Rhythm and Balance

Rhythm and balance.

Requisite for dancing. Desired for living life well.

My grandmother, Eveline Coates Hoskins, is my example. There was a rhythm to her life. And there was also balance.

Her day followed a pattern:  Work. Rest/play. Work. Rest/play.

Work before play. But not work with no play.

Balance.

Rhythm.

The rhythm of her life was always andante – at a moderate tempo. I did not see her behave as I often do – frantically running around trying to catch up.

She rose and set each day at the same time. She served meals each day at the same time.

During the time I lived with my grandparents, Eveline was in her 50s. I feel certain she didn’t get to live with this much leisure as a young mother of six. Never the less – it is an example I always return to and wish to take as my own.

Eveline Hoskins in Ottumwa copy

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I’m still trying to get back to blogging after illness. It’s going much more slowly than I would like. I found that I have quite a few posts that I started once upon a time, but never finished. Like this one – started over two years ago. I’m sure I had more to add – perhaps I planned to write about the rhythm of Eveline’s week, or record my memories of how she spent her days. My intentions are long forgotten. I think I’ll go ahead a publish a few of these abandoned posts – more or less as they are. Maybe that will be just the spark I need.

Family Recipe Friday: Patriotic Picnic Platter

When my kids were little, we watched Sesame Street every day. And I subscribed to Sesame Street magazine. I wish I still had a complete issue around here to help me remember the kinds of articles and activities between the covers – many that we probably did together.

One thing I do remember is the “Kids in the Kitchen” section. Here’s a page I saved from the July/August 1989 issue. At the time, I had a three-year-old and a 6-month-old.

Recipe Sesame St Flag platter

The only food on this page that I ever served was the Patriotic Picnic Platter. And I made it year after year after year after year for the 4th of July.

Of course, when my kids were little, they didn’t like potato salad or tomatoes or cucumbers, so I came up with my own red and white foods to fill in the stripes. I have used strawberries, sliced hot dogs, red grapes, cauliflower, white cheese, and cherry tomatoes. I wonder what else? Oh – apples! They serve double duty. You can use them for white or red stripes. One thing that always remained the same was the upper left-hand corner filled with blueberries and topped with some miniature marshmallows. I use an open Tupperware sandwich container to keep the berries in a square. I prefer that everything be finger food, but use your imagination and let me know how your patriotic platter turns out.

1989.07.04 AngelaOh my. I just went looking for a picture from July 4, 1989 and I found one. I started to add the story behind it here, but it deserves a post all its own. Later!

 

Happy Independence Day!

Sepia Saturday – Wading in Walnut Creek

 

Sepia Sat. 06.28.2014Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images.

It has been a long time since I’ve done a Sepia Saturday post, but when I saw the prompt, I knew I had the perfect picture, so what could I do?

Here is a photograph of my grandmother, Eveline Hoskins nee Coates, standing in Walnut Creek near Mystic, Iowa with her dress hiked up just a wee bit in back.

Eveline Coates

Eveline Coates

She looks happy, with a slight smile for whomever is taking the photograph.

I wanted to take a closer look at her dress, but I must have scanned this from someone else as I don’t seem to have the original so I can’t scan again for better resolution. It’s been over a year since I accessed all of my old photos and moved them to another room, so maybe I’m just not looking in the right place. Doesn’t say much for my organizational skills – or my memory, does it?

Here’s another picture taken that day at the creek.
Eveline at Walnut Creek copy

No smile for this picture and Eveline is partly obscured by the shadows. It looks like there is a lot of debris behind her on the left. Wood scraps? Branches? I keep trying to imagine this photograph in color. I’m sure it was a beautiful setting with the shadows and reflections.

I’m working at blogging regularly and I’m almost there, but what I haven’t been able to get back to yet is the reciprocity. As I incorporate each additional thing to my routine, it takes a bit of effort. Reading and commenting on blogs hasn’t hit the the top of the list yet. That said, I’ll make every effort to get around to as many Sepians as I can since I am participating this week.

Please join me as I happily wade through the posts submitted by other Sepia Saturday participants.