Grandma Lu's Most Embarrassing Day

 "Oh how I love to go to flea markets. Today is cold, but it is beautiful. The sun is shining and people are smiling! January has been one of the longest months I can remember. Oh I guess January seems like a year most years." 

She was on a mission to find a tiny shelf for the downstairs. It needed to be taller than wider and have about three shelves. "I'll probably never find one, but that's okay. It's just good to get out and get some fresh air."

As she dodged little ones and racks of clothes she noticed some racks of shoes. One pair caught her eye. She walked slowly over and touched the shiny surface. It was a black patent leather sandal. It was exactly like a pair her mother used to wear. "She loved those sandals. Funny she didn't wear them out. In fact she had a purse to match. Patent leather was so popular even in the sixties and seventies. How I remember my black patent diaper bag and purse. They almost matched which was about the end of me. I swear I will never forget that day!"

"That morning my husband then had given me fifty dollars to go grocery shopping for the week. Fifty dollars in those days would buy all the meat and staples we would need and probably have money left over. He went to work and so did I. My work was getting my little one fed, bathed, dressed and diaper bag filled with what I may need. I had gotten everything ready and put in the car including my little girl, Melanie. She was a cutie pie, but filled with energy. She had just mastered the art of walking and loved to show off her new talent.

The grocery store was small compared to the big shopping centers nowadays, but it was large enough to have everything that we needed and most of all it was close to where we lived. I knew the manager and a lot of the checkers there. I can still see them make over my new baby the first time I took her shopping with me.

 After I found a parking spot close to the door I got out and put my handbag over one shoulder and Melanie on my other. I found a cart outside close by. I coaxed Melanie into riding in the front of the cart and we were ready to shop.

I made the rounds of the store slowly. Slowly because my little girl was a pill this particular day. She would cry wanting to walk instead of riding in the cart. Then she would cry wanting to ride in the cart. It seemed I did more in and out of the cart with her than I did with the groceries that I picked out. After I had crossed off the last of the things that I needed my heart almost stopped. My purse was gone!

I put Melanie in the cart and I retraced my steps over and over. Finally the manager came to me and said, "Mrs. Grafing may I help you? You seem very distressed. I said, "Distressed? I sure am. Someone has stolen my purse. I turned my back to get my little girl and discovered that my purse was gone." 

Of course, I started to cry and then Melanie started to cry. The manager immediately went to the front and had all the doors locked. He was determined to find the thief.  He got on the loud speaker and announced that a black patent purse had been lost and if anyone found it would they please bring it to the front of the store. I had been told to stay where I was while the employees did their searching. After a bit the manager came back to me and said, "Now, would you tell me again what your handbag looked like?" I said, "Yes, it looks just like this diaper bag. It is  black patent leather." Then he said, "Does it look like the one on your shoulder?"

As she walked out of the little flea market she chuckled to herself. She had told that story so many times over the years especially to her now grown daughter. It was the worst and most embarrassing day of her life. Now it was the funniest because that twenty-three year old mother went on to have many more days with her children that would embarrass her to no end, but none that ended up having a whole grocery store locked down.

The Quilts From Over The Years

 Grandma Lu had been outside attempting to help her husband get her car out of a snow bank to no avail. Her husband could take her to town in his truck until the snow melted. Now as she snuggled under her Chief's blanket in her rocking chair, she couldn't help but smile. "This little scrap of a blanket wouldn't have kept me warm when I was a child, that's for sure. Our old farmhouse was drafty and the bedrooms upstairs were darn right cold!" She chuckled out loud when she remembered her brother complaining about seeing his footprints on the steps because the steps were covered with frost. Yes we did need quilts to keep us warm but the quilts that my grandmother made were so heavy because they were made out of old winter coats that she saved year after year. The menfolk wore them to shreds, but she was so very frugal that even the scraps were of value for making quilts. Of course, she didn't have a sewing machine. All of her quilting was hand stitched. I can see those old quilts now. The different pieces of coats were stitched together with yarn and some looked like embroidery thread. There were pieces of velvet there were so very soft. They were probably made from children's coats that were threadbare. Other pieces were made of corduroy. Those pieces were soft too, but some were not nice to lay my little hands on. They were like a bad joke. They made you think they were soft and nice to cuddle up to because they looked like lamb's wool, but in fact they were harsh and scratchy. I never did see the back side of those old quilts. If I did I sure don't remember them. However, I do remember one special night when my sister who was twelve years older than me came home from a date.

My bedtime was when my parents told me it was. It was generally about eight o'clock because the school bus came at seven in the morning so I needed to get out of bed at least by six o'clock if not earlier.

This particular night it was so very cold outside. An Iowa typical winter night of low to below zero weather. I had sat on my mama's lap and said my prayers. The dining room was cozy and warm because that is where the coal stove was. She kissed me goodnight and said, "Now hop up to bed. Love you!" I did as I was told. As I climbed up the stairs the air became colder and colder. I hurried and crawled under those heavy quilts. It was so cold, but soon the sheets warmed up and I was so very comfortable and went sound to sleep.

 I woke up hours later to my sister saying, "Lu Anne, wake up and move over. You are on my side of the bed." In my sleep I did what I was told only to realize that my sister had tricked me into moving over to the cold side of the bed by the window which usually let in a bit of a breeze. I yelled at her and said, "It's cold over here! You are mean." To this day I can hear her chuckle. "Well you shouldn't have slept on my side of the bed." 

As Grandma Lu got out of her rocking chair she shook her head. "We laughed over that for years. That's what happens when a six year old has an eighteen year old for a sister that had to share a bed."

She walked into her bedroom and looked at the quilt that was hanging proudly by a wooden ribbon quilt holder. She felt the fabric and shook her head. This quilt would always hang as a reminder how things change over the years. Her mother had made this quilt while waiting for her baby girl to arrive. It was eighty-two years old. The backing was threadbare, but the top was perfect. Of course, she didn't know that she would be having a baby girl, so she used soft green and yellow and white fabric with a little bit of rust just in case it was a boy. It was soft with age and wear. It too was hand stitched.  The stitches were so very small and even. Perfect, but the world wasn't. World War II was raging. What was her mother thinking while she was working on this quilt? Was she worried? Did she even have a radio to hear the news? What kind of heat did she have in that old farm house that both she and I grew up in? What was it like? She told me lots of stories, but there are still so many more questions unanswered.

A Tube Fire Escape And A Little Girl In The Dead Of Winter

 Grandma Lu found herself walking aimlessly from her living room to the kitchen glancing out the windows to see if she saw any snowflakes fall. She loved the age of electronics and had many little gadgets about her home. She could see the temperature outside and the Echos all seemed to be telling her the same thing; the weather forecasters seemed to be right!

She and her husband and most of the folks in her small town had been hearing the same thing; a big snow storm was on its way. "Years ago I moved from my home state to have warmer weather. What do I get? A snow storm. They are saying 6-14" Well, six inches is a lot better than fourteen inches. Mercy. I told my husband to make sure we have a shovel and ice melt by the door so we could get out if we needed to without breaking  a hip or worse.. Oh how I hate cold weather anymore. I wonder if he got back up propane and we had better let the water drip in the sinks and open up the cupboard doors tonight before we go to bed. Oh look at that temperature drop! Seven degrees! Good grief. They are saying below zero tonight. Might as well live in the Dakotas or Iowa for this terrible cold weather."

Grandma Lu found herself going to her little room she called a pantry, but it didn't have food in it. They used it for storage of things they never used. "Someday I am going to throw away half of this stuff. Oh where did I put the candles and the oil for the oil lamps? Oh here it is. Half full. Well, that's better than nothing."

She walked back to the living room and sat down in her comfy old rocking chair. She looked out the window and there they were; snow flakes. She looked at her little gadget and thought, "Boy, my dad would have loved these gadgets. He loved radios. I swear he had one in every size and shape. Oh no. Fran! Look it is below zero already and I can barely see across the road."

"Well, there is nothing I can do to change Mother Nature's mind about this so I might as well sit here in my chair and enjoy the beauty of it all. She remembered Marleewood and how she and B used to go there all the time and she would tell stories and have such fun. Marleewood was closed now, but she had decided to write down some of her stories on her computer. Oh how her mother would have loved a computer. Well, her mother's cousin's granddaughter had read her story about mud pies and had mentioned the old tube style fire escapes on a school that she had attended. "I think our whole family went to that school. I remember those fire escapes too. They were such fun. On fire drill days we would slide down them to the outside playground to be safe from the Pretend Fire.

 "Oh my goodness. I remember when I was in first grade. I remember Rosemary. She was such a pretty little girl. She had really dark hair and it was always fixed in long curls. That was the style in those days. Oh it was so cold that day. We were all out for recess. There were snow flakes falling that day too, only they weren't pretty. They were little and the wind made your face hurt when they hit you. The temperature was way  below zero, but the teachers thought it was good for us to be outside for a bit every day. Some of us thought it was too cold and started to gather closer to the school house where the fire escape was to get out of the wind. I can see Rosemary plain as day reach out with her tongue to gather up some snowflakes that were on that fire escape. Then she started screaming, but she didn't move! Oh mercy what a commotion. Her tongue was stuck to that fire escape!

Teachers started gathering around her It seemed like forever when one came running to her with a cloth and a bowl of hot water and kept dabbing at her tongue and shushing her to quit screaming and squirming. Oh my what a day that was. The teachers finally got her loose and we were all made to get in a straight line and get back into the school. Each teacher I am sure gave their class the same lecture. Don't ever put your tongue on a freezing piece of metal!

Grandma Lu smiled as she remembered that little girl as she grew up. She had the most beautiful singing voice. At a school music special when she was a teenager she sang a solo. The song was called  Orange Colored Sky. A most memorable performance to last so many years later.

She looked out the window and thought, "I hope that snowblower works after all these years. I think he is going to need it."

Mud Muffins With A Bit Of Magic

 Grandma Lu was sitting in her rocking chair looking at the light rain falling. She noticed that the rain was making a pool of water around the drain spout next to the front porch. She smiled thinking about her mother. "I've sure been thinking about you lately, Mom. I guess because you were such a bright light in my life during the holidays when I was young. Well, even when I was a a young mom you were such fun."

Grandma Lu continued to rock and remember. "Yes, you were a good mama even when you were so very busy baking for the folks in town and for the grocery store. But you always seemed to know when I needed you even though I didn't complain....

Grandma Lu's eyes felt heavy especially listening to her husband's gentle snoring while he napped away the rainy day. She found herself back on the farm by the front porch. She was four years old and her big sister was in high school. She had a brother, but he didn't count much. He was just a baby so he couldn't play with her. She sure wished she had somebody to play with.

She looked out at the yard. There was a tire swing but she was too little to push herself with her feet. She needed to have a grownup like her dad or mom to push her. She needed to get bigger that was all there was to it! 

She looked down at the corner of the porch. There was a puddle of water there by the drain spout. "Must have rained a little bit last night," she thought. She looked around and saw the bench that held the wash pan that her daddy used to wash up before he came in the house from the fields or milking. There was a pitcher of water and a long handled cup for drinking sometimes. On the board below there was some old towels and a can with a piece of soap in it. "Oh there you are; my little muffin tin. I must have forgotten to take you in the house the last time I made some dandelion muffins. I guess today I can make some muffins out of mud. I need a stick and some rocks and a little more dirt."

She got busy and gathered some little rocks together and decided to put them in the bottom of the muffin tins. The rocks were wet and muddy and some of them were so little that they stuck to her hands, so then she washed them in the puddle of water.  She had watched her mama make lots and lots of cinnamon rolls and she always washed her hands a lot. But she had to get some more dirt into the puddle to make a thick dough like her mama did.

She looked up to see her mama standing by the door watching her. "Hi, Mama. Want to play with me? I am making some mud muffins."

Her Mama smiled and said, "Sure grab another little stick for me. I'll help you stir the dough."

Well that she did. She jumped up and grabbed a little branch from the yard and ran back to her mom. She was so excited to have someone to play with. With careful amounts of water and dirt they made six little mud muffins. "All done!" she proclaimed.

"Oh no not yet, little one. You forgot to add some magic to your dough so it will be perfect for all off your pretend company that will eat them."

"Oh my, is that what you do to your cookies and cakes? Do you put magic in them? Is that why people like your baking so much? Show me the magic, Mama. Where is it?"

Her mama chuckled and said, "Okay let's put your muffin tin over here on this tree stump. It is in the sun where it is nice and hot. Does it look like the sun will bake it?"

She nodded her head.  "It is perfect. I just love it. Add the magic, please!"

Her mama smiled and said, "You just did! You added a little bit of love to your muffins, now all of the little creatures in the timber will like your mud muffins.

"Love? Love is magic? You told me that Santa is magic. Is Santa love too?"

"Yes, my dear. Love is magic. You can't see it, but you can feel it and sometimes you can taste it on the food that I make you and that hot cocoa that you say you like. When you get big you can add your own magic in the food that you fix for your family and loved ones."

Grandma Lu woke with a start. The sun was shining now. She shook her head a little bit and thought. "I think I will make a batch of bread and maybe some cinnamon rolls. I haven't done that in a long long time."

She reached into her cupboards and got out the mixing bowl and the yeast and measuring cups. As she grabbed the can of Crisco she smiled and thought, "Yup, I best not forget that little bit of magic. Love you, Mom."