JOY ALONG THE WAY: CALENDARS SHARE DETAILS

My stack of incoming 2001 calendars grows higher and higher. It used to be the seed catalogs that began coming in at this time of the year or a few weeks later. Since I haven't ordered many seeds or bulbs for years, I'm gradually being dropped from their mailing list. The last package of seeds I ordered was a $1.25 package of Indian Summer Hollyhocks. The name intrigued me and the colors shown in the catalog picture were a mixture of bright red, yellow and orange. The orange especially grabbed my attention. I'd never seen an orange hollyhock. So I ordered a package, including a check for $1.50 which I thought would be sufficient postage to mail the small package of seeds. No minimum order was requested.

Eventually the seeds came with a bill for $5. Handling fees! My outrage decibel reached the top of the graph. I promptly sent the seeds back and expressed my sense of displeasure. Maybe that is why I don't receive many seed catalogs anymore, and haven't yet seen an orange hollyhock.

However, the calendars continue to come. So many business places offer them now, free. Promoting their own product or service, of course. Many come through the mail, complimentary of organizations I belong to. Then there are the designer ones I receive as gifts or buy myself. Such ones are the Mary Engelbreit calendars, full of colorful little people and posies, and the Thomas Kinkade calendars showing many of his beautiful paintings. Kinkade is known as "the painter of light." There is a wonderful article about him the December issue of "Guideposts." Every time I turn to a new page of the Kinkade calendar and study the picture, I exclaim, "This one ought to be framed."

Some calendar pictures have lived on and on down through the years. One that I still have, properly framed and hanging at the top of the stairs to the attic, is entitled, "The Five Senses." This picture is of five little kittens atop a "messed up" dresser. One kitten is seeing itself in a mirror. One is tasting an opened jar of cold cream. Another is listening and hearing a ticking clock. Another is smelling a bouquet of roses. And still another is touching the softness of a pair of gloves. The expressions in the kittens' eyes lets you know exactly what they are doing.

I need all the calendars for they don't all give the phases of the moon, and I like to keep up with the moon. Not all give the holidays. Some don't have big enough day blocks for me to make notations of appointments or birthdays, etc. One gives a reference to a Bible reading for each day of the year, which, by the end of the year you have read the entire Bible once again. Hallmark puts out a handy little purse-size calendar. There is room for important telephone numbers and appointments. It gives the flower and birthstone of the month, traditional and modern wedding gifts, all the important days one should do something about. All the religious special days are noted, both Christian and Jewish. I note that August is the bleakest of all the months, having only one special day marked and that is Friendship Day on the 5th. Hallmark also expresses the hope that your journey through the months be filled with new friendships forged, old friendships revisited, and time taken to enjoy the world around you. Maybe that is to shore up August a bit.

Now, in these last days of December, ending in the year 2000, (the last time we'll see those three zeroes in a row for a hundred years) we have had a first quarter moon, a full moon on the 11th, a last quarter moon on the 18th and a new moon on Christmas. The month was marked by the first day of winter on the 21st, Hanukkah on the 22nd, Christmas on the 25th, Kwanzaa beginning on the 26th and Boxing Day in Canada also on the 26th. The flower is the narcissus and the birthstone is turquoise. I see that five blocks on the calendar, the one with the most space, are taken up with my own personal appointments for this and that.

Maybe I'll get another calendar telling about what all is going on in Missouri for the coming year.

REJOICE!

Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime resident of Cape Girardeau.