Tag Archives: Eveline Coates

Another New Page – Ancestor Signatures

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scan0044I think this is the last Page I’ll add for a while. I can’t think of any more blog organization to do instead of writing or getting ready for Christmas. šŸ™‚

The page is just for fun – a place to collect the signatures of my ancestors. I’m starting with just two, but there will be more to come. Many more, I hope! Ancestor Signatures

In the meantime, I reread a post I did about my grandmother’s handwriting and how it changed over the years. It made me miss her. I hope you will read it if you missed it the first time around.

Eveline’s Changing Penmanship

Rhythm and Balance

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Rhythm and balance.

RequisiteĀ for dancing.Ā Desired for living life well.

My grandmother, Eveline Coates Hoskins, is my example. There was a rhythm to her life. And there was also balance.

Her day followed a pattern:Ā  Work. Rest/play. Work. Rest/play.

Work before play. But not work with no play.

Balance.

Rhythm.

The rhythm of her life was always andante – at a moderate tempo. IĀ did notĀ see her behave as I often do – frantically running around trying to catch up.

She rose and set each day at the same time. She served meals each day at the same time.

During the time I lived with my grandparents, Eveline was in her 50s. I feel certain she didn’t get to live with this much leisure as a young mother of six. Never the less – it is an example I always return to and wish to take as my own.

Eveline Hoskins in Ottumwa copy

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I’m still trying to get back to blogging after illness. It’s going much more slowly than I would like. I found that I have quite a few posts that I started once upon a time, but never finished. Like this one – started over two years ago.Ā I’m sure I had more to add – perhaps I planned to write about the rhythm of Eveline’s week, or record my memories of how she spent her days. My intentions are long forgotten. I think I’ll go ahead a publish a few of these abandoned posts – more or less as they are. Maybe that will be just the spark I need.

A Rediscovered Book from Childhood

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Oh the wonders of the internet, Google, ebay and Facebook! And the kindness of fellow bloggers! This time I reconnected with a book from my childhood.

Kat MortensenĀ blogs at Acadianeire’s Heritage.Ā I met her through Sepia Saturday and she is also participating in The Book of Me and now we are Facebook friends. One day back in October, Kat posted that she was looking for a book from her childhood that held special memories for her. In a very short time she found images for it and posted them. She was so successful that I told her about a book I have always wanted to find from my childhood.

The description I provided her was very brief! The book had a red cloth library style cover with a black line drawing. The story was about a little girl who went to the circus, but lost her ticket. She went all around the circus looking for it, but it was stuck to her cotton candy. I assumed the book had been published in the late 1940s-early 1950s. I didn’t remember the name of the book or the main character.

In less than 10 minutes, Kat found the book! Once I knew the name of the book, I went looking for one with a red cover just like mine had – and I found one on ebay.
book.Sally Goes to the Circus coverbook.Sally Goes to the Circus inside

Since it was just days after my birthday, I decided to give myself a present. šŸ™‚

I had forgotten that it is a “chapter book” with 12 chapters divided among 44 pages.
book.Sally with momĀ  Ā book.Sally arrives at circus

Maybe I related to this book not only because I liked the thought of going to the circus and Sally’s adventure, but also because I often rode the city bus – and I seem to recall riding alone at a fairly young age.

Or maybe it was the thought of all those treats Sally just couldn’t resist.
book.Sally treats

Poor Sally, the show is about to begin and she still hasn’t found her ticket!
book.Sally looking

Cuckoo the clown found her ticket and Sally got into the show just in time! Her father was there waiting in the stands for her. Whew!
book.Sally finds ticket

Here is a picture of Sally dressed to go to the circus.
book.Sally
And a picture of me dressed almost like Sally. Our coats are even open almost identically showing our dresses underneath!

Me in front of Elsie Swick's house on Brick Row, Ottumwa, Iowa

Me in front of Elsie Swick’s house on Brick Row, Ottumwa, Iowa

I wasn’t sure of the location of the picture, although it looked like the street where my grandparents lived. I posted it on Facebook and my aunt confirmed that it was taken on their street, two houses to the west of my grandparents’ house. Elsie Swick was a good friend of my grandmother, Eveline Coates Hoskins.

Thanks, Kat, for helping me find this little piece of my childhood!

If you enjoy children’s books, I previously wrote about a few other books I had as a child here. And I mentioned this book that I hoped to find someday!