Why do I remember my grandmother’s shoe size?

And how she kept her binoculars on a string?

Her love of birds and all nature

Was always easily seen (at least by me.)

She lived on West Bank Farm in Ohio

Where she kept a garden so lush and green.

Her kitchen was huge, tall ceilings and all

And smelled like cinnamon applesauce and Dentyne (gum)!

Sugary gumdrops filled her glass candy jar

Reds, yellows, licorice and greens.

She’d play her piano in the music room

While I’d sit on the porch swing and dream.

We walked down her lane to get her mail

Gazed at cows munching grass in the field

While all kinds of birds circled in the sunny sky

And a train whistle blew low and loud.

Summertime weekends at West Bank Farm

Were quiet and breezy and shady and lazy.

I’d climb up on the wooden swing seat

And  pump my legs to swing up to the sky.

As one memory leads to another

Like the seasons fade to the next

I know one thing for certain

I’m glad I remember the best.

October 6, 2009