Big Day!

Mother's Day is a big day, at least it is for me.  A lot of expectations.  I was a little worried when Saturday's mail brought only one card, from my best friend in Tucson.  Sunday morning there was a card from my Hubby, of course, on the breakfast table.  But almost immediately Fedex brought me a huge box of roses.  So many I couldn't get them all in one vase!  Beautiful!  Then a welcome photo of my Arizona son and his girlfriend and one of his lovely compositions via e-mail.  All day the phone rang as offspring called and chatted and wished me good and expressed their love for me.  There was a gift of meat from my favorite butcher shop.  Fancy and good-smelling cosmetics too.  The last one squeaked in at 11 pm!  I love you all!
     Eliyah and I made some more candles, much longer this time and smoother and more beautiful.

     When we moved here I relegated my butcher block on a stand to the front porch to hold the grill.  It had a big top and made a thing to bump into in our narrow kitchen.  Of late I have begun to miss it though.  So I thought I would get or make a smaller top for it and try it again in the kitchen.  Now I am not much of a carpenter, so I found I was dragging my feet.  I got some wood out but when I contemplated sawing it, well, it just seemed so hard.  However, I still had the remains of a gift certificate to Amazon so I went looking.  I was delighted to find several to choose from.  I got one which is really a bread board and has the circles for rolling various size pie crusts out, as well as rulers for cutting noodles.  It was not expensive at all and is from Kentucky, and I have always liked Kentucky!  Catskill Craftsmen sent it to me in 5 days.  It was a perfect fit!  My children all remember this in my old kitchens.

     I have really enjoyed using it again.

     Another new addition is an old blasting powder box for Miss Hickory's room.  It is darker but I have added two lights.  I think Miss Hickory likes it very much.  It is roomier!

 Notice that the icebox has a big chunk of ice on the top shelf!

Last of all I would like to complain.  Have you noticed that the dish detergent doesn't cut the grease like it used to?  Even though I change the water and rinse copiously, I always end up putting the last few things back to be washed again next time.  They look alright but when I go to dry them, they are slippery with a thin film of grease.  Now is this a good thing?  Maybe the old detergents were too harsh for our ecology?  Hard to get out of the water?  Certainly they  strip all the natural oil off the skin of your hands.  Trace amounts left on the dishes?  Or is this just a way to make more money?  I wish someone would tell me!  I remember back in the 50's when we used to use soap powder for washing dishes and it made everything very slippery.  It didn't cut the grease much either.  I welcomed the new liquid dish detergents and never questioned that it was a vast improvement.  My favorite was Joy and I bet I used it for 45 years!