"E" is For ETERNITY ... by Gina Waite

So family and friends of "In a Nutshell," today happens to celebrate the day we discuss the letter "E" in our 5th consecutive day of posting memories associated with the letters in "F-A-T-H-E-R." I made the realization about two days ago that I would EVENTUALLY have to EXPLAIN memories that start with the letter "E". This is an ENORMOUS task to my fried EGG-type of brain, this week. I promise, I have no real EXCUSE EXCEPT the letter "E" is EXCEPTIONALLY hard to think of nouns associated with it! We may have to start off with EASTER EGGS as there were never more creative EXCITEMENT at our home than that of decorating our un-EQUALED EGGS:

EVERY one of my siblings and parents are artistically talented. In our own way we EACH shine in different areas of art and artistry. My Mom and Dad really EXAMINED and creatively came up with EVERY opportunity they could to include productivity and tradition with artistic EXCELLENCE. Going back to an EARLIER EXPLANATION, this week, my Mom showed her own artistic EXCELLENCE when she ENGAGED herself in sewing Christmas jammies with an individual style that suited EACH of us, almost EVERY year for Christmas. As excited as we were to open our Christmas jammies, we were EAGER for our annual EASTER EGG dying and decorating! I think EVERYONE in my household, growing up and the final EXTENSION of my own little family, was ENTHUSIASTIC and ENERGETIC about this annual EXERCISE. Wax crayons, vinegar and all sorts of added accessories were used in EXECUTING creative EGG dominance. I think once, one of my siblings used ELASTICS to cover certain parts of a hardboiled EGG in order to cover and EXPOSE different areas of the shell in order to create a pattern. EGG contests always ENSUED and my Mom did her absolute best to recognize EACH and EVERYONE of us.

I think of ENVELOPES. Before her graduation into the Spirit World, my Mom wrote me the most EXCELLENT birthday letter filled with EXPRESSIONS of love and admiration for my EXAMPLE. My Mom was so talented in EXPRESSING her love through letter writing. Similarly, I have never known a person to be more EXCEPTIONAL in EXPRESSING ideas and stories off the top of their head than that of my, EXCELLENT Mother. 

One EXAMPLE was a time she had several of her grandchildren gathered together in a room at my brother, Richard's house, to EXPLAIN details of a story about EACH one of them in her imagination. There was so much EXCITEMENT and ENERGY involved that when the ENEMY of her story approached the un-EXPECTING heroes ... the ENGAGED grandchildren were involved to the point that one of them EXTRACTED their lunch in front of EVERYONE. The EXCELLENCE of story-telling to create such EMOTIONAL involvement that the audience may be physically ill ... is a gift ... and one my Mom gave to EACH one of her grandchildren that EXTREMELY ENJOYABLE, and memorable, night! I'm so grateful to have an EXCELLENT memory ... my Mom's contributions to our family and ETERNAL and un-ENDING love with never be ERASEDfrom my mind.

Hmmmm...I'm realizing how EXCITING and EMOTIONAL writing about memories associated with the letter "E" have been for me! I'm so ETERNALLY grateful for my family and the fact I got to EXPERIENCE writing about it, this week!

Stay TUNED TOMORROW for the letter "R"! The wrap-up and RESOLVE to our week-filled posts of our REWARDING family REALTIONSHIP!

 Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos. Visit us at our residence...www.marleneterry.blogspot.com. "In a Nutshell." Or you can email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.

"H" is For HOLIDAYS ... by Gina Waite

Just to review what is happening with "In A Nutshell" this week, we are on day four of six, reviewing thoughts and memories associated with each letter in the word, "FATHER" as we celebrate my Dad's birthday this week! Consequently, we ALSO celebrate birthdays in AUGUST for: Andrew (my brother Richard's baby boy) Savahnna (my sister, Angel Angie's gorgeous girl) and our VERY OWN TERRIFICALLY TALENTED TWINS (Richard and Ryan my twin brothers.) So far we've already reviewed the letters "F"... "A" ... AND "T" ... today is the day of the letter "H":

HAIR ... as a family ... we HAPPEN to HAVE a HEALTHY, HECK of a lot!!!! At one time in HER life, my Mom HAPPILY sported the bee-HIVE (and tried to make that work for my sisters as pictured) as well as my daughter, Paris, used to refer to her little todder-tried half-ponytail as HER "HELICOCK-CO (helicopter) HAIR!" As a child, I thought I could HELP Mike with a HAIRCUT and butchered his in the bangs while HACKING off my HIGHLY-LOVED blonde ponytails underneath the elastics. My HEAVENS ... I'm so glad to be ALIVE today!!! Our resident, HAIR-GICIAN, Angel Angie kept us all on point and HEALTHY, in the HAIR department. She did HAVE HER experiment-with-my-own-HAIR-through-HAIR-school days ... but HAPPILY moved out of that stage as she HEALED HER own by wearing HATS! 

Speaking of HATS ... there are memories of a day when Lora, my HILARIOUS sister, decided to take HER HILARIOUS antics to new levels by sporting a wicker chicken basket on her HEAD. The basket, itself, was a replica of a life-sized chicken and split HORIZONTALLY to open HALF-way down. Perfect for my sister to place the top, atop HER HALF-COCKED HEAD. Lora HEADED out to the backyard to entertain HER family, who were HAZY with HUGE amounts of HOMEWORK, without HEARING or realizing that all my Dad's HIRED-HANDS were in full view of her HILARIOUS chicken dance. Upon completion, HOOTS and HOLLERS went up and now the dance is of legend and HISTORY!

HARDLY ever do I remember a HOLIDAY without the magical effort and resources of my now, HEAVENLY-HAPPY Mother, and HER HANDSOME, HANDY , HELPMEET of a HUSBAND! New Years, Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween and ESPECIALLY CHRISTMAS were HYPED-UP and HONORED! My Mom and Dad arranged for HORSE-drawn sleigh and HAY rides and the previously mentioned HALLOWEEN HOUSE OF HORRORS (family spook alley.) Through all the memories, my parents were many HATS and I can HONESTLY say ... I HAD a very HAPPY childHOOD!
Stay TUNED TOMORROW for the letter "E"! It's EVERYTHING EVERYONE has been EXCITED for!

 Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos. Visit us here, at our residence,

...www.marleneterry.blogspot.com. "In a Nutshell." Or you can email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.

"T" is For Terry ... by Gina Waite

Just to review what is happening with "In A Nutshell" this week, we are on day three of six reviewing thoughts and memories associated with each letter in the word, "FATHER" as we celebrate my Dad's birthday and so many family birthday's in August (if you haven't already been keenly aware...we've got a couple to celebrate and remember.) We've already reviewed "F" and "A" so that brings us up to speed with the letter, "T":

I'm calling it the TERRIFIC letter "T" as it clearly has so many associations with our family ... starting with our last name, "TERRY" and the fact our family claims TWINS. From what I understood of the TUMULTUOUS years that the TWINS experiencing their TWOS ... my Mom had to TAKEOFF to the TROPICS in order to have a TIME out and much needed THINKING TIME. Having the TWINS in our TRIBE has been a TOTAL TREAT. Ryan TICKLES our funny bone with his incredible comedic TIMING and Richard keeps us up-to-date in the latest and greatest, TECHNOLOGY! They both TIED-the-knot with TROPHY wives and Richard's son's, Gabriel and Andrew, constantly TEACH us that to be happy we just need to be, TOGETHER ... and frequently to play with TRAINS and TYRANNOSAURUS rexes!

Our beautiful neice Savahnna, Angie's daughter, and her TITANIC bearded dragons are quite the TEAM of TRAINER and TRAINEE but when TWO male dragons are close enough to see each other, the TECHNIQUE of TRYING to dominate each other just about brought her Aunt Gina to TEARS! Mary, our baby sister, and her husband BEN, are amazing TEAMMATES and parents to the THREE of the smartest, most adorable TRIBE I've ever seen. Ben's amazing ability of TEACHING people to TALK again also incorporates his capability of TRANSLATING everything he TEACHES into Spanish.

I think of all the TREES we planted over the years and the hours and hours of TIME spent on the TRAMP perfecting games like Add-On and TANNING on TOP of it all Summer long! The Touch-downs thrown in our backyard, the TENDENCY of our TROOP to spend TIME playing pinball on our very own pinball machine enTITLED, "TILT!" The Summer afternoon THUNDERSTORMS and the TEMPTATION to spend a lot of TIME overlooking the valley from the TERRIFICALLY positioned TERRITORY of the TERRY home makes me THANKFUL to remember the letter "T"!

Stay TUNED TOMORROW for the letter "H"! That Nutshell HIGHLIGHTS the HILARIOUS HAPPENINGS of the Terry HOME!

 Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos. Visit us here, at our residence,

...www.marleneterry.blogspot.com. "In a Nutshell." Or you can email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.

"A" is For Apples & Angles ... by Gina Waite

If you didn't catch my "In A Nutshell" post, yesterday, you may be wondering why I would use the letter "A" in the title of my post! That's simply because we are on day two of a consecutive 6 day post ... sharing memories that coordinate with each letter in the word "Father." Why, you ask? Well TODAY of ALL days is the highly ANTICIPATED, AUGUST 8th ... IT'S MY FATHER'S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY, DAD! I know I speak for everyone of your children when I say we LOVE you and wish you health and happiness in the years to come. I genuinely hope you'll sit down for ten minutes, today, and ENJOY a cup of ice-cold water (the only way you drink it) AND hopefully enjoy yesterday's post about the memories I have associated with the letter "F" in "Father" and maybe even follow that up with today's post which is dedicated to the memories I have that are associated with the letter "A" in "Father."

Now onto my thoughts and family memories associated with the Angelic letter "A":

I have ALWAYS been AWARE that it was an AWESOME experience to be raised with eight siblings. ALTHOUGH, it never occurred to me that A LOT of those memories would come to me associated with my siblings would be revisited when smelling APPLES. APPLE cider and dehydrating APPLES especially heightens my awareness of our APPLE orchard and my happiness in feeding the horses through the fence. The AMBITION my parents had to purchase ACERAGE to build a beautiful home, horse barn and cabinet shop then ADDING an orchard, raspberry patch and garden! As children, we received AWARDS for our ABILITY to garden!

My Dad's ATHLETICISM AND ANTICIPATION of ALL things competitive spilled over into ARM and leg wrestling matches that left most of us sore and in need of an ASPIRIN! I must ADMIT ... my Dad's endless energy and AGELESS APPROACH at life lead the family on many ADVENTURES! My Mom's talent and ARTISTRY in ABSOLUTELY everything she did! Even ACQUIRING enough coordinating fabric that she could make ANNUAL Christmas jammies for ALL eight of her children. In thinking about it ... ARTISTIC ABILITY rubbed off on ALL my eight siblings, except me (I was tempted to use ACCEPT...but my Mom might be AGAINST that word choice ... wink, wink); ALTHOUGH, I did ARRANGE for ALL my siblings to be ACTORS and ACTRESSES in my AWESOME, self-proclaimed, AWARD-winning days of AUTHORING, producing and directing Summer screenplays!

So many memories of backyard and trampoline ACROBATICS that kept ALL of us busy through AUTUMN! Oh AUTUMN ... that glorious time of AUTUMNAL coloring that my ANGEL of a Mother loved with ALL of her heart! ANGELS remind me of my Mother and Grandmothers, ALONG with my sister, ANGIE (who is aptly nicknamed, "Angel') ... my nephew Andrew (who will be talked about in length TOMORROW during the TWINS post) ... my besutiful neice, Savahnna who ALSO shares an AUGUST birthday and my darling Paris who was born in APRIL AND longed to be an ANIMAL doctor. AHHHH ... I love remembering the letter "A"!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the TERRIFIC letter "T"!

 Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos. Visit us here, at our residence,

...www.marleneterry.blogspot.com. "In a Nutshell." Or you can email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.

"F" is For Family ... by Gina Waite

I know I've said this before but days seem to fly by now! I remember thinking how quickly the Summer went by as a kid-but now, Shazam ... it's GONE! It's how I felt in June when my good intentions to write daily posts leading up to Father's Day completely flopped as my brain had a disconnect with the fact that I WOULD BE GONE on a ballroom tour with my children that would keep me completely occupied and busy the entire TWO WEEKS BEFORE! What ... I double-booked myself???? How can that be???? That's NEVER happened before (here's where I wish I could insert a sarcastic, side-sneer emoji as it seems the closer to 50 years old I get ... the MORE these things are HAPPENING!)

So let me catch everyone up to speed. In June, starting with the Monday BEFORE Father's Day, I had anticipated coordinating each day with a letter in the word, Father, that would also combine a flood of memories of my Dad. As I started writing those Father's Day week posts (I emphasize "started" as it's difficult to prepare your house, garden, yourself, hubs, two children, a father-in-law and a darling but crazy blonde golden doodle for ten days of vacation and be well rested enough you don't completely pass out at some point on the tour bus #ithappened) I realized that to talk about the memories of my childhood and my Dad would ACTUALLY integrate my ENTIRE family ... ESPECIALLY my Mom! She made life MAGICAL! So to expound and revisit an idea I was EXTREMELY EXCITED ABOUT, I'd love to remember my dad on the week of his birthday by sharing memories of my family while using the word, "FATHER." This has inspired and conjured FABULOUS memories for me that I'd love to share with ALL of you in hopes ... you may want to reply and share some of your memories, too!

Let's start today with the letter "F"!
My Fabulous Family was/is extremely Friendly! I cannot remember a time that my parents hosted a nightly dinner without a Friend of one of the eight children there to enjoy with us, too. The Funds that it must have required to Feed the ten of us at home and then Frequently adding extras to Feast with us was as Fiercely loyal Friendship as one could Find. My brother Ryan got the nickname of "Fred" and his twin sported a beautifully curly, Fro ... For which my son, also Fancied at Fifteen!

My Fam was also Frighteningly Fun! The time and effort that went into our annual Halloween Spook Alley Frequently approached Fifty or more Families every Halloween! The handmade costumes and gravestones along with Fog machines and Flashing strobe lights seem to Fit In with even the BEST effects of the day! Finally, there were lots of Summer Bon Fires, and Few Fall evenings or chilly Winter mornings, without the crackle and pop of the Fiery Flames in our beautiful Fireplace.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the letter "A" and please think of Any Additional "A" memories you can Add!

 Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos. Visit us here, at our residence,

...www.marleneterry.blogspot.com. "In a Nutshell." Or you can email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.