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Post 4 in the book tour series:
Just as a brief aside here, my mother is a little whacky while on tour, it’s true, but she comes by it honestly (as do I).
My Grandpa Cliff used to tease my Grandma with one particular phrase and this one a real gem from Minnesota farm country, that he enjoyed sharing with folks when he was mildly amused by something my Grandma had done or said and he was trying to tease her. He would say, “I suppose, she’s just a Few Clowns short of a Circus”.
Yup, I reckon Ole Grandpa must have been a closet thrill-seeker and real danger-junkie, in using those words about my Grandma. Because my Grandma, a very mild and gentle soul, who baked for bake sales, sang in the church choir and in whose mouth butter would NEVER DARE melt, would nevertheless, “ Brook NO shenanigans from MY husband”.
Now, Grandpa was only teasing my Grandma when he said these words. I know this because, as he used to whisper to me; “Watch this, Johnny, now just look at her lovely, flashing eyes. Ah, your Grandma is so beautiful when she gets her Irish up.”
However, this desire to see that particular aspect of my Grandma’s beauty assured my grandfather of one thing, and one thing only… Let’s just say that Grandpa Cliff got real used to sleeping on the “Sunroom” couch.
It did make for an interesting study of human nature, though, and the best part was listening how my Grandma used to laugh as she sent him down to the root cellar for extra blankets when it was particularly cold in the “Sunroom”. Oh yes, did I mention to you that the couch was stored in the “Sunroom” at Grandma’s house?
Sunroom, a definition:
if you didn’t grow up in the Upper Northlands and are less than fluent in Minnesota-speak, “Sunroom” actually means an enclosed porch, overlooking the frozen barren landscape that is Northern Minnesota in the winter-time. It also means that three of the four walls are exposed to the same Frozen tundra , usually covered with a GREAT many glass windows; sometimes with very little insulation!
Now, if you can, imagine such a room in a Minnesota February night, with a blizzard on the way, and a wind-chill factor of 35 degrees below Zero outside !
I say only this…that is quite a price to pay for seeing your beloved’s eyes flash…. no matter how lovely they might be, am I right?
Brrrr...
March 27, 2023
