When Cliff first joined the two of us up with the tractor club, I didn't go to meetings with him. I figured he was retired, and this would be something he could enjoy with other guys. After the first time he attended the meeting, he told me a little about the meeting, and said it was going to be hard to get to know all the people, because most of them were strangers to him. And he said, "I missed my sidekick." That'd be me, if you don't know. So for a time, I went with him. We both got to know some of the people, and this summer I've been staying home; Cliff doesn't mind going alone now; he's met some people.
The club doesn't have meetings in November and December because people are busy with the holidays, although we always have a Christmas dinner with them in December. I decided since next month will be the last time to get together for awhile, I'd attend and let folks know I'm still among the living.
There's a guy, Larry, who runs a local peach orchard that I used to work for, back when he also had apples there. This was a period of time when I was writing songs and poems every once in awhile, and I'd share some of those with co-workers, my boss, and his wife. I'm going someplace with this, so be patient.
Our meetings are very informal. In fact, mostly everybody just sits around visiting. Oh, they go over the events they've been to since the last meeting, and talk about events coming up. But there just isn't a lot of "business" to handle. Afterward, everybody eats snacks, because some of the wives bring goodies for everybody. Cliff loves this, but I am not one to eat at 8 PM, so when I go, I sit and visit with him and others while he eats.
So last night we were at the meeting. We'd been at it for maybe fifteen minutes when Larry came in late, and got up in front to let everyone know when we should line up for the parade in our little town tomorrow, and to discuss the wiener roast we always have in October at his place. So he's telling all this stuff, suddenly sees me, quits talking, and says, "Hey, Donna Wood! You need to bring your guitar and do a program at the Christmas dinner." Yeah, in the middle of the meeting.
"Oh no," I said. "Oh, no way."
I don't know these people that well, most of them, and I am NOT a performer.
"OK," he said, then how about getting up a little program (program??? I'm no entertainer!) here at a club meeting?"
"No, I'm not doing that either."
So he starts telling everybody about the poems and songs I've written, and about that "thing you've got on the Internet", and how great I sing (he's tone-deaf, so I'm not sure how he knows). I looked around at the crowd and said, "He's talking about my blog. If any of you are interested, I can tell you how to find it on the Internet.
I told Larry I was not going to sing at a tractor club meeting or at the Christmas dinner (bigger crowd than I need).
He dropped it until after the meeting was over, but as we were heading for the door, he said, "You won't do a program for Christmas, huh?" Nope, I would not. "What about at the wienie roast then?"
"Well," I said, "that would be a more appropriate place."
"So you'll do it?"
"I'll think about it."
I probably will, although I think he's expecting a full-blown program. I am NOT a public speaker. I might sing three songs, and I might read a couple or three poems for them. I've made the mistake of being asked to do a "program", doing it, and when I'm almost done, realizing I've outstayed my welcome. Pretty embarrassing. That old Vaudeville saying "always leave 'em wanting more" is always good advice.
Two people... one gentleman, the other a lady... asked how to find my blog. I assured them it wasn't at all as interesting as Larry thinks it is, but I told them to type "just me donna" in a search engine and that should get them here. If my two new readers found this blog, welcome. I'll leave a few interesting links for you, because lately I'm not so sure I've written anything of great interest.
My mother decided to write her story, years before she died. I've read and heard my mom's stories from her youth many times, so there wasn't much in the story I didn't know. However, going through a period of "writer's gap", I dug her story out, serialized it, and turned it in to eight blog entries. I had more readers of those entries than I've ever had at any other time. So, if you'll click HERE, it gives you clickable links to the entries in the order they should be.
Here's an item of interest to my tractor club people, and one I'm rather proud of. It's my entry about the Kinnzenbaw tractor collection. The thing I'm so proud of is that somehow the folks at Kinze Manufacturing found the entry and added the link to their company blog. That entry, from 2014, still gets from seven to fourteen visitors each week, over five years after I wrote it. Click HERE to see the Kinzenbaw tractors.
Another series of entries is about Jim Perrine, a man who began life three or four miles from where I live. He tells about his childhood living on the Missouri River Bottom, about going to school in Wellington, and later on, becoming a coach and principal in Higginsville, Missouri. His niece found it interesting, brought it to me, and I got permission to serialize it in my blog. Because he was from the area, his story was of interest to a lot of local people. So I shared the links on Facebook and, once again, had a very popular group of entries. You will find the first entry in his story HERE. At the end of each entry, there is a link to the next part of the story.
Boy, it got hot again! It's been so nice this week, I thought somebody had messed with the thermostat when the air conditioner wouldn't quit running. I asked Alexa the temperature and found it it was over 90 degrees.
But every morning feels more like autumn than the day before.
Peace.
