June 28

Strawberries

Back in 1974 when I was 16, I had my first summer job working for an old woman named Charlotte Tracy. She lived in a big brick house in the town where I grew up, but I had never met her as I was 16 and she was 86. I rode my bike the 4 miles three days a week, and did whatever she needed at the time. She was tall and big boned, always wore a pretty cotton dress with an apron, and was never without her cane. I liked her. I liked that she was steady, and I liked that even though she was limited as to what she could do, she did what she could. She could no longer knead her bread, but mixed it to the point just before kneading and I'd take over. That started my life long love of homemade bread...and making it. She could no longer garden, but would pull out the vines (with the hook end of her cane) and I would cut them off. The rest, she would point to with the other end. Her husband was 92, but still at home with nursing help. I would make them sandwiches every noon, and will never forget the day I started to clear her plate before he was finished and he took a hold of my arm with strength I didn't think he had.
He told me to never clear until all were finished. That stayed with me all my days of waiting tables. Her brother, Walter, who was 89, worked in his garden every day wearing his old black suit and hat...and hoed. Slow and steady, not a weed to be found. His advice to me for a long life? "No drink, no smoke." One day while I was painting the porch, she called me in to see something on TV. I must have looked surprised (was a task master) but she told me it was history in the making and wanted to be sure that I saw it. I sat in her dark, somewhat stuffy living room, on an old, tall, hard velvet couch...and watched as Nixon resigned his presidency.
But every noon we sat, just the two of us and ate fresh strawberries with powdered sugar and she told me all about Shelburne and what it was like when she was 16. The horse and buggies and the dances, and I learned from her that there is a time for work, and a time to sit. All things in balance...slow and steady.
I never saw her again after that summer, and her home is now the renovated 'Tracy House' filled with various offices. Thank you Charlotte, for that lovely life lesson.


Greetings,

Tomorrow we leave for our annual week in Maine. A much needed break as we've been busy trying to do what we do and tend out on our 80 and 81 year old mothers. The lake will be a welcomed sight. Look for more bags two weeks from tonight, and be sure to see yet another added link. I'm running late tonight...nine bags total. Allison will get them started right at 8:30, the rest will follow right behind.

Cheers to summer, knitting, fireflies, all of you...and fresh strawberries.
Martha.