JOY ALONG THE WAY: WELL DATED FOR 1997

I have a fine stack of calendars for 1997, plus a copy of the Old Farmer's Almanac. If a person studied all the information given in various calendars, he could acquire a Tangential Degree in Education, TDE. For example, from the Missouri Heritage calendar, published by the Conservation Department of Missouri, one finds nature facts printed on certain days, not that it actually happened on that day, but just for your general information. One learns some sound facts (no pun) such as whippoorwills call. Wild turkeys gobble. Ruffed grouse drum and katydids sing. Rattlesnakes hunt mostly at night. Gray squirrels begin breeding the fourth week in December and keep at it through February.

This Conservation calendar makes note of something special doing somewhere in Missouri nearly every day. Butter Days are celebrated at Mansfield May 7th to the 10th. (What could they be?). Grovespring Fire Dept. Family Day is on Aug. 30th. Octoberfest at Cape Girardeau, Oct. 10th. Etc.

My Currier and Ives calendar, unlike the newsy Conservation calendar, is concerned only with the moon's phases. The charm of this calendar is the pictures or lithographs of scenes produced by Currier and other painters. I love the snowy pictures of farm homes and rural villages. As I sip my morning coffee, tea or hot chocolate at the kitchen table, I insert myself into the early life pictures. On the January page, the picture is entitled, "Wintertime -- A Stop at the Inn." There I am, in one of the horsedrawn sleighs driving up to the Inn, admiring the pink sunset, watching the skaters on the frozen pond and wondering what the Inn keeper's cook is going to serve for supper. Clam chowder, no doubt, since the lithographs depict early New England life. I'm not fond of clam chowder, so I exit the calendar life, get out the ancient black iron kettle, fill it with soup stuff and anticipate all day, from the good aroma, what I'm really going to have for supper.

"Another Exciting Year" is the title of the calendar from my eye doctor. Not concerned with the moon's phases, nor with what's going on in Missouri, it marks only the holidays. But you'll be tickled like Elmo when you read the sayings of the cats and dogs shown each month. I especially relate to the resentful and perplexed look on the Tabby's face, it being buried in mountains of desk-top paper and saying, "This was never in my job description."

Then, of course, there is my Mary Engelbreit calendar, the only one I purchased. Engelbreit will go down in history as another Kate Greenaway or Beatrix Potter.

The Southeast Missouri Hospital's 1997 calendar is special for it's photography, the pictures being made by employees of the hospital. Debbie Bowers' yellow day lily, Maggie Friend's water lily and Amy French's violets will eventually find a place in my garden scrapbook, if not framed pictures for some wall, if I can find some wall space!

I have Erma Bombeck's calendar, which features one of her delightful sayings for each day. I opened it at random, which happened to be July 20th. Honestly, I did. The saying was, "There are a number of professionals who make their living publishing books, but most of them are out of work and like the sound of saying, 'I'm writing a book.'"

Then, fondly, there is the Old Farmer's Almanac. In addition to all the astronomical tables, tides, holidays, eclipses, etc., there is a miniature essay for each month. Here is an excerpt from the January essay: "After the turn of the year, when winter has come to stay and the short, cold days and the long, cold nights offer little to choose between them, the house itself undergoes a kind of hibernation. It curls up on itself and tucks its nose deep into its chest like an old bear. It embraces its heat, and it waits." That's good writing. I like the idea of spending the winter in the arms of a fuzzy old bear.

Whatever your favorite calendar is, find joy along the way every 365 days of it.

REJOICE!

~Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime resident of Cape Girardeau.