ISH CREAM, OR ICE CREAM, LETS ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

The dogs have been out and now both back to bed. They are pouting. I pulled a trick on them and really do feel bad. They love to go for a walk. I can pull out the collar and chains and they go wild. Jumping up in the air , they get very excited. So sometimes in desperation to get "I" to come in,. I go to the door and rattle the chain. Here they come, just like they were well trained and I said come. Of course when they see they are going no where, they stalk off and I see hide nor hair of them for awhile. Only an occasional wolf comes from somewhere. So this morning that's what I did. My husband has been gone over night and I did not want to run around the yard . Afraid I might fall as I don't see well. So my best friends except for Nancy and my sister Geri are not interacting with me today.

When I was a kid my Dad was usually off on Sunday's. In the afternoon dad would say, "Momma, lets go for a drive and blow the stink off the kids." I spent a good deal of the time growing up, trying to smell myself. Because if you had to have it blown off it must be pretty bad. So there I was at six trying to stick my head down my dress, sniffing..

Dad had several places he liked Mom to drive too. Dad could drive but didn't very often. So Dad rode, we rode, Mom drove. Sometimes we went to Racine. Just a little spot on the road outside of Joplin. We actually didn't go to Racine but as she turned a bend on the road towards Racine was a over hanging cliff and a spring came out from under the rocks. Water cress grew there, trees surrounded it. A truly beautiful spot. Of course we all climbed over or under the fence to get to it. But all of us did. Dad had taught us how to lay on our stomachs and cup our hands to make a cup. Then you would drink, the sweetest, clearest, water of all times. A memory etched in my mind. The birds singing. Dad would do bird calls back to them. He would call sometimes, "Bob White" and sometimes you could hear it echo back. A picture painted in my mind.


Some Sundays we would drive to Shoal Creek. It was right outside of Joplin. A creek that of course is still there today and it winds around a long way. When we arrived once again we all trooped out of the car and went to the waters edge. Dad taught us how to skip a rock across the water. He could make it skip several times. Bud learned it, I never did. I don't know about Geri. But with the sun in the sky and we all on the creek bank skipping stones, at least I trying, A picture painted in my mind.

Then the best time came. When we got back to town, many times Dad would say. "Ish crean or ice cream. We would yell,"Lets all scream for ice cream.' Does that sound dorky to you? Maybe it was but we didn't think so back then. Mom would drive to fourteenth and Wall, where there was this ice cream place. Everyone told their favorite and Mom went inside and bought the cones. One of us kids going along to help carry. Of course I wanted to be the one to go but had to take my turn. It was so difficult deciding, chocolate, strawberry or vannila. Which would it be or there was always other flavors too. Good hard ice cream, dipped carefully onto the cone. We sat in the car and ate our ice cream. Why I ask myself now did I not realize that I was painting a beautiful picture in my mind. A treasure. A thing of beauty I would take out and look at over the years. I can still hear the words, "Ish cream or ice cream," lets all scream for ice cream. " We paint pictures everyday in our children's minds. Memories they will never forget. What kind of pictures are you painting?