According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, on this day back in 1946, the low was 25 degrees with a high of 48.  A U.S. postage stamp was $0.03, one year tuition at Harvard ran a student $420, a loaf of bread cost $0.10, a gallon of gas was $0.21, and a gallon of milk was $0.67.  But Federal minimum hourly wage was only $0.40.  We bought our eggs fresh from the farm for $0.50 a dozen and the milk man from Suzuki's farm placed our milk bottles, with whole cream on top, in insulated containers at our back door.  Joe-the-Baker stopped by for friendly conversation and to see what breads the neighbors needed.  A lazy summer afternoon was spent laying on the grass, gazing at the sky to watch the ever changing shape of white clouds.  When the hollyhocks were in full bloom, my sister and I swirled the water in shallow pans to dance our hollyhock dolls.

Me in the spring of 1947, sitting in a wash basin at Grandma Still's house.  We were living with my grandmother as we still didn't have a house.

Also, spring of '47.  I wonder if my mother took me out of the wash basin and put me out to dry in the fresh spring air.  Old pictures reveal so much of our past that we forget.  I've had a foggy image of Grandma Still's chicken coop all these years so this picture is precious to me.

I loved my dresses!  I wanted to be a princess and a dancer when I grew up.  One minute I was swirling and pirouetting and the next I could be found hanging upside down in a tree or jumping from the highest tree branch wearing my superman cape.

Today this is my favorite because now when I grow up I want to be a cowgirl.  I want acres of pasture with cows, ducks, and cats, a farmhouse and barns.

The temperature this morning at 6:15 was 25 degrees and our high may reach 61 by 3 pm.  Sixty-nine years ago my parents and older brother, Chip, welcomed me into this world.  I don't have a cow or ducks or cats on my acreage, but I have my cowgirl boots, peaceful woods, chipmunks and deer and a good life.

Happy Birthday to me!!