Christmas Memories Continue To Pop Up

 It's the day after Christmas and all through the house is... memories. That's what is in this house. Memories of old and memories today, the day after Christmas that were made just yesterday. I asked one of our guests last night if this time of year brought back memories and she assured me that it did. My husband's brother and wife called us for Christmas yesterday and I told her that it seems the older I get I should be running out of new/old memories, but it doesn't happen that way. This memory is just an example that happened to me Christmas Eve, 2023.

We were expecting company for Christmas Eve and I thought I would put some lipstick on. I don't wear it very often and there's a reason for that. I'm almost out of lipstick. I carry it in my purse in case I want to wear it. You see it is very very old. My mother gave me this lipstick. It was the last gift she gave me for Christmas. I know that you are thinking it's just lipstick. No, it's a Christmas memory.

One day years ago I told my mother that I just loved her lipstick. It was the perfect color and seemed to really compliment her snowy white hair and her blue eyes. Well that Christmas I got a gift that I just loved. A lipstick just like my mother wore. Oh how I loved it. It seemed to change a bit with every outfit I wore. In fact it was a bit strange. It looked good with red, purple, yellow, green; whatever I wore.

Most every year after that I would receive a stick lipstick either for Christmas or for my birthday. Sometimes she would even ask me if I needed some lipstick and would give me hers. I never ran out.

Lipstick was a Christmas memory for my mother that she passed along to us each Christmas. My father and mother were married in the thirties and were very poor. My father decided that he wanted to be a linotype operator, but the school for that was in Minnesota. He hitchhiked there and took the course; leaving my mother and my older sister maybe two little ones at home. I can't remember for sure. If I remember right the course was nine months long. 

Mother lived in a basement house on my grandparent's farm, so she and her children were taken care of as far as food and family.

My father hitchhiked home for Christmas. Now you have to remember the winters in Minnesota and Iowa were cold ones. It came time to open gifts that Mom had made him and from my grandparents and much to my mother's surprise my father had a gift for her. It was a lipstick! It was called Tangee. It was orange and it changed to pink when applied to her lips. That was the only lipstick I can remember her wearing when I was a child. Now it is sold on Ebay! By the way she said I alway cried when she put on lipstick when I was little because I told her that she didn't look like mom. Oh how she loved to tell those stories.

She said that Dad spent his last quarter on that lipstick for her. Now that's poor. But the love!

So getting back to my last stick lipstick which is really way too old to wear, I decided to order myself one from Amazon and finally throw away the one that Mom gave me so many years ago. Much to my surprise there was only one left in stock! I might add that it was ten dollars!  Mercy I ordered it as fast as I could. Hopefully I will be able to wear it a few more times until it too is gone just leaving the Christmas memories and a smile on my face.

This is the last studio picture of my mother and of course, she is wearing "The lipstick!"

A billboard Brought Back Memories Of The Olden Days

 Grandma Lu was getting tired. She had had quite the day. A mouse in the car was the last thing that she needed. Thank goodness her husband had told her to stop and have the auto shop check out her car. Sure enough that mouse had made a nest out of her air filter. She had been driving for about four hours and still had about six hours to go before she got to the Double D Ranch in Texas. She loved that place because her ancestors had owned it from generation to generation. It had a silver mine on it that had caused problems among her family members for years. Some wanted to mine it some did not. She was the last in the line to own it so she had made the decision to make the ranch into a rescue for abused and unwanted horses and other large animals. There was plenty of money in that account to keep it operating for a good many years. 

The big mining company said they had mineral rights to the mine because of a boundary dispute that she thought had been settled years ago. It was that dratted step-brother that had this started all over again. Well it would stop with her and her lawyer and all would be over and done with.

She saw a sign on the road for a filling station and decided to stop and fill up and find a motel for the night.

"Self service gas stations just have never been a good thing in my estimation. Oh when I was a teenager we had what they called full service filling stations. That's just what they were too. Mercy, I remember my best friend's dad would let her drive the car on a weekend night after she got her driver's license. He would write down the mileage and check it when she got home so that he knew she wasn't putting too many miles on his car." She chuckled to herself about those days. "I always had to pay for the gas. Yes, I did. She always knew I had change in the bottom of my purse because I never used my change purse and spent very little of my wages on myself. Change. Yes, change is what was needed to buy gas in those days. I remember so well the man who owned the filling station we went to. It was a Skelly station. That rich oil man Getty fella bought them out if I remember right. You don't see Skelly stations anymore. The man that owned that station's first name was Ray just like my dad.  He wore a uniform and a bow tie and and hat. He would check all the fluids in the car even check the air in the tires if we asked him to. To fill the car up with gas was usually about a dollar. Wow those were the days."

"When he was finished he would put out his hand for his money and off we would go. He never was exactly pleased when my friend would hand him my dimes and nickels and even occasionally some pennies. I remember going inside one time. There was only cans of oil and other stuff for cars and trucks that I never wanted to buy. I can remember dipsticks and funnels and gloves. Exciting stuff. It smelled like gas and oil too. Nowadays there are all kinds of fun things like t-shirts and food, and magazines, even toys for children. That reminds me I need to buy some magazines and some snacks and ask if there is a motel close by. I'm ready to rest for the night."

Grandma Lu paid for her gas with a credit card and pulled her car up to the building so she could buy her things and ask about a motel. As she was looking through the magazines she shook her head. Just look at what children read nowadays. Mercy. It's all Bam Boom and Zap with guys like Batman and other super heroes. In my day comic books had Little Lulu and Veronica and Archie and Jughead and even detective comics that I loved to read. Dick Tracy was a good one. Of course, Dagwood and Blondie were fun. He was always in trouble."

 She looked at one with four little boys dressed up in costumes she had seen on television. Spiderman was all the thing. She smiled at the boys. She had to admit they were cute, but had no clue about the story inside. Maybe someday she'd have to catchup on the story about that Spider character.

As she looked for a good magazine she chuckled when she saw a magazine that she knew little girls would love. "Look at that little princess, but she looks so sad. I wonder why. Well, I'd better get up to the desk and get directions to the nearest motel and be on my way." But on her way there she decided to go back to the shelf and buy that little princess comic and see what it was all about.

The clerk at the desk told her that there was a motel just a mile down the road right off the highway. It was clean and modestly priced. They even had breakfast in the morning.  Grandma Lu was so pleased. She would be in Texas about one or two o'clock the next day. "I'll get my business done, give the Journal to the lawyer to have it put in the State of Texas Museum for all to enjoy. My family did have an interesting history; not all good, but interesting." She adjusted her hat, got in her car and headed down the highway.

The man driving the motor home turned to the young woman and said, “ You know what you have to do. When she gets to the motel I’ll distract her and you grab the journal. It’s worth big bucks to the right people and will set us up for life.”

They Called Her Mouse Lady!

 Grandma Lu was finally settling down after the mouse attack. She grinned to herself and thought, "Old lady, you let that little bitty mouse get you all upset. Now you have a mission to get done. You have the precious journal with you and you need to get back on the road."

Just as she was pulling out onto the two lane highway her phone rang. It was her husband. "Hey girl. You are the talk of the town at least in the cafe you are. I decided to come over for an ice cream and you and the mouse was all everyone was talking about. Are you alright? They said you almost went in the ditch."

"Yes, I'm alright, but that little thing just kept running across the dash and then he'd hide in the defrost thing and drove me about crazy. Some nice young man got him out for me though so I'm just about to get back on the road."

"No, I want you to stop at a shop there on the county highway. They'd better check out the air filter. That mouse just might have a family in your car. So do that before you get on the big highway, okay?"

Nothing irritated Grandma Lu like a delay or change in her plans. She had her schedule all planned. This was not a fun trip. She was going to Texas and go to her lawyer's office and get that mining company stopped in it's tracks. She hated to delay her trip, but she also did not want to have to deal with another little stowaway in the dash of her car either. "Oh, alright, but I'm not a bit happy about this, Fran. I guess you are right. Mom always said, ' Where you see one mouse, there is a dozen more.' I hope she's wrong this time. I have to get going and get this done so I can get back home. I'll call you later and let you know what they said. Love you!"

Her husband shook his head and grinned. That wife of his kept him on his toes for sure. He finished his ice cream and went back home. He had chores to do and a dog to tend to. She'd be back home soon.

Grandma Lu knew about the shop that her husband was talking about. She knew it was just a few miles up the road. She'd have the car checked out and be done with it. She pulled into the driveway. There were several cars there. She hoped that they would have time to check the car. She walked in the door and a woman at the counter said, "Are you the mouse lady?" Well Grandma Lu straightened her hat and said, "Well for goodness sakes, why did you ask that?" People in the waiting room were grinning and snickering as they waited to hear what she had to say.

"Your husband called and said that you would be stopping. It will be a few minutes, but we can check under the hood and make sure that the mouse didn't do any damage and get you on your way. I hear you are headed for Texas."

A man and woman were sitting in the waiting room and told her that they had come through Texas on the way to Missouri. "Oh that's nice. Are you on vacation? Grandma Lu asked. They told her that they had been touring the country and their motor home had broken down and were at the shop to get it fixed. Grandma Lu noticed that the woman was a bit nervous. When she would start to speak her husband (she presumed) would interrupt her and would take over the conversation. Grandma Lu didn't like that, but was glad she didn't have to put up with that at her house.

 People were coming and going at the shop. They would pay their bills and grumble about how much they were getting charged. She was starting to get annoyed with the wait and continued to watch the woman across the room as she also checked the time on her phone.

"Hmm, I wonder what is going on with that couple. I just feel something isn't right; not at all. The woman has little beads of sweat on her forehead, but it's rather cool in here. Besides that he has beady eyes. Oh well, I'm sure everything is fine.  You just need to but out of this, old woman. You have places to go and a job to get done so you can get on with your life."

After a bit the lady at the desk said, "You had a busy mouse in your car. He completely tore up your air filter. We had to replace that and of course, the labor charge. That will be forty eight dollars." Grandma Lu silently sighed and paid the bill. She was anxious to get on her way. The day was getting late. She was going to have to stop for the night after this delay. When she was getting herself in the car she noticed the couple walk over to a rather large motor home. "Well, hopefully they have a good trip. I'm sure that young lady is alright. I'm just imagining things. I write way too many stories. But I didn't like the look in that man's eyes when he looked at the young woman; like he was controlling her."

As she made her way down the road singing along to the radio she didn't notice that the motor home was a car or two behind her.

There's A Mouse On The Loose!

 Grandma Lu tried unsuccessfully to stop the tears as she drove out of her beloved small town. Here she had made so many friends; both young and old. Marleewood was her dream place. How she loved to tell her stories to the youngsters, but today she was leaving to head to Texas. She had to deal with the legacy of the Dude Ranch which without her intervention would be made into a strip  mining disaster. She was leaving with a red face of embarrassment. She hated the fact that folks now knew about the stepbrother that was in prison for swindling folks out of their hard earned money. "That pretty much ruins my reputation as a good person. My mother always said that you were known by the company that you keep. Well, so much for that. Folks will get over it I suppose." As she rounded the last curve headed out of town she let out a scream of terror! "No! no! no! Get out of here! You are going to cause me to go in the ditch! No you don't. Mercy, mercy! Where can I stop and get you out of here? There's the little old church at the cemetery. I'll stop there and force you out of the car, mister or whatever you are."

Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was going to have a heart attack. He was running up and down on the dash. Then he just sat there staring at her and let out a little squeak. "I just know that you will run up my leg. Eek, where are you now? I know what I'll do. I'll fix you." She got in the back seat and grabbed two of her old sweaters. "There that should fix you!" as she stuffed the last sweater as tight as she could against the windshield. She got back in the car and thought. "This will never do. There is no one at the church but somebody's cow. He didn't seem to care that she was screaming her head off. "It's just plain silly to be scared of a little mouse. I don't care! I have had a really bad day!" She started running around the car and opening the doors trying to get that mouse out of the car.

A little girl said, "Mom, what is wrong with Grandma Lu? She's running around her car and hopping and jumping all around. Is she okay? Should we stop?"

Her mom slowed down, but said, "I think she's alright. Remember we have to get to the dentist's office in just a few minutes. I'll call her when we get you checked in to make sure she's alright, okay?" 

Across the road from the cemetery Kia and Sage were watching the show. "Kia said, "You know, Sage, I thought this trip visiting the grandparents and all was really going to be boring, but this is quite a show! I wonder who will win, the mouse or that old lady."

"I know that lady. She's a good person. We really should go over there and chase that thing out of her car. I don't think she can do it by herself." 

"No, we can't go across the road. The humans get all upset when we do that. We can just keep an eye on her and get help if we think she needs it." So they sat and watched instead of playing ball.

After the dentist's appointment and a wonderful cavity free checkup, their mom treated her little girl and her brother to an ice cream along with a promise to keep up the good work with brushing and flossing. There was another family there too discussing Grandma Lu. "Did you see her drive out of town? She was driving like a crazy woman? Is she sick? What in the world is going on with her? First the new sheriff arrested that man by her house and then she left and didn't even go to her own party. I just don't understand her. Maybe we should pay our bill and go check on her. I wonder where she was going and why she was driving like that."

Two men were sitting down at the end of the counter chuckling when they over heard the conversation about Grandma Lu's driving. "She actually drove down to our shop on the highway and offered us twenty dollars to get it out of the car for her. Of course, we did it for nothing, but she was really upset."

"Get what out of the car for her? asked Grandma Lu's husband. She just left a few minutes ago. What's going on?"

After he understood the situation and laughed, "She does not like mice, that's for sure." Then everyone laughed and shook their heads and some agreed that they would have paid someone to take a mouse out of their car too. Some said, "I would have walked back to town and some said, "You just gotta love her." 

Soon everyone in Grandma Lu's small town knew about the mouse that was on the loose. Where did that mouse go? Two curious people wondered that knew Grandma Lu very well. They were sure there would be a story someday to go along with this latest adventure.