~keep it to plant flowers in~
My mother came from the "waste not, want not" generation. She and countless others survived the Great Depression of the 1930's, a moment in history when most Americans learned the hard way about tight times. 65 years after that bleak period had ended, her home was filled with the telltale signs of the impact that particular lifetime experience had upon her. Threadbare sheets and thinning towels that long ago should have been replaced, kept because there was still some good in them, could be found folded in the hallway cupboard. The kitchen cabinets were home to many an empty butter dish and lid which could be used to store leftovers from a meal. Empty jelly jars were filled with twist ties from loaves of bread because a guy could never have enough of them around. Her bedroom closet was filled with clothes, but only a choice few were really ever worn. Mom always had this way of finding a couple of her favorite "Zip and Dash" dresses and wearing them until they too became pretty much worn out. She once told me that she had about 4 different dresses to wear as a little girl growing up. Old habits are hard to break.
After Mom went into nursing home care in 2004, I bought her house in Hutchinson and ending up owning it for 10 years before Mike and I were married. When I moved there in April of 2005, I found a long forgotten and very precious treasure tucked away into one of the nooks of the garage wall. The minute I saw it, I knew exactly what I had found!
It was an old and quite worn out angel food cake pan, but not just your ordinary one. This one was special because of what was written on the bottom of it in Mom's quite recognizable scrawl. I had been with her on that hot summer day a few years prior when we were cleaning out her cupboards in the kitchen. She had come across that old cake pan and decided that after making a gazillion and one cakes in it, the time had come to retire it from the baking business. But instead of throwing it out, she did something else that I would have not ever thought of. Mom went over to her table in the breakfast nook to find something to write with. She grabbed a magic marker and left a message on the bottom of it. It was the one that I read that day while looking about in the garage.
And so we didn't throw it away. She did plant flowers in it later on that summer. They were rose moss to be exact.
Finding that cake pan during my first spring of owning the house rekindled the idea of planting rose moss, a tradition I carried on for each year that followed. With continued use, the angel food cake pan got a little more worn out until finally a couple of years back I had to simply throw it away. There was nothing else to do because the pan had seen its time and I figured after nearly 15 years of service, even Mom would have said that enough was enough.
Last summer as I was helping to clean out Sherry and Wes's home in Altus, I came across another cake pan that had once been Sherry's. It looked pretty good yet but I know it had plenty of use. My sister could make one delicious angel food cake! I got to thinking that perhaps I could take it home and some how use it to plant flowers in just like I once had done with my mom's. When the time came to pack our things for the move from the Red River area of northern Texas to our new home in Kay County, Oklahoma, the angel food cake pan that once belonged to my older sister was packed away into a box labeled "garden".
About a week or so ago, I got it out and filled it with potting soil. I looked and looked for healthy rose moss but had trouble finding any to purchase. At long last, I finally located some on the bottom row of a plant display in Ponca City. It didn't look all that healthy, in fact it really looked kind of spindly and in need of some care. I planted it into the cake pan, placed it into a sunny spot of the flower bed, and sat back to wait and watch it grow.
Yesterday morning, I went out to look at it and snapped a picture of it in all of its glory.
At age 63, I have seen many growing seasons. I've watched both my mom and Sherry at work in their flower beds and gardens. They both had those proverbial "green thumbs" and I feel like I can say that I do as well. I miss them both so much, especially during the times of summer when flowers bloom in their brilliant colors. They would have loved seeing what grew in an angel food cake pan, just like the one shown above.
I am getting older now and the time will come in the years ahead that I will no longer plant flowers in this one. But maybe before I pack it away into a box labeled "garden", I can write my own message on the bottom of it.
After Mom went into nursing home care in 2004, I bought her house in Hutchinson and ending up owning it for 10 years before Mike and I were married. When I moved there in April of 2005, I found a long forgotten and very precious treasure tucked away into one of the nooks of the garage wall. The minute I saw it, I knew exactly what I had found!
It was an old and quite worn out angel food cake pan, but not just your ordinary one. This one was special because of what was written on the bottom of it in Mom's quite recognizable scrawl. I had been with her on that hot summer day a few years prior when we were cleaning out her cupboards in the kitchen. She had come across that old cake pan and decided that after making a gazillion and one cakes in it, the time had come to retire it from the baking business. But instead of throwing it out, she did something else that I would have not ever thought of. Mom went over to her table in the breakfast nook to find something to write with. She grabbed a magic marker and left a message on the bottom of it. It was the one that I read that day while looking about in the garage.
"Don't throw this away! Keep it to plant flowers in."
And so we didn't throw it away. She did plant flowers in it later on that summer. They were rose moss to be exact.
Finding that cake pan during my first spring of owning the house rekindled the idea of planting rose moss, a tradition I carried on for each year that followed. With continued use, the angel food cake pan got a little more worn out until finally a couple of years back I had to simply throw it away. There was nothing else to do because the pan had seen its time and I figured after nearly 15 years of service, even Mom would have said that enough was enough.
Last summer as I was helping to clean out Sherry and Wes's home in Altus, I came across another cake pan that had once been Sherry's. It looked pretty good yet but I know it had plenty of use. My sister could make one delicious angel food cake! I got to thinking that perhaps I could take it home and some how use it to plant flowers in just like I once had done with my mom's. When the time came to pack our things for the move from the Red River area of northern Texas to our new home in Kay County, Oklahoma, the angel food cake pan that once belonged to my older sister was packed away into a box labeled "garden".
About a week or so ago, I got it out and filled it with potting soil. I looked and looked for healthy rose moss but had trouble finding any to purchase. At long last, I finally located some on the bottom row of a plant display in Ponca City. It didn't look all that healthy, in fact it really looked kind of spindly and in need of some care. I planted it into the cake pan, placed it into a sunny spot of the flower bed, and sat back to wait and watch it grow.
Yesterday morning, I went out to look at it and snapped a picture of it in all of its glory.
At age 63, I have seen many growing seasons. I've watched both my mom and Sherry at work in their flower beds and gardens. They both had those proverbial "green thumbs" and I feel like I can say that I do as well. I miss them both so much, especially during the times of summer when flowers bloom in their brilliant colors. They would have loved seeing what grew in an angel food cake pan, just like the one shown above.
I am getting older now and the time will come in the years ahead that I will no longer plant flowers in this one. But maybe before I pack it away into a box labeled "garden", I can write my own message on the bottom of it.
"Don't throw this away! Keep it to plant flowers in."
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