Prepping for Proverbs 31

LShe speaks with wisdom 

And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:26

Excited to be invited to breakfast, the grand-girls gathered Queens Anne's Lace, plunked the stems in water tinted with food coloring and watched the flower heads turn blue, pink, green and yellow overnight. Tied with gauzy bows, the bouquets were presented to our hostess. Who, but Miss Angie, would declare common weeds to be her second most favorite flower as she tucked them into a Waterford crystal vase?

The girls and I literally stepped back in time into a home where the "pause button" had clicked and we were lavished with the luxury of practical instruction, winsome wisdom and light-hearted musing on a myriad of topics. First off, a biscuit-making lesson. The girls had it down pat (no pun intended) and were able to recite the steps at day's end. Britain's version of the procedure follows, after her first taste of buttemilk that she and Izzy decided was better in a biscuit than a sipping glass:

"There's only four ingredients. 

First you use White Lily flour (self rising)

Then baking powder and you mix those together

You never measure anything 

You make a little well and pour in the buttermilk and Crisco vegetable oil

A good cook never lets the liquid touch the sides of the bowl

You pull in a little flour with a fork and stir into the liquid

Work your way around the bowl until it all sticks together 

Then you can pat it together 

Rub the oil around in the baking pans to coat them

Put a little flour on the counter and roll it with a rolling pin only two times

Leave it kind of thick

Dip your biscuit cutter in flour 

Go straight down and straight up

Do not squish the cutter back and forth because that presses out the gas 

Put the biscuits in the baking pans

If the sides touch, the biscuits will be softer

If you want them more crunchy, spread them out on the pan

Bake for 10 minutes or 15

Put some butter and may haw jelly on them if you have some"

Strength and dignity are her clothing....

And maybe rubber boots, too.  How rich for the girls to experience the versatility in an older woman who loved listening to them, investing in them and trading her prissy white apron for creek-dwelling duds to trot them off on nature-lore adventures. Amidst talk of geography and culinary interests, gardening and rhino-rescues, politics and current affairs, school and relationships, the joyful opportunity of being an Esther "for such as time as this" was the take-away challenge. No sermonettes, tracts or lectures. Nonetheless, my friend was intentional about investing in these young women. These grand girls rose to the occasion (there we go with the biscuit puns again) and are quoting and circling back through conversations shard as we sat in a home and walked along the way.

"Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time...like to have a friend takes time."

Georgia O'keefe