Let’s go to Nana’s and play her piano
I said to my two year old sister
in diapers and baby fat.
Down the hill to Main Street in
Monson where the hitching posts
from a bygone era stood at attention.
A Civil War-era cannon stood
guard at the Monson Town Hall.
Looking both ways at intersections,
I picked up my sister and carried
her across streets. Heavy she was
for my four year old arms.
We made the two mile walk
and arrived at Nana’s. She
was surprised to see us
and looked around for our mother
who was still at home up the hill.
We set Nana’s player piano in motion.
And sang tunes we made up.
Had a great time too until our
mother showed up at Nana’s to fetch us.
Much later I was told how I reassured
my mother that I had looked left and
right before carrying my sister across streets.
When I was older, I learned a big word:
precocious. We walked the two miles
back up the hill. Unscathed by the adventure.
When I close my eyes today, I can see
our house on the hill and Monson and where
Nana lived. Those were the good old days!
Great story!
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Thanks so much for your comment. Small town life in rural Massachusetts was the place to be a child and grow up!
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Precious memories and photos! ❤
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Thank you, Bette. Our mother dressed us very feminine which was the case in those days.
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Those were the days… I remember them fondly! ❤ xo
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I sadly mourn those youth today who interact with electronic devices and are never outdoors playing.
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Dear Mary Ann, realy a sweet writen story.Es war eine Freude zu lesen.Alles Liebe und Gute Dein Arno
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Danke, Arno. Growing up in the country has its benefits. We were simply children in those days and not mini-adults.
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Precious memories, a set of delightful photos, a few verses of poetry truly make a great story! Pure childhood without the digital distractions! Lovely post, Mary Ann!
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Thank you, Peter. Pure childhood is hard to find today. I was one of the lucky ones and those were the days! I wanted to keep the post as simple as those days were. Thank you for noticing. Enjoy your weekend.
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How easy it is to have an adventure when we are children. All it takes is a destination down the hill, a street to cross, a sister to carry, and a player piano at the end of it.
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And that’s it in a nutshell. How nice of you to comment on our big adventure. I am glad I do not recall a scolding mother on the return trip. She probably visited with her mother while we played and sang away.
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What a delightful post! I was enjoying those photos, and suddenly you and Bette were there with us!
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How kind of you to comment. I enjoyed that Bette was along for the adventure. Thank you so much.
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I enjoyed this so much that I went back and read it again. I almost shrank to a four-year-old size in my head. Your grandparents seemed to have doting looks on their faces. It was a shock to realize I’m much older now than your nana was in that picture.
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Glad you enjoyed the post. To this day, I recall how “heavy” my sister was when I carried her across the street, but I was in charge and did what I was supposed to do or at least thought so. This photo is one of the few I have of both Nana and Grandpa. He died two years later when I was in first grade. There always seemed to be mirth and merriment around the Irish side of my family. They smiled and loved us so your comment about doting is spot on, Anne. Thank you for noticing.
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I loved your nana’s hat with the jaunty feather. She was dressed as “older” at the time, but her face looks so young.
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Agree. She was younger looking. I estimate late 50s at that time. That feather is a scream! I plan to wear a hat for a funeral on Sat. One of those fascinator type ones. It has netting but no feather. How smart to wear a feather! Thanks, Anne for the comment again.
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Do you wear hats occasionally? Wouldn’t it be fun to add such a feather? Start a new trend or bring back an old one.
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I think I last wore a hat in 1965. I was glad they went out of style. Hats flattened my hair, so I looked like a deflated pancake after removing the hat. I would much rather adorn myself with earrings, because they don’t battle my hair.
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Ah yes, hat hair. I still plan to wear a fascinator hat to tomorrow’s funeral, hat hair or not. The deceased liked to see women wear hats. I do not have pierced ears and seldom wear earrings. The old fashioned screw on type. Clip-on style hurt my ears too much. Maybe a necklace or strand of pearls. Hahaha, I have to laugh that hats were mandatory at one time. When women forget a hat, they used a tissue which they held on with bobby pins. Tell me how ridiculous that looked!
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Oh, yes! The tissue covering! I occasionally went to churches that required a woman’s head to be covered. I had a lacy thing for that, something that folded into a little envelope that you kept in your pocketbook. One summer our vacation bible school had a field trip to Memphis. Our leader forgot the hat rule, but she had a large white handkerchief with her. She tied a little knot at every corner, I guess to keep it from blowing off her head. It was hideous. I haven’t thought of that in over 60 years, so thanks for jogging my memory.
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Another hideous custom around that time was women wearing huge curlers in public such as when they shopped. The lace covering was nice but the tissue and bobby pins was laughable. Imagine what used to be done!
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Curlers! I don’t remember seeing women wearing curlers in public in the South. I’m not sure that was something that would be done in a small town where everyone knew you. I did see it on Long Island, though.
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They were ugly in appearance. I couldn’t say I liked seeing women and girls in public with them. Some of us tried to sleep with them on too. What a disaster that was. Glad that trend didn’t last long. I recall them in Colorado.
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I slept with curlers in my hair for years. It’s a wonder I’m not bald now.
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I wonder if this was the source of headaches? Some styles are better left behind and forgetten.
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I didn’t get headaches from curlers, but l probably should have had my head examined for going to so much trouble over my appearance.
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Ditto. My hair doesn’t hold curls much either . So for about 1/2 hour, the hair looked the way I wanted it to! Hahaha. Ah vanity…
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I doubt my hair looked good for long. I never put a time on it, but 1/2 an hour could be about right for me, too. It wasn’t worth the trouble!!!!!
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In those days, it was beauty before comfort. Later in life it is the reverse. Comfort first always. We humans are so interesting, aren’t we? Enjoy your Sunday.
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We went to a church in Tennessee this morning and just got home. Beautiful service and lovely ride.
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Where in TN? My old stomping grounds was in Cookeville between Nashville and Knoxville.
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We didn’t go that far — just to Sevierville, but the church was as good as our favorite church in Nashville. The one in Nashville is near the Parthenon.
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Glad you made the trip to this church too. It is interesting to find new ones and have favorites too.
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Having a favorite church is new to me. While I was the organist in NY for 25 years, I never went to another church on Sunday morning. At least we occasionally went to evensong at St. Thomas on Fifth Avenue.
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Personally, I have attended many churches for funerals and weddings for example. Each one had something to offer too. I personally like where we sing in the choir now and the one in VA in which we married with an African-American Gospel Choir. Years ago, we visited again with our children who were surprised to see how wonderful people were and how moving the music was. When I was church organist, I normally had no time for anything else except an occasional wedding or funeral. These days when I travel anywhere, I like to find a nearby church. 🙂
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It is fun to visit churches while traveling. The internet certainly helps with that now! We used to play church roulette. We’d get off the interstate to drive on smaller roads going through towns. We’d first look for an early service, and if we didn’t find one, we’d look again before 11. We had unwritten rules for the game. We wouldn’t wait more than half an hour for a service to begin, and we wouldn’t go in if it were 10 minutes past start time. It was surprising how often we got it right. Now, of course, if you know where you will be, there is no excuse for missing.
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Such liturgical adventures!
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Lovely memories and beautiful pictures…yes! good old days!
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Thank you, Balroop. The unfettered joy of being a child in rural Massachusetts is to be celebrated. We had no call phones and computer to distract. We knew how to talk to one another and valued family time.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Herzlichen Dank!
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What a wonderful story, with great memories. Thank you for sharing. Michael
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So glad you enjoyed it, Michael. All the best for a good week ahead! Thank you.
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Thank you very much! Very nice! Michael
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Enjoy your week!
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