Words from Annie Monahan, Photos from Marjory Wunsch; Photos from Lee family album
*third of five parts, so far, with responses from friends and family to my request for photos and text related to edible plants in the life or remembrance of Minna Lee (1917-2005) prompted by her birthday on August 23.
Annie Monahan: ‘Happy birthday Aunt Minna, wonder what you’ll be finding for the meal of the day and where the participants will be found’. There was happy excitement in the air.
Later as I reached for a peach ripening on the window sill, I thought again of Minna wondering if peaches, in season, might be part of the picture. Picture was important because texture and color were part of the art of the meal.
I have such fond memories of visiting …..always going for a drive to find the perfect ears of corn so and so had, and the veggies so and so was saving for her just picked that morning. Or if one left early enough a tour of the garden itself.
Food was hand in hand with the people she encountered. Everyone seemed so delighted to see her, as always she left people happier.
. …. meals were a community effort….for example, your grandma cutting veggies as her sight was diminishing being told where they came from and their colors and how they’d be added to others, asking which bowl might be used etc.
Thinking of so many of the family visiting during Aunt Minna’s birthday ‘season’ brings a big smile. Family and food, hooray.
Pleasures of Plants 