Email is great. Texting is greater; however, hearing a loved one’s voice on the other end of the line is the greatest. This past week I was making decisions about tossing old cassette tapes into the garbage when I came across one that I had made at a family gathering at Thanksgiving back in the ‘80’s. I had put a tape recorder behind the dining room table and turned it on to record while we were having our Thanksgiving dinner.
My dad could tell the funniest stories. During the meal, I prompted him to tell my son and his family the story about how he got into trouble the day he enlisted in the Army in 1917, WWI, in Mississippi. The story is that he was told to line up with all of the other 17 year old enlistees and wait for a bus. It was hotter than Hades that day. He got so thirsty that he thought he was going to die. He left the group, crossed the street to a little grocery store and bought himself a cool soda pop. When he returned to the group, he was grabbed and taken to the “hoosegow” (an Americanism term for jail) to spend the night and next day: not a nice way to start a military career.
After that story, I asked my husband, (who had a heart attack two weeks later and died,) to tell another hilarious story that I knew the kids would enjoy.
Story after story continued during the meal before the men adjourned to the Cowboys football game while mom and I cleaned up the kitchen. Thank goodness I remembered to turn off the recorder before the tape ran out and then labeled it for future generations. Last night, I heard my loved ones’ voices for the first time in thirty-five years. Needless to say, it was a tear-jerking event, but so wonderful.
My son, an only child, wrote only one letter to us while he was in college. I have it framed; but, the good news is that the reason he only wrote one letter is because we told him he could call us ‘collect’ anytime he wanted to. I can still hear the operator saying, “I have a collect call for you from your son; will you accept the charges?” My answer was always, “Oh, my, yes, I love hearing his voice!”
Another lesson I learned last night was never throw anything away without going through the bag or box or whatever!
Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. I wish retailers wouldn’t cut it short by putting out Christmas stuff so early. Enough said about that.
Making fall table runners is so easy. The fabrics are wonderful right now. Walking through a fabric store is like eating Halloween candy. I just can’t get enough of it. I seem to be in my “get it done, quickly” mode. Pinking shears are the answer to such things. If you don’t have a pair that cut really well, throw them away and get a new pair of good sharp ones. Save up the 50% off coupons from fabric stores and get them. You’ll be so glad you did.
Buy at least a 1/3 yard of “fall leaf” fabric; with the pinking shears, trim off the selvage edges and along the long straight edges; spray the fabric with “spray starch;” let dry almost completely; press with a hot iron. And, voila, you have a table runner that is at least 45” long by 12” wide. How easy is that! If you want to add a layer of batting and a lining, that can be done easily enough. Do a little machine ‘wandering’ style quilting following the images on the cloth, and you’ll have a padded table runner. Add a beautiful candle or fall flowers for the centerpiece, and you have a beautiful Thanksgiving table. I am beginning to sound like Martha Stewart!
Oh, dear me! Just don’t send me to the ‘hoosegow!’
