TIME FOR ME TO REMINISCE, I GUESS

     Someone dropped off a few magazines the other day.  Of course, I always have to plow (yes, that's the way I want to spell it) through them to see if there are any I would like to look at closer.  Sure enough, there were.  It's not often I walk away without one or two.
     Today I walked away with the May/June 1996 issue of "Reminisce, the Magazine That Brings Back the Good Times."  I also had a copy of "Country, For Those Who Live In Or Long For The Country," dated April/May 2001. 
     And I wondered what I would say in my 25 minutes of writing.  Time is short today.
     Things have really been rough lately all across our nation.  Too many shootings and bombings and things like that.  Makes me wonder how far away I am from putting my head in the sand and holding my breath.  But I just can't give up, give in, give away the freedoms I have.
     As I thumbed through "Reminisce," I saw black and white pictures of vintage cars, Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert (she looked like my mother) in the movie It Happened One Night, and a woman standing in front of her brand-new fridge.  There was a story about "Grandma's Greatest Gift," a quilt that had seen some rough years; a story about learning to drive a 1919 Model T; and letters from readers who wrote about military memories.  There were color photos of a billy goat, Burma-Shave signs, tractors, iron toys, old phonographs, horses, and recipes.  There are always recipes in such magazines...creamed sweet peas, pan-fried trout, lemon bars, things like that.
     The "Country" magazine gave color photos of farms in the distance that you saw from a hill-top; a whole section about Pennsylvania (they called it God's Country); a column titled "Timely Homesteader Tips," which included ways to kill dandelions, ways to speed the spouting of hard-coated seeds; and how to get rid of woodpeckers.  A colorful two-page spread showed a blooming alpine meadow and the caption asked you to guess where the photo was taken.  There were fields of poppies, a little cowboy climbing up a fence, and horses rolling around in a bluegrass field.  And there were recipes:  salmon stuffed peppers, easy rhubarb dessert, and homemade Cajun seasoning.
     I sat and stared at the pictures and wished I could be there, in the beauty and peacefulness of a mountain lake or the hillside looking down on the patchwork of a green field.  And I was glad I picked up these magazines, so I could remember things I'd forgotten.  I was glad I had a time to reminisce and not forget my roots, my family's past, and remember that I still have all of that.  I still have all of those places in those magazines.  I still have recipes just like those in the magazines.
     Now...you're probably asking how I'm going to tie this in to our library.
     Well, those magazines are sitting out there on our "free magazines" shelf.  All you have to do is pick a few up and take them home.  We have free magazines lots of times.  Just look for them.  It's just another service we provide for you here at our library.  And you won't find much free stuff in the world now days.  That's something to reminisce about also.