View of Who is a Super Mom

DECADES IN THE KITCHEN

This past week I finished up a project that had been in the making for several months, a heritage cookbook where I took a look at how our ancestors had gathered, preserved and prepared their food for the last 100 years. I have learned many things about wood burning stoves, refrigeration before electricity, canning and preserving food and the general dedication it took to run an organized kitchen and get food on the table in a time when food wasn’t as plentiful as it is today. Gratitude is what I feel for the women in my family line that have paved the way for me in the kitchen. Everyone of them were a Super Mom doing incredible things on a daily basis, like stoking the stove for 1 ½ hours so that they could bake their bread, using a bucket to carry all the water the family would need into their house and then carrying the dirty water back out, sweeping dirt floors clean (interesting thought, isn’t it), stretching the food budget when it was already stretched, and overall just doing the same work over and over and over each day.

On this Mother’s Day I honor them and wish to have stamped on my forehead to be grateful for my wonderful full and easy life with simple ease in the kitchen.

Who is that cry baby any way?

The Leaf Quilt, Warming Generations

This week at quilt group I was asked to bring an “antique” quilt to show the group. I asked my Mother if I could borrow one of my favorite quilts that she has on display year round. It was a wedding gift, made by my father’s mother, Rosella Calder Smith. My parents were married late in the summer of 1956. The choice of the leaf pattern was perfect for the occasion in many respects. Grandma had someone do the machine appliqué (sadly we don’t have her name), but we have every confidence that she did the piecing, layout and hand quilting herself.

This quilt has been used from the very beginning of my parent’s marriage and right on through raising five children. My Dad remembers using it to stay warm in basement apartments while going to school at Utah State and my Mother said she would use it for just about every possible need where a warm quilt would come in handy. For me, I can’t remember ever not having the “leaf quilt” in my life. If we were sick, in body or soul this quilt was always around to warm us up.

When I took the quilt to QQQ’s our very own Quilt Historian, Jeanne Fetzer was there and looked it over. Here is her report-

· The fabrics are from the 1920’s and 30’s and likely purchased from the Montgomery & Ward Catalog, possibly in bundles

· The primary color used was “Nile Green”, common to the period

· It was quilted with a wool bat, easier for needling

· Hand quilted, machine appliquéd

· Gave instructions for how to care for it (her recommendation was to just leave it be and not worry about the red stains, treat it extra special and not to fold it on top of its self)

I hadn’t realized how much I loved this quilt until I took the time to write about it. I think it might be one of my favorite objects in the world. Thank you Mom for letting me borrow it, more than that, thanks for letting us use your treasure while we were growing up.

History is Beautiful

Two weeks ago I went to a meeting at the History Museum to listen to the new director. He was bold, brave talking of the changes he plans on making in the next several years. Making several statements that made some of the veteran docents squirm in their chairs, and me take out a notebook. Change is hard for many people, even when it is needed- this is a perfect example of that. I love change.

He ended his talk with this quote that I’ve heard before, but never in such a perfect setting: "The past is like a foreign country; they do things different there.” (by Leslie Poles Hartley, from the first line of The Go-Betweens)

It’s been such a pleasure to learn about the past over the last several months and I so agree with Mr. Hartley, at times it does seem very foreign and even exciting. John and I went on a little trek up to Heber City twice in the space of four days in the last week of July. We came home with many things to think about, one of which was a story about a rose bush that was hand carried from Scotland all the way across the plains and cared for ever since by someone in the family line. I brought the last bud of the summer home with me.

I think history is beautiful.

Heirlooms or Rubbish

I recently went to hear one of my hero's, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich speak at an "Evening at the Museum". She is one of my favorite authors ever since I read her book, "The Midwife's Tale". Mrs. Ulrich is a champion of women and what they do with their time, in todays and yesterdays world. She has studied history in the most intersting detailed way- through artifacts and diaries.

Laurel Ulrich suggests that each individual makes history by what they save- yes, by what objects or "stuff" you keep-that will be the history you will leave behind. They will be the sources, artifacts others will find after you are gone to represent YOU. "By caring for your things and the things of your ancestors, you contribute to a larger historic picture." To read an article about this go here.

This wonderful quilt was made by Rosella Calder Smith for me when I was a young child. I'm not exactly certian of when it was given to me but I do remember that my mother put it on my twin bed and one exactly like it was on my sister Kathy's bed that was right beside mine. Grandma Smith embrodried the darling animals, sashed the quilt in a bright yellow and quilted it with a wonderful backing fabric that is very typical from the 40's. It is self bound. I loved my "blankie". Kathy loved hers as well. She has a story about what happend to hers that she may want to tell on her own.

I want my childhood quilt from Grandma Smith to last long after I'm gone and be remembered as an heirloom, so I have labeled it and it will stay in a special place in my home. It is not rubbish even though the edges are mostly gone and it is worn out in several places, it is an heirloom. It reminds me that Grandma Smith had a boyant personality- as bright as the yellow in the quilt she made me, she worked all the time, even when she was sitting down her hands were busy, she loved me. She made me a hand made quilt for my bed. My Mom loved me because she let me keep the quilt on my bed and I wore it out holding it.

As Laurel Thather Ulrich said "Keep it, preserve it, cherish it, learn from it-- and keep the stories that go with it. As we walk the earth, we connect to one another, to the past and to the future through objects."