…….Spring is here. We kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in January and February but I think it’s believable now. The reason being….everything is on time in the yard. The air is fresh and inviting and all of a sudden, I’m thinking about the container plants I want to enjoy this year. I like to try new things and hopefully dry some for the cards I make.

It’s nice to turn off the furnace and open the windows. Sort of inviting the world back into my domain. Neighbors working up and down the street are busy with outdoor projects while I’m cleaning indoors. It is always hard to know which things to pass on and which to keep. There is always the thought, many of us have, that we may need it sometime. Part of my closet is full of things I never wear and I’m telling myself they must go this time.

I wasn’t born during the Great Depression but I was raised by parents who were. We wore the few clothes we had until they were rags or someone in the family passed things on to us. I always said I wore three sizes growing up. Too big, just right and too little.

I grew up with women who scraped the paper when a new stick of butter was used. I wonder how many kids hung around the kitchen table while their mother’s whipped up a cake and then gave them the spoon and bowl to finish the last little bit. It was as good as candy to me.

My brother and I had to take turns and we were pretty careful to remember whose turn it was. He was older by four years and could out-talk me every time. Once I was waiting for the bowl and he came at the opportune moment to claim his prize. Sure, enough, he talked me into believing it was his turn.

Mom didn’t say anything but let it play out. Louis took a swipe around the bowl with the spoon and took a big slurp. As soon as it hit his tongue he gagged and spit out, “cornbread!! Mom chuckled and said, “I knew it was Esther’s turn and I would have told her it was cornbread, but since you talked her out of it I decided to let you find out the hard way.”

Just one of Life’s little lessons growing up with a big brother.