Um, I've been pulling off the heads before they can go to seed, and digging them up as fast as I can...and it's my name!

Uncle, that reminds of the time when just before we moved down here to Florida and our next door neighbor had not sprayed his lawn for dnadelions and the yard was full of them. I took a photo of them, enlarged it, framed it and sent it to Ray. He thanked me and drew an illustration of a dandelion ready to shed its seeds inside a book cover that I had sent to him to autograph.

Does anyone ever hold one under the chin or another person to see if they are in love? Or how did that work? I haven't thought of that in years.

We used to hold one under someones chin to see if they liked butter? Then if they said they, did you could see the reflected yellow light, on the under side of thier chin... If they said they did not like butter,,, you would mush the dandelion under their chin, and say as you were running away, well
now you DO!!!!

Yes, Uncle, I knew there something else to do with dandelions, thanks Uncle.

I thought we used to do that with buttercups?

I'm called Little Buttercup — dear Little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why,
But feel like a Dandelion — a poor little Dandelion,
Sweet Little Dandelion I!

I’m remembering a summer a long time ago (I think Ike was still president) about five in the evening, walking back from swimming, my trunks still wet, parts of the sidewalk cooler than others on my bare feet because of the shade trees.

That day, my sweet Mother, like a lot of other ladies taking care of their families, had taken in the milk, talked for a while with the bread-man, did the house and then went up to the corner market and did the day’s shopping, stopping on the way home to stand on the sidewalk and talk to Mrs. Klinkhammer on her porch. And then, she cooked dinner. And on my way home it seemed that every kitchen window was open and I could smell all the different meals being cooked. Oh, the wonderful tourture! All that long way.

What a nice memory Chapter 31. We are missing so much right now aren't we?

You write really well Chapter. I was experiencing that the whole way. I gotta go eat now, bye.

Front and side Porches, rocking chairs, open windows, fireflies, muffled conversations...
~
Tall security fences, electronic rooms, digital signals, cell phone blabber...

Hmm!

Flag Day! Remember our heroes. Last day of teaching, summer awaits, a long (overdue) late night run around the village to drink in all of those neighborhood images so wonderfully recalled by Chapter 31!!

"Mrs. Klinkhammer," what a great name!

Chap, thanks for letting me know I'm not alone in knowing Gilbert & Sullivan! (Love it!) And what a great childhood walking home vignette!

Butch, succinct words indicating disturbing cultural developments.
I wonder if they'll be having the "Living Flag" in Lake Woebegon today?

http://www.hcles.org/images/flag-living.gif

Mrs. Klinkhammer was a real person. An elderly widow lady. Every couple of months I’d be told to go over and see her. Always went in the kitchen way (never saw her living room) and we’d sit in her breakfast nook where the sun would shine in, and talk about all sorts of things. Mostly about me and how I was doing, but sometimes about her late husband, “Lord bless’m”. But she’d never get maudlin about it.

To picture her, think of one of the Baldwin sisters with a recipe. Only this recipe was for strawberry whipped cream cake. And every time I went over there she’d give me one to take home. I must have been something to see, walking down the street with it, but I’d be grazing on that sucker for days after.

I’ll always remember her kindly but will never have strawberry whipped cream cake as good as that again. I never got the recipe.

Good night, Mrs. Klinkhammer, wherever you are. (Sorry Jimmy).

How about catching the first june bug of the summer (the first one you see) for good luck. Anybody else heard of that one? I try to do it every year.

Here we get 10-lined June Beetles which writhe, hiss, and bite.
I think they showed up on this site years ago?

My wife and I enjoyed so much catching June bugs, usually lying on their backs and unable to go any where, and roll them in front of toads which whipped out their long sticky tongues and zapped them into their mouths while they lounged along side the pool at our apartment complex.