Farkle Sparkles OR "Biddy" Birthday

Guess who had a Birthday on Sunday? Ms Farkle for sure....ain't she gorgeous!!!!!

Horsey Gal, here.. snowed in but feeling Blessed

Jack and Chris sharing blog
space with Horsey Gal and
just happy to be anywhere.
Picture was taken Summer
2008 at the Lake.









While putting up my artificial Christmas tree my
cat, Jake, kept climbing it and taking my orna-
ments off. I only put up unbreakable ones such
as metal horses and resin nativity scenes and
wooden ornaments which I dearly love anyway.
I also included one that Mark had made for me
when he was a little guy and the two Santa's
that my brother, Bobby, and I had made as kids.

The week before friends came over and we had
our celebration together and then there were
several Christmas programs and concerts at
different Churches. Knowing Christ as the center
of my Christmas, along with friends and family
and singing Christmas carols (I still have my
Christmas carol book that I had as a child)
has made Christmas for me. Christmas Eve
my brother,Wolfe, his wife Julie, and two kids,
Ldub and Shae were here and then Christmas
day I went to their house and I got both practical
and fun gifts.

With all the snow we have had, I have tunnels
going everywhere - out to the barn, to the goat
shed, the chicken coop and the mailbox (don't
know why because we have not had mail
delivery for so many days now.)

Wolfe has cleared my driveway and the neigh-
bors and the roadways in the back several
times with the backhoe.
Christmas morning I opened the door to go out
to do my chores and my dogs (Chris, a golden
retriever, and Jack, a black lab) went out first.
The snow came crashing off my garage roof and
Jack missed it but Chris was buried about 3 feet
down by . I grabbed a shovel and dug and prayed
and cried and looked and saw some golden hair
and then movement and finally dug him out with
no injuries at all. At Christmas dinner that after-
noon, Wolfe prayed and thanked the Lord that
we still have him and I did too. I so love my
Chris dog.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year
and Happy Trails.

How was your Christmas?

Did you go
out and
buy a tree
or did you
put up an
artificial
one?




















Who decorated the tree? You or the whole
family. Was it a themed tree or did it have old
family favorites on it?






















Did you get your shopping done early or
were you out Christmas Eve for some last
minute gifts? Did you grab a quick bite to
eat somewhere or did you go home and
fix a special dinner?


Do you have
any special
Christmas music
that you listen
to year after
year ? Did you
play it this
year?









Did you open your gifts
on Christmas Eve or
wait until Christmas
Day? Did you just open
one on Christmas
Eve?









Were your gifts practical?

Or were
they fun
things
that you
had
longed
for?






Did you have visions of Sugar
Plums dancing in your head
or did you just fall, worn out
and exhausted, into bed?











Did Santa leave your stocking



full of wonderful
things?










Did you spend Christmas
day cooking, and enjoying
your family and friends?

If the answer is yes then
I would say you had a
very Merry Christmas.

Attebetty has a Frederick and Nelson moment

In 1952 the Seattle, Frederick & Nelson had 'Uncle Mistletoe at Cozy Cottage' instead of Santa. Uncle M. was a puppet show on t.v. and we had the first t.v. in the neighborhood. I seem to be the only person in the entire world that remembers him and the photo of my sister and I with him. I was going through Mom's photos tonight and found the photo! I looked up Uncle Mistletoe and found he was a Christmas staple in the Chicago Marshall Fields at Christmas for years. If you ever have a place to show the Santa pictures; I'll donate one from the dark ages. Here's the info I found. http://www.tvacres.com/puppets_unclemistletoe.htm

Shopping the escalator and a history lesson

Some one mentioned recently that they were going into Seattle for the day and it brought to mind something I always did with my pals around Christmas time. One night a year the stores in Downtown Seattle stay open until midnight. There was a fantastic store. Here are some actual facts about the store for the history buffs and then on with my story......

Frederick & Nelson Department Store (Fredericks as the locals called it) Frederick & Nelson was for many years Seattle's premier department store. In 1890, they began selling used furniture during the rebuilding of Seattle after the Great Fire of 1889. The business expanded to include home delivery of goods, a tea room, and ready-to-wear men's and women's fashions. The owners built a reputation for elegance and customer service.

In 1916, Donald Frederick astonished the Seattle business community by planning his six-story store at 5th Avenue and Pine Street, then outside the city's retail core. "Frederick's Folly," as detractors called it, proved to be an instant success when it opened its doors on September 3, 1918.The store featured unique amenities such as a candy factory, a children's hairdressing salon, a kindergarten, and a lounge for mothers with infants.

The mail order department shipped distinctive merchandise around the world. During World War II, the store embraced the war effort by becoming a center for the sales of war bonds and by opening a branch store at the Boeing Airplane Company's Plant No. 2. This allowed shift workers, many of whom were women, to shop. When the war ended, Fredericks helped feed the demand for consumer goods and it established a reputation for the best in fashion.

As people began moving to the suburbs, Fredericks opened its first major branch in the Bellevue Shopping Square in 1949. In 1951, the downtown store was expanded by three floors up and two floors down.

This video is so fun to watch. It was done in 1953 and the fashion, the cars, etc it so interesting to watch. It is 29 minutes long so make sure you have time to watch the whole thing as it is worth if. http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4030718

The good times did not last for Fredericks. Shoppers began to move to discount retailers. Service to customers succumbed to volume sales. In 1982, another company bought Marshall Field and Fredericks was absorbed into a national chain. Losses mounted. Fredericks was sold off in 1986 to Seattle area investors. In 1989, developer David Sabey bought the Fredericks stores and sought to restore their reputation for elegance. In 1991, however, debts exceeded assets, and Fredericks filed for bankruptcy. On May 31, 1992, Frederick & Nelson went out of business.

The building at 5th Avenue and Pine Street was sold to Nordstrom (which was a shoe store only when I was a child) which remodeled and reopened it as that company’s flagship retail store in 1998.

We would meet on the 8th floor in the Tea Room for dinner and a gift exchange. The restaurant was beautiful. White linens on everything and beautiful views of the city lights out the windows, strolling Victorian costumed carolers, good food and the promise of a lot of shopping before nights end. It originally started out with just the core group of friends but over the years sisters, co-workers, new friends, daughters, were added and the numbers varied year by year. Often we would have prime rib for our wonderful dinner, Kathy would pull her annual joke, we would exchange gifts and head for the escalator.

Rule # 1; you couldn't venture into the store on each floor further than you could be seen from the escalator. Than many ladies trying to stay together was like trying to herd cats, hence the rule.

We would then go over to the Bon Marche and do the same. When it got close to store closing time or we just wore out we would head for the Olympic Hotel (old name) and go to the Ballroom there. We would sit on the couch and chair arrangements and watch the "old folks" (watch it Lady) dance. There is something special about couples that have obviously danced together for years. We would order from the mobile dessert cart and have coffee and something wonderfully sweet. It had an atrium type ceiling and outside wall and you had a marvelous view of the city lights as a back drop.

Just very recently it has been brought to my attention that many of us, including several age groups, from that area have memories of that old store that go back to our child hoods. The Frederick and Nelson Santa was legendary and a lot of us have pictures sitting his lap. They had live reindeer one year and always had the most beautiful store windows. The Christmas decorations in the store were really something to see. Unfortunately I have some pictures but no scanner so I have used some I found online.

Some of my "Old Biddies"

Judi, known each other since 1949

Carole, Trudy, Joy, Kathy
known most of these gals since the early 60's

The beach storm....and crashing P-dots blog!

The storm was intense, so intense they named it Storm Judith!