Fridays Are Golden

It's definitely spring here in the mountains.  All sorts of wildflowers bloom along the trails.  The oak pollen is coating everything and people who have never had allergies before are sneezing with watery eyes.  So in spite of the wonderful weather, we must keep our windows closed and turn on the air conditioner.  Bummer.

We don't eat a lot of chips and snacks, so whenever a plastic bag is opened our optimistic Lucy always assumes it means a new bag of treats for her.  She runs into the kitchen and sits quietly waiting for something good to happen.

Oh, I can hardly wait!  But if I get too excited they will scold me and I really hate that.

So I'll sit here like a good girl.

 Sometimes she is lucky and the bag does contain a treat for her.  Other times she is disappointed as the bag fills a bowl and nothing is offered to her.

 Can you guess which was the case?

Sunday is Mother's Day here in the US.  Despite modern-day appearances, it was not begun as one of those "greeting card holidays."  Although suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe, the real roots of Mother's Day in the United States began as one woman's tribute to her mother and to other mothers around the country in 1908.  Anna Jarvis pushed hard to have Mother's Day declared an official holiday.  In 1914, President Theodore Roosevelt, despite vigorous opposition from some Senators (all male), declared the second Sunday is May to be celebrated as a national holiday to honor mothers in the United  States.

When florists and greeting card companies, most notably Hallmark, started commercializing Mother's Day in the early 1920s, Anna Jarvis was furious.  She was so angry with what she saw as exploitation of the holiday that she spent years attempting to have the holiday rescinded.  At one time she was arrested for protesting at a candy company.  But World War II boosted the commercialism with soldiers sending flowers, cards, and gifts to their mothers at home.  The candy, flower, and card companies spread the idea that good sons would remember their mothers by sending these products.  And thereby boost their sales.

Mother's Day has an even older history in many other countries.  In the UK "Mothering Sunday" was celebrated as early as the 1600s.  It was on the fourth Sunday of Lent.  Ancient Romans had celebrations for specific mother goddesses more than 200 years BC.

So while we can never escape the ubiquitous commercialism of the day, we can all be thankful for our mothers, loving the ones who are still living and honoring those who have died.

HAVE A MOST WONDERFUL AND SAFE WEEKEND, EVERYONE