I wasn't able to write last night as I think I have the flu. I had chills yesterday and couldn't get warm until Bill made some chicken noodle soup and then I was peeling out of socks, my flannel shirt, and out from under the cover. That warmed me up considerably. I have felt like a mac truck ran over me and then made another pass to make sure the job was done. Today, I have felt a bit better and have caught up on my email.

Today I think I will write about my mother. I guess she is on my mind because she called today to say they had snow at Red River, but had gone on to see some of the trees and a deep gorge. Glad it is them seeing the gorge because heights and I don't get along at all. It would be torture for me to even be near something deep.

My mom is a knitter. At 84, those needles are clacking all the time. She loves making baby things and I believe everyone in the immediate and extended family has something she has knitted for their baby. She also knits the most wonderful wash clothes. They are soft and I am kind of ashamed to say I don't use mine. I am saving them for a rainy day. I just don't want to mess them up. I might never get another one.

Mama was a stay-at-home mother. She did play bridge once a month, but you could always find her when school was out. She didn't like cooking then, but makes the most wonderful potato salad, tuna fish, congealed salads, and we learned to love hot dogs and hamburgers. We were laughing the other day when I was there for a visit saying that we ate good on Sundays. My dad's mother would cook a full meal and bring it to our house. My brothers would meet her at the car and try and get to the food before she got it into the house. Her specialty was fried chicken and these roll-ups with chili peppers in them. You take some crescent rolls, flatten them out, put a piece of pepper from the can of Old El Paso, and a stick of cheese, roll them up and bake them. I think I could eat one million of them. She was a good cook. Mama's cooking has improved over the years and she can set out a delicious meal.

Our mom had us doing chores although she was always at home. I don't know what chores my brothers had, but I had to keep the bathroom spotless, eat off the floor spotless and clean. I also had to wash and dry the dishes. She would help if she and I wanted to go after supper to play tennis. She was quite the tennis player and could beat the socks off me. She grew up with clay courts across from where she grew up. If either of us could get around again, we would be out at the city park lobbing that ball around. She knew if she could get me to laughing, I was worthless on the court. She would go into a low stance and start swinging from side to side and that would do it for me. It is hard to serve if you are laughing hard.

Mama loved to visit with her friends and still does. We went a lot of places with her and could she ever make a dollar stretch. Once in a while she would take us to the A & W Root Beer place where we could get a hamburger and root beer. Fond memories.

Not much fazes my mother and she keeps up with the times. She is much more flexible than I am and never sees the bad in anyone. She is almost naive if you ask me. She sings in her choir and the doors to the church never open unless both parents are there. Once in a while they will miss, but it is because we are having a family function someplace out of their town. Otherwise, they will be in that church.

Mama and I haven't always seen eye-to-eye on much, but we still get along and if she gets on my nerves, I just leave and come home.

My mother is one of eight (now there are only four left) children and she knows how to share. She would give you the shirt off her back if you wanted it. Honestly!!! Her family was a tight one and it has been hard on her to lose siblings and not be able to run to South Carolina for their funerals. Her family always encourages her to stay put and not make the trip home when someone dies. It is hard if you are young to get around in the Atlanta terminal and I think they would worry themselves to death if she tired to do that at her age.

I wish I had 1/10 the memory cells that my mom has. She can remember back to when she was in the crib and her grandmother coming in to tell her she had a brand new brother. She can describe her dresses when she was a toddler, her dolls (she still loves dolls to this day), what went on in the household, and at school, and I sit in wonder at her memory. I have tried many times to get her to journal these things, but to no avail.

My mother still has her South Carolina drawl after living in Louisiana for probably 60+ years. It take her forever to tell you something, she still uses words that are foreign to our ears like "al-U-min-e-um" for aluminum. She is one classy Southern lady.