By Scott Seman
Before computers, cell phones, fast food restaurants, and hundreds of television channels, there was a simpler time when folks gathered and talked instead of texting and enjoying each other’s company.
I can recall growing up in West Milton in the ’60s and early ’70s when Sunday in the summer was a time you looked forward to rolling up out of bed, getting your Sunday church clothes on, and heading out the door for Sunday School and Church. You knew everyone at the church. You had just been in school with them all week, so catching up on Saturday’s activities and what you all were planning after church was over was exciting.
In West Milton, the choices back then were Willies, Jax’s, or The West Milton Inn if there was a special occasion or that once every-couple of months dinner out. However, my favorite time was knowing the entire family was heading to Grandma’s house for dinner, homemade ice cream and croquet!
Dinner was chicken pot pie. Now, this is not the pot pie of today’s world of an actual pie crusted ordeal with vegetables and chicken.
Grandma worked all afternoon Saturday or early before church Sunday to roll out the dough and cut it into squares. The kind of pot pie that was dropped into an incredible mixture of chicken and creamy yellow sauce is the most delicious memory I have of food. I have no idea what other dishes were on the dinner menu, since my only focus was the pot pie. Grandma made tons of stuff, because my uncles and my dad would devour plate full after plate full, all to the delight of Grandma. She had made pies, but they would come well into the late afternoon. First came the croquet challenge. Who can beat Grandpa?
Grandpa would get the homemade ice cream ready to roll. This entailed cooking the ice cream ingredients in the kitchen and getting this concoction ready to be placed into the metal cylinder that would be in turn placed in the churn and iced. Salt was placed on the ice to expedite the cold, and the electric motor was turned on, with someone manning the poker to keep the water draining out while the croquet field was set up by my uncles. Everyone had a go at croquet, trying to dethrone the reigning champion, Grandpa.
After all the croquet games, the ice cream was finally ready, along with the strawberry rhubarb pie and strawberry pie, coupled with homemade ice cream with chocolate or butterscotch syrup.
Simpler times, times gone by? Well, I hope not. These are the times that created the memories. These are the memories we tried to re-create with our kids when we would cook out and play in the yard.
May I ask of you, if you read this far, to accept the no-phone and no-tv weekend challenge with your family and friends? Buy a croquet or badminton game set, fire up the grill, and invite family and friends over. Begin to create the memories that will establish a tradition that will become as strong as my memories of Grandma’s pot pie and homemade ice cream and family is for me.