My Answer: The Lake House.......

50 People, 1 Question.......an interesting idea and an even more interesting video. My answer to the question is 'The Lake House', and thinking about it almost brought me to tears. For those of you who have known me more than 25 years or so, the answer will make perfect sense. What's your answer?



(*Disclaimer: I found this video on the blog of my niece's daughter. Since very few of you read that blog and this one, I thought it was safe to post it here as well. I hope you don't mind, Becky. If you do, I'm sorry, and promise never to do it again.)

A Halloween Story.......

A long time ago (think early 70's) I was involved in the youth group at my church. (Minneapolis First Ward anyone??) The youth group was for youth from 12-18 year olds and, at the time, was known as MIA. This stood for Mutual Improvement Association. Today it is simply known as 'Mutual'.

One year, as Halloween approached, it was decided that we would have a Halloween Party (or maybe it was a dance......I'm old, you know, I can't remember ALL the details...) We had decorations, games, food and fun. Some of the girls made cookies, some made pies, some made cupcakes. My friend Julie and I were in charge of carameled apples. Yummy!!

I guess we were maybe 14 or so at the time. And there were some boys that we wanted to impress. Or maybe we just wanted to get back at them for something. I don't recall which. We decided to make some 'special' carameled apples just for them. Two of the boys in question were Tommy Russell and Kenny Killebrew. We had known Tommy since we were toddlers. Kenny was fairly new to our group, but had been there long enough that he, too, deserved a 'special treat'.

When it came time to serve the treats Julie and I made sure to give the biggest and best carameled apples to Tommy and Kenny. They were thrilled that we would have saved the biggest ones for them. Until, that is, they bit into them.

You know.....you really can't tell a carameled apple from a carameled onion until you bite into it!!

Oops!! Sorry, boys.

Things that used to be.....'The Post Card'

For those of you younger than, say........most of us, this is a picture of a 'Post Card'. Come on, say it with me....'post card'. Very good.

A post card was a form of communication used a long-long-long time ago.

It usually had a picture on one side (sometimes of a great vacation spot) and the other side was divided into two sections. The left hand section was used for writing a note of some kind. Something like "wish you were here", or "missing you", or some other short message. The right side was for the address of the recipient and the stamp.

People used post cards instead of letters for a number of reasons. Maybe you wanted to say 'hello' to someone, but didn't want to write an entire epistle. Maybe you only had enough money for a post card stamp, which was invariably cheaper than a stamp for a letter. Maybe you didn't really care who read your message, because, as you can see, there is NO privacy associated with a Post Card. Everyone, from the writer, to the mailman, to the nosy neighbor, to the recipient, can read whatever message is written there.

Whatever the reason, post cards used to be a very popular form of communication in the 'olden days' when I was young.

Why am I bringing this up?? Let me tell you a short story. I was at Target the other day. I was in the checkout line when this (older) man walked up and asked the (younger) cashier if they carried 'Post Cards'. She looked at him blankly before asking "What?" "Do you carry Post Cards?", he asked again. "Post...what?", was the reply. I jumped in to explain to her that a Post Card is like a card that you send somebody. You write a note on the back of it, then put it in the mail. She still looked pretty blank, but said, "Well, if we did have anything like that it would be over by the greeting cards." I saved the man the trouble of walking over there and told him that, NO, Target does not have post cards. Then I directed him to the only store in town that I know of that does carry them.

He went happily on his way. The cashier's face returned to it's previous unknowing, blank look. And I came home, wondering all the way about things that used to be.

Friday's 'Favorite Things'....

When I was a kid (a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away) "The Sound of Music" was my favorite movie. I probably saw it 20 times....IN THE THEATER!! You have to remember that when I was a child we didn't watch a movie once and then wait for it to come out on video. There was no video. No DVDs, no VHS, no lots of other things (cassettes, Cd's, color TV, microwaves, air conditioning, etc......) but we could go to the movies.

There were several movies that, frankly, no one but my mother wanted to see. Because I was the youngest child, she had more pull with me than she did with my father, brothers and sister, so I was her 'movie buddy'. We saw "The Sound of Music", "Oliver", "My Fair Lady", "West Side Story" and "Doctor Zhivago" (not one of my favorites!)

There were also a few movies that my mother refused to go to, so my dad dragged me along to see those. Dad and I enjoyed such blockbusters as "Cool Hand Luke", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Great Escape", and anything starring John Wayne.

As I said, "The Sound of Music" was my all-time favorite, and in honor of that movie, and one of the songs that I wore out on my record player (ask your mother), I have decided to start a new Friday Blog called "A Few of My Favorite Things". I guess this first blog serves as both an introduction to my new themed blog as well as my first 'favorite things' blog: movies of the 60's.

My movies of the 60's blog wouldn't be complete without also listing a few of the flicks that I was privileged enough to see with my best friend, Julie, her little sister Therese, and my brother, Peter. I would link their blogs, but they are too (Pick one:) busy, important, indifferent, lazy, or technically challenged to have blogs.

Some of the movies we got to enjoy during the turbulent 60's are: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Mary Poppins", "The Love Bug", "The Jungle Book", "Fantastic Voyage" and "The Gnome-Mobile". Classics, all! I wonder if NetFlix carries "The Gnome-Mobile"....somehow, I doubt it.

So if you're looking for some good family entertainment this weekend, there you go, a definitive list of some of the best movies the 60's had to offer.

Now, go pop some popcorn and make some memories!!

Changing Times..........

My youngest, Peter, came home from a campout yesterday exclaiming "I got to shuck corn for dinner last night, I've never done that before!" At first I was just a little surprised, and maybe a little embarrassed. What will people think that my child is 15 and has never shucked corn?? What kind of a mother am I? Then, as I thought about it, it occurred to me. He has never milked a cow either, or gathered eggs from the hen house, or walked 3 miles a day to school (uphill both ways), or had to dig a hole for a new outhouse. I'm pretty sure that my father did most of these things. (I heard plenty of stories about it when I was a kid! At least about the outhouse and walking to school) I guess my point is.....times have changed. My father and mother grew up during the depression era. My dad lived in a very modest 'tar paper' home, with no running water and an outhouse out back. My mother's dad died when she was only 5, and the youngest of 10 children. Her mother took in washing, and ironing for people to help support the family and the older brothers got extra jobs to help out. (Let me interject here....that Peter has offered to drop out of school and get a job to help out should Joe not find work soon!) I grew up a little differently, in the 60's, a time of great change for our country....my 'hardships' (according to my children) were the lack of color tv, cable and internet. We had no microwaves, video games or vcr/dvd players (we could only watch a show once, poor us!) At the time I was born, there were only 48 states, gas was 25 cents a gallon, bread 20 cents a loaf, and Ike was President. Yes, times have changed, and I can only imagine how they will continue to change as my children and grandchildren grow up.

This is the home my dad grew up in......

This is me and my brother, Peter, in 1960 or 61.....