Almost Strawberry Season

While cleaning out some old boxes last weekend, I ran across a sweet, aged strawberry pin cushion that was in my grandmother's things. 

I honestly don't even recall seeing it at her house through the years - well, to be honest - I didn't even remember it when I saw it - but it was amongst other items that of hers - so I know it came from her house. I'm thinking that it most likely was my great-grandmothers. 

My great-grandmother was a lovely, quiet farmer's wife, who I'm sure hardly had a day of her adult life where she didn't put on one of her darling work-aprons and labor from dusk to dawn in the kitchen lovingly preparing nourishing meals for her husband and others working tirelessly on the farm. I'm touched to be able to still have several of her aprons. She passed when I was just 16 and my great-grandfather passed just a couple short years past that.

However, I digress (as I often do!). 

Back to my sweet strawberry.

Without a doubt, my little strawberry pin cushion was used as that pin depository, and also filled the pin sharpening duty as well, as it is filled with a fine emery sand. Emery sand is top-notch for sharpening pins and needles.

I've decided that this little nugget of velvet and sand can no longer hide out in a box in the attic. It's now taking front stage on one of my favorite shelves made by my dad. (I'll show you some of my dad's incredible handiwork soon!)

The Green Potholder

I got the story below in an email a few weeks ago. Now I'm not trying to beat up on any age group and don't agree that a "young cashier" would really say something like this - but there really was some truth in what I read.

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away  kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green
thing in our day.

Back then, we had  one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by  hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire
up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

And after reading this story, it made me think of how my grandma would save every little thing (hmmm....wonder if it's hereditary...because I think I have the same condition as her!). Every scrap of paper, every scrap of fabric, every beat up bread bad twist tie, every bread bag - nothing wasn't worth saving and reusing.

I have this little potholder that my grandma had in her things. It's the teeniest hot pad - but I suppose whoever made it used just what they had available. I happen to just adore it (and not just because it's purple!).  I don't know if grandma made it or if someone else did, but whoever did, I'm thankful for it.

God's Way

I've talked before about my very favorite book in the world - Face Toward the Spring, by Faith Baldwin.

The book I have was my grandma's and is so very special to me.  I love to pick it up whenever I need a little cozy-grounding-loving-wisdom. This woman can make such an incredible statement in such a seemingly small way. She never ceases to inspire me or take me back to where I need to be.

Today's little read (start at "Looking ahead")...

Crown of Thorns

While driving from the airport to our hotel during my recent trip to Naples, FL,  I saw clumps of pinkish flowers growing all over - especially in the median on the highways.

Once we arrived at our hotel, lo-and-behold, the same plants were there as well. After bending down to see what this plant was that had captured my attention, it only took one moment to realize with much delight that it was Crown of Thorns.

It has been many years since I've seen a Crown of Thorns. When I was in my late teens, my grandma gave me a clipping of her plant. I had it for several years before it decided to quit flourishing for me. But I've alway loved the plant (even though much of it is poisonous if ingested).

My first thought when seeing it again was that I should take a clipping to take back home with me. But would that be stealing? (It's always been a question for me if taking seeds from flowers that don't belong to me...like in a planter in a downtown area...is stealing. I say no. :-) Would the plant survive if I took a tiny stem? How do you get clippings from this plant - I couldn't remember the proper way? If I was caught taking some, would I get thrown in the Naples slammer? I decided that I wouldn't take the chance.

But it sure was a treat to see if growing and blooming so beautifully all over the landscape. Hmmm...I may just have to do a quick google search and see if I should get another plant for myself after all these years...the totally-legal way.