2009 and shine

2009 slid in here at the Hudak household. I watched the ball fall in NYC, said happy new year to Terry and then went to bed. Got up a few hours later to watch the Rose Parade - a yearly ritual. Afterwards just wiled away the rest of the day trying to find something to watch on t.v. besides football (not my favorite sport). A very quiet way to spend a holiday. I also started to read a novel by Nora Roberts called The Pagan Stone, which is the third book in a trilogy. Had read the first two earlier in 2008 and finally got the third one to read. All were great - I will be looking for more of her books to read.

well my brother beat me to the draw.....he was the first to put photos in the Hemping Album on the El Tigre page on MyFamily.com. He chose some good ones - I guess that now it is going to be my turn to dig into my supply of photos and put some in. I have been enjoying going to the El Tigre page and seeing who is doing what and how they are doing and taking a look at times gone by.

Yep, it is 2009 and just how much it is going to shine remains to be seen. Sounds good though. I have myself parked in my recliner making use of my laptop which is being protected by the "cooler" board underneath. I burned up my last laptop by literally using it as a laptop with nothing underneath to allow it to "breathe". My son decided to make sure that doesn't happen again and gave me the "cooler" for Christmas. I have cleared all my e-mails (263) as well. It has been a busy day on the computer.

One shining moment will happen in 60 days - I am going to be a great aunt once again. Another little girl who is going to become a very welcome member of her family. I am sure that she is going to be another "blond beauty" in the family. I look forward to saying welcome to Alicia and hope to be able to see her this summer. I am hoping to be in the fair state of California during July. My highschool class is having it 45 reunion - yep you hear right - 45 WOW.

We dodged another bullet weatherwise this week. It could have gotten very nasty at the homefront. Ice was predicted and it happened within miles of the domicile but never made it to my front door. I am glad - I am not a winter person. Don't know just how many more times that the bullet will be dodged - have been lucky so far, but it is going to catch up with me sooner or later.

Twas four nights before Christmas

Here it is Sunday evening. I spent a few hours today on the El Tigre site on MyFamily.com.....even used it to see that my brother was onsite and called him to tell him that I was adding my two cents to the site. He had been after me to add my memories to all the rest. This is the last Sunday before Christmas 2008. This year has flown by. We have had our ups and downs in the family, but with God's help we have made it through another year.

2008 - makes me feel old for some reason. I have been thinking of so many Christmases past. Those that I celebrated in Iowa, those that I celebrated in California and finally those that I celebrated in Maryland. Each and everyone was different, but there is one tradition that I have carried through all the ones that I can remember. Oyster stew. Christmas Eve is not Christmas Eve without oyster stew. It all started when I was very small - we spent Christmas Eve with the Sievert side of the family. We would all meet at Grandpa and Grandma's house after going to church. There was all sorts of food to eat (oyster stew being the one thing that was the same every year) and "kickapoo joy juice" to drink. The stew I can make - the "kickapoo joy juice" is something else again. I have no idea exactly what my grandma did to make it but it was good. The secret died with my grandmother.

Once again we have dodged a big weather bullet - I really don't think that there is going to be a white Christmas even though foul weather is predicted. It is, however, very windy and quite cold outside. My wind chimes are playing music like crazy - I so love to listen to them.

So far I have managed to mail my gifts to the family contingent in California and to my other out-of-state friends. I have typed up the major portion of my Christmas letter and delivered it via electronic mail. I have a few to add info to and then put them in "snail mail". Should be at their destinations by Christmas. Then I have the family gifts to wrap and put under the tree. I will be done before Christmas this year. This in itself is a miracle for me.

The tree has been up since the early part of December. We wanted to have Terry's help putting it up so we had to get it done before he had knee surgery on December 11. He goes back to work tomorrow and as much as he grouses about his job I think that he is glad to be going back. The doctor had to remove floating pieces of cartilege etc. to help his knee to work better.

Hope that everyone has a happy holiday season - may the new year be a blessed and prosperous one.

Thanksgiving Day Talk with my brother

My little brother called me on Turkey Day - we spent almost an hour on the phone. This is probably the longest that we have talked in a very long time. We spent most of that time remembering way back when - I was even remembering things that came before his time. He was conceived in Iowa, but born in California. So we made the trip from Iowa to California at the same time, just not in the same way. Columbus Day, 1955 was the day that we hit Donner Pass - at that time the road was two lanes (one way in each direction) and no gaurd rails to keep you from sliding down the mountain if you left the road. My very first experience with "really scary" mountain roads - what a welcome to your new home.

We (or I should say I) talked about family in Iowa - Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, and cousins. Iowa was a happy time for me - I loved my grandparents very much as I lived with them most of the time because grandma took care of me while mom worked - my mother was ahead of the times and was a working mom. She worked as the linotypist for the town newspaper, which just happened to be owned by grandpa and run by Uncle Butch (my mother's brother).

I talked about Richfield and why we moved to California in the first place (Iowa held no future for my dad and Uncle Max said come here and I will find you a job - a furniture factory as it turned out). Six weeks after "Lil Bro" was born we moved to the mountains - that is where most of his memories start.

The mountains was where our parents planted their roots and raised us. It was rough at times. After working in Sloat (a saw mill) as a scaler (he measured how many board feet each log would make) he started with the Forest Service. The first three years he was a probationary employee which meant that he was laid off for the winter - that is when I learned the venison, fish and once in a while a goose were staples in our lives. Our first house in the mountains was at Parkers = you look over the railing of the front porch and you were looking down into the ravine at the river (Feather River). We later moved to Graeagle and started a whole new chapter in our lives.

We were remembering all the people that lived around us - the Kurdupskis, Mrs. Sawtell, the Colliers, the Souths, Willie Burns and his wife and the Bethurams (sp?) and so many more. It is funny just how many things can pop into your mind at the mere mention of a name or place.

It is funny, we were wondering what had happened to the South family the other day and today when I opened my e-mails there was a message from Gwen South, who now lives in Utah with her husband and two kids. That was a nice surprise. I am hoping that we can start communicating and get to know one another again. We spent quite a bit of one or two summers on my front porch playing the games of clue or canasta -

This is how I spent part of my Thanksgiving - besides eating a nice meal with my family here in Maryland I had a nice time talking with my brother - hope that this is a trend that will continue. We only have each other now and it would be nice to get to know each other again - he was eight when I left home to never return on a permanent basis. There have only been visits since then and many miles in between.

My family

My son does not want his picture published on the internet in any way shape or form---so I will post a picture of the one member of my family that does not care one way or the other. She joined the family during the ealy summer of 2004 just a few months before Paul died. He was not really fond of cats, but he made an exception for this one - I do have to admit that she was cute and very cool as a kitten......her name is Scooter by the way. She had a way of scooting all around the house when she was small.



As you can tell by the look in her eye she can be an evil thing (witch with a "b" is what I was going to say). She will be sitting my lap, purring away when the next thing I know she is wrapping herself around my arm and laying into me with all of her claws and teeth. She has left her mark on my arms and legs - no doubting the fact that I have a cat. She is approximately 15 pounds of trouble who has her claws clipped once a month by the vet. There is no way that I would attempt to do it myself. As it is she has gained quite a rep with vet - the people up there wear heavy leather gloves or wrap her in layers of towels. Rightly so I might add. She can be a witch, but she is my witch.......

Home Sweet Home

This is my house as of the first of November. Mother Nature was trying to decide if she wanted fall or spring. The leaves were changing to fall colors, but my spring flowers (climatis and petunias) were in full bloom.

As you can see I am into Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs (more pics later) and I am proud to say that the shutters were designed and handmade by yours truly. The colors and design were taken from my hex signs. I can truthfully say that I am the only one in the neighborhood (in fact the town) with yellow shutters. They were my very first project after I retired. Took me a couple of weeks to do and the carpenter who replaced my windows was nice enough to put them up for me. Terry is not all that thrilled with them but "tough noogies" -- it is my house and I like them.

This is so neat - the very first pics that I have attached. I learn something new everyday. One day I will locate my book about hex signs and tell you what the signs mean - all I can remember now is that they are two different designs for a bird called distlefink and they usually stand for good luck and happy things. I don't particularly like the ones that ward off evil spirits - they are not at colorful or as pretty.