A Few Childhood Memories

I was given an enlarged copy of this old black and white photo recently. My mother was blessed with seven younger brothers which gave me the distinct honor of growing up with seven fun guys...two of which were right around my same age. My mother and my grandma were pregnant together twice. At this stage of my life I personally cannot imagine how that was for my grandma, or my mother. Her last little girl was very sick, and passed away at age two. My grandparents lived on a farm, which created lots of work for my uncles. I spent many hours on their farm with them, especially when the strawberry season came around. I clearly remember my grandma giving me a nickel for each box of strawberries I would pick. The above picture was taken when I was almost two years old with five of the seven guys. I learned to play basketball at an early age, with these guys.


My grandma had a road side stand filled with her garden produce. One of my uncles and I would take care of the stand which was located along the main street of the town. The farm was back a long dirt lane, off of the main street. With our shoe box filled with change,my uncle and I would sit on an old wooden wagon, waiting for people to stop and buy the strawberries, sugar peas and spring onions that we were selling.

Also, on the farm were many of my grandma's prized flower gardens. She and I would pick bouquets of flowers and put them in whatever container she would find at the time. The above photo reminded me of just how she would put her picked flowers in buckets or old tin pitchers.
You can imagine how much laundry this dear lady had, with such a large family. In the early years I remember she would scrub the clothes on a wash board, in a small building that she would call the "wash house", located directly outside of her front door. After washing the clothes, I often helped her hang each piece out on the washline, with her wooden clothes pins. It was a huge job in my young mind, but I can still remember how good the clothing would smell when we brought it in to fold, at the end of the day. I can also remember what an exciting event it was for her when she got her first wash machine and dryer. This certainly does make me sound "old", doesn't it?



This picture reminded me so clearly of my middle school days. In fact, I think I had a dress that looked just like the plaid one. This picture could easily have been one of my sister and me at that time of our lives. We spent lots of time together each summer, trying to find fun things to pass the time. Except for the first picture on this post, each of the other pictures were from past issues of "Country Living"(British Edition) magazines. I was going through some of them recently, and these particular pictures immediately brought back childhood memories for me. I thought I would give you a brief look back into my growing up world. I love all of my aunts and uncles on my mother's side and on my dad's side. Each of them were instrumental, in one way or the other, in my being who I am now. I feel blessed each time I get to spend time with anyone of them today.