Journal Entry 3-Jackie Lewis

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in New Richmond, Ohio. That is where my mother grew up and my grandmother moved after her father , my great grandfather was chased out of Georgetown, Kentucky (a story for another day). I spent all weekends and summers in the country away from the concrete jungle I loved so much. My grandmother’s house was small. I spent much of the time there in the kitchen. That’s where all important discussions took place. I can vividly remember sitting on the floor in the corner of the kitchen next to the furnace. I would sit there for hours watching the hussle and bussle of the adults cooking and chattering about the local gossip or the day’s current events. My grandmother’s kitchen was small; it served as the room where we ate and the laundry room. As I stated earlier the kitchen also housed the furnace. Everyday my grandmother’s best friend Cora would come over and sit with my grandmother while she cooked dinner on the big wood burning stove. Every meal was an event. Mrs. Cora was a character and she would sit around the big oak table that barely fit into the small kitchen and spin tale after tale about the goings on in the small village of New Richmond. My grandmother would laugh and laugh at her stories. The kitchen was my grandmother’s base of operations. Everything stemmed from the kitchen and she spent the majority of her time in the kitchen. The walls were painted yellow and there were yellow flowered curtains hanging from the kitchen window. The floor was yellow and the kitchen cabinets were oak. In the far corner sat the washer and dryer. Across from the washer and dryer was the refrigerator. As a child I hated my weekly and vacations in New Richmond, but as an adult I miss the relaxed atmosphere of my grandmother’s kitchen.