Childhood Days on the Farm

Going to the farm was one of the real delights of my childhood. In my minds-eye I can remember it all. The fabulous food, the great smells, the laughter, the huge kitchen table and breakfront, the piano and of course the ever popular piano stool. Grandma was so much more patient about the piano than my Mother.
My Grandma made the best applebutter I have ever tasted and the best blackberry cobbler. She always had some extra applebutter for me to take home. Then, of course, we always had Anglefood cake!
I remember the sleeping room upstairs - we use to get into so much trouble rough housing up there. Boy - do I ever remember the front porch and the porch swing. That is where the stories were told. I was always fasinated with the Uncles rolling their own cigarettes with the thin white paper and the little pouch. The Aunts all went back behind the barn to smoke because they didn't want "Mom" or "Pop" to see them - I often wondered in later years if they ever fooled anyone.
I always remember begging to go over to Uncle Willis's house - that was where the fun was. Patsy and I would stay up for ever, talking, being silly and sucking on ice cubes to keep cool. Sometimes Patsy would ride over and then I would get to ride back over to the house with her or Richard. Donnie was famous for taking us City Cousins on horseback over to pick green apples - you know, I don't think he would have ever thought that we would remember his antics and talk about it when we were grown!
Each summer some things did really scare me. Grandpa was always trying to protect me by telling me to stay close to the house because there were rabid dog packs running around (that's a nightmare maker!) or that I must not go near the pin with the bull in it - you know the one that Floyd had put a ring in his nose and just about beat to death with a club because he was so mean. Then of course there's the ever popular chicken running around with it's head cut off!
I really learned to appreciate nature from my cousins. My friends in the city could not believe that I could catch a JuneBug, tie a string on it's leg and spin it around my head to make a buzzing sound - then bring it inside for lunch and tie it to the back of my chair(Grandma never said a word). I could even catch Honeybee's like Frankie showed me and pull the stinger out, then let it crawl on me and really freak my Mom out!
My cousins could squirt milk in my face from across the barn. I could jump in the hay, pick blackberries and many times land in a cow pile in my good shoes and then try to explain to my Mom that I thought it was a rock!
I hope that when my own grandchildren look back on coming to Grandma's and Grandpa's they have as found of memories as I do. Our Grandparents left us a legacy that I will always carry in my heart.