I can remember the first time we went to see dad and my new mom for our summer time visit at the new house in Castle Rock, First thing you notice was the crushed red rock driveway that meandered up beside the house and curved behind the house where the cars were parked facing the small white pump shed that matched the white two story house, next to the pump shed was a grey brick foundation with a wood plank top that covered our hand dug well. So funny when you are a small child everything looked so big, i can still remember stepping into the back porch for the first time it seemed big even with a washer and dryer large chest freezer and double sinks. Our porch had wood floors and a wainscoting type of ceiling, down at the end of the porch was a small window with a white frame around it which let in plenty of light and another larger one over the sink that looked into the kitchen. the window was next to a small door that led into a small country kitchen with the typical 1960's linoleum & turquoise cabinets, Our kitchen had a small arched door that led into what seemed a large living room with an old oil stove to keep us warm on cold winter nights and two large picture windows and a big front door. Behind the front door was this little built in counter top , a phone table that our old ivory rotary dial phone sat on. This big old house had 4 bedrooms (with no closets in bedrooms) one bathroom with a big ole tub and no shower for 7 people, one big closet in the hall up stairs and one down stairs in the hall by the bath room , our parents did have a tiny one under the stairwell in their room........ well really more of a cubby hole. We had a very large front yard with a large Honey locus tree which stood close to the house and a set of three small Honey locus trees planted in a triangle just a further out.
Between the driveway and the house we had a holly tree , lilac and three rhododendrons on the opposite side of the house was a crab apple with the tastiest little red apples and a green Gage plumb tree. When we first moved into the house the property was only partially fenced and that was just the field behind the house, we didn't have a fence around the yard, our only fence was a hedge of giant wild yellow iris that us kids loved to play in.
The big field behind the house was filled with amazing,old growth timber, hazel nut trees, vine maples, dog woods, big leaf maples , native wild Salal plants in abundance with their white flowers
and edible blue berries.
As we explored the land we discovered so many treasures, there were two station wagons that the wheels had been taken off of that we played in, we spent hours pretending to drive on great adventures (my sister pattie always insisting on driving ) lol , there was Pattie land a huge root wad from a tree that had fallen over years before its giant root snaking up into the sky perfect for making forts out of. Then there was the horse tree, this tree grew straight up for about four feet then went vertical for about three feet and then straight back up, on the opposite side of the field was the polly wog pond and the orchard, oh how we loved our own personal play land. The memory of the scorched grass under my feet while running across the field, the beautiful white flowers of the dog woods, the giant maple leaves that fell to the ground in the fall along with all the hazelnuts that ripened that we would gather. Yes this place will always have a piece of my heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment