Living with one set of grandparents right next door to another set of grandparents
was convenient and it was fun!
If I was bored,
I'd go visit Grandma and Grandpa Hall.
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| Ada and Ben Hall |
Often, my cousin Janie would be there too. Janie was actually my mother's cousin, but she was 4 months younger than I was, and we were best friends. When Janie was visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hall, I had someone to spend the days with, and those were happy times!
It was fun at Grandma Hall's house. She wasn't as strict as Ma and Pa were. She'd let us do just about anything we wanted as long as we didn't get into trouble. She was a kick! I remember Pa wouldn't ever let me talk to boys or wear makeup. Even on Halloween, he'd tell me to go wash my face if I had on lipstick. He was so funny about that. When Janie and I visited Grandma Hall, she'd let us use her makeup (which just consisted of face powder and rouge back then). We'd get all dolled up, do our hair, stiffen it with hairspray, put on our best clothes, then go out barefooted. Grandma laughed. She thought that was so funny that we'd get so fixed up then not put on our shoes! But she let us go...
Tucked behind the dining table was a cabinet where grandma kept things to keep little girls busy. There was a canister full of crayons, some colored paper, scissors, and a Sears and Roebuck catalog. Janie and I would spend hours cutting out clothes from the catalog for our paper dolls.
If that got boring, we'd go out in the back yard and play Tarzan in the white fig tree. That was great fun, unless Vicki, Janie's older sister was there. When that happened, I was the smallest and so instead of Jane, I was designated Cheetah! I didn't really appreciate the humor in that.
Grandma and Grandpa always had a nice garden growing in the back yard. My favorite thing there were the little yellow pear tomatoes and the juicy black figs that filled the tree in the summer. Grandma also grew a lot of flowers, dahlias, bachelor buttons, and hydrangeas. She showed me how to change the color of the hydrangea by sticking rusty nails in the ground around it.
When I had a cold, Grandma Hall would give me a sugar cube with a drop of turpentine on it. If my stomach was upset, she'd make me drink black pepper tea.
Every Thanksgiving, we'd have dinner at one of the Hall sister's houses. One Thanksgiving, about 1964, we drove up to Fresno to celebrate at Aunt Jean and Uncle Jim's house. All the women were busy cooking in the kitchen and man, it smelled GOOD! Janie and I got shooed out more than once, trying to steal food.
Finally, Uncle Jim gave us some change and told us to go to the store and get some candy. I'm not sure why the store was open that day, but it was, and we loaded up on sweets.
Not long afterwards, I came down with a stomach ache. Everyone figured we had eaten too much candy. But it quickly became more and more painful. They tucked me in someone's bed, and Grandma Hall began feeding me Pepto Bismol to try to settle my tummy. Every time she'd give me some, I'd puke. I puked pink until I can't stand to even smell Pepto Bismol to this day!
In the end, Aunt Vena and Uncle Troy rushed me to Hanford to see Doctor Hagen. He immediately put me in the hospital because my appendix was about to burst! I had emergency surgery. Aunt Vena had to sign the paperwork. I'm still not sure where Ma and Pa were, but they weren't there for some reason. Every time I visit Aunt Vena, she reminds me how she saved my life. I love her so much!
But Grandma Hall and her Pepto Bismol about did me in!
One thing I remember is that Grandpa Ben liked milk toast for breakfast. I always ate it with him and I love it to this day. I can just make a piece of toast, butter it, put it in a bowl, sprinkle it with sugar and cover it with milk, and buddy, I'm happy!
Grandma always made up dry milk and kept it in the refrigerator. I'm not sure why she used that stuff, if she liked the sweetness of it or if it was just economical, but I never remember seeing bottled milk at her house and I hated the taste of that dry stuff, unless it was in milk toast. Then it was ok.
In those days in Hanford, air conditioning had not yet been invented. People had swamp coolers for the day and at night, many houses had a sleeping porch. Grandma and Grandpa Hall's house had a screened sleeping porch where they slept each night. Today people would be afraid to sleep on a porch without locked doors and windows, but then we didn't worry about it. Janie and I always slept in the spare bedroom, but I'd take naps out on that porch in the hot afternoons when I was little.
Sometimes Janie and I would make a clothesline tent and sleep outside. Pa would come out late at night and rattle the sheets and scare us half to death. We'd squeal and he'd laugh so hard! But we weren't really afraid out there. In the 50's, there just wasn't much to be frightened of.
I just loved that and I love sleeping outdoors to this day! In fact, when I winter over at Desert Hot Springs at my friend Joe's little place, he has a screened porch on the side of the trailer where I love to sleep. That's my room!
Grandpa Ben Hall was awfully good to Janie and I. He drank a bit and he'd hide his bottle in the house. I would search for that bottle and when I found it, I'd blackmail Grandpa into giving me candy money. In exchange, I wouldn't tell Grandma where his bottle was! Wasn't that mean of me!? :::laughing:::
Grandpa went for a walk every day. I loved tagging along and often, he'd take Janie and I to the train station in Hanford. There were some old slatted benches there. I think they still have them. They were painted dark green back then. Grandpa would say, "You girls check those benches because when the men sit down, change falls out of their pockets and you might find some candy money!" There always would be money in those slats! It was a miracle! Now I know he was putting the money there, but then, it was just an amazing fact of life that money could be found on a train station bench!
Other times, I'd buy Plastic Bubbles. I imagine they're illegal now because you could get high from the fumes! But oh, I loved making those bubbles!
Most of the time, though, I'd just fill my pockets with candy. You could get a LOT of candy back then for 15 cents! Here were some of our choices...
Grandma and Grandpa Hall were both really patient with Janie and I. I only remember one whipping I got from Grandma and I still blame that on Janie! This was before they bought the house on Redington. They lived in a duplex out in Armona. Here's a photo of that old place now. I guess they took the divider wall out and made it one house.
Tucked behind the dining table was a cabinet where grandma kept things to keep little girls busy. There was a canister full of crayons, some colored paper, scissors, and a Sears and Roebuck catalog. Janie and I would spend hours cutting out clothes from the catalog for our paper dolls.
If that got boring, we'd go out in the back yard and play Tarzan in the white fig tree. That was great fun, unless Vicki, Janie's older sister was there. When that happened, I was the smallest and so instead of Jane, I was designated Cheetah! I didn't really appreciate the humor in that.
Grandma and Grandpa always had a nice garden growing in the back yard. My favorite thing there were the little yellow pear tomatoes and the juicy black figs that filled the tree in the summer. Grandma also grew a lot of flowers, dahlias, bachelor buttons, and hydrangeas. She showed me how to change the color of the hydrangea by sticking rusty nails in the ground around it.
When I had a cold, Grandma Hall would give me a sugar cube with a drop of turpentine on it. If my stomach was upset, she'd make me drink black pepper tea.
She always had a remedy for what ailed me.
And they usually worked.
Except once...
Every Thanksgiving, we'd have dinner at one of the Hall sister's houses. One Thanksgiving, about 1964, we drove up to Fresno to celebrate at Aunt Jean and Uncle Jim's house. All the women were busy cooking in the kitchen and man, it smelled GOOD! Janie and I got shooed out more than once, trying to steal food.
Finally, Uncle Jim gave us some change and told us to go to the store and get some candy. I'm not sure why the store was open that day, but it was, and we loaded up on sweets.
Not long afterwards, I came down with a stomach ache. Everyone figured we had eaten too much candy. But it quickly became more and more painful. They tucked me in someone's bed, and Grandma Hall began feeding me Pepto Bismol to try to settle my tummy. Every time she'd give me some, I'd puke. I puked pink until I can't stand to even smell Pepto Bismol to this day!
In the end, Aunt Vena and Uncle Troy rushed me to Hanford to see Doctor Hagen. He immediately put me in the hospital because my appendix was about to burst! I had emergency surgery. Aunt Vena had to sign the paperwork. I'm still not sure where Ma and Pa were, but they weren't there for some reason. Every time I visit Aunt Vena, she reminds me how she saved my life. I love her so much!
But Grandma Hall and her Pepto Bismol about did me in!
One thing I remember is that Grandpa Ben liked milk toast for breakfast. I always ate it with him and I love it to this day. I can just make a piece of toast, butter it, put it in a bowl, sprinkle it with sugar and cover it with milk, and buddy, I'm happy!
Grandma always made up dry milk and kept it in the refrigerator. I'm not sure why she used that stuff, if she liked the sweetness of it or if it was just economical, but I never remember seeing bottled milk at her house and I hated the taste of that dry stuff, unless it was in milk toast. Then it was ok.
In those days in Hanford, air conditioning had not yet been invented. People had swamp coolers for the day and at night, many houses had a sleeping porch. Grandma and Grandpa Hall's house had a screened sleeping porch where they slept each night. Today people would be afraid to sleep on a porch without locked doors and windows, but then we didn't worry about it. Janie and I always slept in the spare bedroom, but I'd take naps out on that porch in the hot afternoons when I was little.
Sometimes Janie and I would make a clothesline tent and sleep outside. Pa would come out late at night and rattle the sheets and scare us half to death. We'd squeal and he'd laugh so hard! But we weren't really afraid out there. In the 50's, there just wasn't much to be frightened of.
I just loved that and I love sleeping outdoors to this day! In fact, when I winter over at Desert Hot Springs at my friend Joe's little place, he has a screened porch on the side of the trailer where I love to sleep. That's my room!
Grandpa Ben Hall was awfully good to Janie and I. He drank a bit and he'd hide his bottle in the house. I would search for that bottle and when I found it, I'd blackmail Grandpa into giving me candy money. In exchange, I wouldn't tell Grandma where his bottle was! Wasn't that mean of me!? :::laughing:::
Grandpa went for a walk every day. I loved tagging along and often, he'd take Janie and I to the train station in Hanford. There were some old slatted benches there. I think they still have them. They were painted dark green back then. Grandpa would say, "You girls check those benches because when the men sit down, change falls out of their pockets and you might find some candy money!" There always would be money in those slats! It was a miracle! Now I know he was putting the money there, but then, it was just an amazing fact of life that money could be found on a train station bench!
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| Hanford Train Station in the 50's |
2.jpg) |
| The benches were like this, but painted dark green. |
We'd take our nickles and dimes and he'd walk us to the dimestore.
Sometimes I'd buy a jacks set.
Do you remember playing jacks?
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| Remember? |
Most of the time, though, I'd just fill my pockets with candy. You could get a LOT of candy back then for 15 cents! Here were some of our choices...
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| Bubble Gum Cigars |
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| I loved this gum because Grandpa would call me "Dubbie" from the Dubble Bubble Gum name. |
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| You won't find these anymore! |
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| Like Pix Stix without the straw |
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| We all smoked candy cigarettes back then... |
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| Oh man, I loved these cinnamon toothpicks! |
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| At Halloween we could get wax fangs too! |
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| I loved Necco Wafers because they lasted a while. 5 cents. |
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| You'd bite the end off, suck out the juice, then chew the wax like gum. |
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| My favorite was the Clove Gum! |
Grandma and Grandpa Hall were both really patient with Janie and I. I only remember one whipping I got from Grandma and I still blame that on Janie! This was before they bought the house on Redington. They lived in a duplex out in Armona. Here's a photo of that old place now. I guess they took the divider wall out and made it one house.
There was only one bathroom in that place. Nobody had two bathrooms back then. Janie and I were staying with Grandma out there, and we had a habit of always going to the bathroom together. I don't know why, we just did. I'd have to go and I'd say, "Come with me," or she'd have to go and she'd say, "Come with me." We were just inseparable.
Well, this one day we were maybe 4 or 5 years old, I suddenly had to make a BM. I hollared, "Come with me!" and started running to the bathroom. Janie was bigger than me and she PUSHED me out of the way and said, "Me first!" I yelled, "No! I gotta GO!" but she laughed and got on that toilet.
Man, I had to GO and I cried and said, "Please hurry!" as I did a dance. But she just laughed at me and wouldn't get up.
Finally, I couldn't wait any longer. I jumped into the shower, closed the shower curtain and dropped my pants. I laid a big old poop right in the floor of the shower!
Janie started laughing and squealing and in came Grandma Ada!
Oh my gosh! She, who was always so calm, got red in the face and said, "You dirty thing! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
I was struggling to get my pants up and run, but she was faster. She grabbed the switch that lived on the fridge and man, she whipped me until my legs were raw! I was screaming and crying that it was Janie's fault, but Grandma didn't care.
That was the only time I remember her spanking me.
But I'll never forget it.
And I still don't forgive Janie!
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