Hey–LOVE BACK @ U–I did see the answer to that you posted, read-smiled-teared up-read. I’m glad I asked because I had been mixed up in thinking that the baby girl had died because Maw Maw was drug by the bus. And, don’t get me started on “quite a lot” to say because it is important to know where we come from and personally, I get rather long winded when writing. I can’t wait to read what Maw Maw had to say about her life; that Kathy Lynne got to hear it firsthand was such a gift both to and from each other and the sharing of that gift could never be in vain. I think it’s exciting that you and Uncle Joe have been married almost fifty years! Right now, I have been boggle by the almost sixteen years that seem to have been blinked away since Bo and I got married. Where does the time go?I think all three of the kids are taller than when you saw them at Daddy’s a few weeks ago. My kitchen looks a bit like a green house right now while we wait for the last frost, and the weathermen think Arkansas will get snow tonight for the second time this week! My green beans have gotten thirteen inches high in eleven days. The last garden that I did was just tomatoes and bell peppers. We are going to try green peas, yellow crook neck squash, zuchini, scallop (or patty pan squash depends who is looking at it), carrots, radishes, spinach, onions, chili peppers, bell peppers, and tomatoes. And I almost forgot watermelon and cantaloupe. We have a pear tree, two apple trees, and either a peach or apricot tree in the side yard and will have to see how they do this year. Last year they did not fruit well or at all because of the weather over Easter that froze the flower buds.In thinking about life, the universe and everything lately, I keep coming back to memories of gardens and orchards, of Maw Maw and Paw Paw as well as Papa Oxner. It’s funny the memories we choose to keep and how they help make us who we are. I remembered being told that I wanted to go to the pea patch and not to Dog Patch, U.S. A. when I was tiny. And, in going through Grannie’s house as it is being cleaned out, I wish that more had been put pen to paper on Mother’s family. Uncle George, Uncle Bob, Aunt Alice, my grandfather John and their uncles and aunt–Old Uncle George, whose suitcase was in the attic, Old Aunt Alice, whose dress was likewise in the attic; I get tickled in thinking that my great grandfather named his four children after his three siblings and himself after I get over being a bit confused because not much was documented about them. I made it over thirty-five years before I learned that there was a Gardner farm in addition to Papa Oxner’s farm. I have also been thinking about wars, past and ongoing, and Victory gardens, about how our country has grown and about how our family history is intertwined. I brought home a wallet that Pap had during WWII, it still had the picture he carried of Grannie, his identifiication, and a ten yen bill–currency that Bo’s grandfather told me was likely one of four sets of currency that was used a while, collected, and redistributed so that the soldiers could have currency and the enemy would not be able to copy it and blend in with our soldiers. I guess the long and short of it is that I hope my Kitchen Garden goes well as it’s started nicely in my kitchen now! I think that you should write a bit on why Paw Paw was stateside during WWII when the time presents itself.
We have a cat that stays outside most of the time and sleeps in the kitchen in a pet carrier at night. And, we now have evidence that we have a hungry racoon, not just other cats that have been eating the cat food as we left the dish out at night–that’s about to change! But I am concerned about my Kitchen Garden now. I found three of my onions upended and moved to the other end of the garden patch that has not yet
been planted! I guess that I’m going to have to build a coup of sorts to protect my vegies from the racoon and perhaps the deer that we know come up at times under the fruit trees; we found hoove prints that were about three inches front to back about two months ago while pruning the trees and racking up leaves. It makes me feel like Little House on the Praire even though we live in the city limits 
And my kitchen is greener and taller! The green beans are seventeen inches tall and I’ve got about one hundred little radishes now. While I was seperating those this morning, I thought about some troubled kids that have become part of our churches youth group on Wednesday nights and pondered if they are going to youth because they don’t have enough
food at home. It’s perplexing. Those thoughts give a whole new meaning to Victory Gardens, and it makes me wonder about a twist on the idea of a community garden at church a different kind of Victory Garden–would those troubled kids help plant a garden if they could take part of the produce home?
My memories of The Garden I always cherish. Tomatoes almost as tall as PawPaw was when I just barely passed his knees. Trying not to jump backwards into rows of peas when frogs jumped out from beneath other plants–I usually had to stay at the end of a row. I remember being at peace playing with the dirt in tractor ruts both in Paw Paw’s garden and
at the edge of PaPa Oxner’s peach orchard while peaches were being picked by extended family members. And, then there was Maw Maw’s quart jar of ice water that sat in the front seat of that old green stationwagon! Ma Carrie and Aunt Johnnie were the first to ever get me to eat creamed corn–theirs still had a texture I did not care for but it was sweeter and seasoned so that I did eventually eat it and get to play in the front yard with all the cousins under the tree. I’m not
sure, but that might have been the day or trip when Martha sat on the ant hill and got so many bites.
Oh! When the kids were little, actually before Judith was born, I collected recipes from about twenty-two and mothers–Mother and my mother-in-law, Maw Maw, Grannie, Bo’s grandmother, his cousin’s grandmothers, Richard’s mom. Anyway, I also got recipes from Aunt Beluah for a section that was “Other Family Members.” Maw Maw’s chocolate pie that she’s make one for Uncle Bobby and one for the rest of the family, lemon ice box pie, grape jelly come to mind just now–I would have to look in the book–apple butter and fig preserves. Maybe Waverly or someone else would write about canning with Maw Maw because I just got to observe and take notes.
LOTS OF LOVE TO ALL!
Heather
