Happy Mother's Day

Here is my Mom when she was about 18, wearing the Canadian maple leaf necklace my dad sent her when he was working for the airlines in Alaska during the war.  She got married at 18 and became a mother when she was 21.  That was back in the day when she had to heat the water on the wood and coal range to wash and rinse the diapers, then hang them on the line to dry.  She said they had a clothes line rigged in the attic of the house so she could hang clothes to dry up there in the winter.  Washing in the winter in Montana was not easy, because, you see, clothes freeze solid as a board as soon as you pin them to the clothes line.  She baked all our bread, and we rarely had store bought bread.  Mom likes cake, and when I read Roberto pages from her diary, he decided they were rich because she baked so many cakes!  Mom did a lot of sewing, and was pretty good at it, and she cut my dad's hair for as long as he was alive.  Growing up during the depression left a permanent mark on her and many others; she is very frugal, and has always been an example of my dad's favorite saying, "Eat it up; wear it out; make it do or do without." Mom still lives in her own little house on her ranch  in Garfield County, Montana where my brother and I grew up.  At this age she likes to work crossword puzzles, watch her favorite shows, and read.  She loves history, and if she reads a novel she wants it to be historically correct. She doesn't make bread much anymore, and is downright extravagant in this area.  When she came to visit this winter, I told her she could make the bread.  She said she would just buy it!  Happy Mother's Day to all.  And thanks Mom for all you have done for me.