I grew up in one of the generic sub-divisions that sprang up after WarII. The
kind that came with two shrubs and one mimosa tree. It was brand new
and still had lots of bugs and scorpions around. Boy! was I ever glad
when those things were gone!
There was a severe drought during the '50s and
mostly what I remember from when I was little was that
it was hot. My grandmother had a zillion ideas about how to keep cool.
I still love the sound of cottonwood
trees, because it sounds like rain.
Rain meant that there would be a little relief from the heat.
Personally, I think that was why there were so many of them around
here a long time ago. Most are gone now, because in the spring they
put out a seed fluff that looks like cotton and clogs up everything...but I still love the sound of the
trees whenever I find one.
Life was very simple back then, and we played outside almost all the time.
Even if it was hot and and we were told by our mothers that we would most likely have a heat stroke.
Alongside the curb I would find my little "jewels"...little pieces of broken glass.
My "sapphires".. old Vicks jars or Milk of Magnesia bottles that were
broken, and my "emeralds"....broken 7-Up bottles.
"Rubies" were rare and hard to find, but what a treasure when I did.
My guess is that they were broken tail light lenses...they were made
of glass then.
Just plain glass didn't really seem like "diamonds"...but
found a few that were passable :) I have cobalt color dishes and glasses to this day.
Skating up and down the sidewalk was another passtime
that was so fun...and the other side of the street was like foriegn territory, not to mention
another block!
I remember playing
in the field across the street from my house and
there was a drainage ditch were we used to try to
catch crawdads, but we never caught any with the bits of bacon
our mothers gave us. Just got a stick and nudged the
rascals out of their holes to see what they looked
like. That is probably were my love of biology started...and when
I was taking biology in High School...I knew where to go to find bugs for my "bug box collection"
for the class. Got an "A" on it, too.
We used to dare each other to see who would go
farther into the culvert than the other...I think I
went farther than anyone. It is a wonder we are
alive.
My horse was over there, too at times..it was
a long time ago, and my town was not that big then.
We used to ride all over that huge
field without anyone to watch out for us. We would
ride as far as..oh, probably a couple of miles square, or more.
There was a mid-point that had a grove of Bois D'Arc trees, also known
as horse apples...well, horses don't like them at
all.., but they made great ammunition. We let the boys
come along sometimes.
I remember once there was a
circus over in that field. We went over to watch them set up
the "Big Tent" and would wander around with eyes as big as saucers, I'm sure.
It was a pitiful thing compared to the ones that they have now, but it
was really something to watch them set up and to see
the lions and other animals. That was pure magic! They
were "circus people", and I was not to go too close to
them..you know. I can't remember how good or bad the
circus was, but it was just across the street and that
made it marvelous....also, it was forbidden to be there without
a parent...a child's dream come true.
Another subject...the lost art of letter writing.
People used to always put a p.s.
at the end of a letter, at least I did and still do.
We don't need to now, since we use word processors to do our letter writing,
and can just move text around on the page.
Graceful penmenship was a must, even
if we were just writing to a friend. There were still penmanship contests at
my elementary school, as well as the "Spelling Bee". I have always loved words thanks
to having to memorize so many.
Remember onion skin paper, so
that you could get that "tres important" missive off by
AIR MAIL? how cool to send something airmail..wow!
As I said, simple pleasures...these are perrenials.
copyright 1999 by Bruce DeBoer
Bruce DeBoer
