In my anticipation, the days of the waxing moon pass by day by day.
The waxing moon in southern Shaanxi is cold, with frost and snow. There was less work in the field, and the work at home began. The adults began to prepare firewood for the year. This kind of firewood cutting work is generally solved by their own labor. Each family has its own "ear grill ( pá " ---- small piece of woodland), choose a sunny day, eat early, bring a wood knife (we call it a "machete"), a basket and an "embedded burden (thousand tons)" (a kind of flat burden, retaining the shape of the log, sharpened at both ends, I think it is called this name in order to facilitate the insertion of bundles of firewood, so it is called this name), carrying a basket on his back. There are three pieces of "ear pickpockets" in my house, we "give up the near and far", and the one in the ravine is the first to be cut. After entering the mountain, my father and mother plunged into the dense forest, and our two children played in the forest. They cut down the unformed wood, shaved off the dry branches of the big trees, and bundled them into bundles. At this time, we also began to work on our own, my mother instructed us to use the basket to pull the dead leaves together, cage them into a pile, and then put them into the back basket, these leaves are to be carried back to "ignite the fire", I have to say that at that time, it was really the best use of things. The time of work always passed quickly, and after a while, my father inserted one end of the "embedded burden" into the bundled firewood stack, and the other end was also inserted into the firewood stack, carrying the firewood stack, pinning the "machete" in the waist, and the mother carried a basket of leaves on her back, and walked slowly in the direction of home. Such scenes run through the entire Waxing Moon until the yard is piled with enough firewood for the coming year.
The image comes from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author
The children's waxing moon time is always colorful. The uncle who exploded the popcorn came, carrying a burden, a pot as dark as a grenade and a small stove, and a bellows and sacks at the other. At this time, the children carried the grain and rice planted in their own fields, brought firewood cut into small pieces, and chirped the popcorn stall tightly, while watching the big black grenade rolling on the stove fire, while carefully preparing to retreat at any time. After a few minutes the old man stopped turning the big grenade, the children hurriedly scattered, the most anticipated moment came, the scattered dolls covered their ears, while happily leaning forward to watch, only to see the old man take off the "grenade" from the stove, cover the sack at the opening, forcefully lift the lid of the "grenade", "boo" a loud sound, suddenly the steaming hot air wafted away, the sweetness of popcorn came, and the clever children frantically surrounded after the loud noise. In spite of the hot hand, you devoured me. At that time, it was too luxurious to eat snacks, and only the waxing moon was worth the children's expectations all year round. So popcorn comes, no matter how tight the family is, parents will allow their children to go to "luxury" once. I remember that the explosive popcorn firewood was needed for labor, 5 cents a pound. Even these 5 cents, in the countryside at that time, not everyone could take it out at any time.
After many years, it is difficult for us to find the happiness brought by the 5 cents.