Just Like Mrs Flint

It is the time of year to start cleaning.

Since I have had breast cancer,

my phobia is that the closets and drawers

are all clean, in case something should happen to me.

{that way my daughters don't have a huge mess to handle}

My Larry says:POOH!

But he always helps me.

What a guy.

Last weekend, we cleaned out the guest room closet.

It was not dirty, just cluttered.

We donated a lot of things

and

threw many things away.

There were a few projects in there.

I knew that they were in there,

 but I was just avoiding them.

Here is the story about one of them.

THE AUTOGRAPH TABLECLOTH

It must have been about 1978.

Larry and I had were newlyweds.

We were invited to dinner by The Flints.

I had babysat for their children,

when the Flint's and my family

 lived on the same street in Memphis.

Back to my story....

Larry and I were invited to dinner.

I love Mr & Mrs Flint.

I was so excited. 

We were 21 years old but felt like grown-ups.

Dinner was amazing.

My favorites were the sausage Bisquick appetizers

and

the cranberry fizz, mock-tale.

But, oh my...

I loved the tablecloth on her table.

It was an autograph tablecloth.

Larry and I signed it when dinner was over.

That impressed me so much.

It impressed me so much that

 I told Larry: We need to have a tablecloth like that.

The next week, we had friends to dinner,

using just a tablecloth that was in my linen closet,

I started a tradition.

Just Like Nancy Flint.

Here is the Tolbert Tablecloth.
1-9-2016

Please excuse the wrinkles.

The signatures are all embroidered,

 and  

filled with wonderful memories. 

The tablecloth has been in the guest room closet.

You see, the last person who signed the cloth was

my dear friend Mazelle.

Her signature had not been embroidered

when she passed away.

It made me so sad,

I folded up the tablecloth and put away.

When I saw it on Saturday,

I realized, what a waste it was to hide it away.

Besides, Mazelle would be angry at me about that.

As I post today,

the tablecloth is here beside me.

Mazelle's signature is being worked on in deep red.

Here are a few other shots of the tablecloth.

 The turkey above  was from a family Thanksgiving 1985.

Thanksgiving was always here at the cottage, till Mother died.

Our good friends have quite an impact on the tablecloth.

{everyone loves to sign the tablecloth}

It is filled with love and memories of happy moments.

Just like Mrs. Flint's tablecloth.

I will share a picture of the tablecloth when it is finished,

clean and wrinkle free.

Love you.

Me