Berry pickin'

Strawberries in Carl Junction have ripened despite the cloudy, drippy days, and Mom, Dad, and I went picking Saturday morning. Dad had thought about going when the patch opened on Wednesday, but lost his nerve at the thought of managing Mom and picking at the same time. He says he really can't take her anywhere anymore, because she's "so damned unpredictable." I don't think she's unpredictable, at all. You can count on the fact that whatever you're doing, she's going to walk off and asking her to come back will have no effect whatsoever. What's unpredictable about that? Anyway, we went and she picked a good number of berries here, there, and everywhere. Most of the time she was content to stand and hold the crate for me while I picked. The patch is a side business owned by Devri's boyfriend and his family, so we had Patrick, (the boyfriend) on hand to help as well. We got a system down where Patrick stood on one end of the row picking, while Dad and I picked at the opposite end. Mom would walk all the way down the row, stopping to pick here and there, but ultimately had in mind to leave the patch. Patrick would catch her on the other end and point her back to Dad and I and say, "Let's pick some more berries." She headed back to Dad and I, picking as she went, then turned and headed back again to Patrick. Back and forth she went, but she did pick quite a few berries and the day was warm, wet, and farm fresh. I was glad she was pacing in a berry patch rather than a nursing home. How great is that! When we got home back to my house, Dad went home in hopes of taking an uninterrupted nap and Mom and I began stemming the 28.5 pounds of berries we had carted out. (Cost us $50 bucks, but we just couldn't stop!) Mom always stems her berries with a spoon rather than a knife, thankfully, and we spent an hour stemming side by side at the sink, mostly in silence. I did get confused a few times and put the stems in with the berries and the berries in with the stems. She chuckled and fished them out for me.

After the stemming we went to the hardware store to have a key made. We dropped off the key, lapped the store, and it was ready when we came back to the front....no problem.

Next stop was the shoe store as Dad had asked me to take Mom to buy some sandals. This was a bit more of a challenge, running between the shoe shelf getting the right size and keeping her in the chair by instructing her to "take off your socks" and "hold this box" and whatever else I could think of to keep her in one place. We were in and out in ten minutes---forget putting those shoes in a bag. Mom took the box and headed for the car, leaving the sales girl holding the sack with a question on her face. No time to explain, just a quick wave, "Thank you very much" and hurry, hurry to catch up with Mom before she got to the door. For someone who walks so slowly, she sure covers ground!

I delivered her home and we made a shortcake, of course, polishing off two pieces each before it was over. It was quite delicious!! Is there anything better than the first strawberry shortcake of the season---that you've picked yourself? I don't think so.

Devri's graduation

We had a busy week this week as Devri graduated from Carl Junction High School on Thursday. Mom was watching me get dressed and noticed the corsage the kids had bought me for Mother's Day sitting on the bathroom counter. She held it up to her own shirt, and I agreed, it looked quite nice. So I pinned it on her. She is the grandmother and she deserved it. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right? The ceremony was held in the MSSU gymnasium and Mom did very well going up the stairs to her seat. She clapped appropriately, (with a three second delay), but who cares, and she was very attentive, constantly scanning the crowd intently, no doubt looking for someone she knew. After about three speeches, we were all holding our heads in our hands, praying to God for mercy. Mom decided it was time to leave, and believe me, I jumped at the chance to take a stroll. So we took a little tour around the building and returned to the gym when names began to be announced. I'm confident we didn't miss a thing. It meant a lot to Devri that Grandma and Grandpa could both be there to see her graduate. Dad took the photo on the right--his first with a digital camera, and we were all very impressed that he got all us girls in it.....pretty much. :) He had a hard time understanding that he didn't have to put his eye up to any little box to look through, but once he figured that out, he clicked with confidence.

a gumdrop by any other name

The extended Easter weekend made it possible for Allen and Kausick to come visit for 2 days. We had two reasons to celebrate on Sunday, the first of course being Easter, and the second, Devri’s 19th birthday, (which is the 13th). In light of the celebration Allen constructed a white bunny cake like we used to do as kids----a couple round cakes, cut and slapped together with icing in a bunny shape, white icing and coconut for fur, green coconut grass, pink paper ears, pink pipe-cleaner whiskers, and gumdrop eyes and nose. It was pretty authentic, in my opinion. We took photos and oohed and aahhhed. Mom sat down in front of “bunny” and gave it a hard look. I think in her mind she was saying, “Eyes and nose my foot---those are gumdrops and they are meant to be eaten.” (If you’ve known Mom long at all, you know that gumdrops are one of her all-time favorites.) So poor bunny quickly lost his nose, followed by his right eye. The girls and I did our best Mr. Bill imitation, “Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, NNNNNNNNNNNNNoooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! She laughed, and then went for the other eye. Mom’s no dummy. She knows that a gumdrop by any other name, (be it eye or nose) is still a gumdrop! :) (Pictured, Eric, Devri, Mom, and Christine.)

Dad's story

Dad called last week to tell me the following story: Mom had gone out (to the "grandchildren's row) and picked a bouquet of jonquils, put them in a vase, and took them to the car. She had been doing this a couple days, he said. He told her, "If you want to take those to somebody, you have to tell me who and we'll take them." She did not respond at that time. Later, however, she brought a notepad and he supplied the pencil. She wrote "Mama's house." Dad had trouble making out the "Mama" part, so he asked her, "What does this say?" She responded with "Mama." So, they took Grandma Lottie her flowers and it was just the sweetest day!

the grandchildren's row

Since time began, the rule at our house, (Mom and Dad's house), has always been don't pick the flowers! Then came the grandchildren. As a compromise, Mom planted a long row of jonquils in the very back of the garden where blossoms would not be missed and dubbed it "the grandchildren's row." The grandchildren were allowed to pick this row to their heart's content and have spent many happy springtimes in this area. Well, the grandchildren's "row" is more like a "swath" now and it's in full bloom. Also, to Dad's delight, the onions sets are poking themselves up, the apricot tree is blooming, and he and Christine have been working on a new and improved flowerbed.

Mom's favorite spot lately is the picture window on the east side where she props her feet up and has a nice view of whatever is budding outside, the dogs playing, or company coming down the drive. The rocking chair of choice is the one that Dad bought her when I was born. It has been back and forth between houses through new babies, moves, and whatever else happened to be going on at the time, and has finally found itself back at home for her. Mom is well and comfortable and able to get out and about quite a lot with the warm weather. So, all things considered, life is good!

for the love of pumpkin butter

Miss Jessie (Mom's niece) came to Lottie's house this weekend on her way to visit her parents, Keith and Donna, (Mom's brother and wife) in Ohio. I'm not sure I'd seen her since her wedding, but she sure doesn't look like an "old married woman!" She looks just great! Janice fixed an awesome shepherd's pie at Lotties, Mom and Dad came to eat, and Chad and I dropped in as well. Mom wasn't speaking, but she was smiling and ate plenty. She took a special liking to the pumpkin butter Janice had laid out, and probably would have eaten it to the bottom of the bowl if she had had another sheet of biscuits!

While there, Lottie gave Mom her large photo collage, that she made for each of her children. Mom carried it carefully and wanted it put up immediately when we got home. She also had one of her wedding photos from Lottie's house that she carried around awhile and then tucked in the edge of the frame. We put it in the living room and Mom seemed content with that. While looking through photos at Lottie's, Chad pointed to a couple people and asked, "Who is this?" Correctly, she answered "Grandpa" to one and "Merl Dean" to the another.

I was kicking myself because I forgot to take a photo for the blog last week when Mary came and this week when Jessie was here. I'll have to keep the blog more in my mind!

Mary visited

Over President's Day Mary Schroer came to visit and stay with Mom and Dad. This gave me Saturday and Sunday off to go clean my own house which had been feeling some neglect. We appreciated all she did while there. She spent some time with Ellie on her new lead and Dad was amazed at how quickly Ellie is catching on. Christine texted me last week to say, "Grandma is playing with the dog...of her own accord...and laughing."