In Praise of Paddington 05/07/00

Many, many years ago, Margaret York (now Gladish) - knowing my special fondness for Paddington Bear -, gave me a Paddington bank to save money toward a trip to London with Elsa.  We never got to the UK, but we have used Paddington ever since for spare silver, toting it up for use on special occasions.  Within the past year, Paddington proved to be a real life saver.

When I took my tumble in late September, it had been many moons since we had last taken the loot from Paddington (collected in Gevalia coffee cannisters).  That extra money saw us through some lean weeks, when Elsa was able to delay starting her new job and John had just started work on an assignment that would not pay out until completed in early December.  Our household finances would have run dry were it not for that generous bear.

Paddington came through again this weekend.  Elsa gathered up what hoarded silver there was and went to one of those automatic coin sorters and walked away with $86.46 for plants to landscape our front lawn.  She had hoped that Peter - a gardener supreme - would be able to take an interest, but he is unavailable. 

As it turns out, she was grateful for the opportunity, even if it was a hot & sticky one (the temps being in the low 90s today).  The front of the house looks better than it has in over 20 or more years. 

In the top wall planter, Elsa transplanted the potted pink geraniums from Whitney's wedding reception (many thanks to Pam for thinking of me) and mixed in coral impatients.  

I was impressed - she mixed in soil supplement (I did not even know she knew what soil supplement was), used potting soil and Miracle-Gro with each transplant, making sure they were well watered.   

On the lower level, she has beautiful deep blue-purple salvia, a favorite of hers.   

Next to the steps leading up to the door, she has a double-hooked shepard's hook with a basket of pink and one of reddish impatients.  A hummingbird (well, a hummingbird banner) seems to be inspecting the salvia.

I found myself thinking how different things would have been if Peter HAD been available.  Elsa would not have the deep sense of satisfaction found in a job well done.  I think he would be proud of the beauty of it all and that we worked in the flowers from Whitney & Chad's wedding.  If I look to the left,  I can see the flowers she planted and if I look to the right I am almost on top of the rhodedendron, which is just coming into bloom.

I am one happy lady.  Love to you all - Auntie Kay

Under the tall and spreading tree... 05/05/00

  Under the tall and spreading tree,

  Birds and squirrels drink their tea;

  Each one takes a dainty sip

  From a tiny acorn cup.

My goodness, I haven't spared a thought for that verse since I learned around 1918.  But at dinner tonight, all of a sudden there it was, as fresh as the day I learned it.   

That sums up being an ancient one - can remember a poem from childhood days, but am darned if I can remember where I put that package of toilet paper!

Our neighbors' lilacs are out, in full sight and scent as I look down out of one of my open bedroom windows.  It looks so beautiful and it smells so beautiful.  It reminds me of when my sister Betty and I were little girls and we would play house with our dolls under the stand of lilacs that took up part of our back yard.  Their shelter made a perfect house for two imaginative young ladies and their "babies." 

Betty and I came down with measles at the same time and Mama tucked us away in the same bedroom, the better to keep us isolated and to keep us from being lonely.  Every day, she brought in fresh lilacs for our room.  The scent of lilacs always makes me think of happy times with Betty.

Thinking of the property at my childhood home in Baltimore puts me in mind of when my father had someone come in to till the garden before a planting. The man did not realize that he tore out a fresh peach tree sapling that my father had planted.  I was heartbroken, especially when Papa said the young tree was done for. 

It was going to live if I had anything to say about it!

With the sure fire belief of youth, I asked, "Can I have it, Papa?"  He said, "Katharine, it is not going to bloom.  But if you want it, yes, you can have it." 

Well, I replanted the sapling, carefully setting it straight and tapping down the earth around it.  My, how I fussed over that sapling, checking it for bugs and watering it.   

My belief was rewarded 100-fold – in time, each growing season we had to pick off peaches while they were green or the branches would have broken under the weight of those lush, heavy Bella Georgia peaches.

Oh, the memories that can be triggered by the sight and smell of lilacs.

Nite-nite, sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite!  Love - Betty's sister

The Bride Wall 05/02/00

It was always a special treat to go up to Gay and Willard's bedroom and pass the bride wall outside their master suite.  All the Pendleton brides, proudly displayed on the walls, looking so beautiful.  It always created for me an especially lovely sphere.

Our own first Lockhart bride wall was at Cherry Lane, with Pam and then Kerry's portraits.  They set up residence at 2501 Woodland Road outside our own master suite.  They were joined by a beloved wedding portrait of Elsa Asplundh Acton and then by Brenda’s.  Here at Squirrel Haven, those four were joined by wedding portraits of Sarah Acton Shere, Elsa, Shannon Stevens King, Erin Stevens Connors.  

One day I came down to find that Elsa added two of my own wedding photos to the grouping, as well as two of Betty's, including one of Betty and Paul that I consider the best picture ever taken of both of them.  And - wonder of wonders - I took it!!

Of course, recently we've had two additions.  Whitney & Chad gave me a wonderful black & white photo of the two of them taken by at the time of their engagement by a good friend (and excellent photographer), with Whitney leaning against a tree and Chad right next to her.  They both look so very, very happy.  Until we get a wedding photo, that beautiful picture is just right.

I love the photo of Scott & Kimberly taken at their reception by one of the Heldons.  It is the same photo that was in the Hurstville Society online newsletter, so some of my New Church listers might have seen it.  They look relaxed and happy.  I know that I will love whatever photo Kimberly chooses for us to include on "the wall," but until then, I just smile and smile and smile whenever I look at the two of them smiling at me.

The pictures on the bride wall/china cabinet cannot be changed, but Elsa has changed almost all of the other photos in the living room over the past few days.   

As you walk in and see the book case, she has spotlighted grandchildren - by blood and through heart strings. There is another photo snapped by the Heldons, a beautiful picture of Mike & Kerry and Karen, and the favorite that I already mentioned, a group shot of the wedding party (Mike was Scott's best man!) with the Australian flag unfurled behind them.  It has a lot of happy energy, which I especially like.  There is the official studio portrait of Whitney that she used for her engagement announcements, a picture of Reynolds and his Gocky, and "snaps" of various Zeiglers and Lindrooths.

I am a little sheepish when it comes to telling you what that daughter of mine did with the rest of the photos (and anyone who has been to Squirrel Haven can tell you the living room is awash with family & friends' photos).  She replaced them all with pictures of me. Most of them were taken over the past 15 years, with the overwhelming majority taken over the past 10 years. 

At first it felt disconcerting to have all the pictures be of me, but I am actually enjoying it, since each one brings back such happy memories.   But my eyes always linger the longest at the bride wall.  We await Whitney's and Kimberly's "official" portraits and I know that both Elsa & I wonder - who will be next?

Must get my face scrubbed, teeth washed and so to bed.  Love - Grammie K.

"My husband" 05/01/00

It might seem strange that I have not written about Whitney & Chad's wedding, but if you have ever experienced something indescribably moving, to the point where it is literally impossible to describe what was experienced, then you understand.  All I can say is that it was beyond words.

I guess it was last Thursday in the late afternoon, when I am often feeling a bit low, that the phone rang.  It was Whitney!  I was so happy to hear her voice and her voice sounded so different from what I easily recognize.  It was completely happy. 

She told me bits and pieces about her Caribbean cruise honeymoon, coming partially back down to earth and back to work (she is part of an interior design team in the historic part of Alexandria, VA). 

There was what sounded like a rustle in the background and Whitney said, "My husband just got home." 

I wish I could describe how she sounded when she said "my husband."  The best I can do is say that she filled those two simple words with complete love, pride and trust.  It sounded so much like John, who after over 10 years still sounds that way when he says, "my wife."

I am a lucky lady to have so much love in my life.

Not sure why, but it reminded me of when I was pregnant with Peter and was facing a possible miscarriage.  Mike Bennett ORDERED me to stay in bed for days and "not even lift a tea cup."  Pete worked down at a lumberyard in Philadelphia, but he somehow managed to wangle deliveries close enough to our home so that he could pop in, always unannounced.  Talk about "Oh, Be Joyful!"    I remember how I felt when his smiling head would pop around the doorway and how he'd set on my bed for a supportive snuggle and kisses.

What lovely thoughts to head off to bed with!  Love to you all - Pete's Wife