Winter was kind to us yesterday. Off cape got snow; we got rain, tremendous rain, and it was warm enough last night that it didn’t freeze. Because of that storm, a goodly amount of the snow is gone.

Today is damp and ugly. Nothing is moving on the trees. The sky is a light gray. A little bit of sun would be welcomed.

In Hyannis was a green stamp redemption center. My mother would let us lick her green stamps and place them in the book as if it were a privilege. We’d even fight over turns. She kept the books in a kitchen drawer. I remember the pages and the squares where the stamps, all with S&H on the front, were supposed to go. My mother once got a table lamp with her green stamps. She put it in the living room. For some reason, it’s the only redemption I remember.

My mother bought every book of our encyclopedia from the supermarket, one issue each week. I remember the books had red covers and took up most of the space in the living room bookcase. When I was bored, I’d pick one and then open it at a random page and read what I’d found. You could buy a yearly supplement to keep it current, but we never did. My mother also bought a set of Melmac dishes at the supermarket. They were virtually indestructible which, I figure, was the allure. She also bought the special dishes like the gravy boat and the vegetable dish with a divider down the middle. A few plates lasted for decades, and I think there might have been one in the cabinet when my mother passed away. Its pattern was gone, wheat stalks I think, and there were scratches and nicks, but it had survived four kids and endless hand washings for well over forty years. I don’t know what happened to that plate. I can’t think it was bought at the house sale. Its worth was  sentimental and, in a way, historical. Supermarkets don’t give away anything anymore.