Happy Easter!

"Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there."
~Clarence W. Hall

" 'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Yesterday was good Friday I wanted to plant something yesterday. I didn't care what, It could have been anything. I would have settled for any flower or food plant at all. Needless to say yesterday got busy with one thing and another and Good Friday almost slipped by without me planting anything at all. But just before dark yesterday I was outside and thinking about how Daddy always planted on good Friday. Dave had put me off all day saying that his friend said the moon was haloed and that would mean more cold weather. I was sitting there in the almost darkness and to tell the truth I was a little bit angry with my own self. I asked myself why I had even discussed planting with a city boy. I knew I had married a city boy and he knew nothing about planting. Finally I had talked myself into a regular tizzy. I was mad because I hadn't planted anything and I was mad because just suppose I had tossed my good planting and growing luck to the wind. Everybody knows you are supposed to Plant on Good Friday! Well everybody but Dave and his friend.. I was about to bet myself that they were both city boys when suddenly I remembered the 6 pack of flowers that Dave bought for me a few weeks ago;
I hurried into the greenhouse room and grabbed them; next I ran back outside and grabbed a small pot. I filled the pot with soil and praying for a good growing season this year and asking God to bless me with both food and beauty again this year I stuck two of the small flowers into the tiny container. I noticed today while Dave and I were planting and filling planting boxes and planting and working our butts off; that the two plants I planted yesterday were putting on new blooms. Looking around I also noticed other plants putting on new growth and everything appeared to be doing just fine even though I still wasn't exactly satisfied about the whole not planting on good Friday thing. Even so tomorrow will be Easter ~ the promise of a new beginning. The promise of miracles!

A few weeks ago Camella sent me a word list and asked me to write a poem for her to use to invite my Family members to Mama's house tomorrow for an old timey Easter egg hunt and picnic. We used to all pile in on her and Daddy for lunch and spend the afternoon hiding and hunting eggs. This will be the first time we have done this in a long long time. This year it will be the Great-Grands who will be wearing the Easter clothes and searching for the eggs. I will be on the porch, with the old folks, rocking in a chair, enjoying the little children's laughter and thinking about Easters gone past! I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!
Patsy

"frilly, eggs, Azaleas, baskets, chocolate, bunny, hunt, spring, bonnet, Sunday, grass, duck, church,"
~ Camella

Easter Morning ( a vignette)

I:
Frilly dresses ironed
by Mama's hand.
Starched with a sprinkle
from the giant Pepsi bottle.
Four New spring Bonnets.
Four new Bow ties.


II:
Hen's eggs carefully dyed.
Daddy chose the best
Peeking and poking into each
and every nest.
One a duck egg.
Daddy called it a prize.

III:
Oh a special Sunday.
The day Jesus arose.
Every Church pew Filled.
Families together dressed
in their very; very best.

IV:
Ham and Mama's Potato salad.
Both Grandmas joining us
at the overflowing table.
Using our best Manners
we try to hurry.
We are ready for the hunt.

V:
The Azaleas burst forth
with bright blooms and
secret spots holding eggs
of lemon yellow and sea foam green.
Little feet Running with excitement;
baskets bulging with glittery grass;
Chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.

VI:
Collapsing with Laughter
we count and count.
Hidden too good
a few eggs will be
an opossums supper.
Long after we are fast asleep.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
3-4-2009

Flowers

"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us."
- Iris Murdoch

"The mind I love must have wild places, a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood, the chance of a snake or two, a pool that nobody's fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind."
- Katherine Mansfield

"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine to the soul."
- Luther Burbank

"Why always, 'not yet'? Do flowers in spring say, 'not yet'?"
- George Norman Douglas

"Wildflowers don't care where they grow."
- Dolly Parton


On this day in 1513, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. The name ~ Florida~ means "full of flowers" in Spanish. April 8th that year was Easter, which in Spanish is "Pascua Florida" or the "Flowering of Passover." Although we have had several cold nights with breezy cold days it is once again Easter time and the first flowers of Spring are blooming. I have red, white and pink azalea's bursting forth with bright blooms. I have what we call Bridal wreath blooming out by the ditch and just this morning I saw a clump of the tiny white bells I call Easter bells blooming beneath the sticks of a Hydrangea. The beautiful red birds were out in force today each trying his hardest to steal a bite of corn or even laying mash from the clucking hens. Their bright feathers just reminded me even more of the Easter Sundays past. I always wanted a red Easter dress. Grandma Morris was dead set against it. She said ; "You let that child have a red dress and she will become a fast woman!" I was eight. I didn't want to become a fast woman. I was still hoping to become a boy so I could shoot and fish with the men. I didn't expect I'd get a red dress after her declaration But I hoped and prayed they wouldn't make me wear something that looked like a powder puff. Was I ever surprised when I got a beautiful Navy blue dress with a long body and - an almost ruffle like- skirt with tiny pleats at the bottom. It also had a pretty, white jacket and a RED neck tie. Grandma Morris made it. I always wanted to ask her why she made it with Red, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides. I knew if I asked She would make me set on the steps to think about the answer. I loved that dress.

When we got to Sunday school that morning all the girls were wrapped in layers of pink and pale yellow or lavender fluff and lace. I was so glad I didn't look like a powder puff. I remember a few of the girls said how much they liked my dress. One girl cried all through class because her tiny white Bonnet was so tight that her head hurt. Mama had brushed my hair till she had all the tangles out ( even those that would hide under my neck when she sent me to brush it myself!) and had put red barrettes in my hair one on each side. I didn't look like a pale flower blossom.
If I was a flower that year I was surely a wild flower.

I love flowers. I try my best to plant at least one new flower each year. I will plant a few that only last for one year but I really rather plant something that will grow and come back each year and hopefully will one day be able to be divided with a friend. I also plant a lot of seeds every year including wild flowers.

I was all set to plant a few things last week.. Something, although I don't quiet know what caused me to decide to wait. I only planted collard plans and dipper gourd seeds out near the chicken pens. I had other plants but decide to wait to plant them this week. I am glad I did since we had frost on the ground this morning. I will be planting seeds of many kinds Friday. It's supposed to bring good crops to plant on Good Friday. You can depend on it though that I will also be planting flowers.. For even though the body has to have food to survive, Flowers feed the eye with beauty and the heart with gladness. The world seems to be a little short on those lately.
Today I will share a little poem that I hope you enjoy. Please do your part to add beauty to our world. You can grow a single flower in a tin can sitting on your front step and add a little spot of color to the life of you and your neighbor. Leave the label on the can.. Get a gallon can even.. A gallon ketchup can with a patio tomato growing in it would be a great conversation starter.. If you can't grow a flower then at least notice the ones you come in contact with daily. Enjoy their beauty. Breath deeply of their wonderful scent. Have a great day!
Patsy


Easter Flowers

I:
Sitting carefully on the
tiny wooden Church chairs
each of you appear to be
a pale and delicate blossom.
Or a stiff and straight stem.

II:
Eggs in bright colors
nestle in the new green leaves.
Neon pink and lemon yellow blooms
their hiding places beneath the trees.
One Lavender with lime dots.

III:
Pony tails tied with colorful ribbons
Ball caps Bouncing as you run from place to place.
So excited as you spot one egg.
Never seeing the three resting on the watering can.
Old sand buckets find a new use today.

IV:
The tousled heads rest
atop snowy pillows.
Sunday school frills hung away.
Bright Eggs hidden and found.
Ball caps hung; Pony tails down.

V:
The Flowers of my Easter
Lay sleeping; peaceful and free
with the smears of egg yolk
and chocolate bunnies
across their rosy cherub cheeks.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
4-8-2009

Daddy's Crooked- Legged Hen

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. ~Aesop~


“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”~Arnold H. Glasgow~


I was six when we first got the chickens. We loved to go to the chicken yard and stick long pieces of grass through the wire to see them snatch it and run away. Daddy would come out every afternoon and scatter corn and scratch feed around on the ground for the hens to eat. He'd always fill the troughs with fresh water and laying mash every single day. Daddy took very good care of his chickens.

He would gather their eggs while they scratched and pecked at the food he had scattered.One Friday afternoon daddy was running a little late getting to his chores. He had had a bad day at work and then it seemed like everything that could go wrong did that day. He sent me and Jimmy to the chicken yard and told us to just scatter some scratch feed and gather the eggs. I reckon that he planned to see to everything else early Saturday morning before he went to work.

Jimmy scattered the feed and told me to get all the eggs from the nests. I checked high and low in all of the baskets until I got to the very last nest. Sitting there in the last basket was an ornery old hen we all called big red. Big red never missed a chance to peck you. She would peck at you through the fence if you got too close. I told Jimmy I wasn't bothering big red even for eggs.

Jimmy and I were standing there trying to decide what to do about this mean old hen when Daddy came out to see what was keeping us. He told me to bump the bottom of the basket and scare her down. When that didn't work he tossed a handful of feed right in front of her. She still sat there looking at me with her beady little eye. Finally Daddy went into the pen himself and I backed away under the shed because I knew he was mad. He was mad with everything right then and he was especially mad with big red.

Daddy reached under that mean old hen and grabbed her by both feet. Just as Daddy closed his hand on her feet she pecked him hard about ten times in a row. My Daddy was a kind man and as gentle as any person I ever knew but right then he lost his temper with that mean old chicken and tossed her to the ground. I watched in amazement as she squawked and limped across the chicken yard. Clucking and falling over and over. Daddy yelled at me and Jimmy to get inside and get washed up for supper. We ran for the house; Glad to be away from daddy and his rare anger.

Daddy stayed outside for a good while that evening. Mama had already fed us kids by the time he came inside with the eggs. He didn't say what had happened to that mean old hen and we didn't dare ask him. I thought for sure he had buried her behind the pen where I had seen him bury other chickens that had died.Saturday Morning I woke up early and decided to go and see where daddy had buried that mean old hen. I just knew daddy had killed her for pecking him and making him mad. I hurried out to the pen and ran around behind. No where could I see any turned over dirt. No where could I see where he had dug a hole for a mean and nasty hen. Suddenly with a cluck and a squawk I saw the mean old thing coming for the wire. Striding along on her leg taped up with two Popsicle sticks was big red. My gentle daddy had fixed her broken leg rather than wringing her mean neck.

Big red always did have a crooked leg after that day and Daddy and her seemed to have an understanding between them. I never saw daddy snatch her off the nest again and I never saw her peck him again either. Big red set her nest whenever she wanted to and would hatch at least a dozen bitties every year. Daddy always had a soft spot for her after that and I would sometimes catch him tossing a worm from the garden right to her in the late evening time.

My Daddy lost his temper and then regretted it. That crooked legged hen lived a long long time to remind him and us that he was human. I had never thought so before that day. To loose your temper is human; to be sorry for it should be human also. Have a great day!
Patsy

Happy Easter as time Marches on!

Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection. ~Watchman Nee

Today was Easter. I have always loved Easter. When I was a child I loved the candy and the pretty new dresses and the New shoes. We knew the meaning of Easter. But we were Kids. We loved the other things that were part of the celebrations.We would hide Dozens and Dozens of eggs when we were children and then count the found ones over and over till we found them all. Daddy and Mama would take turns hiding them and then Us kids would run like wild thing to try and find them all. Daddy would give a dollar to who ever found the prize egg and we all wanted that dollar. I was one of the smaller ones of eight kids so I didn't Manage to get the dollar very Often. Both of our Grandma's would come home with us after Church on Easter. It was an all afternoon event. We would have so much fun together. But time marches on.

When We were grown and all of us had children of our own we would gather at Mama and Daddy's House and they would have Plastic eggs all filled with candy and always a Easter gift for every Grandchild. My Brothers would hide the eggs and our own children would run wild everywhere till all the eggs were found. My brother Frank was always the best hider. He would always pick out a very small child and walk around with them sometimes giving a nudge or a whisper when they were close to an egg. I once told Frank that he was cheating. He laughed and said He wasn't cheating he was assisting. Frank has one Grandchild now. Everyone knows when they see them that she is the apple of his eye. I hope they hid eggs together today. I hope they made memories. We each have to build our own History. Because Time moves on for all of us.

I was a single Mom of three for a few years. Those years were tough. I would hide eggs and they would find them. My two little monsters running around like crazy while the big monster laughed at them because he already had all the eggs spotted. Anthony would always give a third to each of the other two so that they all had the same amount. He was always a good sport. He didn't care about the eggs. I always gave him the dollar for the prize egg. He was older I figured he needed it. Then I remarried and Had a new Husband and two more children and Easter began to be another holiday that had to split between houses. And
I worried about what history that was bringing to my five children. We always tried to have something special with all of them on holidays and time marched on for us too.

All of my Children are grown now.. All five live somewhere else.I had one Grandson here this week-end with Me. Mason. Dave hid the eggs for Mason. Mason said Grand-daddy hid them too easy so he was going to hide them for us. We did our best not to just bend over and pick them up since they were in plain sight. Pretending we didn't see them. He was very excited that he was a better hider than Grand- daddy. Then came my turn to hide them. I walked around carefully looking for the kind of places we would find them when we were small. The kind of places My Daddy or my Brother Frank Might hide them. I laughed as they ran around looking in all the places they had already hidden them. They managed to stumble over all but four of them. I kept telling them. " I can see them from here." Finally Mason came and stood by me and looked around high and low and spotted one sitting carefully way up on a tree limb. He then spotted the two in the goldfish's waterfall. I laughed as they walked and re-walked all over this yard searching for the one egg. Finally after they had both gave up and were about to go inside I walked over to a tree stump sitting in the middle of a flower bed and next to the stump sitting in a yellow daffodil was the final bright yellow egg. I picked it up and tossed it to Mason. He said I was the very best egg hider this year. And I was happy because even though we don't always see it Mason and the other children are growing up And time still marches on.

Times Change. Families change. Lives Change. Holiday traditions change. My Easter's now are usually spent Just me and Dave here at home. This year for a change we had Mason here. We had fun with him like we haven't had in a while. Our own children Out grew Holidays Early. When children have to split Holidays in two houses that happens. It's no one's Fault It just happens. But We always made holidays special in our house. We dyed eggs even if it would be too late Easter to hide them when they all came home. We could hide them Monday. Fun is important to children. I do remember some times that I was in trouble as a child but Most of all I remember the fun times. So try as often as you can to have fun with a child. Who knows you might even enjoy yourself.. And better yet the child might with a grin and a hug declare you to be the best hider of the day! And Even time can't march faster than good memories. Time can't erase the loving history you build with a child!
Happy Easter!!
Patsy