My Aunt Eunice

 Here it was the beginning of fall. This is a fantastic time to take a trip. Aunt Eunice had a reputation for knowing good foods and she loved to take trips in her big yellow Packard convertible when she could put the top down and just cruise.

We had the car loaded with suitcases, her ever-present wicker picnic basket, thermos bottles, Skipper (my dog), Felix (Aunt Eunice’s Blue Gold Macaw), and Sophie (Aunt Effie’s West Highland Terrier). 

 Back in those days we didn’t have interstates like we do today, and Kentucky wasn’t too progressive in their highway system to begin with. Aunt Eunice never liked to get up too early in the morning. She was never in a hurry and always was saying, “Haste makes waste.” After having packed the car, she always had to go to her favorite filling station and have the mechanic check the hoses, belts, wiper blades, tires, oil and anti-freeze. These were the days when the station attendant wore a black leather bow tie, white shirt, clean blue trousers, and would not only sweep the inside of the car with a whisk broom, but wash the windows and fill the tank. Those were the good old days for sure.

We must have made quite a sight going down the highway towards Lexington with the dogs hanging out each side of the car and the Macaw perched on the back of the front seat.

Aunt Effie had Sophie dressed up in a little black top hat and sunglasses, while Skipper had a red and white bandanna tied around his neck. The Macaw was a huge bird with about a three-foot wingspread. A bird that large with beautiful colors was a site to behold, let alone riding in an open convertible. Aunt Eunice was outfitted in a bright green safari outfit complete with a pith helmet, and Aunt Effie dressed in a black and white striped chiffon dress with a hat decorated with black and yellow feathers. Felix loved to talk and Aunt Eunice was always talking to him. She wasn’t paying attention as she drove and almost hit another car. Of course, it wasn’t the other driver’s fault, but she nevertheless yelled at him calling him a stupid idiot several times in a very loud voice. After she regained her composure and we made our first stop in Shelbyville, Kentucky to have our mandatory lunch.

There is a place in Shelbyville called Wakefield Scearce Galleries, which is an internationally known silver collection in the United States. They have a wonderful garden area where we were going to have our lunch, but the first thing the ladies wanted to do was buy were some mint julep cups. This shop has more than 40,000 square feet in a two hundred year old converted girl’s school. Aunt Eunice had Felix on her shoulder while I was left outside to watch the two dogs. I believe that my Aunts seemed to know everybody and everybody seemed to know them. After they had obtained their julep cups, they announced that we were not going to picnic in the garden, but decided that we would have lunch at the Science Hill Inn Restaurant. One of the clerks said they could not afford to pass up the brown sugar pie. She also recommended the Marco Sandwich, which consists of sliced roast beef on corn bread, smothered in gravy. Delicious!  The entrée proved just filling enough to leave room for that incredible pie, topped with real whipped cream. The proprietors were kind enough to allow Felix to stay in the sunroom where he dined on his meal of various seeds.