More Jewelry

The top bracelet is done in St. Petersburg weave. I found a pattern from the website Bead Daily and also in a magazine. I had viewed a video on-line about a month ago and figured I could do it.

The bottom bracelet is another "caterpillar" bracelet. I used some left over 3mm beads on the sides. They were hyacinth, aquamarine, moonlight, rose and light rose. There maybe another color or two. The "caterpillar" remains one of my two favorite bracelets to make and wear!

The other photo is a 5-strand necklace made with howlite chips (the poor girl's lapis lazuli), white seed beads, Czech firepolised beads, and Swarovski crystals. It is a favorite necklace to wear. I completed two more; one in rose quartz chips and the other in amethyst chips. The blue is still my favorite.

Returning to K-State, September 1954

I moved back to K-State for my second year. Van Zile Hall was the dorm for upperclassmen. I had two roommates. Three can be challenging because two get along and the third is on the "outs." It wasn't always the same two who were getting along. Both were nice gals. One seemed to be nearly "cut from the same cloth" as I.
Even so, we didn't always get along, especially if she was trying to tell me what I "should" do!

The first week of school we had an "hour dance" with the guys from West Stadium Dorm - some were athletes and some were regular guys. The first time I met Chuck, he told me I had beautiful brown eyes. I was quite indignant because I always thought my eyes were blue - they are actually hazel - often called "muckledun." However it took me quite a few years before I realized they weren't blue. Strange, huh?

He was a freshman and nearly a year younger than I. He was very different from the other guys I met. When we went out on a date, he always wore dress pants and a white shirt. The other guys didn't do that. He also knew exactly what he wanted to do in life - and that was very different from most students.

I announced to my roommates the night of the "hour dance" that I had met the guy I would marry. Of course, like so many lads and lasses who go away to college, there was a girlfriend back home in high school. I had done the same thing and left a boyfriend back home my first year - but that was all over by Christmastime.

Obviously, we didn't date exclusively for a number of months. I had one of those dream weekends one time when he went home for homecoming or some such thing. Friday evening I had a date with one of the guys I dated last year; Saturday evening I had a date with a helicopter pilot from Fort Riley; and Sunday I had a date with Chuck. One of my roommates did not approve at all!

After that we spent lots of time together and got engaged on Valentine's Day. We decided we'd get married before the next school year began.

My Mom and brother Bill were against it and promised me they'd pay for two more years of college if I did not get married.

I securied a teaching position with the Junction City School System, teaching 4th grade at Fort Riley. My contract for the first year was $2,850 spread over 10 months.

I had to take "Methods of teaching" that summer so I could become certified to teach with 60 hours. I took the course by correspondence.

Summer 1954

After a year of making my own decisions, I returned home. It wasn't the easiest thing to do. When I was home with Mom, my decisions were made with what she would want me to do. I was obedient, most of the time.

My brother Bill hired me to work as his secretary at his Farm Bureau office in Jetmore. He also traded cars with Mom so I drove his new 1954 Chevy BelAir to work and home.

Summer was hot and windy. So when I drove, I rolled all the windows down, turned the radio up full blast and drove fast - really fast. We called this "4x55" air conditioning.

I never told Mom what time I left Jetmore - and I never told Bill what time I arrived in Ness! They would have been upset by the speed I drove. (Being 18, I thought I was indestructible!)

At that time in Kansas, the speed limit was whatever was right and proper for the weather and the road conditions. Therefore, I was not breaking any law by driving fast! Of course, my air conditioning was more like "4x75"!!

Working at College Drugstone

I am not sure exactly when I got the job at College Drugstore in downtown Aggieville. I think it was probably second semester of my freshman year at K-State. My three years' experience as a "soda jerk" at Rexall Drugs in Ness City made it easy for me to get the job. Experience always helps. I worked there all my sophomore year also.

College Drugstore is located across the street from the campus and about five blocks from the dorms. The Campus Bookstore was next door and Palace Drugs (if I remember right) was across the street and down a little ways.

There were two pharmacists, Vern and Bob. Vern, the older, was very dapper with a nice mustache. Bob was somewhat heftier and younger. Two older (than I) ladies worked there; one was Edna and I don't remember the other lady's name. I still have photos of all four of them along with the local policeman who stopped in for coffee.


This part-time job helped me pay for some of my college expenses. I served many cups of coffee in the three semesters I worked there. It was a fun job working with nice people.

Letters from my Mama

Yesterday I read in Guidepost magazine about a lady who wrote letters to her daughter from the time her daughter went to camp until the lady died at 92. It reminded me of letters from my own Mama.

I'm sure I have written before that my mother did not finish high school. After her freshman year, she had rhuematoid arthritis and was bedridden for most of a year. She never went back to school.

She read lots of magazines and taught herself proper English and could spell almost any word that was in common usage.

She wrote letters to her mother and sisters - and maybe even to her brothers. She wrote letters to my brothers when they were in the service. She wrote letters to them and their wives when they got married. I guess I could say my mother was definitely a letter writer!

She began writing to me when I went away to college - a letter every week. I haunted my dorm mailbox waiting for those letters. She wrote about the things that were happening in my little home town and about the people I knew, keeping me up to date.

She continued writing those letters to me when I got married and moved to Ft. Riley. Several years later she continued writing letters when our little family moved to Iowa - where I knew only my husband and my daughter. It was a very lonely time for me. Mom's letters came regularly and helped me feel not so alone.

She wrote letters when we moved her out of her home in 1982. Then she spent time with my brother and his family in Kansas City and with my oldest brother in Castle Rock.

When she finally moved to Castle Rock permanently, the letters stopped because we spoke on the phone once a week. Somehow, talking on the phone really didn't take the place of those weekly letters. Now, I wish I had kept some of those letters so I could go back a revisit that simpler time of my life.

What I do When I am Not Blogging

My jewelry-making teacher tells me I should be publishing my jewelry items to the blog so you all can see what I am doing when I am not blogging. The top photo is of corona earrings; the middle is a "caterpillar" bracelet; and the bottom is a "sidewinder" bracelet. These two types of bracelets are my favorite ones to make. The sidewinder goes together in about 2 hours. The caterpillar bracelet has a base layer and then embellishments on the top. It takes about 8 hours to complete.
The ladies in our families get jewelry for gifts. I think they like that!

Of course, making jewelry is not the only thing I do when I am not blogging. I am also very involved in genealogy research. This is an addictive hobby just as working with beads is addictive. You can see, I need to limit the addictions in my life so I have time to do other things.

My memories have come to an important part of my life that needs more thought given to what I write. So that is happening also!

Time Out from College: Small Town Saturday Night

Our small hometown was thriving when we were growing up in the 40s and 50s. It is much different now because all the little towns are dying out.

Saturday night was a special night of the week. It was a social night. All the farmers cleaned up from work and came to town to bring their produce, to buy groceries, maybe to attend a wedding dance, and to visit with their friends and neighbors.

Daddy would park the car in front of one of the stores about 4:30 or 5 p.m. Then he would walk home. We would eat supper and afterwards walk uptown as a family. We sat in the car to watch the people walking by. It was also a night when we would get a 5-cent ice cream cone. (that was a single dip back then!) We also would get out of the car and "window shop." The stores stayed open until 10 p.m. (Now the streets are deserted by 6 p.m.)

Seeing all the folks we didn't see during the week was nice. My parents visited with friends, my brothers would try to take the local drunk's handkerchief out of his back pocket and my parents or my brothers would take me by the hand and walk with me.

Most people enjoyed Saturday night in our small town. That was a simpler time when everyone knew everyone else.