Lists of 2011 - #19

Listography #19 - Favorite Childhood Memories

1.  Getting ice cream revels with Grampa Hetman  at the creamery in Onoway.

2.  Washing cucumbers in the big washtub with my Mom when the local county councillor bustled onto the yard.  He  talked about upgrading the nearby gravel road so the bus could get to our farm because I was starting school soon.

3.  Sitting on my dad's knee at the kitchen table  and reading the whole grade one reader ("See Dick and Jane") on the first day of Christmas vacation.

4.  Going to watch the parade in Wetaskiwin - and seeing my Dad and his stuccoing partner come down the street with their truck, throwing out candy - when he'd told Mom that he had to go to work that day.  She'd really wanted him to come with us to the parade and he kept his part in the parade a complete secret from us.

5.  Helping milk cows in the barn while my parents discussed buying his parent's farm - and telling them it would be a good idea because Gramma had running water and my brothers were always so dirty at the end of the day.  I was 8 years old, I think!

6.  Coming home from school one winter day while Mom and Dad were in Edmonton (they went like once a year - it was 40 miles away!) and going to check on a cow who had just calved.  She needed a vet and I ran over to Uncle Dick's (our neighbor) so he could come and help.

7.  Dressing up with Aunt Addie's hats and purses (she was Uncle Dick's wife and we were like their grandchildren who lived far away in Grande Prairie and Fort St. John).

8.  Gramma and Grampa Hetman arriving with a big Dole banana box full of fresh donuts.

9.  The geese at their farm, especially how quiet and sleepy they would be in the afternoon, after Gramma fed them chopped grain with poppyseeds, soaked in milk!

10.  Laying on the floor upstairs and looking through the grate, down in to the living room where the adults were visiting when we had company.

11.  Chasing the boys at school on the merry-go-round.

12.  Crying when I was supposed to go with Dad to take Gramma Hetman home when my youngest sister was born.   He was taking all 4 of us kids so that Mom and the new baby could have a quiet afternoon - but I got to stay home too!

Apparently this lead prompted a whole host of memories to come rushing to the surface!!