My brother and I were the only grandchildren born in grandma’s house. The house was built against a hill-side and that offered many opportunities for exploring. Therefore if you went behind the house and climbed the bank you could hop over on the roof-top and prowl around up there. I also found entry into the attic from that vantage point.

The attic was a sacred place. You could literally feel the presence of my mother and her sisters there. Little white ceramic dishes were set for tea and old dresses, dolls and shoes were close by. It was fun to go there when it was raining and listen to the sound on the roof. There was a door at the top of the stairs to offer inside access to this special place.

Besides the attic there was another room full of furniture and boxes. The room had not been finished but had a floor and walls. There were two phonographs which still worked and a box of records…..old bedroom sets and various high-chairs. It was a perfect room for snooping.

The bedrooms were all called by the name of the occupant’s. Aunt Inabelle’s room was at the top of the stairs, aunt Sally took the room my mother had when she still lived at home, and aunt Mary had the other bedroom. There was a nice sized bath with a white tub. I liked the claw feet on it. A register on the floor right in front of the stool provided heat to come up from the grate below which accessed heat from the coal furnace. It made a perfect message center for anyone needed upstairs. You just walked onto the large downstairs grate, hollered the message up and down came the answer or the person. It was a rule to take anything upstairs that was placed on the lower steps, thereby saving unnecessary climbing.


When I stayed with grandma I took turns sleeping with everybody. In the winter my aunts liked to sleep with me because I would have the bed warmed up by the time they came to bed. The upstairs rooms could get pretty cool in the dead of winter. In the summers I mostly slept with grandma. Her room was downstairs and I could hear the activity of the household as I drifted off to sleep.

There was one other bedroom downstairs, kitchen, dining room and living room. Off the kitchen was a “summer kitchen” that led out to a concrete area where we pumped water from the cistern to fill the reservoir on the cook stove. This was also where we drew water for laundry day. A door from the kitchen opened to the cellar where grandma kept her home-canned goods and things that needed to be kept cool. It had been dug back in the bank, cemented over, and had a concrete floor. It had shelves and a large area where grandma stored her potatoes etc; It was a safe place to go if need be for protection from storms.

As a little girl I was terrified of thunder and lightening. In the Midwest fingers of lightening part the sky with a crackling noise before you hear the thunder. The sudden jab of light and resounding thunder would send me to the bedroom digging for a pillow. I would stay there until I was so hot and out of air I would have to come out. One night a bad storm came up with gusting winds along with the dreaded thunder and lightening. Grandma became worried because she had the milk cow in the pasture above the house. She told me to stay put and left with a raincoat and head cover. As she disappeared into the barn to get a rope there was a terrible clap of thunder. I was scared for grandma and scared for myself. Before long she was back dripping wet but the cow was safe in the barn. I could not figure how grandma could be brave enough to go out in that storm but I did know the cow must have been happy when grandma came to get her………

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther