Waxing nostalgic

Not sure what's got me thinking about the past this morning. Maybe it's redecorating Sydney's room (I remember when my Mom did my sister's room when my sister was about the same age). Or maybe it was thinking about my history with dogs yesterday, all the dogs and cats and fish I've had. Or, maybe it was because someone brought me an old picture that was taken at the office about 10 years ago. Or, maybe it's just making these curtains. Believe it or not, there was a time when I didn't quilt and my sewing was limited to home decorating.

There was not a time when I didn't love quilts, tho.

I can remember when I was about Sydney's age. I used to spend consderable time helping my grandparents work in their large garden, which was not in town. It was out in the country where my great grandmother lived; the same great grandmother that made so many quilts. In order to get a really early start, I spent the night at my grandparent's house. I can still remember the feel of the stiff pink cotton sheets that felt much like the fabric I quilt with today after I've starched and ironed the heck out of it. We watched Hee-Haw and went to bed early so we could be up early the next day. While I was taking a bath, Nanny, my grandmother, folded the sheets back on the guest bed so I could just slip into them. The bed was old and very firm. The sheets smelled of the outside and sunshine and being line dried. The shades were all pulled down on the huge windows and the room was cool and dark. At some point, a train went by on the tracks down the street. And, I slept a peaceful sleep until before dawn when they woke me to the smell of a large and full country breakfast. There were eggs and old fashioned thick sliced bacon (remember bacon when there was more meat than fat?) and home made biscuits and cold milk.

We dressed and were on the road before the sun came up and I fell asleep in the back seat of their car. It was a 40's model Oldsmobile, turquiose and white, huge and round. I woke up when we got to my great grandmother's place and the sun was up and we hit the ground working. I can't remember what we were doing that day, but as always when we went there, the work was hard and rewarding and it was peaceful and quiet, the kind of quiet that we don't get in the city.

Just one night, undoubtedly fantasized way beyond what it was really like, but how wonderful it is to have such a peaceful memory. What will Sydney's peaceful memories be about?

Okay, enough thinking about the past. Now, it's time to work out because we don't work in the fields anymore to avoid excess weight. Then, to a job that is stressful and loud. And, back to homework and food that has been chemically treated until it lacks flavor. And sheets that don't smell like anything but are wrinkle free because of the man made fibers that have been added to the cotton.

Progress?

Take care and have a great Wednesday. I'll be trying to pull myself into the present. But it's going to be hard to let go of that memory; like a dream that you remember after waking.

Lane