{"id":2290,"date":"2014-03-07T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/?p=2290"},"modified":"2015-03-26T05:13:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T05:13:56","slug":"harriet-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/harriet-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Harriet"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Christine Thrasher
\nOriginally written for her funeral on November 13, 2013 in Keene, NH<\/p>\n

I.
\nHarriet Corliss Thrasher
\nHarriet
\nHatt
\nLittle me always called her \u201cNana\u201d
\nNever \u201cGrandma,\u201d that was for Grandma Jane
\nNana and Grandpa
\nAl and Hatt \u2013 they had ALNHAT on their vanity plate
\nThey were always early, Al whistling up the walk
\n(She called him Alden)
\nHatt\u2019s line: \u201cI\u2019m glad to see you\u201d
\nShe really meant it, I could tell
\nby how she would smile warmly and pat my hand<\/p>\n

II.
\nHarriet Emma Corliss
\nDaughter of the Worcester Farm
\nBrother, Charles: \u201cAre you going to tie her out today?\u201d
\n[Have you heard that story? It was one of her favorites to tell. There was an elderly neighbor who would give her graham crackers, so she was always sneaking over to her house. Her mother decided that the best solution was to tie her to the porch. One day, Charles said to his mother in front of his friends, \u201cAre you going to tie her out today?\u201d Harriet was so embarrassed. In retrospect, she thought it was pretty funny.]
\nShe remembers the sound of horse-drawn sleighs delivering milk in the snow<\/p>\n

III.
\nI would sit by her in the den
\nDrinking a ginger ale float
\nShe would explain her needlepoint to me
\nUsually something with cats
\nShe loved cats
\nThere was Ernie, the gray one
\nWhen I would come over she would say, \u201cLook, Ernie, it\u2019s your cousin!\u201d
\nOzzie was the shy black one who mostly stayed in the spare room<\/p>\n

IV.
\nI would ask her about the uncle I never knew
\nShe\u2019d say, \u201cLindsey was a good boy,\u201d
\nAnd her eyes would fill with tears
\nA mother never gets over that<\/p>\n

V.
\nThe house was old, her childhood farm
\nEvery year they painted it a grayish green
\nWe bought them a number \u201c37\u201d in Italy
\nAnd they had it on the door for years
\nNana and I would sit on the porch and watch the birds
\nShe had lots of birdhouses and hummingbird feeders
\nAnd we\u2019d water all the plants
\nAt night I was scared of the attic door
\nand the tap tap tap of the heater
\nI would get into her twin bed and she would let me stay
\nTwo sardines
\nShe woke up every day around 4 A.M.<\/p>\n

VI.
\nDrives to the Glebe Road to feed the geese
\nThat was our thing
\nI loved it
\nThat swamp was so big and mythical in my child\u2019s mind<\/p>\n

VII.
\nHatt shows me her treasures
\nBlue Glass
\nOn all the window sills
\nShells
\nSea Urchins
\na big Shark\u2019s Tooth
\nOld milk bottles
\nI would put on her old costume jewelry and scarves
\nThe cuckoo clock went tick tick tick
\nAl\u2019s portrait in the dining room<\/p>\n

VIII.
\nHarriet, in slacks and Est\u00e9e Lauder perfume
\nWith soft hands and kind words
\nHarriet of 37 Leverett Street
\nWife of Alden, mother to Tim and Lindsey
\nNana to me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Thrasher\"<\/a>[typography font=”Droid Sans Mono” size=”9″ size_format=”px”]Author bio: Christine Thrasher is in the Interior Design program at Bellevue College, but from a young age, she has always had a passion for writing. She has written many poems and essays, some of which have received high praise in the academic setting. In her current artistic focus, she continues to draw inspiration from literature, as well as film, fine art, and of course architecture and interior design. She maintains a high GPA while balancing school, work, and her family which includes two cats, one dog, and her partner, Julia, in Seattle, WA. Her design work from Studio I is currently on display in the L building on the Bellevue College campus.[\/typography]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Christine Thrasher Originally written for her funeral on November 13, 2013 in Keene, NH I. Harriet Corliss Thrasher Harriet Hatt Little me always called her \u201cNana\u201d Never \u201cGrandma,\u201d that was for Grandma Jane Nana and Grandpa Al and Hatt … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":2122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4248,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2014-edition","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2290"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2564,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290\/revisions\/2564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}