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Mary Cook’s Memories It was a blue sugar bowl. Much larger than the one we used every day on the kitchen table. Father said it had been in his family as long as he could remember. It wasn’t used for sugar anymore, though. It was where Mother kept her egg money. It had a matching jug too, but it just stood beside the sugar bowl and was never used. I figured the reason Mother used the sugar bowl for her egg money and not the jug was because it had a lid on it. To protect what was inside, sort of. Goodness knows we kids would never dare go into the sugar bowl without permission, although sometimes, if we had tired of looking around the Eaton’s catalogue in an evening of sitting around the kitchen table, Mother would let me take down the
sugar bowl and count her egg money. Mother never heard of egg money when she moved to that back woods farm in Renfrew County after living 18 years in New York. Now, about the egg money. It was Mother’s challenge to keep money in the sugar bowl. That meant that every week she went into Renfrew and peddled her wares door-to-door. Mother added sticky buns, freshly churned butter and homemade soap to her wares. Once she tried selling small braided rugs and hand sewn aprons, but she soon found out the women of Renfrew were just as busy as she was making rugs and aprons. Mother had plans for her egg money. She longed to go back to New York. Not to stay of course, which was always a fear deep in my heart, because she talked about the place so often and I knew how much she missed the life she once led. No, it would be just for a visit, to spend a few days with her friend Rosie and maybe go to an opera again or visit the museums she loved. Yes, she longed for just one trip back to New York and her wish was that one day there would be enough egg money in the blue sugar bowl to go back for a visit. . Never would there be enough money for the trip back to New York. It wasn’t because she would dip into it for something frivolous like silk stockings or a new hat -- the reason was much
simpler than that. It would be because Father would have had to have some of the few coins she had worked so hard to accumulate. Father never had more than a few cents in his overall pockets. So when something wore out, like it often did on the farm or a new piece of harness was needed, inner tubes to replace the well-patched ones on the car or even maybe a new plow point, it was into the egg money Father would go. There would be so much sadness on such a day. I always dreaded being in the kitchen when that happened. Father would come in from the barns, stop just inside the kitchen door and pause as if he was undecided where he was heading. If Mother was busy at the stove or at the wash tub, she would pause for just a moment and a look of sadness would come over her face. Father would slowly walk over to the cupboard and take down the blue bowl and take out a few coins or one or two of the bills, cram them into his pocket and quietly leave the house. Not a word would be spoken. We would hear him leave the yard in the wagon or buggy and I would know he was headed into Renfrew or to Briscoe’s General Store with a few coins from Mother’s egg money to get what was needed to keep the farm going. It was at those times that I would know Mother’s dream of a trip back to her beloved New York was as far away as ever.
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MARY COOK
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In honour of MOVEMBER, We will also spend time on discussing Prostate Cancer - signs and prevention R0011742948_1115
November 27 from 2-3:30
Please RSVP by calling 613-595-1116 ext. 703 480 Brigitta Street (Kanata South) R0011679618
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INVITES YOU TO AN At Kumon, we give your kids the power of knowing. Whether your child needs extra help with math and reading or wants new academic challenges, our specialized learning program provides children of any age or ability with the confidence to achieve more all on their own.
Kumon Math & Reading Centre of Stittsville 613-831-2577 john.merileeclarke@ikumon.com ( We also service Munster & Richmond)
EVENING CHRISTMAS BAZAAR Who said Christmas shopping is stressful? Have a glass of wine, an Hor d’oeuvres, and listen to live holiday music while you shop ★ local vendors ★ unique hand made crafts ★ fresh baked goods ★ new and used books ★ door prize raffle ★
Thursday, November 29th from 3-8:00 p.m. Academic Enrichment Pre-K — 12th Grade 800.ABC.MATH www.kumon.ca 1025.R0011698452
A portion of the funds raised will go to the Stittsville Food Bank 480 BRIGITTA STREET (Eagleson road south of Fernbank) Stittsville News EMC - Thursday, November 15, 2012 73