So I says, says I...

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick  1887 - 1974

When I was a little girl, I'd often run down to my Grandma's house down the road, and hang out with her for an afternoon, day, or a sleepover.

When there, I'd more than likely be hanging out with not only my Grandma, but sometimes her friends and neighbors.

The old ladies would sit around having pots of tea, with cookies, bars, or slices of cake.  And always the visiting.

L to R: Great Aunt Hannah (Fitzpatrick) Fox, Grandma Elizabeth (Fitzgerald) Fitzpatrick [1969 in her home]

They would often regale one another with stories or sharing happenings that the others didn't know or hadn't witnessed.  It was the Facebook of their day.

And the way they told their stories, was unique and colorful...¹

So I says to him, I says, "-------------------" And then she says, "-------------------" (and on it would go...)

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¹ - Historic Present (tense) is often used in usual discourse; Jespersen said that "The speaker, as it were, forgets all about time and recalls what he is recounting as vividly as if it were now present before his eyes."

The historic present is its own separate tense:

It is interesting to note that the rules for the distribution of -s in subject-verb concord do not apply in the "historic present", where -s even occurs with an adjacent, non-coordinated personal pronoun subject. Consider the following examples from Irish English (3a) and from north east Yorkshire (3b-c)

(3) a. And I goes down and gets him by the neck

b. I says

c. in comes I

This suggests that the historic present, which is used to bring dramatic effect to the narration of past events, is a special marked tense and not merely the present tense used to refer to the past.

(From: A subject-verb agreement: Evidence from analogical change in modern English dialects by Carol Chapman)
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Conversations inspired by the photo above, on Facebook...

• Betty Jeanne Short Thorsvig I have Grandma’s buffet and china closet; Sharon has the rocking chair. I also have her lazy Susan that is on the buffet. My Bill refinished them all; just beautiful.

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  • Trish Short Lewis I feel like that room is still there, just like it is in that photo, and just waiting for me to come and visit it and the people in it. And I do...in my dreams...
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    Carolyn Peterson Betty Jeanne Short Thorsvig
    My mom Clara was so upset with her mom for teaching me to snap gum, she was a cool grandma and I loved her very much. The last time I saw grandma is when auntie Grace had passed away and all of us surprised her at the nursi… 
  • Trish Short Lewis I didn't realize that Grandma knew how to snap gum! I never saw her chew gum period. I learned something!! lol
  • Carolyn Peterson That’s what I was told I may have it wrong.
  • Delphine Mundorf No Carolyn you are right grandma taught me to snap gum too. We took grandma and grandpa on a trip with US to the black hills and grandma chewed gum and that's when I learned to snap gum. Much to my dad's displeasure.

    
    
  • Carolyn Peterson I know I have forgotten a lot so thank you .
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    Carolyn Peterson Grandma and grandpa had strong Love 💕 for each other for all life dealt them , in sleeping 😴 upstairs across from there room they always got on there hands and knees to pray at night.

    
    
  • Delphine Mundorf Mom told me grandpa liked to drink in his younger years and grandma hated drinking. One night he went out on the town and grandma was mad so she locked him out of the house. Grandpa put a ladder up to get into the upstairs window. When he got half way up the ladder grandma pushed it over. Guess grandpa slept on the ground that night. LOL

    
    
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    Carolyn Peterson I love 💕 that story.

    
    
  • Trish Short Lewis Carolyn me, too... 😂🤣
  • Trish Short Lewis Delphine Wow, hidden talents that Grandma had that I never knew about...until now...lol
  • Trish Short Lewis Carolyn I never knew that, about them praying together like that. That is so beautiful! Please, think about your memories, and share more...every bit is precious to me...
• David Conley Trish Short Lewis, you know, so many times people look different than what our memories of them are. But great grandma looks EXACTLY like I remember her!! ❤❤❤

  
  
  • Trish Short Lewis I know! I feel the same way. She was such a strong, positive personality, and was a great influence on my life, as she was to so many others...
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    Carolyn Peterson David Conley Many great memories from my grandma’s home . She would rock I and Corrine in the rocking chair. I Loved 💕 my grandma .Carolyn
  • Trish Short Lewis Carolyn, we all did! So many little ones passed through her homes and her arms! She made each of us feel very special. Can you share some memories of Grandma with us?
  • David Conley Trish Short Lewis my favorite is when I was 6. I was running past grandma who was at the kitchen table. I patted her leg on my way past. (You know, the wooden one?) Something didn't seem right, so I turned around, lifted up her dress, and that leg just didn't look right, so I bit it trying to figure out what was wrong with it?? Grandma laughed for a good 20 minutes!!! 😂😂😂lol

    
    
• Zelda C. Hartje So how old were these beautiful ladies when this photo was taken? We always thought our grandparents were so old, but now realize that they weren’t so old, just looked old by today’s standards. Nothing better than growing up close to grandparents!

  
  
  • Trish Short Lewis Grandma was 82, and Aunt Hannah was 78.
• Diane Lande Johnson Looks like my grandmother’s house. My grandma always wore jersey dresses. I never saw her in pants.
  • Trish Short Lewis Yep...same with my Grandma - never in pants!
• Corrine Johnson Looking back at my grandmother I see how hard these women worked they were always amazing to me. I loved her so much. I loved the last summer I spent with her in 1962. I was home visiting from beauty school. That was the best of times and I am so grateful that I get the chance to be with her. Love you grandmother.
  • Trish Short Lewis What did you do with Grandma when you stayed with her in 1962, Corrine?

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• Carolyn Peterson Eating homemade bread 🍞 and canned peaches 🍑 I

  
  
  • Trish Short Lewis Yes, both memories of those I have, also. Food was always a major theme in our family!!
• Delphine Mundorf My dad loved her canned chicken in gravy. I was always so amazed. We slept upstairs when we visited. and I would come downstairs in the morning and grandma already had a cake and cookies all baked and ready to eat. I don't know what time she got up but bake goods were already done when we got up.

  
  
  • Trish Short Lewis Chicken in gravy, canned? wow...very cool! I would have loved trying that out. I wonder what else she canned back in the day. She sounded like even *more* of a force of nature than I already knew her to be. Tell me more memories, Delphine, please...
  • Delphine Mundorf Grandma use to can quite a bit of meat as back in those days they didn't have freezers. Could freeze stuff in a compartment in the milk house in winter is all. I use to love watching grandma separate the milk. And oh my the wonderful cream. If you wanted whip cream I tell only about 2 or 3 turns of the hand beater and it was whipped .

    
    
  • Trish Short Lewis Delphine That cream sounds incredible. Wish I had a time machine. At least I got to taste *some* of her cooking those days I hung out with her, and the Sunday dinners in the early and mid 1960s I can remember.
  • Delphine Mundorf She was so amazing and I loved it when she chuckled. I will never forget her endless -pot. At our holiday family dinners she had this little grey T-pot. I never figured out how she could fill so many cups with such a small pot and I never saw her go back into the kitchen to refill it. I mentioned that to her one time and she just chuckled .
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  • Trish Short Lewis I remember that pot. She must have done sneaky refills ;)

Old Friend

We may have been friends for nine years on Facebook, but we've been friends for over 46 years in real life.

Our mares both had foals in 1974. We spent that summer riding across the countryside with their little ones running free alongside us.

You were one year ahead of me, Kathy, at NDSU. I joined you there, ending up your dorm room mate, in the fall of 1977 (circumstantially, for only one quarter, but it was very memorable...)

We both ended up being single mothers, doing it our own way, but finding lasting love later in life.

We've come a long, long way, old friend...

Gold Wedding Anniversary Moment-in-Time

1993. One year before I lost 80+ pounds. Five years before Mom and Dad sold their home and built their dream home in New Mexico. Eight years before they had to come home due to declining health, and Dad passed away soon after. 14 years before Mom passed on. 25 years until one of the two tall, old oak trees that held the rope swing for over a century, fell down from age, finally giving up the ghost. But for this one moment, we were all there, alive, happy to be with one another. That time never came again. Remember to always, ALWAYS cherish the moments you have...

I posted the photo with my comments on Facebook.  My cousin, David saw it, and posted the comments below, and I responded to him...

David Conley I miss your mom and dad! 😢 and I sure had a wonderful time helping them set up their home here in new mexico. I did a lot of work for them, and uncle Gordon would always take me up to pizza hut, to the buffet, for lunch!! Either there, or dairy queen! Lol

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  Trish Short Lewis I never knew that, David. What work did you do for them?

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  David Conley Trish Short Lewis oh just a bunch of yard work. Leveling the lot, spreading gravel, put up a car port, and put in one of those circular clothes hangers in their yard.

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  Trish Short Lewis David Conley I'm sure they greatly appreciated the help. Handyman smaller jobs like that aren't easy to come by as they once were, fewer people want to do them, it seems. It's nice to hear about it. Yeah, my Dad was always a kind man, and enjoyed th…See More

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  David Conley Trish Short Lewis ya they're very fond memories for me! Your dad was great then! He had the shaking from the parkinsons, but other than that he was the same old Gordon I remembered as a kid! And I always enjoyed the stories he would tell!! 😁

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  Trish Short Lewis David Conley I figured as much. He was very worried about Mom starting the last year they were there 2000 and into early 2001. He saw her changing, and because he was aware of his own body weakening, it greatly worried him. He was under a lot of stress. Bills weren't getting paid or were being paid late. Their house wasn't being kept as tidy as it once was. He was at the point that he needed more help and Mom couldn't give it to him, and I got the impression they weren't always able to avail themselves of services that might have helped, as they once would have done due to forgetfulness, stress, confusion, and/or poor health. Their church friends stepped in and finally called us...It greatly saddens me it had to be like that for them. They deserved better. They deserved more. :'(

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  David Conley Trish Short Lewis yes i agree. And I wish I had still been here then, but I had gone back to Wisconsin in '99 to be nearer to my daughter. It was shortly thereafter that they both started to decline, as did my grandma.

A Horse and his Human

Carl & Joe...with a kitty friend

It was so true, once upon a time, in a little town called St. Vincent, when I was a girl.  










I still greatly miss having that very special relationship with a horse.  I live vicariously through my friends who have horses, including my cousin Carl, who has a  long, ongoing, and close friendship with his horse, Joe...

Monkey Room

Created with flickr slideshow.

The End of a Childhood Friend

I lost a good friend recently - an old oak tree that was one of two that held up an iron bar, a set of rings, from which ropes hung that held a wooden seat. My grandfather put it up over a century ago. My mother and her siblings, my sisters and I and my nieces, nephews, and my children all swung on it.

But a recent bad storm broke the tree in half, at the point where the tree had grown around the iron bar many, many years ago. Slowly but surely, my childhood home is going back to nature.

The acorns, the oak leaves I collected and preserved in wax paper with an iron. The red squirrels that made it their home and ran through the branches chattering and chasing one another. I didn't even hear any squirrels or even birdsong in the little woods north of the old home I grew up in.

I feel incredibly sad but realize this is how things are, always have been, and always will be. Change is the only constant...