old homestead

Stories set here

Childhood Warmth at the Old Brass RegisterCarol recalls the brass heat register near the kitchen door in her childhood home's living room, installed when her father added a basement and furnace around 1943. Children warmed themselves and dried boots and mittens there. Despite repeated remodeling, the register remained unchanged, and standing before it on return visits brings back childhood memories.
The Homestead's Shade, Blossoms, and Sweet FruitBernard recalls the elm Dad called a Piss Elm, which survived the children's climbing and sheltered Grampa Williams's food preparation and the girls' summer activities. He describes favorite bushes, rhubarb, poplars, mulberries across the road on Britz’s side, colorful flowers, and unusual garden crops. He remembers stomachaches from overeating mulberries and ends by joking that the homestead's fauna consisted of children.
The Orchard Chore That Took So LongDad made Bob and Bernard cut tall orchard weeds with a two-handed scythe they could barely lift and trim around trees with a hand sickle. They hated the time-consuming work. Later, Dad did the mowing himself with a cutting blade pulled behind his homemade tractor.
Karo Cans and Grampa's Free Berry PatchesAfter harvesting the black raspberry patch near the outhouse, the children wore long sleeves and followed Grampa to wild raspberry and blackberry patches in the woods. Empty Karo Syrup cans hung around their necks left both hands free for picking. One year's blackberry harvest was so large that Grampa sold berries house to house to rich people in Villa Park.

Events here

around 1943
Basement addition and furnace installation
Carol's father added the basement and installed the furnace; the brass living-room heat register dates from that work.
other
Cutting weeds in the orchard
Dad assigned Bob and the narrator to cut orchard weeds with a large scythe and a hand sickle; later he mowed with a blade behind his homemade tractor.

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