Flowers have a mind of their own

The calendar says it is late November. Either the flower gods are confused or the calendar is wrong. Yesterday I noticed a cluster of daffodils that are almost ready to bloom. They are in the flower bed in front of the house and are hiding between the Baptisia and the weeping cherry tree.  

Two of the gangly night-blooming cereus opened their magnificent blossoms weeks after they were brought inside for the winter. For the record, daffodils are supposed to bloom in the spring and the others have never bloomed once they came indoors. A few weeks ago the Christmas cacti were covered with blooms. They have finished their yearly show and are now ready for a long winter’s nap. Maybe they aren’t Christmas cacti at all. Maybe they are really Halloween cacti. Only they know for sure.

In years past we would be getting ready for the holidays. Not this year. I know it sounds horrible but I am so glad that Mom and all the other older family members are all gone. I miss them dearly, but I am thankful that they didn’t have to endure all the fuss and nonsense that this year has produced. 

In a couple days we will prepare our own Thanksgiving for just the two of us. There will be no hours and hours of baking. I love to bake but not when I am required to. We will stay home and not worry about dividing our time between families or having to get home before dark. 

Since we are staying home we don’t have to worry about a mask that keeps slipping down, or keeping ourselves at a specified distance from each other. As for excessive hand washing, that is a normal part of fixing supper.

As much as I, and probably everyone else, hate the masks we are asked to wear, I am glad that real scientists have said that while masks aren’t foolproof, they do reduce the probability of catching the disease that is spanning the globe.

I am thankful for many things in addition to plants that bloom out of turn. I am thankful for Mrs. Silvers. She was my first and second grade teacher. It was she who introduced me to reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. I use those skills every day. Mrs. Read taught third grade and read Halloween stories to us about a witch who lived in a house on stilts. She is also the one who made me skip noon recess because she caught me stuffing my spinach into my empty milk carton.

I am thankful for having a roof over my head and food in my belly. I am especially thankful for indoor plumbing. I am thankful for central heat. Growing up we had a fuel oil stove that barely kept the house warm. After Mom married the guy down the street we lived in what was originally a toll house. Subsequent owners added on to the house and it had four rooms when I lived there. It was heated by a coal stove that heated the entire house. That house burned down years ago and was replaced by a double wide house trailer that did not sit anywhere near as close to the road as the original building had.

I am thankful for technology that allows me to see our youngest grandson, Nicholas, showing off the medal he got for winning a spelling bee. It also allows me to watch middle grandson, Jacob, handle the snakes, toads and other wildlife he has found. It’s the next best thing to being there.

Perhaps the daffodils knew I needed a bit of springtime to counterbalance all the pettiness and negativity that has marked this year. The moral is that there is always something positive to be thankful for. 

And one more thing, I am thankful to all of you who take the time to read my words. Thank you, one and all.