We had few tables in our small house in Minot, North Dakota. They had different purposes. We had a kitchen table where we ate our daily meals and a formal dining table where we entertained guests. And there was one folding table stored in the enclosed back porch during the winter. We didn’t use the back porch in winter because outdoor temperatures could fluctuate between -3 and 24 degrees (F).
In the winters of my childhood we usually ate eggs, bacon, and of course oatmeal for breakfast at the kitchen table. But my favorite breakfasts had to wait until spring.
On the first glorious morning of spring, with the sun shining and the snows long-melted, my Mother would open the back porch that overlooked our back garden and set up that folding table. Throughout the spring and summer she served our family breakfasts there. Every day there were waffles with butter, real maple syrup, fresh orange or fresh grape juice, toast with butter and homemade jams.
After this scrumptious breakfast I‘d go outside and lay on the grass under a huge tree in our yard and stare at the blue clear sky. The sky never looked as beautiful or as blue as it did on those mornings.
Andrew Stathis
October 3, 2013