Archive | September 2023

As Fine as Frog Fur

Sep27

I still get perms and I’m lucky enough to have a hairdresser who is happy to do them for me!

Gazing at the salon mirror in front of me, I watched the hairdresser part my hair into sections to wrap around perm curlers. Without my glasses, I couldn’t see fine details, but that didn’t bother me. I knew I was in good hands because my hairdresser once told me she enjoyed giving perms. Not everyone who works in a beauty salon does.

My out-of-focus vision made me feel sleepy. Listening to the low murmur of conversations between other hairdressers and clients was soothing. Watching Lisa my hairdresser, wet a stubborn wisp of hair, I commented, “My hair resists curling.”

 Lisa answered noncommittally, “Your hair is very fine.”

“It’s like baby hair.” I admitted.

Grinning, Lisa confessed, “At the shop here, we call hair that’s very fine, ‘frog fur’.” After snapping the last perm rod shut, she applied perm solution to my hair. Then, covering the curlers with plastic, Lisa stated, “Now we wait for the solution to do its job.”

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When in Rome

Sep20

When I was a child, I loved listening to the radio when Dean Martin sang, “That’s Amore”.

The sun wanted to burn me to a crisp. Quickly gathering as many ground cherries as I could, I hurried into the shady, coolness of the farmhouse. In the kitchen, I dumped my golden treasure onto the table and sat down to take their husks off.

As usual, Mom’s ever-playing radio on the counter was tuned to WDLB, our local station. The DJ announced, “And for all you tender-hearted lovers, here’s ‘Sukiyaki’.” I loved this Japanese song despite not understanding a single word. The tenderness of how it sounded touched my fourteen-year-old heart. At one point the singer whistles the song’s tune. It sounded so beautiful. I wished I knew how to whistle.

From upstairs, Mom’s voice floated down to me, “Kathy, come up here and try on the dress I’m sewing for you.”

When I got upstairs, Mom was still guiding material under the rapidly moving sewing machine needle. I asked, “Mom, can you teach me how to whistle?”

Pulling the material out from under the needle and cutting the thread, Mom turned to me and commented dourly, “Crowing hens and whistling women always come to a bad end.”

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Tweeting Photos

Sep13

I entered the farmhouse and sprinted up the three entryway steps, calling out, “Hello…It’s me, Kathy!”

Mom answered, “I’m in the living room.”

My daughters, Niki and Tammie followed me as I crossed the hall and entered the living room. The young girls happily greeted their “Grammie” and settled down on the floor beside her rocking chair. Dropping down onto the sofa across from where Mom sat in her rocking chair, I inquired, “How are you doing today?”

Adjusting her lap Afghan, Mom admitted, “I’m okay, just saying prayers and listening to the birds.”

Macular degeneration had robbed my mother of her eyesight a few years earlier, so she was no longer able to crochet or read magazines. Cooking meals for herself and my two bachelor brothers who lived with her, was also a thing of the past. Mom would listen to birds feeding at the birdfeeders alongside the house as a happy pastime during the day when “her boys” were out of the house.

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Night Skies

Sep6

Something woke me up from a deep sleep. I tensed up, remembering that I had a four-day-old baby in the next bedroom. Alongside me, my husband slept soundly. He appeared to have no worries about being a new parent. Looking around the dark bedroom, my eyes turned to the windows. The darkness of the yard outside our mobile home appeared less dark than the darkness of the room.

Despite knowing for months that I had a baby on the way, the birth of Niki made me feel surprised and scared! The responsibility of motherhood intimidated me. I wasn’t wise and all-knowing as a mother should be. The bottom line was that I felt like I still needed MY mother!

From the next room, I heard the soft movements of my baby squirming in her crib. Was it that tiny little sound which had awakened me? I held my breath. A moment later, Niki cried. The sound made me leap out of bed like there were springs under me. In a panic, I knew that although it was the middle of the night, I had to feed her and change her diaper. I was responsible for not only her comfort, but her well-being.

The minute I lifted Niki out of her crib, a calm came over me. The smell of her skin, the warmth of her body against mine felt so right. After feeding her, I placed my baby over my shoulder and patted her back. Standing at one of the windows waiting for Niki to burp, I marveled at the beauty of the night sky. Stars sparkled across the great expanse overhead. To the north I saw a tongue of green light licking the sky. I gasped. Northern lights! At first the moving wave looked green, then blue and later I saw a tinge of pink.

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