My Granny and Pa M’s little white house in the middle of Springfield, Mo. The whole backyard was garden, every kind of vegetable, dill, mint for tea, marigolds planted at the corners to keep the bugs out. All colors of roses planted down the side of the house. Pa built me a swing in one of the trees. Sometimes Pa Don would walk us down the block to the Get-n-Go for a Slush Puppie, a candy bar, and my favorite, a comic book. Inside was the hideabed couch I slept on, I would pretend to be asleep and had one eye open watching Johnny Carson. A big gold vinyl chair that spun. If I spun to much i would get disapproving looks from my parents but Pa wouldn’t let us get in trouble at “his” house. lol Lots of houseplants, cactus everywhere. My Grandpa had a green thumb and he said you had to talk to the plants. A kitchen where you might find a pie cooling in the window. They squeezed fresh orange juice for breakfast and Pa would even drill a hole in the coconut to drink the milk. Pa saved all the funny papers for me out of the Sunday paper so I had lots of reading material. Granny would tell stories of when my Dad was a little boy. At my Granny and Pa Fs’ home right here in Imboden we would come visit from Missouri on holidays and in the summer. The kids/ cousins stayed outside in the summer catching fireflies in the yard, it was hot, hot, hot and they would only run the window air a few hours during the day then at night kicked on the attic fan and box fans. Some of the best sleep laying in bed listening to the frogs and bugs. I would get up after everyone was asleep and Pa would take me in the kitchen to get some Neapolitan ice cream. They watched the TV preachers, little house on the prairie, Walton’s, and the news on the tiny tv , that was it. Pa and Granny sat by each other on the couch and he would lay his head on her shoulder while he “rested his eyes”. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner were on a schedule and you ate at the table only after you bowed your head to say grace. Pa’s mother, My Great Grandma T lived with them for a time. She drank buttermilk with crumbled cornbread in it every night. I used to love going in her little bedroom watching her get ready for bed. She had long snow white hair that was kept in a bun but would brush 100 strokes at night. She also had a hole in her leg from an accident that she kept wrapped up, at night she would unwrap it and pour hydrogen peroxide in it. She later lost that leg when she was in the nursing home. She crocheted beautifully and I still have the pillow she made for me covered in all pink roses. I have so many memories of my Aunt Donna and Uncle Ray’s big rock two story house in Springfield too. Oh how I loved that house. Sitting on the front porch with Ray in those metal rocking chairs. Country music playing in the background. Old country, the good stuff. Donna was usually cooking something or Ray would grill. Always sweet tea at their house. Sitting in the big metal wash tub ‘ my swimming pool”. Playing cards. Watching home movies on the roll out screen with projector and they would make popcorn on the stove. Sitting in front of the fireplace watching tv. Hee Haw and Austin City Limit’s, … every year the Wizard of Oz. Climbing up and down the stairs until you got yelled at to stop. lol Playing on the piano. Ray would sing Delta Dawn just for me. He taught me how to two step in that house. Made me search that house for hours one time over his “lost” finger. Precious memories!
