I woke up to rain. It was heavy at times then stopped. The sun came out but the clouds returned. It is a warm day at 55°. Light rain is predicted.

Everywhere I walk in this house clumps of dust mixed with dog hair fly in front of me. I need to clean, but my sloth holds sway. I’ve decided I want the same deal as the Grimm shoemaker. He had no money and no customers and only enough leather for one pair of shoes. He left the shoe pieces on his workbench and went to bed. He figured he’d finish in the morning. When he woke up, the pieces had been sewn into a beautiful pair of shoes. They sold right away, and he was able to buy more leather. He left those pieces. They too were made into shoes, beautiful shoes. The next night he and his wife hid and watched as two elves stitched the leather and made shoes. Those sold at a great price. There is more but not much more to the story. I’m thinking I should leave the vacuum, the polish and dust cloths out. Maybe when I wake up, the house will be clean.

Mrs. McGaffigan lived in the big house on the bottom corner of my street. We shared a party line. We each had separate rings so we knew to whom the call was directed. The phone had no dial My brother and I used to listen to her. We’d pick up the handset and listen. We tried not to breathe but she’d hear us and yell. We’d put the handset right down and laugh. We got a rotary phone. No longer could we be entertained by Mrs. McGaffigan.

When I was in the first grade, I learned to print. I was taught small letters and capital letters. I always used a pencil because of the eraser. Penmanship was one of our subjects and was listed on the report card. We either got an S for satisfactory, an NI for needs improvements or a U for unsatisfactory. It was in the second grade when we started to learn cursive. First we practiced writing exercises. We had to draw things like interlocking circles and straight up lines in a slant. My circles were never good. They were sort of short and long in the same line. I remember my hand rested on the paper and the side of my hand blurred the letters. Cursive wasn’t easy. We had a card of each letter around the outside of the black board. The card had the capital letter and the small letter. We practiced during penmanship. By the third grade, we never used printed letters again.

When I was in the ninth grade, I had to learn to print all over again. We all took the national Latin exam and only printing was allowed. I loved the irony.

Mother Nature can’t seem to make a decision regarding the weather. It is 50° but the wind is strong and cold. We do have some sun and a bit of blue but there are clouds, no rain, just clouds. I did a few errands. When I got home, my landscapers were clearing the limbs, raking the gardens, blowing the drive-way clean and cleaning off the deck. My yard looks great. Now I am in the hunt to find someone for a dump run.

The dafs have buds. The tops of the grape hyacinths have broken through in the front yard. I saw purple croci, the first flowers of spring. Color is coming back. Winter grey is disappearing. I feel like singing a happy tune while skipping down the sidewalk.

I loved it when the buds appeared, tiny specks on the branches and the bushes. I could put away my winter coat. I still dressed in layers but light layers compared to winter. The sweet aroma of spring arrived with the flowers. The mornings were still chilly, but the afternoons got warmer. We could play outside in the afternoons. The sun hung around longer every day.

I didn’t learn to do house things when I was a kid. My mother cooked all the meals, baked the cookies and brownies, cleaned the house, made my bed and did the wash. When I was in college, I’d bring my laundry home. Once I tried to wash the laundry myself. A buzzer went off and the washing machine stopped. It kept buzzing. I had no idea what that meant. When I opened the machine, the clothes were still soaked. I wrung them as well as I could then put the clothes in the dryer. I was not a fan of washing clothes or cleaning.

During training in Ghana, the hunt went for someone to wash our clothes. We found some women in each village where we stayed. It only took a day for them to wash and iron clothes. The cost was small. I never did my own laundry, not once in over two years. I did bake, made cookies for the first time ever. My mother had sent me Christmas cookie cutters so. I gave sugar cookies a try. I even made frosting. Those were darn good cookies.

Now, I love to cook, to bake. I am unafraid of trying new dishes even with company. I haphazardly clean. I still don’t do laundry.