Quick Share
I am packing up cookbooks (all billion of them), and occasionally I’ll flip one open to see if it’s inscribed. I just had to share this one, scrawled inside Southern Living Easy Entertaining. A prophecy, almost, of what our new home will become… . (Also an exhibit in a long list of evidence proving I was gifted with a wonderful mother.)
Johanna — May your many guests, family and friends find your home a welcome retreat. Good friends, lots of laughter and yummy food, and of course, a bouquet or two of fresh flowers—makes a lovely occasion of every meal. Enjoy your kitchen! I love you, Mother (2003).
(We went by to see the house today. Look for a post later with updated pictures. It is coming along rapidly!)
A Week of Thanks — Day Five
I am thankful for photography. For my camera. For family. For her.
Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend with your friends and family.
Josephine
It may sound like a strange “hobby,” but I love thinking about and discussing baby names. I think many women do, and even in my single years it was something I pondered often, but perhaps not with the frequency I currently roll over names in my head. (It’s also easier now that I have a husband’s last name to pair with hypothetical first names.)
When Sarah was pregnant with MB, we wrote out potential names on our office dry erase board, and she would come in each day with reports from her husband, even once bringing in his index card of suggestions. (You might have to know Sarah’s husband to know how funny some of these were, but let’s just say he really liked Serenity.)
I am in that child-birthing phase of life, where someone I know has been expecting since 2004, at least. So it’s a much-discussed topic.
Many many years ago — before I was even out of high school I believe — I reserved the name Josephine for any future daughters. My family humored me, and to my surprise, no one has used it. My brother and his wife discussed Jo as a middle name when they were pregnant with Michael, but as many of my cousins have Jo as a middle name that didn’t really count as “using” the name. (They are currently expecting again, though we don’t yet know the baby’s sex, or if Jo is even still on the middle name table.)
My grandmother was named for her father, Joseph, though he was called Red much of his life. My grandmother herself never really went by her full name either, for that matter. She was either Jodi or Jo (or Mom or Grandmother or MeMe!). I was an older child — 8 or 9 maybe — before I even realized my grandmother had a “real” name. I was never around anyone who used it! A. and I even have a secret nickname that we will likely use, rather than always calling her by her full name.
I think about my daughter Josephine sometimes, and I wonder if she will be like her great-grandmother. Will she be a hard-worker? A good cook? Will she like look like me, she who looks like her mother, who looks like her own mother? Will my Josephine even be blood related to me at all?
Today I found a site that tells you meanings of names, and I plugged in Josephine. It’s funny that I’ve never looked it up before; the traditional meaning doesn’t matter as much when a name has such a personal history.
Josephine means “God will increase.” I can’t imagine a more fitting meaning, for my grandmother’s legacy increases daily. From seven children, she was blessed with 17 grandchildren. From those 17 grandchildren, she knew 31 great-grandchildren. (A number that continues to grow.) And from those 30 great-grandchildren, a dozen or so great-great-grandchildren, many of whom she met and held and loved.
And because of that legacy, God’s glory is increased as well. From one woman, generations of believers were birthed.
I miss my grandmother daily, and wonder if she knows how I long for another Josephine to bless my life. How long will I wait?
Bruce
My dad’s brother Bruce died this morning. It happened suddenly, and I can’t really believe it.
He’s 18 months older than my dad, but because of the timing of their birthdays, they were only a year apart in school. Bruce was outgoing where my dad is introverted. Bruce was the comic to my dad’s straight man. My dad only joined a fraternity because Bruce joined before him. They were friends. They were brothers.
My aunt and uncle came to our wedding in May, and in most of the photos of my dad walking me down the aisle, you can see Bruce standing to the side with his video camera. It made me laugh when I first saw those photos, because if there is one thing all Merrill men have in common, it is their love of gadgets, especially cameras.
I realized earlier today that his youngest granddaughter is exactly the same age I was — my grandfather’s youngest granddaughter –when my grandfather passed away in 1988. Twelve is too young to lose your Grandpa Merrill.
Apples
There are a few things that will always remind me of my grandmother. Certain hymns, songs, moments. But more than anything, certain foods. A farmer’s wife, she always had a garden, so of course there are items that always filled her kitchen. My grandfather loved beets, and she would pick them out of their backyard garden (once they’d moved to town), and he would eat them sliced on a plate with just salt and pepper. She made wonderful chicken and dumplings, and when I was a kid and we came to visit, her cookie jar was always filled with sugar cookies. Her coffee cakes were infamous and even when we lived in Texas, she sent us one every year. She loved black coffee and lunch at Bob Evans.
But for some reason — more than anything else — it’s applesauce that makes me think of her. She made it every year and always had some jarred.
When the remnants of Ike blew through Ohio, the apple trees got stripped bare. So my mom has been making a lot of applesauce! The other day on the phone, I asked her how to do it and she said, oh it’s so easy and proceeded to rattle off a bunch of measurements and “if you have x apples you need x sugar and water,” and I said, “Mother. I can’t remember this. Please e-mail it!” So she did.
Wash, peel, core & quarter 8 to 12 medium large apples. Place in large sauce pan with small amount of water 1/2 to 3/4 cup? Cover and cook slowly till tender. I like my applesauce a little chunky so I don’t cook it until it gets too smooth. Add sugar to taste about 1/4 cup sugar for every 4 medium apples. Cook until sugar is dissolved, just a few minutes. Add spice to taste, 1/4 t nugmeg, 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/8 t cloves. Serve while warm. Will keep in refrigerator for several days. I always think of MeMe when I peel apples or make so many of her recipes. She would peel and cut 50 or so apples at a time! I miss her.
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Compassion
