Making My Home A Haven is important to me. Sharing homemaking skills. Recipes and food. Bible Studies. This is a treasure chest of goodies. So take a seat. Have a glass of tea and enjoy. You will learn all about who I am.
I was so sick Saturday. In bed or on the couch most of it.
This morning I felt almost human again. I was upbeat and ready to tackle a number of things. Like catch up on the Summit going on this weekend by Dr. Ken D Berry And His wife Nurse Neisha Salas Berry. It All ABout THE PROPER HUMAN DIET. It’s amazing how a simple challenge that Neisha Loves It started has given me a POSITIVE ATTITUDE. MOST OF THE TIME. That’s better than a bad attitude most of the time.
On The Couch with a cat in my face.
Baby Girl had to be with me all day.
I got the dishes in the dishwasher and ran it. Then I promptly filled it back up again by cleaning out the refrig. Mostly Danny’s uneaten food.
Danny and BabyGirl.
Taken 2 years ago of our house. The yard was pretty brown.
Countdown On Friday.
I finally started a YOUTUBE page for Sarah’s Attic Of Treasures I don’t know why it took so long. Here, Danny has been working hard to make money on his account someday. Why Wasn’t I doing the same thing. I used this photo of me. At the time it was the only one I found of just me. This was taken by either Danny or Bobby in Colorado in 2004. My huge photo of The Grand Tetons Is in the background. I wish I still had it.
It’s amazing what happens when a person defrosts’ their refrigerator. The door actually closes. I have a freezer again. A small one. Lol. The refrigerator was one we bought when we first moved into the RV 12 years ago. It sat outside for 5 plus years until we moved into this house 9 years ago this month. It’s been a godsend to us. I need to take better care of it.
Too Bad this freezer we bought around the same time only lasted 2 years. We stored it inside the Cracker house until it broke. The photo here was before we started working on the house. Before we gutted almost everything but this kitchen. I wish we still had this flooring. I would come here to get away from Danny. Only thing was: He usually followed me. This is where I am sitting now. The windows were replaced. That table is in the living room . I use it for my desk top.
Danny and I were participating in a live on a friend’s YouTube Channel on Friday Night. I laughed at the time. I am not laughing anymore. We can’t get the TIMEOUT UNBLOCKED . The page owner hasn’t been able to overturn it. She had encouraged Danny to post the link to his Facebook page earlier. The Timeout Was only supposed to be for 5 minutes. This is Sunday and this took place in the wee hours Saturday morning.
Thank you for all of the VIEWS< COMMENTS AND SUBSCRIBES to Danny’s YOUTUBE ACCOUNT AND THIS POST.
One Of Those Moments. I have this photo (Not red) in a couple of places in the house. It was a special moment for us in Illinois 6 years ago. Danny asked me Saturday night where it was taken. The car is the one Dad left for me when he died last year. The photo was at the Family Farm In Illinois. Obviously, It wasn’t taken in Florida. We DON’T Get SNOW OR COLD WEATHER.
Photo is out of order. My almost defrosted refrigerator.
I upload all of Danny’s Train Videos to my Sarah’s Attic Of Treasures Account On Youtube. Then I started loading my favorite songs . LOL I have so many. Once I started I couldn’t stop, Especially when It came to Elvis.
I Slept From 9 PM Wednesday Night Till 4 PM Thursday Afternoon.
I was so tired last night. Oh so tired. I remember walking into the kitchen to tell Danny I was going to bed. He just looked at me and then at the clock.
I fell asleep right away. I seldom do that.
I never heard anything until Danny came to bed. Never heard all the sounds that go on at night that always keep me awake. The interaction between Danny and Mr, Bojangles. The noise of the animals underneath the house or the rain that fell.
I slept soundly. Dreaming Of Bobby and his cousins when they were little. Dreaming of my parents. I feel as if I dreamed all night. Wonderful dreams of yesterday.
This morning, the sun was bright and I just rolled over on my side.
I heard Danny get up and I looked at the clock. It was 9:10.
I’d been sleeping for 12 hours.
I went back to sleep and slept soundly. More wonderful dreams.
Even when I finally got up at 4 PM, I could have slept some more. Yet, I knew I wouldn’t dream again. I got up.
I’d slept for 19 hours.
A little sad, that Bobby can only be heard in my dreams and on a few old cassette tapes I have.
Yet, happy and very thankful. that for hours….We were together again.
Mom and her son….Simply having fun.
Love you Bobby. Love my Memories Of You. My Dreams.
Bobby 3 months old. 1980
Bobby and I at my grandparent’s house. Colorado 1984.
Bobby, Mike, Leah, Dan and I. La Veta, Colorado 1985
From Sarah :
I originally wrote
this in 2015.
We are getting ready for another ROAD TRIP. Danny and I have a short trip coming up on Wednesday, January 15th.
Another 5 day trip RAIL FANNING. We come home on Sunday.
I leave for Illinois on Tuesday .I was going to fly there but decided I just couldn’t. I NEED A ROAD TRIP.
I need time to myself. Away from Danny. I will be going from “Sarah” to “Debbie”, my real name. Going HOME for the first time since my dad died.
Both my parents are gone.
Bobby is gone.
I need TIME to heal. That’s what this road trip is for. So is the visit. Going home for COMFORT.
I will have a week at the homestead by myself. My sister and her husband will be gone . I am pet sitting.
I will be hiding.
Once they come home, I will venture out. Seeing family and friends. Taking ROAD TRIPS through the wonderful Illinois countryside. Visiting my home church.
But, for a week, I will stay on the farm as much as possible.
2015:
What do the words “Road Trips” mean to you?
I can’t stop thinking of road trips.
I miss those carefree days when I was young and our family went on vacations. Scenic vacations.
I will write a post on Route 66. It was a huge part of my childhood and teen years
My took many drives and road trips after I turned 16. I never took the same road 2xs in a row if I didn’t have to. This post will cover some of those.
I will write a post on driving to Colorado from Illinois with a girlfriend when we were 16 years old.
Of traveling with Bobby from Illinois to Colorado or Colorado to Illinois.
Road trips with Bobby and his cousins, Mike and Leah.
With Bobby, Kari and Alex.
With my dad, Bobby and I.
So Many awesome memories.
Since Bobby died and I moved to Florida , those road trips stopped. With the exception of 2.
A spur of the moment road trip driving with Karen from Texas to Illinois and then to Kansas in January 2007.
Taking Greyhound back home for mom’s memorial service and Thanksgiving last year. 2014.
To me they mean getting in the Fiat (The Blue Goose) at 17 and heading out for a nightly ride on The Great River Road.
“Old Man River, Father of Waters, “body of a nation,” Big Muddy—by any name the mighty Mississippi cuts a mythic figure across the American landscape.”
Old Man River Lyrics
Music Video
“Old Man River” was written by Butler, Herbert/givens, Otha Lee/johnson, Tony Lee /
Here we all work ‘long the Mississippi
Here we all work, while the white boys play
Gettin’ no rest from the dawn till the sunset
Gettin’ no rest till the judgment day
You don’t look up, you don’t look down
You don’t dare make the rich boss frown
Bend your knees and bow your head
And tote that barge until you’re dead
Let me go away from the Mississippi
Let me go away from the rich man boss
Show me that stream called the River of Jordan
That’s the old stream that I long to cross
Old Man River, Old Man River
He don’t say nothin’, he must know somethin’
Old Man River, he just keeps rollin’ along
You know, you know he don’t plant taters
And we all know the man don’t plant no cotton
And then, then they plant ’em
Oh the Lord knows they are soon forgotten
But Old Man River, he just keeps rollin’ along
You, you and me, you know sometimes
We have to we have to sweat, sweat and strain
Our bodies, our bodies are all achin’
And wracked with a whole lot of pain
Tote that barge, lift that bale, you get a little drunk
And you land in jail
I get weary and so sick of tryin’
I’m tired of livin’, and afraid of dyin’
But Old Man River, he just keeps rollin’ ahttps://youtu.be/eh9WayN7R-s
Old Man River, he just keeps rollin’ along
I love my hometown of Grafton, Illinois. To be honest, If It wouldn’t have been so hot and humid there in the summertime and cold and damp in the winter , I probably would never have left it to move to Colorado.
I would have just gone to Colorado , every chance I had.
I would probably still be there, On the farm…..In my parent’s house.
I loved farm life. But that is another story.
Illinois is beautiful. Roads that go on and on forever. Crisscrossing like they DON’T DO In Florida Or Even Colorado. Leaving the farm and just driving.
Farm Life I’ve posted these just last week in mom’s memorial post. Mom and Donna and my rabbits. Above, Me with Cisco and Ralphie Jr.
I would listen to Elvis singing Memphis Tennessee over and over again.
Another song I would listen to over and over again was :
“River Road By Crystal Gayle
Here I go once again with my suitcase in my hand
And I’m running away down River Road
And I swear, once again, that I’m never coming home
Yes, I’m chasing my dreams down River Road
Mama said, “Listen child, you’re too old to run wild
You’re too big to be fishin’ with the boys these days”
So I grabbed some clothes and I ran
Stole five dollars from a sugar can
A twelve year old jail breaker runnin’ away
Here I go once again with my suitcase in my hand
And I’m running away down River Road
And I swear, once again, that I’m never coming home
I’m chasing my dreams down River Road
Well, I married a pretty good man and he tries to understand
But he knows I’ve got leavin’ on my mind these days
When I get that urge to roam I’m just like a kid again
The same old jail breaker runnin’ away
Here I go once again with my suitcase in my hand
And I’m running away down River Road
And I swear, once again, that I’m never coming home
I’m chasing my dreams down River Road”
Bobby grew up listening to the songs I loved . We would sing them together.
Bobby and I 1981.
The photo of us was taken one year at Royal Gorge. His cousins were visiting and I had promised to take everyone there. It was one of the few hot summer days Colorado had that year. In the 90’s. No humidity though.
Bobby, Mike and Leah Cascade Colorado- Bobby 4, Mike 3 and Leah 2. 1984
My kids
My kids. I thought of them that way. They were almost always together for the first 5 years of their lives. More like brother’s and sister than cousins.
Grafton and Elsah
“Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and stretching out for approximately two miles along the Illinois River, is the picturesque river town of Grafton. Founded in 1832 by James Mason, Grafton is the oldest town in Jersey County. Described as a “post office, one store, one tavern, and a number of families” in 1834, the area was being settled as early as 1812 when a blockhouse was built at the confluence for protection.”
“Built in 1858 this home was for many years the home of the village butcher and fisherman, Issac Haupt. The stone part of the structure was built as a two-room house with an outside stair to the second floor. The frame portion on the right was added in the 1890s. Then in the 1940s the house was modernized by adding an inside stair, living room fireplace, bathrooms, and oak flooring over the old random width pine boards in the living and dining rooms.”
The Buggy Shop : “John Reintges erected the wagon shop in the summer of 1877. Although there have been, some changes, particularly in the front, the buggy shop is one of the buildings that gives Elsah its quaint flavor. You can still read the lettering painted across the gable end of the shop “Wagons and Buggies Made and Repaired.”
Or I would head further down the road to a little road shortly before you reached Alton and the Piasa Bird.
The down 100 and home. There was an old bridge back then….They took it out years ago.
For the longer drives (Usually during the day) I would turn right in Grafton and head West Towards Hardin.
“Some of the region’s most dramatic scenery is nestled along a winding road north of Alton, Illinois. Drive along the Great River Road with the Mississippi River on one side and soaring limestone bluffs on the other. The bluffs, noted in the journals of 17th-century explorers Marquette and Joliet, sheltered the fierce Piasa Bird of Native American legend. Just north of Alton, you’ll find an image of the serpent-like bird painted on the limestone cliffs. Enjoy antique hunting in Alton and charming Grafton to the north. Picnic beside the river, bike on the trail under the bluffs or explore the grounds of Pere Marquette State Park and its classic log lodge.
Cross the Mississippi or Illinois rivers on one of four ferries at Kampsville, Grafton, Brussels and Winfield or stop in the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville to learn more about the region’s prehistoric heritage. On the way back to St. Louis, visit the Argosy Casino Alton or stop in the National Great Rivers Museum at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam. Learn about the Corps of Discovery at the Lewis & Clark State Historic Site in Hartford, Illinois, located at the site of the explorers’ Camp Dubois.”
Danny was wonderful for most of my birthday. As I mentioned in Part 1, I woke up on Wednesday in a bad mood. It didn’t help that it was gloomy outside. Dark And Cloudy. Humid.
I had trouble shaking off “The MOOD”. I knew a lot of it was because I was missing my dad. It was my first birthday without him.
It doesn’t matter how old a person is, (61 here) they will always want their parents in their lives.
Birthdays are always hard. Bobby and I always spent our birthdays together. Even when he grew up, Bob chose to spend his day with his MOMMA. We usually went to the movies. Then that night we would go to the fondue restaurant in Manitou Springs.
“Our signature 4-course fondue dinner begins with freshly made salad with house-made dressing, followed by cheese fondue served with baked bread, fruits and vegetables. For your entrée, you’ll prepare your selections on a tabletop Swiss Raclette grill and crown your evening with decadent chocolate fondue. Our complete menu is available à la carte including vegetarian and gluten-free options. We also boast an award-winning wine collection featuring a diverse selection of top-rated wines from around the world and exclusive, limited-allocation boutique wines. If you are looking for a delicious and enjoyable fine dining or high class restaurant experience in Colorado Springs, only head west a few more miles and be in awe of our mouth watering selection to choose from.”
I was amazed that Bobby enjoyed going there as much as I did. We had so much fun. We were always remembered because we were the ONLY Mom And Son to go there every year.
We dressed up for it.
It was something we looked forward to all year.
Growing Up my mom always went out for our birthdays.
For years She fixed my favorite Chicken And Dumplings. Angel Food Cake with Strawberries.
Not the Southern Version either. We had big fluffy herbal dumplings with a whole chicken. Carrots , Onions And Peas.
It was heaven on earth.
Then one year, in the early 70’s, I surprised her when I requested FONDUE.
I was thinking of Swiss Cheese Fondue. We had that PLUS a fondue pot for cooking steak and veggies.
She made dips and sauces.
My birthday gift that year was a fondue cookbook.
I was hooked.
I borrowed the above photo.
This was similar to what our table would look like.
My favorite color is RED so the first fondue pot was bright red. We ended up with 2 more. Another red one and a gray one. Mom used a couple of one burner units as well.
My brother, John, never was a fan. He seldom stayed long.
The rest of us, Mom and Dad and my sister Donna, loved these nights.
My Aunt Sandy was often there to. Before she moved to Colorado. Her birthday is the day after mine.
I remember the first time my mom’s parents were there also. Oh what fun we had. Lots of laughter.
December 11, 2019
We went to Lake Wales the theatre there. Watched MIDWAY.
We shared a bucket of BUTTERED POPCORN and had drinks.
We had POPCORN with LAYERS OF BUTTER.
The carousel at THE MALL. It wasn’t running otherwise We would have ridden it.
The following photos were actually taken the night before my birthday when we started celebrating. Danny couldn’t wait to give my my gift. So we had FAMILY TIME. Family Time MEANS Danny and I Plus Baby Girl and Vittles (our 10 year old rabbit)
I loved getting the Graceland Musical Set but wish Danny would realize that I really don’t LIKE his FUNNY cards. LOL
NEVER DELIVERED. I WANT IT BADLY. He’s trying to reorder it.
It was NEVER DELIVERED. I would have known if it had been. My favorite song EVER. It was also Danny’s way of telling me that he loved me.
I also know part of what my Christmas gift will be.
My ALL TIME FAVORITE NON – GOSPEL SONG.
The first song I remember dancing to.
With my dad.
I was two.
Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.
My WEDDING SONG.