[Momma's Kids]

Well, just come on up right here and sit yerself down. I got some honeybread, monkeybread, nutbread, fresh cream and other bakins still hot from the oven! Let me put on hot pot and then we can sit a spell and tell.

Yep, my BIL is back from Iraq safe, but it was a lil hard on him this time. He wasn't as safe as in the past. He is already talking bout going back, can't afford to pay his manager and him at his business...so he applies for overseas jobs. Yep, lots of folks doing that these days. Well, we just have to say prayers they stay safe, and them that don't we need to prayer extra hard fer the families, shoot fire and save matches we need to do that anyway.

Well, don't that nice cooling breeze feel good, I'm jest waitin fer it to cool down so's I can be out side more. Well, Jessie Lee, you know you always got a bed here ifn you lose a place to stay, can't say how long but you got one.
I love the changing of the seasons, always have.

The seasons changing are just like people's lives you know, the cold hard winters come, kills off all weeds and such, lets the ground rest for spring. Soon as that ole ground starts warming up, here pops up lil blooms here and there and next thing ya know ya got wild flowers coverin the field. Then the hot summer comes and things start growing, and hets hotter and its as hard as the winters. The ground gives all its got to get ready for that winter.
Folks have the same changes, we have times in our lives when things are so hard we don't think we can bear another moment. Then something happens and we have some peace for a time, then things happen again. Sometimes things get a whole lot worse before they get better, and for some folks they ain't gettin no better.

It seems that no matter how hard some folks give, or how hard they try, life just keeps slappin em in the face. Those folks just keep turning one cheek then the other, makes one wonder why they keep on living, but they do, they get up every morning, thankful, they still here.

Well Jessie Lee, ain't nobody ever said life was gonna be easy, some folks sho nuff have it easy. Yeah, pore ole Ms Braddock had six younguns, now she only got one left...makes you wonder how she survived it all. Yeah, I know ole R.T. ain't never had a day's worry since the day he was born, less it was bout somebody getting something he had, Lord love em. lol Its just the way life works I reckon, maybe we prayed wrong, maybe we prayed too much, maybe we asked for too much or wasn't thankful for what we had.

I guess folks just don't appreciate even the small things anymore, like this breeze gently rockin this swing so I don't gotta push with my feet. The gently swaying of those maple tree branches helping that breeze push just a lil bit farther, or sound of those wings of that bug as it flies. Maybe folks need to get back to some of them 'good ole days' when folks didn't have TV, radio and all these video games. I remember growing up without a tv, and I was a teenager almost afore we got a car.

All jesting aside, its still a sad state of affairs when folks in this country are losing their homes, ain't got food on the table, can't pay their bills and still can't get help. Yep, it makes ya wonder what our greatgrandpappies and granpappies and so many others fought and died for so many years ago. I bet they spinnin in their graves like those ole timey push spin tops. Now there was some fun...sit on a front porch and pump that button up and down to see how fast you get that thing to go round to make it whistle real loud.

This here is sho some good coffee ain't it? Yeah, a friend gave it to me, she don't like strong coffee, said she knowd I'd drink it right up. She says that's what keeps me standing even in the bad times this ole strong coffee. Sho nuff you can have this honeybread to take home...Jessie, you take these maters with ya, and this bag of rice. I know LePie likes his maters and rice, you give it back when you can...that's what neighbors do, now you stop that worrying...I got another bag I'm sho. I got some left over fry bread, hold on and let me get it, we ain't gonna eat it tonight...you take it with you.

Well, ifn us neighbors don't help each other, likely ain't nobody else gonna. Well, you ain't got to live next door, you know if you got extra cans of something it don't cost a lot to mail it to somebody in need. You drive safe back over that georgia line, and tell Kady to share that chicken salad. You folks got plenty of gas to make it home? Ok, Ok, I'll stop worryin bout folks, you jest be careful and give a holler when you get home.

[Kitty]

I love your porch, Momma. I'd rather sit there than anywhere.......and I'd much rather sit there than watch TV.

I remember my Granny's old house in the country. Big ole' wrap around porch with three steps leading down to the yard. There was a big patch of dirt - grass wouldn't grow there 'cos so many people walking on it all the time. Grass started way on out about half way to the road. My Granny (we called her Mimi) would sweep that dirt patch with a hand made broom.......stirred up all kinds of dust......but she didn't like anything to be on the ground. No leaves, no rocks....just good old red clay dirt. We'd sit out there and draw pictured with sticks, gather up pine straw and make "houses" with rooms divided by rows of straw. No TV, no video games.....just cousins who were ready to play.

Mimi had neighbors much like you. When they'd make something they'd always make extra and share it. It might be a pound cake, or a mess of turnip greens, or a big bushel of freshly picked okra. We never knew what to expect. Mimi was the same way. She made pear preserves with pears from a tree in her yard. Oh, what I wouldn't give to have a piece of toast with those preserves on it now.

You're a sweetie for sharing what you have with others. If we all did that I do believe nobody would go to bed hungry. Or worried that the last piece of bread got eaten and there's no more money till the end of the month.

Thanks for opening up your porch, Momma. Pretty soon you're gonna have a big ole' dirt patch in your yard, too, from everybody walking all over your grass. I asked Mimi why she didn't tell people not to walk on the grass so she wouldn't have a big dirt patch and she told me that she likes the dirt...it reminds her that she has alot of friends.

[Momma's Kids]

Kitty,

I have a patch of dirt in my yard close to the road...its where everybody parks their vehicles. lol They will walk on the walkway, but they park in the yard. lol

My grandmother had a dirt yard for years until she moved into another house, she used a stick broom also. I used to gather the branches from pine trees. If I had some pears, I would gladly make you some preserves, but I think they are all gone. My greatnephew loves my applesauce, he just informed me last night it was time I made him another jar. lol

Each one of the kids that stays here like a different thing, Cameron likes my applesauce, Dalton likes my rice/gravy with ho cake and my scrambled eggs/grits, Bug likes my lemonade, Michelle likes my shrimp dip, Chase likes my fry bread...so when they come I try to make what each of them likes.

[hollym]

Momma, I just love you. I wish I could really, physically come and sit on your porch and drink coffee with you. I think it would help to replenish my soul.

[ewizabeth]

Momma,

After all this started with the people in trouble, losing jobs and homes, etc... I read "The Grapes of Wrath." It helped me to see all of this in a better perspective. At least we can get food today, no matter what. Even if we can't find work. We needn't starve. We can make it through this, no matter what.

Things have been worse and can always get worse. We have to look at ourselves like ... the Phoenix that rose from the ashes .... We can be tough. We can be resilient. Times are tough for most right now, but this too will pass.

We are stronger than most because we have lived through the diagnosis and experience of a chronic disease. Many who are experiencing this today have not had to live through adversity before. We will be strong. We will be examples of strength. We are woman. LOL jk

[Koala77]

G'Day Momma. It sure was good to see the breeze get up under that rocker on your porch. I've been wondering when it would be ready for company again; when you'd be sittin' there....with the tea made, inviting us all up again to join you for a chat.

It won't be long and the days will be starting to get a tad cooler where you live. I am so looking forward to the warmer weather here in The Land of Oz. I am fair dinkum so sick of the cold! Come on summer.....I am more than ready to thaw out and thank goodness, winter seems to have left us now.

The daffodils have been just lovely this spring. You should have seen how many we have now compared to last year ... they just seem to keep on multiplying. I think there's something special about spring bulbs, don't you Momma?

They remind me of new life...all types of new life! Spring is when you look up and see the cute little baby koala on it's momma's back, when the eggs of the playpus hatch and the babies play in the fresh water streams, when the tiny baby echidna makes it's debut and the joeys enter their momma kangaroo's pouch.

I wonder if the spring bulb should become an emblem, one that would give hope of good things to come.

With that thought in mind, I send you a daffodil Momma.

[kicker]

Ewizabeth - your words and spirit l lift me. Yes, we will survive - not too many other choices, but that one is there. Being resilient sure beats being a victim.

Koala - I see, The fall and winter coming here brings you spring and summer there. That makes me feel better too. We had some, now it's your turn. There is another side top the world. I believe in what I can't see.

[jmiller]

Guess it's time to pack my duct tape and make a visit to that old porch up north. You ladies just keep gathering up there, im on my way.

[kicker]

jmiller-


You're going to get duct tape across that mouth if you keep it up!!

[hollym]

Originally Posted by kicker

jmiller-


You're going to get duct tape across that mouth if you keep it up!!

I think that is what he wants!