Giving thanks

I'm writing this column on a day when we had 3.6 inches of rain during the night. The lightning and thunder woke me several times and even though I reset my clock in the middle of the night it soon started blinking again because of a temporary power shortage. Our lawn looked like a lake when I first woke up, but it has now changed into a rice paddy.

Instead of thinking about another rainy day, I decided to be thankful that I had a very good reason not to mow the lawn today. Our mower does a lot of things well, but it isn't on pontoons, so there's no way I could mow.

That started me thinking of all the other things I could be thankful for today. One biggie is that the weather on Saturday for the biggest day of Bushwhackers was excellent. There was a breeze, the temperature wasn't real hot and nothing had to be postponed or canceled.

Along that same line is my appreciation for the many folks who put on another great event, for our area. When I was watching the parade I kept wondering what was so different this year, then I realized there were no convertibles with pretty young ladies in them. I had not remembered that there was no Miss Bushwhacker contest this year. Or maybe I had not known it at all. Our lives have been rather haphazard this last month due to Lester's surgery and my previous trip to New Mexico. It's funny how quickly you can become out of date.

I hope the omission wasn't permanent, but I'm sure there was a good reason we had no young girls running around in old-fashioned costumes.

Did you notice how quickly the streets were cleaned up and everything was put back in order? I marvel at that each year after seeing the crowds on the Square late at night and then seeing a nice neat scene by noon on the next day. Thanks to the crews who did that job.

I was thankful during the day Saturday that our great-granddaughter could enjoy a day running around on the Square with her friends like I was able to do on many Saturdays in my youth. Although there are some dangers; even here, and there probably were back in my youth also, it is great to be able to see young people enjoying each other and having fun right here in our own home town.

I am also thankful for the many memories I have of spending time with my sister Ellen, Joyce Kafer (Knoderer now), other girl friends, and, if we were lucky some neighbor boys, around the same Square.

I had not taken time in the past to go see the Quilt Show in the Community Center, but I had heard that a quilt from our Ellis Domestic Science Club was going to be on display so I walked over to see it. With thanks to the Taylor family this friendship quilt from 1935 was one chosen for the "Bed Turning" programs given several times during the day. It's hard to explain my emotions when I saw those names from my mother's generation on a beautiful quilt. Erica Skouby pointed out my mother's block near the top of the quilt, but my eyes also immediately saw other names such as Mary Burns, Georgianna Phelps, and Bertha Taylor, who was the original owner of the quilt.

I was thankful that there was this one place where a woman of that generation was listed as Pearl Gray and not just Mrs. Chester Gray.