THOSE BEAUTIFUL NEW PATIO DOORS & EYE EXAMS....

By Olivene Godfrey

I think everybody who has ever visited us will be glad that after living in our house 26 years, we have finally replaced the aggravating, cloudy sliding glass doors that lead to the patio. While the patio is at the rear of the house, the driveway leads to those doors and that is the entrance that all of our visitors as well as ourselves uses.

We had the sliding, glass doors replaced last week with patio (French) doors. The carpenter and his two helpers had to modify the old door frame to fit the new door and some carpentry had to be done on the floor near the door, too. It was an all day complicated job. But, the new door and the floor to ceiling picture window beside the door gives us the pleasant feeling of being outside amidst the greenery and beauty of spring.

The new doors are also attractive and easy to get inside and outside and we are pleased with the carpenter's work. Son Barry made pictures of the new door and window to send to relatives.

We are still cleaning that part of the house as when the carpenters left, there was a film of sawdust all over every thing in the den and kitchen. But, we aren't complaining as we are so happy to have the new doors.

EYE DOCTOR....

Barry and I had early appointments one day last week with our eye doctor in nearby Dalton, GA. I have a tiny cataract on my left eye and last year the doctor prescribed new lens for my two pairs of glasses. This year, the cataract has grown and it is affecting my vision. So, the doctor gave me a prescription to have the left lenses updated. He says that vision in the left eye can be corrected for a while with new lenses but, eventually, I will need surgery.

Barry had his first complete eye exam. He has nearly perfect vision but lately he has been having problems reading fine print. The doctor said Barry's eyes are healthy and he advised Barry to buy drugstore reading glasses which he has already done.
The day of the exam Barry eyes were dilated, a new experience that he found unpleasant.

When we were ready to leave the doctor's office, I asked Barry if he thought he could drive us home. He donned his sunglasses and said he could see well enough to make the drive. During the drive home, I didn't agree with his statement as he scared me half to death and I said a prayer when we arrived home safely.

When we got home, we ate a light lunch and rested a while in the afternoon. Our eyes finally returned to normal but we were tired from the day's ordeal. So, Barry drove to town and bought us a bucket of KFC with side orders for supper which we ate with relish.

See you next week.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES--FIRST SCHOOL PLAY, SHIRLEY TEMPLE CURLS & CORNBREAD & BUTTERMILK MIDNIGHT SNACK....

By Olivene Godfrey

When I was in the first grade at a Chattanooga, TN school in the 1930s, my class presented a play that was set in a doll store. I was very shy and didn't want a speaking role. Since I was blonde and tiny, for no other reason, I was cast as a Shirley Temple doll who stood still during the play.

However, my mother was excited about my role in the play and set about making me a pretty pink dress like the one my Shirley Temple doll wore. In those days, the child star's tight curls had mothers of other little girls pinning their hair in ringlets.

My mother decided that was a problem. I had no natural curl in my hair and wore it in what was known as a "boyish bob"
well, Mother decided, that problem could be solved by getting a permanent wave for me. In 1906, Charles Nestle invented the permanent wave. An electric machine was attacked to the hair pads protecting the head and curled the hair. The beauty shop where Mother took me still had machines that had cords suspended from the ceiling. It was a scary looking contraption and while my memory isn't vivid about the incident, I do remember it was a long, uncomfortable experience. But, in the end, I had pretty, Shirley Temple curls. Incidentally, I remember the perm was on sale for one dollar which pleased my mother.

A studio portrait hangs on my home office wall that was taken following my performance in the play, wearing the pretty, pink dress with a matching ribbon in my blonde, curly hair.

While thinking of my childhood, I remembered when I was about four years old, my mother gave birth to twin girls who took up most of her time, but, my daddy, bless him, saw to it that I didn't lack for attention. Right up to his death, he would often tell the story of how some nights back then, I would wake up hungry, and would ask Daddy for my favorite midnight snack.
He would get up and take me to the kitchen, often on cold nights, and fix me a big bowl of cold buttermilk with crushed up cornbread which was left over from supper. He was always good natured about it even though he had to get up at 5 A.M to go to work.

On those early mornings, Mother would make buttermilk biscuits every morning for breakfast which Daddy called, "Cat-heads", I don't know the origin of that description but since then, I have heard other people use it.

Later, we bought a new house with a couple of acres of land.
Daddy would have a big garden and built a little barn and bought a cow for milk and he would buy baby chicks and raise them for us to eat. I remember that almost every Saturday morning we would have Mother's delicious fried chicken, with white, milk gravy and buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. Since then, I have never tasted food as good as those breakfasts.

We are having beautiful weather this week, with cold nights and warm, sunny days with plenty of sunshine. The recent rains we have had with the sunshine has all the trees and grass greening up, making northwest Georgia a pretty world.

See you next week.

PAST EASTERS & DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME....

By Olivene Godfrey

During one of my quiet times this week, my mind went back to Easter memories of my childhood and teen years. Besides Easter egg hunts and church services, new clothes were a part of Easter for my sisters and me during our growing-up years.

I remember that my spunky, talented mother started sewing our pretty clothes weeks before Easter. She had learned to sew when she was a girl and by the time we kids were born she had become an expert at it. She would go to the best stores in Chattanooga, TN where my sisters and I grew up. and study the clothes for little girls and for herself. Then, with her sharp mind, she would go to the fabric department and choose materials for our dresses. With no patterns to go by, she would sew on her machine, and by hand, exact replicas of the expensive clothes she had studied in the department stores.

When Mother was 90, (she died when she was 92) she sewed a beautiful quilt for me by hand. The tiny, neat stitches are exquisite and I treasure the quilt.

I remember vividly the year I was 17 and my twin sisters, Joan and Jeanette were 13. (My youngest sister, Dianne, was born after the twins and I were grown and her Easter memories are different than ours but that is another story). We were living with our mother and Methodist preacher daddy in a small northwest Georgia town. That year, Mother took the twins and me with her to a larger nearby town in our old car. This was during World War II and gasoline was rationed so we walked almost every where we went in our little town.

That year, besides selecting our fabric for our dresses, we bought new shoes and mine were my first pair of high heels.
Mother decided we were old enough to wear hats to church so we selected hats and pairs of rayon stockings for all of us. (Nylon had gone to war). The rayon stockings were worn with garters and with every step we took, the rayon stretched even more.

That Easter morning, while Daddy paced the floor, afraid we would be late for Easter Sunday services, Mother helped all of us get dressed and primped before rushing to get dressed herself. After church, I was wobbly in my high heels but I began to walk the couple of blocks to our home. I laughed aloud when
I spied the twins, sitting on the curb, of the street, removing those stretchy rayon hose. I was tempted to remove my heels too but felt it wouldn't be lady like so kept wobbling until I reached the house.

I hope for each of you a happy Easter!

Everybody I have talked to this week, since Daylight Savings Time started, has said they felt lousy. And, I read this week that some researchers say that one hour of lost sleep has the same effect on a person as a three hour jet lag. It has been rough for Barry who goes to work at seven A.M. to get his body adjusted to the time.

I am free to cat nap during the daytime but I, too, have been having sleeping problems. Apparently, a nap doesn't help to make up for that lost hour of sleep. Hopefully, we will all adjust to the time change soon.

See you next week.

SHORT WINTERS AND ANTIQUES....

By Olivene Godfrey

I don't know if it is a regional thing or not, but here in northwest Georgia, we have several brief cold spells in the spring which are referred to as "Dogwood winter", "Easter Winter," "Blackberry winter." and so forth. The weather this spring has really been like a roller coaster with lovely warm days and then cold and winter days and I am getting tired of it and am ready for warm weather to stay for a while. It is usually about May 1 before the "winters" are over and I can safely put my plants outside for the summer.

Son Barry and I have been doing a little spring cleaning and have plans for more soon. My home office needs a good working over to put it mildly. And, Barry is going to haul off some furniture that I don't really need to the land field soon. While discussing this project, Barry lifted up a tablecloth I had covered a table that held my reading lamp and various books and magazines and was next to my reading chair. "This table looks too good to be covered," he said.

I remembered the hot, summer day 26 years ago when I bought the table for a pittance at a used furniture store. It was very dirty and looked sort of pitiful but was well made and sturdy and I cleaned it up and covered it with the tablecloth. Over the years I would give it a lick and a promise when I dusted and would periodically wash the tablecloth. Now as I looked at the table, I could see possibilities with it. So, one recent day, I cleaned it up and gave it a final shining with Pledge and am leaving the cloth off it and it is a pretty piece of furniture.

That episode reminded me of the day that same summer when I bought the china cabinet that has been in our dining room since the first summer we lived here. I found it at a used furniture store and it seemed to be in good condition but was very dirty. My late husband, Ralph, brought it home in his pickup truck. I was working fulltime for a newspaper at that time and didn't have much spare time. But, as I could, I cleaned the cabinet and finally let it dry out and gave it a final glow with Pledge and it looked then and still does like it must have looked when it was new. I have no idea how old it or the other old furniture and bric a brac in my house is as I am ignorant about antiques. The bric a brac are sentimental pieces I keep because I love them.

Years ago, my mother gave me a small round topped table that she had when she and my dad married 77 years ago. It had been covered with various kinds of varnish, etc... and a good friend, Julia Bowers, re-finished the table for me, leaving the little scratches my sisters and I had made on the table as Julia said, "They give the table character."

Julia also gave me a number of years ago, an old sewing machine cover she had re-finished and I use it as a magazine rack. Julia and I have been friends for many years and are the same age and have always been soul mates. She was a postmaster at a small town hear here for years but her love has always been for the country music songs she wrote and performed.

Now Julia is ill and can't get out much and she misses "making music". Before she became ill, I knew that if I ever needed a friend that I could call on her and there have been times when I have and she helped me.

See you next week.