Summer time. Ah, the fleeting moments and memories that used to seem endless to me. I can't believe that school is restarting this next week. It all flew by so fast. It was a simple Summer...but a wonderful one. I spent most of my summer in Missouri. We visited in May and again in the beginning of July. What started out as a few days lulled itself into a few weeks. It was so much fun! All of my aunts and uncles were there, and some of my great aunts and uncles. All of my cousins were there and we had a great time together. We haven't seen each other for years. I mean I actually have never met some of the younger ones. Finally, a place where I had a little feminine back-up.It was something new and refreshing, even my little sister made friends with some of the cousins my age. I hardly saw her the entire week, which left me feelings slightly disturbed and somewhat anxious about what she was up to. One particular day she did come up to me as a singleton...which was out of the ordinary. She had a apparently lost her right hand girl Kristina, my Aunt Laura's teenage daughter. She asked, "Nora, where is my sista?"
"I am your sister, last time I looked", I said a little confused.
"No.", she replied in a matter of fact way, "My notha sista"...
My heart fell, and I felt the slightest twinge of jealousy cross over me unexpectedly. I pointed in the direction in which I had last seen the "Understudy"...OK, so call call me catty. It's nothing personal, I mean it's good for her to socialize and meet other girls, but come on, I know Kris is a really nice girl. I like her a lot. She seems to do to kids what catnip does to cats. They LOVE her....like ice cream on a hot day.
After the monumental jealousy passed, I felt liberated. No shadow, constant whining, no tugs on the back of my shirt...no sharing bites of my Popsicle or sandwich. It was nice for about five minutes, and then I missed her. Maybe I am crazy, but she is my sister, and no matter how far apart we are in age, I adore her.
While out at the farm, we fished in great grandpa's pond. It was so fun. We had bluegill, crappy, catfish, bass....we were pulling them out by the dozens. On our last day of fishing, (before the thunderstorms started), we ran out of bait. I was about to head back up to the barn when my younger cousin Mikaela suggested I bait my hook with the banana Laffy Taffy she was eating. I rolled my eyes with doubt, but to appease her I tried it. I couldn't believe it when I yanked out the biggest catfish I had ever seen.
On our way up to the barn to show everyone our amazing catch, my brother, who is almost twelve years old, begged me to let the poor fish go.
"He's OLD! He's lived a long life. Let him go! I think he deserves to spend his old age in the pond", he bellowed, with huge crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Are you nuts? Look how huge it is!!! I CAUGHT IT WITH LAFFY TAFFY!!! NOBODY WILL BELIEVE IT!!! Besides that nasty snapping turtle down there will probably get him anyway. He can't be that smart if he was caught with candy on a hook."
"PLLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!, I'll buy his life! Just let him go!!!" All the while sobbing, like I've never seen anyone cry before.
A moral conflict ensued within myself. I paused. "OK, OK", I said while unhooking the poor gasping fish. "I'll let him go. I stopped short of throwing him back with a mischievous grin on my face. "Do you want to kiss him goodbye? After all you saved his life. He owes you a big wet one!"
"Just put him back in the water! He can't breathe!" he screamed at me.
I felt sorry for my brother. He does have a tender heart for living creatures. Though I couldn't let him know my sympathies for him I wiped his face with my shirt and told him to get himself together before the other boys saw him. Then, I smugly replied, "Looks like PETA has a new found member." With that, that old man of a fish went back to the depths from whence he came.
Covered in fish slime, I headed back to barn where the other girls were at. "What's wrong with you?", one asked.
"A catfish stole my Laffy Taffy", I remarked turning to glower at my younger brother.
There he stood, grinning from ear to ear as if he had just saved the earth from a catastrophe. I guess in a way he did...at least for a catfish.
"What?"
"Oh, never mind", I sighed. "Just a fish story".
All in all it was a great time.
After the cousins left, my mother, brothers and one prodigal sister were left behind with me at Nana and Papa's house. While there we spend another week waiting for my father to fetch us. I told my Nana all about my sewing endeavours. Needless to say, she and my mother spend the next two or three days in a fabric frenzy, visiting quilt shops, perusing Ebay, and of course going through all of the many, many, MANY boxes of fabric that my Nana had in her storage unit. All for the sake of ME!....AWWWW I FELT SO SPECIAL! That is until they made ME carry all of the boxes into the house. Oh, well, who says that fashion design is easy? Secretly, I think my mother was just as excited as I was. Considering she called dibs on all of the seersucker, fleece, border prints and quilt quality calicoes.
However, I did get some really cool vintage fabrics, and the tulle, lam`e, and various trims were really very exciting.
Thank Goodness, being the nice guy that he is, my father didn't say a thing, when he saw the mountain of boxes that we had to haul home. My mother immediately ordered a few new quilting books for herself and settled that next she is going to teach me hand applique...It's going to be a long winter. I picture myself as a little Amish girl sitting next to the fireplace hand stitching who knows what. That's not really for me, I'm a high tech kind of girl. I like machines that make life easier. Perhaps, machine quilting, or applique might be fun though. Anyway, I want to finish the clothing first, there is plenty of quilt time in the winter.
So, bygone are the days of spring, and summer freedom, fish stories and fans in your face. Here come the days of school. I don't mind. Out with the old, in with the new.
In the words of The Great Shel Silverstein:
Here comes Summer,
Here comes Summer,
Chirping Robin, Budding Rose,
Here comes Summer,
Here comes Summer,
Gentle Showers, Summer clothes.
Here comes Summer,
Here comes Summer,
Whoosh-Shiver-there it goes.
by Shel Silverstein
Peace to all of you in blogland,
Until next time, just call me Nora.
