Gulf Shores Birthday



Gulf Shores, AL 2012

 

Good evening I know it has been awhile but have not had the time or inclination to write anything.  Haven't been cooking much so I don't have any new recipes and haven't been doing much so nothing to talk about.  We have had 2 events this past month which we enjoyed - our annual trip to Gulf Shores Alabama and celebrating my 70th birthday while we were there.

 These are 3 of our GREAT nieces from Houston which we met for the week and we always have a wonderful time with them.  This is Morgan, Taylor and Katelyn and they are a total joy. 

This year I taught them to knit on their fingers and I think lots of people will get beautiful scarves for Christmas.  It is amazing how quickly they learned the skill and were soon busy making long scarves of colorful yarn.  I love to pass on a skill to them and next year I hope to teach them how to crochet or knit so they will have another valuable skill and hobby.  They are soooo smart.



  
 This is Martha, my sweet sister-in-love who is the MeMaw for the sweet girls.  She and Taylor spend a lot of time together and when MeMaw is present, the rest of us do not exist.  They are making the first of 2 banana puddings for us to enjoy and it was delicious.  I think Taylor is going to be a good cook like her grandmother for she is getting lots of good instruction.

We have known Martha most of her life for she is from my home town and was my brother's girlfriend in the 4th grade and on and on.  They were happily married for many years before lung disease took him Home  but she is my sister and we love each other and wish we lived closer together.  Houston is a long way from Adel, GA but at least we see each other once a year at the beach.

This is my niece and her family which we have met in Gulf Shores for the last 2 years for a vacation.  This is Beth, Gregg, Katelyn, Morgan and Taylor from Houston, TX.  It has been a complete joy to meet them at the beach for that is our favorite place to go and this beach is where we went when we were children and teenagers growing up in Camden, AL.  Beth used to go occasionally when she was a little girl and now we are continuing the Polk tradition of enjoying a little piece of heaven here on earth. 

Our daughter, Becky was able to come down for a few days to relax and help celebrate my birthday.  You notice there are no candles for we didn't want to burn the house down and not sure they would have all fit on the cake.  We ate supper at our favorite seafood restaurant in Orange Beach and my daughter made sure the waitress knew it was my 70th birthday which was announced to about 1/2 the restaurant and they all sang "Happy Birthday" and I got a delicious slice of real key lime pie which we all shared.  Good food, good time and lots of fun and love to share.

 

This was one of my favorite moments with Becky for we are doing what we both love - standing by the sea, watching the waves, and just enjoying being together.  Love the beach and love that girl.

 

 

Turning 70 was not that bad and I think I look pretty cool for a 70 year old!! It is the beginning of a new decade for me and it has its perks.  You get discounts without asking and your taxes go down.  Best of all, you have learned who you are, what you want with the years you have left, and you can live how you want to and not worry about what other people think.  These "other people" will overlook forgetfullness, unusual behavior, strange outfits, and other weird behaviour for they will just shake their heads and say, "Bless her heart, she is getting old."  Freedom is mine to be who I want to be, act like I want to act, say what I want to say and mix plaids and polka dots without worrying if it matches. 

 

I look forward to the coming years and without sadness realize they may be many or they will be some, and they may be few but that's OK for I plan to live each day fully and enjoy what I have.  Life is good and thank you Beth, Gregg, Martha, Becky, Katelyn, Morgan and Taylor giving me a great birthday.  Love ya'll. I just hope more of the family can come next year for it was wonderful but we missed those who were not there. 

 

Nuff said,

 

The Georgia Peach







68 Years and Counting

Well, ya'll come on in and sit a spell and listen to a tale. A tale of an older lady who has seen a lot in her 68 years. Some of what I have seen is good, some great and some I never imagined and I don't long for the "olden days." I like today, warts and all.

68 years ago I was born in Mullins SC to Ottis and Tootsie Polk at some hospital up there. I don't remember a whole lot about it but mama said daddy was tickled to have a "baby girl" and when he died at 94, I was still his "baby girl." They had lost a little boy before birth so I was actually the second child but the first to live and make their life different.

Daddy and mama were living a very active, young couple's life style and I am sure I put a kink in that style. Mama had to quit jitterbugging for a while down at Myrtle Beach but she said I was worth it. Daddy had to become the responsible father and he did a great job. They were special parents and I am so blessed they birthed and raised me.

We moved from SC to Selma, AL when I was 9 months old so I don't remember a whole lot about it and then they moved to Camden, AL a few months later. Daddy was the new Soil Conservationist and mama was his young, beautiful wife. This is where I grew up and lived until I was about 23 and then Roy and I have lived in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi and back to Georgia and here we are. Never dreamed I would live in that many places but I have enjoyed every one of them.

As I think back over the years, it is amazing how the world has changed. I don't remember a whole lot before age 6 but I vividly remember beginning school and how it changed my life. School was a wonderful place to be for I had a teacher who taught me to read and friends to play with. Reading became my passion and it eventually led me to be a school media specialist. "Miss Elise" never knew what an impact she had on my life but she made learning exciting and it still is.

We moved into the house where I was mostly raised when I was almost 7 and that is home. I remember we had 1 car - a gray Chrysler with a running board, roll down windows, radio, no air conditioning but did have a heater. I never imagined having a car with automatic transmission, AC/Heat, radio, CD, automatic windows and etc. and etc. Do I wish for the old Chrysler - no way. But how cars have changed!

Our new home was a basic house with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath with only running water in the lavatory, kitchen with running water in the sink, small hall with a coal burning heater, and the living room. Not a lot but it was a warm and loving home to us. We had a toilet up in the pasture for a couple of years, heated bath water on the stove, washed our clothes with a wringer type washing machine, and a great big window fan to cool us in the summer.

Daddy worked in town but we farmed also. We had cows, chickens, 1 horse for awhile, rabbits occasionally, dog , cats at the barn and a great big garden and sometimes 2. We raised fields of corn, peaches, apples, pears, pecans, strawberries and all kinds of vegetables. Mama canned everything daddy grew and we ate like royalty. Of course we all worked to help raise all of this but it was worth it for we learned to be self sufficient.

No TV, telephone, cell phone, computer, or any other "mind grabber" electronics. We did have a radio that played music, soap operas, Arthur Godfrey talk show, The Grand Old Opry, news 2 times a day, and dramas like The Lone Ranger, Inner Sanctum with the creaking door, sound, The Green Hornet and others I can't remember. I am older now and the memory is not what it used to be but it never was great. The radio sat on top of the refrigerator and brought parts of the world to us.

When it became available, we got A telephone. We had to wait until they ran the lines out in the country where we lived and it took awhile. We were part of a "party line" which meant there were about 10 people on the 1 line and we could listen in on each other's conversations. Each family had a special ring and when you were talking and someone else wanted to use it, they would often pick up the receiver, hear people talking and listen. You were supposed to quietly put the receiver down and wait but we had one lady down the road who would listen in on all the conversations. Then she had to tell everybody else and that is how "gossip" began. You never said anything on the phone you didn't want the whole world to know, kinda like Facebook.

That is about all the entertainment we had, so what did we do? Well, we had board games, card games, toys to play with and books to read. I wrote plays and made the boys help me entertain our parents by presenting it to them. They didn't mind until I made them dress up like girls. This was not too much fun for them except occasionally Arvin would begin to act like a little girl, switch his little butt and prance across the "stage" and crack us up. We were quite creative with the costumes - usually from mama's closet.

We would sit around the eating table in the kitchen for hours after a meal, talking, listening to each other, listening to the radio, I would be reading and mama would usually be sewing. It was not boring for we entertained each other. Then it was bath time, daily Bible reading and prayer and off to bed. It would be a full day and we would be tired for we would have played outside all day.

Eventually we got a record player, TV much later, Arvin played the trumpet, I played the piano, and Sam played the trombone. We had lots of music at our home and sometimes we would have 2 playing at one time. I remember the dog would sit outside an howl at the racket. We got pretty good with these instruments and Sam now plays in a volunteer band in Arlington, TX and I play the keyboard occasionally. I used play for church services in Camden but now it is only for my ears and pleasure.

Later we added a jeep to our transportation, washing machine, deep freezer, and other "modern appliances." It was a fairly simple life but a good one which taught us how to be self sufficient, take care of ourselves and our families, entertain ourselves, be comfortable alone, and how to give love and share with others. In fact, Sam and I prefer to be alone at times and like it that way. Thank goodness our spouses understand and leave us alone.

College, marriage, children, young adult years, middle age and now a senior citizen. How it has changed - some good and some not so good. We have 3 telephones, 2 cell phones, TV, DVD, VCR, AC, heat, all appliances we need, 2 laptops, wireless Internet, etc. and etc. The amazing fact is that I can use all of it. I blog, Facebook, troubleshoot and repair our laptops, hooked up our wireless router and Roku box for Netflix, and can use a stove and dishwasher. What a drastic change from 68 years ago.

I can talk to people around the world on Skype and see them while I am talking to them. I have traveled to Europe and South America plus Canada. Flying on a plane is not new anymore and can be a pain but it holds no mystery for me anymore. We stay in hotels, motels, and eat at many types of restaurants and it is not too special anymore. Did I ever think I would live like this? No way for that was a foreign world to us in rural Alabama.

Is the world different? You know it is. Is it better? I think so. Is it worse? I don't think so, but we do hear about it 24/7 if we want to. Do I want to return to the past? NO, for I like my conveniences and don't take my laptop from me for I would be lost. Life is what we make of it and in 68 years I have learned to not look for the worst but the best, not the negative but the positive but most of all remember that our Heavenly Father, the God Almighty, The Creator of the World and the LORD of All is in control and I don't have to worry about it. He can take care of me and the world without me worrying about it. Comforting isn't it?

Now I know you thought I was never going to stop rambling around about nothing but I'm through. I'm tired and going to bed. Ya'll be careful going home and come back to see us on the 'Net.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach