Aprons...Can't Cut The Strings!

Night before last I was cooking chicken for a salad...didn't have time to change clothes, so I quickly grabbed my grandma's blue checked apron, white pocket and white apron strings and quickly tied it around me!

I use it pretty often when we've got company coming and I don't want to mess up my clothes or in a hurry and don't have time to change!

That was one of the original purposes for the apron, to protect the cook's clothes. Apron comes from the French word "naperon", for napkin or small table cloth.



I remember my grandma wearing an apron for several different reasons. There were probably more, but these are the ones I remember. Drying hands, wiping the counter, wiping sweat from her brow as she cooked and picking up figs in her yard. I hardly remember my grandma without an apron tied around her waist. She was always in the kitchen, a true southern lady and great cook. Every Sunday after church when I was growing up, we'd go visit, and Grandma would always have a made from scratch strawberry short cake on the counter ready for us to sample.


When she died, I was 21 years old, preparing for my wedding. She had 11 children and more grandchildren that I could count! Needless to say, I counted it a blessing to get two of her aprons and a few of her other handmade items.



My mama also wore aprons and still does from time to time. Quite often she would wear them in the garden when picking a mess of peas early in the morning. After we helped shell, she would take the hulls in her apron and throw them over the fence to the cows. When I was very young, I remember her putting tobacco plants in the pockets of her apron when it was "setting out" time. Cherished memories.

Maybe I wear the apron to protect my clothes when I'm cooking or maybe I wear the apron to keep me founded in the roots I'm so thankful and grateful to have.

Embrace your strings!
Ginger