Here we will talk about anything that suits our fancy... I have a very eclectic "fancy!"......so come on in and Fancy THAT!
The Gracious Lady of Bellingrath Gardens"As the economic depression of the 1930's worsened, friends quietly kept Mrs. Bessie Bellingrath aware of families in need. She would appear, checkbook in hand, begging for an azalea, camellia or whatever bloom she saw in the family yard. She would convince the stunned homeowner that Bellingrath Gardens had been unable to locate one and then offer hundreds of dollars in an era when $25 a week was a comfortable income. She told a flower shop owner that her crocheted afghans were the most handsome she had seen and offered her $100 each for a dozen, knowing the money would put the woman's niece in college, which it did. After her sudden death in 1943, the Catholic Bishop called Mr. Bellingrath and asked permission for a group of nuns to say a prayer as a way of thanks for all she had done for them. As the couple was Presbyterian, this surprised Mr. Bellingrath, who asked, "How?" She had been sending flowers to the Catholic Providence Infirmary every week. The staff had been instructed to place flowers in any one's room who did not have flowers sent by family or friends. Her tombstone bears this inscription from her husband: 'I shall always think of you wandering through a lovely garden, like that which you fashioned with your own hands, where flowers never fade and no cold wind of sorrow blights our hopes and plans....And on your face, the peace of one whose whole life through, walked with God.' " -- Bellingrath Gardens
That said....and I don't know where the quote originated...so can not give credit as due...I would like to have known this woman. I wonder if her soul shined with an inner light.....I know a few people like that who's souls shine. I can see them from a long ways off....And I love them from the moment I meet them! Mom is one of those people...
I so missed spring this year! It is not here as yet! My prized Lilacs have not bloomed! The bushes are barely growing leaves. If I think about it hard enough I can bring the fragrance into my memory. I can see the deep purple blooms in my mind! I can see Mom's peonies and her prized roses on a summer day in the sixties. In my memory the grass is always green the lilacs are all in bloom and the yard is filled with young people.
Her Mother; My Grandmother,was blind totally completely in the darkness blind! Glaucoma took her sight when she was about fifty! She once told me that if she had to lose one sense she was glad it was her sight and not her hearing. She said that blindness could be a handicap, but deafness isolated it's victims. At least she could "see" things with her fingers and smell them! At the time I didn't know what she was talking about. I could think of nothing worse than losing my eyes, to never be able to see a colt cavorting in a field or a calf suckling at it's mother's udder in a green meadow or a wild flower,was a thought from hell" as far as my mind could concieve...
Then there was the incident with the skunk.I shall tell this from memory so names will be changed to protect the Gent!....Because I don't think I know any one named Wes,any more I shall call my friend ,Wes!
It was the Viet Nam era; so many of our friends were going away to war. The draft was on. My sister in law was pregnant, her name was Al, and they decided she was a man....they drafted her. Because of her delicate condition they decided she was not eligible for the Draft,after all. Wes,was not so lucky! He was NOT pregnant, or female, he was;however, Drafted!
Wes,was like so many, of the young men of that age group. He was a regular in my front yard and probably slept as often at our house as he did at his own. Mother had four sons of her own and never knew how many young men she would find in her home when she wakened in the morning. They were like bees to honey, Mom's living room and our big yard was the honey comb.
Ours was the place where young people flocked when they had problems at home. There was always an understanding ear or an non -judgmental place to relax and hang out. Mom loved people and they love her! To this day her house is where one will find those who are in need of special love or friendship. She is always willing to hold out a hand to a person in need. She had out her shingle with her "forever-offer of love" that seems to be her specialty! If you offer love, people will come to claim it...If you offer they will come!
Wes,was like all the rest who were headed for war. He was normal, that means he was frightened. He just KNEW he was Viet Nam bound! We were frightened for him. He had been a part of our lives since he was in his early teens. We didn't know what it would be like to NOT have Wes as a part of our house hold. He was as much my brother as the son's Mother brought into the world! In some ways he was closer than at least one! Far closer than most of my male cousins, who were either much older than I or much younger! We never noticed he was around very much, until he was going away!
Wes,decided he was going to catch us a pet skunk to remember him by. I don't know what made him decide that a skunk would be the best way to remember HIM. At any rate he was pretty drunk at the time!
They were stopped along side the road and he bailed out of that car down the hill and through the brush! There were no roads where that Mama skunk was going and he didn't care if there was. He was going to grab one of her babies and make a mad dash back to the car before she figured out he'd been there. Mother skunk was doing everything in her power to avoid such a thing happening to one of her babes...She was dodging through the underbrush. Occasionally she would stop to stomp her feet and raise her tail in a highly symbolic warning to KEEP away from her babies! He was to drunk on alcohol or adrenaline to pay much mind to her warnings. The cheering throng at the car went into Gales of laughter and yelled for him to," watch it! "Mama was not taking his attack lightly! She was armed and ready.
"She can't get me!" He yelled back!
Did you know that a skunk's armament is not blue or purple, or any other color when she lets lose? Nope! It is not colored like in the comic books. It is a pure solid moisture laden gas that sticks to anything it comes into contact with. ANYTHING including leather shoes, watch bands, and custom made western shirts......OH! it also sticks to the young men who are wearing those articles!..
Just as he yelled his fateful words....She proved him wrong! It was apparent to all those in attendance that she could indeed"GET HIM."They made him ride back to our little town on the fender of their new car.He suffered the indignity of being "skunked" and paraded clear through town at his aromatic height on the fender of a Dodge! You remember the days of baby moon hubcaps,Chrome wheels,and loud mufflers....It was a sure attention getter....they had to keep their windows up to haul him on the fender! It was noticeable to all who saw him....just what he had gotten himself into!
I think the bachelor buttons in the fields drooped as he went by. I know the dandelions in the yard hung their heads in shame and derision over his fragrance! To say he had a "high" odor was to make light of an odor that would melt aluminum siding! The filings in your teeth were in danger of a"melt down"if he got within ten feet of you. The first thing he did was jump off the fender of the car and give Mom a big hug!
Grandma was in the dining room sitting quietly. She said she could hear and smell the"Traveling circus "coming down the street;from a long ways off. She was used to the sounds of the "mufflers" on my brothers cars. She knew by that sound who it was. She knew by the smell what was causing it. She just was not sure WHAT was going on till she heard the whooping,hooting,and laughing began to issue forth from the front yard. The whole neighborhood turned out to see why Wes was brought to town on the fender of the car, instead of in the back seat as he had left!It should have been apparent to them ALL.
"If you have any tomato juice that should take out that odor,"Grand mom Counseled!
We set up a wash tub on the big front porch of the big antebellum style house that was our home when we were teens. We filled it with cans of tomato juice, tomato sauce, detergent--(we had no way of knowing detergent would "Set" the odor!) While half the town assembled in the front yard to shout encouragement and make suggestions he sat in his under ware in that tomato juice while we all took turns pouring the mixture over his head and trying to wash the indelible odor out of his hair! You could just see him looking over the veranda at the crowd! His black hair was full of tomato colored soap lather and one could smell his pile of clothing from a long way off. The "brothers" put his clothing in a hole in the front yard and covered them with soil. It was suggested that we should erect a marker for them, cause they would never be worth much EVER again! Wes insisted he was GOING to wear those "duds" when he got on the plane to go to boot camp!
I don't know if the sudden exposure to skunk "juice" full in the face causes delusion or if it was the effects of alcohol....He was insistent! When he emerged from the "soapy soup" in the wash tub he was still not "datable!" You could take him out. You just couldn't get him a date smelling like that!
His clothes did not make it to the plane. When we dug them up for laundering they smelled pretty bad when they came off the line. Grand mom suggested we put them back in the ground till he got back from boot camp!
Wes went away to "boot"...He sneaked quietly into our house as soon as he got home. He thought he could sneak up on Grand mom and give her a hug "hello" without her noticing his presence....He no sooner walked into the room and Grand mom wrinkled her Nose. "WES!" she smiled! "I am so glad you are home!" WE never could get past her. I don't know how he thought he could sneak a slight skunk odor past her!...
By the way. We always believed the skunk saved him from going to Viet Nam. He was stationed in Europe! His odor would not have been an asset in the jungles of South East Asia.....His custom shirt lost it's smell. His shoes and watch band were never quite the same as the day before he ran through the bushes yelling....................."She can't GET ME!!!"
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