There was always something peaceful and safe about our yard. We lived on a very busy street and it was nosy and busy and there was something exciting/scary happening fairly regularly. Despite that we had a certain oasis within the picket fence that surrounded our yard. We always had either grass or a garden in the front yard and right in front there is a fig tree that always produced amazingly juicy figs for about a month or so in the summer. The tree had one low branch that stuck out like an arm and we used to hang it, sit on it and dangle from it on a regular basis. The branch had to be cut off a while back probably because of all of the abuse it took over the years.
One of the favorite pastimes on a warm summer afternoon was to play in the hose. My mom didn't mind because we were watering (or I should say drowning) the plants and grass and because it gave us something to do! We would spend hours making rainbows playing run-through games and getting the surrounding sidewalks washed. One particular day I (Gretchen) was playing with the hose with gusto and making a big arching fountain which happened to be pouring onto the street. Now, I was a bit of an awkward kid and at this point I had really short hair and was sometimes mistaken for a boy. On this particular day I had decided that just a pair of shorts was a fine water outfit. No need to get a shirt wet in the process! So as I was absentmindedly shooting water into the street I was also getting passing cars wet. All of a sudden the screeching of brakes broke me out of my revere and a VERY angry lady pulled over, got out of her car and came marching over. She yelled something like "LITTLE BOY! YOU JUST SPRAYED MY CAR!!! And then proceeded to try to scare me by saying that she was going to tell my mom what I was doing! I think she used some choice words as well.
Needless to say I quickly threw down the hose and ran inside. I was pretty shaken up not just because of the scary situation but because she had thought I was a boy! It was a scary experience but it did make me more aware of where I was pointing the hose from then on.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
She need's a Television!
-Gretchen-
One of the early morning rituals that I had before the rest of the family woke up was going out to the back yard and playing on the swing. I remember making up songs and singing them at the top of my voice. I was a totally inspired 4 year old....
Anyways, one day the neighbor across the street was talking to my mom and the topic of my early morning concerts came up. Joan, who was pretty brassy and always said what she thought, said "what that girl needs a Television!" I guess that she didn't appreciate being serenaded at 6:30 in the morning!
I think that music was one of my favorite early morning activities. We had a little Fisher Price record player with a whole stack of fun stories and music. I had two favorites that I played over and over. The first one was from "The Music Machine" and it was a "morning song". It started out with a loud roosters call and then continued with a very peppy "good morning good morning good morning it's time to rise and shine.... good morning good morning good morning I hope you're feel'n fine!" (the bold indicates how loud it was). The second favorite was the theme music from the "Lone Ranger". While it played I would sit intently slapping my hands on my thighs to sound like a horse running. Eventually my sisters would stagger out and my goal was accomplished!
Now that I think back I wish that I had that much energy in the morning. I'm still fairly cheerful when I get up but I could easily sleep in until 8:00 now.
One of the early morning rituals that I had before the rest of the family woke up was going out to the back yard and playing on the swing. I remember making up songs and singing them at the top of my voice. I was a totally inspired 4 year old....
Anyways, one day the neighbor across the street was talking to my mom and the topic of my early morning concerts came up. Joan, who was pretty brassy and always said what she thought, said "what that girl needs a Television!" I guess that she didn't appreciate being serenaded at 6:30 in the morning!
I think that music was one of my favorite early morning activities. We had a little Fisher Price record player with a whole stack of fun stories and music. I had two favorites that I played over and over. The first one was from "The Music Machine" and it was a "morning song". It started out with a loud roosters call and then continued with a very peppy "good morning good morning good morning it's time to rise and shine.... good morning good morning good morning I hope you're feel'n fine!" (the bold indicates how loud it was). The second favorite was the theme music from the "Lone Ranger". While it played I would sit intently slapping my hands on my thighs to sound like a horse running. Eventually my sisters would stagger out and my goal was accomplished!
Now that I think back I wish that I had that much energy in the morning. I'm still fairly cheerful when I get up but I could easily sleep in until 8:00 now.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Cockroach Soup
-Gretchen-
Heidi and I were remembering some of the funny things about our childhood a couple of nights ago and we couldn't stop laughing over some of the things that we considered "normal".
We grew up in an old slightly drafty house in uptown Whittier and along with the charm and history came..... cockroaches. It gives me the creeps just remembering what we all put up with for the early years of my life. Eventually my dad started spraying poison around the foundation and retaining walls and that ended the problem completely.
One of the solutions my mom came up with was placing empty peanut butter jars strategically around the outside of the house. The cockroaches would crawl in for the leftovers and couldn't get back out. I remember one Saturday we decided to try to play a trick on some neighborhood boys who we didn't like. We thought that maybe we could make some cockroach soup for them and by some crazy chance they might think that it looked good and they would eat it! Ha Ha the joke would be on them alright!! We spent a lot of time on trying to make it look good. We put water in it and twigs and leaves and some mud.... YUMMY who could resist that scrumptious concoction? Well, I don't remember what happened with it. I'm sure it didn't make it's way to the neighborhood boys but the process was sure fun!
Heidi and I were remembering some of the funny things about our childhood a couple of nights ago and we couldn't stop laughing over some of the things that we considered "normal".
We grew up in an old slightly drafty house in uptown Whittier and along with the charm and history came..... cockroaches. It gives me the creeps just remembering what we all put up with for the early years of my life. Eventually my dad started spraying poison around the foundation and retaining walls and that ended the problem completely.
One of the solutions my mom came up with was placing empty peanut butter jars strategically around the outside of the house. The cockroaches would crawl in for the leftovers and couldn't get back out. I remember one Saturday we decided to try to play a trick on some neighborhood boys who we didn't like. We thought that maybe we could make some cockroach soup for them and by some crazy chance they might think that it looked good and they would eat it! Ha Ha the joke would be on them alright!! We spent a lot of time on trying to make it look good. We put water in it and twigs and leaves and some mud.... YUMMY who could resist that scrumptious concoction? Well, I don't remember what happened with it. I'm sure it didn't make it's way to the neighborhood boys but the process was sure fun!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Don't look over there!!!
-Gretchen-
This one is short and sweet and hopefully won't be too embarrassing to my mom! (our mom is a huge part of most of these stories because her reaction to most experiences and scenarios is why we remember them so well!)
We used to go with my dad in the summer time to a local park for church softball practices and games. It was a ton of fun to bring our bikes and pedal around without a care in the world for a couple of hours. One memorable time we were walking with my mom back from the restrooms and all of a sudden my mom, let's out a little gasp and says in an urgent tone, "GIRLS! DON'T LOOK OVER THERE! THERE'S A GUY WITH HIS FLY DOWN!" Of course we all snapped our heads around to look not because we cared too much or even knew what it meant to have ones "fly down" but because it sounded so interesting!
This one is short and sweet and hopefully won't be too embarrassing to my mom! (our mom is a huge part of most of these stories because her reaction to most experiences and scenarios is why we remember them so well!)
We used to go with my dad in the summer time to a local park for church softball practices and games. It was a ton of fun to bring our bikes and pedal around without a care in the world for a couple of hours. One memorable time we were walking with my mom back from the restrooms and all of a sudden my mom, let's out a little gasp and says in an urgent tone, "GIRLS! DON'T LOOK OVER THERE! THERE'S A GUY WITH HIS FLY DOWN!" Of course we all snapped our heads around to look not because we cared too much or even knew what it meant to have ones "fly down" but because it sounded so interesting!
Building an Airplane
-Erin-
One of my most magical memories from childhood is the day that Gretchen and I decided we would build a real airplane.
One lazy afternoon, we dreamed of how fun it would be to fly to Japan or Switzerland to visit the foreign exchange students that we often had staying in our house! We just needed a body for the plane, wings, wheels, and of course a gas tank. When we wanted to take off, we would take the plane to the top of Beverly Blvd. and race down until we caught air. Soon we would be on our very own adventure!
We feverishly hunted through the garage and back yard for the materials we would need to build the airplane. A blue rectangular laundry basket was perfect to sit in...we could just barely squeeze in together, but it would work. We attached some old boards to the sides to serve as wings, and tried to find some wheels to hook to the bottom. Our skates worked pretty well, but they had a way of flopping over, making the craft too unweildy. Hmmm...we raced around looking for something else.
Tired, we came into the kitchen where mom was working. Excitedly we told her what we were doing and let her know we would be off to Japan pretty soon. Without missing a beat, she offered to make us a lunch for the ride and asked us when we thought we'd be ready to go.
Energized, we raced outside to finish it up. All we still needed was a gas tank and some wheels. A milk bottle would work for the gas tank; we found an empty one in the trash. We were just one step away from completing the plane!
I started to get butterflies in my stomach...what would it be like to fly away from home? I imagined us bouncing along above the ocean, our hair flying in the wind as we ate our sack lunch. Where would we land when we got to Japan? Or should we fly to Switzerland first? Maybe we should let the Japanese and Swiss girls know that we were coming so they could meet us at our landing spot. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get their address so we could fly right to their house.
Soon we got tired and ran out of ideas. The only thing that stopped us from taking off on our adventure was the wheels for the plane and the gas for the tank! We decided to finish it another day. Maybe it doesn't sound so bad to eat dinner in our own snug little house tonight.
One of my most magical memories from childhood is the day that Gretchen and I decided we would build a real airplane.
One lazy afternoon, we dreamed of how fun it would be to fly to Japan or Switzerland to visit the foreign exchange students that we often had staying in our house! We just needed a body for the plane, wings, wheels, and of course a gas tank. When we wanted to take off, we would take the plane to the top of Beverly Blvd. and race down until we caught air. Soon we would be on our very own adventure!
We feverishly hunted through the garage and back yard for the materials we would need to build the airplane. A blue rectangular laundry basket was perfect to sit in...we could just barely squeeze in together, but it would work. We attached some old boards to the sides to serve as wings, and tried to find some wheels to hook to the bottom. Our skates worked pretty well, but they had a way of flopping over, making the craft too unweildy. Hmmm...we raced around looking for something else.
Tired, we came into the kitchen where mom was working. Excitedly we told her what we were doing and let her know we would be off to Japan pretty soon. Without missing a beat, she offered to make us a lunch for the ride and asked us when we thought we'd be ready to go.
Energized, we raced outside to finish it up. All we still needed was a gas tank and some wheels. A milk bottle would work for the gas tank; we found an empty one in the trash. We were just one step away from completing the plane!
I started to get butterflies in my stomach...what would it be like to fly away from home? I imagined us bouncing along above the ocean, our hair flying in the wind as we ate our sack lunch. Where would we land when we got to Japan? Or should we fly to Switzerland first? Maybe we should let the Japanese and Swiss girls know that we were coming so they could meet us at our landing spot. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get their address so we could fly right to their house.
Soon we got tired and ran out of ideas. The only thing that stopped us from taking off on our adventure was the wheels for the plane and the gas for the tank! We decided to finish it another day. Maybe it doesn't sound so bad to eat dinner in our own snug little house tonight.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Early morning mischief
-Gretchen-
One of the stories that comes to mind about my childhood involves the fact that I was the earliest riser in the house for the first few years of my life. I remember standing beside my parents bed knowing that I wasn't allowed to wake them up and being really hungry for breakfast. I would stare at my dad (I knew better than to bother my mom) and breathe on him until he woke up. This became pretty annoying to my parents so my dad had an idea. Instead of having to be woken up out of a sweet morning sleep why couldn't he leave breakfast out for me the night before? So from that point on (I'm not sure when it stopped) he would leave a little baggy of peanuts and raisins or walnuts on the old fashion black stove that was in the living room. I knew that when I got up I could get my little baggy snack and take it out side to play. I guess that worked pretty well because I don't remember trying to wake my parents up at ungodly hours after that.
Of course the problem with this scenario was that I had a couple of hours of total freedom from parental supervision in the early hours of the day and that meant that I was able to get into various amounts of trouble. I'll save those stories for later.
One of the stories that comes to mind about my childhood involves the fact that I was the earliest riser in the house for the first few years of my life. I remember standing beside my parents bed knowing that I wasn't allowed to wake them up and being really hungry for breakfast. I would stare at my dad (I knew better than to bother my mom) and breathe on him until he woke up. This became pretty annoying to my parents so my dad had an idea. Instead of having to be woken up out of a sweet morning sleep why couldn't he leave breakfast out for me the night before? So from that point on (I'm not sure when it stopped) he would leave a little baggy of peanuts and raisins or walnuts on the old fashion black stove that was in the living room. I knew that when I got up I could get my little baggy snack and take it out side to play. I guess that worked pretty well because I don't remember trying to wake my parents up at ungodly hours after that.
Of course the problem with this scenario was that I had a couple of hours of total freedom from parental supervision in the early hours of the day and that meant that I was able to get into various amounts of trouble. I'll save those stories for later.
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