Dear Readers,

Well once again I have been sitting out on my back deck, watching my dogs play and letting my mind wander backwards over the years. Today I couldn't help but wonder what my parents would have thought of this beautiful house that I have the privilege of living in. 

I have no doubt that my Dad would have gotten lost in a house of this size and he would have been aghast at the fact that there is no room in my backyard for all the scrap he used to collect. Being a mechanic by trade he was never without a car up on blocks or a half dozen lawn mowers belonging to neighbours to fix. He had so much junk out in the back yard that at least once a year the town came and gave him warnings to clean it up. Did he? Sure he did--he moved it from the spot it was in to a less conspicuous spot somewhere else in the yard. (hehehe) My poor Mother used to cluck away to herself that he was taking up perfectly good space where she could be planting flowers!!

If a neighbour needed a vehicle part or just a nut or bolt, you could be sure my Dad had it somewhere in his stack of stuff that covered the yard and continued to fill 2 sheds he had. There was a container or a can for everything. Each nail or screw had a place and he could find it for you in the dark if he had to. Mind you no one else would have found anything!!!

The walls of his sheds were covered with things hanging on nails such as saws, crowbars, axes, hammers etc. Everything that a good mechanic and scrap collector could ever need. Plus many things that no one would ever want or need!! Although he was a mechanic we never had a very nice car. We seemed to always have a car that had a problem. No new cars for us!! He would keep everyone else's vehicles running fine but there was always a reason for him to be under ours, fixing this or that.

My mother would have shook her head in wonderment at the fact that I have 4 bathrooms. All they ever had was an outhouse. I can remember she used to wallpaper the inside so it was pretty if company came!! My girls still giggle when it is mentioned. She put an old medicine cabinet in the outhouse so we had a mirror to look into to comb our hair and a place to put the rolls of toilet paper in case it rained and rain leaked through the roof. 

I can just  imagine the comfort it would have brought them to have a furnace to turn up or down depending on the weather. Instead, if the wood stove went out someone would have to shiver their way to the wood box to get it going again. In the winter of course we used coal. The ashes were dumped on the driveway when it was real icy so no one would fall.

I smile at the thought of my Mom being able to luxuriate in a long hot bubble bath in one of my tubs. Instead they washed up as quickly as they could in a wash tub on the back porch because it was not heated and to be out there any longer then necessary would be enough to shiver your timbers in the wintertime.

Although you know, I do have fond memories of heating up a cement brick, in the oven of the wood stove and wrapping it in towels to put at the bottom of the bed under the blankets so our feet would be toasty as we fell asleep. :)  Plus if the hydro went out we never had to worry about a fire to keep us warm. 

I have to wonder what my Mother would have said about having both a dining room and a kitchen in the same house. She probably would have thought I was wasting space having a fancy eating room that we never use except at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Following the tradition in which I was raised the kitchen is still the favorite room in the house for visiting and relaxing. Ah and the fact that I have a laundry room instead of having to roll a wringer washer into the back kitchen up to a sink and fill it with a bucket and then rinse the clean clothes in a tub of hot water so I can hang them on the line--well that would mesmerize my Mother.  She never once owned an automatic washer and dryer. But you know, the washboard made my socks whiter then any automatic washer ever could!!  Also there is something to be remembered about bringing in frozen long johns or sheets off the line in January and hanging them on a wooden clothes horse to finish drying behind the wood stove.

Wonder what she would think of the cd player attached under the cupboards instead of a tinny radio on the table. Or what she would think of supper being delivered to the door by a pizza driver. Or a phone with a private line instead of everyone on the road listening in on party lines. Then again she used to tell me of some of the most delicious gossip about the neighbours. (lol)
Wonder what she would have done if she could have played cards on the internet instead of the the weekly euchre crowd gathering around her table. Although there is something to be said for the warmth of laughter and clinking of coffee cups and the taste of fresh baked goodies that the company brought to share over cards.

I wonder what---what's that?  I have babbled on long enough you say? Ok then I will sign off for now--until next time when you have time to listen to another memory as I stroll down the lane of my youth. Until then, take care and may your days be happy ones.

Misker 
July 26th,1999