Fuschias are absolutely beautiful and
my very most favorite is the one my Great Aunt Lola gave me a start for just
about 50 years ago. I planted it in the back corner of my flowerbed and every
year it comes back and blossoms beautifully. It always makes me think of her
and her husband, Great Uncle Ike. They were probably my most favorite relatives
of all time.
Auntie Lola also gave me a pampas
grass, but I moved it one too many times and it finally said enough, laid down
and died. That, or John or one of the boys did something to it because they were
the ones that had to move it. The last time before it died, they said, this is
it, not doing it again. I’ve thought about buying another one, but it wouldn’t
be the same at all.
Anyway, Uncle Ikeee (we hardly ever
called him just Ike) was my daddy’s father’s brother. When we first moved to
Seattle, Uncle Ike and Aunt Lola owned a tavern somewhere in the south end of
Seattle. They lived on Beacon Hill. I don’t think I ever went to the tavern,
but I remember my first and only bike came from Uncle Ike and the tavern.
Someone had left the bike behind and after it was unclaimed, he gave it to me.
It was a boy’s bike, but when you desperately want your own bike, who cares
about the bar in the middle…unless you fall on it and then, OUCHIE-ouch.
Uncle Ike smoked and drank and told
funny and off-color jokes. I never got the off-color ones until I grew up quite
a bit. John absolutely loved that man and they got along great. I believe they
sold the tavern and Uncle Ike went to work as a mechanic some place. I remember
he brought home motor oil which Aunt Lola or maybe Uncle Ike would pour in a
thin stream at the edge of the grass to keep the grass from invading the
flowerbed. I’ve never tried that in my own garden, but it seemed to work in
theirs.
While Uncle Ike was kinda naughty,
Aunt Lola was the epitome of class and breeding or at least it seemed that way
to me. She had snow white hair and always wore diamond studs in her ears. She
also always wore a dress and apron. Every once in a while, though, after I grew
up, Auntie Lola would set me back on my heels in shock at what would come out
of her mouth. You would expect it from Uncle Ike, but not Aunt Lola. Once you
got over the shock, what she had to say was always applicable and very funny. I
remember many dinners with lots of laughter and good food at their home.
They never had any children, but Aunt
Lola found herself pregnant as a young woman. She didn’t marry the father and
chose to keep the child. She worked as a beautician and raised her daughter on
her own. That must have been extremely hard back in those years. I think the
daughter had grown up by the time she and Ike married, but I’m not sure.
They both liked to garden, or at least
Auntie did. Their gardens were beautiful with all different kinds of flowers
and not a lot of grass. It was very pleasant to sit out back surround by all
that beauty. I still remember the passion vine that grew up a trellis by the
back door and their begonias were lush and gorgeous. They also had a tulip tree
(magnolia?) in the front yard. I loved that tree and asked Auntie to please
leave it to me in her will. Unfortunately, as they got older, that tree was
pretty messy and one visit, it was simply gone…they’d had it cut down.
Aunt Lola was the one who taught me to
can. First, she told me what I needed to buy in order to make 18-20 quarts.
Then, she and Ike came to our house and while John and Ike hung out, Auntie taught
me how to make garlic dill pickles. I still have the recipe although I’ve
copied it over several times. It says we did this in 1968 and the cost per
quart was 33 cents. I’ve made at least ten quarts or more every single year
since I learned how. I’ve also shared her recipe with many people and held a
tutorial last summer for three of my friends. In just a few weeks, it will be
time to put up this year’s jars and the cost will most likely be more than
$3.00 per quart.
She also taught me how to can green
beans. For those you need a pressure cooker and I bought one although I’ve
always wondered how women canned beans back in the day before pressure cookers.
I went to her house to learn how to can them. I remember placing the warm jars,
carefully protected so they wouldn’t break in the trunk of my car. For years, I
had three or four teepees of bean vines and canned all the beans produced and
that we ate during the winter. Store bought green beans never tasted as good as
the ones I canned.
Auntie and Uncle Ike also made sauerkraut.
They had a huge stone container or crock in which they put the shredded cabbage
and whatever else went into the process. I seem to remember them saying
something about how you had to keep checking back and skimming off scum or mold
or something and turning the cabbage until it was time to can it up. They’re
also the only people I’ve ever known who made an actual mincemeat. I always just
buy a jar and it’s mostly raisons, apples and spices. Auntie made it with
venison…real meat. Either Ike went hunting or someone else in the family did so
in order to provide the venison. I remember having mincemeat pie prepared by
Aunt Lola and it was very good.
It was also Auntie Lola who planned
and organized the huge family picnics every single year. They were always
wonderful affairs and family you may not have seen since the last picnic always
showed up. As a youngster, it was great fun to play with cousins and be told
how much you’d grown by the various aunts and uncles. Uncle Ike departed first
and I think the last big family event planned by Auntie was his funeral and
memorial. Then Aunt Lola went to California to live with her daughter and the
family picnics became a thing of the past. I believe AJ was old enough to have
a few memories of picnics and Aunt Lola and Uncle Ike. A cousin and I talked
about keeping the faith and organizing some annual events, but we never
followed through and I deeply regret that because almost all of the people from
those times are no longer with us.
I
think I’ve written about blue huckleberries before. There was family back in Spokane,
on Auntie Lola’s side of the family I think. Every year they’d go over there in
time to pick huckleberries. When Auntie became too old to clamber around, the
younger family members would cut off branches and she’d sit and pick them
clean. Then, she’d can the huckleberries when she got back home. At each and
every annual picnic, Auntie would bring two huckleberry pies and I would hover
around until I made sure I was going to get at least one slice. It’s my
all-time favorite kind of pie.
You
know I believe it’s unfortunate that so many of us do not hold annual events
for all our family members. Families are no longer giant sized with lots and
lots of relatives. The majority of families these days have one or two children
as opposed to the half-dozen to a dozen that many families had in the days of
my grandparents. In a lot of ways, I feel we cheated our own children and
grandchildren when it comes to those kinds of experiences. Perhaps times were easier
and slower back then? As we moved into the latter part of the last century and
the first part of this one, it seems to me that life began to move faster and
faster. It seemed/seems we’re all so busy and dashing about so fast there’s no
time to plan for or organize a huge family events. It seems like we’re lucky to
get together for birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, now, with the
pandemic, we may be missing those as well.
I
like to look at my fuschia or dill pickle recipe and think of Aunt Lola and
Uncle Ike. In turn, that brings back memories of other relatives from those
annual events; and I feel the richness of those remembrances and how those
relatives and experiences added so much to my child and young-adulthood. I’m exceedingly
grateful the older I become for those who went before me and shared and taught
me so very much.