“MISTY WATER-COLORED MEMORIES”

We had corn on the cob for supper on Saturday night.  Newsworthy?  I guess not but it was the preparation of the sweet corn that brought me back to the keyboard. 

I was born and raised in Indiana.  And while the theme song for Indiana’s Department of Tourism is “There’s more than corn in Indiana”, I still can’t see an ear of corn and not think of home. 

Sitting in a lawn chair with a grocery bag at my feet, I began to shuck the husks from the corn and place them in the bag.  Birds were singing their early-evening song and the neighbor’s dog was barking.  I pulled the silk away from the rows of kernels and tried to shake them off as they clung desperately to my fingers.  Doing this simple task that I’ve done again and again since I was about six or seven, evoked memories of a simpler time. 

We had a huge garden behind our house when I was a girl.  While it sat on our property, the garden was shared by my aunts, uncles and grandparents.  I spent many of my childhood summer days sitting in the yard with my mom, aunts and cousins while we shucked corn, snapped beans or shelled peas. 

I was always a chatterbox but I learned early on that if I was very quiet, my mom and aunts would forget that I was there and the discussion would change from the weather and social functions to “the good stuff.” 

So once again, I sat quietly shucking the corn we were to have for supper and the memories flooded back to keep me company and make me smile.

What takes you back? 

SUM, SUM SUMMERTIME?

Too much to do. Too much to do! What ever happened to the lazy, hazy days of summer? I may have mentioned this before but there’s a line in a Martina McBride song that says, “Every morning when I drink my coffee, I can’t believe my life has turned out this way.” I can relate.

I know that I’m blessed and there are so many that are so much less fortunate than I am but how the hell did I get to this place where every single second of my life is spoken for and even then I need extra days in the week just to catch up? I shouldn’t even be here.

Pleeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzz, tell me I’m not alone. And better yet……got a solution?

Hugs,

Smart Mouth Broad

BUT INSTEAD…..

I know that I promised to post about my WINNINGS today but my plan was foiled when my supermodels abandoned me for the mall, manicures, dinner dates. Hmpfff. Hopefully, I will get my act together some time tomorrow to be ready for Tuesday’s post.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time this weekend trying to catch up on reading your blogs but alas I’m still not caught up. If you haven’t seen me for awhile……………..I’m on my way. I’ve read quite a few posts about gardens and summer trips and so many things that are triggering my childhood memories of summers gone by.

I made fresh green beans for supper today. I bought them from the grocery store but standing at my kitchen sink, snapping the ends off the beans brought back so many memories. My family had a very large garden when I was growing up. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins would all help in the garden and share in the harvest.

I learned as a very young girl that the best way to get all the dirt on the neighbors and the rest of the family was to help snap beans. My mother, aunts and cousins would gather in the shade of a large tree in our yard with baskets of beans and large bowls on our laps. If I sat very quietly and didn’t ask questions, my mother and aunts would eventually forget that I was there and begin to chat. Oh the gossip I heard. (All in the name of prayer requests, of course.)

Rhubarb was a staple in my summer diet. When I see rhubarb in the store these days, I have to laugh because I didn’t know you could buy rhubarb. It seemed to grow like weeds in Indiana and I was quite good at stealing it from my neighbor’s yards.

Baseball. The little league field was the place to be every evening when I was a kid. You could find all your friends there. I didn’t watch many games but I had fun with my friends.

I don’t think I wore shoes from Memorial Day until Labor Day. It’s no wonder that my feet are so rough and callused now. Oh yeah, while I was lamenting my puffy eyes and wrinkled mouth, I should have also asked you about rough heels. Now there’s a remedy I really need.

Memories of church camp at Lake Webster fill my mind. Boys and crafts and boys and swimming and boys and games. Did I mention boys? I was at church camp when Richard Nixon resigned. I remember praying for him, his family and our nation.

A lot of my memories center around food. The garden was such a big part of our lives back then. If we didn’t grow it, we didn’t eat it. My mother always used to say if she could just get some cow seeds to grow beef in the garden, we’d be all set.

I believe I’ve mentioned here before that I’m quite a tomato snob. I won’t eat a tomato from the grocery store. And I’m very choosy about selecting them from a veggie market. I won’t eat it if it’s been refrigerated. It has to still smell like a tomato at the stem. But give me a really good, fresh tomato and I’m a happy woman. A tomato sandwich on white bread with mayo would bring tears to my eyes. I’ll have to see if I can work that into the DAMN ZONE. *wink*

What takes you back? How did you spend your childhood summers? In the city or the country? What was it like in your neck of the woods?

Once again, stay tuned tomorrow to see the display of my WINNINGS!

Be sure to read the comments today to see what great memories everyone has. :-)