I made a stop yesterday in the neighborhood I lived in growing up, from 1958 to 1971. The house above is the only place I remember us living as a whole family (Mom, Dad, Don, Larry, and me) before we moved to St. Louis in 1971 and my mom died of cancer in 1972.
The back yard, above, is a WHOLE lot smaller than I remember it. I used to play in that yard, and it seemed huge! I also spent many hours under the back porch, which seemed quite expansive to me back then. The house shows its age, and the fence that surrounded the back yard is gone, though I think the bushes lining the perimeter are at least descended from the Roses of Sharon (I think) my mom planted more than forty--maybe as many as fifty--years ago.
But the tree in the corner of the yard--that big tree in the photo above--is an ash tree I planted myself, one Arbor Day around the age of six or so. I brought it home from school, I know, so if I was in first or second grade, it would have been planted in 1964 or 1965, I think.
I also drove the route I walked to and from school every day from kindergarten through sixth grade, to Silverton Elementary School. It seemed such a long walk, I decided to clock it on my car's odometer: almost a mile, one way. And it was, truly, uphill both ways. Honest.
I made a stop yesterday in the neighborhood I lived in growing up, from 1958 to 1971. The house above is the only place I remember us living as a whole family (Mom, Dad, Don, Larry, and me) before we moved to St. Louis in 1971 and my mom died of cancer in 1972. 
The back yard, above, is a WHOLE lot smaller than I remember it. I used to play in that yard, and it seemed huge! I also spent many hours under the back porch, which seemed quite expansive to me back then. The house shows its age, and the fence that surrounded the back yard is gone, though I think the bushes lining the perimeter are at least descended from the Roses of Sharon (I think) my mom planted more than forty--maybe as many as fifty--years ago. 
But the tree in the corner of the yard--that big tree in the photo above--is an ash tree I planted myself, one Arbor Day around the age of six or so. I brought it home from school, I know, so if I was in first or second grade, it would have been planted in 1964 or 1965, I think. 
I also drove the route I walked to and from school every day from kindergarten through sixth grade, to Silverton Elementary School. It seemed such a long walk, I decided to clock it on my car's odometer: almost a mile, one way. And it was, truly, uphill both ways. Honest.
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I noticed a sign on the side of the gym that identified the school as "Silverton Paideia School." Didn't know what that was. Found out the school has a website (http://silverton.cps-k12.org/), is a magnet school, and is guided by the principles of the Paideia philosophy that:
ReplyDeleteALL children can learn
ALL students need and deserve the same high quality education
ALL students must be challenged to perform to the best of their ability
ALL genuine knowledge is active rather than passive
So there you go!
I must admit to a wave of melancholy from the description of the only place you remember us all living together. Of course, the nine years between us gives me an advantage of remembering our first address in Cincinnati on Park Ave. (with a super narrow driveway) and the house in Ann Arbor where you were born.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the large bush in the back corner of the yard (a mulberry, I believe) was an Arbor Day planting by either Larry or me.
I miss seeing the forsythia along the front porch. And it was beneath the front porch that I had my 'clubhouse'.
Ah, many memories of my own; too many for here. Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce.
Don