Last week, I wrote about mothers and shared a few fond memories of my own.

Once the wheels started turning, related topics quickly came to mind. My mother was no Betsy Ross with a needle and thread, but I often watched her darn socks with a china egg inside.

I also recall her patching the knees of my knickers over and over as the result of my slipping on the rocks, falling out of trees and destroying most of my britches. There was rarely a new article of clothing for children or adults in our house.

That's why I had to wear those hateful knickers in the first place.

INVENTING RECYCLING

Hand-me-downs were commonplace in those years, but are almost never seen in modern homes. Things are made to be disposable these days, but it wasn't always so.

I think we invented recycling out of sheer necessity. I often put my pocketknife to good use on the way to school by cutting the rubbers around the knickers' knees, much to my mother's everlasting consternation.

Nothing was thrown away. Even bits of string were wound into balls and saved for some future use.

After the pants and shirts were no longer patchable, they went into the ragbag, assuming a new life for cleaning or in braided rugs.

My mother and Kaye's told people we had three sets of clothes: "wash, wear and go without." When we complained about tough meat, they said, "It's tougher where there's none."

Our clothes were mostly purchased secondhand, adjusted to fit my older brother, Jim, and readjusted to fit me.

VERSATILE FLOUR SACKS

I remember an old Singer treadle sewing machine in our house, but I'm not at all sure my mother was very adept at using it. We played with it more as a toy than anything else, pushing the treadle incessantly, watching the long, leather belt turn the wheel and being fascinated by the needle going up and down.

My mind was set to whirling a week or so ago when Sue Connick shared a poem from our mutual friend, Marge Wood. Its title is simply "The Flour Sack," penned by Colleen B. Hubert. It begins, "In that long ago time when things were saved, when roads were graveled and barrels were staved, when worn-out clothing was used as rags, and there were no plastic wrap or bags, and the well and the pump were way out back, a versatile item was the flour sack."

Marge and Sue wanted me to copy it for Millie Sears to see if she recalled when Marge's mother-in-law, Valeda Wood, lived almost across from Millie's mother, Phoebe LaMar, on Route 22B in Peru.