I took some pictures of my mother when I was in Idaho in October. This is a picture of my mom in front of the little house she was born in. My Aunt Dorothy bought the property from my grandmother, and she has passed on. I couldn't get a very good picture of the entire house, as my cousin, Kay has taken over on the little house. The trailer has his ski doos on it. He has other old cars and stuff parked on the property, so it kind of looks like a junk yard. I didn't see the back of the house, but he removed the back wall, added a ramp and garage doors and it is obviously now Kay's garage where he works on antique cars. It is pretty sad. I'd like to reminisce a little bit about my memories of this little house. The window is my grandmother's living room. There on the side of the house, a lovely yellow rose bush used to bloom. There was a little coal oil stove on the left as you went into my grandmother's house. Her treasures were in a little china cabinet, and she loved to look at them. She had a bed in her living room, and the windows seemed pretty large to me, but then, I was pretty small. Her kitchen was off to the left. There was no running water, and she had a wood burning stove. A porch area was off of her kitchen. Back in the living room was a doorway that led down to the cellar. I don't ever remember being down there. Mom said there was a bedroom down there. I only knew of the bedroom up two or so stairs behind the living room. It was cluttered and filled with my grandmother's treasure and another little bed. I have great memories of dunking hard gingerbread cookies in grape juice and darning my grandmother's holey socks.
This is my grandmother's front door. My mom was very sad to see that Kay had thrown her old record player out on the front step...that is it there with the milk jug on top of it. Amazing no one asked my mother if she would like it before they threw it out in the elements. Also, even before my Aunt died, they pushed in the cellar and filled it with dirt. Pictures of my great grandparents were down there in that cellar, but no clue if they took any thing out of the cellar, or just buried everything. (We're pretty sure everything is buried.)
This is just a picture of two huge lilac bushes that grow in front of my grandmother's house. I used to hide there between the bushes. Cattails used to grow there in the spring. Cattails, with their fuzzy little nubs seemed like magical fairy plants to me.
My mom and I ate at Smitty's Pancake House. It was where Mr Wonderful and I had one of our first dates. I remember having hot chocolate to warm up. I remember eating there several times as a smal child. Great breakfast food, and a real treat! I wanted to take some pictures inside, but it was crowded with customers, and I didn't dare whip out my camera. There are a ton of big paintings in Smitty's--all done by a local artist: Werner Giesen. That is how I think his name is spelled. I took this picture of my mother, as asked her if this old building was part of the old Idaho Potato Growers plant. (This old building is directly behind the parking lot at Smitty's.)Mom said it is all that is left; it is the place they made french fries. My mother worked at this company for 13 years. She went to work working midnights when I was just 3 years old. She liked that shift, as she got off at 6 am and could hurry home and get us all of to school after a hurried hot breakfast. I remember my mother going to work sick, as they did not have sick days in those days. The plant was cold and unheated and she was chilled to the bone when she got home. Another good thing about that job, was she was off most summers and could spend the time with us. She sacrificed a lot for us, and there was no doubt in my mind that she loved us, as she made certain we had clean nice clothes and good food to eat. The president of Idaho Potato Growers embezzled all of the money meant for the retirement funds, so mom didn't end up with any retirement money from that job. Whoever the guy was, he also bankrupted the company, causing it to close.
I took some pictures of my mother when I was in Idaho in October. This is a picture of my mom in front of the little house she was born in. My Aunt Dorothy bought the property from my grandmother, and she has passed on. I couldn't get a very good picture of the entire house, as my cousin, Kay has taken over on the little house. The trailer has his ski doos on it. He has other old cars and stuff parked on the property, so it kind of looks like a junk yard. I didn't see the back of the house, but he removed the back wall, added a ramp and garage doors and it is obviously now Kay's garage where he works on antique cars. It is pretty sad. I'd like to reminisce a little bit about my memories of this little house. The window is my grandmother's living room. There on the side of the house, a lovely yellow rose bush used to bloom. There was a little coal oil stove on the left as you went into my grandmother's house. Her treasures were in a little china cabinet, and she loved to look at them. She had a bed in her living room, and the windows seemed pretty large to me, but then, I was pretty small. Her kitchen was off to the left. There was no running water, and she had a wood burning stove. A porch area was off of her kitchen. Back in the living room was a doorway that led down to the cellar. I don't ever remember being down there. Mom said there was a bedroom down there. I only knew of the bedroom up two or so stairs behind the living room. It was cluttered and filled with my grandmother's treasure and another little bed. I have great memories of dunking hard gingerbread cookies in grape juice and darning my grandmother's holey socks.
This is my grandmother's front door. My mom was very sad to see that Kay had thrown her old record player out on the front step...that is it there with the milk jug on top of it. Amazing no one asked my mother if she would like it before they threw it out in the elements. Also, even before my Aunt died, they pushed in the cellar and filled it with dirt. Pictures of my great grandparents were down there in that cellar, but no clue if they took any thing out of the cellar, or just buried everything. (We're pretty sure everything is buried.)
This is just a picture of two huge lilac bushes that grow in front of my grandmother's house. I used to hide there between the bushes. Cattails used to grow there in the spring. Cattails, with their fuzzy little nubs seemed like magical fairy plants to me.
My mom and I ate at Smitty's Pancake House. It was where Mr Wonderful and I had one of our first dates. I remember having hot chocolate to warm up. I remember eating there several times as a smal child. Great breakfast food, and a real treat! I wanted to take some pictures inside, but it was crowded with customers, and I didn't dare whip out my camera. There are a ton of big paintings in Smitty's--all done by a local artist: Werner Giesen. That is how I think his name is spelled. I took this picture of my mother, as asked her if this old building was part of the old Idaho Potato Growers plant. (This old building is directly behind the parking lot at Smitty's.)Mom said it is all that is left; it is the place they made french fries. My mother worked at this company for 13 years. She went to work working midnights when I was just 3 years old. She liked that shift, as she got off at 6 am and could hurry home and get us all of to school after a hurried hot breakfast. I remember my mother going to work sick, as they did not have sick days in those days. The plant was cold and unheated and she was chilled to the bone when she got home. Another good thing about that job, was she was off most summers and could spend the time with us. She sacrificed a lot for us, and there was no doubt in my mind that she loved us, as she made certain we had clean nice clothes and good food to eat. The president of Idaho Potato Growers embezzled all of the money meant for the retirement funds, so mom didn't end up with any retirement money from that job. Whoever the guy was, he also bankrupted the company, causing it to close.
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