Monday Memory

THE HOMES IN MY LIFE

Home #2 Part I
3537 North 900 West Pleasant View



1952 Uncle Vince McKay, the builder, Richard, me and the house under construction.




Our Family moved into this home in 1953. There was dad, mom, Raymond (16), Carolyn (13)Rosalie (8) and me (3). This house had a large front room, a kitchen and dining room, three Bedrooms and one bath all on the main level. It had a 1/2 basement apartment where my grandmother Rosetta Mayhew lived. She had a walk-in entry which was ground level giving her lots of light. She had a front room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. There was a door in her bedroom that led to our side of the basement where she did her wash. I think Raymond slept downstairs in our half of the basement until he joined the Air Force. There was a coal room where the coal truck would deliver the coal to heat the house. They would dump it down a bin that led to the coal room. The furnace was also near the coal room. There was a scary dark room under the stairs. We used to have plaster walls in the laundry room where little bits of plaster would poke out. I used to eat this stuff.....I know it's weird but I remember it tasting OK. Grandma Mayhew had a door bell in her apartment that she would ring when she needed us. We also had a doorbell upstairs when she was wanted on the telephone. Our telephone was on the wall in the hall. My old number was 782-9176. We had pink tile in the bathroom and it was decorated with "Fishes" on the wall. We did not have a shower back then, but a nice big tub. The bathroom was directly over the laundry room and if you opened one of the cupboards, it was really a laundry chute. We had bathroom mirrors that allowed you to see the back of your hair. There were shelves on the end of the bathroom vanity where I remember mother kept her fancy "Avon" bottles and dad kept his "Old Spice". Mother and dad had the bedroom across from the bathroom. Rosalie and I shared the bedroom on the west. It had the attic access in it and I always had to sleep with the closet door shut. Carolyn got the light room on the east. I always thought that room was really cheery. We all took turns having that room as Carolyn got married, then Rosalie had it and when Rosalie got married I had it. One of my favorite things about the house was the big picture window in the front room. You could see all of Ogden out of that window. I remember I used to dance in front of that window as I could see my reflection. The floors were hardwood, later replaced by carpet in the living room and kitchen and hall. I don't know what mother was thinking, but later she put indoor/outdoor carpet in red in the hall and bathroom and yellow in the kitchen. It was really ghastly. There were "pocket doors" between the hall and the front room as well as the hall and the kitchen. In the hall there was a closet where daddy kept his work clothes. He worked at Ogden Iron works and would come home with really dirty overalls. Before he came in the house he would always take off his shoes at the bottom of the landing and put on his slippers. I remind Doug now and again how daddy used to do that. He does not take the hint. There was a back porch kind of with about a 2 foot drop. I used to jump off thinking I could fly. In my dreams I did fly off and it was quite real. But in real life, I just jumped and landed on the grass. The house was red brick which matched the brick in the Pleasant View Church which was directly across the street from us. It had a garage which also matched and it was small. Later after Grandma died in 1958 mom and dad rented out the basement.
Some other memories I have of this house not necessarily in order:
.There was a big mirror in the front room that had pink flamingos on it.
.The fireplace had pink tile on it as well.
.Grandma Mayhew always in her rocking chair crocheting pillow cases or doilies.
.Doilies stretched and pined to a piece of furniture to dry.
.The big front room window had a wooden box on the top so you could not see the tops of the curtains and there was a light in it. I used to love to turn all the lights off but that one. I liked the way the room looked.
.Right below the Front room window was grandma's entry. There was a metal awning over it and when mom washed that big window, she would but 2 X 8's on the awning and stand and clean the big picture window from the outside with soapy water , then rinse, then dry with news papers. Her hands would get so black.
.Mother used to put on quilts in that big living room and I would love to color or play underneath it.
.I used to like to play with the quilt clamps and pretend they were telephones.
.It was in this house that I took piano lessons......about 2 of them. I regret never learning how to play as I love music so much.
.I remember mother sewing table cloths and napkins on her black Singer Sewing Machine. She made them out of small checkered material and then would cross stitch a design on the cloth and napkins.
.I loved sweets and mom did not always have something sweet, but she did usually have jello. I would open up the package and stick my fingers in it and lick them. It was a dead give away when my finger was red or green.
.My mother ground up the Sunday roast and added pickles and onions to the meat and daddy would have this on sandwiches for his lunches all week. Mother sent a lunch with daddy to work everyday he went to work.
.I had this favorite cup that had a bird whistle on it. I loved that cup and every night before I went to bed I would have warm milk. This was warmed up "Sego" milk which is what they used for formula back then. [My friend Dianne found a cup like this on the Internet and ordered it for me. I had told her this memory. It made me cry]I drank that formula until I was already in school.
.It was in this house that I learned to ride a bike. I used to start in my drive way and cross the road to the parking lot at the church which at the time was directly across from our driveway. It was slightly down hill.
.I had roller skates the were metal and strapped on to gym shoes. They had a key that you used to tighten the skates. I uses to roller skate on the sidewalks at the church.
.I used to play jacks on the hardwood floors. "Onesies" "twosies" "Round the World" etc. I think my sisters played as well and they were really good at jacks.
.I had marbles and would play marbles as well.
.Rosalie used to have a doll collection. It seems to me they were called "Muffy Dolls". They looked very similar to Madam Alexander dolls. She had a lot of them and I love to see them. Her and her friend Jill Yancy used to make doll clothes for them. They learned in 4H.
.The Ward put on a play called "Little Women". If I close my eyes I can still see some of the scenes.
.I remember ward bizarres where people would make things and bring them to sell and give the money to the Ward budget. Mother made pillow cases, doilies, and aprons.
.My mother always wore aprons. Most of the time she would wear dresses with an apron on top.
.I remember sprinkling the clothes with a catsup bottle turned clothes sprinkler,[they used to sell these stoppers that fit inside a catsup bottle that had hole in it like a watering can kind of] rolling them up and putting them in a laundry basket to sit for a few days. Then they would be perfect to iron. I ironed pillow cases and sheets..........but not any more.
.We snipped beans while we watched my moms favorite show, "The Price is Right". She would sit in a chair and peel apples sometimes while she watched.
.Saturday was a cleaning day and Rosalie and I used to fight about who was going to do what. She would dig me with her nails [they were long, mine were not] so I would bite her. This is why to this day I don't clean on Saturday. [Rosalie and I love each other now.]
.Mom put up everything tomatoes, peaches, pickles, applesauce, Cherry's, you name it, she put it up. I just remember it being hot and a mess. That's why I don't.
.Every Sunday we would have mashed potatoes, gravy and roast.
.Dad had two eggs bacon and oatmeal every morning for breakfast....he died at 66.
.Mom made the best bread and cinnamon rolls and would give everything away.
.Mother always sent nice cards and letters to everyone to wish them well, or happy birthday, or to compliment them or thank them for something. She had many boxes of cards in the hall closet and I used to like to look at them.
.There was a china cabinet in the dining room. Mother had some sets of salt and pepper shakers that she kept. Also a set a china and some other plates and bowls. I hand one of the plates in my dining room.
.My friends would come over and we would play "Mother May I" on the front stairs.
.We loved to run through the sprinklers on the lawn.
.In the winter dad would hook up the horses and we would go for a sleigh ride through town. In the summer it was a buggy.
.When I see moths fluttering against the screen door I think of the "Millers" as dad would call them that would gather on the screen of the back door,
.When I hear the sound of crickets, it takes me back to my childhood and the sounds out my window.
Well, that's enough memories for one night. Only my kids will read this and even they may fall asleep. I will write more on house #2. But not tonight.