The Grapevine: The Passing of a Clarksburg Great as Well as Soup Beans, a Work Project, and Much More
By Rosalyn Queen on January 16, 2025 from The Grapevine
Looking for another project to fill your days during these cold, snowy winter spells? Here is one suggestion that I am taking on that will fill my days now but will take a little longer to complete.
My granddaughter got me this book for Christmas title, “Tell Me Your life Story Grandma.” As I browsed through it, I thought how nice this would be as a keepsake and then as a family reference for my great granddaughter.
This is a project that will take time, and it is senseless to rush through it. The book has prompts that will help you work through “your story.”
One of the most important parts is a correct listing of your parents and grandparents. I can trace back four or five generations. Because of my age I can remember almost all of my grandparents. This will help me to not only list their names, but to describe their appearance.
It has a section for reflections, values, and several others that will help you complete your story. I encourage you to take on this project and to make it ongoing. You might set a goal of completion for next Christmas and make it a gift back. Keep the book handy this summer and work on it while sitting on the patio or slip it in your carryon bag while traveling. You might also work on it while waiting in the doctor’s office. I found this to be an interesting project that helped me remember things that I had forgotten. And then I thanked God that I had the ability to remember.
After being out in the cold for whatever reason, it is great to come inside and sit down to a warm filling meal. One of my favorites is soup beans and cornbread and of course we add butter milk. I know that many of you will say, “What is that Italian girl who wrote an Italian cookbook doing with soup beans?”
Let me explain: This comes from the melding of an Italian family with an Irish German family. The Queens had soup beans and corn bread almost every day and I learned to prepare them from Granny Queen. There is no better meal on a chilly day than a bowl of beans, hot corn bread slathered with butter, cold butter milk, and a nice slice of onion.
I want to call your attention to the fact that we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day this month. This would be a good time for you to pull up his “I Have Dream” speech on your iPad and read through it. It still applies.
My sincere condolences to the Policano family on the untimely loss of Larry. His presence in Downtown Clarksburg will certainly be missed.
I had a bout this past week with something. It lasted about 48 hours and left me a little under the weather, but I am recuperating and on the way to mending. I soon will be like new; whatever new is for an 85-year-old.
Stay safe, stay healthy and until next week, “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
