In 1994 Amy Hill Hearth, the author of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, “prompted the sisters for new thoughts and ideas and wrote them down” to create The Delany Sisters’ Book of Everyday Wisdom.

The popular centenarians believed they needed to answer every letter they got from their readers. They remembered when the mail was delivered in New York several times a day because the train service was good. In the 1890’s their Grandma cooked a whole chicken dinner and took it to the train station in Danville, Va. It arrived still hot in Raleigh.

Some of their younger relatives insisted they have a phone for safety. But they hated the sight of it so Sadie covered it with her hat.

Bessie states that one of the most important qualities of a life is the ability to create joy. “We all have to do it for ourselves.” She gives her garden as an example of appreciating the passage of time. Sadie states that her joy in life is Bessie.

Great exercise tips (with photographs) and recipes from their garden are also given in Everyday Wisdom. Younger sister Bessie died at the age of 104 in 1995.

Sadie speaks to her sister in On My Own at 107: Reflections on Life Without Bessie. She tells her that when she is doing her exercises she still has the urge to look at her to make sure Bessie is doing them right then she laughs  because “I  remember how you used to cheat!”

Sadie’s garden serves as a framework for the memoir as her narrative traces the passage of seasons. At the approach of fall Sadie recalls that Bessie understood the earth’s need for rest and that “the gardener accepts that everything has its moment in the sun.” In Bessie’s garden “Sadie found a gentle reminder of eternity.” When Bessie died, Sadie was asked what she would do now. Her answer was to write another book.