Odds and Ends

I was reading Jinksy's Napple Notes last evening. Jinksy is no mean poet, and I enjoy reading her verse, and her prose. Her most recent post, March 1, titled "Move Over February," contained a lovely poem she has titled "Timing."

Jinksy's poem reminded me of one of my favorite poems, "April Out of Stone" by Laurence Pratt. Many years ago, I copied Pratt's poem into a tiny notebook I carried around with me, which notebook, much the worse for wear, I still have. (I've been known to keep a variety of things far beyond the level of their importance, or usefullness. "Mama Pack-Rat" is my nickname.) Be that as it may, since I knew where the notebook had been deposited (upper left hand junk drawer of my desk) I burrowed through the plethora of odds and ends to find it so I could refresh my memory.

Pratt published "April Out of Stone" around 1939. I am too lazy today to look up the copyright laws which might pertain, but will err on the side of caution by not reproducing his words here except to say that it contains a reference to lichens, thus the photograph above. Suffice it to say, I love this poem, which has now been read, again, several times today, and reinterred in its messy resting place.

The poor little notebook now contains only three wrinkled and yellowed pages, among which I found the following (this is where the pack rat comes in):

Expenditures, June, 1967

Cash on hand $2.86

Coffee, .10

Coffee and cookies, .10

Coke, .10

Dinner, $1.03 (includes .10 tip)

Coffee & cookies, .10

Cashed check, $5.00

Lunch for 2, $2.58 (a splurge, I'm sure)

Coke, .10

Fritos, .10

Parking lot, $6.00 check

Baby sitter, $34.50 check

Kids' Sunday School money, .65

Coke, .10

That's all the entries I made; probably it was too depressing to note how little money I had. At the time, I was a single parent of four children, living with and sharing household expenses with my mother. Daddy had died in 1965. Although I have no absolute recollection, I think the parking lot and baby sitter were weekly expenditures. I do remember how small my monthly income was at the time, and the baby sitter, in particular, took a large percentage of my take home pay.

This page also has been reburied; I just can't bring myself to throw it away. I'll leave that task for my executor.