Day: April 6, 2025

TODAY I AM LOOKING BACK

The world seems eerie today

It is quiet, gray and no movement

The feeling is damp with no wind blowing

The sun is not flirting with the clouds

I decide to think of my ancestors

I remember them back as far as my Grandpa’s mother

She lived in the country with an old maid daughter

She had a hand pump for water in the yard

There was none in the kitchen

My grandpa never owned a home

He always rented and it was clean

He had an indoor hand pump in one home

He always put in a garden and had chickens

He loved to prune fruit trees

When neighbors left for a few days

He would prune their tree, to their dismay

They would be angry at him, but

The tree bore a lot of fruit

Then they thanked him

He lived by the railroad tracks and

In the summer the smell of creosote was prevalent

If you liked it, it was a good smell

He lived close to where the Fort Wayne Daisy’s played

We could walk to the park and watch them against

The Grand Rapids Chicks or the Rockford Peaches

My dad’s father was a baker and did a good business

He was born in Amsterdam as was my dad

They lived on Wabash Avenue and the bakery had living quarters

My other grandparents lived later on the same street

That grandpa was a janitor at Tokheim’s factory where they made gasoline pumps

During WWII they converted over to a munitions factory

The baker grandpa died before I was born so I only knew him from pictures

I am now the oldest living relative on each side of the family

My late sister used to keep up the family tree

I don’t know if anyone is continuing this practice

It is a lot of fun to dwell on the past and remember

Stanski

April 6, 2025 ^