Before, during and after, part 2

I have very few memories of my mother. Her battle with cancer began when I was 9 and ende when Iwas 12, I think she was 42 when she died. I can remember her baking cakes, standing above me, licking out the bowls, warmth, comfort ,safety, thats about it. Imust have blocked a lot out. My early childhood was good. At weekends my dad would take me and my brother fishing, catching butterflies for our butterfly boards where we pinned them up in lines. Or collecting birds eggs, puncturing tiny holes in either end with a pin and blowing the contents gently out. Quite a skill on a sparrows or wrens egg. I recall the first time I found a hedge sparrows nest, it was at my eye level, I must have been 7 or 8, like treasure, 5 sky blue eggs in a beautifully crafted nest amongst the dense foliage of the hedgerow. We never took more than one, that was our rule.