December | 2013 | Discovering Mom

I received this message from a writer that I admire on Bubblews. Her name on the site is leepay. The lady is in her eighties and writes delightful vignettes about her senior years.

“Good Morning Virginia, I’m stopping by to let you know that I am reading your mom’s stories on “Our Echo.” They are wonderful stories and wonderful memories.

The timing of some of them is almost parallel to my life but the adventures are very different. I joined the WACs as a young 16-year-old and it was an escape from poverty for me but I did not like being a WAC and got out as soon as I could and from that stepping stone my many adventures began …. your Mom has inspired me to write a few of these adventures and I shall share them here on Bubblews.

Thank you for sharing your Mom with me and us. She is an incredible lady. I do so admire her. It’s obvious that you inherited her love of stories ….. your writing talent is a reflection of her writing style – It’s easy, non-stop reading.”

I’m excited that leepay is going to write about her early memories. She illustrates her posts with the cutest artwork that she creates on the computer. Just click on her name to go to her profile there. Be sure to read the story about “My Worst Christmas Ever.” It really touched me.

Actually Dad was nutty too. They squirreled away nuts all fall for their nut business. They gathered black walnuts and pecans from their own tree and also from trees belonging to total strangers.

When they spotted a yard with neglected nut trees, they would ask the owner if they could collect there and offered to share the harvest. Usually the person said they didn’t want to bother with the nuts and feel free to take them all.

Dad would remove the hulls and crack the black walnuts, a messy and difficult job. Removing the nutmeats whole made it sell at a premium. He sorted these by sizes with the broken nuts and whole nuts at different prices. Very carefully he sifted and sorted them to be sure no shells sneaked into the final packages.

The process was a bit easier for the pecans. Mom would fancy some of them up by adding spices and sugar and toasting them. These spiced nuts were superb.

She then packaged them up in Christmas tins or mugs for gift giving. Many people came back year-after-year to buy nuts for gifts or for their holiday baking.