Monday, November 1, 2010

THE FACTS OF LIFE

11-1-10...THE FACTS OF LIFE

The young girl stood so straight and true.

Shoulders erect, eyes of blue.

Proud in stature, fair of face

and curls that hung clear to her waist.

She was carefree, happy, pure of heart

Fresh and pretty, lively and smart.

Nothing that hurts, nothing to fear.

She's young, she's unspoiled and held so dear.

Fresh and new gets ruined one day,

when age creeps up and has it's way.

On the face are lines and splotches and grooves,

Gravity kicks in, straight becomes stooped.

And what once was there, now here has moved.

Long hair that was black as the dark of the night

Is short and stubby and mostly all white.

But in her heart she's still young and gay,

And that girl is there, she's here to stay.

Clydene Thomas Overbey

CLUBS

10-31-10...CLUBS

We didn't have a lot of toys and things to play with when we were growing up so we had to improvise big time. Brenda and I decided we would form a sewing club. The boys, not to be outdone, formed a building club. We asked for the things we would need. Grandma gave Brenda and I some old scraps too small for her quilts and a needle each, some thread, and we even got a shiny thimble each. Daddy got some lumber scraps and one old hammer and some used nails which the boys had to pull out of the boards. Boy Howdy we were in business. Grandma showed us how to sew all the little pieces together in lots of layers to make pot holders and we went to work. We had cigar boxes to keep our 'stuff' in and were cautioned to keep it put up. Now girls you can't have any more so be careful and not lose those things. OK Granny, we wont. We did good for a few days then we got bored and wanted some 'pretty' colors to work with. Now girls I don't have any more Granny said. I told you that to start with. Well shoot fire Brenda, she's got mor'n enough. No used to be so stingy. Heck I know where she has a old dress of mine that is tore. We'll get that, it's pretty red and white. Now Granny was gonna' fix that dress for me to wear, but somehow I'd forgot that fact. We snuck' in the room where Granny kept her stuff'. There it is Brenda, get it and I'll get her scissors to cut it up with. Which we did. Never for any reason were we supposed to touch Grannies scissors. NEVER NEVER!! We'll hurry and get the dress cut up then we'll put the scissors back Brenda, Granny'l never know. Granny's scissors were very sharp and to be used only by her. She made quilts, sheets, and most of our clothes. Well the first thing I did was cut right through that dress and in to the dress I was wearing. Now I had two ruined dresses. Oh well this is just an old ever-day dress Brenda, It is green so now we'll have two colors. WHOOOPPPEEE! I went and put on another dress (we didn't wear pants then) and we ran in Mama and Daddies bed room. We sat down there and threaded our needles. I lost mine right away. We looked and looked. That durn needle was flat out gone. We were afraid to go back to Grannies scraps to hunt another needle. You cut and I'll sew Brenda. No I wanna sew. OK we'll take turns. Brenda we better go put the scissors back we got plenty cut . Heck fire Brenda had her dress cut now and it was yellow. We gathered up sewin' stuff' and put it away and went to Brenda's house so she could get another dress on. Before we left we heard Daddy saying, Boys, I picked up a bunch of nails in the yard, and WHERE IS MY HAMMER? Seems they had not been doing very well on their club business either. We decided we better kinda lay off our sewing club for a few days. Daddy started to get in bed that night and kinda scooped up that blamed needle I had lost with his knee. WOOOPPPS, THEM DURNED CLUBS ARE GONNA COME TO A SCREECHING HALT!!!! The next morning Granny was lookin' for the dress to fix, and first thing she noticed was somebody had been in her sewing boxes. Now how the heck did she know that? Huh? Also that morning Mama found some pieces of the dress material in the bedroom floor. CLLLYYYDDDEEENNNEEE, GET IN HERE. Well it didn't take much detective work for it to be all figured out. Parents and Grandparents are just too dad blamed smart aint they? We all not only got spankings but Grandma Patched the one dress that survived with all the colors of the other dresses that were ruined and Brenda and I had to take turns wearing it to School. Me first grade, Brenda second grade. We only had to wear it one time but that was ENOUGH! Yep sure was. It was so hard for our Parents to keep us clothed then. Daddy worked hard and always provided for us but we never had extra. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We deserved every spanking we got and shoulda' got a lot more of them. We reaped the cream of the crop when we got our wonderful Parents. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!!! NOPE!