it snowed here this morning - here in central texas - just a light dusting of powder, on anything that faced ft. worth - brought back a flood of memories - i don't think it snowed that much when we were growing up - but i do remember two occasions -one involved snow ice cream - daddy sent us into the side yard to gather enough snow - i remember thinking it was a joke he was pulling on us - he was good at pulling jokes and tricks on ya' - still i was intrigued - making such a sweet treat from snow - so there we went - out into the side yard - the one less traveled - eagerly, with the BIG brown and gold colonial pattern pyrex bowl in hand - scooping up
freshly fallen snow with our arsenal of serving spoons and batman jelly glasses - stopping to throw a hastily assembled snow ball at one another and hurrying back inside - gathering around the chrome kitchen table - little ones, knees first on the matching chairs - watching as he mixed the cream and the sugar and the vanilla - waiting - listening for that moment when he would say "Ta Da!" or "Presto Change-O" - him telling us every step he took - the reason behind every turn of the big wooden spoon in the bowl - waiting for him to tap that spoon on the side of the bowl - like a dinner bell signal - didn't that mean it was done - ready - quickly we took our places in line - youngest to oldest - sometimes - sometimes ladies first - he liked to change it up like that - we, patiently waiting for our scoop of creamy sweet snow ice cream - such a sweet treat - and it was free - "didn't cost us a dime", as daddy would say and then as we sat indian style in the middle of the living room floor - we kids would discuss who had the biggest hand in helping create what we were enjoying - mostly, we would agree, it was God.

(the pic - my grandmother - sina dimple crockett rash - with her father - my great grandfather - thomas absolum 'abb' crockett)