In old age we are either tiny or ample and in my family, you can see some of each, even in my own sisters. My older sister is tiny, my younger sister is thin and I am the one that is ample. I remind myself so much of my mother and Daddy's Aunt Lizzie Creamer. She had an ample bosom and hips to go with it. "Birthin" hips we used to call it. I did not have them in my youth but for the last 13 years, I have had to embrace my roundness or fat if I want to be truthful.
Aunt Lizzie was such a character. She was a buxom woman as I have mentioned and "bolster holsters" weren't really a way of life for many women back then. She wore a homemade sack dress probably or if it were a store bought one, it was plain but it was clean. She had a towel or kerchief that she wore around her neck because she was a "dipper." I have never seen anyone spit snuff across the room like she did onto the old wood burning pot belly stove she had. When the spit would hit it, it would sizzle and bounce across the stove and a puff of smoke would come out. It was fascinating to watch her hit it every time and then wipe her chin on the towel around her neck. That was to keep her dress and apron from getting messed up so that when company came by, she could take off the towel and be presentable.
Company just stopped by in those days. No warning. No phone call. Many people did not have a phone and if they did, it was a party line and good luck trying to get a word in edgewise.
She was the daughter of my beautiful Grandma that left us way to early. Her Parents were Lucious LeeRoy and Lula Arritta Creamer Peacock. I loved my Grandma Peacock more than life. She was my anchor in a chaotic childhood and I was pretty devastated when she passed. No more of her cinnamon cookies or so I thought. She would always give me the first one hot out of the oven when I would visit. I would climb up on the old barn bench seat and watch her work in the apron that Aunt Elma gave me from her. The smells were so delicious and it was hard for me not to wiggle while I waited for the cookie to bake, on their old wood stove. She may have been the one to teach Aunt Lizzie to make those cinnamon cookies because they both made them the say way. Delicious would be an understatement.
Aunt Lizzie's name is always listed as Lizzie so I haven't found records to suggest that it was ever Elizabeth. She married sometime between 1920 and 1930 because she is listed on the 1930 Census as being Widowed and her name is Lizzie Archer. Their marriage was short and I don't know if they had children. She wasn't very motherly like my Grandma was, so maybe children were not her forte.
I know that she tolerated us if we would sweep her yard. Back in those days, having a grassy lawn was not the aspiration of many. It was to have a white sandy yard that you swept with a bundle of twigs tied into a broom. If I was gonna get a cookie that day, I would have to sweep the yard, and walk the outside perimeter of the sand to get back to the steps for that cookie. If I left any footprints in the sand, No cookie for me. lol
I became quite adept at those long sweeping movements that would wipe any footprints or any vestige of anyone walking on it, away. It looked like white sand at the beach and maybe that was the intent because at any given time of day, you could look out your front window and see white sand and travel there in your mind.
Anyway, Aunt LIzzie was not a bad person but she was not a demonstrative type woman, at least to Donna and myself. Maybe she knew if we were around, we wanted a cookie and she did not like to share. Maybe she didn't have much and cookies were the treat she gave herself. I never thought that far into the process. I just wanted a cinnamon cookie. lol
The wooden house was built by my Daddy for her to live and it was right across Morristown road on the opposite corner as the house Daddy built for us. It wasn't large but it had a pretty good sized front room that went into the kitchen/dining room and it had two small bedrooms. It did not have an indoor toilet but had an outhouse out back. It had a good sized back porch and just past the porch was where you got your water. There was a great old pump that you primed and then you could get some of the amazing cold mineral water that this area is famous for.
This is the part of the story when I confess to being less than stellar as a kid. I have spoken of taking an extra piece of candy when given the opportunity to bag my own back in the day and that the guilt was enough to paralyze me and the next time I bagged my own candy, I shorted myself but the fact remains that I stole a redhot.
And I sneaked into Aunt Lizzie's window once to steal a cookie. I know that is so awful and I really have no excuse but the pull of that cinnamon cookie was strong to a little kid that was missing those homemade treats that other mothers made for kids after school. I opened the back window and shimmed myself inside one day, when I knew Daddy was taking her to Flomaton, and I looked for her cookie tin. It was right there on the table and I wrestled with my conscience and that cookie for a minute or two , until it got the best of me and I took the cookie.
I sneaked out the same way I came and forgot to close the window. I was not a very good well thought out thief. I would probably be on one of those "stupid" criminal videos that you see on youtube now. lol
I took the cookie to my straw house on the back side of Aunt Lizzie's house. I don't remember sharing it with Donna. I feel worse about that than taking the cookie. I ate my prize and then went back home. I am sure that Aunt LIzzie knew she had not left a window up and that was when I started having to sweep the yard if I wanted a cookie. It was a fair exchange in my mind. She never spoke of the missing cookie and I could not bake one to replace what I had taken, so I lived with that shame.
The good thing is that I never took anything else. I guess the shame of the Snickerdoodle theft was enough to quelch any thought of doing that again.
I hope that I learned something from her and from the task of sweeping the sand. I know that I tried real hard to make sure it was pretty and when Donna would do that, she would too.
I know that kids today would think that was a waste of their time but believe me, it wasn't.
While I was sweeping, I was breathing in fresh air. I was under shaded pine trees soaking up the smell of pine nuts and needles. Some days there would be a breeze and that is a little slice of heaven to be in the shade as the breeze came through making the pines sway so beautifully to and fro in a dance of the pines. Of course sometimes a pine cone would fall and you had to step lively so that it would not hit you on the head.
The bigger lesson is I learned to do something for an elderly person that was unable too. It is interesting that I became a Nurse for the elderly in my adulthood. I certainly had training growing up in respect and care of the people older than I was.
I hope that you all can get a picture of Aunt Lizzie from this short story of her. I liked her and am glad that she tolerated us children and glad that she let me work for a treat instead of just handing it to me.
I hope that all have a beautiful day today. Adding prayers for my cousin Betsy and for anyone needing them today. I love you, Kimmee
(photo of Aunts Arbelle and LIzzie from Donna)
