Scenes from my Childhood: Butter Set Out to Soften

We all have memories or scenes from our childhood that bring us a rush of pleasure, right? Remembering our mothers in the kitchen, fathers reading bedtime stories, grandparents waving as we drove in the long camp drive. It's really the simple, every day activities that when remembered today seem magical and draw us back to the days of yesteryear. 

 For me, it's seeing butter set out in the sun to soften. My mother would place a stick or two of Blue Bonnet margarine in the huge picture window in our living room or maybe on the window sill over our kitchen sink -- to soften for baking. This was always a welcome sign. It represented the relaxed pace of the weekend, the pleasure of baked goods, the warmth of our home, and spending time in the kitchen with my mother while she baked. 

 I don't bake nearly as often as my mother did when I was a child, but when I do, it gives me great pleasure to set a stick of butter in the sunlight or another warm place in preparation for baking. Given that we have a microwave, I needn't wait for the sun to soften a stick of butter anymore, but this is my preferred method. It sends me back to our raised ranch on Barrows Drive, sunshine streaming into the east-facing living room, and leisure all around me.

What images bring you back to your childhood home?

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