Frosty the Mailbox......& Books

This morning I found myself humming, "Frosty the Mailbox......was a jolly, happy soul......". Yes, we awoke to a fairyland scene, with frosty artwork gracing tree branches, pine needles, fences, vines.......everything in the out-of-doors. It was beautiful, until the breeze kicked in and scattered nature's fragile lacework. After morning chores, I spent about an hour wandering around outdoors taking photos.

Yesterday, on New Year's Eve Eve, we had one more holiday gathering; my side of the family came over. It was a potluck, and our 4'X5' kitchen island counter-top became covered with yummy food dishes. We had to dodge several little people, as my brother (11 years my junior) and his wife have four young children. What fun to see them! Their 18-month old son, a very solid little fellow, squealed with delight when one of our cats appeared after a sneaky escape from the basement. We had fun watching him chase the cat.

I had wrapped up white elephant gifts to give to my mom, sister, and sister-in-law. I had such fun the other day, browsing in a second-hand shop, looking for the items. And for the kids, I had a pile of books for them to look through and choose from. Some were from the second-hand store, and others from our bookshelf here at home. My sister's kids love to read. Her son needed mysteries to read for school, so he chose some Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown. His sister picked out some Nancy Drew books. Oh, how I remember reading so many of those back in 5th and 6th grades.......my friends and I would trade them back and forth, along with Trixie Belden mysteries. Ah, yes, the good old days!

While looking through my old books here at home, I had run across two that my parents had given me years ago.........Tom Sawyer and Little Women, unabridged editions. I remember receiving them one Christmas, but I had no idea what year that might be. Inside the front covers of the books my mother had written the date......Christmas 1965. I was seven-and-a-half, and in second grade. I recall that I started reading the books right away......Tom Sawyer was first. I don't know......do many second graders today read Tom Sawyer and Little Women......do you suppose? I really failed to challenge my own kids in that way. Possibly, reading is taught in a different, less challenging way, now, too. Unfortunate, if that is so.

But, as a kid, I always was very interested in reading. In first grade, our teacher read from Little House on the Prairie every day after noon recess. I sat there listening, completely engrossed, and couldn't wait until I was able to read the other Little House books on my own, which happened in the next couple years. By third grade, I had read all of them.

Katie John and Homer Price were two other characters I loved reading about back then, and I still have those dog-eared books on my bookshelf. I can't part with them. Another series from way back in early grade school was about a horse named Blaze and his owner, and their adventures. Other animal books I enjoyed were Bambi (the novel) and Brighty of the Grand Canyon. Vaguely, I remember another set of books that I enjoyed very much, but recalling the name is difficult. They had a Mrs. Oldknowe in them, and her grandchildren, and an estate called Greenhowe, I think. They were sort of magical fantasy stories, with a ghost-girl named Linnet, and a alchemist that lived in the woods nearby, and shrubbery in the shapes of animals. I should look it up on the internet to get more information.

A few years ago, my mom gave me my old baby-book. In it she had written that at age 18 months, one of my favorite books was Pitidoe the Colormaker, by Glenn Dines. I don't remember the book at all, and have been trying to locate a copy, but have had no success. I've also left a request for it on eBay.

Yes, reading has been a favorite pastime for as long as I can remember. My younger sisters used to yell at me because all I wanted to do was read. They would say, "You never play with us.......all you do is read!" That probably wasn't very nice of me. And in all my years of motherhood, my constant wish was to have more time to read. But, somehow, it seems I didn't pass the reading passion on to my kids very well. I read books to them, but probably not enough. Sometimes, I'd be so tired, I'd get dozy while reading aloud, and the kids would poke me and yell, "Mom.....wake up!"

I remember we learned phonics in the early grades, but I don't think phonics is taught much anymore. Maybe we learned to read earlier and quicker because of phonics, I don't know. And I do read fast, which is probably just a natural ability. When I was a kid, sometimes my mom would give me an article to read, and I would read it and hand it back to her, and she would act like she didn't believe I had really read it. She'd say, "You couldn't be done that quick." I did have a classmate who read way faster than I did, though. In high school, she read every book in our school library. I would watch her read books.......it took her just a few seconds to scan a page. She was our class valedictorian and went on to become a lawyer. The salutatorian went on to become a physician. I was third in the class........and became a farmer's wife!