Month: November 2021

Good Busy-ness

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I didn’t post last week.  I was too tired and too late getting home from Liberty. I had gone to our daughter’s Monday and spent the night.  We finished up moving her housekeeping to her new house. 

I never could have imagined how quiet a room could be right in the middle of town.  The front bedroom was painfully quiet.  I had trouble going to sleep.  I did finally get to sleep only to be awakened by the train whistle about 3 AM or so.  Several trains passed through.  I was sure they must be going through the next room! They aren’t as loud in other parts of the house.  Something about the location and windows and lack of other noise along with it being unfamiliar to me made them sound terribly loud. 

Duchess was asleep in the bed with me.  She never moved. She has been hearing trains for years. Not as close or as loud, but still more familiar.  My niece lives within hearing of a train and I would hear it all night when I stayed with her.  Something about that sound awakens me.

We spent Thanksgiving with another couple whose grown children were at other places.  Our son and his bride and Duchess were partying with Mickey and Minnie and Elsa in Florida.  Our daughter and I decided to wait till they could be here to all have dinner together.  Our son will be away after all.  But we still want to get the Duchesses together for some turkey and yeast bread and green bean casserole. 

Our daughter, two friends and Duchess and I went to the Renaissance Festival Friday.  I always hope it will be less crowded.  Shouldn’t all those people be shopping? It seemed to be even more crowded than the Saturday we went in October.  I think the last time I went on Black Friday it was super crowded, too.

Weekend before last, our daughter and Duchess came and spent the night so daughter could go hunt with her Daddy.  Some friends came and brought some heifers back to us. We had gumbo and a good visit. 

This past Sunday evening, my friend brought her dress over so we could hem it.  It is a gorgeous navy lace encrusted with sequins and beads.  She is wearing it for her son’s wedding.  We will be attending the event and I can’t wait to see her all decked out in it.

I hope Rock and I get a good photograph of us, too.  We don’t have many pictures of each other and even fewer of us together.  We will be dressed up some and it would be a good opportunity. 

Busy.  In the best possible way.  Spending time with our children and friends.  We will see some family this weekend, too.  Big brother turning the big 6-0.  Older Duchess having a party for the big 5.  And Christmas coming up fast.  Busy and trying to be careful to savor the moments. 

An old photo. Seven years ago. I was someplace special with Rock.

Good Days

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Saturday was a sad and beautiful day.  One of my best friends laid her mother to rest. Our pastor, the son-in-law, spoke beautifully of his mother-in-law.  Everything was perfect.

Afterward, I went to our daughter’s new house.  It’s an old house really, in the heart of Liberty. It oozes charm and is full of light.  I did a few things around the yard. 

Then, Sunday, the whole crew turned out to move them in to their new home.  Our son and his bride and Duchess came. My sister-friend from the time I was ten years old came. Our daughter’s dear co-worker and friend came. Rock, of course, was there with the cattle trailer. 

We loaded every vehicle and the trailer and headed to Liberty.  Unloaded, baked some store-bought lasagna, laughed and talked.  The Duchesses had a gingerbread house to work on thanks to a foreseeing daughter-in-love.  The ice box got thoroughly cleaned and both ovens used.  We had cheesecake to honor the memory of one of ours gone on before us. 

We brought a redone table and chairs for the dining room.  We need a lot more chairs! But the Duchesses had a spot to sit to eat and then later, to decorate the gingerbread houses. 

The centerpiece is from Mother.  It is her crocheted doily and her grandfather’s buttermilk pitcher.  I wanted our daughter to have something from the grandmother who adored her so much the very first time we gathered there. 

I might be as excited, if not more, about our girl’s house.  We spent all of Saturday before last cleaning it.  I realized later what is so endearing to me about it.  The windows in the front rooms, the oldest section, have windows like my old house.  Tall with sills close to the floor.  Reminds me of a house I have loved most of my life.  The old house still exists, empty and changed some, in a museum of structures.  The house still exists even more in my dreams and imagination.  Now, at our daughter’s, there is a structure I really can go to and visit with family or sit with a cup of coffee and feel the light.

After I had driven by the house before the final signing, I told my daughter I finally understood why for years, my heart had been saying: go home to Liberty.  Yes.  I foresee many more good days to come in a new old house in Liberty, Texas.