IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER 70

I mentioned in my 69 post about The Holy Land Experience and when I went to ladies Bible study this week someone mentioned a display came through at the Arts Center, Little Rock that pertained to the Tabernacle. She asked if anyone had seen it. After discussion I asked if anyone had gone to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida. There was one of the ladies that even knew what it was but had not gone . Believe me I was flabbergasted because it was been  years since Carl and I have been there. It has been at least six or seven years. This would be an ideal time to see it during the Easter season. I just assumed that some had seen it. I guess you can never assume that people have been to places you have been to.

It came to me again how blessed I am of seeing so many different places in our country. My grandson stopped by to drop off my mail so I wouldn’t have to drive down to pick it up. With a walker it is difficult because of rocks to walk but no problem to drive  up and get it. He sat for a few minutes to chat. He asked me a couple “Why don’t you questions?” of me doing this or that. I told him there aren’t any old ladies out here that like what I do. He said I am not the only 80 year old out here and he is sure there are others and instructed he is going to find some. Believe me I won’t hold my breath on that statement. I found out sometime ago not many like sports, let alone old ladies.

This morning I woke up with something I remembered saying in Greek when we didn’t want any one else to understand. Some people are puffed up with their own importance and when you are mentioning the incident to a family member you would say it in Greek because translated to English is little t—d. Now Carl thought that was so funny he wanted to learn how to say it in Greek, I tried to teach him but he just couldn’t roll his tongue right to get the accent. So every  time he tried we laughed at way he said it more than what he was trying to say. I can’t imagine what ever brought that to mind waking up from a night’s sleep. I really don’t remember my dreams. Cindy tells me we dream every night even though we can’t remember what we dreamed

I remember my mother doing a lot of baking for our religious holiday. We did not get baskets with chocolate bunnies or even jelly beans. The one thing I remember best was the Greek Easter Bread she made. I can still remember the taste. It has a different texture than sandwich bread and tastes good plain or toasted with her jam. Of course we had our Koolouas cookies that we helped make. Here are pictures of the Koolouas and the Easter Bread with the one red egg in it.  All our Easter Eggs were Red when I was growing up to symbolize the Blood of Christ.

                         

I hope I am not boring you with my family memories of when I grew up. I was so blessed to have had a father and mother who stayed together all their lives and giving us a foundation of living believing in God.

Does anyone have a pet peeve like I do. When I buy bananas I make sure they are not mushy, but firm and yellow. I eat a banana  

every day with cheerios for breakfast. The peeve I have is when you slice the banana down to the end a dark center line appears that looks like a worm. Yuk!! That is one thing I will do for myself to make sure my banana is all yellow. I have to admit I am a bit spoiled after living in Guam where we could get them from the trees. There was always someone who could climb the very tall tree for pocket change.

Dad and mom sold pies they made in the restaurant but for breakfast they purchased from the bread man wrapped goodies that can be stacked on the counter. The one I remember liking the best was a Tasty Kake that came 12 packages to the box. They also had an item called crumpets. That had two crumpets in each package, They each were two fingers wide were about 4 inches long with butterscotch icing on yellow cake. He also had on his truck sliced oblong pound cake each piece was individually wrapped. The slice was about 8 inches wide and quarter inch depth. The box held 12 pieces of yellow pound cake. Customers loved to have us toast the pieces to enjoy with coffee. 

Then super markets cutting into the delivery to individual small business’ like dads’ restaurant. They just plain stopped  servicing little accounts like ours. This was called progress. Eventually as time progresses things change. Where is the A & P store now? In the little town I grew up in the store no longer exists.

Like everything else time moves on not by train or auto but rotation of the sun around the moon.

Here in Arkansas we experienced several days of tornados and damage. I believe the last record I heard was 200 deaths and severe wind damage. My DIL wanted me to come and stay with  her once or twice, but I declined, I felt the Lord will protect me no matter where I am and if  it’s my time so be it. We had such a pelting of rain it is going to take weeks to dry out. I believe we live in kind of a bowl, we are at the base of the mountain sort of protected.

But, I will say I was without phone service for three days and electricity for 20 hours. Now we have electricity but no phone.  Now that is an inconvenience because we are without water because the well pump stops. This really happens so seldom and I do not like it.

I wish you all blessings that only God can bring. Until next time I am Immigrant Daughter.

IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER 30

In the last post I mentioned the boardwalk in Atlantic City and I didn’t mentioned the Easter Parade the way it use to be. Hollywood made a few movies about the Easter Parade and the song in Your Easter Bonnet was quite popular. As the holiday approaches you will see on the movie channel some of those vintage movies back in those days when ladies wore new outfits with new bonnets and to parade on the boardwalk showing off their outfits. Ladies wore hats to church so it wasn’t a waste of money with a onetime wear. My oldest sister loved big brimmed hats,

This all changed because the media has taken the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ out of the holiday. There were no family gatherings anymore and that is too bad for them because like it or not going to church, to worship as a family cannot be replaced.

The Easter Parade was a big event on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, people from all over the state and elsewhere came just to off the new bonnet on that day. This is me on the boardwalk one Easter. Photographers from the newspapers all over were there snapping pictures for their papers. Now people don’t rely on newspapers anymore. They didn’t take my picture. In N.J. it was still coat wearing weather and especially on the boardwalk than ran along the coast.

There was a shop on the boardwalk that served fresh strawberry shortcake. After our restaurant closed at night we use to go down to Atlantic City just for shortcake I think the place was called Lindys. At that time I was in high school and my sisters’ friend use to drive the four of us there just for shortcake because their family owned a house they used in the summer. Theyowned the ladies millinery Shoppe in town that sold silk stockings, under garments, hats and purses. The few pictures here are the four of us girls in my family in different hats.

Here is a picture of C in his hat just hamming it up. Also this is earlier in our life and our kids were very young and we are visiting dad. This picture is of dad playing solitaire in the kitchen. I just have too many pictures I would like to share so I will bunch them together because I know my girls would enjoy having them showing me oh so young.

This Easter is going to be really quiet from past ones. Living out in the country makes it difficult for the girls to visit. My DIL is cooking dinner for her side of the family and me so I won’t be entirely by myself. I will attend Church by myself and come home and read the paper and then go down the driveway to eat with DIL and her mom and family.

Greeks make bread at Easter that is delicious and my youngest can really do a fine job at making it. I will attempt to make my Koulouris cutting the original down to fourths because it takes so long to make them. These are the holiday cookies that are very popular in our family. I guess the most famous dessert is baklava even the large grocery chain are selling it. That is one thing I never made it is too hard.

I am so thankful to be able to remember some of these times I lived through.

One of the jobs I had was selling expensive ladies shoes in a large privately owned department store in Little Rock. I had a lot to learn about the different brands of shoes and how to measure the feet and get the right size for the customer. Learning was how to fit in with the old timers who resented new sales people, was the biggest challenge facing me. The one thing in my favor was the manager who hired me told me of what I had to overcome. They would have customers come in that didn’t ask for them and if anyone sold them shoes they would raise a ruckus. Or if you sold shoes to them they tried to bully you to get the commission they thought they deserved. I work there I year and one day my pastors wife came in and while I was fitting her with shoes he came in and sat down to talk. He offered me a job to be his secretary. I said your joking and he said no he meant it. I said I am no secretary oh I took typing in school but not shorthand and said again I’m not and office worker. He said he too would be new because he was assigned as an archdeacon and this job was in the diocesan office under the bishop.

The main part of my job was to get along with the bishops’ secretary who already ran off two, receptionist. He felt she wouldn’t run me off. And he was right she couldn’t. She was felt she owned the place and would give orders to anyone. I just wouldn’t obey because she wasn’t my boss.

One day she told me you are no secretary and you can’t even type. I looked at her and said “you are right” and it shocked her. I told her she was so good at her skills no one could match her shorthand or typing besides I wasn’t hired for those skills. I was the front office receptionist answering the phone besides being the archdeacons’ secretary. I was so kind to her she didn’t know how to handle me because no one ever said nice things to her. She left after her vacation that year.
That was the best job I ever had, not money wise but people wise. I nice met people from all over the State and when I asked how could I help to direct their call. They reported that it was such a pleasure to be asked how I could help them and not trying to find out their business by asking, “What do you want to speak with the Bishop?” The business that comes to the Bishop is personal and no body’s business and before me the people use to have a hard time getting through just to talk to him.

I listened to Greg Laurie this morning and he said a friend heard two atheists talking that said the Christians have Christmas and Easter to celebrate and Jews have Yom Kippur and Hanukah and we don’t have any special day. Some one close by heard said yes you do its’ April 1st, that’s the day fools celebrate.”

I see this is a good place to close so I will say Happy Easter from Immigrant Daughter.