Soggy or not, the Memorial Day weekend was used to celebrate and remember the veterans of the country, in many ways. Parades took place between the many showers. Picnics moved indoors. Families got together and some attended church; others just visited; and many attended the new movie about Pearl Harbor. Special television programs saluted and honored those who made the supreme sacrifice and those who today wear a uniform and still serve a peacetime force for our country.

Perhaps the rain and more quiet way of celebration made a difference. It seemed to be a more somber holiday with many events of honor than some other years. It was also the unofficial start of summer – if there is to be a real summer!

I was pleased to read a week ago the column of a journalist in a nearby daily paper which highlighted the slow return of some families to the use of an old fashioned clothesline. In some cases, it is the first ready reason to conserve power. It is known that electricity to produce any kind of heated energy uses more electricity and costs more. Operating a dryer is the only way some modern families have ever dried clothes.

I have lamented the fact many times that I cannot have a clothesline to hang out the wash. On a breezy and sunny day I long to hang clothes outside to soak up the sun and air and come back inside with that special perfume of the outdoors that clings to what has been dried in nature’s own backyard. I used to take the blankets and other special things to Vermont to be washed and hung outside. I’m not able to do that now, but I have been known to prevail upon Laurie to take a bedspread to her home in Vermont, and give it a dose of sun and breezes and fresh air! She also loves to use the clothesline, and does so whenever possible.

My friend Caroline Edwards writes from Florida that they are enjoying the crop of strawberries, and sweet corn is having a good season in spite of the drought. They are also having a lot of forest fires, which is a constant worry as they hope for rain. Heavy rainfall here was to blame for a poor holiday weekend, but we, too, needed the rain. As the sun came out on Monday and Tuesday, flowers and shrubs and even lawns outdid themselves to put on nature’s fashion show. Cooler weather helps the blossoms to last longer; it seems that everything is blooming so well.

A letter from Helen Squire tells me to use their summer address in New York State, where Ralph has settled into his routine of providing bountiful amounts of walleye fish and other treats from their fishing camp at Schuyler Lake. They are not, however, enjoying the chilly weather and are hoping for more warm days this summer.

The quote at the end of last week’s column was by Will Rogers, from the “Illiterate Digest.”

Who said, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation”?