Idle hands are the devil's tools. That's an old, old  saying with versions going all the way back to Chaucer in English literature and even further back in other cultures. When I decided to write today about women's hands, I found so many wonderful pictures, I thought I might not even use any words. The more I searched, the more I realized how many aspects of our lives are defined by hands. Our earliest form of communication is to wave "bye bye". Shortly afterward, we raise our hands to go potty. Then later when we know the answer. We hold hands with our girlfriends and later with our boyfriends. It used to be that a suitor would ask for a young lady's hand in marriage. Now they don't ask - frequently they don't even marry. Just hang out or hook up. Holding hands can mean safety. "Hold my hand when we cross the street." Hopefully as we pass from this life, there will be someone holding our hand right up until the end.

Now I've gotten somewhat off  track. I meant to write about women's hands and how they are rarely idle. When I was a little girl growing up in Georgia, all the women I knew kept their hands busy all the time. Once all the household chores were done and they sat down to rest for a bit, they would pick up something from the mending basket beside the chair. They didn't throw out things that were ripped or torn, They mended them and if the patch didn't exactly match the garment they became work clothes or play clothes. (I never saw anybody actually darn a sock, though.) Once the garment was beyond repair, there might be a few good scraps left to sew with other scraps and make a piece quilt. A rite of passage from childhood to womanhood was to be "allowed" to help shell peas. Women sat in a circle, bags of peas beside their chairs and big bowls in their laps, and passed the the time sharing bits of gossip and wisdom. There's a lot to be learned shelling peas.

A woman can hold a book in one hand and rock a cradle or push a swing with the other. Today's woman finishes her day job, whatever that might entail, and then sits down to knock out a few blog posts sharing her thoughts with a much wider world. I am constantly awed by the diversity and depth of the so called "mommy bloggers" who write about everything from potty training to politics.

Girlfriends will reach out a hand of help even when you didn't know you needed one.