Mrs. Janet Y. Johnson, 87, of Lowell passed away on Feb. 20, 2017.
Mrs. Johnson has inspired generations of artists embedded in the greater Lowell area.
Together with late David Davis and current artist Kathleen Mooney they have created an artistic legacy.
Drawing exotic animals in a circus setting was a passion for Jan Y. Johnson.
Miller Circus in Lowell.
Mrs. Johnson has been a staple at the Flat River Gallery & Framing in downtown Lowell with her countless exhibits of watercolor and acrylic paintings.
Mrs. Johnson studied animal drawing at the Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL and graduated in 1951, as well as at Kendall College of Arts & Design.
She worked for Amway as a graphic artist in the 1970s.
“It was fun to work for them back then,” she said in an interview on Jan. 31, 2017.
Her last and current exhibit at the Flat River Gallery features paintings with a circus theme with the most recent painting from the Miller Circus which performed in Lowell last summer.
Prior to Mrs. Johnson’s last exhibit, I interviewed her at her Lowell studio, which has been home to her for more than five decades on Jan. 31.
She was perky and proud of her latest illustration of children’s book about bullying “Gertie Goose” with author Pat Markle.
“I like how I captured the angry geese,” she said.
Circus elephants by artist Jan Johnson of Lowell.
Memorial services for Mrs. Janet Y. Johnson, 87, are scheduled for March 4.
Please extend sincere condolences to her children Brooke and Blake Johnson via Jan’s Facebook page at
Copyright (c) 2017. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this story or photos may be reproduced without the written permission of author Emma Palova.
Have you been through the publishing odyssey between agents, traditional publishing houses and self-publishing?
I have been on this route for the last 28 years, and I have learned a lot about the publishing, the filming and the arts industries, as well as about myself. I traveled this path as a print media journalist who swapped ink for the digital WordPress platform in 2013 with the first post published on Jan. 15.
I am an author, journalist, writer, screenwriter, designer, photographer and an entrepreneur of Emma Blogs, LLC, based in Lowell, MIchigan. That is professionally. I am also a human being: a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a grandmother. Some people call me, Mrs. Emma.
And I am somebody’s aunt, a Godmother and a”babe.”
Missing my mother.Ella & Emma, Venice 2015
How many different hats can a writer wear? Many. But the real question is, “Which is the right hat, and where do we hang it? Where do we put what?
Where do we put what?
My new friends like T.G., Barb and Wendy, think I am a geek. Ask my old artistic friends like Tom and Pam Woodruff of Leland, or Eva Laurencikova of Kromeriz, Czech Republic, “Who am I?”
I started my own flagship blog EW Emma’s Writing on http://emmapalova.com after advise from agents to build up the Emma Palova name brand in pursuit of publishing Greenwich Meridian (c) 2017, a memoir about the Konecny family immigration saga, @emmapalova@ludekpala now spanning three generations.
The mission of Emma Blogs, LLC
Over the four years of my publishing journey on WordPress, I have diversified into providing an advertising platform for others on the Emma Blogs portfolio, creating blogs for other people, publishing and most recently re-branding old structures into new designs. In Russia, they called it “Perestroika.”
Opportunities await if we keep our minds open to them
You guessed it, the “Wasteland” (c) 2017 theme park is on my mind. After all, who doesn’t want to re-do a theme park or the arts sphere? Stay tuned for more on this.
The screenshot of your Place at Home opportunity.
Re-branding and re-structuring into new designs
I have assisted in the digital re-do of the Fallasburg Historical Society (FHS) organization founded by a group of women in 1965, who used to get together somewhere on the grounds of the Fallasburg Park, into a digital conglomerate, known around the world.
The FHS slogan now is, “The next 50 years of Fallasburg.”
When asked about the direction of the Fallasburg historical organization, president Ken Tamke said the goal is to spread the word about the Fallasburg village on the Internet, and then people may actually find the hamlet in the northeast Kent County.
The FHS also has a new website http://www.fallasburg.org . So visit and chat with us before you head out there. You never know what you’re going to find.
Currently, I am working with the arts community of the greater Lowell area to create a new palette.
Thai wind 1 by Kacey Cornwell, Art Prize entry
Prague horloge on the Old Town Hall by “I love Czech Republic” group
You can call or e-mail Emma for a re-branding consultation as we fly fast toward 2020. Don’t wait around. You can do your research, but make a move now, or we will all miss the train. One person cannot rebuild an empire overnight.
My publishing ventures on Edition Emma
Tell us your story
Join me on my explorations of the publishing industry on both platforms; print and digital. Like most of my friends, authors and artists, I’ve learned the hard way; endless rejections, phone calls from sales people from different Publishing Houses that are now going digital.
Being constantly broke, I had to get more resourceful than just waiting around for a publishing prince to arrive on a white horse at my doorstep. He or she never did.
I also looked for the magical publishing white horse in the actual zoo as a kind sign that I might find an avenue one day.
That’s why I rolled out the blogging/writing portfolio, Emma Blogs, LLC in the summer of 2014.
Part of the portfolio is my own Publishing House Edition Emma (c) 2017 copyright. All rights reserved.
If you want to get published, submit your work to Edition Emma. Looking forward to seeing your work.
Love always,
Emma
There is something about the month of February, you can call it atmospheric . I was thinking that even before I heard that at a therapeutic meeting earlier this week.
Maybe it’s the overall ambience of the month in between the deep freeze of January and the much coveted arrival of spring in March. If I were to pin the season to the catholic calendar, it is usually the purple time of Lent, except for this year since Lent arrives late with Ash Wednesday falling on March 1.
“Everything is going to be late this year,” my husband Ludek, a chronic complainer, said. “We’re going to have a late Easter.”
No kidding, the Easter Sunday falls on April 16 this year. But, the good news is, the trees here Up North in Michigan will have leaves, and maybe even early blossoms and spring flowers.
We had rain on Tuesday, grayish nothing on Wednesday, a deep freeze on Thursday along with a creepy full moon, and now we are recovering from 20 plus minus degree temperature swings as the work week finally wraps up.
My body” loves” these roller coaster temperatures, and my mind and mood swing accordingly with them.
With the sunshine on Monday, I was at a reasonable high as I met with friends at the “Gathering Place” to discuss progress in our common therapy.
“You know, this really works, let’s do it next Monday again,” T. G. as always was very encouraging.
“I have a lot more stories to tell,” said our new buddy Wendy.
And the mid-week meeting somewhere in the woods next to the old stage-coach road was also a success, all things considered.
Van Gogh painted the Starry Night in Saint Remy.
This is my story.
I do feel grateful for this overall February gap in between the novelty of the new year 2017 and the onset of spring. This February gap finally allowed me to fill the empty spaces on my huge 17-months desktop calendar with my creative work.
Along with Ludek, we made an executive decision that I will self-publish my collection of short stories “Glass Flowers” Copyright (c)2017 Emma Palova. On Thursday, I started pulling the collection of 20-some short stories together after literally years of searching the publishing “maze.”
That search included everything from participating in Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Contests, submitting my short stories to literary magazines, of which, many no longer exist, submitting manuscripts to Writer’s Conferences and of course looking for an agent.
This all-inclusive escapade involved interviews with sales people from several publishing houses that have gone the self-publishing route as well.
“You know Amazon is moving quite fast on this,” said the sales person from Author’s Publish. “We’re keeping an eye on them.”
“Thank you Mr. E. for the tip,” I concluded a series of several hour-long phone interviews after my ear almost fell off. I decided to join the self-publishing mainstream.
Stay tuned for more of my “Publishing Escapades.” Have a great weekend, and a great February. Don’t forget it’s the month of the heart and love. Valentine’s Day is on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
Also some neat events this weekend include:
“Champagne and chocolates” at the Flat River Gallery in downtown Lowell this Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“Change is in the air, as old patterns fall away and new energies are emerging. Consciously release what needs to be released, and welcome with a full embrace the newness you’ve prayed for and so richly deserve.”
Marianne Williamson
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI- I’ve never seen a more varied reaction to the happenings in Washington D.C. than this week following the presidential inauguration of Mr. Donald Trump on Jan. 20.
Any psychology student would have had a great doctoral thesis if he or she had analyzed and tabulated the responses to president Trump’s inauguration, Women’s March on Jan. 21, the first executive orders, retreat in Philadelphia, the Right to Life March and the mainstream media commentaries. Not to speak of late night shows, Saturday Night Live, and the fashion comparisons of the First Lady to historical figures and her linguistic disabilities.
Only the death of the incarnate of the modern woman Mary Tyler Moore, and maybe watching “Charlie Bartlett” kept the weights of humanity from tipping over completely.
“So tell me what you think about all of the above and I’ll tell you who you are,” independent analysts and charlatans tested the Internet waters.
Facebook, twitter and other social media were bubbling like a witch’s potion with all the ingredients starting with hate to complete apathy, withdrawal and secure rationalization.
In between reigned ridicule, sarcasm, vulgarity, hopelessness, fear and despair.
Of course, there were observers patiently waiting to render their opinions after all others have gone first, ala “risqué” style.
I’ve tasted my share of firsts with the post “Join 10 Actions in 100 Days”, a story about a local inspiring woman Sharon Ellison, a participant in the Women’s March.
The overwhelming reaction was that the women were vulgar and inappropriate like Madonna in order to get attention.
I didn’t catch what an editor would have caught, that is a vulgar phrase on a sign accompanying the post. It cost me some.
However, one of the best observations in the last 8 days was the use of the “alternate fact” term as the means to justifying anything.
I find that term especially useful in teaching my American born protégé Josephine Marie Palova, 3, the Czech language.
“My dear Josephine, a cow is actually a horse, or vice versa, depending on what you need it to be.”
Not, that this is anything new in politics.
“What you meant to ask me, was….?” A city manager restructured my question to his prepared answer.
“What I really wanted to say was that…”
“But you said something else,” I said.
“Oh, I didn’t mean that.”
The politician’s word play is like a bad game of chess. No matter how good you are, the opposing party will claim they had won…….although in a different game.
Well, at least the Wall Street was happy in this game as the stocks soared past the 20,000 mark, if that is any indication of anything, according to ill-willed analysts.
I found some reprieve in the pacifist stance on the matter of the affairs in the union, in the world and in the universe, thanks to a post from a friend in Iowa, Sheryl Groen.
“Change is in the air, as old patterns fall away and new energies are emerging. Consciously release what needs to be released, and welcome with a full embrace the newness you’ve prayed for and so richly deserve.”
Marianne Williamson
There’s means to an end, my friend.
Be kind, everyone else is fighting a hard battle. Love like a kid, because love wins.
Featured photo thanks to Michelle Emaus of Lowell.
Note: This IW winter series features inspiring women from all walks of life who strive to make a difference in other people’s lives.
The difference in the society these women make is not measured by money or accolades they receive. It is measured by the progress in the society, because we as a nation cannot go backwards.
The IW series which leads up to the International Women’s Day on March 8th was also inspired by a dedication note on “365 ways to Relax mind, body & soul” from my son Jake:
“I dedicate this to my inspiring and motivational mother.” -Kuba
Nominate a woman who has made a difference in your life for this series.
Lowell woman shows passion for human rights, marches in Washington
Sharon Ellison
Name: Sharon Ellison
Residence: Lowell, MI
Occupation: retired from Lowell Area Schools
Family: husband Tony, sons Steve and Tony
Interests: travelling, art
Education: bachelor’s from Central Michigan University
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Lowell, MI – It was a solid wall to wall crowd between the main route on Independence Avenue and 14th Street, where Lowell resident Sharon Ellison and team ended up last Saturday during the Women’s March in Washington D.C.
“We could not reach the main parade on Independence and Third Street, because it was a solid wall of people,” Ellison said. “There was no break in the crowd.”
So, instead the team made their way to 14th Street were the parade was headed.
“I felt fenced in,” she said. “There were solid walls of people all around us.”
However, in spite of the crowds, the march was peaceful, according to Ellison.
“Everyone was respectful and polite,” she said. “There were only three police cars. We were looking out for each other. I did not feel vulnerable.”
There was a woman who went into labor and an ambulance had to make its way through the crowds.
But there were also some embarrassing moments like when someone questioned why women from Michigan were at the march.
“I felt sad for Michigan, whose electoral votes were for Trump,” Ellison said.
The crowds in Washington D.C. were estimated at 250,000, while worldwide around three million protestors gathered in major cities.
Ellison and other women carried signs bearing the name of those who couldn’t come: whether live or in memory of. Ellison gathered 74 signatures including memorial signatures of late family members.
“I felt those women were with me that day,” she said. “The atmosphere was peaceful, everyone wanted to be present.”
Ellison is no stranger to the Lowell community located at the confluence of Flat and Grand Rivers in northeast Kent County known as “The next place to be.”
Ellison, who is now retired, worked for the Lowell Middle School for 16 years, and she served on the Lowell City Council for eight years.
In the 1990s, Ellison with husband Tony had a video store in different locations around town.
Ellison enjoys travelling around the world and getting to know other cultures.
However, due to the events of the previous 19 months of the presidential campaign, Ellison felt she needed to do more than just complain.
“I went to D.C. for the Women’s March out of fear of what might happen,” she said.
Fountain Street Church of Grand Rapids organized last Saturday’s trip to Washington D.C. However, the charter buses were sold out early on, so the church also organized a local Women’s March in Grand Rapids.
“By sharing our experiences, writing to our representatives and making phone calls, we’re going to keep the movement going,” said Ellison on the future of the movement.
Ellison said there is no way of going back in protecting human rights.
“If any group is marginalized, we all lose,” she said. “We can’t go back.”
Unlike at the inauguration on Jan. 20, the metro trains were packed, according to Ellison.
“We rode the metro, but we had trouble getting in,” she said. “We were met by walls of people. The best we could do was to march on 14th Street to Constitution Avenue. It was amazing, you could hear the wave of people moving.”
Ellison said she went to the Women’s March in Washington for the same reason, she ran for a seat on the Lowell city council in 2015.
“I did stand up to make a difference,” she said. “I don’t want to be just politically correct. You get tired of banging your head against the wall.”
Ellison’s biggest pet peeve are bullies in any environment.
“I couldn’t tolerate it at work, as a child, or as a politician,” she said. “We wanted to send a definite message that this is not okay.”
And it’s time for action.
“We’ve gone past words,” she said. “We have to do something. This is the upside of the downside.”
Other women present in D.C. from the Grand Rapids area along with Ellison were: Nancy Misner, Alice Harwood, Kathy Sainz, Maria Lara, Nancy Misner, Shelli Otten.
Trip from Czech homeland marks 4th anniversary of blogging
By Emma Palova
Lowell, MI- On board Air France flight 1383 from Paris to Detroit, I was watching our route leaving the shores of Europe on Jan. 15, 2017, as I realized it was the fourth anniversary of my writing on WordPress.
500 posts Four-year anniversary
It was all so fitting, because I started blogging on WordPress in 2013 to promote my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” Copyright 2017 Emma Palova. I named the book Greenwich Meridian to depict our family immigration saga between the East and the Western hemispheres over the last five decades. The memoir tracks the Konecny family migration between former Czechoslovakia and the USA from 1969 through present.
Reaching higher with WordPress after four years.
The journey of blogging parallels my writing path through life almost identically. I don’t remember a period in my life not writing.
At first, it was writing letters to my mother Ella when she immigrated to the USA for the second time in 1980 to join my father Vaclav Konecny. Later, when I arrived in the USA in 1989, I embarked on a professional writing career as a journalist and correspondent for regional and Czech media, based in Michigan, New York and in Prague.
I followed Earnest Hemmingway’s correspondent footsteps.
Writing much like my husband Ludek have been my lifelong companions in good and in bad times, as expressed in our wedding wows in 1978 in Stipa, former Czechoslovakia at the Church of Saint Mary.
Writing has been the fuel of my life. Writing for me is like a fountain or elixir of life, when everything else around me is arid, dry and angry.
Instead of turning to violence and despair, I turn inside, meditate and feel into the overall emotions of the surrounding world. Then, I transform these powerful outside forces into a stream or an avalanche blanketing all with a soft cover of love, like a mother covering her child.
Transforming violence into love. A sculpture at LaCoste in Provence.
Today, as I write this 500th post on the WordPress publishing platform, I am thankful for the 1,066 followers and the future ones to come.
I also would like to thank all, who never stopped believing in me.
At the end of last year, just before I have reached the 1,000 followers mark, I realized that I have completed a second degree thanks to the WordPress (WP) Blogging University, the support happiness WP engineering team, my family and my beloved readers.
“Congratulations, honey. You have another degree,” said my husband Ludek. “It was just like back when you were in school in Brno. I had to be constantly quiet.”
I wanted to quit just as many times as I did while working on my bachelor’s degree at the Technical University of Brno from 1982 to 1986 in former Czechoslovakia. My path on WordPress was constantly jeopardized by the lack of finances and understanding of the principles of freelance blogging.
I plan on finishing my second degree on the WordPress publishing platform with a blogging directory and an app for the thesis.
Of course, in the meantime the memoir Greenwich Meridian has become the first part of the Konecny Saga (c) copyright 2017.
I would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year 2017. May all your dreams come true in the upcoming year. May it bring peace and love around the world.
Let it fill us with joy.
On this last day of the year 2016, known in Czech Republic as Silvester, my heart goes out to my readers around the world.
A sincere thank you to all my followers for a very fruitful 2016 filled with deep appreciation for the passion to write.I am thankful for the ability to transform the human experience into stories.
This is my story.
You motivate and inspire me on my writing journey every day. You make me who I am.
Love always,
Emma
Copyright (c) 2016 Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Lowell, MI – As I look back at 2016 like into a colorful kaleidoscope that keeps changing when I move it, I see a clear picture of the past.
I move it again, and I can see how the little pieces are transforming into the future, that is the upcoming year 2017.
Sometimes I shake that kaleidoscope violently, so that the picture changes into what I want it to be.
Well, it never is what I wanted it to be. Just like the molecules and atoms in space keep fusing and defusing, so do the events that these little pieces form not always to our liking.
And I have to quote Mr. Albert Einstein:
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
As in years previous, I looked deeper and deeper into what I saw around me. At times, experts call this,” being aware.”
Things lost, things found in 2016
Things lost and found in 2016, things old and new
On the last day of January in 2016, I rediscovered the power of the church in the christening of grandson Dominik Ludek Pala at St. Rose Catholic Church in Hastings, MI.
I had broken away from the church for many years. As I watched the christening rituals and both of my adult children, Emma & Jake, standing at the altar with the baby at the center of attention, I realized something big was happening inside and out.
My brother Vas was sitting in the first pew to the right, Dominik’s uncle, war veteran Tony was holding the baby, and my daughter Doc Emma Chavent flew in from Dijon, FR to be the Godmother to Dominik.
The power of church, 2016
The church united us all together regardless beliefs, distance or occupation.
Things lost for 10 years: the church, but not faith
In February, I rediscovered Florida, that some people Up North lovingly call southern overrated “Hicksville,” either flooded by tourists or college kids on their spring break.
I’ve been going to Venice, FL for writer’s retreats since 2009. This time, our entire group led by Doc Emma went to Saint Petersburg. And I loved it. I loved St. Pete for its cosmopolitan feel, culture and secluded historical beaches.
Things lost: St. Pete’s city pier that has been rebuilt many times was gone to make way for a new one.
In March, I observed my son Jake’s birthday too sick to go to Hastings. On March 8th, which is International Women’s Day, I gave accolades to all the women who are making a difference in this world in my popular series on EW Emma’s Writings “Inspiring Women.”
Also my favorite feature post on March 19th is “Czech Name Days” honoring my grandpa Joseph along with millions of Josephs around the world.
Czech & Slovak Easter traditions
We celebrated Easter on March 27, still without my parents Ella & Vaclav, who winter in Venice, FL.
I wasn’t even a CEO (Christmas, Easter, Only) visitor to church on that festive Easter Sunday, when most of the women wear white dresses.
However, I wrote about the age-old custom, the whipping of girls and women in “Memoir highlights Czech & Slovak Easter Traditions” in Czech Republic. The post generated incredible controversy about being evil to women.
April to me signifies spring, here in the North. I gave it salute in many different ways: April 8th, according to Czech calendar is Emma’s name day. Throughout the year, I write posts about Czech name days wondering why Hallmark has never jumped on this social occasion. Many countries around the world celebrate name days, not just Saint Patrick of Ireland.
My daughter Doc Emma was also born on that day in the old country Czechoslovakia.
Inspiration: the spiral staircase at the Dali in St. Petersburg, FL
Her birth certificate is now a historic document, a testament to the changing times in the former socialist country. It reads, born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia. The Moravian city Gottwaldov no longer exists under that name. It took back on the old name from the capitalist times under the industrialist Bata, and that is Zlin.
It was also the 45th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. I usually write the post “Earth Day” to honor Mother Nature. Locally, the sign by Wege/Wittenbach Environmental Center in Lowell best expresses my feelings at any time of the year, and especially now as we enter 2017:
“May Peace Prevail on Earth.”
May is big, anyway you look at it. It’s “Mother’s Day” and the earth blossoms to honor all mothers. I celebrate my birthday on May 9th with my family and my friends. The annual get together on our three-acre ranch surrounded by lilacs in northeast Kent County is the highlight of my year.
Greenwich Meridian memoir inspiration; the family Drabkova. Front row from left to right: grandparents Anna & Joseph. Top row: Eliska and Anna.
May 9th also coincides with the “Czech national holiday” that celebrated the freeing of Czechoslovakia from the Nazi occupation in 1945 when Soviet troops arrived in Prague.
The modern calendar changed it to May 8th when the Americans freed the beer city of Pilsner in western Bohemia.
I call the change in the date of the biggest Czech national holiday, a farce in history, depending on who you are currently serving. Actually, it is a little piece in that ever-changing kaleidoscope.
Naturally, people critiqued me for using the real date of freedom for the Czech national holiday. For me it was a lot like changing the American Fourth of July Independence Day to let’s say July 3rd.
History, and the way we live it and change it to our own fancy, is an endless source of inspiration to me.
On May 13, 2016, I picked back up the “Greenwich Meridian” memoir which was the reason, why I started blogging in the first place in January of 2013.
I call June the month of the Geminiand the Summer Solstice. I write about both in my posts. Three of my great friends are all Geminis. I don’t know if that is a coincidence or some kind of a card trick that I could use.
In June of 2016, I found a friend that I thought I had lost a long time ago. I found her in such a way that even a kaleidoscope couldn’t put a picture like that together. I am sure I will write about this in 2017.
Right now she is calling me for the fourth time, so I am wrapping up the first half of the year 2016.
Written also in response to the Daily Post Retrospective
Lowell, MI – I carefully set my foot on the American soil for the second time on Dec. 22, 1989 at the frozen John F. Kennedy airport in NYC. I had two children by my side: daughter Emma, 10 and son Jake, 2.5.
With a shaking hand, I signed off on the US resident’s green card long before (Transportation Security Agency) TSA came into existence.
The night had already set in on the city with its million lights and bridges.
Before we headed out west like the early settlers, we stayed overnight at my parents friends’ house for some respite from the travel across the Atlantic.
Our Christmas tree 25 years later in Lowell.
25th anniversary of arrival to the USA
In the meantime, my husband Ludek was waiting for us in Montreal, Quebec. He received immigration visa to Canada, while I received mine to the USA.
After two days on the road in a frosted car on the deserted turnpike, we arrived at our destination: the college town of Big Rapids in Northern Michigan on Christmas Eve.
Mom Ella had already prepared everything ahead of time as we picked up brother Vas in Roger’s Heights for my first Christmas.
Later, in the early years around holiday time, I would drive to the Gerald Ford International Airport in Kentwood and nostalgically dream about hometown Christmas in Czechoslovakia with all its magic under the chestnut trees. That meant treasures bought at the Zlin Christmas market. I brought a piece of that Christmas magic with me to the new country in 1989. This included the hand-crochet yellow doilies for afternoon high tea and tablecloths made by ladies from Slovakia.
Whenever I get homesick, and I still do, I pull these treasures out of their drawers at our Pala homestead in Lowell. I try not to use them so I can preserve them forever. I usually have a story attached to whatever I keep, and my adult children and friends can attest to that.
I think of that time long ago at the market under the chestnut trees. It must have been that first bronze shopping weekend in Advent when I walked past the booths with silver and golden coated mistletoe all piled up into these pyramids.
I was immediately drawn to a lady dressed in a folk costume called “kroje.” She was always there also on Saturdays throughout the year. I wish I had asked for her name.
“I am looking for a Christmas present for my mother,” I said.
“What does she like?”
That made me think; what does my mother like? Do I know her?
I picked up the yellow hand crochet doilies set and admired the craftsmanship that would become lost art. I looked up at the woman with an old wrinkly face from the sun in the Slovakian highlands.
“How much are they?”
“Your mother is going to love them,” she smiled as she held up the biggest met for the coffee table.
I was a student at the time, and I didn’t have a lot of money.
I remember exactly, they were 220 Czech crowns which was a lot of money for anyone to pay for a fancy fragile cloth.
“I’ll take them,” the lady wrapped them in a brown paper.
At our Southern Slopes apartment, I hid them in a closet. The Sunday after we came home from church, my mom made festive dinner and we sat down for desserts in the living room. We reserved Sunday afternoons for guests. Mom, like most women in the old republic, always baked for the weekends, not just around Christmas.
“You’re such a bake nut,” aunt Anna always laughed at mom because she was jealous.
I noticed the old worn-out coffee table met.
“Mom, I got something for you,” I said.
“Why? What is it?” she asked.
I came back and gave her the Christmas gift wrapped in brown paper three weeks early.
“That’s beautiful, but why?” she pursued. “It’s not Christmas yet.”
“Because I can’t wait for you to have it,” I said smiling. “I would die waiting. Please, please take it.”
That little episode still brings a smile to my face. Mom Ella knew how much I loved that set. When she moved permanently to the USA to join my father Vaclav in 1980, she left the yellow doilies set at home.
“Mom, you forgot your yellow tea crochet set,” I said in a phone call months later.
“I know, I left them for you.”
Merry Christmas 2016 and a sincere thank you to all my followers.
