Granny and Tipper (Granny made our matching outfits)
I went to White County Extension today and bought 2 packs of Nasturtium seeds. I was determined to plant Nasturtiums this year. I think I’ve already told you about the time when I was a little girl and my Mother gave me the Nasturtium seeds and I planted my own little garden. What a magical sight to behold! Those leaves were beautiful on their own but when the flowers blossomed out I was thrilled. Sometimes as I get older I need a reminder of times when I was a little girl and the sweet things Mama used to do to make my life happier. It rained some today so I wanted to get the seeds in the ground so they could begin to grow. I’ll let you know how they do. I’ve also planted zinnias, marigolds, and some wildflowers. My hubby bought a new wheel barrow since out old one was worn out and we also filled the old one with good rich dirt and planted more flower seeds in it. Our garden is growing in leaps and bounds. My hubby and I can hardly stay away from it. I had forgotten how enjoyable gardening is. Thank you again my precious friend for the motivation and simple reminders of the good ole days. I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!
—Barbara Parker
I’ve heard the old saying a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck my whole life. It’s another one of the sayings I need to make sure to share with my grandsons so that it stays around.
I love the line from Barbara: “Sometimes as I get older I need a reminder of times when I was a little girl and the sweet things Mama used to do to make my life happier.”
What a wonderful thought!
I’m sentimental about pretty much everything and like many Appalachians I love to tell stories from my childhood and I even love to tell them from Pap and Granny’s childhoods even though I certainly wasn’t there.
After I had children of my own and discovered how demanding it is to be a mother I looked back at all the things Granny did for me with new eyes—especially the things she did just to make me happy. Things like sewing clothes for my dolls and making curtains and bedspreads for my room.
Granny has told me stories of her mother, Gazzie, doing sweet things for her when she was a girl. I imagine it was harder for Gazzie since their were so many children, but I know she made all nine of them feel special.
I hope Chitter and Chatter have the same warm memories of me that I have of Granny and she has of her mother.
Last night’s video: The Thread That Runs So True 11.
Tipper
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“I love you, a bushel and a peck!
A bushel and a peck, and a hug around the neck!
A hug around the neck, and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap, and I’m talkin’ in my sleep.
About you.
About you!
About you!”
There’s more, it’s from the Guys and Dolls musical; my mom would sing us the whole song.
A BUSHEL AND A PECK AND A HUG AROUND THE NECK. FRIEND ALLEN
Heard that saying all my life. How blessed we have been to live in an era that may never be again with Godly, hard working parents whose sole purpose each day was to raise Godly, honest good kids. Our moma would make us a stove out of a cardboard box. She used her canning rings and lids for stove eyes. We kids would climb the hill at the back of our house. We could see the beauty of Bluff Mountain. There she would open that old Stanley Pack with the 4 pans filled with vegetables, cornbread and if we were lucky a little cake. There was an old stump up there that my brother Connie would preach on (lol) and we all would sing some good old gospel song. We had an old quilt we would lay on and watch the clouds. So many memories of our sweet moma. Did she have time really to make those memories with us? No not really, but she always told us kids that “all work and no plays, makes a dull boy.” She always balanced the two. Boy, I sure do miss mom and dad and that brother who preach on that old stump.
oh wow don’t photograph scream the 70s. I remember pant suits like that. I had one, but was store bought and I think it may have been red polyester. I remember when women carried purses like that too. Tipper that picture looks just like you and one of the twins standing there.
Yes I realized as I got older my Momma and Daddy, although they both worked all day, made sure they did extra things for us. They always volunteered for chaparons or whatever was needed at school for us. Our birthdays and holidays were always special and they took time to teach us to do the things we needed to do when we left home. I was very blessed.
Tipper, Momma had seven children and raised 3 more, nieces and a nephew, not always, but off and on, when she was needed. She also worked out of the house, factories, nursing home, restaurants, babysitting and some I can’t remember. Daddy worked in factories and had his own business too. Momma always made sure we had clothes, mostly made by her, and store bought when she had the money. She did garden, she and daddy. Also canning that bounty, washed laundry in old wringer type washing machines, food on the table and supplies for school. Christmas gifts, homemade mostly and some store bought. She was remarkable in her way of giving. Sadly I didn’t realize all this back then. Something about aging helps you remember these times. I’m 77 and have never been able to even come close to what all she did. Thanks for invoking these memories with your beautiful stories and those of others. Children thank those momma’s and daddy’s, they deserve that. Love to all at Blind Pig and the Acorn. Jennifer South Mississippi
Much like Granny, my Mom was creative & always working on some fun project, most often for one of us kids or something to make our home & garden more beautiful.
As soon as we were able to, my sister & I, along with each granddaughter, got to pick out a pattern & material for our holiday outfits. Mom, with the help of our Aunt Concetta, even made our bridesmaids & wedding dresses!
Every 5 years we got to choose the color paint & curtain material for our rooms.
Not sure how she did this with 5 kids & usually a part-time job, but she did.
We lost her in 2005. Every day I think of her. I miss our talks & know that she was one of a kind, always giving of herself to others.
I’ve heard this saying about a bushel and a peck and a hug aroung the neck all my life. My mother said it alot. She made many doll clothes for me and most of my clothes when I was a child. Lots of the doll clothes were from scraps left from clothes she made for me or herself. I still have some of the doll clothes. What sweet memories for me today! Tipper, enjoy those sweet grandbabies every minute you can. All too soon they will be 15 years old like my youngest one.
Thanks for sharing! The outfits are precious. Mom’s favorites were the little zinnias, and yellow roses. She’d also go dig up every little (wild) “Johnny jump up” in the yard and transplant them to her flower pots. All LIFE’S EXTRAS God gives us to enjoy.
My Dad has said, I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck my whole life! I just love that. I also said it to my own children. He is 84 now and also, without fail, says I love you alot before he hangs up the phone. I cherish every moment and conversation with him. I am an only child and I lost my Mom 10 years ago so I keep a storehouse of memories in my heart because there always comes that day when their voices go silent.
Tipper looking at your Mother then and you now, I would say you do look very much like her. Your both beautiful! My sweet dear Mother did not really sew, she was a cooker and a storyteller. My cousins and I would listen intently to every story she told us as we felt we were right there in the story. I mean she was a master storyteller. She showed us how to do cartwheels, and stand on our hands with our feet up in the air. To make toad houses out of mud and yet go back in the kitchen and make delicious fudge. She was along with my Daddy the reminder of Christian values and she made sure we knew the God they served. I’ve heard and said “I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck” what seems like all my life. Thinking back, about two weeks before my husband passed, every night after I got his meds and he was all set for the night, I would say that old saying again, “I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.” He knew it from his growing up years too and would get the biggest smile on his face.
I also heard this phrase a lot growing up from my grandmother! Very good memory, and I was called sister as well since I had an older brother! I did not care for it much at the time but it is a sweet memory now. I am so glad we are finally getting some rain. I have kept most plants alive by watering but you are so right that they do not thrive without rain. Sure hope your corn makes good this year.
Oh, what would we do in our older years without all of those sweet memories. My mother made my clothes ‘til I was grown. My father was the one that would sing to us. I will be 90 in December. And I can still hear his sweet voice. I am thankful for the Christian home I was brought up in. My parents made me what I am today. Praise the Lord for them and the memories.
Tipper, I don’t think you have anything to worry about with Chitter and Chatter, I am sure they have many, many good memories of you and also of their Daddy, The Deer Hunter. From time to time you will say something about your new grandsons, to me that is just the love you were warned of peeking out. Me along with some other members told you so!
MyMama always told our girls “I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck” every time they said good-bye. It’s from a song by the same name, and was sung in the Broadway musical “Guys and Dolls.” I made doll clothes for my two girls and sewed most of their clothes. We had mother-daughter outfits too. I still have a doll dress my Mama made for one of my dolls, although the doll is gone.
The saying predates the catchy song in “Guys and Dolls” (1955). Some of us oldsters remember hearing it in the 1930s, which reminded me that I read on the Internet that 99% of those born between 1930 and 1946 are dead. We survivors are called one-percenters. Maybe I shared that with the group earlier. I don’t know. Maybe I just shared it with Randy in an email.
Gene, you did share this with me in an email. I like to look at the obituaries of the area funeral homes each day to check and see if there is anyone I know. Many of the ones I see are in the 70’s. My wife’s 90 year old uncle that is a preacher will tell that he looks at the obituaries everyday in a local newspaper and writes down the age of each one and then averages them out, he said they usually average out to be around 70 years old. I turned 70 this year, I compare my life to a hundred dollar bill I was given when I was born, now at 70 I realize I have spent most of that hundred dollars, that is my way of saying the stop sign at end of my life on earth is close. Carol, the preacher I mentioned is still going strong, ever church he has been the preacher of will soon be busting open at the seams. Many people that know him request him to preach at their funeral, he told me 3 years ago at my wife’s funeral he averages preaching over a hundred funerals a year. None of the churches were today’s mega churches, most of them were country churches, some were close to closing the doors (going under) before he took over.
Randy, growing up I heard “forty leven dozen” alot meaning a whole bunch.
I had the good fortune to know this sweet lady Barbara is talking about. Her mother, my sweet Aunt Viola, happened to be my favorite aunt in the whole wide world. Aunt Viola and my mother were sisters, and they were like two peas in a pod. They were perennial optimists and found joy in the most simple things. They were always coming up with some of the most creative ways to make our lives happier and more beautiful. Aunt Viola just lit up a room when she walked into it. When I was a little girl, she taught me the song, “You are My Sunshine,” but she was the sunshine in my life. I loved her so much and wish everyone could have an Aunt Viola.
There was a song that was nationally popular way back in my early childhood [late 1940s
or early 1950s] with those very lyrics: “I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck.” Don’t remember who sang it, though I remember it as being
a woman. Even before that, I remember my mother singing “Beautiful Brown Eyes and
a few years later Doris Day’s “Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be, the future’s not ours
to see, que sera sera.” Seems women monopolized my early musical memories.
The song is from the Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls. Here’s YouTube link to Dori Day singing it. She put it on the “hit parade.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkVEQz8AsEw
When you mentioned Granny making clothes for your dolls it reminded me of my mom doing that. She found patterns for Barbie doll clothes. Using scraps from other projects Mom made my Barbie doll a beautiful wardrobe. After I learned to sew I realized what a tedious job that must have been stitching those tiny seams. Truly a labor of love.
I’m the opposite. I don’t need a reminder of those days of yesteryear. The older I get the more they seem to return.
The reminders I need are of things I need to do today!
Papaw, I’m with you, I don’t need to be reminded of the past, I am constantly thinking of the time spent in the past with my wife, daughter and other loved ones that have passed on and wishing there was a way of going back. I know what I need to do each day but finding the will power to do it is the problem, it is real easy for me to feel like the heck with it.
All my grands know me for telling them I love you a bushel and a peck! My parents always told me this. I love that my babies will pass this on
I’ve heard the old saying a bushel and a peck all my life. But somehow I don’t remember the last part about a hug around the neck. Although, when I was growing up when people wanted to hug you, especially older people, they would say ” let me hug your neck”
Tipper,
I have something to sent to Woodrow and Ira. Where do I send it?
Skip
Skip-How kind of you! You can send them to PO Box 83 Brasstown, NC 28902 🙂
Family memories are still sweeter and more fascinating than any movie made. The memories are personal and very very real.
The older I get the more I marvel at love. There is a power in it whose reach can’t be told. I see it but dimly and probably will never be satisfied with how well I do see. I do not expect to ever put it in words. I think it likely that unselfish love is the reason for all that is good in creation. It blesses everything it touches. And I am sure your girls already have those memories you hope for and are stocking up more. They will continue to bless far forward with no end I sight.
My mother had many mental health problems and it took a toll on our childhood. She did love us. I remember some really nice times. One particularly dark winter, my mother decided we should have a birthday party for my favorite little doll. We made a cake and got decorations. I still have the pictures and the doll.
Throughout my childhood, and until my mother passed away at the age of 95, I always heard “I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck”. So your post made me extra happy today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your extended family visiting! I’m going to a family reunion too. Blessings to you and your entire family! ❤️☮️
Have you heard the song version of A Bushel and a Peck by Dan Zanes? He makes wonderful children’s bluegrass music and is a favorite to listen to around here. I’m sure you would all enjoy him if you haven’t already! His version of A Bushel and a Peck is a family favorite someone is always singing it under their breath.
L-I have never heard it before—what a great song! Thank you for telling me about it 🙂
My Mama made me clothes when I was young too. I remember one dress that had a big strawberry on the front. She would make panty looms and an apron to cover it too. The white eyelet apron and panty looms were so special, just the perfect touch.
What a special memory for me today. Thanks again for always making me remember things from my childhood.
God bless!!
LauraLee
I have heard of “a bushel and a peck” and my family used to say, “come here and hug my neck.” Boy Tipper do you look like Granny in that picture of you and her. I like the 70’s pant suits with the bell bottoms. They were popular at that time, and I had a few myself. I used to sew dresses for myself before I got married. I also sewed doll clothes for my daughter’s dolls. She liked to put them on her cat and wheel her around in the doll carriage. I knitted and crocheted my daughter sweaters and jackets. She is not interested in any of that. She only has my grandson who is nineteen and is busy working twelve hour shifts at her place of employment. My mother was busy with five children, with me being the oldest. I helped take care of them and the house. I guess that might be one of the reasons I became a nurse. I always was babysitting my siblings or the neighbors’ children and taking care of mom who was sick a lot when I was growing up. She did a tremendous amount of canning and freezing the foods gathered from our large garden each year. I helped with that also. Mom will be 95 August 10. She lives with one of my brothers in Ohio where I grew up and still cooks their meals and does a little housework. She taught Sunday School until recently when she gave it up to one of the women in the class. She has slowed down a lot. I am so thankful for my Christian mother. She has always been there for me. I give her a hug around her neck every time I see her.
Tricia, Tipper might not let me get by saying this, I remember the bell bottom pant suits, leisure suits and bell bottom men’s pants that were popular in late 60’ and 70’s. But as a teenage high school boy, I liked the mini skirts a whole lot better! The devil made me write this comment.
My wife’s mother and aunt made all of the bridegrooms dresses, cake and decorations for our simple church wedding in 1974. My wife worked and paid for her own wedding dress, she was beautiful, I thought she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. This year would have been our 50 wedding anniversary.
Tipper, you and granny look precious dressed alike in different ladylike hues! Once when I was small, mommy took us to a seamstress who sized us and made us ( my sister and me) outfits for school and church. I must tell you to this day, I felt very special then. No one had clothes as pretty as mine that year! Where would any of us be without a good mother who gave and did and went that extra mile just to please us and make us feel we were loved and thought about- not to mention fussed over a little bit?! With that being said I too love YAS a bushel and a peck and a big hug around the neck! No matter what catastrophe faces us, let us ALWAYS MAKE TIME FOR THE LITTLE ONES, the OLD ONES AND THE INFIRMED ONES!!! Please don’t forget to pray for people in the prisons, hospitals and jails where people are packed and stacked, go hungry cold and sick and there’s nobody to care about them. Many are innocent, unable to speak for themselves, and wrongly accused so don’t ever forget that. God bless America cause we surely need it!!! My nasturtium did not come up at all in southern WV. Did my seed get microwaved and nuked traveling by mail from Missouri to WV? Who knows? Lol I got hollyhocks, marigold, geranium, morning glories, moonflowers, Boston and Macho ferns, buckwheat tall and about ready to thresh, green beans (6pints put up yesterday,) cabbage and tomatoes coming on hard!! I’m loving every minute!
Tipper, I’m sure Corie and Katie have sweet memories they treasure of their growing-up years
and all the special things you and Matt did for them. They’ll both share them with their sons,
as well as creating new ones for the babies.
my florida mom said a bushel etc. so i knew it in california! but i can’t believe no mention of biting off the nasturtium flower base and sucking out the sweetness! didn’t you do that down here? i must have gotten that from mom because where else?
as for the girls’ memories, you’re kidding, right? every day! corie even mentioned one in her remarkable video of her birth story…
Elithea-I’ve eaten the flowers but never tried that 🙂 Thank you for telling me I will try it today 🙂
The older I get the more I reflect on my childhood. My mother made all of our clothes until I was in High School and I got a summer job and bought my school clothes. Her mother was the town seamstress. When I got married in 1973 mom made my wedding dress. It was beautiful. She painstakingly made and put tougher every silk button that ran down the length of my back. Me being in my youth and all about myself I had no clue how sick my mother was while doing all of this for me. Little did I know how badly she was needing a hysterectomy, which came shortly after my marriage. I look back now with shame of myself for being so self absorbed.
Our Mothers went above and beyond to give us a happy childhood. I too, hope my children someday reflect back and have happy memories. Which I can say every now and again they spark a memory and tell me of good times from their childhood. We are all living this life making memories.
My wife would often tell our children and grandchildren a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. It was one of her favorite sayings, I know without a doubt our children and grandchildren dearly loved her, her death has been hard not only on me but also on them. I hope and even pray my son and grandchildren will have good memories of me and realize how much I loved them and how much they meant to me. They have a lot to do with me trying to carry on after my wife’s death. Another thing my wife liked to say when it came to how many was “ forty leven.” I know that is misspelled but that is how she said it.