Ah, my Tom! little blonde fellow with big brown eyes decided to enter the world butt and knees first. Good thing he wasn't very big. 6lbs. 4 oz. Tom always did things hiw own way. I don't believe he ever has had an enemy.

He was a good baby, but as soon as he was able to walk, the fun began! He was into everything, climbed everything, hid under everything, took off the minute I took my eyes off from him. He's the most like me and can remember way back and loves to reminisce.

He was so cute a neighbor woman kept "borrowing" him to take for walks. I found out later she was telling people he was HER baby. The other kids adored him and showed no jealousy. He'd go to sleep wherever he happened to be. He filled his bathrub with every toy he could grab and never wanted to get out. I looked out the window on a chilly spring day and saw him sleeping on the sidewalk. He poured water on top of open pails of paint while we were painting the house. He'd pile up his toys in the corner of his playpen while I had him playing outdoors, climb on top of the toys, get his leg over the railing, and drop to the ground. Then start toddling down the street. Or he'd take off his diapers (he was hipless) and wave them at people who drove by. The neighbors adored him.

Then we moved to FL for awhile. I remember the day I had just told a neighbor he was almost tall nought to open the fridge, when he went into the house to use the bathroom and didn't come out. I went in and an egg was smashed and was slowly making its way down the door of the fridge.

He had a satin baby pillow he loved. We went to NY whre my mother took one look at the soiled cover and proceeded to make him a new cover with Davy Crockett print on it. From then on that was his Davie, and I had a terrible time getting him to sleep without it eventually. He reminded me of Calvin and Hobbes. One night he had been playing out in the yard and when bedtime came, he looked all over for DAvie. No Davie. The other kids and I and even neighbor kids looked for Davie. He want to sleep sobbing. The next day his brother went out and climbed a pile of dirt that had been left in our yard (we were building). Right on top was Davie. He cried "Oh, Davie, I thought you were lost!"

The school was right across from our house so when he started Kindergartern, I could look over and see him out for recess. The teacher was always carrying him. I finally asked her why and she said he ws so cute, she couldn't put him down.

We moved from that house to another where he learned to ride Pat's bike. A neighbor remarked to me "He'll learn to ride that bike or kill himself trying." He'd push it to the top of the hill, get on and ride to the bottom where he'd fall over, push it back up and try again. Finally he got it and then wanted to ride in the road. I followed him to a school meeting one night and back home. When I saw he followed all the traffic laws, I turned him loose. He is now nearly 54 and still rides his bike all over, especially to go fishing, which he does regularly.

He and his brother got into all kinds of mischief, most of which I didn't know about until after they grew up. Then they confessed. They used to play on the railroad trestle. I called them once and saw them in the very top of the tallest tree around. I went in the house. I didn't want to see them come down. I said, "Lord, you helped them get up there. You get them down." And HE did.

They hated to take their little sister with them and she alwaya wanted to tag along. She tattled on them. One day, coming home from a short cut to the swimming pool, which they had discovered, the boys were up on a ledge and she was coming along on the grass. Two big boys grabbed her and tried to run off with her. Tom got a handful of stones and threw them at the boys which scared them off. She was only 3 and Tom was only 6. I told them to quit taking that shortcut.

We drove to Idaho from Wisconsin and the kids gathered pretty rocks. They were on the floor of the car. Tom slept on them. We went to a place called "Hell's half acre" which was like a small grand canyon. As I was making a meal, it was understood the bigger kids would always watch the younger. I missed Tom. Nobody knew where he was. I looked down into the chasm and there went a little tow head along the narrow path, bouncing merrily along. His father had to go and get him.

His father and I divorced and the father disappeared. I gathered up my little tribe and we took the train for Boise. There we lived until I had to move out when I remarried and the others married and Tom didn't marry. He stayed in Boise. He likes familiar surroundings. He installs carpet and lives near our old home, which was a big, lovely house with a bunch of neighbor kids to play with and he lived at the foot of the Mesa which gave them plenty of places to hike to and explore. He owns a cabin in Montana but rarely gets time to go there. When he does, he has to watch out for bears.

He didn't always behave in Sunday School or in Scouts, but he had good company. He loved that house. Jim and I sold it to move to a rural area 30 miles away, so Jim could have the big garden he always wanted. Tom was always sorry we left HIS house.

His nephew, Evan, looks and acts like him from what they tell me. If so, my granddaughter will have the pleasure of raising a pleasant, loving son, whom everybody likes. He hates Hippies, and Gays and is very particular who he associates with. It took him a long time to grow up, but I thinks he's finally there now.

See, I can't even remember the date and am too lazy to look it up. But we were so lucky to go when we did, before the fighting started again. We went with a Tour Group from Brigham Young University with a Professor of Religion as a guide. You can't imagine what it is like until you go there.

Of course, it is much different than it was in the days when Christ was on earth. And there are excavations EVERYWHERE. They were digging up Jericho while we were there.

We crossed the Sea of Galilee in what they call "the Jesus Boat", a replica of the type of boats the fishermen used. They also showed us how they threw out the huge nets to haul in the fish. No sitting on the shore dangling a worm in the water-----this was BUSINESS!

We visited Nazareth, a bustling, noisy, dirty city, but were shown where Christ had given sermons. We saw the foundation of Peter's mother-in-law's house. BIG!. They took in the whole family, you know. What they did then and still do is build a stone (now cement) house with a flat roof with iron rods sticking up. They sit on the roofs for cool evenings, much as we did on our porches before we got so snooty we had to hide in our backyards. When someone gets married and has a famly, they add a floor on top of the house, using the iron bars as support. That addition has the same flat top and iron bars. Want a bigger house? You add on top of that one. Very convenient. Kids play on the roof, laundry flaps in the breeze, very convenient.

Bethlehem was a disappointment. Dirty, nothing but junky souvenirs, with an Eastern Orthodox Church on top of where the mother of Constantine dreamed Christ was born. You had to descend into a gtotto to see it. I didn't go down. Webb did and took pictures. My knee was getting bad at that time and I couldn't do an awful lot of climbing. But I KNOW Christ was NOT born there. I could feel it.
I'm tired and so this is Part one. Continued with the admonition that I doubt Joseph was a carpenter but more likely a stone mason. And Christ did NOT have long hair.

In Feb. 1951, I gave birth to my first son, Patrick Brian. My G-G-G-Grandfather was Patrick Loftus. I brought him home and the girls were fascinated. He weighed 7 1/2, had a lot of dark hair and a head as hard as cement. He could, and did, use it was a battering ram. I won't write much about him for, although he married a nice woman and they produced my only grandchild, he left a successful floorcovering business in Idaho,left his wife and 5 year old daughter and disappeared. He showed up for her divorce, disappeared again, paid no child support, cared for no one but himself.

His brother entertained him in his Montana cabin a few years ago and was glad to get rid of him. The boys were close, had good times together as kids, but he was an odd ball. I don't know where or how he is. And, unless he has changed, don't care. And now I've gotten child 3 out of the way and can go on to child 4 who is a lot more fun to write about. And that is that!

It just happens that I believe Jan and Feb ahould be removed from the calendar and go directly into March. I HATE winter and even as a kid, I did't enjoy winter as much as other kids seemed to do. I lived in an area with plenty of snow and ice and cold weather. I liked to slide down hill, I liked to try to build an igloo, but I didn't ice-skate or ski and I always froze. Nope, I am not a fan of cold weather. So when I see the Daffoldils poking their noses up as they are now doing, I know there is still hope. I'd just as soon sleep from Christmas until suddenly the grass is green and the Azaleas are in bloom.

There used to be some early flowers in NY State, earlier then Crocus, called snow drops. You could barely see their fragile white blooms but they meant spring was on the way. Grandma watched for the first Robin in Watertown, NY. That meant Spring was on its way. She had a pair of Robins who came every Spring and not only nested in the same spot (by the bedroom window) but tapped on the kitchen window to announce their arrival. She'd open the window and throw out bread. Then one time, only one Robin showed up and the next year none.

Watertown didn't get Spring until well into April. I am no fan of NC where I now live but we DO get Spring earlier than that.

I have not yet seen the Dr. as to the decision about my "water on the brain". Do we leave it or put in a shunt? Now my cousin has the same thing. The Spinal Tap was a great help but the Arthritis is bad right now. I'm in good shape for the shape I'm in. My leg is nearly healed and I will soon be able to swim again. Then my aches and pains receed quite a bit. No, I don't swim outdoors. Think I'm crazy? That water has to be WARM!