More Birthday wishes!

Blast from the Past

I think this photo was taken in the alley by Grandma and Grandpa's house? I know the boys are Jeff and Mike. Don't know who the girls are - Teresa and Debbie, maybe?

Another birthday!

It's a Birthday Day!

Blast from the Past

Sorry I'm tardy again... the day just gets away from me.

This one needs no explanation. :o)

Blast From the Past

Back row: Audrey, Alan, Jody, Arlan
Middle row: Teresa, Tammy, Tonita, Jeff
Front row: baby, baby, Patty, baby
This is dated 1968, but that's just when it was developed. It was probably taken a few years before that. Anyone know who the babies are?
Edited to add: Patty says Jeff is holding Annette. I wonder if I'm not holding Randy, and perhaps Teresa is holding Joyce?

Grandma's Recipes

My mom sent me some of grandma Elsie's pickle recipes this week. They have names like Sweetlime Pickles, Cucumber relish for the fridge or freezer, 12 day Chunk Pickles, and of course Dill Pickles and Bread & Butter Pickles. Included was recipes for a Jewish Coffee Cake, Burnt Sugar Cake, Dutch Apple custard pie, Date pudding, and Date Nut Cake. There is also a recipe called"Plums" breifly stating "boil in med. syrup 5 min., seal", with the recipe for the syrup at the bottom of the card. OK, how many plums or how many pounds of plums? As you can see these recipes are a bit brief but I think I can figure them out eventually. The important thing is that I've gotten some of grandma's recipes! If any of you want a copy let me know. I'll try to publish them here as well but some are hardly ledgible so I need to take a while to go over them. I have a very dim memory of canning plums with grandma and how yummy they smelled. They were one of her favorites. I remember seeing her eating them in little white dishes and spitting the stones (seeds) into her spoon. She also made plum jam and jelly. But my favorite was crabapple. It was very time consuming to make jelly and even more so to clean crabapples so the few jars she made me each year were greatly appreciated. I can taste it now on hot buttered toast even tho its been years!

Birthday Day

Today we celebrate the 99th anniversary of our grandfather's birth!

My information is that Robert Allen Adams was born March 12, 1908, the fourth of seven children born to James Richard Adams and Jessie Mae Wallace.

It is my understanding that Grandpa lived in extreme poverty as a child.
I don't know much about his childhood, but the story I was always told was that Jessie Mae left the family when he was pretty young. When Grandpa was 13, he moved to Illinois to live with his mother. He helped support her by washing train engines in the train yard. Thus, he only ever had an 8th grade education. I don't know how long he lived there, but he eventually came back to Bradshaw.

Mom always said he never wanted to talk about Jessie Mae, but I remember a brief conversation we had when my daughter Jessica was born. He mentioned to me that his mother was named Jessie, and I told him I knew that, but it was really more of a coincidence since Greg was the one who picked Jessi's name. He seemed satisfied by that.

Someone once told me that Grandpa told them that he'd decided he wanted to marry "one of those Gifford girls", and Elsie ended up being the one for him. :o)

I never saw it, but have heard tales of Grandpa having a quite a temper during his younger days. I remember him as being quiet and gentle, always with room on his lap for the grandkids. When Greg and I were first married, we decided to go to the horse races in Grand Island. We stopped and asked Grandpa how it all worked and what we should do when we got there. He told us how to bet and we came home with a few dollars more than when we arrived.

When Grandma was in the hospital, and it was apparent she was going to pass away, Grandpa walked the halls with us grandkids, telling us stories of their early years together. He loved farming, but Grandma was so sick all the time, that he took a job with the railroad so they'd have insurance. I wish I'd written down those stories - that's all I remember.

I do remember when Jessica was a baby, he made a comment that he always wished babies were born with handles on them, so they'd be easier to carry around. :o)

There were many layers to this man - the farmer, the soldier, the husband, the father, the grandfather, the gardener. I wish I could sit down with him, me being the age I am now, and ask questions and record stories...

Blast from the Past

This is Aunt Bobbie and Paula. I don't know anything more about it - taken in Colorado, perhaps? And is the woman in the background someone they know, or is she just getting a kick out of having her photo taken with strangers?
I think Aunt Bobbie is just beautiful in this photo...

Blast from the Past

It's Friday again already?! Sorry I'm tardy - I went to town and saw the movie "Wild Hogs" that opens tonight. I know it's not getting good reviews, but I give it two thumbs up! Go see it! Oh, and "ride hard or stay home". :o)

Okay, the photo. Let's see who can name the children... cuz I don't know for sure beyond Bobby, Bart, Jeff, and Teresa. I think that's Tonita standing next to Teresa in the front, and I think that is Aunt Phyllis in the background. Anyone else want to take a shot? And name the location? (I scanned this at 600 dpi, but good resolution doesn't help a fuzzy photo be any clearer. Sorry.)