Letters from Roa S - April 9, 1995

I'm finally done cataloging, transcribing, and archiving my grandmothers' various letters to me ... the ones that I had the foresight to save and survived various moves/purges. I wish I could travel back in time and admonish my younger self to treasure this correspondence. To see a relationship of such importance summed up in such a small amount of paper is so bittersweet--especially now that I have enough "wisdom" to put some perspective on my life and theirs, and to realize how more I value them, their time, and their advice.

The timing of this missive is poignant, especially given the events of this week, a mere nine years later.

4-9-95

[Ogden, UT]

Dear [Granddaughter],

At last I have to send a card so I’ll write a little note.

We are having snow today its having a hard time to see what it should be doing. The sun was out a while ago. They have been saying we would have snow it looks like the mountains has got quite a bit this afternoon. It’s also cold.

Jerry [my aunt] is doing lots of things she is getting [illegible] up ready for Cindy’s [my cousin] wedding doing flowers for people & making porcaline[sic] dolls she made a little boy doll for Cora [my other aunt] its Kavin[sic][Cora's companion, now husband] he got her one for Xmas they realy[sic] were cute.

Cindy & Dan [Cindy's husband to be] came down & the kids just left they were going to the store Jerry cut DJ’s [Cindy's son] hair. We don’t get to see them very often. Cindy has worked a lot of 10 hr shifts & they are trying to buy a house. The kids go to day care at 3 o’clock & Cindy picks them up when she gets off work. I hope things go OK for them.

I’m glad your Dad is going to get to come and see us. It will seem good I know I call to[sic] often but I get low some & when I don’t feel so good it helps to talk to someone else. I’m doing a lot better. I should go back to work but I guess I’m not quite ready yet.

I’m glad you are happy with what you are doing. I wish someone could help Jed to find something he would be happy with, then it would take the worry off your folks.

I’m watching Sound of Music the Music is so nice I think I like this as well as any show I’ve seen.

Aunt Teddy [Roa's sister-in-law] leaves for England for a month on Tuesday (quite a lady).

Don’t work to[sic] hard & have a good Easter.

Love
Grama

Driving and Spring Cleaning down Memory Lane

As I get older, it seems that time and my memories are starting to play tricks on me. Time seems to be speeding up, while I am slowing down. Just as I’m ready to think about the past, my memories are starting to recede. Trying to remember dates from my personal timeline is difficult. You know that saying on the rearview mirror: “Objects may be closer than they appear?” Well, I never was good with driving in reverse.

For the last few years, as Easter approaches I remember the very difficult holiday weekend we spent in Utah, with all the events leading up to and surrounding Grandma Roa’s funeral. It does strangely appropriate that this important family event happened around Easter – with all its symbolism of rebirth and resurrection.

Since I couldn’t remember the exact date, I spent part of this past Easter weekend sorting through and organizing the piles of letters and materials from my grandmothers. I found the obituary and funeral home program relating to Grandma Roa and verified that it was only six years ago.

On the one hand, I thought it was fewer years than that, and on the other, it does seem longer. Perhaps because so many things have happened to me and to the family since then?

I do think there was something poignant in Grandma passing on Easter weekend. LDS/Mormons do not have the pageantry around Easter like some faiths, but we do but great stock in what the holiday is all about: sacrifice, remission of sins, resurrection, and reuniting after periods of separation. The emphasis for us in on Easter Sunday, not bunnies, candy, eggs, or 40 days of something followed by a Fat Weekday.

As for this “gray sheep,” I worshiped this past weekend with and in Nature, and with a personal spring-cleaning ritual, bringing me closer to the Spirit of Elijah.

Although it may seem like forever to those of use here on this plane, I do believe that we’ll have a chance to see our loved ones again. Now that I’ve been rereading all of the letters and advice from my grandmas, I have more questions for them now than I did growing up. Between being young and busy, too reticent to dig too deeply into family histories, and falsely believing that there “would be time for that later,” I missed too many opportunities to find out things. I look forward to having the opportunity to talk freely with my grandmothers Ollie and Roa, hug my grandfathers Jack and June, and meet my great+ grandparents, not to mention my great-aunt Rachel, and to finally meet my namesake.

I hope you’ll bear with me over the next year or so, as I post various recollections of my grandmothers, their letters to me, some of my letters to them, and ponderings on their passings. Hopefully this will be a jumping off point for other family members to chime in and fill in more of the family history.

Won't you walk with me a while?

Toy Society Drop #1100 in memory of Maddie

This bear is being "dropped" today, April 7, 2010, for the Toy Society in memory of Maddie – a very special spirit who loved purple and who looked so good in yellow.

After 28 weeks and 6 days of an extremely rocky gestation, Madeline Alice was born on November 11, 2007. She weighed three pounds one ounce, and was 15 3/4 inches long. Because she was over 11 weeks premature, she was rushed to a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She spent 68 long days there until the wonderful January afternoon she went home.

Maddie’s prematurity left her lungs scarred, but her amazing happiness remained unscathed. She lit up the lives of everyone she met (and countless more she didn’t) with her bright eyes, infectious laugh, and gigantic grin.

On April 6th, Maddie came down with a severe respiratory infection. She left the world suddenly and unexpectedly April 7, 2009.

Friends of Maddie was established in tribute to this extraordinary little girl and the light that she brought to the world.

For more information about Friends of Maddie, please click here.

Please check out the Toy Society blog to see where the toy gets dropped and who picks up. Hopefully Ms. Maddie won't mind sharing.

UPDATE: ran outside at lunchtime and not-so-stealthily stashed this in a "pocket park" in a planter full of daffodils a few blocks from the office. I used "flower photography" to disquise actions. The park was full of families with young kids, as well as the nanny brigades with their little charges. If that toy isn't discovered very soon, I'd be totally surprised.

Spring has Officially Sprung!

Pardon my delay in posting. I am recuperating from my spring/Easter revels this weekend out in nature. Between the aches and pains from hiking and the almost second degree sunburn on part of a delicate piece of anatomy, things got a bit behind. That, and I took a lot of pictures to cull through, and then I got caught up day dreaming about the next time I can go to the Botanical Gardens.

Mother Nature ... Thanks for reading the blog. All those things I asked for before? Almost everything I asked for, you granted and then some. I know I was too early for the lilacs, but I saw things I didn't know I needed. Instead of the pussy willows, did you see me squeal in glee over the weeping willow? It's been too too long since I saw one of those in full spring fuzzy glory. That gardenia? Smelled.like.Heaven ... Plus, I think I found a new secluded writing/reading space for later.

THANKS!

Recipes from Ollie J -- Brunswick Stew

Another one of the delicacies that simmers in our memories of our trips to Grandma Ollie J's house is the Brunswick stew. Dad always had to get the stew or the chicken fried steak when ever we went out to Wilber's or to one of the other soul food joints. After reading this recipe, another one of the ones that Grandma clipped from the paper, you can understand why it was such a treat. To make it from scratch looks to be time consuming. While Brunswick stew is now found is most regions, the canned version is just not the same.

Here's tip, if you're in the South and you happen across one of those little diners, joints, a fish fry, or even a Fire Station bar-b-q fundraiser, ask them if they have real Brunswick stew. It's totally worth the local politician's glad handing to eat the real thing. They might forgive you for being a Yankee if you praise the stew loudly and strongly enough.

Brunswick Stew

One 4-5 lb. chicken
3 lbs. beef stew
4 cups cooked tomatoes
3 cups diced potatoes
2 cups fresh lima beans
2 tblspn sugar
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup water
8 cups water
1 oz. can tomato sauce
3 medium onions, thinly sliced
3 cups fresh corn
1/2 cup butter
1 tblspn Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup flour

Place chicken and 8 cups water in Dutch oven, bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer until tender. Remove bones from chicken, cut into one inch pieces and return to broth. Cover beef with water in large sauce pan, cook until tender, add beef and broth to chicken mixture. Add tomato sauce, vegetables, butter, sugar, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Combine flour and water, mix thoroughly. Stir flour mixture into stew, cook until thickened. Yield 16 to 20 servings.

There are 17 ingredients listed above, including the dietarily restricted lima beans. (Seriously, I can't eat 'em. The gout precludes it!) The instructions include cooking in a Dutch oven. There's no room in my studio-sized, spatially-restricted kitchen for one. It serves 16 to 20 servings. I don't know 16-20 people in my building. I was not going to attempt Brunswick Stew ala NYC apartment. Maybe this one will have to be adapted for a family wilderness excursion meal. In the meantime, here's a picture of what I could be eating courtesy of amazon.com.

Young Trendsetters Streak Their Hair With Gray

According to a New York Times Fashion blog, I'm not old ... I'm a young trendsetter. (Click here to go to the multi-media site.) I am a bit dubious of this, though, as it was posted on April Fool's Day.

If they aren't being sarcastic ... that's just excellent news. I was about to go out and buy some Kool-aid to dye my hair in Easter Egg colors, but now I don't have to worry about it. I can just tell people that I'm a trendsetting fashionista!

Auntie Nettie Reads A LOT 2010 - 1st Quarter

If you are just finding the blog, please note that this list was maintained mainly so that I could remember what I've read this year. The record does not fully represent me or all of my interests, so don't judge my reading habits. My interests change quite frequently. Also, I don't do book recommendations or link to major retailers or publishers. Except for the ARCs listed below [thanks major publishers!], most of these books came from the library -- the most magical place in the world!

Go forth and use your library card and READ!

See what a good example Grandmary is being to young Amber and Drew?

January 2010

Best Friends Forever: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner

Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White

Foul Play (Sofie Metropolis #3) by Tori Carrington

Working Stiff (Sofie Metropolis #4) by Tori Carrington

Doom with a View (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 7) by Victoria Laurie

An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon

La's Orchestra Saves the World: A Novel by Alexander McCall Smith

The Mercy of Thin Air: A Novel by Ronlyn Domingue

Can't Stand The Heat (A Recipe for Love) by Louisa Edwards

Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4) by Charlaine Harris

The Wedding Girl: A Novel by Madeleine Wickham

February 2010

Exile's Honor (A Novel of Valdemar) by Mercedes Lackey

Exile's Valour (A Novel of Valdemar) by Mercedes Lackey

If Wishing Made It So by Lucy Finn
Waking Up in Charleston by Sherryl Woods

See Jane Date: A Novel by Melissa Senate

Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder

Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel by Ronda Thompson

The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent Book 1) by K.E. Mills

Fireworks Over Toccoa: A Novel by Jeffrey Stepakoff (ARC)

Finger Lickin' Fifteen (A Stephanie Plum Novel) by Janet Evanovich

Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies by Stewart Copeland

March 2010

Healing Waters: Sullivan Crisp Series by Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn

Healing Sands: Sullivan Crisp Series by Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn

Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger

Keeping the Feast: One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy by Paula Butturini (ARC)

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Moon Women by Pamela Duncan

Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton

One Amazing Thing: A Novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (ARC)
According To Jane by Marilyn Brant

Asking for Trouble: A Novel by Elizabeth Young

Heat Wave by "Richard Castle"

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my kitchen table by Molly Wizenberg, the creator of Orangette
Haunted Ground: A Novel (Book 1) By Erin Hart
What I Did for Love: A Novel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips