Just a quick post to say my family and friends are all okay after the storm. A few without power and a few have some damage, but overall, thankful they made it through so well compared to the devastation on the southwest coast.
Month: September 2022
No Throwback Thursday This Week
Hello everyone. This week is my week to write but I am just not mentally in a place to do so. I have family and friends all over the state of Florida where Hurricane Ian is wreaking havoc and I am not in a place where I can write, monitor and respond to posts until I know everyone is no longer under a threat. Lauren has a lot on her plate, too, so we are going to take a much needed week off.
We will be back next week hopefully refreshed and reporting that everyone is safe and sound from the storm.
Thanks for your understanding.
✍️🏼 Maggie and Lauren ✍️🏼
SoCS – Home Sweet Home
It’s Saturday morning and time for SoCS again hosted, as always, by the lovely Linda Hill.
If you want to join in, head over to Linda’s and get the scoop on the rules. Here’s the subject for the day.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “home.” Use it as a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. Enjoy!
Home is such a far reaching word. It is used for so many different things. Computers, video games, GPS, sports, places, and of course our hearts.
I have lived in houses that we’re never homes. It takes a special magic to turn a house into a home. We lived in several different places in Florida, but there were only two houses that felt like home.
It comes down to the sharing of that space and how we choose to live within those walls I think. Houses teeming with memories are easily turned in to homes. And if the old adage is true, home truly is where the heart is.
I remember well the day we told our grandson we were selling our house in Florida. It upset him so much it broke my heart. It was the place he came every summer starting when he was only four years old. Now that he is almost 21, he may not even remember it, but I sure do.
I look back on my life with my nuclear family. We lived in four different houses, but the place that always felt like home was the Valley. I am so sad my grandmother’s house is not in our family anymore, but in a way it’s okay. The memories were slowllyerased over time. The little annoyances of doors that stick, and mars on the wall and unusual wall coverings were slowly remodeled away. When that happened, the house lost it’s soul. It became someone else’s house, not my home. But the Valley? It will always feel like home – the home of my youth.
Even though the Valley feels like home to the little girl in me, we now live in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. It is where the bears, bobcats, foxes, and deer meander through our woody landscape. It is where an always too big Christmas tree goes up every year. It is the house where the grandkids may need to find a seat on the hearth of the fireplace when everyone comes to visit. It is the quiet place where morning light casts its warmth around the room. It is the sometimes too small space where we chose for the next phase of our lives – together, making new memories, and slowly turning this house into a home.
Jacks or Better to Open
After responding to comments this morning, I started thinking about family time and how often we played card games. There was always a well worn deck of playing cards within easy reach. There were also specialty cards, too.
Of course some of the earliest games were Match, a memory game where half the deck was placed face down as the players try to find the matching cards. There was always War with the goal being to capture the entire deck of cards or Go Fish for the younger set. If you were by yourself, then a quiet game of Solitaire would help pass the time. When you got mad at a sibling, there was always 52 Pickup!
We also had a deck of Old Maid but playing cards would do in a pinch using the Joker as the Old Maid.
How about a game of Authors? It was a deck of cards with photos of well known classic authors with names of their works. That’s how I learned who James Fenimore Cooper was.
Our family, especially my mom’s parents, loved Rook. Another classic game with the goal of ‘taking tricks’.
We learned to play poker at a very early age. Five Card Draw, Jacks or Better to Open was a family favorite. We all learned very early what card combinations would beat another. Five Card Stud was another favorite.
Of course there was Black Jack, too. “Hit Me” was often echoing through the house, but learning when to split, stand, or take a hit was critical. Do you dare take a hit on a sixteen?
Rummy, Hearts, and Spades were popular when several people would play. My mom was a bit of a sore loser and I have seen her hurl her hand of cards across the room when she lost.
No one in my family played Bridge but I remember all the 50s TV couples playing. We did play Euchre but I do not remember the rules well enough to play today. Pinochle was another favorite but I would need a major refresher on that one, too!
It was easier to play cards back in the day because everyone played and therefore almost everyone was well versed in the rules. No extra time was needed to ring people up to speed. Families spent a lot more time together then it seems.
I am sure there are others, but these were the most common in our house.
Did you play any of these games? Do you still play cards today?
Throwback Thursday #57 – Slang
Lauren’s back this week but after reading her post I fear that I may flip my noodle! Head over to her blog to see what she has in store for us.
This week’s prompt is: Slang
My youth spanned three decades and my memory of slang and phrases are a mish mash of all three.
I remember my parents demonstrating how beatniks danced. Remember beatniks? They were bad news in some circles. You dig? I heard they would split the scene if the fuzz was nearby.
Sometimes people were a drag to be around. They were just bad news. The cool kids would hang out in their pad wearing the latest threads until it was time to beat feet and head home.
My gang just liked to hang out, and be mellow. Things were groovy as long as there were no drags bringing you down. Girls looking sharp in their peasant blouses and bell bottoms. Guys wearing paisley shirts trying to convince a chick to go to the submarine races. More than a few people walked around sporting a hickey on their neck. Sometimes that situation could get a little hairy.
We all thought we were out of sight. Even the dorks thought so. But back in the day that was totally copacetic. Life was chill and everything was boss (with a fist showing a thumbs up 👍🏼)
We were too cool for school.
That’s it for me. Catch you on the flip side.
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