I was in elementary school in the latter part of the fifties and early sixties.  While we had a cafeteria at school that served wonderful, delicious meals, think cinnamon rolls and homemade mashed potatoes, sometimes I took my lunch to school.

It was always the same thing. Bologna sandwich, potato chips, maybe a banana or apple and a cookie.  Mom always had homemade cookies in the cookie jar.  I would buy a little carton of chocolate milk in the cafeteria.  Our cafeteria always smelled so good.  Most of the cooks were mothers of students in the school and they were very good cooks, let me tell you.

I took my lunch in this lunch box.

It was metal with a pull off lid and handles on the side.  I saw one just like it somewhere and it was called an antique.  I think my brothers and sister may have used the same lunch box.

It still has the tape on it that I wrote my name on so everyone would know whose lunch box it was.

Years later, my mother used it for something else.

For years my mother kept crayons in it and my children used the crayons when they visited.  I would be willing to bet there are still a few crayons in here that I used as a child.  Our family never gets rid of anything.  I will pass this on to my children one day.

This is a lunch box that belonged to my husband’s grandfather.  It was probably carried in the late 1800’s or early in the twentieth century.

It has it’s own built in cup.

Hot water could be put in here to keep food warm or ice to keep food cold.

A nice wooden handle to carry it.

Through the years lunch boxes have changed.  In the seventies and eighties my children carried popular characters of the times lunch boxes.

Both my boys had super hero lunch boxes.  I only have one of them as the other got all rusted and I threw it away.  Wish I hadn’t

I do have both thermoses.

They are both the same.

My daughter carried a Strawberry Shortcake lunch box.  She had Strawberry Shortcake everything.  Strawberry Shortcake sheets, pajamas, pillows and most, if not all the Strawberry Shortcake dolls that came out at that time.  I will have to show them to you. I still have their boxes and everything.

Getting away from lunch boxes, my garden is finally coming to life.  Daffodils, rhubarb and forsythia is coming out and up and all the perennials are peeking out of the ground.

Sometimes it seems that the plants will never come up again and then the miracle happens and life is renewed.  I can’t wait to make a rhubarb pie from this plant.

The chickens are thriving and have adjusted to the big house.  I put them outside in their pen where they can scratch around and they love it.  In a few months I should be getting some eggs.  I can’t wait.  This is Dorcas, or is it Beatrice?  I never can tell those two apart.  She is quite a little ham isn’t she?

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are.   Bye.

Whew, has a whole week of March already passed?  March, April and May are my favorite months and they always seem to go by so quickly.  Of course, it seems like time is going by so quickly nowadays.   I will tell you about my birthday and the week, but first, I must tell you about my mother who would have celebrated her ninety-eighth birthday today.

My Mother grew up during the roaring twenties, got married during the great depression, lived through two world wars, the Korean war and the Viet Nam war.  She was a town girl who married a farm boy and lived on a farm all her married life.  She raised six children, took in my aunt when she had no place to live, cared for her father-in-law during his last months of life, brought her mother home to live with us when her father died.  She woke up each day before sunrise to bathe and read her Bible.  She very rarely went out to eat, but cooked at least two full meals a day.  People loved to eat her cooking.  She lived most of her married life in a house without indoor plumbing, air conditioning or central heating.  She didn’t get to enjoy those until later in life.  She hung clothes out to dry in all kinds of weather.  I remember her bringing in blue jeans stiff and frozen from off the line and standing them in the kitchen to melt.

My mother was a voracious reader.  She would take my brother and me to the library every two weeks and we would all come home with an armload of books.  She read constantly when she wasn’t cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing or taking care of children.  She taught me to love reading, made me learn to cook although at the time I hated it, taught me to sew and taught me to have a mind of my own.  She certainly did.

My mother and father were married for over fifty years and acted like sweethearts all those years.  When Daddy died, my mother’s life crumbled.  She had to have back surgery the week after he was buried.  She missed him until the day she died.  I know that now they are together in heaven and I can’t wait to see them both.  Happy birthday, Mom. You were a wonderful mother.

Monday was my birthday and we celebrated by going out to eat at Olive Garden. Then we went to DSW where I got two new pairs of shoes.  Then we went antiquing.  I found this neat wicker suitcase.

At least I thought it was a suitcase until I opened it.

It was a picnic basket with four china plates, four china cups in their own little basket and four sets of silverware.  Made for a fancy picnic.   I told David I would make pimento and ham salad sandwiches and tea cakes and take a pretty tablecloth to spread and we would have a real British picnic.  Sounds like fun.

I also got this tablecloth.  It is big enough to fit our big square dining table.  Most tablecloths won’t fit it.

The fabric is so pretty for Spring and Summer.

Tuesday night and into Wednesday it snowed.  It was so pretty, but I really am ready for Spring.

I am leading a Beth Moore Bible study, James Mercy Triumphs, for the next eight weeks and I have been studying.  There are five levels to this study and one of them is to copy the complete book of James in longhand.  I find I notice things I may not have noticed if I were just reading the book.  It impresses things on your mind when you copy them down.  Just think, for years the only way to have a Bible was if someone copied it and you happened to get one.  Bibles were scarce at first.  I can’t imagine copying the whole book although I told David I would like to try.  He said I didn’t have enough time.  Well, it would give me something to do until I die!

The chicks have been keeping me entertained.  They are growing their pinfeathers now.  I love to watch them strut and stretch their wings.  They are getting use to them as they flap them and chase each other.  One flew out of the box I put them in while I clean their cage.  Have to get a taller box.

I have decided on names for the chicks.  They will be Biblical names. Beatrice, Dorcas,  Penninah, Jemima, Delilah and Phoebe.  That Buff Orpington above would make a good Beatrice.

I have been trying to get the chicks to come to me and today I put some of their feed in my hand and held it out.  Almost immediately chicks began to peck at the feed.

Soon I had a handful of chicks pecking away.  It felt so funny.

See that cute little Rhode Island Red in my hand?  The wing feathers are so pretty.

The Barred Rocks have little white spots on their heads.  They will be a striped chicken when they are grown and lay brown eggs.

This one looks a little scrawny.   She tends to stay away from the rest.  Must be a loner.  She will have to get over that.

I am so enjoying the chickens.  I guess it is the farm girl in me. I don’t look at caring for them as work.  I enjoy doing it.  Daddy always told me you take care of your livestock first before you take care of yourself.  Feed and water them and then you eat.  I have always taken that to heart and do the same with all my animals.  I had a friend once who I asked if she fed the birds and she told me it was too much work and she didn’t have time.  Definitely a city girl.  It takes about ten minutes to clean the pen and feed and water the chicks.  I also feed and water two dogs and quite a few birds.  It’s probably a good thing we don’t have more land or I would have a horse and some goats.

Well, got to go.  The Bible is showing on television and last week’s was really good.  Have a wonderful week.  Bye.