More Sunshine! And a Walk Down Memory Lane, Again.

 We had another below-zero night last night, but it was only in the single digits below, -8F was the reading on my thermometer. Today it's been in the low 20s but now has slipped back into the teens. According to the forecast, there will be a slight warming trend tonight and tomorrow should be fairly nice, in the 20s here but perhaps a little higher in other parts of the state. Then back to sub-zero nights.

Yesterday afternoon we had a little snow squall come through late in the day. It dropped about an inch of snow on us, but it was very dry, light and fluffy. The sun was so nice today, I finally went out on the porch and put the furniture that had blown around about a week ago back in place. It bothered me to see it  always blocking my view as I look out the sliding doors, and also, I needed to check the small solar panel on some lights I have out there. There was snow covering it, but it had also slipped down into the bucket that holds the branch (that holds the solar fairy-lights). I missed seeing the lights out there every night, and although some of it was uncovered, the sun wasn't charging it enough to keep them on very long. I re-positioned it and I think it will be ok now. 

I have been having a difficult time organizing my photos recently. I somehow managed to have the same files stored in several different places, and I kept finding precious files that seemed to have only markers, or icons, that would not open to show an image. My computer kept saying that the file was "corrupted" or that it didn't support that format. Being almost totally clueless about the inner workings of computers, I got kind of frantic about what I had apparently lost. 

Finally, yesterday I found that I hadn't lost anything - my photos are all on an external hard disc that Fred installed. At Jamie's suggestion, I have not put all the files with just icons into a "Junk" file (just in case) and today I was able to copy and paste a large file of images from the external hard drive onto my Pictures Shortcut. Going through that file was like opening a treasure trunk of memories. I recently posted pictures of snow around our house back in the 1940s, but now I'm going back a few more years to 1935 when we apparently had a big snow storm.   

At left is my Aunt Mabel who was either home from cosmetology school in Massachusetts or from her job in Maine. She managed to be very stylish in spite of the wind and snow. Her younger brother, Bill Bolton (right) was in high school then and rode a horse to school every day - 4.6 miles (the same route I took a decade later on my bike, except I stayed in town during the winter months). I'm sure the Bolton  boys couldn't be spared from chores to board in town, so they went on foot, sleigh or horseback until they were old enough to drive. That's Uncle Bob by the Ford truck. Note the leather "highcuts" he's wearing. There were many days that a vehicle could not get through the snow and they would need to revert to either walking or riding a horse.

My mother, for some reason, thought it would be a good idea to get a picture of me, perhaps about the same time - at least she put me in a chair so I didn't have to stand int he snow with my low shoes. I was not really dressed for the weather - but there was probably a reason for that; below right is another picture of me properly dressed in my woolen snowsuit and boots. 

Back in those days it was customary to "bank" the house with hay, sawdust or boughs from evergreen trees. When this picture was taken of the farmhouse, my father and a crew of men were probably cutting lumber or wood and brought boughs to use for banking. I remember that and that they were burned in the spring in a huge bonfire. It was part of the spring house-cleaning process. The women were systematically cleaning inside, changing from heavy drapes to sheer curtains at the windows, removing, washing and storing heavy blankets and quilts until they were needed again in the fall, while the menfolks were directed to remove storm windows and the banking. The windows were washed, inside and out, windows were flung open to let the fresh air in to replace winter's accumulation of winter odors of  woodsmoke and wet wool. Window screens were brushed and ready, storm doors were removed and replaced with screen doors. Everyone helped, and my grandmother insisted that the lawn had to be raked and cleared of debris as soon as the snow was gone, and boards were laid to walk on so there wouldn't be pock marks left in the wet, soft earth. She tried, usually without much luck, to keep a lawn in front of her house. She had flower beds under the big maple trees, but there always seemed to be wandering, loose farm animals that would dine on her flowers or trample them; and with lots of people always coming and going, it was hard to keep unwitting visitors from parking a car or truck on her lawn. Most farms in the area didn't have lawns or flowers; just dusty roadways and muddy barnyards. She looked forward to seeing signs of her flowers poking through the earth in the spring, and as I look back, I realize that her "flower beds" consisted of patches of phlox and golden glow; wisely chosen to withstand kids and animals trampling them. 

There was a row of big maple trees that shaded the house, with clotheslines strung from one to the other, and lilac bushes - one in the row of maple trees and a big one in back of the house near the apple orchard. I think she tried other flowers from time to time, but nothing was ever hardy enough to last.

There is no sign of her gardens at the farm now. I'm not even sure there is a lilac bush. I think there may be one or two of the big maple trees still standing, but there's no apple orchard now. Time changes everything. Even our weather.