Childhood Memories

One of the newest blogs I have decided to keep up on is:
http://athousandwordsandthensome.blogspot.com/

I really enjoy writing, and this is a nice outlet for me. Amy has given us a topic of Childhood Memories to write about. Many things have come to mind throughout my day, feel free to share some of your own Childhood Memories here or on Amy's blog if you'd like.

When I was 6 or 7 my grandparents lived nearby, and they bought a farm. The two-story yellow house was on a dirt road in a small town in Michigan. In the summer time, it seems we spent a lot of time over there. You would not believe all of the fruit that grew on this property. Grandma had cherry trees, apple trees, pear trees, even plums! There was rhubarb growing on the side of the garage. Grandma always had a big garden that housed many vegetables...but also strawberries! At the edge of the property there was a line of huge pine trees, and right behind those trees, was the vast Michigan wilderness. At various times in the summer and fall, we would find blueberrries, blackberries and rasberries. It was like an unending feast when we went to Grandma's house. I remember always getting in trouble for climbing the apple trees. I also remember getting stomach aches for eating too many green apples.

A lot of times in the summer, Grandma would bribe us to weed her garden. "If you weed the garden, I'll take you swimming." How we loved to swim! Growing up in Michigan there was always a lake within driving distance. We would sit in the garden and weed for a while, get hot and go play...then Grandma would come out and remind us..."GIRLS, I'M NOT TAKING YOU SWIMMING IF YOU DON'T WEED THE GARDEN!!" And back we would go, to get the garden done. I remember sitting there, making the plants stand out brightly against the dark soil...without the weeds to dim their color...how beautiful it was to me, even as a girl...to have nice clean rows of vegetables. I still love to weed a garden and make it neat and pretty. I remember one time, I was halfway through a row before I realized, I had been pulling the PLANTS...instead of the weeds! OOPS!!

We did get to go swimming... many times. I also watched Grandma can the vegetables, make jam, fill up her basement with rows and rows of pretty jars of homemade goodness. It was so lovely to me. I even helped make sauerkraut one year. I stood in a barrel filled with cabbage and other stuff, (I'm still not sure what it was) jumped up and down for what seemed like forever...and got out, my feet never to smell the same again.

I saw baby goats born at Grandma's house. I was also chased by a crazy turkey, that was as tall I was! Even though I was terrified of that turkey, I cried the day he was cooked...and I couldn't eat him! I'll never forget watching through the window, as his body ran around the yard...without a head!

Life had some sadness growing up, but at Grandma's house there were many happy memories.