Tag: Tonti

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Fireflies at Dusk

One of the simple pleasures of summer (I realize June 17th is technically not summer, but when it’s a sultry 100 degrees in the shade, it’s close enough) is watching the fireflies.

Fireflies, a.k.a. lightning bugs, are pretty amazing. Like tiny, flashing glowsticks, these cute little creatures can make the night sky seem a bit magical.

Growing up in the Tonti countryside, I remember chasing and watching them as a little girl. I’m pretty sure I pretended they were Tinkerbell a time or two. (I did finally see Tinkerbell “in person” on my Senior Band Trip to Florida…)

If you haven’t ever spent a peaceful evening in the country watching fireflies as the sunset fades into dark, you should. Birds and likely some other critters provide a tranquil soundtrack.

This video is just simply that–a few minutes of watching fireflies at Dusk in the country. Enjoy.

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Snow Days

If you were in Southern Illinois earlier this week, as temperatures actually hit 60 degrees Fahrenheit in some spots, you may have noticed grocery store shelves start to empty. Once the forecast indicated a wintry mix was coming, storm panic hit. People began planning large meals of French toast and meat. Well, maybe not, but the bread and meat with some other items began flying from store shelves.

The bread isle at a Carbondale store on 2/2/22

This spot was full of produce before the weather started changing.

The meat section (whats’s left of it…) on 2/2/22

My brother, Consulting Historian for A Slice of Southern Illinois, and I recently reminisced about snow days as kids in Tonti. This was WAY before remote learning was a thing. “E-learning” to us would have meant learning words beginning with the letter “e.” There were no automatic texts to say that school was cancelled. (For that matter, “text” was not yet used as a verb…) Our phones were still attached to the wall–one in the kitchen and one in the hallway upstairs.

We did have kind of a direct line to knowing if it was a snow day in grade school. Our dad was the principal. As it was a smaller, country school, one of the hats he wore as principal was that of the transportation director. This meant we sometimes all piled into the Pacer (our family car for much of my childhood…) to check the bus routes. Dad drove through the bus routes, mostly all on country roads, to see if it was possible for buses to run. The little Pacer got stuck in a snow drift by a friend’s house once. Her family was kind enough to help us get back on the road. Selmaville did NOT have school the next day…

Of course, if the electricity was out, school was cancelled. Crackling, sparkling ice on the trees was beautiful, but the weight sometimes caused power outages. Water also froze when temperatures were too low. My parents tried to be as prepared as they could for any water outage since we had well water. My mom washed and reused plastic jugs by filling them with water for washing. She stored them in what we referred to as the “water closet.” If it was cold enough that our water froze, it meant the goats and other animals needed more attention to their water. Frozen five gallon buckets of water were pretty heavy. (Carrying water buckets from the outdoor faucet at the house across nearly two acres to the barn was quite a workout in good weather. Trying to remain upright on ice was an added challenge.)

Before my parents got a wood burning stove, it was pretty cold in the house during a power outage. We sometimes went to warm up at my aunt and uncle’s home. They had a fireplace. Of course, we had a lot of fun hanging out with our cousins. I remember frozen snowmobile rides through a path in the woods being a blast. Very cold, but fun.

One winter night as a fourth grader, when the power was out due to ice, the wood stove kept us warm. We congregated in the kitchen around a battery operated lantern that we also used to do chores in the barn. I spent quite a while by the light of the lantern reading for pizza ingredients. (Yes, you read that right…) My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Hunter, let us pick paper pizza ingredients to add to our paper pizza slices based on how many minutes we spent reading. I really wanted a supreme pizza slice..

My brother reminded me that during the Blizzard of ’82, nursing home staff and residents at one Salem facility were reportedly snowed in for three days. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an employee advised that the coroner had to wait to tend to a death until a door could be opened. (I’m not sure how that managed not to be made into a television movie…)

We also remembered hearing that the Salem Armory had been used as a temporary shelter during that blizzard for travelers on I-57 who were stranded by the storm. Employees at a local restaurant, some unable to commute home during the storm, reportedly helped to keep the travelers fed.

A couple decades or so later, when my kids were little, we did have a few snow days. Snow angels, snowballs, and attempts at making snowmen were fun. We also made some tasty snow ice cream.

Making snow ice cream

Now that they are young adults, I’m not sure that snow days are quite as much fun. I think the fur babies may be more excited than the kids are about snow.

Sir Kingston returning from a very brief trip outside sporting a rather large, perfect snowflake on his back.

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My Mom’s Christmas Tray

I have a confession to make. As a child I never understood why so many people hated fruitcake, or even why it was called “cake.” You see, my Mom’s fruitcake was more like candy. She got the recipe from a fancy restaurant somewhere, and it was pretty much pecans and candied fruit.

Every year, growing up in Tonti, our family Christmas tradition was that my parents would make the fruitcake and chocolate fudge. We had to make sure to save grocery bags (they were paper…) as the recipe specified that the fruitcake be baked on brown paper bags. My mom had a golden tray for serving the fruitcake as well as homemade fudge, and eventually, my dad’s snickerdoodles. She kept a supply of these treats in the freezer to pull out for company through the Christmas season. My mom also made wonderful Swedish tea rings.

I recently found my Mom’s golden tray again, and I can’t explain how happy I was to be reunited with it. This tray triggered lots of warm, family memories.

After Thanksgiving, my family would decorate for Christmas. My mom had decorations for the entire two-story house. I tried to hang onto ones with sentimental meaning. Unfortunately, the historical May 8th Derecho of Southern Illinois destroyed some. She used to make a oragami-style poinsettia and a geometric figure ornaments that were amazing. Some house decorations were framed greeting cards–others things people had made. We had a Holiday Closet. The guest bedroom had a big, old-fashioned closet (our home had been a boarding house in the 1800’s) where seasonal decorations and home-canned goods were stored.

Christmas Cards that our family received went into a painted wooden card holder that was the same kind my parents had bought for people as Christmas gifts the first year they were married. Believe it or not, their Anniversary was Christmas Eve. At the time, both were teaching, and that was when they could be off work. My brother and I had Christmas stockings that my Mom’s cousin made for us. Since we did not have a fireplace, and the wood burning stove would not have been a safe spot for them, they always hung on the handles of the pie safe in the dining room.

My dad took care of the outdoor decorations, and I loved to help. We would wrap red plastic ribbon around the white porch posts to resemble peppermint sticks–something I still prefer to do… The old school mutli-color large bulb stands of lights went on the porch and around the living room picture window. A plastic textured Rudolph, purchased from 4-H club fundraiser, was hung on the porch.

Eventually, we added the lighted nativity scene. My mom and I somehow managed to get this home from a trip to Olney. We hadn’t thought about it not fitting in the Granada. So, we had to take everything out of the box to squeeze the plastic figures into the car… I was able to hang onto it and use it several years. Things went downhill when Baby Jesus and Mary wouldn’t light up anymore. I was afraid people would think I was being disrespectful or protesting if only Joseph was illuminated…

Not only did we have a few lights, our family loved to visit light displays. Pretty much every year, we went to Ingraham’s display near Olney and Candy Cane Lane in West Frankfort. We often visited the light display in the Olney Park as well. When I was 7, I had Chicken Pox on Christmas. That was the year I remember visiting Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville.

Candy Cane Lane, West Frankfort

Shopping malls used to be a destination as much to see the Christmas decor as to shop. Every year, there used to be sparkly Christmas trees on the roof of the Centralia strip mall. Carbondale, Effingham, and Fairview Heights all had malls that were nicely decorated. My brother and I sometimes saw Santa Claus at a store, but we also used to go to Xenia when he came to town.

We visited lots of family at Christmastime. I think probably every Christmas Eve I can remember was at my aunt and uncle’s home in Goreville and eventually Marion. We usually visited with my Salem family on Christmas sometime after we had done the Christmas morning thing at home. I have many fond memories of these times. We ate wonderful food and often played board games or just joked around with cousins, aunts, and uncles. It may not have been on Christmas Day, but we also made the rounds to see family in Centralia, Cisne, and Kinmundy.

My kids have been fortunate to spend some Christmases playing with cousins when they were younger. Unfortunately, as people grow older and busier, we tend to lose some of that connection. I pray that you and your family are able to create and hold onto fond Christmas memories too.