Ahhh, Sunday after visiting mother in the nursing home. I love seeing her and we have some good, if not funny, conversations as her brain gets her thoughts mixed up at times. At 93 (94 in December) it is to be expected. Sunday mornings got me thinking about what we used to do.
Our Sunday mornings had a routine. We'd get up and walk across the parking lot to church and Sunday school. We would go our separate ways since I was the church organist I had to be there and in a different area than mother. I was glad to be the organist so I wouldn't fall asleep during the sermon. I could see mom in the congregation (the organ was in a loft so I could peek over the edge) and 30 minutes into the sermon she would start to tap her shoes. She had Sunday dinner in the oven (usually a roast) and she didn't like her dinners ruined. After church got out we walked across the parking lot to our house. As soon as we got inside, she'd tell me to turn on the TV and she'd check the roast.
It wasn't until later that I started to wonder if mom just didn't like her roast to be over done or she wanted to watch what was on TV. She could have lowered the temperature on the oven or even cooked it the night before. The TV programming, on the other hand, was outside of her control. Did you have a favorite TV program that you watched? Sunday mornings was filled with a western, a mystery (Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan,Hart to Hart, Columbo, etc.), Wresting and then the Sunday mid day movie. This was usually a Tarzan movie which she loved. Later on she would draw upon all the above to figure out what she and I should do to one of my ex fiance's (whom I refer to even today as Slime Bucket). She didn't waste time with telling me "I told you he was no good" but instead she would just figure out what kind of punishment she would like to do. Usually it was a "torn in two by being tied between two trees and then cutting the ropes that held the trees together" like in Tarzan, or buried in sand pouring honey on his head and inviting the ants to come and eat him. Loved her for all of those suggestions.
Of course Sunday also meant stitching day. We'd do our individual crafts throughout the week also but by Sunday I would be done with homework and Church obligations so I had hours of stitching time if I wanted to. I'd settle down into an easy chair and pick up my embroidery to do. I wasn't into quilting yet but cross stitch, needlepoint, and other crafts. I was thinking on those crafts today. I ran across an apron that my grandmother made for me. She did wonderful cross stitch and while this is relatively easy and simple I still love it.
To think that from a plain checked fabric she created this without a pattern or anything. Something that I couldn't do. I could do the cross stitch but that was it. This was also how I was taught to cross stitch. Mom would buy towels that were checked or made towels out of checked materials and my sister and I would cross stitch a design on them. If she couldn't find any checked fabric, she would take plain fabric and lightly draw the checks or line on it. That is what we had to do for part of our summer vacations. It might have been summer but we also had to be productive. I don't have any of those early stitching projects any more but at the time they were put away in my hope chest.
or finishing up stitching some blocks,
it boils down do a relaxing Sunday. You can say it's a relaxing end to a week or a relaxing way to start your week...the key word is relaxing. Time to step back and do things at a slower pace and enjoy what you are doing.
I hope you all have a great day and take time out to relax.
Our Sunday mornings had a routine. We'd get up and walk across the parking lot to church and Sunday school. We would go our separate ways since I was the church organist I had to be there and in a different area than mother. I was glad to be the organist so I wouldn't fall asleep during the sermon. I could see mom in the congregation (the organ was in a loft so I could peek over the edge) and 30 minutes into the sermon she would start to tap her shoes. She had Sunday dinner in the oven (usually a roast) and she didn't like her dinners ruined. After church got out we walked across the parking lot to our house. As soon as we got inside, she'd tell me to turn on the TV and she'd check the roast.
It wasn't until later that I started to wonder if mom just didn't like her roast to be over done or she wanted to watch what was on TV. She could have lowered the temperature on the oven or even cooked it the night before. The TV programming, on the other hand, was outside of her control. Did you have a favorite TV program that you watched? Sunday mornings was filled with a western, a mystery (Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan,Hart to Hart, Columbo, etc.), Wresting and then the Sunday mid day movie. This was usually a Tarzan movie which she loved. Later on she would draw upon all the above to figure out what she and I should do to one of my ex fiance's (whom I refer to even today as Slime Bucket). She didn't waste time with telling me "I told you he was no good" but instead she would just figure out what kind of punishment she would like to do. Usually it was a "torn in two by being tied between two trees and then cutting the ropes that held the trees together" like in Tarzan, or buried in sand pouring honey on his head and inviting the ants to come and eat him. Loved her for all of those suggestions.
Of course Sunday also meant stitching day. We'd do our individual crafts throughout the week also but by Sunday I would be done with homework and Church obligations so I had hours of stitching time if I wanted to. I'd settle down into an easy chair and pick up my embroidery to do. I wasn't into quilting yet but cross stitch, needlepoint, and other crafts. I was thinking on those crafts today. I ran across an apron that my grandmother made for me. She did wonderful cross stitch and while this is relatively easy and simple I still love it.
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| Furthest to the right is the back flipped over a bit so that you can see how neat her stitching was. |
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| Grandma wouldn't ignore the little details like putting stitches on the ends of the apron ties or up by the band.
I wonder if any of my things will last as long as these did. This was done in the early 70s because I can remember using it in home economics class. I bet I only did it once since I don't see stains on it. Mother probably found out that I took it and put a stop to it. LOL.
I then started to think on MY Sunday routine. It really hasn't changed too much. I see mom in the mornings for a couple of hours (any more and she gets too tired) and then come home. Depending on how busy my Saturday was I might take a nap but soon I find myself sitting in my easy chair, my crafting supplies within arms reach and the TV on. MeTV and Me-TOO tv has lots of the older tv shows on it so I find myself watching my mystery shows or, thanks to DVDs, Sherlock Holmes or Charlie Chan or whatever. Instead of the oven going, I have food in the crock pot. Tradition is a wonderful thing to reflect upon. Whether it's seeing a police car at the drive through window of a Dunkin Donut shop (see? They really DO love donuts)
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it boils down do a relaxing Sunday. You can say it's a relaxing end to a week or a relaxing way to start your week...the key word is relaxing. Time to step back and do things at a slower pace and enjoy what you are doing.
I hope you all have a great day and take time out to relax.
3 comments:
Beautiful memories, Bonnie. Really enjoyed reading this post. :D
Love your stitching !!!
Great post Bonnie. Your blocks are very cute!
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