If Nothing Else, There’s the Promise of Pie!

I like early and I like late because it is so quiet. So does my grandmother. Yesterday, Gemmama and I shared both times together sifting through a big box of snapshots, some of them curling and some of them colored and most of them of her holding me when I was just little. I looked like a happy, baby lapdog! And, isn’t “sifting” a simply lovely word?!

Between photographs, we nibbled away at one of her “secret formula” pies until it was gone completely! Whenever I’ve watched my grandmother mix together a pie, a good part of the time, Gemmama will follow a standard recipe, only to add several, unmeasured dips into the sugar cannister. (She’s all-butter crust, too!) As the pie bakes, she conjures up a long and fancy name for it. I can’t for the life of me remember yesterday’s label, but it doesn’t matter really, since each time she puts a tart in the oven, the name changes~~ even if it’s a recipe she’s used time again! And, then, as my grandmother sinks the knife to cut the first piece, she bows her head and says, “There’s probably 200 calories per syllable. Let’s thank the stars that none of them count!”

When I thought the day couldn’t be more wonderful, Gemmama surprised me with an invitation to be the custodian of her house while she is away! A dear friend of hers is “ailing” and is need of assistance for an undetermined amount of time. My grandmother, a good reader of all things between the lines, is rather certain that Luella just wants a little company. “Aye yi yi !” Gemmama happily chanted. “Likely, we’ll sip ‘embellished’ tea and never bother to get dressed as we talk till we're blue and sometimes pea-green in the face about all the good times we once let roll in!”

So, during the not so quiet part of yesterday, I did my “walks” and rearranged my schedule (I’m a professional dog walker), while my grandmother, who loves her housecoats and expensive perfumes, packed both for her adventure across the pond.


She flew out this morning, the conventional way, of course, leaving me to my own devices, namely: Gemmama’s vast collection of books! Her library, stacks and shelves to the ceiling with volumes as numerous as the calories her pie names tally to, is all about powers, potions, lotions, tonics, teas, charms, incantations, cat magic, mews, myths, mystery, lore, fauna, flora and mora! I even spied one small bookcase dedicated to our beloved: Mr. Johnny Carson! I might need a paper bag to control my breathing!

Might you come sit for a “spell”? Along with the goings-on I encounter at my new “home” and the postcards Gemmama will be sending to me, I plan on sharing snips, snaps and snurrs from her literary collection with you here.

Merry meet, and merry part, until we merry meet again!

P.S. There will be pie!