Spring is in the air, smog scrubbed away

The view of the snow-capped lower Sierra Nevada foothills this week have been breath-taking. When growing up in Madera, seeing those mountains was an everyday occurrence. Most days the smog in this valley is so thick it obscures the sight. Presently the air has been scrubbed clean by recent rain.

I once heard a theory that the reason we have so much air pollution in this valley is because the dirty air particles from the bay area go up and the ocean breeze circulates the air in our direction where it collects in the San Joaquin Valley. That bad air then settles over the valley floor. This is why California desperately needs Governor Moonbeam’s boondoggle known as High-Speed-Rail.

Merriam Webster online defines a boondoggle as a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft.

I firmly believe the main reason Brown wants the project is so future generations will remember his name. He doesn’t care if he bankrupts the state to accomplish this, but, hey, his administration will get the credit for this horrible waste of resources.

The latest women’s magazines show that this spring’s fashions are bright flower patterns. Unfortunately the clothes featured looked to me like furniture slipcovers my aunt Bonnie Edge used. Somebody should tell the designers that unless you are a size nine those flowered prints make curvy ladies look like Barcaloungers.

This time of year is when Easter fashions are hanging from the racks. I am not a fan of pastel colors. According to the Today Show website, “as designers showcased their upcoming looks for Spring 2017 at New York’s Fashion Week last month, color experts at the Pantone Color Institute were taking notes. The company released its top 10 colors in fashion, consisting of the hues that stole the spotlight on the runway.”

Not content to use the words pink, yellow and green, the hottest spring colors this year are Niagara, primrose yellow, lapis blue, flame, island paradise, pale dogwood, greenery and pink yarrow. A few of these, I can’t begin to picture what color they mean.

Color preference is very subjective. Most people know how fond I am of the color red. Someone once asked my husband if my mother was red. Oh no, he said, her mother is blue.

My parents had issues about many things color being one of them. She really did like royal and navy blue. My poor, hapless father would buy her something aqua because he thought it was blue. It would make her crazy. To my mom the color was green and not a shade of which she was fond. My dad’s favorite color was red, so that may be the reason I am so partial to the color.

My dad grew up dirt poor in Tennessee. One of seven children when the great depression hit, his father went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back.

Daddy attended a live-in school then known as Tennessee Industrial School. The facility was part orphanage, part boarding school.

Historical records of the school state the administration estimated it would cost $50 a month to support each student. The state bore half of the expense and the other half the students earned by growing their own vegetables and working at nearby farms.

He and his brothers and sisters were very anxious to go to TIS for the education it provided. Many children had to leave school to go to work. He graduated at the top of his class and went into the Navy.

We tried living in the Nashville, Tennessee, area when I was in the seventh grade. I was very unhappy and frankly California schools hadn’t prepared me to compete with my classmates. At one point my father considered sending me to TIS to straighten me out.

His brothers’ wives, my aunt Helen and aunt Betty, both alumni of the school, about came unglued at the thought. I was very impressed, I had never seen anyone make my dad change his mind. If President Trump is successful in building a wall to keep out undocumented immigrants maybe the crops can be picked by orphans.

Before the angry phone calls start, please know I am not serious. I know the idea of making orphans harvest the crops in California is highly inappropriate.

Have a great weekend.