She Told A Story Called The Dirty 30's

 After Grandma Lu had talked about a half hour about the Rondo church compared to her small church she said it was time for something cool to drink and some cookies. Those that know Grandma Lu know that she loves sweets. When she told stories at Marleewood they sometimes ran out of cookies. Grandma B was forever having to make cookies for her.

Folks sat at tables and visited with her and asked her questions about where she lived. She said that she had grown up in Iowa then lived in South Dakota her adult life until the last thirty some years in Missouri.

She heard others talking about the drought. It hadn't rained much in this area causing the grass to turn brown and crunchy. Some of the children didn't know what a drought was. Grandma Lu said, "Is it ok if I tell you a story about a drought that my mother told me about? It happened before I was born, but after my oldest sister was a baby. It was terrible. Do you all know what dishtowels are?" Of course, the grown ups did, but the children looked at the picture Grandma Lu showed them from her phone. "This is a picture of one of the dishtowels that my mother made over fifty years ago. I have kept some of them because I bake bread and while it is raising I cover the loaves with these soft towels. My mother did too as well as using them to dry her dishes. See the raveled material at the bottom? That's because it's so old and worn. Some of you aren't even that old!  This was a painted one. Before that she embroidered dozens of these soft cotton towels to dry her dishes with. She didn't have a dishwasher. If fact  my sister and I were her dishwashers!" Some of the older children nodded their heads as did the grownups. 

This is the year 2026 but in the years of the 1930's there was a terrible drought. There was no to little rain for years. Folks called it the dirty thirties. Instead of rain storms they had dust storms. The house that I grew up in was built by my great grandfather. So it was very old. Things like putty around the windows to keep the dirt out of the house wasn't heard of then. So when the wind blew the dirt it would come inside the house. I complain now about dust coming in the house from our gravel road. We also had screen doors. The storm doors were open because during the summer time when the dust storms would happen it was terribly hot outside. They had no air conditioning. However, after these happened the ladies got inventive and took their beautiful decorated dishtowels and soaked them in dishpans of water. Then they would wring the water out and somehow put them up against the screens on the windows and the doors to keep the dust out of their house. Then they would do that over and over again. Remember, there was no running water so all the water had to be brought into the house by the pail full. I can remember my mother going down the hill to the pump to get pails of water for the washing. In the old days in Iowa we called it warshing.  She chuckled and so did the people she was visiting with. Some of the people asked if she would come back and tell more stories. She said she would love to if the library would schedule a time and a room for her to visit. She said she loved just sitting at a table with coffee and cookies telling her stories and they all agreed. So did Joey's mother, Betty. She just knew that the more she listened the more she would figure out how she knew the connection between her and this Grandma Lu.

An Old Lady Pinched Her Cheek!

 Grandma Lu found her way into the room where she was to tell her story at the library. Already people were sitting in chairs waiting for her. They had heard about her story telling from the old days of Marleewood. They knew that she loved children, but didn't know much about her otherwise.

Betty and her son, Joey, were there also. Grandma Lu met Joey's eye and waved at him. He waved back and grinned. "You like that lady, don't you, Joey?" his mother asked. "Yeah, she's okay. She reads books a lot. That's not much fun either, cause she reads books that don't have pictures. Both times I've seen her here. I like books with pictures. The kind that you pick out for me, Mom." Betty gave him a quick hug and motioned for him not to talk because the room had gotten quiet. Grandma Lu was going to begin.

"Hello, My name is LuAnne Lizotte, but most folks call me Grandma Lu. I love to read books, write books, and tell folks about the really good ones that I have read, and I also love to tell folks about my childhood. Today I am going to tell you about a book called Rondo Items a book that a lady I know compiled from letters and notes from a long ago town called Rondo. Rondo is no more and I will tell you why I think that is so. I will also tell you about the three things that Rondo had that will probably last many life times even though the town itself is gone. She looked over the audience and spotted Joey.

"Joey, this book has lots and lots of pictures. See I read books with pictures too." The audience chuckled and Joey kind of squirmed in his chair. Grandma Lu picked up the big book. On the cover was a picture of a store/gas station combination. Grandma Lu started out by saying behind the door of this little store is a treasure of memories. Memories that thank goodness folks have written down so that they will always be remembered. But these memories were meant to be shared. Today that is my job. I am going to help these folks share their memories with you and by doing that I am going to share some of mine that were very similar."

"Another building that was most important to this little community was the church. It was called the Mission Chapel Baptist Church. It was established in 1858. That's over 168 years ago. Later on it was renamed Rondo Baptist Church. Most everyone in the community attended the church even in bad weather. Some folks walked, some folks rode a horse, and others brought their children in a wagon pulled by one or two horses. In later years of course, folks arrived in cars.

Grandma Lu went on to say that the church was small, but sturdy. It had about twenty people that went to church on Wednesday nights after supper and in the morning on Sunday for Sunday school then church services probably about eleven in the morning. Folks often brought their lunches with them and had picnics when the weather was nice. When I was a little girl my family went to a small church as well. We also went to church on Wednesdays, Sunday School and Church services.

Grandma Lu's story telling was always very informal. Folks would occasionally raise their hands to ask questions. Grandma Lu loved this and would often stray off the subject matter. Joey noticed that people were raising their hands and so did he. Grandma Lu said, "Yes, Joey. What is your question?"

Joey said, "You went to church a whole bunch. Did you like going to church all the time?" Grandma Lu laughed and said, "No, I didn't. You see there was an old lady there that thought I was cute as a button. She always wore a hat with a veil and her hands were old and wrinkly. She would say to my mother, "Gladys, your little girl is just cute as a button and she would pinch my cheeks "til they hurt something fierce. So that part I didn't like one little bit. When I complained to my mom she would say, "Oh she means well. I'll make it better." Then she would kiss me on the cheeks and chuckle. I have a little secret for you, Joey. My mother's kisses didn't make the pain go away." The audience laughed and some even rubbed their own cheeks remembering their own pinched cheeks from long ago.

Joey whispered to his mom, "I would stay home from church and watch it on tv."

Other children were raising their hands as well. One little girl said, "Why didn't your mother make her stop pinching your cheeks. That wasn't nice."

Grandma Lu smiled and said, "Oh in those days so many years ago. The elders were respected and some of their odd ways were ignored. However, my complaint that day made my mother aware of what her older friend was doing. She seemed to quietly arrange for me to be with my dad thereby escaping "The CLAW!" She put her hands in the air in a claw like fashion. Everyone laughed and imagined the old lady with claw like hands.

The children thought Grandma Lu was funny and settled in for the rest of her story. Betty sat in her chair listening to every word that Grandma Lu said. She watched her face and her expressions. She just knew that she had somehow met or knew this older lady somehow.

Grandma Lu asked the audience if any of them knew of the little town called Rondo, Missouri or had any relatives from there. One hand  was raised. Grandma Lu was so surprised to see her. It was her old old friend, Grandma B..Marlee's grandma. Well, this will be interesting.

Story Time At The Library

 Betty had put down the book that she had checked out at the library and was playing with her little boy, Joey. His trucks and cars had been having a contest to see which was the fastest and which one was the hardest worker. Some of his trucks could carry three of his cars! He had to teach his mom all about the cars and trucks. She didn't seem to know much about them. He grinned and said, "Mom, how about we go get some ice cream? I think you are getting tired of playing trucks. You really aren't very good at it."

His mom thought about it for a minute and said, "I think that's a great idea. Get your shoes on and let's see if they have split cones. I love chocolate and vanilla together."

In no time they were in the car headed for McDonalds. The road department was putting in new sidewalks for a few blocks next to the highway so there were times when the flagman would stop the traffic because only one side could go at a time. When they got close to the library there was a sign that said that there would be a story time on Saturday. "Hmm, Grandma Lu is going to be telling a story Saturday, Would you like to go and listen to some stories this weekend, Joey?"

Joey told his mom that he would if the stories were about trucks or dinosaurs. Those two things were his favorite. Betty decided that she would call the library and see what the stories were going to be about and if they were for children of a certain age.

Joey and his mom decided to sit inside to eat their ice cream cones. They were so good. Joey's mom asked him if he had finished "reading" his book that he had gotten at the library. If so, they would take it back on Saturday when they went to story time. She was very interested in this lady called Grandma Lu. Why did she think that she was important to her somehow. Anyway it was time to go home.

When they got home she called the library and asked about the story time and what Grandma Lu would be talking about or would she be reading a book to children? She had never been to a story time at a library before.

The librarian told her that she would be talking about her childhood and Saturday's stories would be about family reunions and all that they entailed when she was a child. The librarian assured her that Grandma Lu's stories were fun for all ages.

Reunions And Letters About Rondo

 Betty watched her little boy with his trucks and cars playing a game with them that only he understood. She was holding a book that she had checked out at the library. She had a feeling that she was about to read about folks and their memories of other people and a place that she would never understand. As she read about the Reunion she had a far away memory of a reunion she had gone to when she was just a little girl. She wasn't sure, but it was not a reunion of classmates like her high school reunion was. Her school reunion was kind of fun. She had kept in contact with a lot of her classmates, so she enjoyed getting together with them.  The other reunion if she remembered correctly may have been a family reunion. "Oh well, that was a long time ago. I don't remember much about it except a lot of hugging and a lot of food. I wonder whatever happened to those people. I have lost touch with them after all these years. My folks died and I moved a long ways away."

As Betty read through the pages there were letters written to the author about memories of their childhood, weather, church plays, and most memorable it seemed was the trip to the cemetery to remember their family members and friends. And flowers mostly roses. So many roses.

She smiled when she saw some of the pictures that were taken in the 1800's. "Hmm, I have some of those old pictures. Mom saved everything. The thing is a lot of them have no names or dates on the back of them. I have no clue who they were or where they lived. It's nice these people have preserved these pictures with names and dates."

Betty smiled as she scanned through some of the letters and articles about folks that had lived and some had died in this little town called Rondo. Some of their names were unfamiliar. Choices of names change over the years, and some names were family names handed down from generation to generation. Her mother had told her that her name was one that had been one of those. Her mother said that the name Betty had belonged to a cousin's granddaughter. She had been lots of fun and well liked by a lot of people. It was fun to think about this other Betty that she would never meet. Then she remembered that lady at the library; Grandma Lu. I wonder if she ever knew any of my family or my mother's family. Probably not though. My family was originally from Iowa. Oh well, I will ask about searching for my family someday. It would be fun to do when Joey gets older and is gone during the day to school. I like these people in Rondo. It seemed like everyone knew everyone for generations!

Oh this tells about a terrible snowstorm in the 50's. I remember hearing stories about those terrible snowstorms from my mother too. I guess even though folks live in different states and many many years apart in age they seem to go through some of the same things. Interesting book. I wish I knew some of these people. Some of them sound they were a hoot! 

Okay, Joey. Would you like to help me make supper? I'm getting hungry, how about you?"