The First Snowfall

The first snowfall obviously comes with one major downfall: chills! Ashworth is indeed a lovely, warm home in spirit, but there are some early mornings in this house where the ladies emerge from their bedrooms wrapped in housecoats, big hoodies, and sweatpants tucked into wool socks. They looked out the frosted windows at the inches of snow that had come down overnight and created a thin little blanket over each of their cars.

In this mid-November snowfall, it dawned on the Ashworth women that it was time to start turning the heat up a little higher. Instinctively, like children to sugar, Anna, Ella, and Sammy Sue found themselves drawn to one of the heater vents around the kitchen and living room area while having a conversation one morning. They laughed at themselves and how silly they must have looked spread out across the kitchen area as they chatted. 

Ella with her hands cupped tightly around a hot cup of tea.

Sammy Sue practically decked out to go play in the snow.

And Anna with her feet as close to the heater under the window as possible.

Leah Swan was at work already, but they were sure she'd be chuckling at them if she could only have seen their early morning state.

They're Ashworth girls though, they aren't meant to be cold. So they thawed just fine. (Little did they know that the weeks to follow would consist of about a foot more of snow!).. Good grief, that's life in Charlesville though.

A Not So Typical House Chore

Obviously, everyone needs to dust, do dishes, clean their bathrooms, and sweep the floors on a fairly regular basis unless you don't care about hygiene and are okay with getting sick on a fairly regular basis instead. However, recently a new house chore has been discovered that, although not your most typical chore, is necessary in the lives of some people. People like Miss Leah Swan.

The leaves had just begun to change colours in the city of Charlesville and the Ashworth women had been busy with school and their jobs. One day Ella was driving home from her class and pulled into the driveway. Apparently, no one else was home but Leah seeing as her car was in the driveway - she must have had the day off or something.

Singing still to the song that had just been playing, Ella hopped out of her car and hoisted her purse and book bag onto her shoulder as she made her way up the walk into the house. She paused with her hand on the doorknob. What is that sound? She wondered. She turned the knob and walked in, "Hello!" She called out to the house in general. The strange rumbling sound got louder when she opened the door and she turned to see half of Leah's body hidden behind the freezer door of the refrigerator.

"Hi Ella!" Miss Swan exclaimed from behind the freezer door. Ella stared quizically at Leah. It was not only Leah that was protruding from under the freezer door, but also a grey hose.

Ella dropped her stuff on the floor and laughed, "Leah. What are you doing?!" Her voice drenched with gleeful amusement at Miss Swan.

The bottom half of Leah's body jerked as she ducked under the door to look at Ella. She had a funny little smile on her face.

Ella started to laugh and said over the rumbling sound: "What is that sound? What are you doing?" Then she recognized what the hose was. "Wait, are you -" She burst out laughing.

Leah nodded and pulled the hose completely out of the freezer, "I'm just vacuuming the freezer."

Just vacuuming the freezer! Both women started laughing at the situation. Leah at the realization of how hilarious that phrase was and Ella at the realization that there was such a chore as vacuuming one's fridge freezer.

It's a Peanut Butter Day

Peanut butter on toast is just such a perfect lunch alternative for anybody. You get your grain and your protein; then, you pour yourself a glass of milk and grab a clementine. It is so satisfying on a boring Wednesday at noon. The occupants of 47 Ashworth would all attest to this as well.

Ella with one hand on her hip looked at Anna, "No, I'm having bananas on mine; that's different." She turned back to the two slices of toast piled with pieces of a banana she had recently been singing into.

Anna shook her head as she brushed her toast crumbs off her plate into the garbage, "Nope. It's still peanut butter on toast. You've just added an extra ingredient." She placed her plate in the dishwasher, "Seriously, I think that peanut butter on toast is infectious. I saw Leah having peanut butter on toast and immediately I wanted it. Then, you saw me with mine and wanted it too."

Leah piped up from her study, "It's the infection of peanut butter!"

The girls chuckled at her proclamation. Leah came out of the study briskly and walked straight past the girls who had just seated themselves at the kitchen table, "Anna, can you do me a favour?"

"Sure." Anna opened her laptop to continue working on her essay.

"Will you tell me when five minutes is up? Starting now?" She took a deep breath and lowered herself to the floor. Ella and Anna exchanged amused looks as they waited to see what quirky "Leah-esque" thing was about to occur.

The two girls turned to see Miss Swan sprawl herself out across the rug in the living room. They laughed as Leah explained why she was laying down on the floor for exactly five minutes - no more, no less. She was sure that it would calm her and prepare her for the rest of her day."It just kind of restores equilibrium." Leah Swan stated in a matter of fact tone to Ella and Anna sitting at the kitchen table chowing down on their peanut butter on toast. She propped her head up on the hood of her brown sweater and took another deep breath.

Ella and Anna simply giggled and turned back to their peanut butter on toast while Leah restored her equilibrium.

Tea Time at Ashworth

It had been a very busy day in the lives of the Ashworth women. Each had their own crazy schedule that consisted of grocery shopping, working at the hospital, doing schoolwork, attending poetry classes, and driving around the crazy city of Charlesville. They had finally all landed at home and were settling into a calm evening of schoolwork, drinking tea, listening to Christmas music, and enjoying the company of one another.

Ella leaned across the peninsula that separated the room into the living area and the kitchen area. She looked at Sammy Sue with wide chocolate brown eyes and paused thoughtfully before answering Sammy Sue's question, "Welllll, I've got ginger peach?"

Anna spooned a teaspoon of sugar into her own tea and glanced up with a slight smile, "For her lovely ginger friend." Sammy Sue was also a redheaded Islander, like Anna, but she wasn't as much of a fan of her auburn locks so she shot Anna a mock teasing look.

She nodded and said with a touch of her O'Bryanton accent, "Peach ginger would be good."

Sammy Sue came from the little town of O'Bryanton in the western part of Prince Edward Island and was very much your typical fun-loving country girl. Anna, on the other hand came from "Down East" in the small community of Bellview and was more reserved than her Islander companion.

Ella finished filling everyone's tea cup with their preferred tea and brought them to her housemates. She carefully walked over to Leah who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a screw driver in one hand and a part of a chair in another. She was calmly assembling a computer chair as she sang along with the Christmas music that was once again floating around the kitchen.

Ella handed her her mug, "There you go, Miss Swan."

"Why thank you." Leah smiled and sat her warm tea beside her on the floor.

Sammy Sue came back into the room with her schoolbooks and glasses on ready to work. She settled herself at the table and before starting her studying, she told the girls about her love: her big orange pick up truck. She had driven it all the way across the country the summer before and was quite proud of it.

Anna sipped at her tea as she listened and observed the ladies around the room doing their thing with Silent Night serving as the background to this November night at 47 Ashworth Drive. Ella typing away at her laptop, desperately trying to finish her second paper whose due date was coming up; Leah was switching the song to a more chill Christmas mix; Sammy Sue was scribbling away notes for her upcoming exam; and Anna was contentedly writing away into the night.

Jesus Stables and Christmas Parties

Welcome to the very first Anecdote of Ashworth. These are small stories of four girls who live together in a home. Three of these girls are young university students that have left their homes to pursue their education. The fourth girl in these stories is the woman who owns the house and rents out her rooms to the three girls. Each Anecdote is filled with glimpses into each girl's life and the way they all live together at 47 Ashworth Drive. I'm hoping you will enjoy reading these little stories as much as I enjoy writing them.

The days recently just got much shorter with it growing dark at 5pm. I must say, it is slightly depressing in one sense but then in another, it is exciting when you think it is 8pm and then you look at the clock to discover that, in a split second, you pretty much have gained three hours.

The sun was pouring its last rays of lights through the big window facing Ashworth Drive as two young girls sat discussing their day at the kitchen table. Ella Kennsley sighed and let out a strange sighing sound that very few humans can make as she talked to her redheaded friend about the looming term paper that was due the next morning. "Ten pages! That's not much right?"

Anna Grantford looked up from her computer and with a sneaky smile clicked "play". Christmas music came streaming out of her speakers and filled the whole room. Ella laughed at Anna's pure giddiness over the thought of Christmas.

It is six weeks away and that lovely Christmas-ey feeling had found its way into 47 Ashworth shortly after the Remembrance Day weekend. Anna started singing along joyously to the music and making up the words if they escaped her memory.

Suddenly, as if a lightbulb turned on in Anna's head, she cried out: "We should have a Christmas party! You know, as a replacement for our failed Halloween party." The month prior, the girls had tried to host a Halloween party but it fell through when papers overcame their lives.

Papers would not overcome them this time, not even Ella who had a paper due in less that 24 hours. "Yes!" She said excitedly, "Ooh, ooh! One year I went to a Christmas party and made gingerbread houses. We've got lots of graham crackers here and we can have everyone bring candy as decorations, and we can melt sugar on the stove. It serves as excellent glue."

Anna, still bopping in her seat to Jingle Bell Rock, agreed wholeheartedly. "Definitely," she said, "And we can have a cookie decorating station, and music playing, and finger foods. We can push the table to the side to make more room. We'll need mistletoe and decorations for the room. I wonder if we can find a miniature tree for a centerpiece on the table." Clearly, Anna was thinking aloud.

And Ella even more clearly was as well.

"Anna! We should make Jesus stables!" She yelled out in sheer glee.

Anna burst out laughing, "You mean like nativity scenes?"

Ella rolled her eyes dramatically at Anna for teasing her. "Yeah, but just the stable. Without the figurines."

Anna, not sure why Ella for some reason just wanted the stable, directed the conversation away from "Jesus stables". They started talking about themes, guest lists, times, and dates. Oh, dates. It is so hard for students to find a day near the end of a semester that works well for such an event as a Christmas party. They finally decided on December 10th, the last day of classes before exams would start. It would be perfect, it could be an open house style with people coming and going. The excitement was seeping out of them as the Christmas music continued to dance around their heads.

At that moment when the date had finally been settled, the back door opened and the cool November air came into the warm kitchen. "Miss Swan!" Ella exclaimed at the arrival of the lovely woman who rented rooms out to the young girls during the school year.

"Hello, ladies. How are you both doing?" Leah Swan proceeded to take her white knitted hat off her head and ran her hand through her windblown chestnut brown curls. She cocked her head slightly to the side at the sound of the Christmas music as she made her way to the closet to hang up her cranberry red coat. She smiled, "Finally broke out the Christmas music I see?"

"Mmhmm." Anna grinned. "Leah, we were thinking of hosting a Christmas party here on December 10th. What do you think?"

Miss Swan shut the closet door and came back to the kitchen table. She leaned on the back of a chair and nodded, "I think that would be lovely."

"If you need time to think about it, that's fine." Ella said thoughtfully.

"No, I don't think I need time to think. However, my sister and I are going to see the Nutcracker at the theatre that same night. I remember you saying that you wanted to go, Ella."

"Oh!" Ella sighed with remembrance of that at the same moment that Anna gasped with realization that the Nutcracker ballet was in the city.

Thus, it was decided that the occupants of 47 Ashworth would go to the Nutcracker one night and host a lovely Christmas party the very next night. Miss Swan sang along with the music as she bustled around her kitchen, Ella sat with her chin in her hands as she hummed with the Christmas tune, and Anna twirled around at the foot of the stairs.

The anticipation of Christmas was in the air and it was infectious. I'm sure that if anyone walked into the room at that moment, they too would feel the excitement and long to run out into the streets and yell: "Six weeks until Christmas!! Woooo!"

If you get the urge to do so after reading this Anecdote of Ashworth - please, do look both ways first.