Mountain Laurel & Coal

  I love photos like this - a little slice of life, a random moment frozen in time. I’m not sure why it was taken, but the people sitting around my grandmother’s Formica table are very familiar to me: my aunt Janet Ross, Jerry Kowalczyk, my grandmother Ruth Ross, my grandfather Vance Ross, me, my uncle Ken Ross, and my grandmother’s friend Ada Shumaker. It  looks like we are celebrating something because there is a cake on the table, along with some Nescafe’ Instant Coffee, and an empty punch bowl. The photo says February 1972, but it looks like there is a Christmas wreath in the window. Maybe it was Janet’s birthday, which is at the end of December, or New Years Eve. I’m thinking the photo was taken in 1971 and the film was developed in February of 1972. This photo leaves me with so many questions. Like, why did Nana have summery paper plates on the table if it was winter? Why didn’t she make a real pot of coffee or was instant coffee all the rage? Did we drink the punch or w...

The Duvet Cover The Double Wedding Ring These quilts from Clarksville, Pa. have been tucked in with my belongings for about 35 years. One was given to me by my grandmother Ruth Brown Ross, who lived on Market Street, while the other was purchased at the estate sale of her neighbor Jean Fowler. Unfortunately, I’m not 100% sure which quilt is which.  When my grandmother gave me one of these quilts she told me that it belonged to my great grandmother Lelia Sanders Ross. At the time, I only had this one quilt, so I didn’t mark it. So, now I’m hoping Jean’s son Gerald Fowler will be able to tell me if his mother’s quilt is the double wedding ring quilt (a design that was popular in the 1920s) or the duvet cover with buttons. I’m thinking the duvet cover is from the Ross family, but I can’t be sure. Maybe one of my Ross cousins, Lelia’s other great grandchildren, can help clear this up.  Either way, these quilts are both beautiful works of art made by talented women with a connectio...

I’m certain all of my female ancestors owned some sort of sewing basket, box, or tin filled with buttons, pins, scissors, needles, and thread.   My mother, Roberta, a talented sewist, couldn’t contain her supplies to a sewing kit, and instead had boxes of patterns and an extensive stash of fabric that spilled into every room of her home. Her mother, Blanche, who made most of her own clothes, also had quite a few sewing supplies. And, I believe Blanche’s mom Annabelle, who tatted lace, must have kept her supplies in some sort of container. My paternal grandmother Ruth had a tin with buttons, some needles, and thread, but her skills we limited to basic mending. I don’t think she even owned a sharp pair of scissors.  I regret that I don’t have many of their sewing notions, but I do have a couple of my mom’s patterns; a 1977 McCall’s Raggedy Ann pattern that my Grandmother Blanche used to teach me how to sew; and my Grandmother Ruth’s buttons. Yesterday, Abby and I visited an anti...

It’s not every day that you discover an unknown and uncared-for cemetery, but I did and it only took me about 30 years. In the mid-1990s, I found a copy of Caldwell’s Atlas from 1876 which had a map of Bentleyville that listed a cemetery near the Methodist Church in Bentleyville. Interestingly, there wasn’t a cemetery there. I asked around, but no one seemed to know anything about a cemetery in the middle of town. Finally, I talked to someone who knew about it, but they dismissed it by saying that it was probably for "paupers.”  I thought it had been paved over or something had been built on it and this was upsetting, to say the least. I didn’t really know how to figure out what had happened to the cemetery and to be honest, after a while, I kind of forgot about it. Then, last summer my daughter Abby and I were at an antique fair and I found a copy of the Caldwell’s Atlas map of Bentleyville. I bought it and when I took it home, I saw that cemetery again. Last month, I was t...

Burning a bayberry candle on New Year’s Day was something my Grandmother Blanche Shipley Phillians did every year. She was very superstitious and she did it for good luck!  I decided to honor her tradition this year after I found a beautiful bayberry taper in a gift shop.  This candle, made by Mole Hollow Candles Ltd. in Sturbridge, MA, came with a little card that explained the tradition: “A bayberry candle burnt to the socket brings food to the larder and gold to the pocket.” “Burning bayberry candles for good luck in the New Year is a tradition dating back to colonial times,” the card reads. “We hope that our long burning bayberry scented tapers will help you to continue this tradition while bringing peace and good fortune to you and your loved ones.” Here’s to good luck and good fortune in 2023! We all need it!

Always keep a box of Bisquick in your kitchen. That was the advice my Grandmother Ross gave me as she prepared dinner one day. I don’t remember what she was making, but I remember this suggestion. This morning, I was running short of ideas when I spied a box of Bisquick. I gathered up some basic staples and whipped up some cheddar biscuits and a coffee cake. I thought of Nana as I baked.  Ruth Brown Ross wasn’t a gourmet cook; I’d describe her as more of a Depression Era cook. She made delicious apple pies, stuffed peppers, ham and bean soup, meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, vegetable soup, and chili. The good stuff. In 1937, she married Vance Ross of Clarksville, Pa. when she was very young. At the time, she knew how to cook one thing: scalloped potatoes with some onions and a slice of ham on top. Her young husband grew weary of potatoes and ham, so he rolled up his sleeves and taught her how to make an apple pie. After that, she made it all the time.  If you want to make the Bi...

My Aunt Janet sent me this photo and it’s just too precious not to share. I believe it was taken at an outdoor church service on Market Street in Clarksville. That’s my dad Wayne Ross (blocking the sun with his program), my mother Roberta Ross, and my grandfather Vance Ross, with my cousin Nikole Kiralis sitting on his lap. That’s Hackney’s Hardware store in the background. I think this was taken during the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976.