Imperfect Memories

I have a lot of vague memories of childhood that I can not rightly place.  I think we went to a wild animal farm in New York one time.   I am sure we went to Happy Land, or some other amusement park in the Berkshires, maybe Blandford.

My older brother went camping with the Boy Scouts, maybe in Chesterfield?  And there were dinosaur tracks somewhere in Western Massachusetts.

More solidly, I remember going to Benson's Animal Farm in New Hampshire, and sometimes, Grampa Nap would go with us. I think one of the attractions was a train that circled the grounds.

I know Grampa Nap had a chicken coop in his back yard, and Gramma Nap had a beautiful flower garden, with a plum tree in the middle.  What became of this?

Do you remember their collie, was her name Lady?

And our first dog, Spoodles? I barely remember anything more than a name.

I remember catching bullhead and bringing them home to live in the bath tub: that would have been a very short life span for those fish, but I think Dad at least released them into the river.

I remember hot summer nights, and almost every year, someone would try to commit suicide by jumping off the railroad trestle near our house.

And, often, a transformer would blow near Meme and Pepe's apartment, and there would be a live electric wire on the ground!

Uncle Joe liked to look for wild mushrooms. And Grandma Wojnar's visits were always special.

Uncle Louis came and he was a lot of fun.

Solidly, I remember making root beer, bottling it and letting it ferment in the basement. 

Sometimes, we made watermelon rind pickles. 

Meme and Pepe would pick butternuts, and shell them: they were difficult to shell, and from my child's point of view, more difficult to shell than walnuts or pecans. 

Yearly there was a grab-bag sale at Ward's Store. 

And, we could go to the store and by cigars for Pepe. 

We walked up to Weatherhead's to get ice cream, was it with Pepe or Grampa, or someone else? 

We went fishing at Munn's Ferry, or Durkee's.

I never got to go with Grampa Brown to the cemetery near Durkee's, when he went to mow. But I have been to the cemetery, anyway.

These are glimpses of my childhood past.  Fleeting glimpses, so ephemeral I am not sure they are real.  But they evoke memories of a childhood that was good, even with the sadness.