My Best Teacher

...was my mother. She introduced me to home living projects such as baking cookies and that is what I'm doing today. I'll just dedicate this batch to her and share and enjoy the accomplishment.

She was an exceptional non-professional teacher. Her dedication to helping me gain interest in all things of nature and the simple life skills shaped me and my way of learning and loving to learn. 

Patience and determination in her demonstrations and endeavors were inspiring to this young girl. She was determined that I learned something - anything - every day to help me in later years. It has paid off and continues to form my values and curiosity. 

How many of you can identify the woodland wild flowers in your home area without looking them up? Dog tooth violet, Trout lily, Trillium, Spring beauty, Colt'sfoot, Chicory, Bloodroot, Hepatica and hundreds of others are easy for me to find and enjoy. I may not be able to explore the woodlands as I once did, but I can still find these common wild plants.

How about identifying birds? Well she was an expert of not only the names and identification, she could point out their songs way up in the woods and tell you which bird was singing each tune! 

At home when chickens or rabbits were butchered for meals, I stood at the sink beside her as she called out and showed each specific part of the meat, including the innards. 

How did I learn to knit? crochet? sew? darn? Mom, my life teacher of course. Even laundry was an art - folding as well, organizing all when putting away. Washing and drying dishes had rules, both for sanitation and best results.

There were four of us and we all learned many things.

She even did a chicken plucking (hands-on) demonstration for the men at the lake!

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Mother was my BEST TEACHER and I HONOR HER on NATIONAL TEACHER'S DAY.