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Suddenly, it's May. For as long as I can remember, May has been the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As kids, we would pick flowers from our yard -- and sometimes a neighbor's yard -- and place them on the Mary altar at our church.
Ironically, May was also the month of our mother whose name just happened to be Mary as well. We picked flowers for her, too, even if they were dandelions or another weedy blossom.
Mom would have been 99 on this Sunday, May 11. Sometimes it's hard to believe it's been eight years since she left us. So when May rolls around, our thoughts turn to Mom.
Many years, such as this one, her birthday fell on Mother's Day. That meant a birthday cake, birthday gifts and a Mother's Day celebration all rolled into one.
It became a standing practice to fill Mom's front porch with flowers. She loved to garden and her porch became the envy of the neighborhood with so many children and grandkids climbing the front porch steps and presenting her with something potted or in assorted vases.
Of course, among her favorites were the flowers that bloomed in the backyard. She prided herself on years' of maintaining the white hydrangeas we called the snowball bushes. When a baseball or kickball game was held in the yard, she warned us to keep the balls out of her blooming bushes.
Nowadays, when we talk about Mom and the memories she left us, the topic often includes noodles. Not just any noodles, but thick, flat squares of egg noodles that Mom would mix, roll out and place on tea towels to dry on the kitchen counter.
The noodles were destined to be boiled in broth and then folded into her chicken pot pie concoction she also made from scratch. Unlike traditional pot pie made with potatoes, Mom made this German style dish with noodles that was a favorite of our dad and hungry kids.
The greatest challenge to the meal -- made in a giant, deep cake pan -- was keeping the kids from sneaking a noodle before they dried and were cooked. There was no written down recipe that I recall but several of us have done our best to clone that dish.
While Mom left us so many memories and reminders of her love, none were better than those noodles. Thanks, Mom, and happy heavenly birthday!
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.