The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook

Aliske Webb

Loose Change

One of the things I love about the Inn kitchen is the stone floor. It’s awfully cold,

yes. On Winter morning you don’t dare set foot on it for fear of frostbite. But it’s great

in the Summer because it keeps the kitchen cool even on the hottest days. The floor

is made of large grey stone slabs that are still uneven and rough in places. But a

hundred years of feet working for hours in the kitchen had worn a noticeably smooth

path around the room. We put a big old rough hewn pine harvest table in the middle

and surrounded it with an eclectic mix of old mismatched wood chairs because the

room looked empty without it. I grew up in a family that always gathered around the

kitchen table to talk, and to laugh, and to make decisions, and sometimes even to eat.

So, it’s here we gather for “important” talk.

When couples visit the inn, the men will often rambleoff doing “guy stuff”, leaving

the women to gather informally around the harvest table and gab. Frequently the talk

will turn to quilting and we share our “how I made my first quilt” stories. As I listen, it

sometimes seems as if the spirits of the women who used to live here are shuffling

around the old worn stones, waiting their turn to tell their stories too.

Sally Marie and Cal were a couple who visited the Inn a number of times. Cal

passed away last year. He had a wonderful sense of humor and great comic timing.

We’re going to miss him. So, for the first time, Sal is here by herself. She told us her

story.

When Sally Marie got married, a long time ago, she was very young and there

was little money to spend on any “extras” in life. Yet she was proud of the fine young

man she had married. He worked hard and cared for herso completely. And when the

young ones came along he was a strong and patient father no matter how tired he was

at the end of the day. So how could she dare want for more?

Every morning she rose early, long before Calvin woke up and she crept quietly

out of the bedroom to start his breakfast. But one morning, she happened to stop

briefly at the bureau, looked back at the sleeping Cal, and in a moment’s inspiration,

she silently scooped up half the pocket change that Cal had left there the night before.

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Country Cooking