Welcome to the thoughts and photos of FLYDDW. Texas, New Jersey, and Arizona living.

Another episode of Eye of the Storm:

From:    RStorm453@aol.com
Date:    Wed, 8 Aug 2007 14:50:48 EDT
Subject:    20070808 Green Grapes and Family Reunions EYE OF THE STORM

By Robbis Storm
 
Two questions:  
(1) What's your favorite thing about family reunions?  
(2) What do you know about Green Grape Cobbler? 

The reason reunions are on my mind is that, as a member of several large old time pioneer families, I generally attend one or two family gatherings every year.  We'll get back to the green grape question is just a second.
 
Both branches of my mother's family moved west in the 1870s and settled in Central Texas, where they proceeded to establish farms and ranches and raise large families.
 
Once a year we have the "IOU" Reunion -- descendants of my maternal grandparents, Ira and Odelia Upton.  Mom's the third of ten children, seven of whom are still alive.  (Four are in their 90s.)  To count all my first cousins, I run out of fingers and almost out of toes.  If I'm counting correctly, there are 18 of us -- and that's just in my generation.
 
Then there's Mom's mother's people -- the Hays family which meets every year in Belton.  I long ago ran out of digits trying to count all the Hayses.
 
My Storm cousins and I don't get together that often, the last reunion having been held at my house some 10 years ago.
 
Miriam also comes from a large pioneer family that periodically meets in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The Born Family gathering I attended a few years ago attracted some 100 members, but Miriam assures me that some reunions have attracted as many as 300.
 
So what do we do at these reunions?
 
The Borns are German Mennonites who emigrated to Canada from Ukraine a century or so ago.  Of course they all speak English today, but many of older generation are still fluent in their native tongue.  After the noon meal, Miriam's cousin George Peters recited a poem he'd written about various family members.  What made it unique was that George wrote it in "Plaut Dietsch" or "Low German."  Naturally, I didn't understand a word, but those who did, found it hilarious.  Other family members sang songs or told stories.
 
After scheduled events most folks sat around and visited with each other, remembering family stories and cracking jokes.  
 
A mainstay of both the Upton and Hays gathers is the game of dominoes.  Now this is not the bidding game of "42," although many of us love that game as well.  No -- the family favorite is the "Block" game where the tiles are laid down end to end and scores are reached when the resulting numbers add up a multiple of five.
 
It's the game I played with my grandfather back in the late 40s -- the game that taught me how to add, subtract, and multiply before I entered school in 1950.
 
The Uptons always have a family auction where various heirlooms are sold to the highest bidder with the proceeds being added to family funds.  This year two of the big sellers were quilts pieced by my grandmother, almost half a century ago.
 
The Hays family has long been famous for the quality of their voices.  It's a wonderful thing to join them, young and old, singing gospel songs in perfect four-part harmony.
 
I'll never forget one time when I took my guitar to a Hays reunion.  A cousin and I belted out Chuck Berry's "Go Johnny Go" -- a rock 'n' roll standard quite a bit different from the old-timey, camp-meeting song you'd normally hear there.  So when I saw one of my mom's cousins approaching, I was prepared for some criticism -- perhaps even hear that I was "playing the Devil's music."
 
But she leaned over and asked -- with a twinkle in her eye -- "Can you do any Little Richard?"  You can imagine my surprise.
 
Every reunion I've been to has a surprise.  This year it was the four-wheelers.
 
For the last few years, the Uptons have met at Tom and Gay Lancaster's house just outside Lampasas.  This year Tom had a couple of four-wheeler ATVs ready to roll.  I hadn't ridden one in years, but discovered how much fun it was to take various family members -- including younger daughter Laura, Aunt Iberia Upton, and my great-nephew Noah Storm -- for a spin around the Lancaster's 20 acre pasture.
 
So -- what about the original two questions.
 
Here's my answer.  I really enjoy the singing, domino playing, family auctions, etc.  But most of all, I love the simple pleasure of visiting.  Telling family stories.  Remembering past events.  Grieving the dead.  Celebrating triumphs.  Catching up with each other's lives.

Simply reconnecting.
 
And Green Grape Cobbler?  What's that got to do with family gatherings?  If you ever attend an Upton or Hays reunion, you'd know.
 
You'd know when your nose quivered with the right-out-of-the-oven smell of one of my Aunt Janese Lancaster's cobblers.  You'd know when your teeth crunched into a "just-right" buttery crust.  You'd know when your taste buds tingled with the indescribable tartness of immature mustang grapes, splashed with sugar.  You'd know when you tasted a flavor you can't find in any grocery store or restaurant.
 
You'd know alright.