The first shipment of pumpkins was dropped off at Kroger's the other day. PUMPKINS PUMPKINS everywhere!

Memories mounted as the mound of pumpkins grew right before my eyes. The myriad of yellow and rust and purple and white potted mums became more beautiful when the orange pumpkins joined the grocery store's Autumn stage. (The color orange enhances so many things this time of year. The color orange most definitely is in my soul.)

The glow of orange skies in the morning, orange sunsets in purple skies, orange lights strung across the mantle reminding me that orange was my Grama Bolone's favorite color and that her favorite preserves to spread on bread was orange marmalade and that there were always bright orange boxes of Sunmaid's ZANTE CURRENTS on her fruit cellars' shelves.

Speaking of "fruit cellars"...

Grama's "fruit cellar" was in her basement kitchen. This long walk-in storage area was made up of wooden shelves and was well stocked with every cooking and baking staple available to the "seasoned" chef like my Grama. October marked the beginning of "gathering in" and "stocking up".

By November, the fruit cellar's shelves bulged with everything Grama would need to get through the holidays: apples and canned fruits and nuts (shelled and in shells), black raisins, yellow rains, currants (these are tiny sweet raisins Grama would use for the "eye" on her Thanksgiving "turkey" cookies) , potatoes, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, dried herbs like oregano and parsley, bottled vanilla extract and long skinny vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks used for holiday canoli, chocolate for baking and foiled wrapped chocolate balls from Sander's to fill candy bowls on Christmas day, white and brown and confectioner's sugars, Argo cornstarch, baking soda, Morton iodized salt, and bags of Gold Medal flour...flour...so much flour!

I remember Grama going in the fruit cellar and always coming out with an armful of "ingredients" and always ready to make our favorite foods! I loved when Grama would ask me to "Go in the fruit cellar and bring me a box of currants...they're in the bright orange box." I'd open the fruit cellar's latched wooden door with reverence as if it were the swinging gate of a "secret garden". Immediately a heavenly aroma melded from the odor of wood, hanging bunches of dried oregano, apples in bushels, cinnamon sticks in brown paper bags not tied up with strings, onions, and potatoes invited me in...invited me in to see and smell everything on its wooden shelves and on its cool cement floor.

That afternoon I handed Grama the bright orange box of Zante Currants. She thanked me and smiled. Tomorrow she would be baking the "turkey" cookies for Thanksgiving and using the tiny black Zante Currants for eyes. That night I would be dreaming of the holidays and thanking God for the best Grama in the world whose favorite color was orange...

So, October comes. Orange mornings and orange evenings. Trips to Kroger with mounds of orange pumpkins and beautiful Autumn mums. Bright orange boxes of Zante Currants on the store shelves and in my shopping cart. This wonder filled time of year the color orange opens the door to an old "fruit cellar" full of memories and smiles. The color orange like the orange box of Zante Currants have been and will always be kept dearly in my heart.

The Color Orange

Terry Cicala

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on the 16th. day of Christmas

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ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO, THREE POTATO, FOUR...

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