The affect the economy has had, causing unemployment for both my husband and son, has caused us to live on the memories of past vacations over the past few years. We’ve been able to get away for our anniversary weekend, but that’s about it.
This year, since my husband now has a job, and has not used the 5 days allotted to him for the year…yes, that’s it, just 5 days…for vacation, sickness, personal day, whatever, we hope to get away for a week and go to our favorite destination, Maine. We’re going to have to keep it downright simple, but we enjoy the simple things of life, so that’s fine with us. There’s so much beauty in Maine, and the lobster is wonderful.
We vacationed many times in Blackwoods Campground in Acadia National Park when the children were growing up. We loved vacationing in September before they were school age, and now that they are adults, we are back to vacationing in September.
I’ve probably written a few pages on here before about our vacations, and have elsewhere on the web, here’s a few links for you:
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Memphis Travel. All opinions are 100% mine.
I wish I had fond memories of Memphis, Tennessee to tell you about, but visiting Tennessee is a dream of mine…a memory I’d like to make. Some of the nicest people I’ve become acquainted with here on the internet live in Tennessee, and when I make my way down there one day, I can’t imagine not visiting Memphis.
I visited the site at one of the links included on the page and found that you can enter to win a trip package, something I’ll be doing as soon as I’ve finished typing this post.
Then I visited their website, which is what I’d call a “Memphis-savvy travel guide” and looked in the blue box around the middle of the page…under it was a large section of white with nothing written in it….hmmm…kind of a waste of space it seemed UNTIL I picked my interest…music was the first thing that caught my eye…and as soon as I picked it, that blank white area filled in with all kinds of wonderful things related to music…so I went on to pick a few other favorite things, like couple trips as I’d be going with my husband…no children…we’ve raised them…but they do have a family selection. In fact there’s lots of interests to select, you’ll have to give it a try…you can plan a good part of your visit right there.
I love flickr, have some of my own pictures uploaded there, here’s some nice places to see while you’re down there:
This is at the Memphis Botanical Garden…there are lots of beautiful natural things there, but what a cute idea…literal “flower beds” I love botanical gardens. You can look at the I Love Memphic photostream in Flickr for many more pictures.
Don’t forget to sign up for the enter to win a trip package…I’m going to right now…win or not, I do hope to visit Tennessee and have some memories to share with you.
First, I hope all had a wonderful Christmas, and are looking ahead to a great 2010, Happy New Year!
This is the first day back to work for my husband, who took a vacation week off. We spent it at home, going out on a few day trips, eating out a lot, resting, and enjoying the holidays and a couple of family birthdays.
This year for the first time in a few years, I mailed Christmas Cards, including a Christmas letter that I do each year. As I do the cards, I read all the letters from past years, which brings back many fond memories…have always wished that I’d taken up journaling, but this is the next best thing.
This morning I sat down with several cards that were still sitting under the tree and hadn’t been added to the pile we’ve received by mail over the past weeks, and started reading each one. Some were to my husband, I don’t always take the opportunity to read his cards from our children, feeling at times like it’s something between the children and him, but today I did…and have to say I found myself in tears reading the wonderful things they wrote to and about him…and then reading what they wrote in my own cards. It made me appreciate my husband more, looking at him through my children’s eyes…and myself more, as I often go through the “if only” kind of thinking…if only we had done this, my son would have a great job right now, if only we had done….and the list can go on. But reading cards like the one my son wrote reminds me that we have given him the best thing he will need as he faces lifes challenges, a deep understanding of what the true meaning of CHRISTmas is all about, and the impact that can have on his life.
Then I went and gathered all of the cards received over the weeks, and put them in a basket where they stay throughout the year…all other cards received that year are added to the basket. As I was doing this, I realized I was adding to last year’s cards as well, it seems like it wasn’t all that long ago that we received last year’s Christmas cards.
Do women wear aprons anymore? I think they do, in fact, I know they do, but when I put an apron on, it doesn’t look anything like the apron’s my mother or grandmother used to wear, and doesn’t get used nearly as much. My mother always, always dressed nicely each day, wearing a dress or skirt with a sweater or blouse. It was only in the later years when teens had moved on to wearing jeans in high school that I remember my Mom finally wearing pants or slacks.
But an apron was very important if you wanted to keep your dress clean, and I suppose it still is. I read a little write up in a recent newsletter from a quilting club I belong to that was so nostalgic, and I thought I’d share it with you, it’s called “The History of Aprons”...I’ll give credit where it’s due…as soon as I find out who wrote this!
“I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. Here’s some other things Grandma’s apron was good for:
It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and somtimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old time apron’ that seved so many purposes.
PS – I don’t think I ever caught anything from an Apron”
Yes, this is us, the picture taken in the fall of 1978, a little over 30 years ago, so this is our 30th Valentines Day together. We went back and forth on that a bit today, me thinking it was 31 years, and he reminding me no, it was 30, as we took a quiet country drive and stopped at some spots along the way that have become part of our memories. Memories are a wonderful thing about being with the same person for so many years, you have more and more of them that bind you together if you have built a good relationship.
I got my beautiful single red rose, something hubby gives me each year, and a few other little more intimate, sweet secret things that have become special to us as a couple, those little things that are private, and bind us simply because they are nobody’s business but out own. He got his candy that he loves, and we shared time together riding, talking, stopping to eat along the way. We chose a simple place to eat, and as we went in I thought, I wonder how many others will be spending Valentines Day so simply…not trying to impress one another…just enjoying one another…as I looked around I saw many couples of all ages and of kinds. The older ones didn’t need to speak a lot, they were content just to be together. There were very young couples who didn’t know one another as well, talking, and gazing into one another’s eyes. Then there were those in between who shared their evening together with a little one, maybe they couldn’t get a babysitter. The beauty of relationship was all around.
As the years go by, my husband and I learn to treasure each other more, and to thank God for the gift of our relationship with one another.
I’ve mentioned this in a few other spots on the web, but this week, I sorted through a beautiful pile of World War II mail, letters written by a man to his wife every 2-3 days from overseas during 1943-1944. He writes from the time he leaves, to…well, I haven’t read that far yet. There are over 100 letters, so I’m looking forward to reading for a long time to come.
I have read through the first 2 months, and this man knew how to put words together so that you sensed the love he had for his wife, and he wrote in a way that made it possible to live his experiences through your imagination as he wrote them. You could sense that he wanted his wife to be experiencing what he was experiencing, and did the best he could with censorship being what it was at that time…every letter was read by and marked “censored”, and sometimes by whom.
As I read, I wondered if writing letters like this is still done…do our guys overseas long for letters as much as this man longed to receive mail, do they write home with the same passion? What about the ones that don’t have someone special in their lives, are they receiving mail? Or is it all done by email now?
There is something so personal about a hand written letter…if you love the person that wrote it, you know you are touching the same paper that their hand has touched, it is the closest thing to having something that they held recently in your hands when you can’t have that person to embrace.
I’m getting off track…like a good novel, and a very romantic one at that, I’m enjoying real stories, written by a real person, who really loved his wife back home, longed to be with her, longed to hear from her, missed her terribly, and would be apart from her longer than he expected.
My friend, the amazingly talented “Pop Art Diva“, who happens to pop in here now and then to post a comment, sent the following link along in her last newsletter, it’s great!!
View it, and if you grew up in the 40′s, 50′s, or part of the 60′s, you’ll enjoy! Sign up for the newsletter at the end to catch up with what has happened to who and more from days gone by.
I love botanical gardens. You can look at the 
Yes, this is us, the picture taken in the fall of 1978, a little over 30 years ago, so this is our 30th Valentines Day together. We went back and forth on that a bit today, me thinking it was 31 years, and he reminding me no, it was 30, as we took a quiet country drive and stopped at some spots along the way that have become part of our memories. Memories are a wonderful thing about being with the same person for so many years, you have more and more of them that bind you together if you have built a good relationship. 
I’ve mentioned this in a few other spots on the web, but this week, I sorted through a beautiful pile of