Crafty Alice
September 4, 2012
As you may have read in Speaking of Slippers, Alice decided that the black slippers I purchased for her 97th birthday look too sporty because of a white stripe up the back.
She requested a black magic marker.
Before
Whenever I’d get into a funk as a child, Alice would urge me to get busy doing something. “A busy child is a happy child,” she liked to say. I think this applies more to her than to me. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on that marker and dive in.
A busy child is a happy child.
(That cord over her right shoulder is for her Pocketalker.)
Concentration.
At last the job was done, although she did mention she might have to put on a second coat after this one dried.
After
She showed me her latest story and asked me to type it up for her so she could submit it to the newsletter. Then she picked up a paper bag next to her chair, held it up to her face and inhaled deeply. She held it out for me to smell. It was filled with all the rose petals from the stolen roses that I’d cut from the prosperous bushes along the chapel wall and brought to her all summer long, as I’ve done every summer since she moved here. This is the first summer, however, that she’s saved the petals.
“What will I ever do with all these?” she wondered, peering down at the hundreds of creamy white, yellow, red, and coral petals.
Just as I was about to suggest the traditional little sachets to tuck under her pillow and into bureau drawers, she brightened and looked up at me. ”You can sprinkle them on my body!”
We fell all over each other laughing.
Of course, I have to do it (don’t let me forget), but I hope that day is a long, long way off.
September 4, 2012 at 9:34 am
Laughter is such a sweet tonic. Have just been laughing with my own mother for whom I ordered a selection of lingerie. She is in a flap now having got confused with which she is keeping and which will not fit. I have told her to laugh at herself, which she did, surrounded by knickers and bras and awaiting the arrival of yet more. The poor delivery man is most perplexed apparently by the sudden plethora of parcels he is taking to her door. She just told him, “My daughter does this for me,”. May they both be with us for many years to come yet!
September 5, 2012 at 9:03 am
What fun to open all those packages, Deborah, even if it leads to Lingerie Confusion. A good kind of confusion to have, if you ask me. I bet she felt quite proud when she told the delivery man that her daughter does this for her.
September 4, 2012 at 9:36 am
Oh Andrea, this is so great. I just spent the past three days with Shirley, my 94 year old mother. On one of the days she was giggling uncontrollably and it made me so very happy.
September 5, 2012 at 8:59 am
Lucky you, Alix, and lucky Shirley!
September 4, 2012 at 9:39 am
May Alice Save rose petals for years to come! What a good sense of humor–and not a bad idea!
September 5, 2012 at 8:58 am
Maybe we should all start saving petals.
September 4, 2012 at 9:44 am
Stolen Roses..that would make a nice country and western song..like Stolen Kisses or Paper Roses..
September 5, 2012 at 8:57 am
Alice would agree, Mary. See her song about stolen roses here.
September 4, 2012 at 10:07 am
Last night I dreamed of my own Mom who left the scene this past January at 94. So I’m happy to be reading of Alice this morning and laughing with you all. My Mom was crafty in a completely different way, but she loved to laugh and make others laugh. She also was a writer. Here’s to all the women and those who love them!
September 5, 2012 at 8:54 am
That’s not very long ago, Sandra. It makes me happy that you come here to spend time with Alice and me. I didn’t know your mother was also a writer. It seems to run in families sometimes, doesn’t it?
September 4, 2012 at 10:11 am
A 97-year old flower child? WHY NOT? Her sense of humor is probably a big reason she’s made it thus far….
September 5, 2012 at 8:49 am
Right, Kerry. She is one of the funniest people I know, and I’m lucky enough to know a lot of quite funny people.
September 4, 2012 at 10:24 am
The image of those rose petals is so charming! May that day be far far away.
My 91-year old mom keeps a special dress in the closet, for her to be dressed in during her funeral. One day last year, she took it out and asked my opinion, whether an alternate dress might “look better.” I suggested she try each one on and then lay down in the bed so we could compare, and we’ve both been laughing about that ever since!
September 5, 2012 at 8:41 am
This is so funny, Thalia. I’ll tell Alice about it. She’ll love it.
September 4, 2012 at 11:46 am
I love it — love, love, love it!
September 5, 2012 at 9:03 am
Thanks, Elizabeth!
September 4, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Alice is having a love-fest in her final years! With you and her and everyone she knows. We are lucky to be your friends so we can be hers and have a role model for living like it matters about the white stripe (yes, it does) and the roses (yes, they do) and the glory of knowing that we will be forever scented with love.
September 5, 2012 at 9:07 am
Sometimes these comments are a love fest. I get a bit dizzy with all the love coming Alice’s way, and mine. Thank you, Cheryl.
September 4, 2012 at 9:04 pm
I agree with Cheryl, it’s a love-fest, first and foremost with the daughter who has waited for this particular Alice a long, long time…xoxo
September 5, 2012 at 9:05 am
And now at last she’s here, and I’m fortunate enough to be here to see her this way.
September 5, 2012 at 7:25 am
Andrea- always love your stories- as a “crafty” person I have an idea for you regarding bows. I think you can buy pre-made bows at a fabric store (Fabric Depot?) and sew them on the black slippers. If you cannot find any – I will make some and send them to you. rsvp
September 5, 2012 at 8:31 am
That’s a lovely thought, Scrantz, and so generous of you. I will run it by Alice. I think she is considering wearing the newly modified slippers to the dining room because she thinks they look more like shoes now that the stripe is gone.
September 5, 2012 at 11:39 am
FWIW, I totally agree with Alice about the stripe, and I admire her doing something about it! Black marker is like duct tape…the universe would grind to a halt without it. I love that she saved the rose petals. It reminds me of how we freeze some homemade pesto every year, so we can use it on pasta in the depths of winter and bring a bit of summer back to us.
September 9, 2012 at 3:17 pm
This is something my mom would do. She’s used sharpie’s to fill in spots on shirts made by bleach. And, one time she had an old pair of leather shoes, that were scuffed and faded, and she couldn’t find any shoe polish to match the color, so she found some spray paint in the garage, so she just sprayed the old shoes. It was quite amusing.
I’m glad that Alice managed to get rid of the white stripe, though, I think I’m partial to the stripe remaining white. But, since they aren’t my slippers….
September 9, 2012 at 6:53 pm
I think Alice has spray-painted a few shoes in her time, now that you mention it. I wish our two mothers could meet some time.