Take A Walk With Me

Today the temperature is going well into the 90's which isn't so bad but the humidity is 100%. So it is time to go for a trip down memory lane which leads to taking a dip in the pool. That's me on the right, mouth open. That happens less and less now, I hope! Those suits are beguiling. What happened to fashion? The yard was my backyard, jungle, library, forest, parade route, theater, swimming hole, campgrounds, and playground.

I had to share it with Grandma who held title to the veggie and flower gardens, see the white picket fence? The cherry trees were hers too, as well as the chicken coop-turned-tool shed which the photographer must be standing in near. It was the cherry tree in the photo background that I used to climb to pick and eat the cherries. I managed to get some for Mom and Grandma to make pies too. I had the kettle I used for cherries, right up till last year.

Oh, and half the yard had been converted to a parking lot, or maybe always was. Pre-Kate era. Grandpa was a mechanic and had a 3 car garage. Grandma rented "tourist rooms" and there was parking for guests. My dad's truck was always parked outside.

One of the tourists was a snappy, young lad, probably 24-28 and he had a car that matched - a zippy, 2 seat red convertible. I was too young to be appreciated by him but I knew what I liked and it was that car! So I just hung around, touching it when he wasn't there. It was an MGB. Now I think Grandma should have taken his car in exchange for a place to live and in time I would have had a slick ride for myself.

Come to think of it, this may have been my first sign of a love for cars. It became an obsession: I used to lay in bed, look out the window, tell myself, "1956 Ford Fairlane", "1960 Chevy BelAir" or whatever was passing by.

So the yard sounds huge and it was then, when I was little. It is, still, in my mind. It was a full day of activity, an adventure-land to visit. Some days there was laundry hanging out to dry and dashing between sheets was a game. The next day the line would be left up so a tent could be set up over it for camping out (day camp). The day after that the tent would come down and become a screen for a play or puppet show. We'd haul out folding chairs for dolls and trapped family members. After the final performance we'd swing and spin around on the monkey bars.

Then there'd be a day of running a library and the neighborhood kids would come and we'd read. Imagine that! Soon there'd be a game of tag or ball to wear us out before dinner. The pool was obviously above ground and a source of much cool fun, as is evidenced above. When the pool wasn't "up" we'd have pet parades and every cat and dog on the block was encouraged to participate.

The garden was the best though. Row after row of carefully tended to plants that yielded beans and lettuce, tomatoes and rhubarb, parsley and probably some stuff I wouldn't eat so don't remember. I do recall weeding and the associated excuses for not being able to do it...not just yet. The excuses failed; the weeds were gone. I was outnumbered by grownups.

Well, thanks for taking this quick trip with me around the back yard. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my only-child past. It was a close knit neighborhood where every mom was Mom, every dad was Dad, and every kid was like a brother or sister.

Or at least that's how I remember it.

Snowy Day

SNOWY DAY is the title of a children's book - by Ezra somebody...award winner. The title is the only thing the book and the blog post have in common!

But I have stayed inside most of the day, sorting items for the March APL Upscale Sale. It's best to get an early start or I'll miss the event altogether. Sorting includes going through the end of the photo boxes my mother had stored, bless her heart. Where did she keep all this STUFF?

Needless to say, amidst the tossing of her 8th grade spelling bee award, her English themes from high school, the sample of my dad's baby hair, their honeymoon pictures and post cards, I have been down memory lane.

It occurs to me that my parents really are gone. I can't ask any questions again about who is who or where something was taken or what is the story behind this or that thing. Hmmm. It's been a month since my mom died and what is said about losing someone is true - after everything settles down the loss becomes real for those left behind. Ed and I still think we should figure out who is going to visit her on what days!

Just the same it is fun to go through these items one last time. As I sort I am tossing and selecting those which need to be sent to relatives. I thought I'd sent all I had once but alas, such is not the case. So there's a second mailing to go out someday soon. I take a break now and then to pick STUFF that can go into the sale. Some of the old frames, a plate picked up while on vacation. The curling iron that was heated on the gas stove stays. So does the key to the old house. So do some treasured photos. So do the echoing laughs and other memories.




At my grandmother's 80th birthday party - just about the whole family on my dad's side was there. I was almost 8 or 9 I think.




My favorite cousins on my mom's side were these two guys who clearly had some mixed ideas about what we were playing...was it Cowboys and Indians and one thought Cowboys meant football Cowboys? Who knows. I just went along with it...not so much anymore though!

Intersecting Wanderings

Someone on the passenger side of a car in the middle lane at an intersection opened the door and put down a fast food beverage cup just because he/she is a lazy SOB. Is this the root of what is wrong with all of us? We just don't care enough about our own world, or fellow persons? Someone will get paid to pick that up. Is that acceptable thinking in this country?

A good deed was observed today when we were in traffic, headed towards my mom's nursing home. A vehicle either broke down or ran out of gas at another intersection. Two young men popped out of two different vehicles to assist the owner in pushing the vehicle through the intersection so traffic could proceed. YES!

Earlier this week Frieda Joy, one of our dogs, and I went to visit my friend John. He recently moved to a new independent living complex in a Chicago 'burb. We took a route in that had us traveling through my hometown. We didn't go past the house I grew up in but did turn at the intersection where the grade school building is and it is now a community center with lots of senior activities. I could be back in my kindergarten classroom if I lived up there.

Anyway, John loved meeting Frieda and she got past being timid in a strange place filled with all new people. After our visit we went to the nearest major intersection and hopped on the tollway to I-55 and scooted home. I'm not sure I liked that way even though it was faster. There's something about poking along memory lane that adds color to a trip.

Lucky us; I really mean that! Finally the new local bakery is open and we've been there twice this week. That's you-know-who's doing, not mine. I've managed two cups of coffee and 1/2 cran/nut muffin. HE's downed a double-sized piece of apple struedel and an order of biscuits and gravy with his two cups of java. Nonetheless, it is all "from scratch" goodies and we'll be making it another "regular" stop when we do rounds. Today we got a bonus: ran into an old friend we hadn't seen in a year; he'd moved. We got caught up on happenings and know we'll see him again. He went to school with the guy in the family who owns the bakery. Actually they own all four corners of this intersection and have put businesses in two and leased the third to another. It's all in a, well, I want to say, recovering, neighborhood. Good for them - they are part of the solution.

Now, I gotta ask: Is Christmas totally LOST? No carols in stores, lackluster "Happy Holidays" and non-existent "Merry Christmas" exclamations, no acknowledgment of the meaning of Christmas? This year, more than ever, it seems people are focused entirely on retail and the economy and change. The one thing that hasn't changed is why we have a Christmas in the first place. A 42" HD tv along with WWii, an iPod, and who knows what else vs. let's see, a relationship with family, friends and God? Ah, the intersection of Xmas and Christmas...I Believe.

Merry Christmas!
I'll be saying THAT again!