Earring 0004 - Swirl of Dots

Donna must have liked dots as much as I do. I can remember the 1950s when dots were "the" thing. My mom even had a polka-dotted swimsuit. She had a lot of dresses and blouses with dots in them too. When dots came back into style a few years ago, I got my first dotted blouse. Donna had a lot of dotted earrings. Picking the right one this time was really easy.

Mom was a stay-at-home mom like most moms in the 50s. Like Ann H. liking to come to my house to play, the neighborhood ladies would come for coffee klatch (pronounced clutch) at least once a week. Our house was bigger than most of the homes in our neighborhood so it had the biggest kitchen and biggest kitchen table. Of course, there was a reason for that, we had the biggest family in about a six-block area. After the ladies got their kids off and some chores done, they would come over and sit at the table for a good hour or so. Mom usually made a dessert to go with the coffee. Often, it was a cinnamon coffee cake. It was so good warm and dad always put butter on his...so most of us picked up his habit too. Dad worked nights so he was sleeping when the ladies came. To this day, I don't know how he ever slept through their chatter. If you have ever heard a chicken coop when someone walks through it, that is the way these ladies sounded. No offence to them but that's what it sounded like to a three to five year old kid.

There were no strangers in our neighborhood. Mom always baked a cake or made a hot dish to take over to the new neighbors, which made instant friends. Mom's friends became life-long friends even when we moved 25 miles away, these were her friends. The new neighbor ladies were always included in the coffee klatch and in all of the rest of the gatherings.

The reason I can remember my mom's polka-dotted swimsuit was she had a swimsuit coffee klatch when we were out tent camping one year. All of her friends came out and were wearing swimsuits. Mom looked pretty darn good in her swimsuit and I was proud of her even if she didn't go near the water. Somehow, I don't think the ladies were drinking coffee at that coffee klatch. That part is a vague memory but I don't remember any coffee!!!

Can't remember too many of Donna's outfits because I moved away from Minneapolis quite a few years ago. Donna is my brother's mother-in-law. So I was able to see her on special occasions. The older we got, the less we saw of each other. She still puts a smile on my face even though I haven't seen her for a few years before she passed. Gosh, I love good memories.