Tuesday's Treasure

I have many fond memories of when I was a kid growing up and one of the things that my family use to do was get together every Sunday at my grandparent’s house with aunts, uncles, and cousins. Rain or shine we were there and my grandmother would cook up big meals and after dinner the kids were shooed away to go play somewhere (we usually ended up out in the orchards playing “ditch”). The adults would sit around and play games and that is what today’s treasure is…a homemade Aggravation board my grandfather made. I remember my grandmother putting one of her spice lids in the center because my grandfather forgot to put a hole in it. Looking back I know he could have easily fixed it, but now I think it was something fun my grandmother use to tease him about. I suppose when I obtained this scrabble board I had hopes of emulating that tradition, but regretfully it never happened. I come from a relatively small family, so get-togethers anymore only happen at the holidays, weddings, and funerals…so sad, really. I always loved the big family atmosphere and even though I remember complaining about going out there every weekend I came to love the smell of the fruit ripening on the trees and the lure of grandpa’s mysterious barn, in which the kids were never allowed to play, but we always managed to explore it anyway. I remember standing in the irrigation ditch as the water ran out and feeling the cool water rise to mid calf as my grandfather stood by with a watchful eye. I remember him coming in at the end of the day smelling like sweet dust, a culmination of disking up the soil and working in the peaches and nectarines. I love these memories because they represent a time of sincere hospitality when a visitor could arrive unannounced and expect a tall glass of iced tea and welcome conversation. I can still picture my grandmother in her apron, we never had to look very hard for her, she was either in the kitchen or out hanging clothes on the line. Times have certainly changed, but it’s very nice to think back and remember what homemade use to mean, it was far more than a Sunday night game of marbles on a carefully cut piece of wood.