Pattie: The last time I saw Marianne was two years ago. Marianne had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and Tom was old and frail. We traveled to Sacramento to spend a week with her and Tom to cook, clean, can food from her garden, and paint their deck. While we were packing the Subaru to leave, Marianne suddenly remembered she had some wool stashed next door at her son’s house and wondered if I wanted it. Of course, I did! The six giant bags filled most of the Subaru. It’s not the softest wool. It smells a bit like sheep. It has a bit of vegetable matter. I could spin it the rest of my life and still have some left to share. I get weepy every time I handle it. It’s so Marianne.
Jenaya: Seeing Marianne’s house from the car, made me laugh out loud. The little purple mailbox and the fence lined with sunflowers, and there was Marianne on the porch smiling and waving, “hello, hello!” she hollered. And in we went. She taught me how to can with an old pressure cooked that looked more like a bomb than a pantry item, and we made tea, and ate tomatoes that were bigger than my head. I showed her pictures of my knitting and my dog, and she showed me her newest thing: YouTube. I miss her terribly, and sometimes I sit and watch a YouTube video of her, just so we can have tea together again.
