Friday, February 20, 2009

Grandma's Apron

Happy Friday! Today is the last day of Fall 2009 NY Fashion Week, more on that later, but I can't bear to dish on trends right now. I read the passage below a few moments ago as it was sent via email from my mom and (partly) because my other posts are not ready, I decided to share with my PPT fam because I was so moved after reading it. While I've touched on the cultural significances that clothing often has, after reading this I realize it is something I want to revisit here deeper very soon.

I do realize that not everyone has a biological grandmother to remember fondly. And not everyone's grandmother even wore an apron. This is much bigger than that though. EVERYONE has SOMEONE (blood related or not) who is looking out for us or has looked out for us unconditionally. And if you still think you don't or never had that, then be that person for someone else.



The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress
underneath; because she only had a few, it was easier to wash
aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with
that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was
even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy
chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the
warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the
hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.. After the
peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen
from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how
much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved
her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields
to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will
replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Send this to those who would know, and love, the story about
Grandma's aprons. Or it can be a good history lesson for those
that have no idea how the apron played a part in our lives.

REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to
cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were
on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron......
But Love !!


***This passage was a forward so I don't know who the original writer is to credit them.

P.S. - If you're in the New York tri-state area, stop buying the NY Post. Seriuosly.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful.........

aprons chef said...

aprons are very helpful when it comes to cooking to keep the under clothes clean... specialy when you have cooking with oil..

criticpapa said...

whoa!!!, you had a passion in blogging, thumbs up for your work of love.. Hehe very inspiring ideas,


anyway I'm william
mind if I put a link back to you?


(clickable) ------> wool overcoat

QueriesonFoodsandHealth said...

"It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was
even used for cleaning out dirty ears."

Indeed, aprons have so many uses, its already hard to count and enumerate some of them. Love it that aprons could symbolize love. Thanks for the share, I suddenly remember my mom,eh.

Cheers,
Peny@stethoscope

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