The concrete steps leading up to the back door of my grandmother's house were always cool to the touch. I can't tell you how many afternoons I sat there with her and shelled black eyed peas that she had purchased by the big brown paper grocery bag full. I would watch her hands easily free the tender shiny peas from their earthy shells. Slitting the edges with the side of her thumbnail and pushing the peas into a bowl in one fluid movement.
The bowls we used for this purpose were not just any bowls, but melamine Texasware mixing bowls. They are practically industructible and perfect for a grandmother to use with her young granddaughter when passing on the art of cooking. No worries over breaking or spilling. The bright swirls and specks create patterns unique to each bowl...no two are exactly alike.
As we shelled peas, she had plastic insulated tumblers filled with iced tea. In the south, you never have to ask for sweet tea....it's all sweet tea. Lucille's tea was so sweet, you actually could crunch sugar crystals as you drank.
If I became bored with shelling peas, she would walk around to the side of the steps and grasp a couple handfuls of Horsetail Equistoms that grew beautifully next to the air conditioner unit. She would snap the segments apart and give me a piece of string, encouraging me to string them and make a necklace.
She was gifted at finding things for my small hands to do. Things that didn't seem like busy work at all. We'd go to town and buy some coordinating yards of fabric to cut up into squares and then hand stitch into a quilt. She would hand me the back of envelopes to draw on. I couldn't have a new piece of paper until the prior one was completely covered. She would take me out to the garden and tell me what each plant was. This woman is also the reason why I can never ever look at a pot of petunias without laughing of embarrassment...that was her code word for a lady's private parts.
These are all things that stay with me and follow me still. Brown paper grocery sacks, black eyed peas, Texasware bowls, sweet tea, Horsetail Equistoms, quilts, petunias....and more. They remind me of her. Like she is reaching back through time to say "hello, I'm still here....I love you."
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