Mt. Ranier

This is Mt. Ranier which we could
see from one of the windows in
our house in Washington.

This is a picture of my grandma

Munson, Aunt Carol, Aunt Hazel,

cousins Vickie and Brian, my sisters

brother and me in front of our house.

When they all came to visit us, there
would be 11 with all of us together.

I remember one time we all got into

this car and took a trip to Mt.

Ranier. Grandma was in the front

passenger side and I laid down by

her feet. I have no idea where

everyone else sat! When we got to

the top of the Mt. it was warm but there

was snow on the ground. My Uncle Carl

took his shirt off and played in the snow.

I also don't know where everyone slept

in the house. Maybe they brought sleeping

bags. I know I was very sad when they

left.

1948 The year I was born....

Things were so much simpler when I was born! Of course the pay was a lot lower but look at these prices! I would love to go back to the 50's to live. You didn't have to lock doors, worry about drive bys, you knew your neighbors and could go for walks at night without worrying about who would jump out from behind the tree. Living in Durand was great too. That was still in the 70/80's and we didn't worry too much. If you watch some of the old shows on tv, that is how it was. Some of my favorites growing up were Leave it to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, Mickey Mouse Show, Bonanza and Sky King.

Our home in Tacoma, Washington

We lived in Tacoma, Washington from the time I started second grade until I graduated from sixth grade. Our address was 34 Nevada in Lincoln Heights. How I remember the address, I have no idea!! I've added some pictures so you can kind of see what the neighborhood looked like. The picture of Debbie and Robbie sitting on the curb is right in front of our home. The house you can see looks just like ours but reversed. Most of them were duplexes. Ours was a two bedroom with one bathroom. Joan and I shared one room with us each getting a single bed. Debbie and mom slept in a full sized bed and Rob had a single in their room. Rob doesn't remember this but I used to sleep walk a lot and there were quite a few mornings that I would find myself in his bed! When you would walk into our house there was a furnace room right next to the door. Mom used to have to shovel coal in the winter. Then if you went up a few steps the kitchen was straight ahead. Off the kitchen was a very small room that had our wringer washer. (one Christmas I found a pair of boots in that washer that someone got and that's when I stopped believing in Santa!) The living room/dining area was to the left of the steps and past the living room were the 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. If you look above Rob and Debs heads the 2 windows were in the dining area and the very small window was in the furnace area. It was a very small place but we did fine. It wasn't fancy but none of the homes in that area were. To this day I love carnations. We had pink carnations growing along the front of the house every year.

Things I remember from living on the farm with my grandma

I have so many happy memories of staying at my grandparents farm when I was small. I can still remember exactly what the house looked like as you walked into it. There was the kitchen when you walked in. Off the kitchen there was a huge pantry where the refridgerator was. Grandma always had "windmill" cookies which I think you can still buy! Also I remember my sister Debbie loved Alpha Bit cereal so she had those too. Through the pantry was a large storage area and through that were 2 small rooms. One which I made into a tiny house for me to play in. My grandpa's bedroom was a little room off the kitchen. To the right of the kitchen was the dining room and a little further was the living room. A narrow hallway led to the stairs and another door to the front yard. Upstairs there were 3 bedrooms. One was grandma's, one Carols and one was an extra. A storage closet was at the end of the hall between the bedrooms. I loved sleeping with my grandma. She always did the word games from the newspaper. In the winter she went to the basement where the furnace was to put in coal to heat the house. I don't think much was down there. A favorite thing for me to do was to go through drawers to find pennies. I wonder if maybe she put them there? She also had lots of buttons that I made into necklaces. I was also allowed to rollerskate through the dining room down a small ledge into the kitchen. How fun was that!! There was a large weeping willow tree in the front yard that I loved to play under. There was a large area on the side of the house that had lots of apple trees. I loved sitting in the tree with some salt eating them. In the pictures above there is a picture of Joan and me standing near the house. In another picture is of a bank that they turned the house into. Where the drive thru is, is where the apple trees were. Grandma had a black dog named Blackie that she had forever. When they moved into town, Blackie found his way back to the farm. They also had a parakeet named Pete. He was allowed to fly around once in awhile. Grandma taught him how to say "pretty Pete". Not too far away across the railroad tracks was an A&W rootbeer stand. I was able to walk over there with a gallon jug to get the rootbeer and we would have "black cows". Yummy!! Once in awhile I was able to go get eggs from the chickens. I remember one summer she had a garden and I loved the creamed peas she made. I also remember the watermellon pickles but I never tried them. I think of all the good times we had all the time. I really miss my grandma. When my mom died, she kind of replaced her.

a mom, grandma and great grandma

This my mom.

I don't know how to put things in the right order yet so they are mixed up! She was a great mother. She brought up 4 kids just about all by herself. She had a quite a few jobs that I can remember. While living in Washington, I remember going with her to pick green beans. We had to put them in these large wicker type baskets. I suppose she got paid for the number of baskets but I don't know. When we lived in Wonder Lake, Illinois she was a newspaper deliverer. She delivered papers in the car. Later on she worked at a nursing home. That's where she met a little old lady named Lana and that's what we named one of our dogs because they had the same kind of curly gray hair! Then she worked at a factory named Modine. She was a nurse there but I don't know how she did that because I don't think she had any training to be a nurse that I know of. She even brought flu shots home every year to give to us! I also remember her favorite candy bar was 3 muskateers. We didn't have a very big freezer so when she went to get a half gallon of ice cream for us, she divided it up 5 ways and we had to eat all of it! On Friday nights we would go grocery shopping in Crystal Lake. Before we went, she would treat us all to McDonalds. I got the same thing every time-hamburger, fries and a chocolate shake. Remember tho in those days you could get either a hamburger or cheeseburger-nothing fancy! She was a wonderful mom. I wish she were still here enjoying her family that she worked so hard to make happy.

Horses

Here I am riding horses!! The all brown one was named Shorty and she belonged to my Aunt Carol. When I was about the age of the picture of me and my sister, Joan (on the ground) My aunt tried to teach me to ride so that I could enter a contest. I was able to do figure 8's and a few other things but I never did enter the contest. I guess I didn't get good enough! Carol had Shorty for a long time. These pix were taken on my grandparents farm. I remember there was a "hitching post" right outside of the door. My cousin Bruce and I used to play in the barn in the back of one of the pix here. I remember going inside and seeing all of the cows and the bulls that were at the far end. I think I even helped my grandpa milk the cows a few times.

Cowboy Cathy

I guess I was a cowboy this day!! Do you think my trike was my horse? These pix were taken at my grandparents farm in Crystal Lake, Illinois. We lived with them at different times when I was young. There were many happy times and lots of wonderful memories. I'll write about some of them later.