lill and I went after Santa to give him back his bell. Santa I found out many years later was my Aunt Mae.

I also remember a night when the whole family was around they had us kids sit on the floor and told us that they would give the one of us kids a quarter who could stay quiet the longest. I always fell asleep and never found out who ended up with the quarter. It should have been me.

I am sure that there are more memories of Hinsdale. That was a wonderful time in my life. Once we left there, things were not so much fun or at least that is how I felt.

Monday is here again

It has been a quiet weekend. Yesterday I did some sewing and also prepared a quilt top for quilting. I dread quilting it. It is not my favorite thing to do. I also made a cosmetic bag and hope to make many more as gifts.

I saw a cute idea yesterday on Quilt "N" Stitch. It was a fabric birthday cake that I am going to try to do in minature and possibly make it a pin cushion. I hope to try it in the next couple of days.

As I am looking around, I see that as usual my desk is a mess. I have notes everywhere. I guess it is time to clean it up. Today that is exactly what I have been doing. I need to vacuum the kitchen floor yet and then that is is for the day as far as cleaning. Tomorrow I will do more.

Now onto memories: I have very few memories left of Hinsdale but I do remember going to the corner grocery store and buying bread and eating the end before I got home.

When I was growing up World War II was going on. I remember my uncles being in the service and I also remember making records to send them. In fact on one of those records I sang "Mares eat oats and does Eat Oats" for one of my uncles who was somewhere in Europe. I also remember the day the war ended. All the church bells started ringing and the sirens went off, The war was over. I remember none of my friends were home so I banged pot lids and pots together to make noise to celebrate. I was young enough that I had no idea what war was but I was thrilled whatever it was it was over and my uncles would be coming home. I also got on my bike and rode it around.

I never talked about my bike. I did finally get a bike but it was not a new one like my girlfriend Noreen had. Mine was old and not shiny and I remember a tire needed to be changed on the bike and the fender never got put back on the bike. I didn't ride the bike much after that.

That is about all I remember about living in Hinsdale. When I was 9 my Dad and Mom decided that they were going to move to Florida which my dad called the "Land of Opportunity". We took a trip to Florida. I think it was just my Mom, Dad and me. I have no idea where Chuck was. John I believe was in college by that time. My Dad didn't find anything at that time but they decided that is what they were going to do and sold all of their furniture and we kept only the few clothes, towels and bedding that we owned. I think we also took a large radio to Florida I don't remember taking any toys with me either. My Dad and mom sold the house in Hinsdale and we moved to the city. It ended up my Mom, Chuck and I living with my grandmother Krech and my Dad living with my Aunt Anna. Chuck took the train every morning to go to high school in Hinsdale. The school found out and wanted tuition and the fight was on. My Dad refused to pay the money as we were moving. Who knows how the school found out that Chuck was commuting to school.

I hated living with my Grandmother. I knew no one and everything was foreign to me. I hated Gary School. Everyone was segrated, boys on one side of the playground and the girls on the other side of the building. I had nothing to do. I started eating ice cream every day and started getting chubby. After 6 months of living with my grandmother my Dad finally found a place that we would live in Florida.

The last few days were quiet days. I embroidered and watched tv and also found some fabric so that I may quilt my latest quilt. I may put it together today and ready it for the quilting. I haven't been outside in a couple of days except to feed the birds. The snow is melting slowly and I hope that before the next cold snap that is it all gone. I believe today is supposed to be near 40 so that my help.

Now for some more memories of growing up. I went to school at Monroe School. It was 6-8 blocks away. I remember in kindergarten my first day I didn't want my mother to leave. I cried and hung onto her and when she finally got out the door I cried for a few minutes. This went on for about three days and then I didn't want her to walk me to school anymore. I had made new friends. Our kindergarten classroom was interesting. It had a fountain in it with a fish head where the water would come out of it into the pond. There was a staircase over that pond so it would be like walking over a bridge. Many of the kids ended up in the pond either by tripping or being pushed into it. I also remember going up some stairs to another room or loft area. That is where all the toys were. It was a fun place to be.

As I got older when I walked home for lunch as that is what we did in those days. Most of the kids went home for lunch. I would cut down the side streets as it seemed faster getting home. Eventually there were a couple of bullying boys that would chase me down the street. I was so afraid of those boys that I would not walk home that way again. I would take the longer way. I wonder if they were bullies all their lives.

Another thing I remember about school is when it was raining no one ever picked me up like the other kids got picked up. My mom never got me in the rain and I always would look to see if she was there and then when I didn't see her I would walk home. I always felt like I was the only one that had to walk home.

I made a lot of friends in school and occasionally with have birthday parties or Halloween parties with all of them invited. I remember very little about the parties except for seeing them in pictures.

My first kiss was in second grade. The boys name was Mills Only. Mills became a Jesuit Priest as he got older and I heard that he died of AIDS. So much for my choices in men. LOL I only went to Monroe School through part of the 4th grade. I then moved to Chicago for the next 6 months.

I remember on Saturdays my mom baking and cooking for the company we were having on Sunday. We were the only ones living in the country. All the aunts and uncles and grandparents lived in the city. I remember during the summer mostly the whole family coming over. My mom used to get mad sometimes as she felt we had no time for ourselves. I remember one Sunday going to the Tivoli to a movie (Mom and Dad hoping to get away from the relatives) only to find them waiting for us to come home. We had a lot of Barbeque's in those days. I remember running through the sprinklers when it was hot. When I was about 5-7 my aunts started having their families so Teddy Boy (Aunt Fran and Uncle Ted's son. Kathy came later) was there and also Ricky Lou (Aunt Rose and Uncle Rick's son). I had quite a bit of older cousins. There was Chuck and Shadow (Aunt Mae's and Uncle Chas kids) Aunt Anna had a boy and a girl but when she divorced she lost custody of her children so they were not around too much. I don't remember their names. She used to say as they got older, the only time she saw them is when they needed money. Aunt Sylvia who died within a year after childbirth had Carmen. Carmen was I believe around Chucks age. On my mom's side there was Richard Thurston (Sylvia's son from first marriage) and Donald McClure (Aunt Lil and Uncle Jesse) Maryann came after I was born. Sure hope I didn't leave anyone out.

My Dad was from a large family. There was Mae, John, Rose, Frances, Dorothy, Frankie, Lillian, Sylvia and I heard that there was a set of twins who died in childbirth but not sure if that is true. My Dad lived in Chicago on 25th and Central Park right next door to the beginnings of Kraml Dairy. The Kraml girls opened up a restaurant in Hinsdale called Country Kitchen. It was on frontage road (Now Burr Ridge) around Madison Street. They were good friends of the family. My father was born in Bohemia. When he was about 18months-2 years he came by boat to the United States with his parents and his sister Mae. I always am amazed that the family traveled from Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) to Germany to catch a ship to go to the United States. There were no cars in those days. The trip had to take them along time to get to Germany and then a long time to cross the ocean.

More to come at a later date.

Yesterday was not an exciting day. I had plans to do a little sewing but one of my BFF called just as I walked into the sewing room. Ginny and I talked for two hours. We always find something to say. We have been friends for about 55 years now and have both had two marriages and both naturally have children and grandchildren. We talk about everything and everyone. It is nice having a friend like her all these years. When I was younger I had a period of time when I was getting anxiety attacks and her house was one of the only homes that I would go to. She helped me through that period of time in my life. I love her like she was a sister. Funny thing her Mom didn't like me at first. She thought I was too wild. LOL As time went on, Ginny's mom and I hit it off just fine. Ginny's Dad was a gem. He was a wonderful father and had a lot of stories to tell.

As you have probably noticed that I talk about my brother Chuck (Charles Richard Triska) and not my brother John (John Francis Triska). John was 13 years older than I was so when I started kindergarten, he was graduating high school. I don't remember him being around a whole lot. He did sing all the time and played the Chocolate Soldier in the Operetta. I remember they were looking for him and he was hiding behind a curtain in the room and they were using their swords to move the drapes in the room. I started crying as I knew that they were using real swords and I though they were going to kill my brother. After John graduated from High School he enlisted in the Navy and ended up in the swamps spraying for mosquitoes with DDT. It is amazing that he lived to be almost 80 after using that chemical. The only thing that I remember about John when I was growing up is that he was too aggressive (Dawn can attest to that) and I stayed away from him. A lot of the pictures that I have of me and my brother John have me crying in them. After John got out of the Navy he went to Culver Stockton College where he met Rosemary and became engaged. Rosemary was from Winettka, Illinois. It didn't work out so they parted their ways. Soon after that John met Mary who was from Quincy, Illinois. They eventually married but more about that later.

I had a nice day yesterday. My girlfriend Marilyn came over for coffee and we talked for quite awhile. I don't get to see her too often anymore as she is busy working her part-time job or volunteering or with Larry so it is always nice to see her. I also called my friend Charle in Florida and we had a nice conversation.

Today I hope to work on a quilt or at least work on some more organization of the sewing room. I would like to make some potholders as mine are getting ugly, time for new ones. I also want to work on the cosmetic bags that I have started. I finally got the fusible fleece that I needed to work on that project the other day when I was out so now I can maybe complete that project. If I like it I will possibly make myself a purse like that. It is a good way to use up scraps and I am always looking for projects so that I can get rid of things.

Now for some more about growing up. I remember a few thing about my brother Chuck. He seemed to be in trouble a lot. He always got into stuff he shouldn't get in too but all of it was not bad. We had a park within a couple of blocks from our house. The park was downhill for one block. My Mom would tell me to go to the park and get my brother for supper. Now remember Chuck was 8 years older than me so he was always much bigger than I was. My first two wheeler was a bike that was small and the pedals went around all the time. You couldn't coast with the bike, you just had to keep on pedaling. If I was to find Chuck it would down by the park and he would be in the bushes where all the smoke was coming out of. He used to sneak cigarette smoking with his buddies in the bushes and they were stupid enough to think that no one could see them and maybe they couldn't but the bush sure looked as if it was on fire. LOL Chuck would hop on the back of my bike and tell me to ride him home. I would struggle to ride him up the hill with him on the back but he was my big brother and I loved him to pieces so I would finally get him to level ground. I also remember another time when I finally got a real two wheeler, he gave me my last ride on the bar of his bike. He was taking me around the block and I got my foot caught in the spokes of his bike and sprained my ankle. Fortunately a motorcylist was going down the street and noticed what happened and he carried me half a block to the house. I never got another ride on my brother's bike. I remember chasing my brother all the time. I wanted to be with him and I loved his friends. One time he played tie up with me. We took turns of getting tied up in a chair and seeing if you could get loose. He would let me tie him up first and naturally he would get out easy and then he would tie me up and I couldn't get loose and he would take off and leave me there for awhile and go out with his buddies and come back later. Stupid me. His buddy in those days was a neighbor named Jack Mackinsey. His Mom made the best spagetti. It was canned spagetti and I loved it. My mother was fit to be tied that I loved canned spagetti when she always made everything from scratch.

When Chuck got a little older he would have to baby sit me. Mom and Dad in those days went dancing a lot or out for pizza in the city with friends. Chuck would have his buddies over to play cards while he was baby sitting for me. He would let me stay up for awhile but when I became pesty he would make me go to bed. Chuck had one friend that I was in love with for years. His name was George Hart. I wonder what ever became of George. I used to sit behind him all the time and watch him play cards. Poor guy with his buddies sister pestering him all the time.

Chuck on time was making potatoes across the street in the field. He would dig a hole and put the potatoes in and start a fire. The field was dry and it caught the whole field on fire. The field was quite large and a lot of it burned and the fire department had to come out. The police came to the door looking for my brother. I thought they were going to throw him in jail and I remember really crying because I thought they were going to take my brother away.

Another episode is when Chuck was older and hiding in the weeds and throwing tomatoes at passing cars. Like I said before he was always looking for trouble. Anyway he threw a tomato or one of his buddies did and hit the chief of police's car with his wife in it. The police chief took his wife home and came back and found the kids in the field. He hauled them all to the police station to scare the heck out of them.

Chuck and I were always close. I sure do miss him. He died way too young and it was a shock to all of us. More later.

Yesterday was a good day. I went to the doctor and got stabbed a few times, blood drawn and a H1N1. The visit was short and sweet. Every doctor I have seen lately asks if I am depressed. What do doctor's do, get together and say, "This month we are going to ask people if they are depressed, feel down, etc. etc. etc"? I don't remember what it was last time but I do remember the doctors that I saw all asked the same question then also. I swear, they do get together or they go to a forum and decide what to ask their patients.

After the doctor's appointment I walked next door to Joann Fabrics. I naturally left my list at home so couldn't remember what I needed. I could only think of one thing and I did pick that up. My list was sitting by my computer. I guess there is always next time to get the rest of the stuff.

After Joann Fabrics I met Virginia for lunch. I really enjoyed the company. We talked and talked and talked about all kinds of things and childhood memories of things that were going on when we grew up. I bet the waitor was glad when we left.

After I left Virginia I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items and naturally bird seed. I must feed my pets outside. I swear they are telling all their friends that I feed them as I always seem to have to fill the feeder. It is worth it as I love watching the birds and seeing how many different varieties I get here.

When I got home I took my groceries and put them on the stairs. With my bad breathing problems it is difficult to get the groceries up the stairs so I put them up a couple of stairs and then I go up a couple of stairs catch my breath and do it all over again. About half way up the stairs I usually throw any bag that doesn't have breakables in it up to the top. Yesterday I did that, I threw up my purse, my bag from Joanne's and then my left -over lunch except when my lunch landed, fried rice went flying. The bag had opened and so did the box that the food was in. When I got to the top I looked at it and laughed at the stupid thing that I had done and then sat down to catch my breath and then went to clean it up. Lesson learned: Don't throw the food up the stairs unless the bag is tied tight and put in another bag. LOL

Now for a memory of growing up. As I said previously, I lived in Hinsdale. I had two favorite girlfriends, Marian Paladino and Noreen Brown. Noreen's Mom and Dad were from Ireland and although I didn't understand what adoption was, Noreen was adopted. We had a great time at her house. Her mom always had boxes of old curtains and old rags in the basement and we would play dress-up. We would wrap those curtains around us and tie them with rags and thought that we were beautiful. In the summer we would take out an old wooden chair (there was no plastic in those days) and that would be our diving board and we would take a large galvanized tub and fill it with water (our swimming pool). What fun we would have jumping off of the chair into the water.

Noreen also had a wind up "Victrola" (brand name record player). We would wind it up and play "Irish Jig or Irish song records on it and dance.

Once I remember going to her cousins farm in Naperville. Naperville was much different in those days. It was farm land everywhere. We got on a donkey to ride out in the pasture and then her cousin came along with a switch and started making the donkey run with us on his back and where did he run to? right towards the bull who was starting to paw the ground. Noreen's Uncle came running to get us back where we belonged. Her cousin ran because he knew he was in trouble. Noreen also taught me how to ride a two wheeled bike. She had a brand new bike and taught me how to ride it. I was probably about 5 years old then.

Marian was from a very Italian family. Her father was a tailor and one year for Christmas he made me a beautiful light blue and grey wool kilt shirt with a big blue safety pin holding it closed. It was a wrap around kilt. How I loved that skirt. Mr. Paladino always smoked a big cigar and Mrs. Paladino always seemed to have on a yellow and black large print dress. I remember making and stuffing Italian sausage over there and having homemade pizza. The house always smelled of tomato sauce and garlic. When I moved to Florida I was so sad to leave my best friends. There were other girls in the neighborhood but Marian and Noreen were my bestest friends.

Hinsdale was a wonderful town to grow up in in those days. We could walk anywhere. I remember walking to downtown Hinsdale by myself at 6 years old. No one would bother you in those days. Parents didn't have to worry about their kids. I would walk to the movies on Saturday or go to town for an ice cream cone. Brother John worked for Van's Drug store and was a "Soda Jerk", that was what they were called with you made milk shakes, sundae's etc. I could go in there and buy an ice cream cone and visit my brother. A few years later Chuck was also a Soda Jerk but down at Martels.

This is a wonderful trip down memory lane. More memories to come.

Daylight should be here soon although by looking out the window, you would not believe that morning is almost here. Today I am going to the doctor so that my prescriptions can get renewed. To me this seems like a wasted trip as I am not sick and just need her to write a prescription. I guess it is a great way for a doctor to make more money.

After the doctor I will go to Joann Fabrics to pick up a few items to finish a few more projects. Then I am off to meet Virginia for lunch. She is such a nice person and in church we seemed to hit it off right away. Then after lunch I need to pick up a few things from the grocery store and then home. It will be good to get out today as I haven't been out in days. I am very content to watch tv and do my sewing and embroidering.

Yesterday I did very little sewing and am working on square #7 of my Halloween quilt. Will I ever get this square done? It has quite a bit of embroidery on it, but I am getting closer to the end.

Yesterday as I was thinking about this posting of my thoughts and thought this would be a good place to put down memories for my children so they can see or at least hear of things that when on when I grew up. So every day I will try to post at least one memory of my childhood.

I remember growing up in Hinsdale, Illinois. We had a two story house on 3 South Quincy Street. The house is still there but I am sure that there are many changes inside the house. When I lived in that house we had a big yard. Now there is a house in that yard. When you walked into our house you entered a hallway and a stairway to go either up to the main part of the house or down to the basement. The hallway had 3 slot machines in it. My dad used to repair slot machines for people. Down the stairs to the basement was old and dingy but the wash machine was down there. If I recall, possibly a shower was down there also although I don't remember ever using it. What I do remember is that the furnace was down there and it was really hot by it and we had a coal pile as most furnaces were run by coal in those days. I do remember my brothers making puzzles with a jig saw down there. I always wanted to make one but I was always too young. What I remember most of all was horses and a stagecoach. I don't think it was a toy as I was told not to touch it. I wonder if it was from my godmother as she used to own the house and maybe left it there. I thought the basement was creepy.

When you walked upstairs, you walked into a breakfast nook with curtains that my Mom had embroidered with dutch patterns. It was the 40s so that kind of thing was very popular. There was a large window in the nook and we always, in the summer, had flowers boxes with red geranium, white petunias, and blue ageratum. It was World War II time so that must have been the patriotic way. In the kitchen we also had a desk with cubby holes with our names on it. I used to hope that someday my cubby hole had something in it, like a letter or post card.

From the kitchen you went into a dining room with a large china cabinet. I believe in those days they called it a breakfront. It was a Dunkin Fife, not sure of the spelling but I believe it was a very expensive set. Off of the dining room was our only bathroom. It was the typical 40s bathroom.

The next room was the living room and it had a bay window in it and all the latest furniture. Good friends of my parents had a furniture store in Riverside and he did all the furniture in the living and dining rooms. I remember going to their house once and having pig's tails for supper. I used to love pig's tails, sounds horrible now. In the living room we had a cedar closet. It was a large closet partially under the staircase. My mom and dad used to go dancing a lot in those days and I remember she had a fake gardenia that would glow in the dark. I would always go into that closet to see the gardenia.

We had a large screened porch on the front of the house off of the living room. I was afraid of storms in those days and my brother Chuck would take me out on the porch in storms to watch the rain. We would lay on the swing and he would protect me from the storm. I grew to love storms as I got older. We also all slept on the front porch when the weather got unbearable. We would take our feather beds and lay them down on the floor and sleep on them.

Off of the living room was a stairway that led into the bedrooms. At the top of the stairs was a large room for my two brothers, a small room for me and off of my bedroom a room for my parents. Chuck and John's bedroom was over the porch room. I remember my brother Chuck sneaking out of the house by going out the bedroom window and off of the roof and jump to the ground. Chuck's bed also had gum all over the underside of the frame. There were twin beds in that room.

My room was small with a single bed and lots and lots of toys. I had lots of dolls. I was the only girl in the family at that time with lots of boys older than me and my aunts were young and bought me all the latest of things. Boy was I spoiled.

Mom and Dad's room was next to mine. I remember a very large vanity with Channel #5 Perfume on it. I remember very little else of that room.

Our yard was large with flowers everywhere and cherry trees. My dad had build a fireplace and we had a patio. In those days, no one had a patio. Our yard was fenced in. I used to climb up on the fireplace and over the fence to get to my girlfriend Noreen's house. She lived behind me. But that is another store. Now that I have told you about the yard and house that is the first part of my growing up. I will write more memories later.

A friend of mine in an email brought up a memory this morning. What a fun time I would have when I was in Florida. I had very interesting friends down there. My friends Karen and Marty owned a boat rental and they would rent pontoon boats. There rental was next to my friend, Pat's gift shop called Necessary Nonsense. We sometimes all got together for dinner. I would cook a meal that we could take out on the boat and someone would bring some wine and I would make whole made bread and we would go out on the inter coastal in the boat, a whole bunch of us and have supper and watch the sunset. We usually headed for Stumps Pass and would get out and walk the beach for awhile before we ate supper. There would me Pat, Karen, Marty, sometimes Terry, sometimes Bob and me. That is one of those times we called "the good ole days" Every once in awhile a great memory comes out of the blue.

The weather has been really cold for the past few days so I have been staying in the house. I have been doing a little cleaning and also working on my quilts. Yesterday I got together one of the quilt tops and it is ready to quilt. The quilt started out with me buying some squares of fabric from ebay years ago. I looked at the squares for quite awhile before I started sewing some of them together. I sewed a square with 4 small squares and then that wasn't big enough so I sewed white around them and that wasn't big enough. So I went into my scrap pile and went around the white with a printed color and then sashed it with white. I made the quilt into a daybed top but never quilted it. My ideas changed and I decided to rip it down to make 2 smaller quilts out of it. So that is what I was doing yesterday. Ripping it down and preparing it to make a smaller one. I have one ready to quilt and the other one will leave for awhile.

I am also working on my "Halloween quilt" that I would love to have done for this coming Halloween. I am embroidering 12 squares around the quilt with black in the center with 9 patch. If you are not a quilter you probably will not know what I am talking about. I have almost 7 of the squares done with 5 more to go before I work on the middle. Since I can't work on the sewing part long, I do a little each day.

Today we are supposed to have some flurries and then the weather should be warming up. I hope the snow disappears at least from the sidewalk and driveway. It can stay on the grass.

January 10, 2010

It took me awhile before I could figure out how to add more posts but as you can see "I found the area". It is a cold morning today. I heard on the news that in my area it is -20 wind chill. I am glad that I am staying home today. They also said that Florida had snow as far as Naples. When you live in Florida, when it gets cold you freeze your butt off. The heating elements in the air conditioners do not work like a furnace and the sliding doors are not sealed that well. If you are in Florida, Pile the blankets on and wear a bunch of sweathers.

Yesterday I got another of my UFO's done (Unfinished objects). I quilted and bound a quilt. Now I have two completed and I also ripped apart a quilt top that I had made for my daybed. I now have two quilts, one lap size and the other crib size. I will start to put it back together today and get it ready for quilting. I am getting old projects done one by one and hopefully have many of them done by June.

I love sewing and wish that I had more time and energy to do more. Yes, I know that I am retired but it seems that other things creep into my life and I don't get to do the things that I want to do. One of my friends last year gave me a stack of fabric that she had given to her. I am using this fabric to make quilts that I can give away to "Project Linus" and also looking for a senior's home to be able to give away lap quilts to seniors, (and I am fast approaching the senior catagory, Oops, think I am there, LOL). I also am making slippers for hopefully abusive women and children's shelters. I have a bunch crocheted and have some sewn ones done or half done or in the process of being sewed. Too many projects to do and as I said not enough energy or time.

Time to make the coffee and get on with my day.

Wow, I did it! I have created my own blog. Not bad for an older lady. LOL I have no idea what I am going to write in this blog but eventually everything will come together.

Today is it cold outside and I am going to do a little house cleaning and also work on a quilt that I am trying to finish today so that I can get onto the next not quite completed project. I am determined to finish some projects and also to make more quilts to give away. I am looking for a local agency that I can make slipper for, possibly an abused women's shelter. I have a bunch alreay made but I don't want to ship them as this could be costly. I would rather be able to find something local.

Off to my house cleaning