ANNIVERSARY TIMES TWO

Today is an anniversary of which I am well aware, Pearl Harbor Day.  I am convinced it changed my life.  I was a happy toddler with three big brothers. Within a matter of a few short months, two of those big brothers were whisked away in US Navy Blue to serve our country plus my dad started working nights and sleeping days.  For all intents and purposes, that meant three “men” were suddenly gone from my life and my mother turned inward with grief and worry, suffered a variety of illnesses.

Today is another anniversary of which I am also aware, that of my parents.  I look at this old photo of these young people that I never knew.  I never knew them because by the time I came along, life had weighed them down.  However, along with the weighty matters came the benefits of lessons learned.  I was blessed to know the more settled folks who knew deeper and sacrificial love, the ones who had lived the vows they made on their wedding day.

Today carries many anniversary memories for me.  I am thankful most of the anniversary memories were happy for my parents.

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore       12-7-2011

A TRIBUTE TO ALL WHO HAVE SERVED AND DO SERVE

WRITTEN BY MY MOM:

 

MY SONS, 1944

'Neath a tall stately maple's shade,
Plans for a glowing future were laid;
As two small boys on bended knees,

Worked with small trucks as busy as bees.

The sun glistened on gold and coppery hair,
God's benediction--they happily knelt there.

Now, clad in Uncle Sam's Navy Blue,

Their future plans changed, for me and for you.

They dream of small brother
And curly-haired sister,
In peace 'neath the maples
And home--a far vista.

We pray we prove worthy of love given thus,

By our sons and their comrades for each one of us.

May God speed them home again safe over the blue,
These dear ones of ours, so staunch and so true.

-S. OlIa G. Libby-

THE MIND THAT SPAWNED WATERBOARDING

Every time I shampoo in the shower, I have the strange sensation that somebody’s mother invented waterboarding. Before you think I have lost all manner of sense, consider some of the following with me.



Let me take you back to the WW 2 kitchen in which I spent some of the first years of my life. As we entered the doorway, immediately to the left was the end of our black cast iron cooking stove. Four round lids covered the left end of the top of the stove. These were divided by a section fitted around them that could be removed in order to fit larger pieces of wood once the fire had been started with kindling and paper. The other end of the stove held a tank of water.

Diagonally across the kitchen from the stove was a long sideboard, in the middle of which was a dry sink. To the right of the dry sink sat two pails of cold water that my daddy, my two teenage brothers, or sometimes my mother, filled from the well. In the sink we had a small white porcelain washbasin we used for hand and face washing. It was old and had been used so often that porcelain had chipped away from the bent edges leaving black places. This many years later I don’t recall the additional things that covered the countertops, but the things that matter to my story I do remember, so let’s move on to those.


There were occasions when I was one of those things on the sideboard. After three sons, my mother was delighted to not only have a daughter, but also to have one with “thick, curly hair, the color of a new penny.” On shampoo day, the only running water came about by Mamma’s racing with an aluminum cooking pot full of some of the stove’s heated water over to the sink to be mixed with cold water already scooped from the pails by a long-handled dipper into another cooking container. Then as I lay on my back on the countertop with my head hanging over the edge of the sink, she poured the mixture over my head. Being an uncooperative age 3-or-4 years old, I squirmed mightily as I kept telling her, “But I’ll get soap in my eyes!” Mamma was not about to let a little thing like that stop her progress. She was prepared with a dry folded washcloth for me to place across my eyes. It worked quite well until she started rinsing the soap from my hair. That’s when I think her efforts and the efforts of others like hers, must have planted the seeds of thought into the head or heads of whatever child or children who eventually matured into the adult(s) who came up with the idea of waterboarding. That rinse water washed over not only my hair but also onto my face and I was sure it was going to go not only into my eyes but up my nose and into my mouth as well!


I know I’m not the only child to have had such fears. I am sure my own children went through similar visions even though by their young lives they were laid down in a bathtub, partially filled with warm water. Like my mother, I gave them a folded dry washcloth to put over their eyes. They lay on their backs, keeping their elbows bent to hold their upper backs and heads higher than the rest of their bodies, as I poured warm rinse water that I, unlike my mother, had run from a single mixer faucet into a four-cup plastic measuring pitcher.  Oh, my! By cleaning their hair in that manner, am I and other mothers guilty of planting waterboarding ideas into the heads of our children? Well, so far that is one thing for which my children have not blamed me, so perhaps I’d better hide this message where they’ll never see it lest they think of the possibility every time they shampoo while in their showers!

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 10-18-2011

JOHN E. MOORE SHARES 9-11-2001 MEMORIES

Our local newspaper, THE SAN ANGELO STANDARD TIMES, invited readers to share their 9-11-2001 memories in 250 words or less.  The following is the recall by my husband JOHN E. MOORE:

On September 11, 2001, I was teaching Air Force personnel at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.  The students, from bases throughout the world, had come to learn Air Staff approved policies and techniques.  One student was from Goodfellow and the course proctor represented the Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB.  During mid-morning break, some of the students saw on TV that a plane had hit the World Trade Center; therefore, most of the class was gathered around the TV when the second tower was hit.  Security at NAS Jacksonville was immediately raised.  Non-essential personnel were asked to leave the base.  Many of the students were housed in a local hotel so the Academy arranged to have the remaining classes presented there. 

Looking back on that morning I can think of no place I would rather have been than with professionals dedicated to providing outstanding support to the military and their families.  I had worked in housing at bases throughout the country as a Command Specialist at AF Material Command before coming to Goodfellow for the last 5 of my 26 civilian service years.  Retired from civil service in August, 2000, I was offered a job as course developer and instructor for the National Center for Housing Management.  I spent the next 4 years teaching courses in Hawaii, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Jacksonville.  No class stands out as clearly in my memory as the class that was moved off base because Muslim Jihadists had attacked our country.    

COLORS

Colors make me feel happy inside. Unless you know the sensation, there seems no way I can explain it to you. It is just there.

Years ago we lived near a mill where yarn was manufactured. One of my greatest joys was being able to go to their factory outlet to buy yarn by the pound. Seeing those colors through the clear plastic bags brought my imagination to life as I envisioned a crocheted yellow cape for our daughter from one and a multi-striped full-sized afghan for my husband from another. When I came out of the store carrying the purchases, my husband’s imagination could see the possibility of the cape; however, of the afghan he wasn’t so sure. Once we got home and he saw me pulling the many pieces and lengths of colors from the bag, looking more like a mother hen plucking resistant worms from the ground than a sensible woman getting ready to crochet a large afghan, he really began to question the outcome.

As I sat on the couch, pulling free first a length of cardinal red yarn, then making a ball from a Kelly green one, I explained, “Colors make me happy.” John sat across the room from me in his recliner, shaking his head, wondering aloud how I was ever going to get that tangled mess undone, let alone make anything resembling an afghan from it. That kind of comment was exactly enough to make me more determined than ever to show him just what I could do!

After an evening of separating and balling yarns, leaving my inner eyelids resembling the colorful fabric of the costumes of clowns, I was sleepy enough to call it a day. Oh, but I was feeling happy because I knew I was ready to start the promised afghan after a restful night.

For a few weeks, once the work of the day was completed, I had many colorful evenings keeping my hands busy. My lap grew warmer with each passing night. Hubby sitting across the living room marveled as Johnny’s Cover of Many Colors continued to grow larger and the clear plastic bag of many colored yarn balls grew smaller.

Eventually the day came when I was able to present Mr. John, my husband, with the afghan that he has since used for about thirty years to “cover his button” (referring to his tummy) as he naps in his recliner.

We live a long way from the yarn factory now, but with yarn that lasts that long, I don’t have to crochet anymore. Now I can turn to computer-generated greeting cards and digital photos for my color fix.

Did I tell you colors make me happy?

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 9-1-2011

SPECIAL PEOPLE IN MY LIFE

Recently there has been some discussion on Facebook as to whether or not the friends we meet there are real or not. Some have pointed out that Facebook friends cannot be in your immediate presence so are not the same as “real” friends.

I thought about that this morning as I wrote the following to my Facebook friends:

“Good Morning, Special People in my life. Because I see your faces* when your names pop up on my computer, I smile many times in each day, both on my face and in my heart. Thank you for being an important part of what makes me who I am. Because you bring so many smiles to me, I have many to send back your way. Catch one and hold it in your heart and wear it on your face for this day.” (*meaning, in my mind)

Has anyone read, “A stranger is a friend you’ve not yet met”? A little over a year ago, many of my Facebook friends were strangers to me. We met in a writing group, our personalities clicked, and we became friends as we interacted through the various writer sites. Later we picked up the interwoven thread of friendship and have continued it through Facebook, being introduced to and adding a few more along the way.

Not all my FB friends were unknown, because many are family members (although some of those are now grown whom I’ve not seen since they were children) or longtime friends from all over the United States. However, if we carry out the premise that only the family and friends who can reach out and touch are able to give comfort, then I’m in big trouble. Other than my husband, the closest family members I have live about a three-hour drive from us. I do have a number of local friends who were friends prior to Facebook. They meet what seems to be the above-mentioned standard of being real by living within our city blocks, but like some physical family associations, some personalities mesh better than others. I know I have more in common with some of my online friends I’ve never met than I do with some of these with whom I’ve spent many hours. It’s what Anne of Green Gables refers to as “a kindred spirit.” It’s either there or it’s not.

I think I understand what those who seem to be throwing cold water on the fires of Facebook friendships are trying to get across. When we are facing life’s trials, there is nothing in this world as comforting as being in the arms of a loved one, whether it’s a daily greeting or a hug of sympathy. It is just plain good to know someone else is standing or sitting beside you when you have long hours at a hospital or you are facing some other life stress. However, having lived so far away from family and most of our loved ones for the majority of my years, there have been times when either receiving or giving physical presence has been an impossibility for me. Perhaps that’s how I have come to know the value of these online friendships, the ones who to me are real people. Some, but not all, may even remain faceless except in my mind, but the ones who are my special friends are real whether they live near or far, whether I have met them in person or not, and each one, being a real friend, carries a piece of my heart making each one a special person in my life.

M. Sue 8-24-2011

USPS ---- Uh-h-h, REALLY?

My husband is the Internet greeting card sender for our family. While he is preparing his list and checking it twice, often I am also at my computer doing my own thing, that of creating a snail mail greeting card for the same person. This way, on their birthdays, special people are twice-blessed; once with the lovely or lively interactive Internet card he chooses and once with the one I design with carefully selected photos and words, sometimes my own. That is, we aim for deliveries on, or at least near, the birthdays, but as I learned last night, it just doesn’t always work out that way.

I was quite surprised to read in a friend’s e-mail that the card I snail-mailed July 19th for her July 23rd birthday from San Angelo, Texas, had just reached her yesterday, August 9th, in Andersonville, Tennessee. She sent the message to tell me she hoped I didn’t think her rude or uncaring in not thanking me earlier, along with her explanation as to why. She said she was “taken aback” when she noted the postmark date.

I e-mailed back to say I thought no such thing as her being rude or uncaring, that I am thankful the USPS finally found their way from San Angelo to Andersonville! I added, “Your message has given me pause for thought: perhaps I need to prepare your husband's October 13th card and get it in the mail ASAP in order to assure timely arrival!”

We’ve all been hearing laments and excuses of the USPS: cut Saturday delivery, consider expansion of self-service kiosks, close small branches, increase postal rates…again. Judging from our personal Monday deliveries, I’d say cutting Saturday deliveries would simply make Monday workloads expand. Would cutting Saturday deliveries get a snail mail October birthday card from Texas to Tennessee more quickly? Expanding self-service kiosks…now there’s an idea; however, there are already complaints about what we are doing for ourselves…Internet and text-messaging. I suppose that's mixing apples and oranges though. Okay, will closing small branches aid in getting the mail delivered more efficiently? One could hope something will help, but I really don’t think that is the solution. Our small branch postal workers are friendly folks trying their best to do their jobs and they do it well. Somewhere, someone is really letting them down.

More questions than answers, so back to our computers.

Let me just finish by saying I am thankful it was a birthday card, not one expressing sympathy, that was so long in being delivered.

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 8-10-2011

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

As a little girl, I lived in a village in central Maine. The month of May meant creating, decorating, and hanging May Baskets.

I don’t remember how old I was when I started, but I do recall an almost abrupt end when we moved away from the village into the country where the houses were farther apart, then later into the city where, I had also grown older and the customs were different. Some families celebrated hanging May Baskets only on May First, others every day throughout the whole month of May. Our family and our little village celebrated through the whole month of May.

In my childhood, both boys and girls took part in coloring, cutting, and learning how to weave strips of heavyweight paper to form small basket shapes. Some of the woven baskets were square, some rectangular. Sometimes we folded colorful crepe paper in origami fashion. We were then able to make scissor cuts in it, so when it was opened it formed a little hanging basket nest, where we placed a few goodies. Whether it was the woven basket or the crepe-paper style, we made handles that we glued on. We made three folds of the heavyweight paper, before cutting the right length to form the handles for the woven baskets. Because the crepe paper was so flexible, we could braid it for those handles. Waiting for that glue to dry was the hard part!

The “goodies” we put inside, cushioned with tissue paper, might be store-bought candy, homemade fudge, or some little trinket we were done playing with that we thought the recipient would find delight in having. Once the little May Basket was filled we’d try to sneak to the home of our unsuspecting friend, quietly hang the May Basket on the knob of their most used door, yell, “May Basket!” and run away, hiding from sight as fast as we could. Sometimes they could guess by our voices who had left the May Basket, sometimes by the contents.

When I was in my mid-sixties, a friend made and mailed a May Basket to me! Apparently I didn’t, but how I wish I had taken a picture of it. Some info she included about May Baskets I’d not previously realized, was that the hanging of them by children is an old New England tradition. The original idea was to announce “Spring and Good Cheer”. The information pointed out that May Baskets were given as an expression of love and friendship not only to children but also to loved ones, pointing out particularly “invalids and shut-ins.”

This morning as I wished my husband a happy first day of May, I thought about my childhood and the hanging of May Baskets. I asked, “Did you used to hang May Baskets?” He said he doesn’t remember. He grew up in the city and, as I stated earlier, I learned the customs there were different, so I suspect he didn’t even hang May Baskets.

For me, it is such a happy childhood memory. Like so many things, I can only wish such a memory for everyone, so if you want to try something new with your children, grandchildren, neighbor kids, or school kids, why not introduce them to a new variation of the old New England tradition of hanging May Baskets?

If you’re trying to think of a way to bring cheer to a shut-in, how about making your own May Basket and filling it with a goodie or two of your choosing? It doesn’t have to be candy; a little plant would bring spring cheer!

What a Merry Month of May you and your May Baskets can make it!

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 5-1-2011

A LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER

Dear Beth~ I’ve been meaning to tell you how much the digital picture frame you gave us means to me. I realized today that Dad finds pleasure in my latest downloads to it, too, when he mentioned one particularly beautiful flower, describing it so well I knew exactly THE ONE from around thirty I had just added! I confess I keep wondering just how many pictures the frame will hold before it hops off the desk or counter top, whichever place I have it for viewing or loading at the moment, and yells, "WAIT! STOP! ENOUGH, ALREADY!" So far, that hasn't occurred, but I am expecting it at any moment because I think I see the sides swelling like the cheeks on a kid puffing out as he/she prepares to blow a bubble in a bubble-gum-blowing contest! Last year, I took my digital camera…you know, the one I told Dad I didn’t want, but he bought for me anyway?…and headed towards a beautiful bunch of bluebonnets carpeted between the walkway of a private home and a busily traveled street near our house. I thought, “They are so beautiful, surely the owner won’t mind if I stand in the street and take pictures of just the flowers,” As I stood there doing so, a kind woman came from the house and invited me to come closer, saying, “They are beautiful this year, aren’t they? I have irises over here, if you’d like to take pictures of them as well.” Next thing I knew, her next-door neighbor came over and invited me to her house, too, not only to the front yard filled with a variety of roses and more irises, but also into her back yard where her kitties wrapped their tails around my legs as she and I visited while I took more pictures with the digital camera…the one I was sure I’d never use. I came home having made two new friends - six if you count the four-footed, long-tailed ones - and with my camera filled with pictures of bluebonnets, deep-red roses, irises of several colors, orange-red poppies, and even a buzzing bee. I downloaded the pictures onto my computer, then into the digital frame. Over the past year, every time I have taken flower pictures, I have added to the collection. I have had many opportunities with other neighbors inviting me into their yards. I have photographed gorgeous golden roses, yellow and lavender irises, red-orange amaryllis, peace roses, many additional flowers as well. And each time, as soon as I got those flowers downloaded and saved to my computer, one of the next steps was to add the favorites to the digital frame. Once I found out how much fun I could have with the digital camera I didn’t want, I went to our local rose garden. One day last week, it was time, so I went again. I took nearly two-hundred pictures. Of course I didn’t keep all of them and I certainly didn’t ask the photo frame to hold every one I did save, but I added plenty to it that day. Then, yesterday I went to the city park where I added most of an additional hundred pictures to my floral collection. Again, the digital frame wasn’t asked to hold every one, but the favored few have been added today. So far, so good. No yelling for me to stop yet. I am thankful because to me, the digital frame is a place of peace. It holds a slideshow of wonderful moments of meeting new friends, of lovely blue clouds drifting by in the sky, majestic sunrises and sunsets, a variety of flowers that can only be conjured up in the mind of a magnificent Creator, of quiet time spent down by the riverside, and a reminder that someone who understood provided my heart’s desire for a quiet place to parade my pictures. Thank you, Beth. Love always, Mom

THE THREE-QUARTER-CENTURY-CLUB

Picture of Kent and me taken in June of 2003

It was the summer of 1948. I was eight years old. My mother and I were invited to go to Augusta, the capital city of the State of Maine, for a special afternoon celebration of the Three-Quarter-Century-Club.

Since I have already explained my age, it should be obvious, that the three-quarter-century, wouldn’t describe my mother, but if you guessed it to include one of my grandparents, you would be correct. My Grandpa, William Herbert Glidden, had celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday on May tenth of that year; therefore, he was eligible to be a member in good standing of the Three-Quarter-Century-Club.

As we approached the Augusta Armory building that lovely summer afternoon with Grandpa and my Aunt Charlotte, who drove us there, I had no idea what to expect, but I soon realized the place was filled with a huge crowd of very happy old people! The folks milled around with greetings of those who hadn’t seen one another for long periods of time. I overheard conversations and witnessed hugs that told me of family connections from different parts of the state.

Even at my age, there was joy in observing these reunions, but to my delight there were more surprises to come. A hush fell as everyone found folding chair seating in that huge building. Attention was directed to the stage. The men who stood there fit the three-quarter-century (and more) qualifications, as they cradled their well-tuned and warmed-up fiddles, ready to start the entertainment of the afternoon. And what an entertainment it was! Fiddle-playing at its finest was presented to the constantly-smiling, foot-tapping, (sometimes foot-stomping!) audience. All too soon it, like all good things, had to come to an end. As I write this, I am fully aware that the fiddle-playing of those particular men has also ended; however the memory of the joy they gave this girl that warm summer afternoon of her eighth year lingers like the resonant sounds of a bow on the strings.

Three-quarters of a century seemed old to me that day. Today, it doesn’t seem so old. Today, my brother, Kent Wilmer Libby, celebrates his seventy-fifth birthday. Although he says the winter has been a rough one, he definitely is not as old as the long-ago men who played those fiddles! If the Three-Quarter-Century-Club is still around, Kent is eligible to be a member in good standing, just as our grandpa was, but times and people have changed. I doubt the club is still in existence. An Internet search provided no information about it. Of course, there are still wonderful gatherings of great fiddle-players who bring crowds of happy folks together to help create memories for new generations, but whether we celebrate with fiddles or phone calls, three-quarters of a century is still something marvelous to celebrate.

HAPPY THREE-QUARTERS-OF-A-CENTURY, KENT!

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 4-13-2011

REMEMBERING WANDA

Today, April 5th, would have been my friend Wanda's birthday.

I miss her in so many ways.

BELONGING

SUSIE MABEL GRANT GLIDDEN

BORN MARCH 21, 1878 DIED MARCH 31, 1951

This photo of my maternal grandmother, Susie Mabel Grant Glidden, the grandmother for whom I was named, was taken to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary.

She married at eighteen and gave birth to ten children, eight of whom lived.

The first time I saw this picture, I, too, had just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary. Having also married at eighteen, I was very close in age to Grammie as I was seeing her now, not as I remembered her shortly before she passed away when I was eleven. I was stunned at the resemblance between her and me. I had always known I was born into the family, was named for her, my mother, and a great-aunt; however, this was the first time I ever felt the true belonging that reached into my soul.

Years have passed since that unforgettable experience, but as I age I continue to seek signs of belonging when I look in the mirror. I have aged more gently than Grammie did. I have had a far easier life. But, Grammie, I wish I could tell you that no March 21st ever passes without my thinking about you. And I wish you could know the great-granddaughter and great-great-granddaughter, each of whom have been named after you as well. They know about you.

(C) Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-22-2011

TRAIN RIDES

Our eldest daughter, Beth, recently reminisced briefly on her blog about a train ride we took the night we left Cleethorpes, on our way into London, England, the summer of 1971. That was a unique trip in that each of our children, ages seven, ten, and twelve, were old enough to have memories to remember it.

Train rides were common during my husband’s and my earlier years. During World War II, we saw family members come and go regularly by train. The depots were in small towns and larger cities. It remained so even after the war for a number of years, eventually giving way to bus, personal, and air transport.

John and I married in January, 1958. We used train travel between Boston, Massachusetts and Bangor, Maine. In order to be near him and prepare things for our marriage, I had moved in with a Brookline, Massachusetts, minister’s family the end of November the previous year. This gave me opportunity to find a job and get to know the area. John had found a job with a sporting goods store as a shipping clerk in downtown Boston. (Loved those Joe and Nemo’s hot dogs for lunch at that little hole in the wall across the street!) We found and reserved a furnished corner basement apartment in a three-story building that went from 89 to 99 Marion Street in Brookline. We were ready to be married!

The weekend prior to our marriage we took the train back to Maine to take care of the necessary pre-wedding legal paperwork. A little bit of time for personal visits with family but soon, we had a train schedule to keep so we headed back to the Bangor Depot and Boston.

The following week we were on the train, once again, heading north on another Friday. Upon learning of our wedding plans, one of the male passengers, felt it necessary ask, “Why get married? It’s a terrible way to ruin a friendship.” Strange…that remark still sticks so firmly today.

Our wedding was small, but love was there. The following Sunday afternoon, my dad took John and me to catch the train at the little town of Newport where I, as a child had said happy hellos and sad good-byes during World War II to my two older USN brothers. This time, though, I was on the train that rumbled down the tracks taking my brand new husband and me off to our married life in Brookline.

A few months later, Beth received her first train ride although there’s no way she would remember it. At that time, she was what is today commonly referred to as “a fetus.” We called her, “a baby!” With the thoughts of approaching parenthood and remembering what having grandparents in our own lives meant to us, we wanted that family fellowship in our child’s life, too. We decided to move back to Maine.

When you hear the term, “kit and kaboodle” that pretty well describes how we traveled back to Maine, by train. By that time we had acquired, Honey, an adorable little honey-blonde Spitz-and-Spaniel dog from the pound. She was leash-trained and allowed on the train along with our (you’re not gonna believe this!) ironing board, packed boxes of household goods, whatever we had. Don’t ask me how we managed it all. I have no idea. We must have put it in a baggage car somehow. Sure wouldn’t get away with such today.

Beth’s next train ride is one she won’t remember either, but if she looks in her baby book, I think she may find a flattened paper cup with the train company logo on it. (And Chip, please don’t start again, about Beth has a Baby Book and you have none! At least you were cared for! And loved! Don’t forget loved!) John had to go to Chelsea Naval Hospital for medical assessment, so we took advantage and made a family trip out of it. I was so proud to take our Baby Beth back to introduce her to the people I had worked with. They were properly impressed with our then five-months old daughter.

One of my favorite co-worker/friends, Mary Pasyanos, a Greek lady, just a bit older than I, wasn’t at work that day, but as I recall left word for us to please come to her apartment. She gave us ten dollars in shiny quarters for Beth. They had some special Greek meaning for a new or, I think first, baby, but I cannot tell now what it is. Perhaps it is written in the baby book. After our visiting, we returned to Bangor…another train ride.

It’s no wonder train travel holds happy memories for Beth. She has had many more miles traveling down the tracks than she likely knew!

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore

THE QUILT CONNECTION

Long gone is the little pink and white calico Scottie-dog quilt mentioned a couple of days ago. Childhood days turned to those of maturity. God’s paintbrush has frosted those coppery-colored curls with touches of silver, though the eyes still softly glow with the well-worn copper of youth. No longer either a mother or stairs is present when naptime arrives.
Toys that once would have covered the childhood bed now line a closet shelf and have been replaced by two real, live Yorkshire Terriers.

Instead of climbing the stairs to the bedroom, naptime
is frequently found in a favorite recliner that sits either in the great room or the office of a one-story patio home. There’s not a lot of room in that recliner, but if either of those two little dogs sees me picking up a lap covering, they know I plan to relax for a while. I start to sit down and before I can make a lap, a bundle of busyness starts its leap-and-land process, leaving little room for me, book, laptop computer, and/or most important, the second doggie.
With my thoughts on lap coverings, etc., I want to tell a bit more about the Scottie-dog described in the earlier post. Charlotte, my mamma’s sister, made it. Aunt Charlotte and I wrote back and forth to one another with some regularity, especially the last few years before she died. She sent me a picture of herself with a quilt she had made. That brought my Scottie-dog quilt to mind so I wrote to tell her how much it had meant to me. It had been a very long time and she didn’t even remember having made it! I was so glad I could remind her. It would be a nice thing to have an actual picture of it, though in my mind’s eye I still do.
One day while we were visiting, I told the Scottie-dog quilt tale to my husband’s sister, Mary, an avid quilter. She delighted with me over my memories as we looked over her quilts and plans for more projects. Because she lives in Florida and we in Texas, we didn’t get to visit and muse that often. Once I was home I forgot our conversation, but she didn’t. In December, a few weeks later, our doorbell rang. There was a neatly wrapped package addressed to me from Mary. I confess. I do love packages in the mail, surprise or otherwise, but surprises are the absolute best!
Upon the opening, this surprise was magnified. There lay a twin-size Scottie-dog quilt with a special message tag sewed on it: “Sue’s Scotties II” Mary had tucked a note inside stating in part, “I’m sure this quilt bears little resemblance to the one you remember as a child. Since I could not replace that one, I decided to interpret and update it a bit. Hope you’ll be happy with the results and that you’ll be curled up under it with a good book very soon!”
Later, in response to my thank-you, she said, “I’m getting pretty fussy (in my old age) about whom I create for, but I felt sure Sue and the Scotties would be a good match. I hope you will spend many a happy winter together.” A few winters have come and gone since then. Not only have I been warmed physically by “Sue’s Scotties II” but also emotionally by the loving memory-connections it conjures up from generations past and present.
Thank you, Aunt Charlotte. Thank you, Mary.
© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-18-2011

QUILT MEMORIES

With the writing prompt to write about a quilt or a blanket, it took little to get the memories moving.

She was a cute toddler with coppery-colored curly hair and eyes. She lived in a two-story house. When it came time for a nap, her mother took her by the hand as they started to climb the stairs and made a game of learning while they counted the steps as they went up…one, two, three…

Once in her room her bed greeted her with a line of dolls and toys that lay from the wall side of the bed all the way to the other side. Her pillow was covered so there seemed to be no place to lay her head. Since a nap was one of her least favorite things to do laying her head down was in the same category. She sat with her back towards her toy-laden pillow and covered her lap as she studied the handmade quilt that warmed her legs and encouraged her imagination.

Her aunt had made the quilt from 9” squares of white muslin using four-inch
deep rose-pink sashwork to frame each square. At the same time the design created vertical and horizontal lines making a rectangular quilt of three squares across by four squares down. It was just the right size for a little girl and her single bed.

Why would such a quilt inspire imagination in a small child? The answer lay in each square. A silhouette of a Scottie dog made of feed bag calico was centered in each square. Each was made from a different calico print and outlined with hand-embroidered black buttonhole stitch. Each Scottie dog had a black circle eye made from the six-strand embroidery floss as well.

As the little girl sat in her bed she would look down at each Scottie dog and choose a “Favorite of the Day.” Since she had a Favorite Favorite, he was chosen a lot more often than the rest. Sometimes she felt rather bad about choosing him so often. On that day, she’d choose another just so that one would not feel left out.

Finally the eyes of the little girl would grow heavy. She’d lay her coppery curls on the empty space on her pillow from where she’d taken her dolly to cuddle in her arms. Now she and her dolly would each snuggle under the warmth of the little quilt while the other toys would watch with wishful eyes as they heard the little girl teach her dolly, “One, two, three…”

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-16-2011

Picture is author and her big brother Kent Wilmer Libby.

SOMETIMES ANGELS WEAR DOCTOR’S COATS

The recent surgery of a dear friend brought to mind a similar time of my own.

Mine came following what was the most difficult decision-making time in my life: that being admitting my aging mother to the care of a nursing home. In the few weeks she had been there, it had already been a rough time. I was dealing with emotional and physical pain. Necessity caused the physical pain to win out.

It was approaching Thanksgiving. My personal care physician ordered a sonogram that showed gallstones necessitating immediate surgery. My pain had already told me something had to be done soon. I went for the requisite pre-surgical procedures only to learn there was concern regarding my heart. What? I was too young to have heart issues. The medical staff assured me it was probably nothing but a precautionary extra step. Still, with no warning, my dad had died from a massive heart attack just prior to his fifty-seventh birthday. I was assured the surgeon would do his utmost to swiftly get me in for those tests and the surgery.

My husband and I waited for the expected phone call but none came, so we knew we would be held up past the Thanksgiving weekend. More pain and no tasty, filling meal of turkey and gravy for me, that was obvious. Friday morning following Thanksgiving, our phone rang. It was the surgeon. He explained he had been unsuccessful in several tries to reach us, but our line was continually busy. Apparently after a phone call with one of our family members, we inadvertently left it off balance. He explained he had made arrangements for the heart doctor to meet us at the hospital ER, to do the necessary tests on me if we could be there before noon that day. If everything checked out okay, he would do the surgery first thing the following Monday. Relief was in sight!

We scurried to the hospital. I successfully passed the tests and was cleared for upcoming surgery. With orders in hand, I looked forward to Monday morning. Surgery was swift and successful. Pain was gone, except as my friend has said, a new pain was temporarily in its place.

After I was once again on the road to good health, it was with much pleasure I wrote a thank-you note to the surgeon. He had been so thoughtful in taking time out of his holiday to see to it that I got good care as soon as possible. Having learned he had a son following in his footsteps, I also commended him for the exemplary lifestyle he was setting for future generations. Imagine my surprise when almost in return mail, I received a thank you for my thank-you! He explained that it was infrequent that he heard such, that it was more often he heard the other side, and he was so pleased that I was happy with his care.

How could I not be? After all, even though he was a human being, Dr. Gabriel (really his name) was to me an angel wearing a doctor’s coat.

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-12-2011

PERCEPTION

“Just wait ‘til your father gets home!”
When our grown children visit, that’s a phrase I frequently hear when our son is reminiscing about his upbringing and how I, as a mother, chose to discipline. Need I say his memory and mine differ?

I neither deny nor doubt using that phase but I definitely deny using it as frequently as he recalls its being touted. Could it be that he, as a child, seldom listened, but when I pulled out the big guns, so to speak, he knew he’d better listen…or else?

One reason, I know I didn’t use it as often as he seems to think I did is the fact I did not believe in passing the buck. I was the mother in the home and as such, I was Johnny-on-the-spot. When I saw a wrong, it was my job to correct it. Even though I joke about my having been the youngest in a family of four and the only girl, and having learned well the art of tattling, I didn’t choose to bring that art into the raising of our children. No, just waiting to tell dad wasn’t my choice of discipline. “Nip it in the bud,” as Deputy Barney Fife has oft been heard to say.

Additional reasons “Just wait until your father gets home” wouldn’t be particularly effective include:

1) When our son was approximately three to five years old, his dad was working two fulltime jobs. During that time we had no car, so that meant we used the city bus, walked, or after his late night shift at a radio station, the dad in our family took a well-deserved cab-ride home, arriving around 1 a.m.

Waking that kid at that time for punishment sure seemed like exactly what he needed, but I always tried to be a woman of my word, and if I had said, “Just wait until your father gets home,” surely I would have meant it, so-o-o… Oh, no wonder he remembers it with such clarity. I wonder how it has slipped my mind so completely.

2) Following that, eventually we did have a car. My husband’s job took him out of town to manage an ice cream shop. He left early in the mornings and came home late many nights. Eventually, job transfers allowed us to make moves, but those were after we’d spent two summers living in a tent in order to be where his job was.

3) That brings us up to our son’s being approximately age ten when we spent a summer in England where Dad went to work in the morning, came home mid-day for a long lunch, then spent the afternoon up until ten p.m. or the wee hours of the following morning at The Fitties, what we would call an RV park, helping introduce the equivalent of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“Just wait until your father gets home”? I think not!

4) Oh, but wait! Teen years were yet to come, right? Oh, yes, the teen years. Travel was introduced when summer vacation arrived. Son was up early in the morning and off in the car beside dad. They made quite a pair as they sold fruit and produce to restaurants along the east coast of Maine on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, then the southern coastal areas on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays!
Oh, yeah, right; “Just wait until your father gets home!” (And brings you with him!)

5) By this time, our son had spent too much time with his dad. He had learned too well the art of teasing. One day I was seriously aggravated with him. He was trying to laugh me out of it as he looked me straight in the eye and said, “I’m not afraid of you.” I was so taken by surprise. I lost it. I laughed! At that very minute, I knew that from now on, whenever discipline was to be dished up, I would have to say,

“Just wait until your father gets home!”

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 3-3-2011

GIFTS FROM THE HEART

They’re thinking about me, these friends of mine.

She’s out shopping when she sees a book to buy. She picks up two, one for herself, but one for her friend…me. Later she sees another book she likes, but after a thorough search, realizes there’s only one. When telling me about it, she says she is planning to share. We go to another store in the same chain, look on the bookshelves, and after a search she calls out in delight, “Here it is!” I reach for it, planning to add it to my purchases. She grins as she hurriedly moves to hug it back to her body, as she says, “No, I said I was getting it for you!” We both like to write and both books are about…you guessed it…writing.

I’m sitting at home. The doorbell rings. I had no idea: they’re thinking about me, these friends of mine.

As I start to open the door I see the mailman or one of the deliverymen has left a package by our door, but no, my friend who is standing there, bends to pick up the tall, rather large box. On it is the picture of a lighthouse. Oh, yes, indeed, they’re thinking about me, these friends of mine! Inside the box is a solar-powered lighthouse that will glow in the dark of night. The two who are giving me this gift see my heart’s love for the coastal land of my birth. She is here to give me their gift, to tell me they know this should be mine. This is not the first such gift from them.


As I look around my rooms, the many gifts given with smiles are frequent reminders of friends of mine. I am thankful for the mementos, but I am even more thankful for dear friends who are thinking of me.

“I thank God in all my remembrance of you…” Philippians 1:3 (NASB)

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 2-24-2011

BEFORE YOU CAN DRY ANOTHER’S TEARS

Today we received word that a dear friend has hours, at most, left on this earth. Over the past five years as she has battled her illness, we have reached out with prayers requests. There have been many heart-touching kindnesses shown along the way that have lifted and cheered us. Sometimes kindnesses appear when we least expect them and in most unexpected ways.
One such thing occurred just two days ago. I went into a local chocolate shop called Sugar Daddy Desserts. I thought I was strong until the owner was ready to wait on me. When he looked up to ask, "May I help you?" I broke as I said, "I'm hurting." You see, I knew the background story of his life. He had lost his wife, the mother of his children, to breast cancer. The story was recently written in our local newspaper.
I pulled myself together enough to show him my friend's picture, explain the circumstances, and say I had hoped the young woman I'd seen working in the back room could tell me what kind of chocolates my friend usually bought. He said, "Just a minute," as he scurried to get her." In what seemed like seconds, they both returned on my side of the counter, loving empathy in their eyes. He said, "This is my daughter, Michelle."
I explained I'd known her from having met her years before at the church we attend, but I didn't realize she was his daughter. The tension of the sorrow was somewhat relieved as he lightly joked about their keeping that a secret. She expressed her sympathy at my circumstances, while adding regret that she didn't recall my friend's choices. I said I'd look for something to take anyway. After asking my friend's favorite color, Michelle excused herself "to the back room for a few moments." I heard her dad quietly say something to her, finishing with, "Do whatever you want."
In the meantime, I found a chocolate block to take and selected a wooden rose, and waited. The shop gives a wooden rose to each lady on each visit, so by now my friend had a pretty good collection.
When Michelle returned, again to my side of the counter, she carried a beautifully wrapped, in florist-style, bouquet of at least a dozen of those wooden roses...shades of pink...my friend's favorite color! When Michelle had asked earlier, it had gone over my head as being perhaps some special chocolate treat trimmed in pink she was preparing for me to take to my friend.
I once read something to the effect that you have to weep before you can dry another's tears. These people certainly knew how to take a gray day and add sunshine. I am thankful and wanted to share this message with you.
If you would like to say thank you to them, too, you can access their e-mail by visiting their site through this hyperlink: http://www.sugardaddydesserts.com/

©Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 1-28-2011

THE MOST EXPENSIVE CHIPS AND SALSA I NEVER ORDERED

I once read about a mortifying mistake, never dreaming I’d live through one, but such was the case this past Sunday when we took out-of-town guests out to lunch. The problem seemed to be the restaurateur and his minions were the ones out to lunch.

We arrived at the restaurant at 11:50 a.m., promptly requested a table for seven and were told there would be a twenty-minute wait. Elderly friends who have been married a year longer than we have been alive, that being seventy-two years for them, went in just ahead of us. They must have been led to their seat in a hurry because they disappeared right away. Another friend appeared from the recesses of the restaurant, thinking it was just my husband and me standing there, waiting. He was planning to invite us to sit with him and his wife. They had just been seated in a booth for six.

After forty minutes had passed, we questioned the hostess and she said she’d check the table they had in mind for us. Oops! The people had just ordered dessert so it’d be another twenty minutes…sorry. When we had been there approximately an hour, my husband asked if it would be possible if two tables for four emptied, they could be pushed together to make room for us. An agreeable nod led to nothing more than a hovering consultation at the hostess stand that we were forced to witness as we continued to wait while those with lesser numbers who came in after us were continually called.

In the meantime, our out-of-town guests were very patient considering they had planned to eat lunch, then get headed back towards their homes, a four-hour drive once they were on the road. The longer the wait, the deeper my embarrassment grew. As each minute ticked off, I tried to avoid joining in like manner. In the meantime, our elderly friends came through the lobby with a to-go box in hand. The sweet lady asked, “Are you still waiting? You can have our booth.”

Finally, we were given a choice: we could wait for the dessert-eaters to leave (we were informed they had just asked for to-go boxes) or we could take two small round tables pushed together in the bar. My husband selected the bird-in-the-hand. We headed for the bar area and climbed onto the high bar stools. Thankfully my precarious Parkinson’s imbalance wasn’t working overtime and since there was little elbowroom on which to lean on the tiny tables, I managed to plant my feet quite securely on the ring surrounding the stool’s lower edge.

The manager, whom my husband had asked to speak to earlier, miraculously showed up this time…not the same manager who had been involved in the hostess stand conference as before….hm-m-m-m. He personally delivered chips and salsa and cheesy dip that was no charge “because he knew we had had a long wait.” Oh, he had no idea! He also promised that Stonehardt (name changed lest I be sued) was “going to take good care of us.” Once again, he was mistaken. Stonehardt showed up with what appeared to be a chip on his shoulder. (Not the kind served with salsa! Maybe Santa cheated him out of that sports car he really, really wanted…but, hey! Don’t blame me. At this point, do I even slightly resemble a jolly fat man in a red suit?)

In the meantime, our friends who had planned to invite us to sit with them came searching for us in this hidden nook, saying they thought we must have left. They saw we had just been served our water and cokes, and were interested in our story of how their tee-totaling friends ended up in the bar. Since they realized the already-long wait we’d had to be seated, they left with a few hugs and smiles all around.

Once Stonehardt realized we weren’t out to make him pay for the hold-up out front, he seemed resigned to do his job in a less surly manner but certainly not in a glad-you-are-here way. He was busy, but without customers such as we were still trying to be, where would he be?

Our meals were a long time arriving and once there, my sandwich, which should have been warm through was barely so, and cool in places. Our granddaughter’s meat was rare instead of cooked well done. The waiter did offer to replace it and when she said, “No, thanks,” he removed the cost from the ticket.

When we had completed the meal and asked for to-go boxes, Stonehardt brought them immediately, along with the bill, but then, the wait began once again. The bill is time-stamped 2 p.m. It had been a long afternoon already. We were thankful to have had good company with whom to spend it, except we knew they were eager to get on their way. Eventually, my husband asked another waitstaff to get the manager (who did not appear) but Stonehardt did, carrying food for another table. Finally, well over two hours after our arrival, we were able to pay and be on our way.

I was just glad our guests were the ones who had made the decision to go to that restaurant. Of one thing I am pretty sure: even with free chips and salsa, upon their return to our city, they’re not likely to ask to go there again.

© Marilyn Sue (Libby) Moore 1-3-2011