When I was a kid, we used to play soccer with balls made of rags. Which is why they were known as rag balls pure and simple. But who made them? We, the kids, certainly did not. It just came to me that it was our mothers who made them. If I am not mistaken, old socks were essential in their making. To make a ball, a dozen or so socks and a few rags must have been needed. The toughest of socks came last. Perhaps their edges were sewn together to make the balls last as long as possible. They were rather light, but they could still break a window. And they would open up from time to time, an old sock waving from them like a flag. Much giggling would follow on all sides before the ball would come to a final stop. Again, it was someone’s mother who would have to fix it before the next game. Or make a new one if the old one was past repair. And all this comes to me out of the blue some sixty years later. But rag balls may well come back in fashion sooner or later. As long as socks are still around, as well as intrepid mothers.