The Rural Voice, 2002-05, Page 50Home Decorating
Remembering women who have led bg example
Pani
Robertson
operates
Classic
Interiors in
Wingham.
By Patti Robertson
As Mother's Day draws near once
again. I find my mind brimming with
thoughts of thankfulness for the many
women who have. and do, grace my
life ... guiding me in the ways of
family, food, home, garden, fashion
and business procedures.
My Gramma Brown. for instance,
who kept a beautiful and spotless
home, always decorating and
updating, as well as winning blue
ribbons at local fairs for her
scrumptious preserves and baking.
My Gramma Davey kept a
relatively tidy home but truly
preferred being in the garden. On
many a summer's eve Gramma and I
would still be out rooting in her
garden long after the stars were
shining brightly. I now realize
Gramma D. was a true "flower
child", long before the term became
popular!
My Mom, raising three children
basically on her own and still
providing hot, delicious, home -
cooked meals on the table while she
was operating her full-time fast food
restaurant and variety store. Mom
always had lots of great food and
refreshments for whomever passed
through her door.
And then there is my Aunt Edna.
As a young woman she wanted to be
a second,Amelia Earhart, but her
father, fearing a fate similar to
Earhart's, encouraged my aunt to
become an electrical engineer — one
of the first women to do so in history!
She worked on Douglas Point in its
initial stages, and went on to work at
Three Mile Island, and many other
nuclear facilities throughout the state
46 THE RURAL VOICE
of Connecticut. She rode her own
Harley Davidson motorcycle to the
East Coast in the early 1920s. She has
travelled the world, decorating her
home with interesting furnishings and
accessories from her journeys abroad.
Now. at 83 years young, Aunt Edna
still makes yearly pilgrimages to
India, where she travels the
countryside listening to the teaching
of her guru!
I've been blessed with three
wonderful girlfriends of the graceful
ages of 83-86. One can be found
busily housecleaning. decorating and
baking while yet another is a fabulous
gardener who received her Master
Gardener's designation from the
University of Guelph at 79 years of
age. What a wealth of knowledge this
gal has passed onto me. And at 83
years of age my other wonderfully
young and spry lady friend sold her
car and now literally walks two miles
or more per day as she runs errands
and visits the nursing home to assist
with the infirm. Can you believe it!
My girlfriend Brenda, so unique in
her home styling, makes space for
abandoned animals (often they
become permanent residents). How
vividly I remember attending a
matinee at the Blyth Festival, after
which in all our finery we headed off
to pick up a mate for her swan back
home. So picture this ... Here is
Brc^da all decked out sporting rubber
boots, wading in the water and
herding' the chosen mate towards the
awaiting sack. What a trip home that
was with a swan making itself heard
from the rear of the van.
Brenda raised her kids to be self-
sufficient and dependable people and
all the while preserved her quixotic
personality and style.
A younger girlfriend Sharon had a
very unstable childhood and despite
the odds has become an incredibly
stable adult. She is a highly educated
graphic designer, she's a great mom
to her two-year-old, providing a
foundation for her daughter such as
she did not have. She has purchased a
farm along with her hubby and is the
owner of an ever-increasing and
interesting array of animals. Sharon
has African Pigmy goats. Her home
is warm and loving and she decorates
her walls with self-styled,
professionally painted murals.
Bringing a high quality of
spirituality into my life and the lives
of so many others is "Dolly". Dolly is
actively involved in Core Shamanism
and practises "healing touch." She is
a source of wisdom and strength to
her family and friends. Her decor is
very spiritual in nature, sporting a
wide variety of native artifacts and
lore mixed and matched with an
eclectic collection of furnishings and
her ever-increasing library of books
on healing, health and happiness.
This is but a short list of the many,
many incredibly darling and daring
women who hjive greatly assisted me
in becoming a healthy, happy and
together woman, thereby providing
me with the skills to provide comfort
and nurturing, not only to my own
two daughters but to my many co-op
students, along with a bevy of former
baton twirling students, to neighbour-
hood kids and to those who have
attended the decorating night -school
courses I teach. I have been so truly
blessed with an abundance of great
women in my life.
And so ladies our day of the year
arrives once more. Whether we be
actual mothers or not, as women we
still have the power and the
possibility of assisting all others
around us in finding and expressing
themselves. As nurturers, healers and
homemakers, we women can assist in
creating a beautiful healthy life for all
those we are so privileged to come
into contact with. Sometimes it's as
simple as a kind word of encourage-
ment and smile or time shared.
Enjoy Mother's Day. Celebrate
being a woman. There are many
younger women looking to us for
guidance ... following in our
footsteps. What an honour and
privilege. Enjoy!O