After two weeks of fits and starts and trying to get out for a walk, I set out on what finally felt, and looked, like a Spring morning. Green was everywhere – the grass greened up (too much and now needs cutting) during the last two weeks’ non-stop rain pattern. All that rain put a kibosh on walking and made any available, non-raining day (or non-snowing day; yes, we even had snow and black ice on April 21st!!) transform into an errand day in lieu of a walk. I was feeling restless to get out and clear my head – alot of stuff has been happening between news events and the house maladies including a leaky faucet and kitchen light going kaput; all disruptive frustrations. I sprung out the door like a caged tiger getting released for good behavior. So “Animals” become the topic of the day and I have to grin as I write this. I got up super early this morning as I had an early dentist appointment and was trying to do things in the kitchen without a light and was determined to make some hard-boiled eggs for Buddy and me. I can’t use the stove during the day since Buddy sits too close on the left side due to the draft behind the cabinet and I have a floor lamp sitting to the left of the stove … consequently, I’ve been eating a lot of cold food the last two weeks. The Sandwich Queen is my new name. Anyway, Buddy’s eggs were bubbling and boiling away by 5:15 a.m. and I bustled about to ensure I was done and out the door by 8:00 a.m. I had my radio headphones and heard Rewind, a nostalgic, one-minute segment which celebrates the day’s events in the entertainment industry … today they played “Animal Crackers In My Soup” by Shirley Temple which she sang in the movie “Curly Top” … I’ve had an earworm with that song playing over and over all day long!! In fact I just listened to it on YouTube with the lyrics added to her dancing and prancing and singing – I really enjoyed the song and sang along with Shirley Temple for goodness sake. Buddy was even chirping and crooning happily as he tried to keep up with me. The song took me back – not a sad memory, but a funny memory of my mom. When we went grocery shopping when I was a toddler she always bought me a box of Barnum’s Animal Crackers. It was a small, oblong red and yellow box and had a pale pink carry string on the top; the sides of the box looked like the animals were in a cage. Back then, when we got home and after we packed away the groceries, we’d open the box and sort out and name all the animals and then divide and eat ’em and wash ’em down with a glass of milk. When I was older and doing the grocery shopping on my own, as a lark one day I brought my mom home the same Barnum’s Animal Crackers (the box style never changed and still hasn’t) and plunked them on the kitchen table. Fast forward how many decades? She opened the box and divvied them up between us so we had equal amounts of animals then we downed them with milk. From that time on, I bought us a box each grocery store trip and we’d do the same ritual. Only Barnum’s Animal Crackers would do. My mom would often sort and divide the animals while humming or singing a few stanzas of Shirley Temple’s “Animal Crackers” song … sweet precious memories. Here’s the link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cntYIkuthYg