Memories...

I remember when I was a kid, spending a month or so at a time at my grandmother's house in Sebastapol, CA. I loved it there. She had hundreds of acres of land that I could roam about on, and a private lake where I could fish all day long. The roads were lined with blackberry bushes and the orchards were full of fruit trees. The lake was full of fish...catfish, bass and bluegill, all hungry for worms and crawfish. The night was full of the sounds of owls and bullfrogs, and the occasional coyote. The land was full of giant redwood trees...trees so tall that when you looked up, you could hardly see the tops of them. The ground was full of redwood needles and pinecones, and lizards ran to and fro on the wooden fences, stopping to sun themselves occasionally, then running away as soon as I stepped toward them. My visits were full of happiness and the smell of apple pie baking in the oven. Nothing tasted better than my grandma's apple pie. Oh, it was delicious. She really knew how to cook. I never knew my real grandfather...he died before I was born. But I do remember Hank, my step grandfather. He used to take me fishing early in the morning before even the roosters were awake. He always had these bass magazines that had these charts in them, telling you when the fish would be biting. He really took them to heart. He was so patient with me. I even accidentally hooked him in the arm with a fishing lure once, and he never even flinched. I know that if that happened to me, I would have been screaming bloody murder ! I loved visiting my grandmother. She had an old mutt named Cooter who was such a cool dog, even if he did get sprayed by skunks a few times. A lot of my mom's relatives lived within a few miles of her house, so I was constantly seeing an aunt or uncle or cousin of some sort everyday. My cousins used to play baseball, and they would take me to watch their games. We even used to have dirt clod wars in the orchard, and even my cousin Bob, who was more of an uncle to me since he was old enough to be one, would join along. My other cousin, Ray, took me on a long horseback ride once, and I just though that was the best thing ever. Of course, I was so sore afterward, but it was worth it. We would have hay fights in the loft of the old barn and mud fights in the lake. I would go on picinics and to barbeques at my uncle Gump's house. He even taught me how to catch lizards. I had so much fun up there, and I miss it so much. But my grandmother died a few years ago, and my uncle Gump and cousin Ray are gone, too. But I am glad that my cousins bought her house. It would have not been the same if her house would have been sold to a stranger. Even though I am all grown up, I think if she were still alive, I would still be going up there every summer and fishing in the lake and catching lizards and eating blackberries off of the bushes. Just because you grow up, doesn't mean you have to give up the things you liked to do as a kid.