With the warmer weather plants and animals are beginning a new season around Climax. Peach and pear trees are in full blooms as are the red bud trees, along with the dogwood, and if you are lucky enough to find them, wild purple violets are in full bloom. All this beauty is being surveyed by birds on the wing sailing in the clear blue morning sky.

How many remembers picking those wild violets at the beginning of spring just before hunting for Easter Eggs?

It was kind of a prelude for finding those eggs. One had to hunt sometimes to find the almost hidden beautiful violets some were white, but most were purple, and they love a damp area with pine trees. However this year I found some growing at our back steps that we don’t use much and under an oak tree, the water comes off the house near this area therefore it is somewhat damp. Due to lawn and pasture cultivating and other things the wild purple violets are hard to find and almost extinct.

This time of year, my Mother would take we children on a violet picking trip to the woods and pasture, but she always had an ulterior motive, her fishing pole was always carried along just in-case she would say, “I might get a chance to wet my fishing hook, maybe get a bite or two.”

It was a special time after a long cold winter, and the long week in school for us; so on the cool yet warm Saturday afternoon we welcomed a nice walk in the woods with Momma. With a hand full of purple violets, we never paid any attention as to where we walked as looking for violets and listening to the birds singing were more important.

Before we knew what had happened we had arrived at our pond or the creek banks of Sykes Mill, and Momma was unwinding her fishing pole. Now fishing was serious business to her and we knew better than to make a lot of noise that would as she put it, “scare the fish away.” So we played in the pasture looking for violets and anything else that might catch our eyes as we wiled away the warm spring afternoon while Momma caught a mess(she called it) of fish for Saturday night supper, awwww the sweet childhood memories of growing up around Climax.