Flashback Friday...10 years

Flashback Friday...Dinwiddie in Dinwiddie

A little History

From the Lowell Library site:

"Dinwiddie Station, located in Eagle Creek township on State Highway 2, just west of the now Interstate 65 interchange, was a stop on the Chicago and Wabash Valley Railroad. Started about 1898 by Benjamin J. Gifford, the railroad was given a right-of-way thru the land of Oscar and Jerome Dinwiddie, and their sister Mrs. Frances Brownell. The three agreed to give the right-of-way free of charge if the depot would be called "Dinwiddie Station."

Oscar & Joan Dinwiddie

(Ruby's Great Grandparent's)

Ruby (Dinwiddie) Lawson

Directions to here:

So glad they put up the signs after the construction...was a little worried they wouldn't return.

Ruby Tuesday...Tilton Cousins

It's been awhile since I've made a Ruby Tuesday post.

But, since I'm gearing up for a visit from the inspiration to the namesake...of the post...I thought it was time for an update.

I have made a dent in scanning Grandma Fern's photos.
With every photo I scan, I seem to find 10 more questions to ask.
For someone who can close her eyes and tell you every single piece of furniture in her little red house, I sure have a lot of questions about her parents and her brothers and sisters.

Uncle Guy is 2nd from the right

Aunt Ida is 2nd from the left

The one I probably know the least about his her brother, Guy Tilton.

Guy Tilton - Taken in War I

Guy was the second oldest of all the siblings.

Guy was married to Ida Kimmet.
As far as I know they lived in Lowell.
Uncle Guy died in 1963.
Ida lived until 1973.
They are both buried in the Lowell Cemetery.

They had two kids >
John and Lucille (Spiegel) Tilton.

Lucille (Tilton) Spiegel 

When I visited Ruby back in 2009, she told me that she and Lucille wrote letters back and forth and that Lucille used to live in Hammond, but was now living in Wisconsin near her sons.
I filed that information away...thinking...if I want to know about Uncle Guy, what better source to ask than his daughter?

So, since that visit, Lucille has been on my list of people to meet.
The list is fairly long...but as many people on this list are in or close to 90...
the list unfortunately grows shorter with each year that passes by.

Fast forward a little more.
Last year Ruby sent me a picture of Lucille and her family.
It is a large family!!
She told me that Lucille wasn't able to write anymore, but her son, Tom, answers her letters for her.

That is when I started to think about making a plan to get these cousins back together.

Fast forward to this spring.
When Ruby started talking about a visit in the fall.
I just decided...
it is really now or never.
I used the wonderful internet to google Lucille's son's info and double checked it with Ruby and asked if she was up for an adventure...

I picked up the phone and called Tom, my cousin that I'm pretty sure I've never met.
After assuring his wife I wasn't a telemarketer and finding out that their kids are my neighbors in Indianapolis (!!) we started making the plan.

So, this Friday, Ruby will fly into Milwaukee.
I will pick her up and from there we will drive to Green Bay to spend the day with Lucille and her family.

It may be crazy.
It may not turn out how I hope...
But I have a feeling Fern and her brother Guy will look down and approve.
I can't think of a better way to honor their memory...and make some new ones along the way.


Directions to here:

The only thing better, would be having THREE cousins together.
Aunt Gladys I wish you could come!

Flashback Friday....Johnny West is Best

My great niece Eliza's latest obsession is everything Cowgirl.

This led to a Cowgirl themed birthday party.

Hmmm, Kid.

It seems that you were born in the wrong era.

I asked around at the Bookstore for cowgirl idea books...and of course, the few modern titles that there are...we did not have. 

(of course, someone will sell them tomorrow, when I'm not looking for them).

Then it dawned on me....

Jane West! 

My favorite cowgirl!!

Yes! I should get her a Jane or Josie or Janice West doll!

But, again...of course the timing was too late and everything on Ebay would not get here in time.
So, I settled for Toy Story dvds and a horse book.

Johnny West!

Thinking about Johnny and the Best of the West Gang by Marx Toys...got me to thinking about my own childhood Cowgirl/boy obsession.

So much so...

that I had to go into the storage cubical in the basement on Main Street to dig out the box of toys that I saved from the shelves from the Basement of my childhood.

Oh My Cowgirlness!

I can't believe how happy these toys made me then

and how happy they still make me feel!

I suppose anyone who knows me, remembers that I was somewhat of a Tomboy growing up.

I did have a few frilly dolls, 

but I loved these Marx Action figures like other girlie girls loved their Barbies.

They WERE my Barbies! 

Oh sure, I had a few hand me down Barbies and a couple new Skipper dolls, but the only time I chose Barbie over Johnny was when Johnny and his family invited Barbie to leave the city and come out to the Circle X Ranch for a Bar-b-que!
(no pun intended). 

I think I inherited Johnny and the Indian. 

They had been passed down through several Vandercar hands....

The Original Johnny

Chief Cherokee

...but the rest of them were added over the span of my childhood and for a long time...

probably until my Honda motorcycle came along...

were my prized possessions and "playing Horses" was my preferred indoor activity. 

Johnny and friends even changed the look of my bedroom.

I remember going with mom and dad to shop for carpet for the bedrooms.

Patty was re-doing and decorating her room for her Home Ec. project and chose all the cool 70's colors and picked out that green shag carpeting.

I wanted to be like Patty and picked out shag carpeting as well (I think it may have been a shocking shade of pink).

I can remember my mom taking me over to show me a giant roll of blue indoor out door type carpeting. I said no, I want my room to be like Patty's.

Mom, very wisely said..."well...just think how much easier your horses will stand up on this flat carpet!"

SOLD!

I also remember a lady visiting with mom at the dining room table.

I was in the back porch pushing my horses around.

The lady said to mom "she plays well by herself."

I remember thinking, "well, who else am I supposed to play with?"

But I didn't mind.

I had Johnny and Jane and their kids.

And the horses, don't forget the horses!

Yes, I loved Johnny West and his whole family!!!

And I STILL love Johnny West!!

I was grinning ear to ear as I pulled these old friends out of that box.

Well, that was until I saw the sad state that many of them are in...

(I never should have abandoned them to the basement...

they survived 6 Vanderkids....

but 16 Vandergrands was just too much for their fragile bodies (bend them at the knee...THEN put them on the horse)!!!

Jamie West survived intact

Josie West survived, but looks more like Linda Blair in the Exorcist

oh, poor Janice West...
so which one of you kids wants to fess up to this?

The Tack shop

But no worries, seeing the state they are in renewed my commitment to clean up, repair, regroup their accessories and replace my friends.
Yes! I will not stop until I have the entire Best of the West Collection.

Susie gave me a head start on this project when she found a minty Johnny...in the box!!! at Kane County Flea Market and gave it to me for my 40th Birthday.

The new Johnny proudly stands on guard on the shelf, right next to Big Boy... 

(oh, but that is a whole different post ; )

So, yes Eliza,

you could say that Great Aunt Nancy approves of your cowgirl obsession!

Directions to here:

Well, hey partner, thanks for stopping by...

now move along little doggies and keep your eyes open in the marketplaces for these friendly faces.

I got a bag o' gold to trade you for them.

Happy Trails to You!

Flashback Friday...The Birth of Sunday Dinner

Every year when Conner's Birthday comes around....

I thank God for Conner and the Birth of Sunday Dinner.

Sometimes it seems like we've always had Sunday Dinner....
but the truth is, it is 12 years old...the same age as Conner.

There was a time when I used to stay in Indianapolis on the weekends.
I had either Saturday or Sunday off.
I would go to the "4 corners".... Aldi on one corner...3 Thrift Stores on the other.
I would go to the movies.
I would go out with friends.
Sometimes I would drive up to Lowell for a family event.

Then Matt and Chari got married and a baby was on the way.

We gathered a few times that summer, waiting and wondering and planning with them.

Jeremy and Joe Bob built the motocross track and we went and watched them ride.

Jerry on the motocross track

We went down to Lake Village one weekend to watch the Moore Boys race go carts.

Janet and the Moore MotorSports Boys

We had dinner on a few Sundays that summer and I remember hearing Matt ask...

so are we having the "Sunday Thing" again?

"The Sunday Thing"

on Blurry Film

Grill Masters

"Sunday Thing" at Jeremys

And then that baby came and we couldn't stay away.

We had dinner the sunday after they got home from the hospital 

and we all ooh-ed and ahh-ed over Baby Conner.

Sandy marveling over how small the diaper was.

Everyone had to watch the diaper change!

Then September 11th happened...and it just seemed right to all be together....

And from then on, the "Sunday Thing" became Sunday Dinner.

It's been 12 years and countless Sunday Dinners since that summer.

Over the years, our circle has grown and we've welcomed more babies...

Held them.

Bounced them on our knee.

Waited to see what they would do next.

Watched them take first steps.

Watched them learn to give kisses.

Listened to them say their first words. 

Watched them grow up.

Sunday Dinner gave us a place to get to know our dad.

It has given us time and a place to get to know each other.

A place to laugh and be silly.

A place to cry and be serious.

A place to tell stories.

A place to share memories

and make memories

When I'm at Sunday Dinner, I often think of Mom and how much she would have LOVED to have had these dinners when she was alive. 

I think...WHY didn't we do this when she was here to enjoy them?

But then, I know why.

She was our glue.

She was the one I called on Sunday and touched base with to check in on all of the rest of the family.

She was the link...and when she was gone...
I was lost.

Wandering around Indy on a Sunday afternoon, spending my time at Thrift Stores.

Sunday Dinner gave us a new kind of glue.
Sunday Dinner gave us a place to be together.
Sunday Dinner gave us a place to belong.
Sunday Dinner saved my life.













Whether you are there every Sunday, every other Sunday or only a couple Sundays a year....
it is a place where you belong.

What a blessing for not only for us elders,

 but for that next generation.

That they are growing up knowing that no matter what, 

they have a place where they belong.

And what memories they will have!

Aunts, Uncles...

Moms and Dads...

and cousins, cousins, cousins!

It makes this memory keeper happy knowing that memories we haven't even made yet,
will be remembered years from now....
because our family had a place, a time and a tradition called,

Sunday Dinner.



Directions to here:

I cannot publish this post without giving a standing ovation to the four people who have over and over and over and over put the "Dinner" on the table at Sunday Dinner.
Susie and Sandy (aka Martha & Martha) and Jerry and Dave.....


thank you for your opening your refrigerator, your home and your hearts....
every.single.week.

We love you.