Buttons

     When I was a small child I could play with my grandmother's collection of buttons for hours.  My grandmother did a lot of sewing, living on a farm she made many of our household items. Dish cloths, dish towels, tablecloths etc.  One thing we never threw out were buttons, we cut them off and they went into grandma's button box.  Those old buttons contained the  history of our family, memories of days gone by. Every story of our day to day life was contained in that box.
     The other day one of my friends gave me the best gift anyone could have given me.  It was a beautiful old flowered tin full of buttons.  I couldn't wait to get home to sort through them. It turned out to be a  very interesting project.  The first thing I did , was dump them into a large bowl and just look at their many different colors, sizes and textures. There were large coat buttons covered with material, others were leather, textured or metal. I found pearl buttons, glass buttons,  wood buttons, plastic and copper buttons.
     It took hours to cut the old thread off and I let my mind ponder about the women who had saved all of these buttons and the history of her life contained in them and the beautiful old tin they were stored in.  Next I put them into a large pan of warm dishwater to soak off any dirt or debris. As the buttons went into the water a very familiar scent rose up.   It was one of living on a farm and entering a dairy barn.  At first I thought, why were these beautiful buttons kept in a dairy barn and then a memory came back to me. I remember asking an old farmer one time why he kept a beautiful old pin cushion nailed up on a post in his dairy barn and he told me it had belonged to his wife and it kept her memory alive and close whenever he looked at it.  
     As I looked at the many buttons soaking in the warm water,I could just imagine another old farmer at the end of his long and busy day taking a flowered button tin down from a shelf in the barn and looking through the buttons his wife had saved over the years and the many memories they carried of their married life together. He had a smile on his face as he very gently placed them back where he could see the tin during his time spent in the barn.
     All of the buttons have been cleaned and placed in three glass jars on top of my roll top desk along with the flowered tin. I look at them frequently and think about how pleased their original owner would be at where they are in my home  and how much they are appreciated.
  

Thanksgiving

     I woke up to the smell of turkey roasting in the oven and laughter coming from the kitchen.  I lay in bed listening to the voices of the women in my family gathered together in our kitchen and smile.  Turning over I realize two of my cousins are sleeping next to me and know there are sleeping children in other beds of our home. Today is Thanksgiving and as is the tradition in our family the men are out hunting on our land, hoping to bag a deer.  Thanksgiving , is a day our family celebrates the end of Harvest and give thanks to God, for all our many blessings.
     I give my cousin Brenda a nudge, she pushes Marybeth and we start laughing.  We are not ready to get up yet, so we snuggle under the covers and talk about girl stuff.  Mom pops her head around the bedroom door and says, "Hey girls, time to get up and ready for breakfast, foods on the table".  The boy's are already in the dining room eating pancakes and bacon with maple syrup, they look up and my cousin Norris says,"Oh no, the girls are up"!  I give him a  light pinch as we walk into the kitchen to say good morning to everyone. I have 6 cousins and 6 nieces and nephews all around my age. After we all get done eating we head outside to begin our day.
     The day is cool, with a light dusting of snow on the ground, so we head to the barn.  After a game of hide and seek, we jump in the hay loft followed by"Red Rover,Red Rover". Our dogs Rex, Brownie, Rover and Step-Toe join in the fun. When we get tired, everyone settles down with their favorite barn cat in the hay loft and we play "I See Something". It seems like we just get started when we hear the farm trucks returning with our dad's from hunting. Hooray!! it must be time for Thanksgiving Dinner. We all run out of the barn, wash up at the pump and head into the house.
     All the wonderful smells of Thanksgiving fill us with joy at being together for this special meal.
We have two tables set up, one for children and one for adults. After everyone has been served, Dad blesses the food and the feast begins.  After dinner and before pie is served everyone says one thing they are thankful for. I know what I'm thankful for,  My Family!

Flying High

    I jumped out of bed with Rex at my heels, today was the day I had been waiting for all week.  Grandpa and I were going flying. After getting dressed and having a hurried breakfast, Rex and I headed out the front door and up the road to my Grandparents.  Grandpa was  in the kitchen having his second cup of tea, Grandma had my glass of  fresh milk already poured and on the table.  This was our "Big" day and nothing was going to stop us!  The sun was shining and the breeze on top of Potter Hill was just perfect.                                                                                  
     We finished our drinks and opened the door to their upstairs bedrooms and our final destination, the attic.  It was a huge room that covered the entire upstairs of their farmhouse. It was filled with old trunks, furniture, pictures, books and best of all "kites". Grandpa passed his love of kites on to me. We had kites of all different sizes, colors and shapes. Grandma had made the rag tails for our kites, of varied colors, that Grandpa attached. My very favorite kite was a bright yellow one with a blue tail.  We picked up our kite string, kite handle, and of course the YELLOW kite. We had names for all of our kites, this one was called "sunlight"because it looked like a bright ball of sunlight in the sky.
     We walked across the yard to the open field which surrounded their home  Grandpa attached the string and handle to the kite and let out several yards of string and asked me if I was ready with a big smile on his face.  He started to run with "sunshine" and let her go at just the right speed and up she went, like a beautiful bird.  There is no thrill, like the feel of a kite in your hands and  the power and pull of  it as it dances in the air ." Sunshine" with it's bright blue tail dancing behind it was a sight to behold!
    Grandpa and I whopped with delight and laughter as our kite danced with the breeze. We took turns holding her because it takes strength in you arms to be a part of a kites dance.  No one could fly a kite like my Grandfather.  He could make "sunshine" swoop up and down like a giant bird in the sky or make her stand still without moving like a ray of sunlight. Rex would run around barking and jumping in delight at the sound of our laughter.  I truly believed he enjoyed it as much as we did. This particular day Grandma came out to join us as we played with our kite. I'm not sure who she enjoyed more, the kite, Rex, Grandpa, or her grand-daughter. She put her head back and roared with laughter at us.
     Finally Grandma said it was time to go back to the house and get ready for lunch and afternoon chores.  Grandpa rolled in "sunshine" and as I held her, he pulled her to the ground.  What a great morning we had!  As we put her away in the attic, we said goodbye until another day of flying.
     
     

The Simple Life

     I guess you could say life was simple on Potter Hill, both my dad and grandfather were farmers. They worked from sunrise until sundown, rain or shine. My mom and grandmother were farmers wives, hard working and independent ladies that could work along any of our hired help and still keep up with a household, garden and put home cooked meals on the table. Our farm included four homes,  potato and cattle barns, a chicken coop and pig pen. We also had a barn for farm equipment.  Sense we had no electricity on our farm, every thing was done by hand, and we used oil lamps for light, coal for heat and bottled gas for cooking.

     Believe it or not,  I never missed radio or television.  I grew up with books, my grandfather read to me every night before I went to bed. Grimm's Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes, Heidi  and Children's Bible Stories were some of my favorites. Some nights Grandpa would be tired and try to skip a page and I would say, "Grandpa ,you missed some." he would smile and go back. What a wonderful man he was, I still  miss him today.

     On Sundays after church , we would go to the soda bar in Cohocton and Dad would get the Sunday Paper and I could pick out a new Golden Book if  one was in. When we got home while mom was fixing breakfast, dad and I would go out on the sun porch and he would read me the comics. Sunday was a time for family in our home, usually my older sister,brothers,aunt and uncle, and my grandparents came over and the adults would play cards while us kids would play outside. After supper it was time to relax. The adults would visit,while us kids would play "hide and seek" until it got to dark and thus would end another day on Potter Hill.

Rockpile

     I'm sure that most of you have picked some type of fruit in your lifetime, such as strawberries,raspberries, apples,blueberries etc.but if there is one thing a farmer's kid knows about picking, it's "rocks". The funny thing about rocks, no matter how many you pick more keep popping up.They come in all shapes,sizes and colors.  Some of them are rough while others are smooth. It doesn't take long before a "rock picker" knows which ones are perfect for picking and tossing on the back of a farm wagon. All rocks take the same journey, they end up on the "rockpile". 

     Our farm had two huge rockpiles the "upper" and "lower".  This particular day Rex and I were headed to the lower one. I had my American  Flyer  packed with dad's mallet, mom's 5 gal. pail and our emergency supplies which included: 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 1-apple and 3-date filled cookies and a mason jar filled with water, which Rex and I would share in the shade of an old maple tree located next to the rock hedge. On the way we picked up my best friend-Grandpa and off we went. The rockpile was about two miles from home along dirt road.

     Grandpa pulled the wagon while we talked about the good old days of his childhood and how all the plowing was done with horses.  I loved to listen about what it was like back then. It was hard for me to think of Grandpa as a little boy and it made me laugh to listen to his stories. Before I realized , we were at the rockpile.  You have to realize rock splitting was one of my favorite pastimes. I loved the feel of the rock in my hand, placing it on a large rock and splitting it, to see what the rock looked like inside. I was fascinated by how something that looked so plain on the outside could be so beautiful on the inside. Grandpa would tell me people are like that also. Some may look plain on the outside, they may have rough edges but inside are full of love and kindness.

     I loved all the different colors found inside each rock. Some were plain with dark veins running through, others had  crystals on the inside, pink, white, purple and others were hallow with  multi-colored crystals. Grandpa  and I would fill our pail with my favorite to be taken home and resorted, cleaned and put into my rock collection. When we were finished with sorting the rocks it was time for lunch . We would sit under the maple tree and enjoy our food and feel the gentle breeze which was always on Potter Hill. On the way home we sang,"she'll be commin' 'round the mountain", one of his favorite songs.

Potter Hill

     I guess you could say I was the luckiest girl in Cohocton, my dad owned a 500 acre farm on Potter Hill. Dad was a potato farmer but we also had a small dairy of about 30 cows,pigs and chickens. I remember as a  child waking up to the smell of fresh bread baking in the kitchen and my  pet dog Rex nudging my arm. Rex was a Newfoundland and the best friend a girl could ever have. He weighted over 100 lbs. and thought  he was my nanny. Listening to my mother cooking breakfast and humming as she worked I would gave Rex a hug around the neck and jump out of bed.
    After breakfast Rex and I would be  off to start our day. Running barefoot I would head to my swing. We had large maple trees surrounding our lawn and Grandpa had made me a rope swing with a wooden seat. How I loved that swing, it played an important part in many of my childhood adventures. I would swing as high as I could,  look out over our land and let my imagination go wild.   
     Our farm was at the very top of Potter Hill, from my swing I could see for miles. I remember looking out over our fields and thinking it was the most beautiful place on earth. I felt I could reach out and touch the sky, look down and smell the rich musk of earth and feel so close to God.