The Permanent Maternal Record
Or: Unstuck in time
Wicki-Yah: “My mother’s name should be Mary. Because every day at the Home with mother is a Jolly Holiday!
“When I stopped in to visit with her last Tuesday, she asked what I got for Christmas. When I told her nothing, she said: ‘Maybe they are waiting a few days. I don’t have anything to give you but a kiss. I can kiss you and wish you Merry Christmas!’ So I let her. It’s not every day you get to celebrate Christmas in April.
“Thursday, with snow on the ground, she told me she had heard fireworks a day early. I asked her what she meant by a day early, and she shrugged. Then she said: ‘I can’t believe it is this green on July 3. Normally, it is dry and brown. We don’t get much rain in July.’
“I told her I hoped it wasn’t the third of July, because we had snow on the ground in our neighborhood. ‘My,’ she said, sticking to her calendar. ‘That is late in the season, isn’t it?’ She asked if I would be bringing a picnic lunch or making steaks on the grill, and I told her probably neither, since we had snow and it was too cold.
“She said to me: ‘Well, next week maybe, for Labor Day. It is always nice to have a Labor Day picnic before summer is done.’
“Oh boy! Can’t wait for Thanksgiving. I suppose I should put a turkey in my freezer, just to be ready.
“As usual, if we weren’t laughing, we would be crying.”
Could be verse!
Or: A thought for today
Tim Torkildson: “Subject: My Peony.
“’ It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is.” — Gordon B. Hinckley
“The dead stalks of my peony lay on the frozen ground.
“All color dashed away to dust — ’twas just a lifeless mound.
“What comfort could this quietus give unto me at all?
“It was a bleak reminder of my mortally slow crawl.
“A melancholy fool was I, for underneath the land
“My peony still slumbered, preparing something grand.
“I looked upon my peony this morning to behold
“Its sudden reaching to the sky, with globes of pastel gold.
“A touch of warmth, a bit of rain, had given it the power
“To once again revive and create flower after flower.
“The world is full of peonies, and so I need to strive
“To see them ev’rywhere I go and keep my hope alive.”
Lost & Found (Books Division) (cont.)
Or: Why I read — plus: Fellow travelers (or: Our birds, ourselves)
Aggie Girl: “I read Lu Lu from Lindstrom‘s discussion on book reading with great interest. I think in many ways, my life has been the total opposite.
“From my earliest days, there were books around our house. I can remember, as a 4- or 5-year-old, wanting desperately to be able to read to myself, and not have to wait on my mom to get done taking care of the new baby to have time to read to me. (Somehow it did not dawn on me that she also spent much time doing many other things for me; as with most kids, it was much easier to blame all things on my younger brother.)
“Our small town in South Texas was also blessed with a good library, which we visited weekly. I set myself challenges with those library books: Read all the Bobbsey Twins books this summer; read all the ‘youth’-level biographies that summer; read everything on birds over the next month, etc.
“To this day, I am surrounded by books. There are probably 1,000 or more in our house — despite the fact that I take many in to ‘Little Free Libraries.’ There are nearly 1,000 more on my Kindle (don’t tell my long-suffering husband). I try to read something every day.
“Ironically, the one time in my life that I did NOT have time to read was when I was in college. Part-time jobs, a challenging engineering curriculum and many other activities filled my hours. I resorted to taking history classes as electives, so I could read a book and be able to justify it as ‘doing homework assignments.’ It was quite a relief that no equations were involved.
“Despite having now spent quite a few years as a busy executive, I have always found time to read something: the paper, leadership books, business journals and, yes, fiction. At times this was what kept me sane. Even then, I have not kept up. I have rather large piles of books that I am going to read when I retire, and I suspect there will be more before I get there.
“I wish Lu Lu continued joy in her newfound hobby. :-)”
And from the very same Aggie Girl, back from South Texas: “On a recent trip to South Padre Island, I took some bird pictures I thought the BBers might enjoy.”
What this country has been needing?
Kathy S. of St. Paul: “Just saw video of an invention. It looks wonderful for some situations.
“However, note the solid-colored backs of these pop-ups, and visualize a a situation in which people set these puppies up in front of other people trying to watch a game, etc. There will be war . . .”
Throw the cow over the fence some hay!
A Subject line in our emailbox, on Friday: “This dog fails to recognize his master who lost weight only after sniffing.”
Comparatively speaking
Gregory of the North: “I hope this little story will sound as amusing to you as it did to my children and me as we lived through it.
“The two children still living at home and I sat down to our Sunday-afternoon meal. We were having roast beef, of which my wife was particularly proud.
“She brought the platter to the table and set it down. Both my daughter and I commented on how good it looked.
“’Yes,’ my wife acknowledged, ‘and it’s as tender as manure.’
“For a time, we all were left speechless. I told everyone I was going to send this to Bulletin Board today.
“It was a very good roast, even though none of would have described it as my wife did.”
Band Name of the Day: Christmas in April
Website of the Day: Roseate Spoonbill
Bulletin Board 