Happy Birthday

Today would have been my grandmother's 94th birthday, or would have been 95th? Well, no matter.

My grandmother, Agnes Irene "Pat" Hewitt Brown Rinehard, was a remarkable woman. Even now people are amazed at the things that she did. If it had wheels, my grandmother drove it. Trolley, truck, bus, tram, train, fire truck-front & back end, car, pick-up, hmmm, what else is there?

She was the first female bus driver the City of Syracuse, NY hired, and, in my opinion, the most popular. She and her husband were a husband and wife OTR truck driving team, I believe that they had to have been one of the first. She worked in almost every industry there is. She also cooked for tourists out of a boxcar at a little place called Rail City. I am pretty sure she liked working with people, but I think bus driving was her most favorite. She was able to be with people and feel the freedom of the road at the same time.

Even after she could no longer drive, because of a broken hip suffered in a car accident (no she wasn't hit by a bus) she still worked for the bus company and (I believe) was instrumental in the start-up of the Call-a-Bus program for elderly and infirm.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Yes, I am Tearing Up

Today is Gene Autry's birthday. Well, not so special really it happens every year about this time, well, at least since 1907. Why am I excited about Gene Autry's Birthday. I am not really. I did learn that he sang Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty, the Snowman and he not only sang but he wrote Here Comes Santa Claus...I love Christmas songs. During my 'research' I also discovered he (along with hundreds of others, sang You Are My Sunshine, one of my mother and grandmother's favorite songs.

How can someone NOT like that song? Anything that includes the words sunshine, happy and love has got to be good.

My grandmother came to live with us before she died. I can remember coming in the house from doing 'chores' at The Little Retreat and hearing some odd singing. I followed the singing, recognized the song and headed straight for the little bedroom off the 'lobby'. Grandma was sitting in her chair with her head against the back of the chair, her eyes closed and a pair of headphones on. She sang along with the cassette in her machine, nearly at the top of her lungs. I am sure she was unaware that she was 'singing out loud'.

"...Please don't take my sunshine away." I started to back away, I didn't want her to feel like she was being watched but she never opened her eyes, her hand just reached over to the table and pressed the rewind button. A few seconds later, " You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..."

I love that song!

Flooding dangers

Over the weekend a story has emerged of a 10 year old girl in Nashville, TN who got swept away in a flooded ditch and sucked into an 18"drainage pipe. She is okay and will have something to talk about on Monday at school (as if the flooding wasn't enough).

When my father's sister (I can't really call her an aunt, because I never knew her) was at a local park with family picnicking when she and her cousins went wading in the rain swollen creek. Somehow, she was sucked into a drain hole. She drowned at the age of 11. My dad was 2 years old. He never got to know his sister.

I never got to know my "Aunt Marilyn".  When Grandma died, we inherited all of the Marilyn memorabilia, and, in a way, we all got to know her by reading the letters she had written to her mother when they were separated, the scrap books that she kept, the photographs of all of the children together, alone and with adults, the memories others wrote about her in the sympathy cards received after her death. I think I would have liked her. She had a motherly instinct, and adored her little brother, my dad.

Rail City

I find it very difficult to write something here on Mother's Day about mothers or even the history of the day.

Today is also National Train Day. I think of trains and I think of my Grandmother. My Grandmother lived outside a little hole in the ground called Sandy Creek near Lake Ontario in central New York (that is just about half way between Syracuse and Watertown). Behind her house was a little place called Rail City (founded in the 1950's). As a kid, I always thought it was hers, that she owned it. I have been since enlightened that she did not. 

Rail City was a sort of amusement park/museum that featured a mile long track on which a steam locomotive, passenger cars and a caboose ran. You would depart from the station through the woods to a quick "water" stop where you could get off and take a look at the monkey in the well. Once back on the train, you took the half mile trek around past boot hill (with real boots sticking out of the ground) back to the station.

There was a little wooden town were you could explore including a jail, blacksmith shop and other old west-style town buildings. There was also a carousel, a water tower that you could climb to the top of and walk around the outside of the entire thing and see five counties! There was a diner (that is what my grandmother ran) and an actual working Volunteer Fire Department. I know I was able to 'visit' the trucks, but I don't know for sure if that was open for all.

I think of this place fondly and during our yearly family reunion trip to the area, I always want take the hour long trip up to visit grandma and all my fond memories.

Rail City has run down these past 25years or so, but I understand that the son of the original owner of the property has tried to spurn interest in the museum and currently runs a website with an early history of Rail City. I have a few memorabilia at HandMeDownHaven.com (just search for train) and am on the trail of more, as Grandma had plenty. Time for me to...

Have Fun Searching 

Grandma Daisy Earrings

Spring has sprung. I am looking out my window at the tulips and daffodils, the new leaf growth on the trees, the bees buzzing from tulip to daffodil to violet. The little birds flitting between the new leaves on the trees and the bird feeders. Pollen, thanks to the buzzing bees, is covering everything. I love that look. Not really into the sneezing and itchy eyes though.


Spring makes me want to see every flower on the planet at the same time. What is your favorite flower? What is mine? I wonder. I do have a soft spot for the simple flowers. For instance, the daisy. Although they have so many petals, each one appears to be identical and each daisy appears to be identical, but are they? Are they more like zebras? Zebras look alike to us, yet they are different when it comes right down to it. Other zebras know which is their mother, which ones belong in their family. Is it the same with flowers?


Natural daisies come in many different colors and shapes and sizes. Man made daisies also come in different colors and sizes. One of my favorites (or shall I say two of my favorites) are a pair from my grandmother's collection. This pair of daisy earrings are a beautiful combination of pastels enameled onto each individual petal. A very unique pair of flowers, a very unique pair of earrings. 


Daisies not your favorite? Do a search for your favorite. Click Here. Have Fun Searching!

Grandma's Beaus

Today I added a ring that belonged to my grandmother. She just loved to accessorize. This ring is so pretty I picture it as a gift from one of her beaus.

This picture makes it look like the center stone is a blackish color when, in reality, it is a pretty light blue/aqua color. Someone told me that it was aquamarine, but it could also be blue topaz, or just glass. But it doesn't matter what it is made of.  Pretty is Pretty.

Grandma was a woman ahead of her time. You may know (from previous tales here) that my grandmother was the first female bus driver the city of Syracuse, NY ever hired. But what you may not know, is that she also drove trolleys in Philadelphia, locomotives, fire trucks (front and back end) and to round out her transportation experience, she and grandpa were a husband and wife cross-country truck driving team.  She was such a colorful character. Now, being older, I wish she were still around to relay some of her exploits. 

I have found some old letters that she received from admirers including her ex-husband, her future husband, other bus drivers, and riders alike. If she received letters, I can image she received gifts as well. And why shouldn't she. She was a very friendly and everyone loved her!

Thanks for reading!