Measuring and mixing finally requires all our concentration. Nothing about this is hard. Making jam is a matter of following a recipe form the pectin box or a card bearing my grandmother's stately script, but timing is everything. If we don't put in precise amounts at precise times, the jam will be too thin and we'll call it syrup. Too thick, and it will be difficult to spread on cold winter mornings.
Mothers come in all shapes and sizes and personalities.
Mother eats seaweed and plum pickles, and when the Mormons come knocking she does bird-talk. Hers were strong and firm. She was hefty, not fat or tall, but broad-shouldered and formidable, like a chunk of iron. Her eyeglasses slid down the bridge of her nose, and her prim hat, like a white enameled pot lid, had tipped forward to her eyebrows. She sat stiff-legged like long johns frozen on the clothesline.