bobby pins

This is the story of how I learned the origins of my name.
 Today I was talking on the phone to my Mom. We are discussing the impending arrival of a new baby in the family and exactly when that might be. I wonder, out loud, if today might be the day.
"What is today," asked she.
"It is Thursday," said I.
"Thursday, Thursday... how does that poem go about the days of the week?" she says.
Realizing she is talking of what I've always called "Monday's Child" and I recite it as I learned it long ago. (she may even be the one who taught it to me.)

Mondays child is fair of face, 
Tuesdays child is full of grace, 
Wednesdays child is full of woe, 
Thursdays child has far to go, 
Fridays child is loving and giving, 
Saturdays child works hard for his living, 
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day 
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

"I've always liked that poem because that's where I got my name, isn't it," I asked her.
"Oh, no. You were named after bobby pins," she says.
Bobby pins?
Bobby pins?
In my mind I am picturing her sitting at her dressing table, a package of bobby pins in front of her saying, to herself "yes, that will do for a baby name."
Bobby pins?

I am not sure how I went for all these years thinking I was named for a poem when it was really after bobby pins. Still, I guess I should be glad I wasn't named "Prell" or "Aqua Net."

tomato love

My middle sister loves tomatoes.  As a child she was allergic to them.

When she was a child, the story goes, that she would follow Daddy to the vegetable garden and there she would consume copious amount of tomatoes, right from the vine. She would walk into the house with red welts all the way around her mouth and Mother would know immediately their source.  She also knew that Daddy likely could not bear to tell his sweet, easy-going middle daughter no to something she loved so much.
She would eat them straight off the vine. In those days pesticides were not commonly used. As I recall, in my parents and grandparents' gardens, we shared the bounty of each harvest with natures creatures without giving it much thought.

I have never seen anyone eat tomatoes like grapes or apples until now. My grandbaby does the same thing. She loves, loves, loves tomatoes. And while I make her wash them- whether they come from the garden or the store, she will eat them just the way her "Aunt Kitty" always has.
Do you suppose it could be genetic, this love of tomatoes?

thunder snow

I've never seen nor heard of such a thing a Thunder sleet or Thunder snow but that's what we had this weekend. There is a an actual such thing. I looked it up for my own edification and yours! Here's what I learned:

From Wikipedia:
Thundersnow, also known as a winter thunderstorm or a thunder snowstorm, is an unusual kind of thunderstorm with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain. It typically falls in regions of strong upward motion within the cold sector of an extratropical cyclone. Thermodynamically, it is not different from any other type of thunderstorms but the top of the cumulonimbus is usually quite low. As well as snow,graupel or hail falls.

From Channel 4 in Oklahoma City:

Oklahoma has seen quite a weather phenomenon in the last 24 hours. Residents have seen rain, thunder sleet, snow, ice and even a swarm of earthquakes.The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed five earthquakes within the last 24 hours.

• Magnitude 2.8 southwest of Guthrie
• Magnitude 2.6 northeast of Stillwater
• Magnitude 2.9 southwest of Cherokee
• Magnitude 3.2 south of McCord
• Magnitude 2.8 south of McCord

So far, no damage has been reported.

from channel 6: in TULSA

A mix of winter weather conditions was felt in much of Oklahoma Sunday as March roared in like a lion. Oklahomans e

xperienced all types of freezing precipitation during the day including thundersleet and thundersnow, thanks to the strength of the storm system moving through.
"One of the more interesting aspects of this winter weather event is the precipitation type and the occurrence of thunder with the sleet, snow, freezing rain, and even hail that we have been experiencing from time to time through the day Sunday," WARN Team Meteorologist Dick Faurot said.Faurot said the temperature and moisture content of air layers varied greatly, causing the thunder to boom as sleet and snow fell. A shallow layer that was well below freezing and saturated with moisture was topped by a layer of drier air that was about 40 degrees Farenheit.So the rain froze as it fell through the Arctic air closer to the surface, but there was enough energy and lift to create thunderstorms up above the shallow layer of Arctic air.That translated into "thundersleet" and "thundersnow.""It is this vertical distribution of temperature and moisture that is most difficult to forecast as a difference of just a few hundred feet in the elevation of the freezing line can make a huge difference regarding whether we get sleet, freezing rain, snow, or some combination," Faurot said in his weather blog.The sleet and freezing rain transitioned to snow overnight as the system made its way east.

The dangerously cold temperatures will take a few days to warm up, but spring-like weather is in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.


When I first heard the term I thought they were talking about  something to do with the basketball team, the OKC Thunder. I really think the team's promotion people should take note! The weather may even be rooting for them.

red knits

A very sweet lady in our community recently made the grandbaby a red knit hat and hand warmers plus a matching hat for her baby doll. To say she is thrilled about them is an understatement.

They came to her, after the same sweet lady made her a doll blanket at Christmastime. The blanket, actually, was commissioned. The grandbaby kept telling me her baby was cold and needed a warm blanket. I went looking for one but without success. That is when "Miss Peggy" came through in spades. The blanket was just the thing. The hats and gloves are, too, only she didn't know she needed them until she put them on. Getting them off her for her bath might be a challenge!

how much we can fit into one Saturday

Iced in!

I did not have to go into work today because of the weather.
I had a while day, unexpectedly wide open.
I was thrilled to have the time to finish up some projects I've had in the works for a while.
First I have finished smocking a day gown for a friend's grandbaby.
Then I finished a quilted nap pillow for a co worker's birthday.
I did some some journaling. Then I scrapbooked a while.
I clean out emails
I  sewed a little more: this time on a quilted duvet cover. There are two I Spy quilts cut out and ready to sew but I am rather sewed out just now.
I've almost finished reading a long unfinished  biography
I am a huge proponent of solitude.
I don't get much of it so you would think I would be relishing the one-on-one time the weather outside today has afforded me.
Strangely, uncharacteristically, I am not.
I am marking the time until my husband, whose job required him to be out and about whatever the weather, returns home. Maybe some of it is my concern for his safety. Certainly I am looking forward to his company.
But it occurs to me that I have not enjoyed alone time the way I usually do. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the weather!

spring chicks

In the town where I lived as a child and where I now live, once again, there is a feed store that sells baby chicks from the windows. The arrival of these babies have always marked the coming of Spring for me. My sisters and I would beg our paternal grandpa to take us to see the fuzzy little chicks running around under large warming lights. We would stand there, peeking through the glass, ooing and ahhing at the sight of them. It was something of a ritual for us.
When my children were small and we would visit my grandparents in the Spring, I would drag everyone out to see the baby chicks in the window.  This year, though, it wasn't me doing the dragging or begging. My grandbaby squealed with glee as we drove past the feed store on the way to the dry cleaners nearby while we were out doing errands on a recent Saturday.
"Stop Grandad. I want to see in the window," she said. She didn't have to beg. He made the block and pulled in. She didn't have to drag him out to look at the baby chicks with her. He went pretty willingly, as my Grandpa ultimately did. It was fun to watch them watch the chicks. To do so was rather like watching my past connect demonstrably to my present.