Tuesday, April 22, 2014

S is for Sweeny, Texas

What do I remember about Sweeny, Texas? The bugs on the front door screen were bigger than I was. I remember a spanking and a pillow fight with my 2nd cousins. David and Donna Ruth were the children of my cousin, Christine, one of Aunt Ruth's four children.

The pillow fight lead directly to the spanking.


I bet you can't imagine how anyone could be angry with these three adorable children but it happened. David and I are the same age and Donna Ruth is a year younger. I must have been almost four when we visited Aunt Ruth in Sweeny. This was taken at her house. Christine and Martin are standing behind us. 

Aunt Ruth had chickens. I remember them. They weren't much bigger than the bugs on the screen. She was very self-sufficient and collected feathers to make pillows. I don't know why the pillows were stored in the shed, maybe for use when family like us came to visit. Nevertheless, we found the pillows in the shed and did what all children do with pillows. We hit each other. It was even more fun when the feathers started flying and I bet we were giggling loudly when we were discovered by our parents and Aunt Ruth. Since it doesn't appear that we have feathers on us when this picture was taken, it must have been before the pillow incident. 

My aunt lived on a farm as a young parent and eventually moved to town as she got older but I loved going to the farm and my memories of Sweeny, Texas are colored by the fun we had there as kids. 

5 comments:

  1. Ohhhh, that must have been maddening - to have all those carefully collected feathers all over the place. Even though you were three cute little tykes.

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  2. I love your description of the bugs on the screen. It reminds of the mosquitos we had in Minnesota. Those things were/are huge! :)

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  3. "The bugs on the front door screen were bigger than I was." What a gorgeous line, Ann! The image, the feeling, and the expectation for more that I get from that sentence. And, then you go and tell me the chickens "weren't much bigger than the bugs on the screen." You're some kinda wonderful storyteller, you are.
    The View from the Top of the Ladder

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  4. I agree--great line, and great story! I used to love going to my grandparents' farm, too. When we did, it was my job to feed the chickens and collect the eggs. Such adventure!

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  5. Oh lordy - good story well-told. It seems like we always got in the most trouble when we innocently caused it rather than when we deliberately did. That was very confusing to me!

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