There was always much to do in the backyard. And, it was there that I began experimenting with combining differing tastes and textures to come up with my own delicious offerings. We had a most delightful sand, along with a rich dark soil, and a smattering of red clay. Mixed together, it looked delicious. At the right time of the year, I would have the most wonderful green tassel from the big pecan trees in the yard.
See them there at the bottom of the picture. I could strip the tiny little pollen granules off the stem and add them to the soup or stew I had been working on all morning. They were also great for decorating the top of a pie or cake.

In our front yard we had a beautiful wisteria vine. It grew up the telephone pole that was next to the street, right by where we kept the garbage cans. Ours was a much travelled road, and we were not allowed to play there, BUT…that was where the wisteria was. And, it held some strange hold over 2 little girls.
The seed pods of the wisteria vine as they are growing have an incredible softness…almost like velvet.

Blooming, the flowers have an intoxicating aroma. Just saying the name of the plant brings that sweet scent up from my memory bank to delight me again! Bees like them, too! Alot!!!

Then there were the drying seed pods…you actually can hear them when they popped! The seeds were then blown about by the wind to take hold in some fertile ground and start another vine. IF the 2 little girls, and their posse, did not get them first.

It really wasn’t fair that the vine was in the front yard. Really, it wasn’t. It sang a song to entice us when it was in full bloom! (Or that could have been the bees…) The beautiful purple blooms would mix into the dish of the day, and it was possible to take the individual flowers and place them ‘just so’ on top for the final presentation.

And, when summer faded and the seed pods were doing their popping dance, the vine, all naked with branch after branch twisting and tangled and turning, beckoned us to come and listen. It begged us to take of its bounty of little seeds inside the pods and use them any way we could imagine. The beautiful wisteria was doing it all for us!

The problem…and it was a big one…was how to partake of its glorious bounty without being seen by Mama. Because, she had this thing about obedience! If we didn’t obey…there would be consequences. Yes, Ma’am there WOULD be consequences. And, while I know I could have explained to her just WHY we had gone down ‘the path of unrighteousness’, she was not in the mood to listen when her girls had strayed. And, she had a way of ‘explaining’ to us just how unhappy she was! We always got the message loud and clear!OBVIOUSLY WE WERE BEING OBEDIENT HERE!

However, that ‘demon’ wisteria was working against her. It was pulling her girls to disobedience just as hard as she was pulling us toward obedience. And, there we were, 2 pitiful, sweet, little angel girls…caught in the middle.

How, pray tell, can a budding chef , along with her assistant, prepare her dishes without the necessary ingredients? There MUST be some way to get the wisteria petals and seeds from the FRONT yard to the BACK! And, so, we became quite creative. Sometimes, we would have contests, and whomever would lose had to sneak to the front yard, creep up to the bush, gather enough supplies, and get back before getting caught! See, there were always younger kids around, who could not run or jump or swing as high as we could. So, they would lose. It was just the way of the world on 3rd Ave. Hard-knock life, it was.

Sometimes, we would get my buddy, David, to go get them. Now, David and his 3 brothers lived right next door. He could ride his bicycle anywhere, even IN THE STREET! Poor Mrs Mary had her hands full…4 boys!. So, when David was around, he would go get us a big bunch. He had to do this surreptitiously though, because what boy would want to be seen picking flowers for the backyard girls? So, he would grab some and go…sometimes bruising the delicate flower in the process. He did the best he could…boys just don’t always see the big picture! Like a finished cake, pie and 2 soup dishes done by noon! They MUST be decorated!

There was another boy in the neighborhood, Michael, but he was a ‘whiney, baby tattletale’ so we only used him as a last resort.

EVER TRY TO WASH A CAT?

There were, then, times when Joy or I would be forced to take forbidden road. We would go out the fence gate on the far right side of the yard. This is where the banana tree was. HE-ELL-O-O! Plant the ever so interesting, educational bit of foliage where the kiddies can’t watch it, OK.? We never once caught it making any bananas…but, we could have kept our eye on it IF it had been in the backyard! Anyway, I digress. Out the fence gate, and down the row of forsythia planted between our front yard and the McCord’s. There were 8 bushes…and then the wisteria. We would always move over to the McCord’s yard and try to hide behind the forsythia, moving with quick little hops and jumps between each bush. And, we would stay on their side when we got to the street…even though it was much better pickins’ on our side! We always carried a bucket to gather our supplies. And, there were always those infernal bees! It was a quick lesson that you do not slap a bee! I’m just saying…Then, there was the L O N G trip back down the row of bushes, past the banana tree, through the gate, to safety. We would sit quietly there in the shade for a while…trying to regain normal breathing and listening for the slam of the backdoor. It was possible to tell the kind of mood Mama was in by the sound of the slam! Really! It could be just a normal, walking out the door and letting it slam behind you OR it could be a quick, hard slam that signalled someone had opened it and forcefully slammed it closed. Oh! we did not like to hear that second kind! But, if we did, we’d quickly hid the bucket under the azalea bushes just inside the gate…and then hurriedly sit down and look all innocent and pious!

“Hi Mama! You look real purty! —Ma’am? —You thought you heard the gate open and close? Really! Well, we’ve been sitting right here. Just us two loving sisters enjoying playing together like little angels. —No, Ma’am! —We know about going to front yard. —Yes, Ma’am! We remember what will happen if we go outside the gate. —Yes, Ma’am, we promise to stay inside the fence!” And, we would, NOW that we had what we needed!

Me? I just took all this reconnaissance in stride. It was something that had to be done, and I was careful to plan and carry out the mission as quickly and quietly and as inconspicuously as possible.

Joy, I think, just wet her pants!