You've Got To Hold Your Mouth Right

My grandmother who liked to be called mom, died when I was only 10 years old, but I had spent alot of time with her growing up and loved her dearly. I remember her making chocolate goodies, and us playing with the ducks in her back yard by the swing. The fact that she lived in San Francisco and had ducks and chickens was pretty cool. She was wonderful with baby birds and raised lots of them; one particular one named Skippy a parakeet that was very tame spoke more words than you'd think possible. While holding your arm over the sink, Skippy would run up and down ruffling his feathers taking a shower. Very cute. Mom painted lots of landscapes using oils. Most of the paintings were of the twisted trees by the coast. Mom was always making something or working on something. Lot's of needlepoint, but mostly painting. One of the expressions she would say was, "you've got to hold your mouth right", when trying to accomplish something. I find myself trying to do something and become aware of my facial expression and remember my grandmother and smile.