Still alive and kicking ...

Sorry, haven't posted in a while.  Spring break is over and back to school once again.  I now have two evening classes plus student working, so my days are filled up and quite busy.

Spring is finally starting to show - just wish Winter would let go fully.  Really ready for the warm days and nights, no more heater to dry out my sinuses and a lower electric bill.

Short post - heading to work.  Hope you all have a wonderful day and week ... will write more soon!

Peace out ...
P.

Home Sweet Home

604 West 24th Street, Independence, MO - the house I grew up in and lived at for 20 years.  From the outside it looked lived in and cozy - bright Kelly green with black shutters, lush manicured lawn, powder blue 1965 Oldsmobile station wagon and a brown 1971 Ford Maverick, the first car I learned to drive and owned until 1988.  When you entered the back gate, the long concrete patio gave way to a huge backyard with a great hill to slide down during a snowstorm and day off school.  The garden was always full of tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, and many other vegetables lovingly tended to by my mom and dad.  I had a tire swing in the big oak tree that went out over the garden, a green swing set and blue and silver slide.  My gerbils, dog, cat, and many fish were buried throughout the sides of the yard, protected by a silver chain link fence.  The fragrant lilac bushes and magnolia trees filled the air in the spring and came wafting through my window when the attic fan was rumbling above my bedroom. 

The inside was always spotless clean, my mother being the ultimate housewife.  Walking in the door filled your nose with scents of home baked bread and rolls, cookies and probably the best dinners anyone could ever cook.  It was very dated in the furniture my mother chose - matching couch and love seat and two wing chairs in the same blue color she loved.  Shag carpet that needed to be updated, wallpapered walls covered in the most awful design I've ever seen.  My bedroom was down the hall, second door on the left, where my sister used to live until she married and moved out.   

Not everyday was perfect in that house, but it holds many of my fondest memories growing up on 24th Street with my friends and family.