Wildflowers and my Grandma

I remember many simple things that were dear to me as I grew up and still are. Some of my favorites are: mushrooms, butterflies, sassafras trees and the smell of tea made from the roots of the red sassafras, and wild flowers, especially bluebells. I like best anything resembling an iris or of the lily family.

I learned early in life which flowers came in bloom at what time of the season, when to start looking for them and where most kinds were most apt to grow. I loved the dainty little woods flowers. I always loved to pick them ever so gently. Most of them wilted so quickly.

I learned the fragrance of woods flowers without even seeing them. I always knew what was growing nearby. Sweet Williams, especially, have such an aroma you never forget the smell.

We did not really put much time and effort into growing yard flowers except roses, bushes, and a few things that came up on their own without much care. But my pappa always let me have a whole row in the vegetable garden to grow flowers to cut for bouquets - zinnias, and such.

I used to always wish for a lilac bush. My grandma had a lovely one and she let us break off big flowers. They were beautiful. She loved the orchid color and lilac always seems like the color of my grandma when I think of her. She was buried in a beautiful orchid dress.

Grandma Bullard was a pretty little petite lady with the loveliest white silky hair, always long and worn in a soft little bun on the top of her head, held with pretty combs. She wore very modest clothes, sleeves below her elbows and necklines comfortably high, with little lace collars and cuffs. Aprons were worn to cover her dress for cooking and working. Slacks or short clothes were never worn.

She wore the neatest little hats with a flower on one side, and she was never without hosiery and beads. She always had a clean smell. She wore white underwear and she called her slips, all handmade, her "shimmies."

I do not know if anyone else every thinks of a person as a color. But I always did and still do think orchid when I think of my grandma. That is the sweetest compliment I could pay her for all the memories I have of her.