Hangin' on to June by my garden caked fingernails

So much has sent June skidding past . My only remaining aunt ," the Countess" of the Rapp family, gravely ill, has made me think a great deal of family and memories. Her mother, Minnie. died relatively young - partly of overweight and overwork. They went to the church down the road which was the church my great, great grandfather founded out in Millwood. This was most certainly where my father met my mother. Anyway, my maternal Gramma Minnie belonged to the same Ladies Aid Society that my paternal gramma Grace belonged to for many years. I don't remember Gramma Minnie but Gramma Grace was my guide and my rock through many of life's trials.
One of the fun things I remember about some of the summer days I stayed with her and Daddy Wash at the farm was the Ladies Aid Society meeting. There were many but the one I remember most was in June when I was ten or eleven. The ladies had decided to stage a "mock wedding" and Gramma Grace had volunteered to host it at her house. I was given responsibility for getting the decorations and music around. The funny part was that the entire wedding party and guests were ladies ( is that the opposite of drag?). The ladies portraying guys-groom, best man, minister were wearing someone's best suit; there were roars of laughter when they appeared in the parlor. I think I found the veil (lace curtain) for the bride. The decorations were white paper streamers and bells. There were plenty of roses for the bride's bouquet. I picked from several bushes. My favorite was a double powder puff pink located immediately off the front porch . They perfumed the entire house. Music was contemporary for the day; "Because"and "Always". It was a formidable task keeping the wedding party and the guests in line because they were all laughing so hard it was like they were on drugs or something . You can be sure that was an impossibility!!!!

June was for Anglin family strawberry festivals

There were many memorable times spent on the Anglin family farm when I was a child. June stands out in my mind as especially fun because of all the work/fun activities. There was a large strawberry patch just south of the old grape arbor It was easily accessible from the side of the gently sloping front yard. Straw was applied and reapplied to keep berries clean. Birds were discouraged - although I do not remember how. When the strawberries were right at their flavor peak . Aunts, uncles and cousins were called in to pick, clean and hull. While the strawberries were being prepared, Grandma Grace would get out her tried and trusty rich shortcake recipe. Several batches were put into the jumbo sized oven at the exact right time. The result was nothing like the little sponge cake cups we experience now in the grocery store right next to the old tired ,sometimes tasteless strawberries.
A couple of the aunts would have been stirring up ice cream to be distributed between three or four huge hand crank freezers. there was a running argument about which ice cream (always vanilla) recipe was best -the one made with eggs and cooked like a custard first or the one made with rennet, a natural thickener. I won't tell where rennet comes from. Once in a while they would use both.
Then the men were called in and things got real interesting. There would be an unspoken challenge to get the first freezer finished. Of course Uncle Dal would usually win because he was the first to hook up the crank to the jacked up wheel of his car. The bung hole on the freezer had to be watched closely to make sure the salt did not plug it and cause the water to get onto the lid which could ruin that freezer of ice cream.
Since I was the only one staying over most nights breakfast would be strawberries and melted ice cream on my cereal. YUM!!!!