The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Good day, readers of "The Quill!"
It's Aunt Polly!"
Until last night's rain showers, I've been enjoyin' the sunshine, and even hung my new sheets out on the old clothesline to fresh'n them up with the clean air. We're enjoyin' the fresh air as it moved from the 50s into the 70s in Midwestern Illinois and the rain and warm air gave us a beautiful Spring enablin' farmers to get their crops all planted, and now they're workin' on hay, mow'n weeds, and other chores.
Critters can be seen all over the place from pesty bees and raccoons, to tiny newborn bunnies, baby birds a chirpin' away, and deer prancin' about.
I haven't seen a lot from neighbors since churches and many shops have been closed and people are ordered to social distance due to the Corona Virus which is really scarin' the older folk as they say we are high risk.
It's almost like goin' back to my childhood when a trip into town was only done in the rarest of cases, when vital, and no one had lots of time nor money to take off and go here and there like people have done of late.
We had too much work to do keeping up with our chickens, gathering eggs, tending the livestock, canning and gardening.
Sewing and mending kept us busy and mowing the yard with a manual push mower gave us plenty of exercise and sunshine. We weren't lackin' Vitamin D3 as we got lots of sunshine time. Just on Wash Day, it took a whole day of hangin' each item on the line outside, and then remove'n it.
But I can say, after I went outside to ring the dinner bell, everyone came a running inside, as there was no fresher and finer meal in the country then my mom's and grandma's cookin'. We enjoyed lots of fried chicken or chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, green beans, homemade bread, jelly, and desserts. No one was complainin' they had to eat at home.
Ma and Grandma put lots of love in their homemade everything! Me and my brothers ran outside and pumped water from the cistern into a bucket and carried it in to heat it on the cook stove so we could wash the dishes. We disinfected them by pouring the boiling water over the dishes to scald them. We would use lots of soap. My ornery brother would throw several items back in my dish water and tell me they weren't clean enough so I'd have to do them over. He had the old embroidered hand towels made of flour sacks Grandma had made and was in charge of drying and always was faster than me.
After dinner there might be time to play kick-the-can in the yard in the summer. We loved croquet, and badmitton too, or doing acrobats to entertain the adults, or just sitting on the porch swing to hear stories of our ancestors and the Indians that peeked in their windows, or hobos who came by who had jumped trains.
When ya had family and the farm, no one had to be entertained as we always had something to do or somewhere to go. Grandpa loved take'n us on picnics to Crapo Park with some of Grandma's fried chicken and potato salad, deviled eggs, homemade pickles or to the Mississippi River for a boat ride, or to the farm pond where he had a small row boat, a dock and a little cabin nearby. It had an old Victrola "talking machine", that played lively music for fox trots, waltzes and cowboy songs. I loved this, but detested sit'n and fish'n, or shoot'n the BB gun. The boys liked it but I'd rather bottle feed a lamb, feed the animals, play with my dolls, or play checkers or cards.
One thing we always had time for was a trip to the cemetery at Memorial Day when the Peonies were blooming to remember our loved ones. We took canning jars filled with water, a water bucket of water with fresh ferns and flowers to put a few in each jar to remember each of our ancestors. Grandpa and grandma, mom, dad and my aunts and uncles would talk about them and tell stories so you seem to know them, or wished you had.
A little advice to all those Corona shut-ins. Put on creative masks, social distance, take your temperature, but have fun with the precious time you've been allotted. Turn on the music, waltz in the kitchen, bake up a storm, then plan a small outdoors gathering for the 4th of July.
"Make each day count"
"Do a good deed"
"Show a little kindness"
"Thank God in all things"
And eventually, I hope to see you in church,
Aunt Polly