REMEMBERING WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY

The afternoon high temp has been pleasant this week – almost 60 on Friday – so Mike suggested we make a trip to the farm this weekend to check on things and bring back the trailer, the weed sprayer, and some pinecones. I have things on my “to get” list, too, but I wondered to myself if it might be too soon to go. On the other hand, maybe we should go while the ground is still frozen.

Well, we checked the weather forecast for the upper country. Rain and snow are predicted over the weekend, and by Tuesday another three-day cold snap sets in. Looks like it doesn’t really warm up again for a while. We decided not to chance it this weekend.

So, here’s another three-day weekend – Presidents’ Day. These holidays don’t mean so much to the retired person. “Why didn’t we get any mail today?” we’ll ask each other on Monday. “Oh yeah. It’s a holiday.” Government workers and bank employees will have the day off on Monday. For other people, it’s just another workday.

When I was a child, George Washington wasn’t required to share his birthday (February 22) with other presidents. After taking down the valentine hearts on our classroom bulletin boards, we pinned up hatchets and cherry trees made of construction paper. I don’t remember that it was a federal holiday. My mother would bake a pie with cherries picked from the trees at the farm.

I would guess that they no longer speak much about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree and his honesty and courage in confessing this deed to his father since we no longer think the story is true. But hey! The teachers got a lot of mileage out of that story when we were kids, teaching us the value of integrity. And now . . . well, never mind.

Despite our taking George Washington off his pedestal and debunking his cherry tree story, I still make a cherry pie in his honor. This year’s pie is a no-bake cheesecake base served with cherry pie filling. It will last through this long weekend. KW