Annandale, VA was my next home. We lived in a brick house at the center end of a circle, what was it? Cynthia Ct. So many things happened in this house. So many memories. Beth was born there. I got my first turquoise 2 wheel bike. Had my first crab apple fights, my first fort, my first near drowning. It was the first time someone called the police because of something I was involved in ( Mrs. Tidball), and the first time I learned to swim. My daddy grew carnations there. I walked to school each day. I had my first brush with older boys being sexual with me, which I will talk about later. I first remember snow here, and sleding and snow shielding and ice skating on the creek. I played in the creek unattended for hours on end; caught crayfish,
salmanders, fish, turtles and fire flies.

We had another dog in Clifton, VA. I don't remember what type of dog, or its name, but it got hit by a car and it had some kind of injury in its back legs...it crawled off under the post office before I could get it--and died under there. I think that might have been my first brush with death.

Wren was born while we lived in Clifton, I remember being sooo excited to have a baby sister. She had casts on her legs and I thought it was so sad. I remember sitting next to mom, trying to talk to her and touch her, before she could walk or maybe right when she started to walk I started school. By the time my little sister could talk or play with me at all I was full into school and having less time at home. There were five years between us and it seemed we just didn't have much time to get close. The next year my brother was born and I wasn't around him much either. I think the spacing between all of us was a hinderance to our relationships for most of my life. I mean I was in the 4th grade when my little sister Beth was born and very involved in school, when she was starting to walk I was in 5th grade and a student patrol officer. Just so much time between us; it seemed we could not catch up for most of our lives. :-(

I recall my daddy convincing me that dog biscuits were good by taking bites of one himself. So of course I ate them too. I remember loving my parents so much. I remember being so happy about the babies. That is most of my memories of Clifton.

Mom just told me that when we lived in Alexandria, in the apartments where the ice cream man came (my recollection) that we (mom and dad and me) were outside talking to a neighbor and I told her she needed to brush her teeth :-O
Mom said the lady smoked and had lot staining on her teeth...:-)

After we lived in Alexandria we moved to Clifton. We lived in a house right next to the train tracks. Next door was a little grocery store, seemed like it was kind of dark and like the isles were narrow. At the front there was a barrel filled with ice and Dr. Pepper and other sodas, the old kind in glass bottles with the clock on them. Seems like my mom sent me to that store to get her a Dr. Pepper sometimes...maybe after I started school there.

Lots of times at night I would get out of bed and and lay on the floor to hear the train coming a long way off and to feel the vibrations.
I think I remember a picket fence around the house and some sort of porch at least in the front. I got my first kitty there, a white long haired cat; for christmas. Snowball. :-)
We had a dog, a boxer, he had dew claws, and had to have them removed, seems like. He died from some kind of cancer in his stomach. I used to ride him in the house, he would take off running and I'd hang on, which was great fun, until he ran through the bottom half of the door and the top half was closed.
My mom had a ringer washer, I remember thinking it was pretty neat as I watched momma putting the clothes in it and cranking them through. We used the clothes line,...
I had a friend that lived behind us whose family used an outhouse, and seems like I remember catalogs in there. I didn't think alot about it then. They also had an hand pump for water, I loved using that pump; taking the handle, pumping it up and down and waiting for the water to come out. It was so wonderful when it finally appeared yaaaaaay!!!
I started school there, I don't remember alot about it, except I seem to remember some sort of winding road going up to the school, like through the woods. I remember snack time and chocolate milk, and rolling out mats to take naps on. I really liked nap time.

My dad was a part time fire fighter. One year the VFD had a Christmas party and the families of the men were invited and the children would be given Christmas gifts. They began to call names and the kids were all excited.. I was excited because they were giving out dolls to the girls and fire trucks to the boys...I kept waiting they called my name...I went forward, they handed me my gift...I looked down and IT WAS A FIRE TRUCK. My name was not a usual name at the time... and they must have thought I was a Daniel. I was so disappointed. More to come on Clifton.

Going Back

I was trying to remember what I remember from my childhood. I have some memory of laying on my daddy while he laid on the floor and we looked at his fish tanks. :-)

My earliest memories, which I think are real and true are of us living in apartments.
I don't remember much about the apartments themselves or my room or anything really about the apartment, but I do remember a little bit of our furniture. We had a dark forest green nubby couch (I remember playing with the nubbies) and a weird lamp; it had a shiny black base with a bright shiny gold lightening bolt type thing on it and a lamp shade that was sort of white, with black drizzles and black lacing whip stitched on both the top and bottom edges. It was probably a common design for the day, but it was really unattractive.

I remember the ice cream man, wow do I remember him. I think he came everyday, I remember hearing the music and many times going down to stand at the end of the sidewalk waiting for the magic man to appear. The truck would stop and out would pop the clean cut, white suited Ice Cream Man. He'd ask what we wanted and open up the door of the truck, it was frosty and cold and magic....he'd reach way down in there and even though the door wasn't very big, he seemed to be able to quickly and easily find just what you wanted. I loved going to the ice cream truck.

Also about this time I have a vague memory of being watched by someone...I think I liked the person well enough, but my mom tells me that the woman was feeding me gravy everyday, so she didn't let the lady watch me anymore. Isn't that funny? Gravy.

This is also the place where my mother said I left my tricycle outside;she went down to get it and was doing the stand on the back and push thing and somehow she fell, and scraped herself up. She sort of made it sound like I should have put it away, but I'm thinking I was pretty little and we lived in an apartment upstairs...soooooo :-(

Oh How Things Have Changed

I was reading the blog of one of the young women on my facebook account and realized that the ability to blog about your day to day life is a wonderful thing. When my children were little there was no internet, no cell phones, no digital cameras. Keeping up with your kids and having pictures and videos was expensive and time consuming.

Oh how my heart wishes I'd had those benefits. I think it would have been quite a gift to my children to have regular posts from their mother about their lives and the pictures and videos; well it is indeed an awesome thing.

Sooo I plan to muse here about things that cross my mind and heart, my children, my husband, my life, aging etc.

I Think a Blog Might Be a Good Idea

Sometimes, I need to express myself and get out feelings that are not necessarily smart to share, but at the same time they beg to be let out.

Often this involves my beloved ones and other issues of this life. This will be a new thing for me but I thought I would give it a shot.

Scripture says that it is good to have control of the tongue and I do try to have control, but there are so many issues of the heart...so many