Uncle Ed and Aunt Louise lived on a
hundred
acres on Puget Sound with a few
thousand feet
of waterfront, backed by rolling
hills, a sprawling
orchard and 70 Guernsey cows,
waiting out
pregnancy and one Guernsey bull to
guard them
Our Fourth of Julys began with
a clambake on the beach around noon
Uncle Ed had spent the morning
digging
cockle and butter clams
He built a fire on the beach, and
when it
burnt down to coals, he piled the
grate
with salt weed we kids pulled along
the shore
He layered the clams with salt weed
then
covered the stack with wet gunny
sacks
Butter melted in a pan close by the
fire
The family gathered round as the
clams opened,
we piled plates with mountains of clams and
melted butter in a clam shell, imbibing a
delicacy
I can still taste today!
Lots of work went into this annual
celebration
Many hands made light the work and
we kids
joyfully did whatever we were
conscripted
to do
In between times, I swung in one of
the hammocks
under the trees, enjoying a bay
breeze and relief
from the summer sun
Brother Doug was usually out in the
field setting
off fire crackers, so napping was
not easy but I
was young and Pop always said:
Rainy has two
speeds: Stop and go like hell; so I
must have
snoozed a little
Toward evening Uncle Ed and Aunt
Louise with
everybody’s help, started hauling
out the food
they had prepared for our barbecue
feast
As the coals turned from red to
white, the
hotdogs were first-Uncle Ed would
frown if
you didn’t accept one,
Then the chicken went on-never
pre-cooked,
Uncle Ed, a doctor, always served it black!
There were endless salads and raw
vegetables
harvested from all the family
gardens and corn on
the cob, chips, pickles, olives and
usually some
exotic offering Uncle Frank,
antique & art dealer,
picked up on his travels
Mom’s ice tea with fresh lemon and
sugar was
drunk by the gallons and after a
little rest
Aunt Louise brought out her
strawberry shortcake
with succulent strawberries from
her personal strawberry
patch, fresh baked biscuits piled high
with rich, yellow
Guernsey whipped cream
The women and children cleaned up
while the men
rested, chatted, napped and then we
children roamed
the acres exploring, warned to stay
away from the bull!
Mom usually took a walk with my
sister and me
As darkness approached, Uncle Ed
and Pop opened
the fireworks and instructed
brothers Burt and Doug
how to set them up in the field,
buckets of water
and the garden hose nearby
Aunt Louise and mom and Aunt Erma
brought out
the blankets and my sister Vick and
I carried out
and set up the folding chairs in a
semi-circle
where the extended family would
later sit
Aunt Erma usually brought homemade
fudge and
some glazed walnuts and later we
would have
homemade ice-cream that any kid who
wanted to
got to crank the churn-one of my
favorite things
to do
Uncle Ed and my brothers set off
the fireworks
Since pop and the uncles loved
fireworks, they
pooled their money and we usually
had an hour’s
worth to display-and many displays
were visible
set off by other families all around
the bay
At the end, after the last Roman
candle died,
My sister and I danced around with
sparklers
singing “The Star Spangled Banner”
demanding
our share of attention
Later, I remember waking up briefly
in my
father’s arms as he carried me to
bed
Home at last, this little farm
girl, turned over and
went to sleep, safe in my soft bed,
to dream
I would later learn in school about
the
American Revolution and why we were
celebrating…
