June • 2009 • NEWSLETTER

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Grandma's Kitchen
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Dear ##firstname[Friend]##,

School's out for summer! Remember how you rejoiced on the final day of classes, thinking about the barefooted, sun-tanning, bike-riding, swimsuit-wearing days to come?

Our swimming hole was an old quarry turned county park, where we met friends, baked on the sand and cooled off in spring waters amidst dueling radios and pale bodies changing over to bronze. One day at the beach, I hid the keys to my rusty but trusty '62 Ford Galaxie in the sand under my shoes. Well, those shoes got moved a bit, and I found out just how well hidden those keys were. Archaeologists far into the future will probably wonder how they got there.

We hope you enjoy our collection of early summer stories. As always, feel free to forward our newsletter on to a friend or family member. If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you'd like a monthly copy of your own, just use this link to sign up yourself. For now, enjoy heading into the past.

—John Burlingham at Reminisce

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In this issue:

• Helping Grandpa Plow Was One of Many Wonders
• Schoolhouse gets Second Life as a Family Home
• Cross-Country With Five Kids, an Olds 88 and Pure Nerve
• Minister Could Have Gotten Hopping Mad
• Poem: Fireflies
• Time Capsule Trivia
• A Thought to Remember

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Helping Grandpa Plow Was One of Many Wonders

By Marian Schultz
Peru, Illinois

Summers were so magical long ago. When the school term was finished and kids ran in every direction their imaginations suggested, the world of play and fun and friends opened out in luxurious dimensions.

We had the best adventures. We staged circuses, and even though no one paid money to see us, we were magnificent in our creativity.

Right after breakfast and morning chores, we'd scatter, only to reappear in time for supper. During the school year, the streetlights were our clocks. When they came on, the game was over and you went home. In the summer, we followed the church bells that rang at noon and 6 p.m.

At some point during the summer, Mama would announce that we were going to spend time with our loving Grandma and Grandpa on their farm, where there was so much to do. You could play in the deep ditch. If you didn't get caught first, you could jump from the hayloft. You could climb on the old equipment in the tool shed.

You might have to help collect eggs from the dirty old chickens, but Grandma would always pick the feathers off of you and kiss you for each egg you brought back.

It was Grandma who showed us how to make butter, how to pick the sweetest ears of corn and how to mix the food for the animals. She showed us how to cook and how to open the shining jars of berries she had canned and stored in the cool cellar. When Grandma made a bed, you could bounce a nickel on it, and learning to do things her way was a real challenge and joy to us. Once you got her approval, you were an expert!

Grandpa taught us how you can be milking the cow and feeding the barn kittens at the same time. He taught us how to sit on the one-legged milking stool without falling off. He taught us how to pitch hay to the cattle without irritating them in the process. He taught us that ‘tinkering' is a noble thing when you're keeping the equipment in good repair.

Grandma always worked her big garden. Five acres more or less went into growing food for the household. All the vegetables, herbs and edibles were homegrown, and beyond the garden was a small orchard. Behind that were the woods, which hid the secret bounty of wild berries and roots that Grandma knew how to preserve and use.

In late spring or early summer, Grandpa hitched "Molly," the right-hand horse of his team, to the plow and got the ground broken and ready for planting. If we were lucky enough to be at the farm, we got to help.

We four children were placed on Molly's back, youngest in front and me at the rear. We knew all the complicated rules: no screaming, sit still, don't try to give orders to the horse, and don't be afraid because Grandpa is right here. And what a thrill! The mare was massive, bearing the indignity of four wide-eyed children lined up on her back like monkeys, but she was a gentle animal. With Grandpa leading her slowly, row by row, Grandma's garden got plowed and then raked and furrowed.

It was hot and thirsty work, and when at last Grandpa declared it finished, he lifted each child from the horse and sent us back to Grandma. She listened to our excited trilling and gave us big glasses of lemonade to quench our thirsts along with the cookies she had baked while we worked so hard in the field.

Each day at the farm brought new adventures and new memories to store against the winter of living, just as gleaming as those fruit jars stored in the cellar… and plowing with Grandpa is one of those most special and enduring.

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Schoolhouse Gets Second Life as a Family Home

Remodeled schoolhouse for the Perry Kelley family, in 1959.

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By Lila Kelley
Harlan, Iowa

When my husband, Perry, and I came home from our honeymoon, in 1958, we learned that the country schools around Harlan, Iowa were being sold because they weren't being used anymore, as the students were now to attend school in town.

We were living in a furnished upstairs apartment in town, which didn't appeal to two country kids like us. Perry bought the schoolhouse in Jackson Township, where he and his brother had attended school as young boys. The school was located on the corner of his parents' farm, and Perry got the acre of land and the school for $500.

We started remodeling the schoolhouse to make it our future home. We had a full basement, bathroom, storm cellar, kitchen, living room, bedroom, three closets and a spare bedroom to start with. That spare bedroom was used as a nursery for a bunch of baby ducks the first year!

After that, our family started growing… the spare bedroom became the bedroom for our three boys and one girl.

As the kids grew older, we finished the upstairs so our daughter could have her own bedroom with a closet. Included in the upstairs renovation were a family room and a large walk-in storage room. Our three sons had bunk beds in the downstairs bedroom and a large closet of their own.

That schoolhouse was home to us for 25 years. After that, the state bought us out in preparation for the reconstruction of Highway 44. By then, our oldest son was married and living in another remodeled schoolhouse. He used the lumber from our house being torn down to build onto his house, as his family was growing.

We felt it was quite an accomplishment to buy an acre of land and a house that served us well for 25 years—all for $500.

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Cross-Country with Five Kids, an Olds 88 and Pure Nerve

By Sandra Cleary
Schertz, Texas

When my father received military orders for Japan, in 1955, my mother decided not to take the family with him but to wait in California for his return.

Waiting until school was out in June, Mom packed our 1949 Oldsmobile 88 and left upstate New York with five children and lots of raw nerve.

I was the oldest, so I sat in the front seat as Mom's navigator, keeping track of the highway signs to make sure she didn't make a wrong turn. One sister and two brothers sat in back, and our baby sister sat in her car seat between Mom and me.

Since only bits of pieces of old Route 66 can now be found, I wish I had paid more attention to everything I saw. We stopped to visit my aunt and uncle in Indianapolis, and since Mom was on a time schedule and had little money, we stayed only 2 days.

Mom had strapped a big trunk on top of the car, so before we left, my uncle made sure it was secure. I was to check the straps frequently to make sure they hadn't moved. I really didn't know what I was testing, but I put my hand up on the roof to check the straps and let Mom know if they had moved,

On a sergeant's pay, my mother didn't have much money in her budget to spend on hotels, much less for all of us to eat in restaurants. She'd stop at the store and buy bread, peanut butter and jelly, and we'd fix our sandwiches, supplemented by chips and water. Sodas were not even thought about, and milk was too expensive for everyone but my baby sister.

I remember Mom pulling the car over and sleeping on the ground while all of us kids slept in the car—something we wouldn't even think of doing now.

We stopped at a run-down roadside motel in Arizona because Mom decided she needed a good night's rest. "I need to brush my teeth and take a good hot bath," she added.

The hotel had two beds but no shower or tub, so everyone got a good scrubbing with the washcloth. Mom and my baby sister took one bed, and the rest of us shared the other. It did feel very good to sleep in a bed, even if I had to share it with three siblings.

I recall crossing the great Colorado River at Topok, Arizona. All of us kids were thirsty after crossing the desert, so when Mom stopped for gas at the bridge, she asked the station attendant if she could get some water. They charged her 5¢ for that glass of water! Each one of us got a sip, because Mom was running low on money.

Little did I know that 12 years later, my husband would be one of the construction workers building a new bridge over the Colorado River. Moving to a trailer park in Topok brought back the 5-cent glass of water. I had come full circle.

I'll always remember crossing the United States and the many sights we saw, tucked away in my memories.

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Minister Could Have Gotten Hopping Mad

Harold Piehler, on the farm, in 1938.

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By Harold Piehler
Lawrence, Kansas

In the early 1930s, I attended a little country church, called Ebneezer, in rural Rice County, Kansas. With a Methodist affiliation, the modest, white structure stood like a lighthouse amidst waves of fertile wheat fields.

In the summer, the windows were propped open to admit a faint breeze… along with a host of flies and other insects.

As a 9-year-old, I dreaded having to dress up and disliked the long sermons. Any slight diversion was more than welcome.

During the sermon, our kindly, old pastor would often pause to collect his thoughts, placing his hand in his coat pocket and perhaps gazing out a nearby window.

One particular Sunday, the pastor did so and withdrew his hand quickly from his pocket as a perplexed frown fell over his brow. He regained his composure, continued his sermon and absentmindedly put his hand in the pocket again.

As this was going on, the young choristers, including my sister, seemed to be having difficulty concealing their laughter. Plainly disconcerted, the minister ended his sermon rather abruptly, which was not unwelcome to me.

Years later, my sister told me that she'd convinced a fellow choir member to take a large grasshopper perched on a windowsill and place it in the minister's coat pocket.

Apparently, the minister had disposed of the grasshopper as he passed an open window. If he had any suspicions of who had pulled the prank, he kept them to himself. No wonder he was such a popular minister.

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Fireflies

By Suzanne Bailer Smith
Noblesville, Indiana

Many things often take me back
To the scenes of my childhood days.
A sudden thought, or an old movie script,
Words from a spoken phrase
… or fireflies.

A Little League game, running boards on cars,
The smell of tar as it hits my nose,
Wild violets, red rover, or "8-9-10, here I come!"
Hot, dusty dirt between my toes
… and fireflies.

Cotton candy will do it, or pink bubble gum,
Or dandelions thick in my grass,
Cheerleading contests, or the bounce of a ball,
But nothing transports me as fast
… as fireflies.

The flick-flick signal like a flashlight
Of the lightning bug's mating call.
The flutter of my heart again the mason jar
And the chase is on, as I recall
… the fireflies.

Time Capsule Trivia

From the decades spanning the 1920s to the 1960s, try to guess what year these historic events took place. Click the link below for the answer, but no peeking!

1. As part of his "Great Society" social agenda, President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his "War on Poverty" to create new jobs and build up areas where the economy has faltered.

2. In the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev is desposed and Alexei Kosygin becomes premier, sharing power with Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev.

3. Martin Luther King Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his pursuit of civil rights through a series of marches and demonstrations that emphasize nonviolence.

4. Movie premieres include My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison; Dr. Strangelove and The Pink Panther, both starring Peter Sellers; and Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.

5. TV shows making debuts include The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with Robert Vaughn and David McCallum; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, starring Jim Nabors; Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery; Gilligan's Island with Bob Denver; The Addams Family; and The Munsters.

Click here for the answer to Time Capsule Trivia.

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A Thought to Remember

When you tell the truth, you have less to remember.

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