Saturday 9

 

Mama Liked the Roses

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Mama Liked the Roses (1970)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Elvis tells us his mother loved tending the roses in the garden. Do you have a green thumb?

Funny you should ask this question.  We are renting a house, moved in last summer.  Our front lawn is a disaster and our back yard is a mess.  I’m not much of a gardener, but my project this summer is to get the yards in decent shape.  

2) Mama would put the roses in a vase in the living room. Do you have cut flowers in your home right now?

No, but I’m sure there will be flowers on Sunday. 

I have a cat who thinks cut flowers are a salad bar, so I have to keep them in a place where Shadow can’t find them.

 
3) Elvis sings that he found Mama's rose petals pressed in the family Bible. Have you ever pressed petals in a book? If yes, what occasion were you commemorating?

I did it once, long ago, and I don’t remember why.

4) OK, so now we know Mama liked roses. What about you? Would you prefer white, pink, yellow or red roses?

I love them all.

5) Elvis' own mother, Gladys Presley, had a major impact on pop culture. When her son was 11, he asked for either a rifle or a bicycle for his birthday. She deemed the rifle too dangerous and the bike too expensive, and so he chose a guitar instead. The rest is history. Tell us about a special birthday gift from your youth.

I celebrated my bat mitzvah on my 13th birthday.  My parents bought me a ring — a pear shaped amethyst (my birthstone) surrounded by tiny pearls.  So grown up and sophisticated!  

I still have the ring.  I can’t wear it — the amethyst cracked and two of the pearls are broken.

 

6) Abraham Lincoln credited his stepmother, Sarah, for her lasting influence on his life, saying she ignited his love of reading and learning. Tell us about a woman -- mother, stepmother, grandmother, aunt, Godmother, teacher, neighbor -- who changed your life for the better.

My mother was an amazing woman and a wonderful role model.

In order to understand my mother, you have to understand my grandmother (another role model).   My grandmother was born in 1902 in what is now Poland but what was then part of Austria.  My grandmother was the oldest of 5.  During World War I she had to drop out of school (she was only 12) to support her family because there was no money coming from her father in America. She immigrated to America in 1920, got a job in a factory and taught herself to speak, read and write English. Eventually she married and had three children.  My mother was the eldest, born in 1932.  My grandfather died in 1943, when my mother was in 5th grade.  My grandmother, an immigrant with no formal education, was a single mother raising three children.

My mother put herself through college, earning a Bachelor’s and a Master’s, and taught high school Social Studies until she married my father and became a stay at home mom. When my sisters and I were older, she went back to work  as a court clerk.  And then, at the age of 54, she enrolled in law school. I joke that I went to law school twice, because I had just graduated from law school when my mother enrolled, and I was her study buddy.  My mother had a very serious stroke in 1987, in her last semester of law school, yet through sheer willpower she recovered from the stroke and graduated on schedule.  She worked as an attorney for almost. 20 years before enjoying a well earned retirement.  

I can only hope that I bring credit to both of these remarkable women,

7) Mother's Day is almost upon us. According to the National Restaurant Association, we like to eat out on this holiday, with revenue up more than 80% on Mother's Day weekend. When did you last dine at a restaurant? Was it a special occasion?

We go out fairly frequently.  Last Saturday we went to a very casual barbecue restaurant, the kind of place where they put a roll of paper towels on the table instead of napkins.  I had pulled pork, chopped brisket, French fries and corn.  This week, Saturday night will find us at a local Mexican place for a belated Cinco de Mayo.

8) Candles are a big seller for Mother's Day, too. What's your favorite candle scent?

I have two cats, I don’t do candles. A cat knocking over a candle … no, thanks.

9) Sam is celebrating Mother's Day with her mother's favorite, Hershey Bars. Would you prefer classic milk chocolate, dark chocolate or chocolate with almonds?

I love all three, but if I have to choose I’ll take classic.

And since I’ve mentioned my cats twice today …

The tuxedo is Shadow, the gray cat is Duchess.

 

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!"