Sitting on the swing this morning. Vivid blue sky, no clouds but the wind is nippy. Don’t know if I’ll make it long enough to write the column. Gonna get a sweater and come back. Sun is getting closer so maybe I’ll stay out.

Older brother came by for his daily visit. We drank coffee and pondered the price of groceries. Can’t imagine trying to buy groceries for a family, specially with teenage boys who are always hungry.

Oldest brother goes to the grocery store every day just like my daddy did. Daddy would bring the groceries home in a cardboard box. Youngest brother and I would thread a belt through the openings on one end and pull each other around the house. We’d have the best time, laughing and giggling, till the handle tore.

Took a siesta this afternoon which is unusual. Laid down a few minutes and actually went to sleep. Stew was worried I was sick ‘cause I never nap. Laid awake till 4:30 this morning. Could not go to sleep. That put a damper on today.

Cooked a new year’s supper of black eyed peas, cabbage, pickle beets, and a cornbread pancake. Gave Penelope 2 peas and a little piece of cornbread so if my fortune doesn’t pan out we’ll depend on her wealth.

Was thinking while I vegetated on the bed this afternoon that I had an idyllic childhood. I think those days are over for Southern children. The world is not a safe place to run around unsupervised anymore. I worry when my grandchildren roam around in the yard here in Roanoke. Can’t imagine setting them loose on their bikes unless I was riding with them.

In Roanoke, in the summers, the older grandmother’s in our surrounding neighborhoods would have Coke parties when their grandchildren came to visit. Can’t remember playing outside with their grandchildren, but have happy memories of the children and the glass bottle Cokes, and the fancy parties. My best girl friend and I always planned to have Coke parties with our grandchildren. But it never happened. New Hampshire and Augusta, Ga., we’re too far apart. Now we have mine in Peachtree City, Ga., and hers in Chelsea, Al., so maybe we’ll Coke party yet.

Most summer days, I got on my bike and away I went. Most times I’d head to my best friend’s house and off we’d pedal. We didn’t even tell either of our mothers the direction we were going. They knew we were safe and would show up sooner or later for a drink of water from the hose pipe.

I remember I finally got a speedometer for my bike. My plan was to get it up to 30 miles an hour. I rode down the hill on West Point Street, peddling furiously, no hand on the handlebars. Looked down, I hit 35 miles an hour! It’s a miracle I didn’t break my neck. Loved to ride without holding on to the handlebars. Guess that paved the way to learning how to ride my unicycle.

Internet says a child’s fastest ride on a bike is 22 miles an hour. So maybe the wind blinded me and it was 25. But to this day, 35 miles an hour is stuck in my brain. Need to ask childhood friend if he remembers. He was speeding down the hill behind me. Don’t ever remember us having a wreck on our bikes. Didn’t have any gears or hand brakes on our bikes.

Once rode off with youngest brother on his bike and he had a terrible wreck. Hit a sandy place in the street and fell off his bike. He didn’t have a shirt on and slid down the road on his chest. He was so pitiful and I had to push both bikes home and help him. He was scrawny and every rib scabbed up. Don’t know how I managed to get him and both bikes home.

My daddy made me pair of stilts. I loved those things. Wore one pair out. The Handleys across the street had cement steps from the sidewalk up to their yard…at least ten steps. My mama would come outside to sit in the swing and I’d torment her walking backwards up those steps on my stilts!

Had a pogo stick, roller skates that worked best when I wore Bass penny loafers, skateboard, and finally the unicycle. I loved that unicycle! Learned to ride it by holding onto the branches of the row of chestnut trees in the front yard. Everyone always wanted to try and ride it but it wasn’t as easy as it looked. I put many miles on that thing riding it to the city library. Left it in the yard one night and oldest brother squished it with his yellow Camaro.

Would love to take one more bike ride around the neighborhood. Maybe I should drag my yellow Schwinn college bike out of the basement!