Memory Lane Con't...
A little more from the family reunion...My cousin Char made a beautiful lap size photo quilt. They sold raffle tickets for it and the money goes in the kitty to help off-set the expenses for the next reunion. HD handed me $20 from his pocket and said to buy as many as I wanted. Ok, full well expecting to replace his money, I bought $20 worth. Much to my suprise, they drew my name and I won the quilt. HD was almost as thrilled about the winning ticket as I was. And, then he wouldn't let me replace his money either. He said he's just glad I won. That was payment enough for him. Is he absolutely sweet or what? When we got home, he took me and the quilt to OS's house and we talked about it, laughed about some of the pictures and did trip 2 down memory lane. It was good.
On the quilt are old pictures from days gone by of Grandma & Grandpa in the very middle, surrounded by a picture of each of the kids. On my Mother's picture you can see where she wrote "all my love, Pearl." I don't know where the picture came from other than it was her senior picture, but as far as who it was for, I don't know. Then there are pictures of anyone and everyone and everybodys uncle. Many of the faces I don't know but some are REALLY obvious! hahaha There is one of my sisters and I and I must have been all of 5? with little pony tails. OS is between YS and myself, and boy does she looked thrilled to be there.
Then there is a picture of Grandpa, Mom, OS, YS, myself and OS's oldest daughter as a baby. Boy, I used to be such a dish! hahaha I'd kill to have that little body back. (I promise God, if you just give it back to me, I'll be nicer to it!) :)
I was thinking about Grandma & Grandpas house and thought about the pot-belly black stove Grandpa put in the upstairs hallway between the north bedroom and the bathroom. It was used to heat the house in the winter. And it was intended to break your toes if you were goofing around and running blindly, or stumbling through there in the dark at night!
The bathroom was a light pink with a shower curtain of white with some pink design or something on it. On the shelf over the toilet was Grandmas Jafra. (I think that was the name.) Beauty creams and face washes, etc. Little brown jars with little tiny white spatulas for dipping out the goods. Then there was the door stop on the backside of the door. It would bang against the toilet so they put a gob-o-goo which was all rubbery in the end, on the toilet so it wouldn't hurt the toilet. Why do I remember that?
The living room had a rocking chair that Grandpa made out of parts from an old studibaker (sp?) car, where Grandpa sat and slept every night before and after dinner while pretending to watch tv. On the wall in the living room was a plaque that was actually a family tree of the G & G and the kids. I remember being young and saying "Grandma, you were pregnant 7 years in a row!" What a dork I was! On the floor by the tv was a beautiful ceramic white cat that looked like he was always watching you.
The wall between the dining room and living room was actually a 1/2 wall and the top 1/2 was basically like a an oversized shelf for knick-knacks. There were glass weather veins that the liquid went up the swans neck based on the temperature and ceramic pieces of pottery, etc. I don't know where they all came from, but I can sure see them plane as day.
The dining room had a table and 6 chairs. The chairs had clear backs on them and squeeked when you swiveled them. The window a/c was also in that room and was the ONLY a/c in the house. THE ONLY. On the north side of the table was the kitchen 1/2 wall. You could see right into the kitchen from the table. The stove was in that 1/2 wall too. There was also a drawer in that 1/2 wall on the dining room side that housed things like marbles, dominos, dice, cards and other fun stuff. I can smell the wooden smell of that drawer.
The kitchen had a white countertop with gold snowflake looking designs in it. I can smell the home made hot cocoa mix in the drawer and see the small dull-aqua colored bowls in the top cupboard which we used for ice cream. And the colored plastic cups.
The portable dishwasher that opened from the top and had a round basket on top. The stairway leading down 3 or 4 steps to the outside door had a rod-iron railing that we, of course hung on, every single time we walked by it.
The outside "porch light" was the place of the spare key. If G & G weren't home you knew where the key was and you just let yourself in. Everyone knew it and it was all good.
The grassy hill on the east side of the house where we all rolled and tumbled and played for HOURS is still the grass hill I remembered it to be.
We laughed about the time the bankers son and a friend got liquered up and the friend that was driving passed out. So the bankers son tried to aim the car for a big pole outside of Grandpas garage to run the car into to stop it, but missed the pole and hit the garage. Talk about your small town gossip! That was a top conversation maker there!
We went into the old grocery store too. The old heavy wooden door is still there with the Old Home bar across the door. The door has been painted but it's still the same door. The old wooden floors were the same and everything really seemed to be in the same places that they always were. We even bought a bottle of soda while we did our browsing in there.
The bar that used to be on main street, just down from the cafe on the corner is now a deli sandwich shop, which we were told has great burgers. Speaking of the cafe... once YS and I were walking down that way when the fire whistle blew. The door to the cafe came busting open, almost in our faces as people came on the run for the fire whistle. SCARED THE CRAP out of is! We still talk about that and laugh.
We walked around the city park and the track where they hold track meets. I remember them both being so big when I was younger. They looked so small to me now.
Across the street to the south of G & G's house was the Berners. Alan & Jared. They were the same age as YS and me. They were also little hellions and were good at it! They had a hay operation there. They had a "little house" there that their truck driver could bunk in. Alan was my age and had a cougar. He and cousin Jeff went out and about in that car one night, drinking. Well they were drinking but I got it spilled on me. I was sure Grandma and Mom were going to bust me, but they were not one bit concerned about where I was since I was with Jeff. We used to whip kitties in that car out on the gravel road by the cemetary. HD said he didn't know what whipping kitties was. When I explained it, he said, ohhhh, you mean a donut. LOL Cracked me up!
Alan had dukes of hazard curtains as well as a go-fast old style Trans Am. That was a get in trouble car. And he did. But he sure looked hot doing it! :)
The drama of the day would be who would beat who the post office to get the mail. Box 101. I can't remember the combination but it was always a mad dash for the mail box as a means of entertainment.
How about the red Gran Torino station wagon with the woodgrain panels. Back then the speed limit was 55 and it took us 6 hours to get there. We loaded that thing with enough junk to hold up in there for 6 months. Everything from food, including sunflower seeds and atomic fire balls, to chips, sandwiches, soda, the dog and the yellow flower-child peace-out sleeping bag. We would count bossy-cows in the fields for ammusement and we would play connect the dots to make a square and put your initial in it. I don't know the actual name of the game is/was, but we played it. ALOT of it.
I can still see Grandma's face with her little red nose as she waved good-bye every time we left. We'd wave for as far as the eye could see. Her little red nose was pretty obvious as she tried not to cry every time.
The memories are sweet and vivid. Sometimes it seems like only yesterday and other times it seems like forever ago.
Tomorrow (6/28) would be the day of Mom's funeral, some 16 years ago now. It's hard to believe it's been that long since I saw my mothers face or seen her pearly white teeth or heard her yoddle or talk like Donald Duck. I sure miss all that.
� grizmom at
2007-06-27
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