I was just sitting in the lounge with other Managers at work. We got on the subject of summers past as a child. For what ever reason childhood memories came back to me.
I remember growing up in the Suburbs of Chicago. I was one of 5 children-middle child. My Mother and my younger Brother, younger Sister and I would go Down State Illinois to my Grandmothers Farm. My Grandfather pasted away a few years earlier so Grandma needed some help.
Certainly I was not going to go out and plow the fields and tend to the livestock. My male cousins and Uncles took care of that.
Mom had us do things at the house. My Grandmothers home was beautiful..Simply beautiful. The house was set off from an orange dirt road. The stones in the road were true gems that sparkled in the sunlight. A creek ran across the road that was fenced in. There was an old bridge to the south the road ran through. As you walked up the front gate, the deep green soft lawn was on both sides of a sidewalk my Uncles poured for my grandparents in the early 70's.
The front porch had a swing and chair around it. When you walked in, the right was a closed door to my Grandparents bedroom.
In the foyer, you looked up at a multi leveled staircase. It was definately re done in the 30's. That rounded wood all the way to the top bedrooms always fascinated me.
Once upstairs there were 4 bedrooms. All the large rooms had huge brass beds in them. I loved playing up there with my siblings. My aunts and uncles had long bed out of those rooms but my Grandmother insisted they all be kept up.
One room facing the road had a small balcony overlooking the front, road and creek. The most lovely lace curtains framed all of the windows lined by the white sheers.
A smaller room had all the games and books from my mothers childhood neatly tucked away for us when we arrived.
I think my favorite bedroom was the one attached to my Grandmothers dressing room. She had a vanity, so beautiful, chair and mirror with the silver soft brush and hand mirror. To the right was a cabinet attached to the Vanity. In that was my Grandmothers hats. She had such an assortment of them. We would wear them, brush our hair and hit each other with the big powder puff at the Vanity. The dressing room was filled with beautiful hand sown dresses. Lace, silk, cotton and even Chicken feed bags were used to make the clothing. The neatly embroidered and needle pointed designs into the beautiful dresses.
Down stairs to the right was the living room. Very family oriented. The back 2 rooms were the kitchen and dining room. They were the biggest rooms in the house. I remember the dinners of dozens around a big table when all of us got together. Coming down after my Grandfather past away to a smaller dinner with my Grandmother was just as warm and inviting.
Double sinks and a huge work area was where all the real work was done. The food was unreal. You just can not imagine how good a peach cobbler is from that room after a good ham or chicken dinner.
We had such a great time there.
You would step out the back of the kitchen to the porch. On the right was the stair to the cellar where we would can veggies and fruit.
Out back to the right were the chestnut trees. We would go thru the area picking up the hollowed out chestnuts and making designs with them. In the winter we would have tons of them to roast.
Beyond was the barn with the livestock. I remember the sheep running up thru my Grandfathers legs as he walked with milk pails under his arms just to be knocked down by those laughing sheep.
Coops were to the left. My sisters and I had to go get the eggs from the angry chickens in that coop.
my father hated the smell of "Chicken shit". He loved my Mother so much and still does that he always told me words of wisdom:
"If you truly love someone like I love your Mother, you sometimes have to put up with a little Chicken shit."
Beyond all of that was the 100 acre farm.
How beautiful. Acres and acres of Soy, Wheat and corn. Riding on the back of a tractor with my Uncle Bud and Uncle Dale always was something I will have burned into my memory. Riding thru a field seeing how beautiful all of this was is something you can always appreciate. OK I am not someone for bugs but there I was not as terrified of them. My family would explain to me the purpose of each insect. Many of them helped them with their crops.
I often look at a sunset now wondering if that farm is as beautiful as I remembered from my youth. Just a little place I can always find serenity in my mind is going back to that place. The shiny gems on the road, the creek, the lace curtains, hats, aromas and textures of that place will always be with me.
My daughter is truly missing out on America's beauty.
