How the French Comte de
Grasse Helped Win the Revolutionary War by Savvy
Mom Ruth Paget
I
washed dishes while Laurent collapsed into bed after a long week on the
ship. Then, I ironed clothes, swept the
floor, and checked on what Florence was doing outside.
When
that was all done, I curled up in bed and read Zola’s Au Bonheur des Dames in
French about the mythical origins of Paris, France’s Printemps Department Store
with its stock on shelves with the same price for everyone listed on a shelf
next to the item.
Florence
came in and out of the apartment and finally sat down to read. I picked up books at library book sales, used
bookstores, independent bookstores, and chain bookstores over the years, so
Florence had a nice library.
I
went into Florence’s room and wrote down sentences on paper and taped them to
the walls for her to practice reading. I
sat at her kiddy table with chairs, and we read sentences that described objects
in her bedroom.
When
Laurent woke from his nap, we decided to do some sightseeing close to home and
went to the First Landing Seashore State Park.
We walked over bridges in the swamp area complete with drooping Spanish
gray moss.
One
of the educational billboards said that cottonmouth snakes were native to the
area. The mosquitos chased us away from
explaining the swamp fully to Florence.
We
went to 64th Street Exit and watched a boat launch into the narrows
of the Chesapeake Bay. Florence amused
herself by trying to pull oyster shells off of the rocks.
We
drove to the beach. It was 75 degrees outside and sunny – my Wisconsin weather
vane still had a hard time registering that this was October weather in the
South.
Laurent
had the great idea to picnic on the beach.
We took out our picnic basket and spread out our tablecloth. I loved our wicker picnic basket with real
China. Florence liked playing in the
surf.
On
the way home, we stopped at the Cape Henry Lighthouse. We took a picture of the cross at the First
Landing Site where Captain Newport first came ashore in 1607.
We
learned from a historical marker here that the French Comte de Grasse routed
the British at Cape Henry in 1781.
General
Cornwallis could not receive any food, because the Comte de Grasse cut off
supplies at Yorktown.
Cornwallis,
the English commander during the Revolutionary War, had to surrender, because
he could not feed his troops or his officers.
Laurent
left for another two-week cruise later that week. I came home from dropping Laurent off at the
ship and played the card game War with Florence to teach her which numbers were
bigger than the others.
The
higher number wins in War. I left in the
face cards, so Florence would learn their numerical values for games like
Euchre (also called Napoleon) to make fast smear plays.
When
Florence got tired of playing Euchre, I did sneaky teaching by asking her
questions like “How much bigger is seven than five?”
She
was working on subtraction at school, but I wanted her to be able to do quick
calculations in her head, so I worked with her at home, too.
We
did easier games, too, like checkers, pick-up sticks, Mille Bornes, dominoes,
and tic tac toe. If she had her friends
over, I would set up the living room for Duck, Duck, Goose and teach them
string games like Jacob’s Ladder, how to snowflakes from paper cutouts, and
make butterfly paintings with finger paints and a sheet of paper.
We
ate real popcorn with Parmesan cheese from a can sprinkled on the popcorn and
drank lemonade. Various moms and dads
would come in.
I
sent people home with bags of popcorn and told them to just follow the
directions for the kernels they bought. Virginia
is a peanut-producing state, so I made my homemade popcorn with peanut
oil.
I
liked the education, games, and snacks we had in the Norfolk apartment. I learned how to organize a pantry in Norfolk
and make menus for the following week based on what I found at the grocery
store and what was in the pantry. I did
not want the ghost of Comte de Grasse to come and starve me!
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
 |
| Ruth Paget Selfie |
