From the window, the day is perfectly lovely. The sun is bright and the sky is clear blue. Nothing is moving. The only drawback is the cold, 36°. Today is an inside day. Today is a day to stay in my cozies.

My backyard and deck have several fallen branches from the wind storms. I haven’t ventured on the deck yet to clear it as the deck is still snowy and icy. I figure I’ll toss those branches in the yard then start a pile. I’ll add the long skinny branch on the ground near the deck. I used to keep all my bird feeders on those fallen branches. I miss my birds, but I do have a crazy idea. A very long branch is leaning on the back fence. I’m thinking to haul it to the deck. I’ll tie long ropes to each end and try to throw the other ends onto the branches high upon the pine trees hanging over the deck and then attach the rope permanently to the branch. I’ll hang the bird feeders on that branch close enough to the deck so I can fill them.

I remembering celebrating both Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays when I was a kid, and I remember celebrating school vacation the same week. We entertained ourselves the whole week. We did all the winter fun things. If we had snow, we went sledding. We never had to go far. The hill was perfect for sledding as long as the plow left a layer of snow on the ground. Ice skating depended on cold days, but the swamp and the town rink were shallow so they were usually frozen. Good days meant hauling my bike out of its winter storage, the cellar, and exploring around town. When my mother asked where I was going, I always answered around as I had no idea what routes I’d take. They were spontaneous and serendipitous. If I needed books, I’d go to the library. I hated being without a book to read, still do. I never went home for lunch. I brought it with me, usually a sandwich and some cookies. The only rule was we had to be home when the street lights came on. That was the always rule. No school the next day meant we stayed up later than usual. We got to watch nighttime TV. After I went to bed, I’d read. My mother never checked to see if my room had gone dark. I’d read until I started falling asleep. Sometimes the book hitting the floor woke me up then I’d turn off the light.

I loved school vacations.

This entry was posted on February 19, 2024 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.