Timely Commentary

November Sisters Day

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There’s a nip in the air and the only colors left are gray, green and blue. However, there are still some mums and pumpkins to brighten things up. Thanksgiving is near but it will be very different this year for most of us. One of our nieces is going to make a traditional dinner then on weekends she will load it up and go to her kid’s home one each weekend. I’m going to be working that morning and maybe going to Shirley’s in the afternoon.

This is the second time the sisters have gathered this month. The first time was on the fifth. We met at Shirley’s home for a reception to meet our niece, Karen, and her husband, Scott, from Idaho. Many of our other nieces and nephews came to meet them. Brother Harold, his wife Mary and their daughter Robin also attended. There was food made be Shirley and two of our nieces. We had two kinds of chili and vegetable soup with a variety of crackers. There were a couple of snack trays and sweets. Needless to say it was a wonderful excuse to celebrate with lots of hugs and getting acquainted.

November sisters’ day was held at the home of Lucy Branson. Those in attendance were Betty West, Lucy Branson, our hostess, Mary Jo Crider, Shirley Huffman, Linda Crider, Pam Hale and Susie Kleffner.

Lucy had the place set up so we could practice social distancing. I don’t know if it did much good, most of us still hugged when we arrived and when we left. Social distancing goes against our nature. We have to take baby steps. We are slow learners in certain things like social distancing and wearing masks when it just us it almost impossible.

We had coffee and tea waiting for us when we arrived. Zucchini bread and pumpkin roll was set up out on the counter that separates the kitchen from the living room. The breads were surrounded by butter, whipped cream and yogurt for us to pick and choose from to go with and on the breads. It was a wonderful continental breakfast.

Our first topic of conversation was, of course, the virus. One question that came up was when you have it, how do they determine if you need to go to the hospital? There are many different symptoms. Some people only have loss of smell and taste and others have fever then get really sick and weak after the other symptoms are gone and everything in-between. Is it your age or your health before you got sick? We’ve known of many people who’ve had the virus. Some went to the hospital and some stayed home. Most lived but some died. God help us all survive.

I brought some Christmas ornaments to show the girls. I made them out of felt. There are birds with beaded wings, Snowmen and Christmas trees. They are very pretty even if I do have to say so myself. That lead to talking about arctic fleece lap throws. Do you like them tied around the edges or do you like it better when they are stitched together with yarn? We mostly like the stitched ones but none of us have turned down any of the tied ones.

From there we moved on to making quilted table runners. Lucy made some for someone, I can’t remember who it was. I personally have never met a table runner I didn’t like.

Deer hunting stories came up also. This lead to a post on Facebook about a man who got a 12 or 14-point buck. What was unique was not the huge rack on the top of its head but the three prongs coming out of its forehead.

I don’t know how we got to the taste of green tea from deer hunting but we did. Some people hate the taste of green tea, some people really like it and some people like me can’t tell the difference. They talked about putting a few grains of salt in your coffee when you brew it. They say it completely changes the taste. As our great-niece Hayden says everybody’s tongue is different so it is okay if you don’t like what someone else does.

Shirley has a wind chime she has had for 30 years. This spring when she went to hang it out one of the old strings broke. Bob said, “I can fix that”. So he took it apart and restrung it. All the time Shirley fretted that he wouldn’t get the bars in the right order, which would affect the sound. If you’ve walked by their house and heard it chiming you know he did a very good job.

Lunch was served from the counter again. We feasted on homemade spaghetti with meat sauce, seven-layer salad and chips. Delicious! We had a fresh apple pie and a squash pie, kind of like a pumpkin pie but made with yellow squash, for dessert. Fabulous!

Pam and Shirley, unlike the rest of us, always remember to bring their current embroidery projects. Getting it out signals it is time for the afternoon gabfest.

Of course they have stories about their great grandkids. Their attention spans and going from one thing to the next. Great Grandma I’m a ninja, three minutes later, I’m a cowboy, and three minutes later I’m a pirate. That’s how wonderful memories are made and shared. Thank You Mary Jo for sharing. There’s a story about a guy who had an antique mirror hanging on the wall. One day the string broke and it fell to the floor and went to pieces. Needless to say Dad was really upset about losing his heirloom. His little boy looked up and said, “Don’t be upset Daddy, it was really old.” Out of the mouths of babes.

There is a new Quilt and fabric store in Bourbon and they have quality stuff for very reasonable prices. It’s called Star Quilt and Fabric Store. Can you imagine how excited we got?

Pam and Joanne went on their sisters’ day and found the quilt shop and a shop with concrete yard ornaments. Exceptional quality and a wide selection.

A story about when Shirley was about 10 or 12 years old. She was ready for school so she got busy and cleaned the kitchen, not her favorite chore. Mom came in and declared “Shirley you did an excellent job cleaning this kitchen.”

Shirley replied “Don’t get used to it, I just did it to prove to you I can.” While were talking about Shirley. Once back in their younger days, she and Bob and Katie and Mart and their good friends Ed and Alleen Roberson were camped at the river. They went to run the trot lines. Mart and Ed got in Ed’s boat and took off. That left Shirley, Katie, Alleen and Bob to go in his boat. Four people was quite a load for Bob’s little boat. It was riding really low in the water. As they headed out Bob got in the front to run the lines and Shirley ran the motor. A big motor boat came flying up the river throwing off a big wake. The wake came toward their boat and swamped it to about 2 or 3 inches from the top. Alleen grabbed a small bucket Shirley used for bait when they were fishing. She began to bailing out the water. Now they laugh about them all getting wet and almost sinking now. But it wasn’t too funny at the time.

Lucy has been trying to get her glasses straightened out since January when she had her cataract surgery. I am happy to report she can see “finally.”

We had a laugh about my socks. I had on black slacks and a red sweater. My socks were white with gray stripes. I was sitting in Lucy’s recliner. Remember in the Wizard of Oz movie when the witch under the house lost her Ruby slipper? Her feet curled up and she slid under the house? I looked down at my feet and saw the strips on my socks and started laughing. Everybody said, “What’s so funny?” When I told them they all starting laughing too. Pam said “I thought that too.” They say there’s one in every crowd! I guess in our crowd we have two.

We talked about Musical clocks, tomato pin cushions, and pin cushions made from the lids off laundry detergent. The day ended and we all headed home.

Thank you for sharing our day. Be safe and God bless.

Thought: What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make …Jane Goodall

Advice for an old farmer: Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t ever gonna happen anyway.