Everything that I know about conservation I learned from my Aunt Emma. She and my Uncle Cyril made their way in the world during the Great Depression. He built a solid, though crooked, house in the early 1930's that still stands today. Most of the back yard was a vegetable garden, and what they couldn't eat Auntie would store in Mason jars, and enjoy during the cold months.
Liquids were served in glass or metal containers so that they could be cleaned and used again, she would be appalled by our use of disposible plastics. Old clothes and towels, when used up, would be cut into rags for cleaning and other uses. They generated very little trash.
Given how little they had, and how endless the work must have seemed, I never went to their house and found her less than thrilled with her life. In the summer she would have fresh lemonade and slap together some kind of sandwiches for us to eat. If my folks took them out to lunch or dinner she would order the grilled cheese, and take half of it home and, much to the consternation of my father, a nice handful of sugar packets.
Aunt Emma was my mother's aunt and my great aunt. I learned a lot of valuable lessons from her, the most important of which that she could make do if Cyril got slow at work. She had a hubby, a roof over her head and a cackle of a laugh that was infectious. If she ever had a bad day no one would know it.
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