"GOT FRECKLES? I WANT THEM!"

“GOT FRECKLES? I WANT THEM!”

My whole life I wanted freckles. Did I have them? That would be a no. Do I now? Another no. I remember when I was about ten, I got my mom’s eyebrow pencil and made brown dots on my face—thought it looked cool and that people would think I had freckles.

Suppose some people did but relatives and friends who knew me, knew that I had “faked” those freckles. And I had to wash them off before my parents got home from work.

Kept hoping that freckles would appear on my face but alas and alack, they never did! Funny thing is that I know some people who have had them all of their lives and hate them.

Neither of my sons have them nor do my grandchildren but I was hoping. Maybe they are glad that they don’t: I never quizzed them on this mundane fact. And I never told them about my secret desire to have freckles and would they want to know? Doubtful. Absurd at this point.

Now I am getting brown spots on my face but trust me, they are not freckles! They are age spots and why couldn’t they be tiny tiny tiny? Doesn’t work that way in life does it? But there is no way I will take my eyebrow pencil and make little brown dots on my face—that would only make things worse. And who wants worse?

If you have freckles, I wish I had them! We are never happy with what we have are we? And so my olive skin will just remain that along with those “spots:” At least they blend in sort of. But they aren’t freckles!

Sherry Hill

"GARLIC ISN'T JUST FOR VAMPIRES!"

“GARLIC ISN’T JUST FOR VAMPIRES!”

Garlic is purportedly used to keep vampires away for this fact has been handed down for hundreds of years—whether you believe it is a personal decision. Every “Dracula” movie that I have seen always shows the soon to be victim in a room with garlic bulbs scattered around everywhere. Sometimes, the garlic is strung around windows as well. It’s a deterent to fend off the blood-thirsty vampire just as a wooden cross: At least it is used and not just in movies.

I once read that a man living in England was so petrified of vampires that not only did he have garlic bulbs strung all over his room but he slept with a garlic bulb in his mouth every single night. But one night that garlic bulb did him in: He choked to death on it in his sleep! Not a good idea on his part at all.

But I have found another reason to use garlic and although I use it in recipes, that is not the specific reason that I do. I go out and buy the cheap plastic bottles of garlic powder [like lots and lots during the summer] and put it on my flowers and plants just about every day. Reason? It keeps bugs off of them! They hate the smell of garlic as do critters such as deer or some species of birds.

If it rains, you have to sprinkle a lot more on flowers or plants as the water washes it off. Don’t forget to put this powdered garlic on hanging baskets of flowers either—they need it as well. Trust me when I say that this works: It does. And it's safe for the environment which makes it "green." Another good reason to use it!

Therefore, garlic not only keeps away vampires [should they be in your neighborhood!] but it repels bugs and plant eating critters or birds. And best of all, if someone comes near your house, it smells like your are cooking lasagne! What other herb is three-fold? During the summer for me, garlic powder rules!

Sherry Hill

"MORE ON MUSIC!"



Love it

Hate it

See if you

Can rate it!

Turn it up

Turn it down

Put the speakers

On the ground!

Turn it off

I implore

I can't stand

It anymore!

Turn it on

Way up high

I want the sound

To reach the sky!

The bass is booming

In the car

And it's shaking

The window far!

That song I like

Play it again

One more time

So it will sink in,

I hate that song

Change the track

Want to listen

To the one back.

Love the beat

Love the song

Let me hear it

All night long!

Don't like the sound

Of that song at all

Can't you think

Of the one in the mall?

Too much beat

And not enough soul

Too loud

Like clunking ice in a bowl.

Love that tune

Play it all the time

If you don't like it

I have mine!

And so it goes

With music everywhere

It's up to the person

To declare.

Declare if you love it

Declare if you bolt

Declare it's outstanding

Declare it's a jolt!

Music is you see

Something that can be

Different to you and me

Totally!

Love it or hate it

It's here to stay

And we wouldn't want it

Any other way!

From Mozart to Marley

From Elvis to Willie

From jazz to concertos

This music isn't silly.

Whatever the mood

Whatever the song

It has to be loved

To be along.

You can't escape it

Anywhere

For it's always there

Everywhere.

From "Rock A Bye Baby"

To a wedding place

To celebrated times of many

Even in the end it's "Amazing Grace."

Sherry Hill

"MUSIC IS EVERYWHERE"

"Thank you for the music

the songs I'm singin'.

Thanks for all the joy they're bringin'.

Who can live without it?

I ask in all honesty,

what would life be?

Without a song or a dance

what are we?

So I say thank you for the music

for giving it to me." ~ABBA

 “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."

-Bob Marley

Where words fail, music speaks." - Hans Christian Anderson

*Quotes from SheetMusicFox.Com



I found so many quotes about music: There are literally thousands of them. But I will spare you, trust me.

What I wanted to say is that everyone knows that music creates a mood. What would television commercials be without it? Or if you are watching a scary movie, you know good and well when the music picks up a certain tempo that something bad is going to happen. I will never forget when the movie, “Jaws” first came out: It scared me to death! A huge clue that the shark was coming was that specific music you heard each time—you know exactly what I mean. Worse was the fact that the very next week after “Jaws” came out, we went to the beach!

Tried to pacify my then-young teenage sons that if there were sharks, they’d hear that music that was in “Jaws” first. Didn’t work. And they were just as scared as I was that summer.

Both of them listened to Queen, Kiss and Metallica and since both had separate rooms, it also meant separate stereo systems. The music was so loud that it shook the house and set me crazy! Yes, I did along with their father, take them to many concerts: Kiss stands out the most for I did like their costumes but hadn’t developed an appreciation for their music at that time. I was into rock and roll and jazz at that time.

[When I was little I had developed an appreciation for classical music as both my grandmother and mother played the piano. I would too as I had to take piano lessons for eight long years and I hated it! It wasn’t that I hated music but more the teacher who would hit me across my knuckles if I struck a wrong note or make me copy sheet music for an hour if I didn’t play well. Sometimes people can make or break you: She broke me. But she didn’t break my love for music!]

Once I heard that music appeals to us for a lot of it has the same tempo as our heartbeat: That makes a lot of sense. Over the years, I have developed an appreciation for almost all kinds of music and even learned to like Queen and Kiss! I have those cd’s in my car: Who would have ever guessed that? But I love jazz, reggae, rock, oldies, Celtic music and current music. Sometimes I just like to listen to classical music for it calms me down; there would be no way I'd listen to it in my car for I would fall asleep at the wheel.

We live in an incredible time of music: It’s everywhere! We can download it, watch videos on you tube, hear it in movies on our dvds, listen to it online or in our house or cars and either appreciate it or not. But one thing is for sure: It is an international language that is understood by all and there are no words needed to detect the mood. Try watching a familiar movie and turn off the sound and see if has the same effect on you—bet it doesn’t! What seemed happy or scary is not the same without music. Try it!

All of us have certain songs that we just can't listen to for they bring back bad memories or the thought of a lost love while other songs make us feel happy and good. Some music reminds us of  extremely sad times and we can't listen to it. Association is one thing that goes hand in hand with music: It affects our moods and our lives. Wherever you live, you have music that is native to your home and you appreciate it or maybe not--maybe you like imported music. Does that matter? No way.

One thing is for sure: Music will always be with us and that’s a good thing. When words fail, music will always be there to fill the void.  And no matter the words, we know the feeling and enjoy it if it's something we like. Crank up the sound and live it up! Life's too short.



Sherry Hill

"THREE OF MANY FRIGHTENING INCIDENTS!"

“THREE OF MANY FRIGHTENING INCIDENTS!”

I’ve had so many that it would take tons of posts to tell of all of the frightening incidents that I have survived. But there are three that stand out to this day and looking back, I don’t know how I had the wits to do what I did! If they had happened to me recently, there would be no coping skills.

The first horrible thing that happened to me was when I was first married: I was alone ironing for what seemed like forever. It was the time of ironing shirts that were made out of one hundred percent cotton and not only was spray starch used but so was a lot of hand pressure on the iron by me. Was watching tv and hoping that would take my mind off the pile of clothes that had to be ironed when all of a sudden, the iron caught on fire! Not only was the iron on fire but so was the cord that was of course plugged into the outlet.

Don’t know how I found the courage to jerk the “on fire cord” out of the wall outlet but I did and ran with the burning iron into the kitchen and threw the thing in the sink! Turned on the cold water and just let the iron drown right there and then. And that’s when I realized that the entire house could have gone up in flames and that’s when I got scared. I didn’t iron for several days as a new iron had to be purchased and when I did iron again, it was with extreme caution.

Several years later, my husband and I moved out of that house as we had two young sons and the neighborhood there had no children at all. Found the house in which I still am in and I had quit teaching and was staying home with my young sons [I would go back to teaching later on] and life seemed good. One afternoon, I was cooking a roast in the oven and I don’t know if was just my thought or not but the outside oven door was too hot to touch. Got out the potholders and opened up the door to take out the roast: I had to pour some juice off of it.

And guess what happened? The hot oven door came off right in my potholder-covered hands! My two little sons would have been no help and there was no one around other than them. Not only was the oven door as hot as Hades but it was heavy. As if guided by some mysterious force, I managed to use my knee to open up the storm door while holding onto the hot oven door and run off of the carport and throw the door onto the yard! You could hear the grass sizzling and if you had been beside me, you would have heard the sound of my heart beating at an unusual rate.

That evening my husband fixed the door. Lucky for him, that thing had cooled down. From then on I was afraid to touch it for fear of it happening again to me. I was never so glad in my life when that stove was replaced with a new one.

The last horrible thing [of so many] that happened also was here at this house. It was summer and my sons were about ten and twelve: They were up the street playing. And again, I was alone—that is till the mailman came by to deliver my mail. I had gotten this idea to build a rock garden out behind my house about a week prior to his showing up. Dragged one big rock after another but still needed more, of course. Since I knew him well as he lived down the street from me, I asked him if he’d help me get a big rock down to the garden.

He agreed and picked up the gigantic rock and as we started down to the semi-finished rock garden, he said, “You know there are snakes down there!” I looked at him with my mouth wide open as I am terrified of snakes—couldn’t even look at pictures of them. Had my back to a tree because that’s where I wanted him to put the rock. That was not a good idea for he screamed, “There’s a copperhead right behind you on the tree!” I was paralyzed with fear. Afraid to move. Afraid to breathe. And definitely afraid that the snake would slither onto me.

Again, some miracle happened for he told me then and there that the copperhead had gone down into the woods behind the tree. If you think that the rock garden got finished by me, think again! No way did I venture back to it: It was a man’s job this time.

An iron on fire, a hot oven door in my potholder-covered hands and a copperhead right behind me were three incidents that will forever stick in my mind. I got over my fear of irons for I had to as I was ironing shirts for three males and my clothes as well and you can’t iron without an iron. The old stove had been replaced and I just prayed a lot that this oven door would not come off and it hasn’t—yet. As for that snake, I have never gotten over it and never will for of all of the things that I hate and am afraid of, snakes are right up there as number one on my top ten list.

These are just three of many frightening incidents that happened to me. I could probably count well over one hundred: I am one of those people that if there is an accident waiting to happen, it will involve me. Peril? Of course. It should be my middle name!



Sherry Hill

I am not posting a photo of a snake!

"DO PEOPLE REALLY LISTEN?"

“DO PEOPLE REALLY LISTEN?”

A common thing to say to a person upon seeing him or her is to ask, “How are you?” We hope that they will say fine and go on their way as it’s a natural thing to expect. But if someone proceeds to tell you how awful they are feeling and go on and on, we get disgusted. We want them to stop with just a few words.

But when it is you or me and we are having a bummed out day, we sometimes tell the truth and then think “Should I have said that?” And we wait for some calming words, some of which are never said. We wanted that but ah, we have to remember that we don’t like to listen to others troubles and therein lies the problem. Honesty should rule but it generally doesn’t for we are in too much of hurry to get somewhere or do something. A crisis could come down and if it did, the guilt would stay with us---hanging over us like a big sheet. We do the same thing on the phone: We hope that the answer will not be dragged out but if it is us, then it's a different story.

There are clues in the eyes and face of the person: We can tell if they are happy, sad, angry or mad. There are major clues in the tone of the person's voice and we all know that. Do we pick up on these? Of course we do but we usually ignore them and ignore more if the person is ready to scream at us or go balistic. In essence, all of us need to take time to listen when a person replies to “How are you? Might get rid of guilt should we get it foisted upon us or save a life—if the person is truly in danger and wants to tell us.

Next time you happen upon someone and say the above, stop and listen for you never know: It could be life changing for that person and for you as well.



Sherry Hill

"IN WEST VIRGINIA WE DO RUN ALL OF OUR WORDS TOGETHER!"

“IN WEST VIRGINIA WE DO RUN ALL OF OUR WORDS TOGETHER!”




Three years ago, I met a new neighbor who was from New York. I loved to hear her talk for she put an “r” at the end of lots of words when she spoke. She began to tell me that she wasn’t happy here and that she couldn’t understand us as we ran our words together: That was not a revelation to me! I found that out when I was five years old and in the first grade.

My teacher had us writing a lot by the end of the year and she had us write these two words: this morning. “Piece of cake” I said to myself and wrote this on my paper: this smorning. I could feel her hovering over me and then she asked me why I wrote morning like that. I told her it was how it was said [which was not a good thing to say to a teacher.]

Feeling shame, I didn’t think I would make it through the day but I did. When I got home, I was met by my babysitter: Told her what had happened and she said, “What was wrong with that?” Holy cow she was about eighteen and she didn’t know the difference either.

During my childhood, I realized that everyone around me—family or friends ran words together all of the time. Chest of drawers was pronounced “chester drawers;” good afternoon was run together as well making me think that it was one word. And “this afternoon” was pronounced “this safternoon” and still is to this day.

I spoke like everyone else but when I had to write these groups of words, I had to force myself to write them separately—and that was not an easy task. As I got older, I realized that this “running of the words together” is something unique to West Virginia just as speech in other states is different. When I was in my early twenties, I went to stay for two weeks with a college friend of mine and her husband—they lived in Tennessee. After two weeks of being there, I started picking up that accent as well as some forms of speech. The people I met thought that I was from the north!

When I returned home, I was speaking like they did in Tennessee but it only lasted for a spell and then I was back to running some words together when I spoke. Still do till I catch myself and stop. It is not like we are in a hurry here [Charleston is a big city with well-spoken people] to speak so fast; it is something that we have inherited from our ancestors.

I could list more words that are run together but I’d have to speak them first in order for you to know what they are. Maybe I can make a video and then you would know what I really am talking about. As a former elementary teacher, I had to do the same thing that my first grade teacher did: Had to make sure that my second grade students wrote down those words separately. Feel sorry for my now-gone neighbor for she moved back to New York: She didn’t give us a chance and if she had stayed here, she would have started running groups of words together too! It’s a West Virginia thing!



Sherry Hill