Category Archives: Angie’s Smorgasbord

by

Smells: Like Windows to a Wonderful World

English: Ocean Isle Beach, North CarolinaSmells:  Like Windows to a Wonderful World

by Angie Brown, Guest Author

We look ahead as we walk forward.  We look to the right and to the left when we cross the street.  We gaze at store windows and shelves to shop for merchandise.  We notice people rushing here and there, always looking.  Whether we’re bathing, playing or working, we use our eyes to recognize familiar things and faces.  Truly, our eyes are very important and necessary to our everyday lives.

But the sense of smell is also important and necessary; it can give us the feeling of both the past and the present. Oceans and sandy beaches, with their fishy smells, bring back memories of visiting Myrtle Beach or North Carolina Beaches with our southern relatives.  My granddaughter once commented, “It’s the smell of the south.” The musty moss and evergreen smells take me back to when, as children, we walked through the woods picking ground pine.  On our way to class, we often noticed the tantalizing smell of fresh bread coming from a nearby bakery.  The smell of chlorine greeted us when entered the YMCA pool area. And every classroom and locker room in school had their own distinctive smell.  You wouldn’t need to see it, because the smell would give it away!

The smells of the present are just as characteristic. A barnyard can be either pleasant or not so pleasant, but, either way, it’s a mighty homey smell to the farmer!  City streets have a different smell.  It’s a combination of several odors all mingled together: car exhaust pipes, trucks loaded with building supplies and dump trucks filled with debris all produce odors that are compounded into one strange mixture. Then there’s the smell of oil or gas as you pass a refinery or fill your car’s gas tank.  Stopping suddenly brings a smell of burning rubber. When lawns are mowed, there’s a sweet smell of clover blossoms and grasses in the air. Tightly closed houses in the winter may develop a stuffy smell, until Fido or your pussycat lingers at the open door before venturing out. After a heavy rain, the outdoors has a damp fungus smell for a day or so, but, eventually, the sunshine dries things out and removes it.

We all have our favorite smells, of course. One of the most pleasant smells I can think of is that of a home-cooked family meal on the stove, when everyone looks forward to dinner at the end of the day. But the best smell — one that can only be described as heavenly — is the soft, cuddly, precious newborn baby smell.

We need smells, along with our seeing eyes, to fully experience and appreciate the wonderful world around us!  What are you smelling right now?

(For more articles by Angie Brown, click HERE)

by

The Garage Sale: A Tale of Procrastination

Garage saleThe Garage Sale: A Tale of Procrastination

by Angie Brown, Guest Author

My house on “The Haskell” in Portville had sold, and I was preparing to move out and begin a new phase of life… at 92 years of age! The contrast between the cluttered garage next to the neat kitchen was very noticeable, so, labeling it an emergency, I started to sort the contents of the garage. This puttery work is time-consuming and boring, but by the afternoon, one corner of the garage had been transformed into something more presentable. I was contemplating having a garage sale in a few weeks when I happened to remember a commitment I had made. So, I stopped my work on the garage to fulfill my promise. This seemingly innocent detour turned into a parade of more fun and interesting interruptions that occupied my time and energy for more than a week; would I ever get back to preparing for the garage sale?

First, I received an invitation to go on a short trip, which I happily accepted. Returning full of energy and high spirits from the trip, I realized it was blueberry season. The blueberry farm was in the neighborhood, so I trotted over there and picked a good-sized basketful. On the way home, I decided to make some blueberry jam, something I hadn’t done in several years. So of course, I proceeded to make the preserves and stood admiring the full glasses on the counter.  “Home-made bread would be good with that,” I said to myself.

So, the next day I mixed up some dough and baked two loaves of bread. By that time, the jam was cool and set. I cut a thick slice from the heel of warm bread and smeared it generously with the freshly made jam. While standing at the kitchen window, I wolfed down the bread and jam and relished every delicious crumb. From the window I could see that the lawn needed raking. The grass had gotten rather long, and, when cut, had left clumps of dried grass, which were unsightly. Postponing the garage work again, I took a rake, and, expending some of the energy from the bread and jam, I raked up six bushels of grass clippings and piled them up on the compost pile.

The following day, I had a call from my sister in Rochester telling me she would visit soon. So after she arrived, we had a week on the town, shopping, eating out, and visiting relatives. The garage would have to wait!

Finally returning to the clutter in the garage, I began, reluctantly, moving and organizing things at a slow pace when I saw the mailman stop out front. I hurried out to the mailbox and picked out a letter from my daughter, who lived 160 miles away in Ithaca. Tearing it open and reading the contents, I found that they were short and to the point. “Mother,” it read, “I am coming Saturday to help you with the garage sale.” Uh-oh, I’d better get busy, now!

So, with a new-found sense of urgency, I sprang into action and sensed a powerful surge of energy. By the end of that day, I had everything under control. Only the signs had to be made and posted. I must say that I had a splendid feeling of accomplishment. Reflecting on the events of that day, I reckoned that the crime of procrastination can be solved by a little motivation!

(For more articles by Angie Brown, click HERE)

by

The Jalopy Demise

English: Picture of non-black 1927 Model T at ...The Jalopy Demise

by Angie Brown, Guest Author

The 1914 “Tin Lizzy”, the “Flivver”, with gas headlights and a bulb horn, rattled along on its cord tires on a deeply rutted road.  In the back seat of the Model T sat a six-year-old girl with her father.  She clutched a pail full of huckleberries on her lap, which she had picked all by herself.  Now they were heading home with the results of the picking foray.  Her face had a satisfied expression, like a cat who had just dropped its dead prey on the doorstep.

In the front seat, the two other occupants of the vehicle were recalling the interesting incidents at work in the railroad shops.  This was the day off for all three yard workers.  One of them had the spontaneous idea of going berry picking for a change of atmosphere.  Perry brought his little daughter along at the insistence of his wife, and  the other men were agreeable to having her along on this short ride.

As they left the berry patch, the driver decided to take a shortcut along an old log road.  Jerking along this uneven road, the occupants were thrown from side to side, but the jostling only increased the laughter and fun for the men.

Suddenly, the left front wheel rolled into a deeper rut filled with water, and, without warning, it became jammed in the mire.  The jalopy pitched, unseating the child who sailed toward the un-curtained side of the car.  But the quick maneuvering of her father held her firmly and kept her from harm.  In the process, though, her pail tipped over and all the berries she had so laboriously picked spilled out, some on the car floor and some in the road.  Seeing her distress, her father consoled her by filling her pail with berries from his own container.

The men worked the car out of the hole, continued on, and finally arrived at Perry’s house, where father and daughter alighted.  Perry’s wife was pleased to see the berries, and she was especially happy to see that her husband did not tag along with his two buddies to the local bar!

Proudly carrying her pail into the kitchen, the child remembered that these were not the berries she had picked, and she wanted to make this clear. So she immediately related the muddy mishap to her mother.

Now chugging along in the Model T, the two front seat riders drove on to the tavern up the dirt-packed road.  Entering the tavern, they slapped each other on the back, roaring with laughter.  It had been some time since they had pushed a car out of a rut, getting wet and muddy.  Their friends at the bar joined in their merriment.

After playing a few card games, and using the berries as collateral when the money was exhausted, they strolled out.  Well inebriated, the two men got into the “Tin Lizzy”.  Their clumsy movements took some time to get it started.  Finally, it started, and with a jerk, the wheels screeched, kicking off the dried mud that had been picked up earlier.

Laughing and talking as they spun out, they were oblivious to the farmer up ahead, with a herd of cows crossing the road.  A sudden thump against one large black angus tipped the “Flivver” over and over into a nearby field.  Fortunately, this had a sobering effect on the men, who crawled out with minor cuts and bruises.  Unfortunately, however, this was the demise of the 1914 Model T “Tin Lizzy” with the gas lights and the bulb horn. The black angus didn’t fare much better!

(For more articles by Angie Brown, click HERE)

by

A Special Delivery Letter

A Special Delivery Letter

A poem by Angie Brown, Guest Author

1944 13c Special Delivery stamp, showing a let...

What kind of sister would I be,

Had I within my pow’r,

A wand to strike and shed some light,

Before the ‘leventh hour?

What is my wand? ‘Tis words and prayers

For ones I hold so dear,

For time is racing oh so fast,

Mounting, my human fear.

Are my beloved siblings all

Safely enclosed and stayed,

Within the arms of love and truth

Of Him, the One who paid?

What kind of sister would I be,

If ne’er I said one word,

Or gave a thought of care for mine

Of Jesus, Savior, Lord?

(For more articles by Angie Brown, click HERE)