My darling mother had a birthday last week and I'm always looking for ways to spend more time with her. This is a great activity for seniors, but please don't tell my mom she's a senior. She can say it, but I can't.
We decided to make "party pumpkins" for my cousin's eight- year old daughter. Mother and I both taught kindergarten, so this was easy as pie for us. Did you know I also worked in a nursing home and have a bachelor's degree in therapeutic recreation with emphasis in gerontology? I can jam with 5 year olds and 95 year olds alike.
We started with lots of small "doo-dads" eight- year old girls like. Sparkly rings, balloons, bracelets, stickers, seashells, candy, buttons, hair bands and hard cold cash. Rolls of orange crepe paper wound it all together in a tight ball.
We rolled, and rolled, adding tiny treasures and ended with a green rick-rack stem.
As we rolled the cute loot, we talked. Mother told me stories of how she paid $7 a week rent to her parents when she was in secretary school after high school and then how she used her working money to help pay for tuition at Howard College. She also told me all about her old boyfriend before she met my Dad. "He was a beatnik." Do I really want to hear this????
We laughed and drank lemonade and rolled crepe paper pumpkins all afternoon. Hers was the prettiest. We finished them off with green rick-rack stems and glittery stick-on leaves. I snuggled them down in a box of green paper grass.
We shipped the perky party pumpkins off to little cousin Bronwyn with instructions to unroll one when she needed a reward for accomplishing a helpful household chore or school work.
Senior day in the pumpkin patch was fun.
