Dear Readers,
The highlight of a summer Sunday in my family was Sunday dinner. (When I refer to “dinner”, I mean the mid-day meal because we called the evening meal “supper”.) Sunday dinner was served at 11:30 AM, which meant that Mom attended the 5 AM Mass at St. Therese Church on Kentucky Street. As soon as she returned from Mass, meal preparation was begun. Crispy fried chicken was the favored main entree along with fresh green beans cooked for hours with a ham hock, and creamy mashed potatoes that were mashed by hand with an old metal potato masher. (After Mom died, it was one of the treasures I retrieved from our family kitchen on Breckinridge Street.) Summer meant fresh “combination” salad, which was a mixture of chopped fresh tomatoes, cukes and green pepper combined with mayo, salt and pepper. It was cool and refreshing. Mouth-watering homemade pies were offered for dessert. In early summer, Mom baked strawberry and strawberry-custard pies. During the months of July and August, peach and peach-custard pies graced the table. One pie was not enough for the family as we craved the cold pie leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
After dinner, when the dishes were washed, hand-dried and put away, Mom would relax on the back porch swing to read the Sunday newspaper and Dad would retire to a pallet on the floor for a summer nap.
At least once a month, my Mom’s sister, Martha (Aunt Tubby) arrived for Sunday dinner in her light blue Studebaker sedan. After dinner she would drive our family (we didn’t own a car) to Calvary Cemetery to visit the graves of Grandma and Grandpa Harris, where we offered a prayer for the repose of their souls. My sister and I loved playing in the parked Studebaker, pretending we were driving. We didn’t even mind the inferno-like temperature of the car as it sat in the summer sun. A little sweat was a small price to pay for an afternoon of entertainment.
Some Sundays my Dad would take us to the “Broadway” picture show to see a couple of movies. The theater was dark and cool with frosty air-conditioning. Dad treated us to a large box of popcorn. It was a great way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon. We begged Mom to join us but she said she would rather stay home. We felt sorry that she was missing a movie. As kids, we didn’t realize that this was her only time all week she could spend without children and she was enjoying every minute of her afternoon alone!
If I could go back in time to relive just one of these summer Sundays, I would savor every second. But since that isn’t possible, I’ll have to be content with these unforgettable memories!
Keep smilin’!
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