King's Daughter's Kitchen

I’m feeling nostalgic for the fun and colors of my childhood. In winter, my three younger sisters and I built endless snowmen in the back yard. We wore plastic bread sacks over our shoes, down in our boots to keep the snow out. We played King of the Mountain on the snow piles left by the plow on the four-block walk to school. We pulled icicles off the roof and ate them and had snowball fights in the streets. Our neighborhood was small and safe.

In spring, we could finally ride our bikes downtown to the café for a hotdog and a coke for a dollar. We planted zucchini and strawberries in the yard with Mama. Most importantly, we were free again to be out on our own to explore from sunup until the street lights came on at night. Also in springtime, all Trolls (what Yoppers call people like me from under the bridge) take swimming classes in school so we wouldn’t drown in the five great lakes.

When summer came, we swam and fished with Gma and the Uncles in as many lakes as we could. There were many great inland lakes near us with public access, like Lake Dowagiac, Gull Lake, Pine Lake, and Lake Doster.

The best fishing came in the fall, October really, at Coho and Atlantic salmon spawning time on the Muskegon river. I can’t say the spot and give away my Uncles’ secret. Man that was fun when those huge fish slammed our lines!!

Fishing was a beautiful, peaceful part of my childhood as were the colors of each season. Fall trees of home were gold, red, orange, and purple. I loved the colors. I still do. I miss jumping in their leaf piles, climbing their limbs, and hanging upside down, laughing at the world as I watch the wonder of the seasons go by.