Take for instance, petunias and my Grandma Bender. On her front porch she always had these big planters, made out of cut-in-half round cast-iron tanks of some kind, that Grandpa got at one of his auctions. After cutting them in half, he welded pipes on the bottom for legs, and painted them a cheery yellow. Then Grandma would fill them with flowers.
I remember the petunias the best.
To this day, I can't see or smell petunias, especially the ones with the deep purply-pink and white stripes, without thinking about Grandma and her homemade planters. The smell of the blossoms and the sticky feel of the leaves takes me back to
summer afternoons at the farm, playing on the porch.
In the above picture, that is one of my aunts (I think it is Gloria.) In the one below, it is Angela, my sister Kim, Jencene, Doug and me. (I'm the one in the red dress, standing.) I would love to know what we were eating.
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Another plant that always reminds me of spending time at Grandpa and Grandma's house is actually a tree. Right of the porch steps was a tall evergreen tree with a peeling trunk and flat foliage. It was an American Arborvitae tree, a member of the Cypress family, and it had a distinct and pleasant smell. Once, I found a nest of baby bunnies underneath and we tried to feed the soft grey and brown bunnies with a tiny little doll bottle. In this picture, behind two of my lovely aunts (Sharon and Gloria), is the Arborvitae tree. You can also see along the front of the porch, below the barrel planter, some kind of mystery plant. No one seems to know what these plants were, but they came up year after year; they remind me of some kind of sedum. We grandkids used to pull off the heavy, almost watery leaves, and gently rub them until the inside would separate and you could blow into it and it would puff out like a frog's neck.  Another part of the porch that I remember is the cream separator. It sat on the side of the steps opposite the Arborvitae tree. It was no longer used to separate the cream from the milk, but instead held more flowers. I liked that it was just there, a constant.  In this picture (above) you can see the cream separator. It looks like a Sunday morning and my Aunt's Gloria and Laverna, my cousin Sandi, and Uncle Gordon are looking snazzy. Another member of the family is also there but I can't tell if it is Fluffy or Sparky. The two Eskimo Spitz dogs were always on the porch too. They liked to lay behind the glider. Fluffy was friendly, but Sparky was snappy. I have such good memories associated with The Farm in Accident, MD. I lived only a few miles away and loved spending time there. Ah, the memories. . . Learning to ride bike, playing German Spotlight with cousins, sneaking cookies from the cookie jar, playing in the sandbox beneath a huge Chinese Elm tree, eating jelly bread on the porch swing, my aunt's watching Hogan's Heroes, playing Mother May I in the kitchen, riding the green pedal tractor that didn't go very well, my dad and uncle eating breakfast, reading Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. . . The list could go on and on. The memories are sweet. I didn't have a choice in who my grandparents would be or where they would live, but if I did have a choice, well, I wouldn't change a thing. Love, Dianne |
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