Merry Christmas

The Wreath Is On The Door

The wreath is on the door
And the snow is on the tree
God has laid His holy hands
On all that we can see.

Be quick to raise your voice
And praise what He has brought.
Keep now His love in every choice
And Christmas in every thought.

Merry Christmas

December Post / Christmas At Our House

We never had a tree at our house for Christmas or decorated the house with lights but Christmas still came to our house all the same.

It wasn't an extravagant time where we got piles of gifts but what we got we were glad to have.

We would all hang a sock on the mantle and hope that it was filled with things for Christmas and not coals like we probably deserved.

In our stocking we usually got an apple, an orange, a grapefruit and a selection of nuts, a peppermint candy stick and a small toy. Our parents would give us two gifts, one being some type of clothes and the other would be a toy. We looked forward to Christmas every year and we enjoyed the Christmas Spirit that we shared together.

We usually had our Christmas Meeting around the holidays and we would get visiting workers from other states come and spend the night and visit with us in our homes. We loved this because of the experiences that they would share with us of their past year in the fields that they were in. We would have our "Special Meeting" on Sunday and then get ready for the coming New Year.

Palmer Waters

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

November Post / Thanksgiving Time

Well we have been in school since September and the days are starting to get colder and longer. It won't be long and we will be getting ready for Thanksgiving.

If you think that we will be going to the store to get our turkey this year think again. This is just a small town and in the 1950's and 1960's our grocery stores didn't have Turkeys for sale for the holidays. We went to the local farmer or farmer's wife and bought our turkey. It would be fresh and she would catch it and dress it out while we waited.

This is some experience as a child to see. She would catch the turkey and chop off it's head and then she would clean out its insides and save the gizzards and liver and the neck bones and wrap them in newspaper.
She would pluck the feathers off of the bird and then she would wash the bird inside and out and then wrap it up for us to carry home.

Mom would clean out a spot in the refrigerator to put the bird so that it would stay cool until she was ready to cook it. She would cook the pies and make the cornbread for the dressing and on Thanksgiving day she would get up early to get everything into the oven to cook for our afternoon dinner.

For some reason I could never eat any turkey, but I ate plenty of the side dishes and desserts. It seemed that everything that my mother cooked was almost well done. She either forgot that it was in the oven or her mind was on something other than her cooking.

All of the family got together and ate with us and after the meal was over they went and rested and we kids got stuck with the cleaning up. Who was it that messed up all of these pots and pans?

Palmer Waters

Sept Post / Full Service Gas Stations

It really hasn't been that long ago when we had full service gas stations. As you pulled up to the fuel tanks the bell would ring(from bell hose running across drive in front of pumps) to let the attendant know that he had a customer.

The attendant would come out and ask you how much gas did you need and then he would open your gas tank and get the amount of gas that you needed. He would also check your oil, and water in the radiator as well as the air in your tires and clean your windshield. Everything was full service and done with a smile.

You and your family could use extra clean restrooms and get a map for the road ahead. The cold drinks were ice cold in the drink boxes and if you were lucky some even had some ice in them.

If you needed and oil change or service work there was a mechanic on duty to serve your needs.

Maybe you needed a set of tires or maybe just a flat tire fixed they could do that as well.

I remember when we would pull in with our VW Bus and tell the attendant that we wanted 8 cents of gas and would he check the water in the radiator. Some that didn't know that the VW was an air-cooled engine instead of a water-cooled engine couldn't find the radiator and we would just laugh and say we must have lost it, as they finished checking our oil, water, tires and washing our windshield.

The attendant said I'll give you a push so you can coast to the red light and not burn up all 8 cents of your gas.

Oh, I forgot to say that gas then was 25 to 27 cents a gallon and the car would hold a whole $5.00 of gas.

August Post / Summer s Just About Over

We would always let out of school in May and we always went back to school after Labor Day in September.

So whenever August came around we would always wonder where our summer vacation time from school had gone.

We forgot the trip to our grand parents and the trips to the lake and all of the fun we had had. But we still wondered where all of the time had gone.

Days that we could sleep in late and go to bed later than on school days. Picnics in the yard, family get togethers, sleep overs, camping outside.

It wouldn't be long now and we would have to go back to school and have new teachers and meet with our school friends and get back into the grind of school work.

But wait, this is just August we have the whole month before school starts in September.

Palmer Waters

July Post / Jelly Making Time

In the middle of our summers we would always make jelly for the coming year. We would put up jars of Peach Preserves, Blackberry Jam and Jelly, Plum Jelly, Fig Preserves as well as Pear Preserves.

We all played a part in making these jams and jellies. We would pick the pears off of our tree and then wash the pears and then peel them and then the older siblings would cut them up for the jams and preserves. We picked the blackberries from the wild patches that grew in the fields and we picked the plums that grew wild on the side of the roads.

My mother would get all of her jars washed and make sure that she had the lids and seals for covering the jars. She would get out the huge pressure cooker that was used for canning and start the process. This was a full days work.

We loved it when it became time to sample the cooked jam, jelly or preserves. There is nothing better than hot jelly on buttered bread in the summer time.

Kids today don't know what they are missing when all they have to do is just go to the store and buy the jelly of their choice.

It seemed like it tasted so much better when you had invested some of you time in the process of the making of the jam, jellies and preserves.

Palmer Waters

June Post / Lake Russell

In the summer my dad would close the store at noon and take a half a day off. We knew that if we had all of our chores done we might get to go swimming at Lake Russell in Cornelia, GA.

Some days in the summer whenever it was Blackberry season we would have to each pick a gallon of blackberries so that we could go swimming. It was an incentive to start early in the morning before the sun came up and the day got extremely hot to pick the berries.

If you have never picked blackberries in the summer you have missed a lot. First you had to find a patch that had fresh berries, then you had to walk thru the briers to get to the patch since most berries were in the middle of the patch. You would get bit by chiggers and your legs would itch to death and you didn't have time to stop and scratch.

As soon as your gallon was full you went home and waited for dad to get home so that we could go swimming.

As a child it seemed a long way to go to get to the lake but a short trip to come home. It was up in the hills of North Georgia and the lake was spring fed. The sun would warm the water up bu as you swam you would come into some very cool mountain water. They had canoes that you could rent and go out on the lake and fish or just canoe. They also had some pedal boats for one person or for two. If you had the double oedal boat and you partner was pedaling in one direction and you in the other direction you would just go around in circles.

At Lake Russell they had picnic areas and we usually ate a picnic lunch after we swam awhile and then we had to wait about 30 minutes before we could swim because this was to keep us from getting cramps in our legs from eating??

There were some geese at the lake and if they didn't get fed they would peck at you while you were standing on the shore. We thought that we would jump into the water and get away from them forgetting all the while that they were great swimmers.

After and afternoon of swimming it was time to pack up and head home. We would wrap up in our towels and enjoy the cool breeze of the air from the windows on our ride home and wait until the next Wednesday to do it all over again.

Palmer Waters

May Post / Cutting Grass

We could hardly wait until summer time and school being out. But finally Spring would come and we would get Spring Break that seemed to prepare us for the coming of Summer. We got out the lawn mower and would cut the grass and make the yard look nice for the weekend.

Now when we cut the grass we didn't have a power more at first that came along later. We cut grass with a push mower with a rotating blade that you pushed forward to cut the grass and if the blades were dull you had to push twice to cut the grass once.

We were able to trim the rough areas of the yard such as ditches and higher grass with a sling blade or sickle. You would build up quite a sweat when you did this.

I was about then years old when we got our first gas powered lawn mower and I thought that I had died and gone to heaven whenever I used it. It was like the difference between daylight and dark using a power mower over the had mower. You could cut the yard in know time at all and you could cut other peoples yards and make some extra spending money.

We lived in a small town in a new subdivision and we were the only house on our street for quite a while. The streets were dirt and their were fields all around our house that later would be sold as lots for houses. We didn't have sidewalks and we either road on the dirt road or we road through the fields.

When we got the power mower we would use it to cut paths in the field to our friends houses or to the closest store, so we didn't have to ride down the dirt road.

When I was thirteen we got a riding lawn mower and this was the greatest experience for a kid. Where before we usually had to be told more than once top cut the grass we fought each other for the opportunity to cut the grass on the riding mower.

Palmer Waters

Final Exam

 Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die? 

* his last battle

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?

* at the bottom of the

page

Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?

*  liquid

Q4.  What is the main reason for divorce?

 * marriage

Q5. What is the main reason for failure?

* exams

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?

* Lunch & dinner

Q7. What looks like half an apple?

* The other half

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?

* It will simply become wet

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?

* No problem, he sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?

* You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?

*  Very large hands

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?

 * No time at all, the wall is already built.

Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

*Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

Source: Internet

March Post / Hide In Seek

Hide In Seek

We loved to play hide and seek what ever time of the day that it was. There were thousands of great places to hide and running back to base without getting caught when you were found was just as much fun as hiding.

In the summer you could climb up in the trees and hide, as long as you were still it was hard to be found. We could hide in honey suckle patches as long as we wore green or brown clothing. If you wore bright colored clothes you were caught much quicker because you would be spotted faster.

The most fun was at night and you could hide almost anywhere and they would be right on you before they saw you and sometimes you could jump out on them and they would be startled giving you enough time to run back to base.

We had a black family that worked for my family, the dad hauled furniture and appliances for my dad and the mother cleaned house for my mom. Whenever the kids came to work with their parents we would play games together.

One thing was for sure, if we played hiding seek they would be harder to find.  

February Post / Playing Marbles

Coming Soon the next segment.

Playing Marbles

Have you ever played a game of marbles in the dirt.

First you draw a circle, the size depends on how many are playing and how good of a player that you are. Then you draw a pitching line about four feet away from the circle. Who ever is chosen to go first pitches their marble to the line standing behind the circle. The player that gets their marble closest to the line gets to go first.

You take the marble that is your shooter, usually your favorite or the one that has helped you win the most games. You squat down on one knee and take the marble in your hand and shoot it toward the circle. After much practice you will be able to shoot it quite a distance.

What you want to do to win, is to shoot as many marbles out of the circle as you can in one turn.

We were not allows to play for keeps, as we were told that this was a form of gambling. When we played we got to keep all of the marbles that we had when we started playing the game.

You would trade marbles with your friends to get a prettier cat eye marble or a marble with your favorite colors.

You could buy a pack of marbles in the 50's for five cents and you would get ten marbles and a log roller, which was a larger marble to shoot with in some games. A log roller would help you knock out more marbles.

Palmer Waters

January Post / Scratching Around In The Dirt

Scratching Around In The Dirt

I don't remember this but I have heard it several time over the years.

The house that we lived in on Cotton Street in Commerce had four rooms and a bath, a large wide hallway and a screened in front porch. With five kids playing out in the yard it was hard for the grass to grow.

My older siblings had put me down in the yard to play and I got to rolling around in the dirt. It didn't take long in the Georgia red clay until I started to favor a little piglet.

My siblings got to looking for me and had passed over me several times because of the covering of dirt until finally one of them saw me crawling up the hill and then they picked me up.

It must have been fun because I am still here today to tell it.

Palmer Waters