Grandma in the Hills

June 23, 2016

Memories.......
I love it when the summer is here on "Country Rose Lane".  After living here for
eleven years I finally found a name for our home.  I have always been a fan of
Little House on the Prairie and would call it Little House when talking with friends
about the series.  Which someone else would not connect the two but when I
saw what was to be our new home I new I wanted for it.  My husband of course
couldn't figure out why it was important to me but that was ok because I figured
once I found a name for our house in the country who would be ok with it.
It took years but the day I was looking through a magazine, I spotted a phrase
"Country Rose" and it hit me..... my yard was filled with roses so I came up with
the name "Country Rose Lane".  I had hubby put up an arbor that is facing the
street with two gates, one closed and the other one half way open.  I stenciled
"Welcome Friends".  Of course my hubby couldn't understand the meaning but
I have always welcomed friends and family to my home in the forty seven years
we have been married and I would continue to welcome new friends to our home.
Hubby had a wooden stained sign made for me with the name of our home and
a yellow rose painted on it.  We hung it in the front of the arbor for everyone to
see.
This brings back lots of memories as a child, I remember my mom and step-dad
waking us up before sunrise and telling us to hurry because we needed to leave
soon,  After waking up and trying to remember why we had to leave so early, the
excitement came back to me.... we were going to see "Grandma in the Hills"
and grandpa Mike.
That was worth waking up early for.  We all loved going to see grandma in the hills because
this meant we were going to be able to see farm animals and run around and play without
our parents worrying about where we were.  The ride was always long and we would
fall back to sleep and wake up just when the sun was rising.  Maybe that's why I love
to watch the sun rise in the morning here on Country Rose Lane.

The ride to "Grandma in the Hills" house seemed like a long one for us for us kids.
When mom and dad started rolling down the windows as the heat was upon
us and boy with four of us in the back seat it made it even warmer.  Along with the
heat came this awful sour kind of smell.....cows and more cows....when were we going to
get pass the cows.  I always knew that when I saw a group of palm trees on the left that we
were close to making the turn that would bring us closer to grandma's house.
Pulling into her driveway was so exciting....getting out of the car and getting instructions
from mom and dad to behave would fly right by our ears.  After the hugs, kisses and
smiles we were off to grandma's next door neighbor "Mr. Hill,  he was always glad to
see us and of course grandma had told him when we were coming up.  We always had hugs for Mr.
Hill and of course the first thing we would do for him which for some reason we enjoyed
doing was picking up all the walnuts that had fallen on the ground.  Mrs. Hill would
appear with her apron on and cookies on a plate and lemonade,  I knew that one day I wanted
to be like Mrs. Hill and greet my grandchildren with cookies and wearing an apron.
We loved or I loved hearing Mr. Hills stories as we would pick grapes in his very small
vineyard which consisted of just two short rows. Such memories that would shape my
adult life.  Grandma also had a neighbor across the street who had small farm animals
and the neighbor next door well they had a pool and a son named Skip whom I
didn't notice until I was about twelve and all of a sudden for no reason I became shy
about myself and excited to see Skip...awe the first love of  my life.

I remember as I became a teenager and for some reason had never wore shorts before, I
remember visiting grandma and it was soooo hot and I was wearing jeans when grandma
suggested that I cut one of my jeans to make a pair of shorts.  Oh my, I threw a fit, it was
one of the times I remember being upset at her for trying to convince me to wear shorts.
Well after some thinking of what she had said which made me realize that I was just
being shy to wear them because I thought my legs were to white (which they weren't) and
just at the time growing into a young woman.  So finally I cut one of my jeans and rolled
them up a little and I haven't stopped wearing them since.

Years later I would come back to visit "Grandma in the Hills" with my husband which
I was proud to do and he liked it also.  Now meeting grandpa Mike was another thing, he was
used to getting up at three a.m., and grandma would fix him breakfast.  Now grandpa Mike was
used to getting up that early because of the farm animals he had but now it was just a
habit.  By the time six a.m. came a long grandpa Mike was on his way to town to start
his day at the local bar which he would order straight whiskey and talk to his friends.  This
kind of scared my husband because he was not used to this routine.  So grandpa invited
hubby to join him later in the afternoon which grandpa was happy to do.
These memories are the ones I have had the pleasure of sharing with my sons and
grandchildren, I just wish I could take them there but for now all I can do is tell them
the story of "Grandma in the Hills".