Those Old Steps

Marcia said that Greg Bates uncovered the steps that used to lead downward from the tongue-and-grove cabin to the beach. He was working on his own hill when he found them. It was easy for me to bring back memories of those old times when thinking about those steps. They were the ones that Sean Bates rebuilt every year.

... the darkness of climbing the stairs on the path in the woods ...

I walked so many little children up to the cabin using that stair short-cut. The pitch of the path was steep but it was the uneven rise of the stairs that caused the most trouble. My other children would be running ahead, but the smallest one always had short legs couldn't make the height from one step to another. I would help them, though now I only have memories of me holding onto one of their hands, their bodies dang to the steep side, as though they would tumble down that hill, but battling to get both feet under them again.

Half-way up that path bees had built a hive. When we would walk children by that spot there was often a bee or two in the air that someone would try to swat away. I would be saying, just live peaceably with the bees, but their little hearts were beating and their hands were wildly waving the bees off.

One day, when Bonnie McLoone was walking her daughter, Amanda, back up to the house, Amanda so young that she could hardly talk, she spoke in a tiny voice, "There's the damn bee patch!" 

That is one of the times when Bonnie was alerted that Amanda was picking up more vocabulary than she had intended her to have.

Those are also the same steps Doral Pilling came up just about the last time he had been fishing. It was growing dark. His bones were aching. He didn't know why. “The insides of my bones were aching,” he would say. “I have to live with that. How can doctors fix an ache on the inside of your bones.”

When Doral got to the stairs that last time, he was so tired he couldn't climb them, so he came up them on his hands and knees. So dark he couldn't see in the trees, so he made his asset by braille.  Fish in hand, of course.

Thank you, Sean. Your yearly step repair helps me hold a lot of memories. Long after my children could walk the steps on their own, I would pass that place half way up to the cabin and look for the bees. I would even tell others as we climbed past that spot, “Look, that is where the damn bee patch used to be,” and I would look down and point to the left as though the bees were still present.

I am glad Greg uncovered the stairs again. I don't want to bury those memories.

Arta

Dresses and Shirts for Stampede Week

Picture scanned and circulated by Marcia Bates

Ancient Photo
(I am guessing that the year is 1959 or 1960)

Front Row: Lorraine Tucker, Moiya Wood, Richard Pilling

Back Row: Glen Pilling, Darla Robertson, Leatrice Tucker, Bonnie McLoone, Wyona Bates, Wyora Pilling

Text from Arta

Wyora bought yards of material and made vintage Western wear for us one Stampede Week.  There were yards of ruffles sewn on these dresses.  And what made these dresses outstanding was yards of ribbon and rick rack sewn on the ruffles.

I think Lorraine is wearing cowboy boots.  Yes, real cowboy boots.

Moiya remarked that Wyora has on a cute set of high heels.  And she thinks her mom was young and beautiful, which she was.

I do have a picture where I am wearing a similar dress at a ward party that was held out at the Leinweber farm, so add one more to the total count of people whom Wyora sewed for that summer.

Text from Wyona: 

Aunt Leatrice and her family came up one July. Mother and her sewers made all the dresses.

I remember a bolt or two of the same fabric that Mother bought. Then she bought some rick rack and trim to go on the dresses.

It must be Sharon who is not from our family. And yes, Mother's heels are gorgeous.

This same year we all went to the Raymond stampede and wore our dresses. Oh yes, I remember sewing these dresses!

I used to cut my mother's hair and I always did her hair in rollers from the time I was a teenager. I remember her sitting on a chair while I did her hair. And Doral would sometimes complain about her wearing rollers to bed. We all wore rollers to bed.

This was probably the same year that all the families headed back to Cardston and Moiya was left in Raymond. We did not know she was missing until all cars got back to Cardston. Moiya, you will have to finish the story.

Wyona

Where is the food scrap can?

From Moiya:

LtoR: Moiya, Darla Bonnie, Wyona, Arta

What year was this?

Can anyone guess?

Look, Wyona is the only one wearing an apron.

Not much countertop space.

We are all so blessed.

Just look at the size of that refrigerator!

I loved that house.

Look at the kitchen tools/slash toy drawer!

Where is the food scrap can?

Will that kitchen ever get clean?

Does anyone else have any pictures showing, the front hallway, the crying room, the kitchen table, the mangle iron, the dining room, the living room with the mantle and mirror,the hallway, the bathroom or the bedrooms and of course, don’t forget any basement pictures? A picture of the deer hanging from the rafters in the laundry room would be exceptional, too. How about any of the pictures with pheasants, ducks, geese or game on top of the truck? I would also like to see a picture of the dog kennel in the back with the rabbit pen stuck to the side of the kennel.

Reminiscing Moiya

Those old pictures -- curlers

Arta, Wyona, Wyora, Bonnie
... the picture is dated July 1958 ...

Rebecca was humming "Short shorts" (sung by The Royal Teens, written by Bob Gaudio)  and asked me to come over and take a look at another of the photos, now hidden between pages of scrap books where the photograph tips have fallen out and the pictures are slipping from their old positions.

Oh yes, that is me -- my arms hanging below the hem of my shorts and with my white shoes unbuckled.

I have no idea where we are, except that a Nature Trail sign is pointing to the east.  It looks like all of us have piled out of a car, 3 out of 4 of us with our hair in rollers or bobby pins.

I can't remember my sister, Bonnie, ever wearing pants with a wild striped pattern like the ones she has one, but the evidence is right in the picture.

If you enlarge the picture Wyona seems to have a large bird decorating her left shoulder which would be typical for her.  And look at her face -- any evidence there that she is related to Gabe Treleaven?

Here is my question to you  Given that I can't get women to pose for a picture anymore ("No, I can't, I look awful"), how is it that the 4 of us peeled out of some car and let Doral take our picture with our hair in curlers?

And don't let the answer be, "You are just stupid, I guess".

Arta