Ollie and George Bartle

I remember using the two metal laundry tubs in the back yard to play in. I had water in both of them, one with bubbles to wash in and the other without to rinse in. I was out in those tubs every day unless it rained. And, then I just went out and walked in the rain or sat on the front porch with grandma.

There was a park right up the street and I used to go up there and play jacks on the picnic tables with all the other kids. We even had contest to see who could go the longest without missing. I don't remember if I ever won or not, it was many years ago. I must have won at least once or I wouldn't have kept going back. LOL

Some times in the evening right after dinner I would go back up to the park to listen to the group of men who came to play the bag pipes. They sure were good and it sounded so nice. They would play for about an hour and walk around the whole park wearing their quilts. Of course, I didn't understand how those men could walk around wearing skirts and not feel silly about it.

I wasn't allowed out after dark very often, but when I was, a group of us used to go down the street a little way, under the street light and play kick the can. I bet not to many of you even know what that is..Of course while I was playing, grandma was sitting on the front porch where she could watch me.

Some nights after playing, grandma and I would sit on the porch and I would count the stars. We would just sit there and listen to the quiet, it was nice, mostly because I was with grandma. I always slept with grandma, and every night I would sit in the middle of the bed and brush her long hair before she braided it for bed. I really loved brushing her hair and I felt so special because she let me do it. :-)

There was an old apple tree out in back of the garage. I spent many hours sitting up in that old tree eating apples. They were sour apples and I always had to take the salt shaker with me. Sometimes I ate too many and got a belly ache. I remember grandma standing in the back door calling me and when I didn't answer. She would just go look on the stove to see if the salt was there, when it wasn't, she knew right where to find me, and sure enough, she would come to the tree and tell me to get down right now. It took me a long time to figure out how she knew where I was. Finally, one day she told me about looking for the salt. I guess I wasn't very smart, huh?

When I got older, we used to go to a swimming pool called Shady Run. We walked, and it really wasn't that close, but, grandma went with me just so I could go swimming with my friends. She just sat on a towel and read a book while I was having all the fun. What a sweet woman she was.

I loved to roller skate and I would be in the rink every chance that I got. Grandma didn't drive so, grandpa would take me to the rink and drop me off and come back to get me. Sometimes he would stay and watch me skate for awhile.

I had the short skating skirts, that grandma made for me and the pom-poms on the skates. I really loved it and even took lessons on the week-ends.

I could have lived in the skating rink if they would have let me.