1962 and mid-August with the sun rising over the pond at the cabin in Saskatchewan.
Oh to be here.
A mug of Earl Gray drowning in sugar. Nearly as many reds and oranges with the sun in bright yellow glowing against the pine trees as there must be in one of those 120 crayon big boxes of Crayolas, the kind that were so exciting at the big stationers in downtown Chicago with its special corner for children who needed something to do while the binders with their different papers, floral springs and monograms to pick from shaped like diamonds, squares and circles were gone through.
A treat. Grandmother and her friend always taking two hours to look at whatever was brand spanking new in the thank-you note world. Two hours to work through entire stacks of coloring books and draw on old samples using three boxes of crayons if you feel like it, including gold and silver to sign your name in.
Always a girl time with no boys at all unless you counted the men on the train. Life fine but . . . Grandmother hanging over an ironing board pressing Grandpa’s undershirts and chatting about her sorority sister days until it was almost supper time . . . parties galore back in Florida and lemonade on ice until the cows came home, but the girls . . . whole days spent chatting out on the sleeping porch and not one person needing to be taken care of . . . luncheons made by two cooks and upstairs to chat some more . . . priceless.
Kappa Delta sorority sisters, students at Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee, Florida relaxing out on their sorority house sleeping porch. 1922-1926. Page 60 (bottom row) of a scrapbook kept by Elizabeth Byrd Taylor who was a student at Florida State College for Women from 1922 to 1926. Collections of Florida State University. https://repository.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:720174?fbclid=IwY2xjawLP9t1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJT0ZqM1cxaGhVam9saXU0AR5-c4wXUOJz8gt9_GvEZSaIOXGGO-MmIjsPNAZTIMVziWzibPf5oPS3W2sWDg_aem__4217CU00oFKsNFNYxxxTw#page/60/mode/2up
Kappa Delta sorority sisters, students at Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee, Florida relaxing out on their sorority house sleeping porch. 1922-1926. Page 60 (bottom row) of a scrapbook kept by Elizabeth Byrd Taylor who was a student at Florida State College for Women from 1922 to 1926. Collections of Florida State University. https://repository.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:720174?fbclid=IwY2xjawLP9t1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJT0ZqM1cxaGhVam9saXU0AR5-c4wXUOJz8gt9_GvEZSaIOXGGO-MmIjsPNAZTIMVziWzibPf5oPS3W2sWDg_aem__4217CU00oFKsNFNYxxxTw#page/60/mode/2up
Students dressed as fairies(?), members of the cast of "The Purple and Lavender All Star Minstrels" which was presented by the Junior Class at Florida State College for Women, Tallahassee, Florida on February 19, 1923. Page 88 of a scrapbook kept by Elizabeth Byrd Taylor who was a student at Florida State College for Women from 1922 to 1926. Collections of Florida State University. https://repository.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:720174?fbclid=IwY2xjawLP9t1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJT0ZqM1cxaGhVam9saXU0AR5-c4wXUOJz8gt9_GvEZSaIOXGGO-MmIjsPNAZTIMVziWzibPf5oPS3W2sWDg_aem__4217CU00oFKsNFNYxxxTw#page/88/mode/2up