This past year I had a photo framed. I bought it at a fund-raiser for an educational institution. It is by an esteemed writer, editor and photographer who is now gone, dated 1982.
It was of the creek I grew up on, climbed down a cliff to get to, caught crawdads and didn’t even think of cooking them, had black snakes thrown at me by neighbors and cherry bombs tossed in the back of my shirt. We also made hay forts (boys vs. girls), swam, played in the sand and learned a bit about horses.
And I read. At age eight I read Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther and The Diary of Anne Frank. I learned a lot in those years.
My favorite time was going down the 100′ rope my grandfather made, by myself and exploring what I called the “enchanted forest.” There were colored leaves on the ground, it was silent and I could gather my thoughts before being called up to dinner.
Celebrated singer and friend Juni Fisher wrote a song about the Mockingbird call which is what her mother used when she was lost in the woods. My mom’s was a car horn beeped three times but when Juni sang it for Nanny a few years ago there was a resonance of being called home.
I’ve told my husband to scatter my ashes in the enchanted forest. It is where I learned to live so framing this photo and making it a focus in our home is important to me. I took a picture of the framed photo and sent it to her daughter.
I believe that when you do good and others do evil, what comes around goes around. Maybe not in this lifetime. Learn something every day, do good things like adopting from your local animal shelter, and be happy. Dee
Cooking with Dee 