Ida Matilda’s Cream Pitcher
“Ida Matilda’s Cream Pitcher”
by Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2017
I loved to spend endless, languid
days at Grandma’s house, sitting
around her plentiful kitchen table. Ida
Matilda’s raisin-filled cookies, sprinkled with
granulated sugar,
apple pies and yeast breads served hot from her oven
tart cherry desserts and homemade blackberryjam.
I poured heavy cream this morning, from her
old ivory creamer, a
little piece of McCoy pottery, circa 194o, Art
Deco, with faded daisies and pale green
leaves, beside
a glass vase of old-fashioned pink roses on a
soft cotton table-cloth, the color of Ida’s blushing cheeks.
Creamers like this had a mate but the open sugar
bowl, now lost.
Reservations were never necessary
even when times were tough, she served her
husband and 7 children
around the abundant table. A tolerant
Mother, she filled her creamer with sweet
milk every day.
Patiently I touch the smooth brown glazed
handle
Ida’s cream pitcher felt cool in my
septuagenarian hand
today. It spilled out the sound of her laughter
caused me to cinch my fingers around its girth
her pale eyes were the ice blue winter sky.
Every time I hold her cream pitcher it
reveals memories of refreshing new cream.
___________
“Ida Matilda’s Cream Pitcher”
___________
Lynda McKinney Lambert is the author of the new book, “Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems.”
NOW available on amazon and other book sellers.
To order visit her Author’s Page:
Life is either a grand adventure, or nothing!
…Helen Keller