Claire V. Bogdanos

EXCUSE ME, here I am in my ageing wheelchair, at my really old kitchen farm table, 38″ x 26″, circa 1900, with its aproned multi-turned vintage legs and truly discreet 1+” rollers on a beautiful Sunday morning having my usual breakfast of juice, black coffee in an ironstone mug, half a sliced banana and exactly 10 mini wheat squares with fat-free half & half !  Precise, right ?  It’s early AM, this room has 8 solarfilmed windows, each 3′ x 6′, all covered by beige old fashioned lace curtains.  With windows all open, the curtains rising and fluttering in the breeze, I can hear the church bells in the distance, there are 4 churches within a 2 block radius of my current residence.  It’s like a symphony in carillon !  Waves of nostalgia wash over me and I am transported to a place almost 80 years ago in the past !  All this time yet that destination is not a mile away from here nor a minute away from my dearest memories !  This is about one of those cardboard signs my nana had in a streetside window, CURTAINS STRETCHED, 25 cents a pair.  My grandpop was an ironworker ( Fagan, Tietjen & Lang, Federal, Todd and Bethlehem Steel ) and he made her an adjustable curtain stretcher which my agile childsized fingers could manipulate with the help of a small stepstool, also homemade !  My job after school was to take that agate pan full of starchwater and soaking lace, layering on as many panels at a time to dry in the afternoon sun !  As my nana would say, “idle hands do the devil’s work”.  Haha, I don’t think he ever had a chance with me !  How about you ?  By the way, that half-banana is low on my fav list but high in potassium, or is that an old wives tale ?             Sincerely,                        Claire B.