Strange as they may seem, they are two of my favorites...
Some of you may recognize them as Okra pods! But when I was first married I had no idea what Okra was, let alone eat something that looked like that. But the first time my husbands aunt fixed it for us for dinner I fell in love with it. My father-in-law grew it every summer in his garden. That garden was in our back yard and his back yard. We have lived next door to my in-laws since 1978, and helped them work in their garden...One year when we were getting ready to clear off the garden for the winter, I noticed some old Okra pods left on the plants... As my husband always said "If it doesn't move she will Paint it".
And that I did... I asked my father-in-law if I could have the old pods to paint. At that moment he knew I had really lost my mind!!! It was fall and that is the time of the year I am thinking about one thing.... CRAFT SHOWS! I gathered up all the old dried out pods I could carry and took them home. I painted over a hundred that year. Some small and curly and added pin backs to them. Some large and really long and put string to hang on the tree.
I put them in a beautiful basket and took them to the craft show...
Everyone went nuts over them that year. Most of them had no idea they were something you could eat, let alone the name of it. You see Okra is usually grown in the South and we live in West Virginia...
None the less I sold them all! I was so excited!!!
So I took my handful of loot, and at $3.00 each I did have a hand full. I ran down to my father-in laws to show him all my money!!! HE SAID ,"WHAT IS THAT??? "
I SAID, "OKRA"
We laughed over that every year when it was time to clear the garden for the winter. He would always ask if I wanted the old Okra...
It has been almost 4 years since he died, and I miss him everyday. Especially when we are working in the garden...
Have A Good One .... I hope you got a good laugh!!
Lynn
2 comments:
Hi Lynn,
You and I have to be kindred spirits. Your crafts and painting are so like my things that I used to do. My husband said the same thing about me. We would go to garage sales and buy the "junk" that no one else wanted and he would sand and get things ready for me and I would paint them. I did lots of tole and craft painting. I loved looking at the things you paint and it really brought back some memories of days past. My painting supplemented our income for many years. I don't do much of it now...I don't sell things and my kids and friends have so much of my "stuff" they don't want anymore. Now I fool around with watercolors and I'm having fun with that. Oh, boy...this got long...Love the Okra idea.
That's a really sweet story =)
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