By Nancy Whitaker

THE DAYS OF CLOUDS AND CLOVER

As I was driving home from work the other day, enjoying the nice sunny weather, I happened to look up at the blue skies and the white fluffy clouds.

Of course, this scene triggered my mind to go back and remember the era in which I grew up. I thought of the simple ways that as kids how we used to entertain and occupy ourselves for hours.

We lived in the country and one of my favorite things to do was just lie on the ground on my back and gaze at the sky. As I peered into the clouds, I always thought to myself, “What is up there? Where is Heaven? If people are walking on streets of gold, why can’t I see them? Why don’t they fall out of the sky?”

By Jim Langham

'A little dab' of compassion

Many of us elderly people can remember a commercial from years ago that incorporated the line, “a little dab will do ya!” It represented a hair cream from an era when it was cool for men to slick their hair and paste it back to “slick up” for a special occasion. It was part of a song in a commercial where the man greased his hands with the cream and then rubbed it through his hair.

The thought of that “dab” came to my mind a couple of years ago when I was visiting a large university during the spring, when blossoming trees and bright sunshine was beaming forth in much the same manner as we have enjoyed this spring. Students, caught up in the atmosphere of spring, were riding their bikes, laughing, joking and frolicking with happiness in the bright sunshine.

In the midst of all of this, I was taking a low profile as I walked around taking pictures of the sunlight silhouetting the brilliant flowers, happy people pictures and cathedrals lifting their praise to the deep blue sky.

By Nancy Whitaker

DON’T TOUCH MY PEEPS

Do you remember eating your first Peep? Those sweet, sugary marshmallow chicks and bunnies that hops into stores every Easter are the most popular Easter candy next to chocolate.

An Easter basket would not be complete without these cute marshmallow candies. My own children loved the packages of the gooey, sugary, marshmallow treats and would always expect to find them in their baskets on Easter morning.

Even though Peeps were first made in 1953, it wasn’t until I had my own kids that I really paid attention to the chewy marshmallow treat. I love Peeps and I like to eat mine when they are stale and dried out, however, some people prefer their Peeps soft and fluffy.

When I think of a Peep, I think of the yellow chicks and pink rabbits. But, Peeps, just like everything else has progressed and today we see blue, pink, green and purple Peeps.

By Amber McManus

Some decades’ fashions are better forgotten

After viewing some pretty awesome pictures that actually survived the 1970s of one of the Progress staff, I decided to look back on some of the fashion fads of the past decades. The roaring ’20s with the decked out flapper girls, the greasers and the poodle skirts of the 1950s, the flower power and bell bottoms of the ’60s and ’70s, all these past decades had some pretty cool fashions, and some that should have probably never been. But the decade that I lived through and most familiar with, the 1980s, probably had some of the most memorable fashions of all.

First of all, there were the hairstyles and these hairstyles usually meant copious amounts of Aqua Net. The goal of the perfect ’80s do was to have your locks as big as possible and as stiff as possible. And, an added bonus of coolness was added if your hair was adorned with lots of scrunchies, bows and neon barrettes.

The crimped style was totally rad and I was still sporting this as late as 2002. I never got the memo that this was, like, completely ridiculous and went out two decades before, but if it ever comes back in style, I’m prepared to whip out my beloved crimper again. I am willing to scald my face in a few spots for fashion, and you know it’s going good when you can hear your hair sizzle from the heat of the device and all the hairspray.

By Nancy Whitaker

A TOOTHPICK AND THE FLU

The flu has been rampant this year and I was fortunate to catch it. On Sunday evening, I felt like I had a scratchy throat and felt like I may be coming down with perhaps a sinus infection or maybe one of my allergies.

When I awoke the next day, to my surprise and dismay, my voice sounded like a man’s. My eyes were swollen, I was coughing and ached all over. I thought, “Oh no. This is Monday, I really need to go to work.”

But, with a head that felt like it was going to burst and a tummy which was rolling and grumbling, I decided I was in no shape to be around anyone.

By Jim Langham

Appreciating the age of wisdom and beauty

The warmth of the past couple of weeks reminds me of one of my most cherished moments with my Grandma Cook, a dear old person, my mother’s mother, who lived with us as I was growing up.

That moment occurred in late March when I was in grade school. Grandma decided that it was time that I learn how to plant my first garden, so she took me to a small plot on the country property where we lived, gave me instructions in spading, hoeing and raking the soil to planting stage. Then, her worn hands of lifetime gardening led the way with instruction on how to plant peas, lettuce, onions and various other early spring vegetables that would become my first planted garden.

That was March; Grandma used to always tell me that when she was younger, people would plant their gardens in March. So I grew up imagining “old fashioned March” as being warmer, spring-like and a time to plant gardens. This spring has seemed to be like the kind of March Grandma referred to as “old-fashioned.”

Last week one day, I was reading through information from the National Weather Service and came across the fact that the two warmest Marches prior to this year were 1907 and 1910, right when Grandma would have been in her prime. “Hmmm,” I said, as I looked at those figures, “so this is what she was talking about. She did know what she was talking about.”

By Nancy Whitaker

JUST CALL HIM ROVER

It is always fun to get a new puppy or kitten. They become a vital part of our family and selecting a name for your pet may take some time.

A lot of thought goes into selecting just the right name for a much-anticipated new family member. When I was growing up, we always had a family dog. My grandpa, for some inane reason, always named our dogs “Rover.” We had three different Rovers that I can recall.

The first Rover met his demise when he was spotted killing the neighbor’s sheep. He was banished from our farmland and given to a city dweller.

Rover No. Two liked to bite and chase people and vehicles. He chased anything that moved, including anyone on a bicycle.

By Nancy Whitaker

The words of a coward: ‘I give up’

How many times have we all felt like, and said, “I am just going to give up?” Believe me I have said it many times. Then there is the old cliché, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Those words are hard to remember when something bad happens and you just want to cover up your head and stay in bed.

Young and old alike, we experience a lot of bumps in life. For young teens it could be, “Gee, I just don’t fit in.” Or it could be a break-up of a relationship that you felt was “the real thing.”

As we progress in life, we face the tragedy of losing family members and acquaintances. While some fail at business, others fail at college.

TASTING THE SOUP

There are some areas of study I find very fascinating. Among my favorites are history, politics, crime investigation, the Titanic and the study of old archaeological finds.

To even think of how inhabitants of the world lived 100, 200 or 1,000 years before us is intriguing. I have to wonder about the cave men and women. When I think of the cave man era, I tend to remember Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Of course, we all know that life back then was nothing like it was portrayed in the long running animated cartoon.

We have all watched a lot of TV and I am inclined to believe that the days of the old west were just like they are depicted on television.

WORTHLESS? YOU TELL ME

I have always been the type of person who likes to try new gadgets and new ways of doing simple tasks. Of course, a lot of new things I have purchased I perhaps use one time and find out it is too time consuming to use it again. Then it just takes up space.

I have bought items such as a pasta cooker, pasta measurer, hot dog cooker, cookie shooter, salad shooter, juicer and a microwave egg cooker just to name a few.

I am very gullible when it comes to infomercials on TV. The late TV pitchman, Billy Mays, could have sold me an igloo in Antarctica and I probably would have taken the bait.

This past Christmas, Daughter No. 3 wanted one of the egg cookers that you put in a plastic egg shaped container and boil the eggs in the container. You crack the eggs into the individual holders which are egg shaped and put them in boiling water until they are done.