buttonweeds.

photo courtesy of illinoiswildflowers.info

some of you have been wondering about my reference to buttonweeds on friday.

a buttonweed, also called velvet leaf, is a weed that grows fast and tall in the cornfields of illinois. it is characterized by large, heart-shaped leaves.

photo courtesy of prairierosesgarden.

when we were young, dad paid my sisters, brother and i to run through the six-foot-high rows of field corn and pull these pests.

in most cases, the weeds were taller than we were, but their shallow roots made it an easy, lucrative chore at a nickel a piece.

now that i think about it, i think he paid us a penny a piece.

wonder what the going rate for buttonweed-pulling is these days?

... and would the boy and his cousins be as enthusiastic about buttonweed pulling as my siblings and i were?

i wonder.

praying for dad today. not home from the hospital yet, and still not able to eat after colon surgery.

prayers, please, my lovelies, for papa.