It's a great day

It's a beautiful day here. The sun is warm, the breeze cool. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to throw off my clothing and lie drowsing with the sunshine forming kaleidoscopic patterns inside my eyelids, feeling the wind's soft caress against my body. In so doing, I am transported back to my teens, preteens, childhood---days like this spent on a blanket dreaming of boys, spent lying in the sun with my head pillowed on my pregnant dog's tummy, spent napping where the sun shone into the cool of the house by the screen door.

This is a day of dreams. It is impossible to be sad on days like these. Days like these are for nostalgia, hope, promises, and possibilities.

I wish I had a camera to capture the lace curtains blowing in the window beside me, the delicate violas beginning to blossom in the pot on the step, the busy bees humming around the dandelions on the lawn. Unfortunately, I don't. So for the time being, my words must suffice with a few pictures taken from the web or from my immense digital library. I wish my words were enough : )
Okay, so what am I doing today? I stripped my bed linens, opened every window in the house which led to the task of cleaning every window sill and window in the house. Helped son clean his room before sending him off to the zoo with aunt, uncle and cousins. Washed dishes, cleaned counter, blew leaves from the front step, cleared old weeds, etc from around the violas bloomin stepside. It's been a busy day so far. Plenty left to do.

Mom has been busy planting a vegetable garden out back in a place that my brother tilled for her. She has potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, cabbage, watermelon, garlic, cilantro plus a bunch more stuff! She has run out of room and is planning other spots for things.

The last time she had a garden like this was back in the coulees of Wisconsin where we lived in an old farmhouse during my early years (late 1960's). There was no running water for the longest time, so my mom had to collect rain water to wash our clothing in the old wringer washer that we had. (We used that right up until the 1980's!!)

An old outhouse was our toilet --a broken down ramshackle shed with a wooden bench and a few holes ( I never figured that out. I guess that was if we wanted to go as a family?) Of course, there was no light in the outhouse so it was a fearsome place for a young child. For some reason we did have a kitchen sink where I took baths until I was SIX!!!!! trauma!. I have a picture somewhere to prove it. I'll dig it out and add it later.

There was also a water pump in the yard we could pump water from. For heat, we had a wood stove that dad kept burning to warm the house. Apparently the chimney had a tendency to set the house on fire, so dad had to climb on the roof and poor water down it....

K, I have gtg for now. to be continued....