Welcome to spring. I welcomed it with a coat and scarf. How did you welcome it in? Lately I feel like I’m living in Seattle instead of Wardsville, Missouri. This is March, and April is supposed to bring the showers. By the way, you do know that April showers bring May flowers. But do you know what May flowers bring? That’s right: Pilgrims. Ha ha!
Sisters Day is being held at the home of Shirley Huffman. We were all present and accounted for: Lucy Branson, Mary Jo Crider, Shirley Huffman, Linda Crider, Pam Hale and Susie Kleffner. Upon entering Shirley’s comfortable home on the north end of Vienna, we were welcomed with a smile and a hug. The table was set and the air was filled with the wonderful smells of a good country breakfast. They grabbed their coffee, and I got my tea and we seated ourselves around a table laden with a platter filled with country sausage patties and long, thick slices of bacon, both cooked to perfection. A large plate was stacked high with homemade waffles, two large bowls -- one full of strawberries, the other full of fresh fruit salad in vanilla pudding -- and a bottle of maple syrup. We said grace and dug in. It was so good.
Entering Shirley’s home this way reminds me of all the wonderful breakfasts we ate at another home of Shirley’s on their farm outside Dixon when Lois and I would spend the weekends there. Her boys were kids, and we were young and working at Chesbrough Ponds, now Unilever. The Sunday breakfasts were much the same, but the company was different. Joining Shirley’s family for those meals are precious memories I hold as dear as the memories of Sisters Day are now.
The first topic of conversation for today was how our memories are failing and how that leads us to follow old patterns instead of the one for this day. Pam was late getting to Shirley’s home. This was because coming down Highway 42 she whipped into Mary Jo’s driveway instead of coming on into to town to Shirley’s where she was supposed to be. Ha! That’s what you get for driving, talking on the phone and concentrating on the conversation instead of what you are doing. Well, kiddo welcome to the club.
The next thing that was mentioned was the two new coffee shops in Vienna. Welcome, you may see us there one of these Sisters Days.
We talked about Bingo prizes. Where I play most of the time, the prizes are dollar items from Dollar General. The last time I played I won three times. I got a small bottle of Dawn dishwashing liquid, a box of dryer sheets and small bottle of hand lotion. These prizes are not exciting for me even if they are useful. At Christmas time, I played at a different place, and I won three games. That time I won a dish towel, a potholder and a bottle of wine. Now those are more my kind of prizes. Most of the sisters thought the first group of prizes was just great, so now I see where the phrase “different strokes for different folks” comes from. At the senior center where I live, we play once a month. We pay a nickel per card, and the winner gets the pot. There are usually six of us playing, so that helps me keep my nickel to play next month.
Most of us have those beautiful clocks that chime on the hour, and the face breaks apart and spins around. When it chimes, one of the great-grand babies runs to the clock, starts dancing and singing “Jingle Bells,” even if it is playing a different song. Aren’t children wonderful? They teach us to appreciate the simplest things and find the delight in them, even if we’ve seen them a million times.
Of course, quilting came up. Lucy has two quilts in at the present time: one at her apartment and one at the senior center. She is there almost every day and wants everyone to know that they are welcome to come join her any time. If she is not there you can go ahead and start without her. Your skill level is not Important. Everyone is a beginner when they start. The only way to get better is to practice. The quilts, when they are finished, will be raffled off to benefit the senior center. You can get a cheap lunch there when you come to quilt, which will require no cooking or cleaning up. Come join Lucy. If you don’t quilt but do something else, bring it along and come keep Lucy company. She’s usually there by 10-ish. You can stay for an hour or all day. Remember when our mom, Anna Crider, quilted at the center? That’s the foundation Lucy is trying to build on.
Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew? One of the sisters decided she would make quilts for a lot of people on her Christmas list. As Christmas Eve approached, some of the quilts still needed to be hemmed. She had to admit that she would need help to finish them and went to Mom. Without batting an eye, Mom took the quilts and finished hemming them so the sister could finish her other Christmas chores. What a mom to have had.
I found a “Quilter’s Christmas Poem” on Pinterest and read it for the girls. It was like the twelve days of Christmas, I think. I wanted to print it for you but for the life of me I can’t find it back. Does that tell you anything about my phone skills?
We called Betty in South Dakota and found out we should not be complaining about a little rain and some clouds. She told us they got twelve inches of snow on Monday and it was still snowing on Tuesday morning when we called her. She is doing OK and all her great-grand babies are doing fine and growing like little weeds. Her youngest grandson is getting married in June and we are all invited. Wouldn’t that make a great Sisters Day for June, SHIRLEY? We passed our news onto her. Aren’t speaker phones great? It makes it seem like our dear sister Betty is there with us on Sisters Day.
Susie got a new set of pray beads. Instead of saying the traditional Rosary prayers, you use it to say the Stations of the Cross. It was beautiful with sculpted cutouts of the Stations, all 14 of them, and wood brown beads. If you don’t know what any of this means, ask a Catholic friend. You could also ask Susie to show it to you.
Lucy brought an antique quilt made from very old material set in a nine-patch pattern. We talked about how it might be finished out. No decisions were made. But if I know Lucy, and I do, it will be perfect no matter what she decides.
Pam’s daughter Jane got an embroidery machine and is learning how to use it. She wants to start a little shop, so listen for it on the grapevine. Oh, I guess that’s “look for it on Facebook” now, isn’t it.
For those who know the Ozark Angles one of them is Pam’s granddaughter. They are going to Nashville to get their feet wet. Just think, one of these days we might be great-great-aunts to a country music star.
As we visited around the table, Shirley fluttered around the kitchen and the next thing we knew, she was filling the table with her lunch offerings. We had a Walking Taco Casserole. It was a casserole of hamburger, cheese, onions and Fritos with bowl of Lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. Combine on your plate and have at it. There was a bowl of Aunt Maude Mixed-Bean Salad. It was delicious. Dessert was a deluxe coconut cake. What a wonderful meal, which is usual for Miss Shirley.
We fused, cussed and discussed for another hour or so, mostly about the family. Then we headed out for home ending another wonderful day to enjoy and share with you. We thank God every day for putting us all together as a family and even as we dwindle down in numbers, we look forward to being reunited someday in the Father’s house. God bless you all, and thanks for sharing our day.
Thought: The razor blade is sharp but can’t cut a tree; the axe is strong but can’t cut hair. Everyone is important according to their own unique purpose. Never look down on anyone, unless you are admiring their shoes.
Fun Fact: My favorite fact about Angela Lansbury is that during her Murder, She Wrote era, she made it a practice to hire guest actors of the golden age that had aged out of the game. This allowed them to earn the union points they needed for insurance, pensions, etc.
