"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lemonade stand

Do you remember?

The hot days of summer, the great idea of making money, talking your Mom into buying and making some lemonade, getting some paper cups, and a bag of ice, and scrawling a sign on some paper, setting up a card table by the curb with the sign on the front, and...

sitting....some of your friends would come by, and pedal home to get five cents or a dime or whatever to come get a cool drink. Meanwhile you're sitting out there in the hot sun, and that lemonade sure looks good, so you just have a little, and your brother or partner has some too. And since traffic is slow, you better have a little more. A couple of adults come by and fork over the cash, remembering when they'd done the same.

After a few hours, well, the lemonade is gone, aqnd after repeatedly counting the proceeds of a few nickles each, and the idea of being in business isn't all that hot. But boy was it fun getting ready for it. Remember the excitement?

It all came back today as I was helping granddaughers Erin and Abby Bell paint their lemonade stand. I'll show you a picture when I get it downloaded. It's got a couple of big lemons on it, a lemon tree, two bells with bows. Their stand, built by their dad, looks like Lucy's booth in peanuts.

We had a great time painting the thing. The girls are excited. They say their menu will be lemonade a quarter, and cookies a quarter.

I can hardly wait.

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