Sunday Afternoons

On Sunday afternoons, we often went to my Grandparents’ house for lunch. In Iowa, we called it Sunday dinner. My grandmother would have at least four desserts. She would serve two different kinds of pies, cake, cookies, and of course, what she called “sauce” which consisted of either peaches or pears. She made the biggest cookies I have either seen. They were soft sugar/molasses cookies which she sifted powdered sugar on. They were approximately 3- 4 inches across. Oh, I loved those cookies. I would give the world if I could have the recipe for those cookies.
After we got through eating, the grownups would “visit”. If it was in the winter, the children would be sent to the parlor. There was no television, games or toys at my grandparents’ house. But there was an interesting thing called a stereoscope and several boxes of strange pictures. Each cardboard picture had two identical images on them. The person using this device would slide them into a sort of rack then look through the part that fit close to your face and imagine you were in another world. Most of these pictures were of strange people I didn’t know, but some were of animals and places I had never seen before. The image that was sent to my brain was a feeling that the people and animals were moving. Now days they have something similar for children called view masters. These usually have cartoons in the disks that children enjoy.
If the day was warm the children would be sent outside to sit either on a porch swing or a tall stump that my grandfather sat on. He had a stiff hip and walked with a cane, the stump was the right height for him to sit on so he could visit with his squirrels. He always carried nuts for them in his pocket. When a squirrel saw him they would wait until he clicked his tongue and made a chirping noise. Then they would slowly go to him to get their nuts. It was great fun to watch. However, if it was Sunday, he would stay in the house and visit if there was more company than just my family. Those days made me sad because I loved to watch my Grandfather and the squirrels.
My Uncle Leslie lived with us. He also loved squirrels, but he put them in a cage and I was warned not to get to close to them. I always felt that that was wrong especially sitting here at the computer, I can see them running and jumping from limb to limb in the trees and having a grand time.