4 O'Clocks

   My great-grandmother came to America (not exactly sure when maybe as a teenager or young adult) from Czechoslovakia.  She met and married my great-grandfather also from Czechoslovakia.   I don't remember his name.  He abandoned his family which made everyone rejoice because he was so damn mean.  He almost killed my grandmother but she was such a skinny, fast kid that he missed.
     Now not sure if this was the proper way women dressed from "the old country" but it sure seemed like that they all did.  Great grandma always wore a cotton housedress and sensible shoes.  Her hair was always up in a severe bun.  I guess it was an honor to look matronly.  An honor I fight tooth and nail daily not to follow.  But her skin was beautiful no matter how old she got.   (I can only hope I inherit this)
     Sometimes we kids would be awake before anyone else in the house and she would invite us into her bedroom.  The first time we seen her with her hair down was mesmerizing.  It was long, beautiful and all white.  She was like an ageless fairy queen.  You knew she was very old and wise but she was also had the calming energy about her.  She would make us feel like we were sharing magical secrets.  She had a box of treasures she would show us.  All kinds of trinkets.  Things my grandmother had given her as a child, potpourri and stones made from roses.  She even had real 4 leaf clovers that my grandmother had found.  That is the one and only time I have ever seen 4 leaf clovers. 
     My great-grandmother was the original "going green person".  I am pretty sure she did not leave much of a carbon footprint.  She would fill Wonder bread bags with air and say here this is a balloon for the baby.  If you think about it, its probably safer then a balloon and Wonder bread bags where very colorful.  She had a beautiful quilt in her bedroom that was truly made from scraps.  There were 2 things she loved besides her grandchildren and that was reading the bible and gardening.  She could grow anything.  She made her own teas and potpourri.  My favorite thing in her garden where 2 big beautiful bushes of 4 O’clock.  They were on each corner of the house.  I literally would be waiting for 4 o'clock to see them open.  They where magical not just because they could tell time, but the blooms were different colors on one bush and the colors were marbled together. 
     As an adult I have been trying to recreate this memory.  I don't know how she did this.  I assumed they were a perennial since they were always the same.  I half heartily plant them when I can find them.  Sometimes I can't find the marbled ones at all.  All the blooms always seem to be yellow.  I think maybe what she did was plant a bunch of them together and since I was a child, I just thought they were one big bush.  So next year I am going to buy the marbled ones and find a spot to plant a bunch and see what happens.