Vacation

 I need a vacation I will be gone for a couple of weeks or so. Talk to you when I am back.

Moms Know

My little boy was sick. As his mother I knew it.

He was listless. His eyes did not sparkle. He had no fever or any of the other obvious signs of illness. I am his mother and I knew something was wrong.

I took him to the doctor several times. Each time I was made to feel like I was imagining illness.

Finally I took him to another doctor. He did a few tests. Then he took an x-ray.

My little boy had pneumonia.

He had it the whole time. Medicine was prescribed. In only a few days he was running and playing with his brothers and neighborhood children. His eyes came alive.

Once the pneumonia was cleared he became completely healthy again. Today he is 6'3" tall. 

I am angry with myself because I knew he was sick. I took too long to have another doctor take a look. Moms should listen to themselves and then make others pay attention.

Bedtime

My brother went to sleep every night at 8 o'clock.

No matter where we were or what was happening he went to sleep at 8. We often found him curled up under a table.

When he was little one of my parents would scoop hum up and put him to bed. As he got older another problem developed.

He was too big to carry to bed. But if someone shook him to get him to go to bed he did not completely wake up.

In his sleep he would just mindlessly walk. We had to stop him from walking toward stairs or the picture window. 

We learned to let him get to his feet. Then we would gently hold his shoulders and guide him to bed. All would be fine.

I was talking to him on the phone not long ago. I was laughing with him about going to sleep at 8 every night. His wife laughed and said that he still does.

It is good to know that some things never change.

What Did It Look Like?

My mother was so talented. And she loved to write.

Mom mostly wrote short stories. I was quite young when she had a couple of her stories published in women's magazines.

Once she was very late coming home from a meeting with a publisher. I was about 6 years old and it was the very first time I made supper for the rest of my family.

I made a gourmet meal of scrambled eggs and toast. I am still proud of myself.

Back to Mom's stories. I have never seen anything she had published. I am guessing it may have been a little too racy for little eyes.

I have read other things Mom wrote. She has great stories. I am in awe of her brain.

However... my mother never met an adjective she did not like. She can use 30 different words to describe a pencil. It drives me insane.

It makes me think of the Elizabethan writing style. I felt that was too descriptive too.

It just goes to show that although I am like my mother in many ways description is not one of them.

Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.
Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
So early in the morning.

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/childrenslyrics/herewegoroundthemulberrybushlyrics.html

Most of us have heard that song. Many of us sang it to our babies.

My grandparents as you know had a farm. On the farm were a lot of mulberry trees. The trees gave us red, black, and white mulberries.

White mulberries are larger but not as sweet and juicy. The black ones taste the best to me.

Grandpa hated the mulberry trees. Birds like the berries. Unfortunately their droppings stained whatever they landed on. It seemed like there were droppings on everything... laundry on the line to dry, the picnic table in the back yard, and machinery. He did not like cleaning the tractor seats every morning.

There was a big mulberry tree in the front yard. Grandpa decided it had to go. He cut it down.

To make sure it would not grow back he then chopped the stump into pieces. For good measure he poured lime on it to completely kill it. It was gone.

After a few years sprouts began to grow. It was not long before the sprouts were about seven feet high. Mulberries that grew on it were sweet and juicy. Best of all they were easy to reach.

Grandpa was not happy but he gave up. He had created a mulberry bush.