I got this email "pass along" from my sister Eileen a few weeks ago, telling about Grandma's apron. It brought up visual memories of my Grandma Zirbel, my dad's mom. She always wore a crisply starched and ironed print over-the-head full apron. When we were younger, our mom would wear a tied-around-the-middle apron. I don't remember when she stopped wearing aprons. I have a mental picture of their aprons doing some of the things this story talks about:

GRANDMA'S APRON

    The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress

underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder for removing hot

pans from the oven; it was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on

occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

    From the chicken-coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy

chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming

oven.

    When company came, those old aprons were ideal hiding places for shy

kids; and when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her

arms.

    Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot

wood stove. Chips and kindling-wood were brought into the kitchen in

that apron.

    From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had

been shelled it carried out the hulls.

    In the fall it was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the

trees.

    When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much

furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

    When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out on the porch and waved her

apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields for

dinner.

    It will be a long time before anyone invents something that will replace

that old-time apron that served so many purposes.