A red hat before it was a society

It was always fun to visit Grandma and Grandpa M. on the farm. I would stay a week or two each summer. They put in very busy days as both were up long before I climbed out of bed. Grandpa, farming with mules, was in the fields early, or tending to the livestock and Grandma probably would be out in the garden picking what needed to be canned that day. She canned nearly everything they didn't eat fresh, plus wild blackberries and gooseberries. She canned vegetable soup, stews and even chicken. After she got a freezer her life became a little easier. I remember going with her in the early spring to gather "greens", polk, dandelions, etc.

Lunch was really dinner with meat, potatoes, vegetables and desserts. Supper was usually left overs from lunch or milk and cornbread. Grandma made biscuits or cornbread for every dinner. After lunch Grandpa would lie down for a brief nap before returning to the field. If there was no canning to be done Grandma was free to sit down and do her sewing. She made most of her clothes, especially her "everyday" dresses, aprons and even Grandpa's shirts. She quilted, made tatted and crocheted lace for pillowcases, handkerchiefs and even underwear and did lots of embroidery. She made stuffed dolls and animals and baby clothes anytime a new baby was on the way. I have booties, bibs and sweaters she made for our oldest son. One time she made a child size doll dressed in blue jeans we all named "George".

Grandma didn't go many places other than to town on Saturday afternoon for groceries and to the "dime store" for more crochet thread. She didn't get to church very often because there was no help on the farm but she always had her radio preachers she listened to regularly. The main reading material in the house was the Bible and the Cappers Weekly. I loved the stories in the Cappers Weekly newspaper.

Anytime she went someplace, even if it was to our house for the day, she always wore a hat. It was mostly black because that was what Grandpa wanted her to wear. She always wanted a red hat but he thought it might make her look like a "hussey"! One of the yearly events they didn't miss was decoration day at Hopewell cemetery, where relatives on both sides of their family were buried. It was an all day event of taking care of the graves, visiting and a pot luck dinner. Grandma cooked for a week getting ready for the first Saturday in May. Not long before she died she got her red hat and wore it proudly on decoration day.