Fun Times

We had many hours of fun on our swingset. There was a bit of an accident on this fun piece of equipment that I can never forget. I was hanging from the bar between the ladder of the swingset and the swing my sister Michele was on; I fell to the ground landing under her swing. Protruding from beneath her swing was a long screw that scrapped across my left eyebrow leaving me with a scar to this day.
Daddy build a brick barbeque that was fired up many times for picnics with groups of children coming to our house from our Brownie and Girl Scout troups, as well as the church Girls Auxilary (G.As). My favorite food from the barbeque was Sam'ores (graham crackers, chocolate and toasted marshmallows). After eating we would play hours of badminton. Going to the Girls Auxilary camp in the summer was a treat. Being away from home was fun but it was also a disciplined time; including assigned chores. I did not like cleaning the latrine (Sunshine House is what they called it).
We attended the Berwyn Baptist Church every Sunday and Michele and I were very active in G.As. I have memories of activities such as sewing, making potato stamps and growing sweet potato plants. We learned Bible verses and passed the "Forward Steps" program. Michele and I only made it to "Princess".
Mr. Schinner would pick us up and take us to Sunday school and Mrs. Schinner was my teacher. I always told her I wanted to be a missionary when I grew up. We were shone many movies about mission work in other countries and I thought it would be adventurous.
I grew up in the suburbs and when I had an opportunity to go to a church picnic on a farm, I discovered a new way of having fun; we played in the hay loft for hours.
When I was twelve, I was baptized. Mother said that when Reverend Koch lowered me back into the water she thought that he held me down there too long. Maybe I needed an extra long dunk.
My mother used to always tell the story about going on the overnight camping trip at the Girl Scout lodge. We were all settled in our sleeping bags when the sound of the whipporwill made me feel scared. I some how reached over to my mother's air mattress and proceeded to let the air out bringing my mother to the hard wood floor beneath her.
Mother worked for The Hot Shoppe restaurant company. Each year they held their family picnic at Glen Echo Amusement Park. We all got on the Whip ride after eating ice cream and soon discovered that was not a very smart thing to do.
My uncle was a Shriner and always got us tickets to see the circus. That was really a very exciting time. The music, the costumes and all the funny clowns were a very special treat for me to experience. The circus took you out of reality and into a fantasy world.
My favorite type of movies were musicals. After each movie I would pretend to be the character who had done all the wonderful singing. I remember seeing a movie with Anna Maria Alberghetti and thought she had the most beautiful voice. However, I do not remember what the name of the movie was.

Our Yard

Daddy had rabbits in a pen in our back yard. I was never sure if they were supposed to be pets or food. I am pretty sure we did eat them. However, we also played with them.

My father had a really nice backyard made for us by having the area at the point of walking out of or basement to be flat. This is where our games of Croquet were played; my sister Pam's swimming pool was placed there. Pam says she remembers Croquet balls ending up in her swimming pool. On the flat area was installed our clothesline. I can remember taking down many a frozen diaper from the line in the winter.

Daddy had the next part of the yard terraced. Where he planted many varieties of flowers. The beauty of Tiger lilies, Iris and Lily of the valley are visions in my head as I type this. Other visions come to mind about Tulips, Azaleas and a beautiful Mamosa tree in full bloom with pink feathery flowers.