MY MOTHER

Sarah Adragna

Sonnets are Full of Love

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart's quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my lodestar while I go and come
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes where with to crown your honored name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.

My mother has been on my mind a great deal these days. This coming Friday, October 30th, would have been her 90th birthday. She has been gone now for nearly six years. It hardly seems possible. I have missed her in so many ways, at so many times, and for so many different reasons. There has been much I've wanted to share with her, especially the birth of Jonel's two girls, Iris and Elsa. I recall after coming home from the hospital just after Iris was born, what I wanted most to do was to call my mother.

No matter how old we are, we remain the child. No matter the passing of one's mother, we remain her child. I need her in countless ways in my life, and though I ache inside, she is there for me each time. I once heard a lovely song a mother sang to her child with a line something like this, "you are my flesh, my blood, my bones...", and somehow that has comforted me. What could be more true, I am my mother's flesh and blood and bones, and she lives in me.

We gathered at one of the granddaughter's weddings several years ago.


My siblings and I at my mother's 75th birthday celebration.



For my mother's 75th birthday celebration, among other things, I wrote her a poem. I felt compelled to do so again. This is not a sonnet, nor does it compare to Rossetti, but mother, it is for you:

Is there any part of me
untouched by you?
When I chance
to glance into a mirror
it is you I see.
Not me.

I rue I did not take more time
throughout the years...
to come to know your inner thoughts,
or at least to be more interested
in them;
to come to know your deeper thoughts about
the world;
and love;
and peace;
and war;
and hope;
and God.

I never asked.
You never told.

As I've been shaped
and formed by you
I wonder if my deepest
thoughts
have, too?

There is much of me
that needs repair,
or change
or betterment;
still, when the good of me
comes through
you are there
in thought and word and deed.

CREATING OFF THE LOOM:

for the love of Iris:


Being a Nonna is a wonderful outlet for creative urges, especially when they are so deeply appreciated. Iris' third birthday was coming up and her mom told me that she'd like a chocolate cake. Actually, she also said she'd like a chocolate cake...so I made the Triple Layer Dark Chocolate Cake pictured below. Iris is a great fan of dogs, and she actually loved this cake. However, the Wednesday prior to her birthday party, when I had her at my house, just to be sure I asked again, what kind of cake do you want?...

she said, "I want a strawberry cake!" "Hmmmm, are you sure you don't want a chocolate cake?" I replied. "Nope, I want a strawberry cake." So, in addition to her chocolate cake, she got a

...strawberry cake...

I sprinkled sesame seeds on top to resemble the actual strawberry seeds, and when she saw it at her birthday party she remarked, "...but I didn't want seeds." This sure made me chuckle.

Getting the opportunity to make birthday gifts is something I look forward to with great eagerness. Lace-up cards were something that her mom thought would be a good gift, so I searched images of books and pictures of familiar things, copied them, and proceeded to recycle old cereal boxes to make these lace-up cards.

The Orangutan is a picture of her 'baby' 'Rang. The lace-up card below 'Rang is Iris in her Halloween costume of last year, a puppy. The other pictures are from some of her favorite books. These were a challenge, though much fun to make.

When asked, about a month prior to her birthday, what she wanted me to make, she first said some blue pants with flowers on them. Since I had blue fabric with stars, I asked if she wouldn't like stars..."Oh, yes, I'd like stars." So the above outfit, pants, jacket, skirt and doll's skirt, happened.

Below is just for fun. I had gathered tomatoes from the garden and saw that one of them definitely had a nose. As she was coming the next day, I gave it some eyes and a smile.

She loved this tomato.

The leaves were falling all about, so I fashioned a Leaf Crown for her, and when she arrived I was wearing it. She sure got a kick out of that..."Mommy, what is Nonnie wearing???" She wore it and felt like...

the Autumn Queen...

When Jonel was growing up, I loved most her birthdays, because I could fashion a cake specific to her; and Halloween, when I made her whatever she wanted to be. This is continued fun of grandchildren, I still get to do this. Iris wanted to be 'Little Elf' with wings. Hmmmm...

I gave this a great deal of thought, looked over my stash of fabric. I found a lovely golden 'silk' underskirt from an antique lace dress I had, and some shiny, sheer multi-colored fabric. This seemed like it would do. This outfit took on a life of its own, as I'd completed one thing, the next idea would pop into my head. I started with the wings, then the dress, then I thought a crown, then a wand, and finally something to make her feet special, so I fashioned golden shoe covers.

Little Elf's outfit, with wings.

Here Little Elf tries out her magic wand and Grandpa instantly falls asleep. WOW.

How much fun is that!!!!!

WE HEADED FOR THE HILLS...THE BLACK HILLS THAT IS


The harvest was done, the Dam Challenge over, and it was finally time for our very overdue vacation. Initially this vacation was meant to be a fly fishing excursion, but as the autumn moved forward and the cold air arrived, we had our doubts.


We had made reservations for a 'cabin' at a place we had happily stayed last year, and upon our arrival on Monday of last week, there was snow, and plenty of it, close to 8". As no one was at the cabin(s) to greet us, we called the number that was left with the outdoor phone. We were told how to get the key and open our cabin, which we did, to no heat or electricity.

This is how we spent the first hour and a half of our stay in the Black Hills.

After much calling around and lots of waiting, trees and branches down all over, ice encrusted the lines, and generally no one knowing when the electricity would come on again (anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 days), we left there to find other accommodations. After much indecision, lots of time, and some searching, we went to Pinerest Cabins, a place we had looked at on line prior to leaving. The woman there said she had a duplex cabin for $60 per night. We said we'd take it. As she was walking us to the cabin, she said, "Opps I haven't cleaned it yet. I'll give you Birch for the same price." Did we ever luck out. What a beautiful four room cabin with fireplace, and small kitchenette, and for only $60 per night. We stayed there for 6 nights, and it was the nicest place I have ever stayed!!

The snow remained, and we got more, but that did not deter Fishing Freddie, who did spend several days fly fishing. As I have Raynouds disease and it was in full swing, I knit or read in the sunny, cozy car, or hiked around the nearby hills.

This a picture of Freddie, on the first fishing trip, changing into his waders, well, actually getting up from just having fallen off the rock he was trying to sit on while changing into his waders. I laughed until tears fell, really this was very funny, as he did not get hurt.

This is the creek he fished that first day.

The aspens were simply glorious the entire stay. Everywhere we looked was white snow and brilliant aspens.

One day we hiked the Black Elk trail, the most beautiful of all the hikes we took. Black Elk was a Dakota shaman and we think in the above and below pictures he was either objecting to our hike or blessing us.

The Centennial Trail 89

The Centennial Trail goes for 89 miles through the Black Hills. It can be accessed from many places. We hiked portions of it several times. The vistas upon reaching the top, were truly breathtaking.

The 'summit' of one hike.

The summit of yet another hike.

We left for this trip with great doubts that we would have a good time, knowing there was likely to be snow in the hills. We did not anticipate 8", and when we arrived, we had even more grave doubts. However, it was not long into the trip, that we felt blessed by the Hills and the snow.