Running With Quills: NEVER ON SUNDAY

Welcome to Running With Quills, your online newsletter designed to keep you up to date with what your favorite authors (that would be us) are doing throughout the year. Here you will find the release dates of our new books and get information about our backlists. We'll preview our cover art here long before the books hit the stores and we'll keep you informed about works-in-progress and special projects. You'll also receive advance notice of signings and appearances. From time to time we'll give you a peek at our worlds, tell you what we're reading, and introduce you to some new authors.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

NEVER ON SUNDAY

First, I'm so mad I could spit! I just finished writing this blog, knocked the mouse on the ground and the wretched computer said, "Goodbye!"

Yuck!

Argh!

I've got to start over and we all know there's no way I can recreate the brilliance I just lost. Ooh, I'm so upset, I'm not even sure I can do this at all.

Give me a moment to recover.

Breath in, breath out, in, out.

No, I do not feel better.

What happened to those sunny Sundays when we lay in the sweet grass and read a book beneath a tree?

Did you ever gather around the piano on a Sunday (now look at that--not at all as sprightly as it sounded the first time I wrote it) and sing while the family pianist trotted out a song? Folks made mistakes and we giggled. I had the best time because I was the youngest and got to stand where I held the side of the piano--close to the keys--and wound back and forth on one foot. You wonder why this was such a plum? That way I could see people sounding bad as well as hear them.

We couldn't go to the pictures (movies to most of you) on Sunday because they weren't open. In my mind I still see the billboard beside the baker's shop where I stood, peering at showtimes and always wishing that, just once, there would be a showing on Sunday. But, never on Sunday, and if they had planned such a heinous activity, we wouldn't have been allowed to go.

One of my Sunday activities was to stand in our long, long garden with my elbows hooked over the clothesline (nothing drying there on Sunday) gazing at the sky and wondering if there was anywhere in all that blue where there was more to do on Sunday. The corner shop was open for a couple of hours in the morning, to sell newspapers. But woe to the one who ran her last pair of hose on the way to visit Great Auntie Mary because there would be no way to buy such frivolous items on Sunday.

There was a sneaky newsagent who, if asked, could produce the best, the most succulent, most memorable popsicles ever made. The walk to that shop was 2 miles each way but my sister and I went whenever we could wheedle the money out of someone.

I've whined enough, now to the really good part: We were a reading family. On Sunday evenings we sat together and read our books. Winter and summer alike, hot or cold alike (no air conditioning or central heating) we took our appointed chairs around the fireplace. As a foot-flopper I invariable heard "stop that," snapped out by my mother as my right foot went up and down, up and down. She never cured me. My father was a foot-flopper, too, but I doubt if anyone ever said, "stop that," to him.

How about drinking tea and eating buttered toast, book in hand (one hand) by the fire while winter winds and rain snarled outside? Ever done that? It's not too late to give it a try and I wish I could today. Today I have dead-headed the plants, wrestled a globby something out of my dog, Millie's, fur and cleaned her teeth (not fun), written a chapter, written a blog (twice), watched the news three times (three times too many--it didn't get any better), cleaned the kitchen . . . It's okay, I'm done for now.

What do you remember from childhood Sundays? And what is best about your Sundays today?

Cheers, Stella

35 Comments:

Lori Foster said...: Stella, I know I've privately told you this, but your blog deserves a public mention too.
You are SUCH a beautiful writer. I "see" what you write. It's fabulous. It makes me smile even when I have tears in my eyes. Simpler times... yep, I'd like them. Yet, there's not much I'd change in my life for fear of causing the domino effect, when most of my life is so blissfully perfect - for me. :-)

My favorite memories are of the boys being young & making "things" on the holidays.
They decorated our own wrapping paper for Christmas with potato prints that they cut out themselves with plastic knives.

We decorated eggs and added colored paper and bits of cloth so that the eggs looked like chubby rabbits and fat alligators and upright bears.

We made so many cookies that every flat surface in the house would be covered. My husband got used to coming in and dropping everything on the floor because there was nowhere else to put it, not with our crafts and edibles everywhere.

Today I'm going to the zoo with my youngest son and my grandson, my middle son and his beautiful fiance.
Life is pretty good.
But it sure is different, and not too simple at all.

Big, big hugs to you! Thanks for painting such nice pictures with your words.

Lori; 4:44 AM
Lori of Canada said...: Stella, how painful!! I hate it when you know what you have written is exactly what you want to say and then the technological gods decide to play with your sanity.... I like your finished blog, though!!!

As a teacher, Sundays are my marking days during the school year. They are bittersweet - a reminder that tomorrow I am back to work. During the summer, they are days where I usually stay close to home and my brother/roommate barbecues for supper. I usually take my dog for a few walks, sit on the back deck and read, and try to avoid doing much of anything in particular (mind you, the last few Sundays have been tied up with post-wedding stuff as a couple of friends married one week apart).

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Sundays are actually a topic of debate. There is little Sunday shopping here (stores over a certain square footage are not allowed to be open, with the exception of places that are deemed entertainment, like movie theatres and bookstores and a place called Pete's Frootique....but that is another story). There are flea markets and corner stores are open. The past few years, there has been a huge push for Sunday shopping to be allowed; there is an equal (and sometimes stronger) push against it.... Chances are that the government will have to allow Sunday Shopping....but it is fascinating watching all the debate about it.

Lori M,; 4:47 AM
Kris said...: My dh is a minister so my Sundays are usually busy, but fun. Sunday after noon (after lunch with church friends) is more lazy, we all either take a nap, or laze about and read/watch movies.; 6:45 AM
Cbell said...: Oh Stella... I remember those Sundays when not even a gas station was open. My parents would fill up the car on Saturday afternoon (because no self-respecting gas station was open past 6pm Saturday night) to make sure we would not run out of gas on our way to or from church.

My mother was the church organist and my father sang in the choir. That left my younger brother and I seated on the second row, typically up to no good. It only took one "look" from my mother to know whether or not my brother and I would survive lunch (pot roast) before being spanked for pinching each other or some other heinous activity we were trying to get away with.

We were not allowed to play outside on Sundays, because it was a day of rest. So, my younger brother would play with his GI Joes and I would take time to read the latest Nancy Drew book before we headed back to church for the evening service. My parents would take a nap, and I remember thinking how silly it was to actually WANT to sleep in the middle of the day.

Now, I look forward to leaving a church service, having lunch with friends and hitting the sack myself!; 6:52 AM
ashefrog said...: Sundays of the past....

Funny you should write about this. Recently I discussed this with my best friend and my mother. I feel like my kids are missing out on so much.

When I was a kid, before everything was open on Sundays (you were lucky if a convenience store was open to buy milk and bread, maybe gas)we had dinner at my grandparents, our house or one of my parents many siblings. From 1PM - 7PM we spent the time together. Talking, playing board games, outside games or watching sports, it didn't matter. I spent alot of time with all my cousins and we KNEW each other, really knew each other.

Today, besides mass, Sunday has become another day to run errands, and get done what you couldn't during the week. My kids have my Sunday memories but with holidays attached. Several times a year, instead of 52.

We have tried to recreate Sundays of the past, but invariably it fells apart after a few weeks due to schedules.

Another tradition bites the dust.; 6:52 AM
Shoshana said...: I have a slightly different perspective -growing up as a religious Jewish family, Fridays after school we'd frantically cook and clean and do any errands we could squeeze in, because Saturday was the day of rest and none of it could be done then. When Sunday rolled around, we were ready to do things and go places again -but they were never open! It was immensely frustrating. Invariably there would be some item needed for a homework project due Monday that my brother or I had forgotten, or some other small bit of aggravation. We were in a fairly small town, and were the only non-Christians. Most of the folks were really nice, but my brother and I would never join the neighborhood kids for the Sunday afternoon games (hopscotch, jumprope, basketball, baseball, whatever it was) because one of the kids would always take great relish in telling us that we were going to hell because we hadn't gone to church that morning. So after a Saturday spent indoors, usually studying religious things, we'd spend a Sunday indoors studying schoolwork.
I'm very very grateful that Sundays aren't so simple anymore.

This sounds bitter -I didn't mean it to be. I'm just grateful for my Sundays now, usually spent doing the errands I didn't have time for during the week in the morning, and then a nice long trip to the library in the afternoon.; 7:04 AM
nellsquirrel said...: Sundays, when I was growing up, had two different flavors.

In the late spring to early fall, Sunday meant being at the race track. My dad owned a drag strip and that's where we'd be. Picnics under a big oak tree after the races or dinner at Durkin's - REAL turkey dinner!!! :-) We did church on Saturday afternoon during those months.

During the winter meant church, large breakfast, playing with friends or watching football on TV then Pasta and meatball dinner or Portuguese stew (I'm 1/2 Italian and 1/2 Portagee...)

Reading, of course, was involved throughout both kinds of Sundays - good books or comics either under a shady tree or in a comfy chair.; 7:41 AM
susanna in alabama said...: I grew up in the Kentucky hills, and the white wood-frame church building was about a half mile away from our house. It was built in the 1930s with no indoor plumbing or air conditioning, and the heat was an iron pot-belly stove. We put in a modern heater and then air conditioning, but never plumbing. Sundays were sitting on the hard wood pews fanning ourselves in the summer with paper fans from the local funeral homes, or in winter huddling in our coats, while the preacher toasted our toes with the sermon. Our parents didn't have to remind us to go to the bathroom before heading to church, because we didn't want to make a trip to the outhouse in the weedy side yard during services. The times I had to, I was always worried my tender backside would attract the attention of a hungry snake.

When it snowed in the winter we would often have church in my grandparents' living room, because the church drive was a windy road up the side of a long hill. We'd bundle up with pants under our skirts and walk around the road to their house, and it was always exciting and different to crunch through the hushed landscape. And on Sunday evenings, before we started having Sunday evening services, my sister and I would make tapioca pudding and watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Disney from the living room floor, while my parents sat on the couches and read. We always had a big family dinner, sometimes gathering at my grandparents' house, and on summer evenings we'd catch fireflies while all the relatives would tell tales on the front porch. Afternoons, my parents would nap and I would play outside in the creek or read.

It was a lovely childhood, and I miss it. So many pieces of it are gone now. I don't miss the outhouse, though. :D; 9:05 AM
Stella said...: Thank you, Lori. I know you're having a ball at the zoo with your families. You're making memories!

Love, Stella; 10:44 AM
Stella said...: Lori of Canada:

Do you think you'll get off the hook and not have to tell us about Frootique!

Cheers, Stella; 10:46 AM
Devonna said...: I actually have two memories that stand out of things my family did on Sundays.

The first is of my grandparents. They lived in a small town about 90 minutes away from us. Every Sunday our pastor who, along with his wife, shared church duties within the two towns, would drive my sister and I to my grandparents' so we could attend church services with them. Grandma always had an angel food cake ready and we'd snack on cake before church and then would have a nice Sunday dinner afterwards before we had to head back home.

The other memory is of my Mom and Dad who would pack us all up in to the car and we would just drive, sometimes for hours with no destination in mind. We'd just drive and talk. We'd stop somewhere and have something to eat and then we'd head home.

I get nostalgic thinking about it. Grandma, Grandpa, and Dad are all gone now, so it was nice to remember those times. Thanks for bringing up the subject, Stella.; 11:00 AM
Suzanne Simmons said...: Wonderful blog, Stella. I loved hearing about your Sunday memories. I have so many happy ones myself. I do miss those times and those relaxing family Sundays! (Especially when our writing schedules mean we often work on Sundays!); 11:31 AM
Jeanne said...: I have some great memories of Sunday rides (2hours away) to my grandmothers house. We lived in the big city and she lived with my aunt and uncle out in the country.
they had 3 acres with a big garden that always needed little hands to pull weeds and my brother and cousins would take turns mowing the lawn. We made life long friends with a few of the children in the area, and my mom liked getting us out of the city even if it was only for one day a week.
Now days I use it to run around and do chores when I don't have to work(I have to work 2 weekends a month) I long for the days of lying on my back looking at the sky and watching the clouds go by.
Jeanne; 12:10 PM
Lori of Canada said...: Stella,

LOL. It's actually not that exciting. It is a fruit and vegetable store (and he sells lots of other edible products; he has a lot of imports from the UK) that manages to be open on Sunday because a few years ago, he set up his operation so that it is several 'businesses' under one roof. The government tried to close him down but he went through the courts and won. ;-) Sunday shopping is definitely a hot button topic in Nova Scotia.

I love some of the products, but often cannot afford to go there. ;-) because there are so few places open on Sundays here, it is crazy on Sundays.

Lori M.; 12:47 PM
Karibear said...: It's nice to read about happy memories. My own 'childhood Sundays' were more of a nightmare - though there were a few [like count them on the fingers of one hand] good ones. We went to the zoo, which in St Louis was a lovely one then, or to a state park when the fall foliage turned. For myself, I'm utterly grateful that my kids don't have the same kind of memories that I do.

Still, it's nice to know that others have positive memories to enjoy.; 3:04 PM
DFender said...: This post has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3:22 PM
DFender said...: ^ That was mine because I posted before I was finished... LOL.

Geez, Stella... your "second" blogging attempt for this post is terrific... I'm kinda frightened to know the first one was even better! LOL

Hmmm... Sundays. Church (without Dad who stayed home and did his bookwork, big breakfast/brunch with EVERYONE at the table, Mom, Dad, brothers, myownself. Then we watched Sunday morning cartoons... Bugs Bunny, Speed Racer, Tom & Jerry, etc.

Sundays were PLAY day... no chores, no homework. Sometimes we'd go visit Gramma & Grampa. Sometimes they'd come visit us. Always we were blessed with Hershey's Minatures...LOL.

Sunday nights were for watching The Andy Griffith Show and The Walton's. We never, ever missed an episode.

When our kids were younger it was for playing outside and reading and watching Barney...LOL.

These days, since the kids are now 19 and 16, Sundays are for taking the Harley out with the hubby, waiting for the house to smell wonderful from something he's cooking, doing laundry, catching up on telephone calls and taking pampering baths.

Ahhh. What nice memories. Thanks for bringing them to the forefront for me, Stella.

Deb

oyinpvj: Obviously you inspire people, very just!; 3:36 PM
PJ said...: Great blog Stella. I could almost smell the tea and toast and feel the warmth of the cozy fire.

Sundays of my youth carry wonderful memories. I grew up on a lake and, during the summer, our house was the family gathering spot. Both parents were from large families so Sundays were filled with aunts, uncles and lots of cousins playing and enjoying each other's company. Everyone would show up with food, my dad would bbq, there would be baseball games or touch football and lots of time spent swimming or out in the boat. Sundays were for families, whatever the season, and most every weekend we either visited or were visited by family.

I can only remember one store being open on Sunday when I was growing up. It was a family owned grocery that opened until noon. Our town was an exit off the interstate so one gas station was open as well as a restaurant but not much more.

My Sundays have changed over the years. They are no longer centered around family (they all live in other states) but often include friends. I still live on a lake (in South Carolina) so many Sunday afternoons are spent on the water or at the neighborhood pool. Yesterday, after church, I enjoyed a beautiful and relaxing afternoon on the water with friends, swimming and teaching their daughters to water ski. Last night, I cuddled on the couch with my sweet dog and got lost in Susan's "Just For Kicks".

In my county, only "essentials" (food, gas, medicines) can be sold before 1:30pm on Sundays. We have what are called "Blue Laws" that restrict what businesses can be open on Sunday and what they can sell. Like Lori of Canada's home, there is vigorous debate here over whether those laws should be repealed.; 5:46 PM
Stella said...: Ashefrog: I absolutely understand the changes you've watched. We didn't do the family meal thing because there has been a tendency for the genes to be wonky:) No grandparents around. I do think our children have missed out by not having those quiet family times, even if they were small.

Shtella; 8:42 PM
Stella said...: Shoshana: I did think of people's holy days falling at different times but decided to let everyone fill in their blanks. Children can be mean but unfortunately, not without patterning from others.

I don't think you sound bitter, these things stay with us. Perhaps it's the customs that are part of who we are that count most.

Cheers, Stella; 8:46 PM
Stella said...: Nelsquirrel and Susana in Alabama:

Thank you both for sharing. What wonderful, descriptive stories--little scenes I can see in my own way. What would we do without those memories?

Stella; 8:51 PM
Ranurgis said...: Oh, Stella, what a great blog. It really reminds me of those days that used to be so special. It was the only one in the week that we were really together as a family--at least for the five or so years until I graduated from high school and went off into the wild blue yonder.

Breakfast was always a hassle for me, being the night-owl that I am. We'd go to church, both Sunday school and service. We'd have a special Sunday meal.

In the afternoon, we would go to visit friends, go for a drive, or, one of our best-loved activities, play games. Those depended on the youngest who was playing. We four children ranged in age from the oldest (moi) to my sister who is more than 11 years younger. It wasn't really until recently that I realized how different the world was for the youngest two.

We also loved the fact that Sunday had no business and very little busyness. It truly was a time to relax. Because of the range in ages, reading was out. Besides, only my father and I, and for a short time my sister while I was already gone, were really avid readers.

Having businesses open on Sundays crept into Canadian life in the 1980s long after it was already a given in many states.

I think families miss out on so much nowadays by not having a day together. There's someone always working, or someone who wants to go shopping or whatever and I know that with the hours my father often kept at work, we would never have had that sense of family that we did have. We also had only one car and lived somewhat "out in the sticks". And my mother elected to stay home after she had worked for about 15 years of her life and she felt more needed at home. We often did without things that children took for granted but I don't think it was a bad thing.

By the way, our favorite game was the four-player version of the Mah-jongg game. The others were mainly German games or games like Careers, Monopoly and Scrabble.; 9:14 PM
Ranurgis said...: P.S. I was thinking of the five years after we moved to "the sticks" at which time my little sister was 2 and the next-youngest 4. Often either my father's mother or my mother's parents would visit and make up the more adult group.

Actually, the years we lived in the city were much the same though the games we played were much simpler of course and we were much busier taking care of the little ones. In those days, we usually walked to church--unless we could get a ride in my uncle's lovely old 29 Chevy which outperformed all the modern 1950s cars in the winter. All you had to do was crank it and off it went.; 9:41 PM
Stella said...: You are all giving me so much fun, just letting me share in your stories. Growing up in England was, I think, More like growing up in Canada than the States. Although there are bigger stores open on Sundays now, there are many that close.

Recently I was in Lisbon on Sunday and they roll up the sidewalks that day!

Stella; 11:56 PM
Ranurgis said...: Prequel:
Yep, Stella. We are certainly more like the British in many respects--even in our official spelling. If I write "flavor" using the regular dictionary my brother programmed in, my spelling checker comes up with an error. If you check your system, you might have a "Canadian" setting on it.

I think Germany might still be like Lisbon too. I didn't have much time to spend downtown or shopping anywhere when I was there in 1995 but I don't think it's changed much from the way it was in the following:

Original comment:
Of course, I also lived in Germany during all of the 70s and there it was even worse: no night-time shopping, definitely none on Sundays, and Saturday shopping only until 1400h at most, except for one Saturday a month when you could shop until 1700 or 1800h. I can remember going to downtown Frankfurt on a Saturday afternoon and the place was totally dead. I was terribly disappointed because it was so different from Paris.

In Paris there was always something to do, weekday or weekend, rain or shine. If nothing else you could always people-watch anywhere in the city or look at the interesting buildings or sit in the Tuileries gardens or... I can't remember if they had weekend shopping or not, but then, I was there to experience the city not the stores, which, by the way, had wonderful bathrooms--at least for women. In the 1960s at least, the men still had these round metal places on the sidewalks between trees where they could take "a leak". Like anywhere when you are travelling, finding a place for women is a really big problem. So they made wonderful ones in Le Printemps and other department stores. They were definitely a lot more beautiful than in the Palace at Versailles (where they had port-a-potty or whatever it's called for the guests who had dinner there. (Sorry about the somewhat yucky subject).

lagycdd - Lowly and great, you could dance daily.; 2:40 PM
Shoshana said...: I'm enjoying hearing everyone's different memories. It gives me a new perspective.
Lol, it's rather ironic but I'm closer to my grandparents now than I was as a child -we lived half-way across the country from them growing up, and now I live so close I see them all the time. Hearing your stories makes me appreciate it more. Thank you.; 5:16 AM
GarniGal said...: Ahh, the joys of growing up in the country.

Sundays we went to church and then straight up to my grandparents farm for lunch (my maternal grandparents - Dad's parents lived next door)

In the summer it was eat, sleep for an hour, then into the pool. In the winter it was eat, sleep for an hour and then games. Board games, card games - we are a competitive family.

This weekend I went up to the cottage. Mom, Dad, brother and his girlfriend - we played games. I learned how to play Canasta.; 10:20 AM
Anonymous said...: I lived in the sticks. Actually I still live in the same place that I grew up but everyone else is encroaching. My parents started a commercial greenhouse before I was born so there was always work. Our little berg in San Diego Country, CA was full of old people in the 70s so I just had my brother for a friend in the neighborhood. After the work was finished we often did projects as a family, yard work or building a tree fort. My brother and I had big imaginations and five acres to get lost on. As we got older Sundays became very boring, but that is when I started reading. I don't remeber things being closed, well maybe they closed just a bit earlier. I got serious culture shock in Salt Lake City just last year when I was walking around town on a Sunday.

I like reading the different stories, how everyone is so differnt but some things feel exactly the same.

Zeusly; 9:55 PM
BUGG said...: I live in Utah... need I say more! Most small stores and some big ones are closed on Sunday here. I actually like it. More time with families.

Sunday has always been family day for us, even as a child. My daughter and I spend our Sunday's visiting my parents, grandparents and friends. Sunday is when we have two meals and "treat night". Where we make scones or brownies as our third meal.

Sunday is a day to rest, because the next day is work day... grrrrr.

For a lot of people now days, Sunday is just another Saturday...filled with busy work to do. For me, Sunday will always be a quiet day filled with family activities.; 11:01 AM
Stella said...: Bugg: Please may I spend my Sundays with you?

Stella:); 1:37 PM
BUGG said...: Stella,
You just want my brownies HUH?
LOL

My daughter likes Sundays too.

Charity; 11:53 AM
Denise Misencik said...: Stella, I love reading your blogs almost as much as your published work!
I grew up on a dairy farm so Sundays weren't all that much different from other days... apparently the bossies (cows, for you city folk) didn't feel we deserved a day off if they didn't get one. However, I do remember that we tried, as often as possible, to have a family supper. Grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncle and my little family of three. Even though we'd usually seen them through out the day, on the tractor or milking the cows, it was still special to have Sunday Supper.

I belive I'll try the Sunday family reading night, Stella. We have a fireplace in living room that is never used. What a lovely picture you created... one I'd like to have in my home.; 12:55 PM
WVU Fan said...: This post has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3:26 PM
WVU Fan said...: As a child we would go to the Grandparents on the Sundays my father would have off (he worked for a chemical plant). I remember getting sick on the drive up on the curvy West Virginia roads. But as soon as we got there I would rush to the pantry and get a biscuit that would have been saved by my Grandmother who knew I would be hungry. These were wonderful memories of the farm and the simpler times as a kid.; 3:29 PM
Stella said...: Bug: You've got it. Lead me to the brownies.

Denise--do it. Sit by the fire with your family and read and boo to you for thinking those poor bossies should give you a day off at all!

WVU fan. Isn't it wonderfully odd how we remember the odd little details like the biscuit your grandmother left for you. I had a great-Uncle George in Birmingham (England) who knew I loved both Madeira an Carroway Seed Cake. On the rare occasions when I got to visit, there would be one of each. He sat before the black iron stove which was both oven and warming device and held his pipe between his teeth. I don't remember him with other than white hair and his eyebrows brushed down a bit over the kindest of blue eyes.

Thank goodness for the vignettes that come back.

Stella; 6:39 PM

Previous Posts

Sunday, August 06, 2006

NEVER ON SUNDAY

35 Comments: