There was a great big, huge cedar tree which grew on the north side of Grandma and Grandpa's cabin. We always told mom we were going downstairs to play, I guess because our cabin was on top of the hill and Grandma's cabin was down below. It really wasn't downstairs, but down the path, or down the trail sounds kind of screwy, doesn't it?
Dad made a really neat swing by placing a big log high up between the branches of the cedar and a smaller tree next to it. He hung a long piece of rope from the log, tying it in two places so it hung down in a long U. Dad cut a smooth plank of wood, notched both ends, and hung it at the bottom of the U. It seemed like every time we came down to swing that seat was lying on the ground and we had to put it back, but we didn't mind because the rope was so long that swing went higher than any swing we had ever been on before. When dad pushed we sailed up so high our feet almost touched the leaves above us. Then dad would run under and come out in front of us, while we laughed and laughed and felt like the whole world was rushing by us in the wind.
The older cousins built a tree house in the tree next to the swing, with pieces of wood nailed to the trunk so you could climb up. It was high up in the tree, but there were railings to keep kids from falling out. We would play up in the tree house for hours, borrowing Grandma Russell’s cow bell, so we could pretend that it was our school.
Sometimes we would go swimming down at the spring. The water was deep enough to come up above Dad's waste, so was perfect for teaching children how to swim. Mom wore an olive green swimming suit and dad had dark blue trunks, but they always had some kind of shirt or cover-up to wear over their suits. They knew that even though it was cooler up here in the mountains the sun shown just as brightly and we could all get burnt. One summer Mom made terrycloth cover ups for all us kids, which we weren't too happy about wearing, but they sure made good towels. The creek was always ice cold. We would sit on the big rocks beside the swimming hole and slowly inch our way into the water, one toe at a time, until we got used to the cold. Dad laughed at us, telling us it was easier to just jump in all at once. No one would listen. Then, suddenly, he would jump up, shout, "Geronimo!" and cannon ball into the water, splashing all of us with ice cold water in the process. How he laughed as Mom scolded him for getting her wet, and how good the hot rocks felt when we climbed out and lay down on them to get warm.
Sometimes we visited with Grandma Russell in her cabin. She taught us girls how to make dolls out of the hollyhocks that grew at the west end of the garden, next to the long driveway. When we turned them upside down it's petals made beautiful long dresses for princesses and queens. Grandma also taught us how to sew dresses for our barbie dolls. She had lots of scraps of material we could use, and she showed us how to cut and sew them together, using needles and thread. She even had little thimbles we could put on our fingers so we didn't poke holes in our skin.
In the garden, Grandpa planted rows of strawberries. Every morning we searched through the plants, looking for big, juicy strawberries. When we found some we took them to the pump, washed them in cold water, then popped them into our mouth. Oh! They were delicious! Sometimes Grandma asked us to pick strawberries for her. We loved doing that, because we knew that meant she was going to bake a strawberry rhubarb pie for dinner, and that was delicious!
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