The Daily Dishtowel - 10

It's been a bit of a round-robin: ONEKIDSMOM referred to the dishtowel device, which led a number of people to the first dishtowel blog, which led to discussions about Arline, which led to having my grandmother on my mind. Not that she's ever far from me.

When she was sixteen, she and her best friend wanted to have their photographs taken, but they wanted what I suppose would've been "glamor shots" back in the day. They wanted to be hotsy-totsy flappers, not just farm girls. My great-grandfather would not allow any of his girls to dress in the latest fashions - the very idea, short skirts and silk stockings! They were finally allowed to have their hair bobbed and marcelled, but that was it.

So Arline did what many teenage girls would do: she snuck out and had her picture taken on the QT. Ione - whose parents were apparently not so strict - lent my grandmother some clothes and they hooked school, going off to town.

I don't know when - if - my grandmother ever showed the photo to her folks, or told them about her little escapade. I do know she kept the picture the rest of her life, and she would always laugh, recalling the day. I think it left her with a warm tolerance for the things her children, and later her grandchildren, and eventually her great-grandchildren, got up to. And she always enjoyed adventures, both large and small.

I looked around yesterday for the photo. I have the original here somewhere, but all I could find was a scan I made some years ago, when she still had the picture at her house but let me borrow it for a copy. Still, I think it gives you the idea:



I'll tell you, she didn't look sedate then, and she didn't look the grandmotherly-type at 90, either.

Carpe diem, people! 'ave a good 'un!